Rams Defense Cements Itself as Elite Against the Colts

Against the undefeated Colts, the Rams were able earn their third win of the season, rising to 3-1. The offense continued to do what they’ve done all season, with Puka Nacua ending the game with 13 catches for 170 yards and touchdown. Matthew Stafford connected for two more touchdowns, sending one to Davante Adams and another to Tutu Atwell finally caught one of his specialty deep balls, sealing the game with an 88 yard touchdown. Kyren Williams and Blake Corum also continued to be a two headed monster in the backfield, outside of a botched handoff, combining for just under 100 yards. However, one of the biggest takeaways was the way the defense rose to the challenge.

The defense was able to hold the Colts offense to just 20 points. The Colts offense notoriously went the first two weeks without punting the ball once, and only punted once against the Titans in Week Three. The Rams forced them to punt four times. Los Angeles also put the pressure on Daniel Jones who was yet to throw an interception before the game. Kamren Curl was able to get two interceptions against Jones, and Kamren Kinchens nearly had another that just bounced off his hands. Part of this pressure came from the Rams pass rush that has been consistently dominant this season. Jared Verse and Byron Young both got home with sacks and the line as a whole was able to get QB pressures all day.

Another key part of the Rams defense against the Colts was the way they bottled up Jonathan Taylor. Taylor had 17 rush attempts for 76 yards. On paper this statline still was pretty good, but they are pedestrian numbers compared to how Taylor has produced the past few weeks. The Colts kept going to Taylor when they needed a big play and the Rams were able to prevent him from making a play, outside of a long touchdown that got called back for a holding penalty. This makes two elite running backs that the Rams were able to hold to low production in back to back weeks, between Taylor and holding Saquon Barkley to just 46 yards. The Rams still had some problems against the strong Colts offense. Tyler Warren had a productive day, and the absence of Ahkello Witherspoon was strongly felt in big plays to the wideouts, Michael Pittman and Adonai Mitchell. However, these are things to be expected against strong offenses, and holding the Colts to just 20 points may be seen as an amazing accomplishment by the year’s end.