DETROIT — We do it all the time, in making preseason predictions, but it’s seldom wise to use past results to predict future performance.
Exhibit A, of course, is the 2023-24 Rams. We saw the previous season’s 5-12 hangover from a Super Bowl championship, saw Coach Sean McVay’s initial reluctance about even coming back this season, and figured that the retooling process would take at least another season.
It took, in fact, just 10 weeks to kick in. And McVay confirmed, in the disappointment of Sunday night’s 24-23 wild-card playoff loss to the Detroit Lions, that this team had restorative powers in a way we might not have anticipated.
“The finality of it … it still doesn’t totally resonate, but man, did I learn a lot, and I really appreciate this group,” McVay said. “They helped me find my way again and (realize) how much I love this and love the people that I’m around. And it’s certainly always about these people, these players, these coaches.”
And then, to pound home the point:
“There’s a lot of things that we can build on, but you’ve got to do it. It’s – as we know, and this group is an example of it, the preseason stuff doesn’t mean (anything). You’ve got to be able to go earn it, and every single year is a new year. But I do think we’ve got a lot of really key and critical guys that we’re excited about building and continuing to develop and work with.
“And then there’s a lot of guys that might not be here that, man, I loved working with them and certainly learned a lot from this group. And so, just the appreciation is the main thing that I hope they feel.”
Who could have guessed, for example, that Puka Nacua would become such a force as a complement to Cooper Kupp in the Rams’ offensive plan? Nacua blamed himself for the third-and-14 incompletion late in the fourth quarter, even though the ball was high and he couldn’t come down with it (and there was a jersey tug that could have been pass interference but wasn’t called). That incompletion forced a punt with 4:07 left, and the Rams never got the ball back.
“I’m not disappointed in the team and my teammates, but disappointed in myself,” he said. “I put myself in opportunities to make plays, and I didn’t come down with the play in the opportunity that I had.
“… Teammates count on me to make plays. Coach counted on me to dial up my number. I just wasn’t able to come down with it. So it’ll be a nice motivator, (to) make sure I cross my i’s or … dot my, whatever the saying is.”
He can be forgiven for not remembering that you cross your t’s and dot your i’s. And he can be forgiven for that one miss, as crucial as it was, because he (a) led all receivers on the night with 181 yards, catching nine of the 10 balls thrown his way including a 50-yard touchdown play, and (b) without Nucua’s contributions, and those of a lot of other young players, the Rams wouldn’t have gotten this far.
“This guy’s a freaking warrior and he is a stud,” McVay said. “I love the mindset and mentality that he has and if he just continues to stay humble and keep working, this guy is going to be a problem for a long time.”
The youngsters had an impact, and a huge one. Of the Rams’ two-deep roster for Sunday’s game, 10 were rookies – Nucua, offensive lineman Steve Avila and outside linebacker Byron Young were starters, and Ethan Evans was the punter – and five more were second-year players, including running back Kyren Williams and cornerbacks Cobie Durant and Derron Kendrick, all listed starters.
“A jolt of energy” is how quarterback Matthew Stafford described the young players’ effect. “Man, it was fun. I had a blast. It was a heck of a challenge, but I got to sit there and push guys, but also watch guys come into their own in this league, and it’s not an easy thing to do.
“We got a lot of young guys, and not only rookies but guys who hadn’t played a lot of football but stepped into big-time roles and became huge pieces of our team and stars in our league.”
Williams, in particular, was a find, amassing 1,144 yards and 12 touchdowns in the regular season and adding 61 yards in 13 carries on Sunday night before a hand injury took him out of the game. If Williams had been available for the Rams’ final possession, might things have changed?
The best comparable these veteran eyes can come up with: Williams’ style and production is reminiscent of the young Jerome Bettis. Before he became “The Bus,” and then a Hall of Famer for his accomplishments in Pittsburgh, Bettis was a Rams rookie in 1993 in Anaheim, running for 1,429 yards and seven touchdowns and from the very beginning becoming known for moving the pile to grind out extra yards.
And Bettis and Williams share an alma mater, Notre Dame. It might be much too soon to attach those kinds of expectations to Williams, but there’s immense potential here.
There are still more signs of a bright, bright future for the Rams even beyond the productive youth currently on the roster. Depending on which estimate you believe – and OverTheCap.com and Spotrac are both fairly reliable – the Rams will have between $44 million and $48.2 million of cap space available to them this offseason, and they also have all of their draft picks, plus some expected compensatory picks coming their way.
So there will be opportunities for General Manager Les Snead to augment this roster. Given what he’s done with mid-to-low picks just in the most recent draft alone – Avila was a second-rounder, Young a third-rounder, Offensive Rookie of the Year candidate Nucua went in the fifth round and Evans, defensive end Desjuan Johnson and defensive back Jason Taylor II were picked in the seventh round – I like their chances of going into next season better than they came into this one.
There is one area where the Rams need severe improvement, special teams. The uncertainty of what they would get from their placekicker influenced play calls throughout the second half of the season, and definitely did so Sunday night. Brett Maher’s contributions were three chip-shot field goals, salvaging points out of the team’s three failures in the red zone. But Rams kickers were 14 of 25 from 40 yards and beyond.
There just happens to be a potential special teams solution at hand. John Fassel has been the Dallas Cowboys’ special teams coordinator for the last four seasons. When he was with the Rams, from 2012 through 2019, their special teams were efficient and creative. Given the uncertainty in Dallas after another Cowboys playoff flameout, it’s worth exploring the idea of bringing Fassel, an Anaheim native, back home.
As for the faces of the franchise, Aaron Donald declined to make any definitive statements on his NFL future after Sunday’s game, saying, “We gonna see, y’understand? But I’m proud of this team. I’m proud of this group. You know, we’ve got a lot more football left.”
Stafford, asked a similar question, was more definitive. “Yeah, my plan is to be back and you’re going to have to deal with me for another year, so have fun with that,” he said.
And when I asked Stafford what this season’s success portends for the team’s future, he said:
“Every team is different, right? You could ask me that question last year, and nobody would have guessed we were sitting right here doing this right now. Obviously, it was a solid season where you had a chance to get into the tournament, but didn’t get it done, but next year it’ll be a bunch of new guys I’m sure, like it is every single season. We’ll have to figure that out and figure that journey out when we get there.”
I like their chances of figuring it out.
jalexander@scng.com
