The Los Angeles Rams convincingly beat the Minnesota Vikings 27:9 at the end of Wild Card Weekend of the NFL Playoffs and thus pulled off a small surprise.
Vikings @ Rams: At a glance
- The Rams opened the game with a touchdown and didn’t relinquish that lead until the end.
- The key to victory was the home team’s extremely strong pass rush at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
- Like the previous week in Detroit, Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold didn’t cut a good figure, collecting a number of sacks and committing two turnovers.
Vikings @ Rams: The analysis
As the official home team at State Farm Stadium, the Rams got the ball first and marched down the field without any problems. They finally faced a 4th&1 on the opposing 10 and at least hinted at trying. But they didn’t have to do that anymore, because a neutral zone infraction from Jonathan Bullard gave the Rams a new 1st down. Shortly afterwards, Matthew Stafford found running back Kyren Williams over the middle for the first touchdown of the game.
As a result, it became clear that Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold would again have a difficult time and was often blitzed early on. After field goals on both sides, Darnold made his first big mistake in the second quarter: he looked for Jordan Addison on the sideline, but cornerback Cobie Durant smelled the roast and grabbed an interception. However, the Rams didn’t make much of it and quickly punted the ball back to the Vikings.
However, they were completely out of character and Darnold took a strip sack after a delayed blitz from Ahkello Witherspoon. The ball landed at edge rusher Jared Verse, who then ran it 57 yards for a touchdown. And even after that it remained difficult for the guests. They tried to play a 4th&2 at the 50 and failed. That gave the Rams another chance to score points just before halftime. Stafford took advantage and threw a touchdown pass to Davis Allen 15 seconds before the end of the first half to make the score 24:3 at halftime.
After the break, the offensive lines didn’t do much anymore. Darnold threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to TJ Hockenson with five minutes to play in the third quarter. However, the subsequent two-point conversion failed, leaving the deficit at three scores (9:27). The fact that they didn’t really get any closer afterwards was partly because the Vikings lacked any urgency in the last ten minutes and acted rather cautiously, as if they had already given up.
With this result, the entire Divisional Weekend is now certain. The Rams will travel to the Philadelphia Eagles next Sunday.
Minnesota Vikings (14-3) @ Los Angeles Rams (10-7)
Result: 9:27 (0:10, 3:14, 6:3, 0:0) BOXSCORE
Vikings @ Rams: Key stats
- Sam Darnold recorded three sacks and threw an interception in the first 20 minutes. The last quarterback to do this in the playoffs was Tom Brady in the 2010 divisional game in a loss to the Jets.
- In total, Darnold collected 6 sacks before the break. These are the most for a quarterback in the first half of a playoff game since at least 1991.
- Verse had a top speed of 19.88 mph on his scoop-and-score touchdown. That’s the highest speed achieved by a player weighing at least 260 pounds (around 118 kg) since at least 2018, according to Next Gen Stats.
- The Rams have now had three touchdowns on the first drive of a game this season. Two of them came against the Rams, who they had already defeated in Week 8 (30:20).
- The nine sacks the Rams collected against Darnold tied a record for most sacks in a playoff game.
The star of the game: Kobie Turner (defensive tackle, Rams)
The Rams’ best part in this game was the pass rush, which had 27 pressures and 9 sacks against Darnold. And the best man on this unit was Turner with 5 pressures and 2 sacks. He paved the way from the start and also had 2 tackles for loss in the run game.
The flop of the game: Sam Darnold (quarterback, Vikings)
Darnold was no longer quite as imprecise as he had been in Detroit, but he still looked the part. Under the constant pressure from the Rams, he sometimes held the ball for far too long, which explains the 9 sacks against him. He also committed two turnovers, both of which were his responsibility.
Analysis: Vikings @ Rams – that stood out tactically
- The Vikings did what they always do on defense: They blitzed Stafford extremely often, but as expected, that backfired because Stafford is extremely dangerous against the blitz this season. Accordingly, the “guests” often ran into the open knife.
- One way to avoid pressure from the Blitz was for Stafford to get rid of the ball quicker than usual. On average, he threw the ball about 0.2 seconds faster than in the regular season.
- The Rams took a cue from the Lions from the previous week and blitzed Darnold early and often. They also played man coverage more often, which led, among other things, to Darnold’s interception in the first half.
- What was striking was how often the Rams relied on play action in this game. The run game, however, was significantly less present. PA then caused one of the Vikings’ split safeties to be pulled toward the line frequently, which opened up the middle a bit for Stafford.