ClutchPoints
If the Los Angeles Rams secured the win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday Night Football, it would have been the ultimate coming out party to the NFL world.
Facing off against the NFL’s top rushing offense, top overall defense, and a passing game ripping up 40-plus yard bombs seemingly on the weekly, beating Nick Sirianni’s company would have not only put the Rams back in first place, tied with the Cardinals and Seahawks atop the NFC West, but also made them look like legit contenders overall, as they could quite literally beat anyone, even the best team in the NFC.
… unfortunately, that didn’t happen. The Rams came out of the gates hot, hitting trick play after trick play to move the ball quickly and even scored seven points in the first quarter before their own mistakes, both on the field and from the sideline, allowed Philadelphia to pull away and close out the contest before the start of the fourth quarter.
What went wrong? Were the Rams simply outmatched by the better team? Or did they take some risks that simply blew up in their faces? Let’s take a look at the Rams’ Week 12 effort to figure out who is most to blame for LA’s loss to the Eagles.
Heading into Week 12, the number one problem the Rams had to solve was slowing down Saquon Barkley on his run to become league MVP.
On paper, that task feels rather tricky, but it’s not impossible; Barkley has been held to under 100 yards on four occasions for the Eagles in 2024, including a Week 5 effort against Jim Schwartz and the Cleveland Browns that saw the PSU product average 2.6 yards per carry on the way to just 47 rushing yards.
Would the Rams’ attacking defensive front produce similar results for the Rams in Week 12, plugging holes before they could form and blowing up the Eagles’ backfield? Nope, their strategy proved to be the opposite of successful, with Shula’s aggressiveness opening up opportunities for Barkley to have one of the ten-best rushing games in NFL history.
Discussing the strategy Shula put together after the game, McVay admitted that, unfortunately, the Rams read the situation wrong and ultimately lost the trench battle as a result.
“Yeah, you know the thing that’s hard is you get into some of these aggressive looks, and you give him a vertical seam to the second level, and he’s got the ability to be able to erase angles and work edges and make people miss,” McVay told reporters. “The last one, you’re in a really aggressive defense trying to be able to get a stop on a third and five. Somebody doesn’t follow a puller back and that’s where he’s got the ability to finish those plays.”
Now granted, is that all on Shula? Eh, not necessarily; the Rams are starting a front seven that exclusively has players still on their rookie-scale contract,...
