INGLEWOOD — The Rams handled their business Sunday, as they should.
Any real peril against the Detroit Lions and Jared Goff disappeared early in the second half of L.A.’s 41-34 victory. A field goal and two extended touchdown drives wiped out a 24-17 Detroit lead, and a 41-27 lead with 4:49 left ensured that nothing short of a Hail Mary ending would prevent the Rams from being the first NFL team to clinch a playoff spot in Week 15.
Super Bowl? At 11-3, why not dream big, right?
Um …
Health is the great equalizer. When Davante Adams ran a deep pattern down the left sideline early in the fourth quarter, only to pull up limping, with what turned out to be a hamstring injury, SoFi Stadium got really quiet. And when Puka Nacua went down one series later, with what turned out to be cramps, some in the crowd started a “Puka … Puka … Puka. …” chant, maybe hoping to will him back up and back into the game.
That didn’t happen. Nacua, at least, seems more likely to be in uniform for Thursday night’s game in Seattle, the fight for the top of the NFC West becoming collateral damage in the league’s desire to wring as much prime time product (and, of course, rights fees) out of its players as possible.
As for Adams, who has 60 catches for 789 yards and 14 touchdowns this season, including four for 71 yards Sunday, and who has earned Matthew Stafford’s trust? Hard to tell at this point.
“We’ll see,” coach Sean McVay said shortly after the game ended. “I mean, he was optimistic, talking to him. He knows his body really well. They had an east and west double (coverage), he split it and then, you know, it just kind of came up where he felt it. So we’ll see what that means.
“I can’t imagine that’s good for Thursday, with just the short amount of time. I certainly wouldn’t rule him out quite yet, but it didn’t look good.”
The point? This is a good team, potentially a really good one, but there’s still a really long way to go.
The Seattle game is huge, obviously. The Seahawks ran their own record to 11-3 Sunday when Jason Myers kicked a 56-yard field goal with 22 seconds left to knock off the Indianapolis Colts, 18-16, and spoil 44-year-old Philip Rivers’ return to active duty. The Rams currently hold the tiebreaker after winning the first meeting in Inglewood last month, 21-19, but that could change Thursday night.
And the Seahawks aren’t the only ones coming up fast. San Francisco, which will host the Super Bowl Feb. 8, is 10-4. So is Chicago, and if you’re a Ram fan who remembers so many other promising seasons that ended in disagreeable winter conditions – including, but not limited to, last season in Philadelphia – doesn’t the thought of a January date in frigid Soldier Field make you shiver involuntarily? When the Bears beat Cleveland 31-3 Sunday, the game time temperature was 8 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind chill was minus-2. B-r-r-r-r-r.
Incidentally, if the name Dieter Brock comes to mind when the combination of playoffs and Soldier Field is mentioned, you really are a long-term Rams fan.
So it behooves them to keep winning. They’ve won eight of nine, with the lackluster performance in Carolina two weeks ago the only blemish. After Seattle, Thursday the Rams play at 5-9 Atlanta Dec. 29 and finish the regular season at home against 3-11 Arizona the weekend of Dec. 4-5, date and time to be determined by the league and its TV partners. (That, in all likelihood, will be Sit The Stars day.)
Then it gets serious. And remember, another advantage of finishing with the NFC’s best record is a bye in the Wild Card Round, also known as a get-healthier week. Depending on the severity of Adams’ hamstring condition, that could be critical.
“Obviously, an outstanding football player, a huge part of our offense, a guy that’s put it in in the end zone a bunch for us this year, and so you know that’ll be a tough one,” Stafford said. “I don’t know the extent of it. It didn’t look like it was a a good one. So it feels so tough for him.
“He’s been a warrior for us all year, really, to be honest with you, playing out there for us. So we’ll see. I got a lot of faith and trust in the other guys that we have in our locker room and and our coaching staff to put us in a great position to go out there, let our play do the talking and just go play.”
So that’s what it comes down to for players and coaches, to focus on what’s immediately in front of them and worry about the rest if and when they get there. And that might not be a bad way to look at it as a fan, either.
“Keep getting better,” Kyren Williams said. “I think that’s been the model or the focus of this whole year, is we’re just gonna keep getting better each and every single game, and not looking at the so-called results but more of just like how can we improve. I don’t think we’ve ever heard anybody (talk) about playoffs or anything like that. It’s just consistently getting better every day.”
Williams and Blake Corum have become quite the tandem in the backfield, with Corum becoming at least a co-star as the two alternate series and both stay fresh. Sunday Williams carried 15 times for 78 yards and two touchdowns. Corum carried 11 times for 71 and one score, along with a 24-yard run around left end that set up the Rams’ final touchdown of the day, Stafford’s 11-yard toss to Parkinson with 4:49 left.
“Me and Kyren, we have a great relationship,” Corum said. “We push each other to the limits. We want to see each other succeed. I get hyped when he breaks those long runs or runs someone over, or like that one (a 6-yard run in the fourth quarter) where he bounced it all the way across the field. That gets me hyped, and vice versa.”
Yes, the potential is there for a great ending. But it’s like waiting for Christmas. No sense counting your potential gifts before you actually get them.
jalexander@scng.com