Turf Show Times
With their 27-20 win over the Indianapolis Colts, the Los Angeles Rams are now 3-1. LA’s youngsters led the way in a home win with Puka Nacua and Jared Verse dominating their respective sides of the ball.
Who stood out in positive or negative way according to the Pro Football Focus (PFF) game grades? Let’s dive in.
Nacua set a career high (regular season only) in receiving yards for this game with 13 catches for 170 yards and a touchdown. He was the only consistently successful part of LA’s offense on Sunday. On the season, Nacua has caught 86% (!) of the passes thrown in his direction and has hauled in eight of his nine contested catch opportunities. He’s moved the chains for 26 first downs. Absurd.
These are the Rams snap counts at TE in Week 4:
The roles in this group are clear. Higbee is the primary pass catcher and Allen and Parkinson are put on the field to open running lanes. Both Allen and Parkinson were successful in their niches with respective run blocking grades of 77.7 and 68.4.
If Matthew Stafford could play 100% of the time like it was a game-winning drive, the Rams would have a consistently great quarterback. Stafford saved his best for last against the Colts and tossed two big-time throws in the final moments to keep LA in the win column.
The veteran completed 29 of 41 passes (ADJ comp of 76.9%) for 375 yards and three scores. This game marked his second-longest time to throw on the season at 2.61 seconds with a strange juxtaposition of his shortest average depth of target (ADOT) at 8.0 yards. He was pressured on 44% of his drop backs and took three sacks.
This wasn’t the cleanest effort from Stafford as he put the ball in harm’s way twice with two turnover-worthy plays, tying his season-high against the Titans.
Dedich was the Rams’ best lineman on Sunday despite being the weak link of the group over the last two weeks. Steve Avila was cleared for the game and active, but the Rams may be taking their time to work him back into the lineup. Dedich rewarded the team for giving him the opportunity.
Rob Havenstein simply isn’t himself in 2025. Fans wanted LA to look for his heir apparent at right tackle in the draft, but the Rams instead opted to trade back—collecting an additional first round pick next year—and selecting TE Terrance Ferguson (a healthy scratch each of the last two weeks). On the season Havenstein has a PFF offensive grade of 55.0. He’s on track...
