It seems like ages ago. Week 2 of the NFL season was in September but for the Rams, the memory remains fresh.
A 41-10 rout by the Arizona Cardinals made it so.
“An ass whuppin’,” defensive lineman Bobby Brown III said this week.
“Embarrassing,” defensive coordinator Chris Shula said.
In all phases.
“We got our butt kicked,” offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur said.
The loss dropped the Rams’ record to 0-2 en route to a 1-4 start that had coach Sean McVay’s team on the brink of potential playoff oblivion.
Then the Rams won eight of 10 games, including their last four, to position themselves for another division title.
Their top division rivals, the Seattle Seahawks, beat the Chicago Bears 6-3 on Thursday night to improve to 9-7, so the Rams can clinch the title with a win Saturday over the Cardinals at SoFi Stadium and a “strength of victory” tiebreaker.
The Rams would claim that if four of these six teams, all playing home games, win in Week 17 — the Cleveland Browns (vs. Miami Dolphins), Cincinnati Bengals (vs. Denver Broncos), Washington Commanders (vs. Atlanta Falcons), San Francisco 49ers (vs. Detroit Lions ), Buffalo Bills (vs. New York Jets) and Minnesota Vikings (vs. Green Bay Packers).
Defensive lineman Kobie Turner said the implications of Saturday’s game “don’t go unnoticed.” Still, at its core, the matchup against the Cardinals is a “get-back” game.
“We have a lot that we’re fighting for,” Turner said. “But we’re really strong on the get-back, and getting a little revenge game in.”
How motivated the Cardinals (7-8) will be remains to be seen. A loss last week ended their playoff hopes.
“They’re not necessarily playing for anything,” Rams safety Quentin Lake said. “And to be honest, those teams can be very, very dangerous.”
So the Rams intend to do what the Cardinals did to them: start fast and never let up.
On that Sunday at State Farm Stadium, the Rams came up short on a fourth-and-two pass play, and Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray quickly took advantage by tossing a 23-yard touchdown pass to rookie receiver Marvin Harrison Jr.
The Rams went three and out, and Murray and Harrison connected for a 63-yard touchdown.
“It was 14-0 in like the blink of an eye,” Lake said.
The Cardinals added another touchdown to go ahead 21-0 early in the second quarter.
“They sung the national anthem,” cornerback Cobie Durant said, “and the game was over.”
The Rams have become a much different team than the one that started the season so poorly. After losing four of their first five games, the Rams’ only subsequent losses have come against the Dolphins and the Philadelphia Eagles.
The 37-20 beatdown by the Eagles on Nov. 24 on “Sunday Night Football” left the Rams at 5-6. A few days later, McVay addressed his players and wrote “39” on a whiteboard, the number of days left in the regular season. He challenged them to commit to getting the most out of each one.
“That’s something that’ll get your attention real quick,” quarterback Matthew Stafford said. “You go, ‘Hey, I can commit for that long. No doubt.’”
Said rookie edge rusher Jared Verse: “He said, ‘We don’t have to win every game. We have to win every one of these days.’”
The Rams have not lost since, defeating the New Orleans Saints, Bills, 49ers and Jets.
“We’ve had great buy-in from our team since that point,” Stafford said. “I don’t see that wavering or changing at any point.”
Now they get an opportunity to avenge their loss to the Cardinals.
In that matchup, receiver Puka Nacua and offensive linemen Steve Avila and Joe Noteboom were out because of injuries suffered in the season-opening loss to the Lions, then the Rams lost receiver Cooper Kupp, lineman Jonah Jackson and safety John Johnson III to injuries too.
The Rams are back to near full strength as they aim to complete their push to the playoffs.
“It’s really easy in those times when things aren’t going well to start pointing fingers and feel like you’re on your own,” Kupp said. “ We’ve done a good job being able to weather those storms and get to this place here.”
McVay recalled the first game against the Cardinals as a “humbling” experience. Now they are on the verge of playing in the postseason for the sixth time in McVay’s eight seasons.
“These guys have just been in the moment,” McVay said. “You’re not naive to what’s possibly at stake, but I think our guys have played their best football and they’ve just focused on … ‘Hey, let’s go cut it loose.’”
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