Puka Nacua, Kyren Williams Boost Rams from NFL Pretender to Sneaky NFC Playoff Pick

Rams RB Kyren WilliamsSean M. Haffey/Getty Images

During the 2023 offseason, the Los Angeles Rams felt like a team that would go as far as aging veterans Matthew Stafford, Aaron Donald and Cooper Kupp could carry them. After beating the New Orleans Saints 30-22 on Thursday night, though, it’s clear that the Rams are much, much more.

Strong contributions from young players like Puka Nacua and Kyren Williams have helped make L.A. a legitimate threat in the NFC.

Stafford, Donald and Kupp—all three sidelined by injuries at the end of last season—have been big. Stafford, in particular, has looked like a different quarterback after entering the 2022 season with elbow issues.

“So, it’s kind of nice that I’ll be able to go out there and have a much more normal offseason experience and be able to be out there and do what I love to do,” Stafford said in April, per ESPN’s Sarah Barshop.

The 35-year-old has looked more like the quarterback who helped lead L.A. to a Super Bowl in 2021, and we saw him make incredible throw after incredible throw on Thursday night.

Rookie guard Steve Avila has helped solidify an offensive line that was in shambles last season, which has certainly helped Stafford. After being sacked 29 times in nine games in 2022, Stafford has been sacked 26 times in 14 games.

Since returning to the field in Week 5, Kupp has again been one of the league’s most uncoverable receivers. Nacua, who now has 1,327 receiving yards and five touchdowns, has been a surprise rookie star and the perfect downfield complement to Kupp.

Williams has become a force as a dual-threat back, and he’s shown that he can wear down opposing defenses that focus too heavily on the passing game. He rushed for 104 yards and a touchdown on Thursday and, in doing so, went over the 1,000-yard mark in his 11th game.

Seam McVay is still an innovative play-caller who can make ancillary targets like Demarcus Robinson dangerous by scheming them into space.

The Rams are balanced and dangerous offensively, as evidenced by the 30 points they just dropped on New Orleans’ sixth-ranked scoring defense. They’re less sound on the other side of the ball, but they do have talent.

While Donald remains the heart of the Rams’ defensive front, rookies Kobie Turner and Byron Young have made that front a force.

Are the Rams perfect? No. They’ve struggled to close out games defensively over the past two weeks, and they’ve experienced their fair share of special teams miscues—they had a blocked/botched punt and a missed field goal against New Orleans.

However, McVay and general manager Les Snead deserve a ton of credit for the work they’ve done since the start of the spring. They’ve successfully turned over an older roster and made the Rams not just a pleasant surprise, but a team that is storming toward the postseason as a clear contender.

The rest of the NFC playoff picture, for the most part, remains muddled. Heading into the rest of the Week 16 slate, the playoff race looks like the following:

The 7-8 Saints, 7-7 Seattle Seahawks, 6-8 Atlanta Falcons and 6-8 Green Bay Packers are also in the playoff mix.

We’ll set aside the 49ers for a moment. With the NFC West title and the inside track to the No. 1 seed in hand, San Francisco appears to be a legitimate Super Bowl threat.

The Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles—the other two NFC teams who have locked up a postseason berth—are not in the same class as the 49ers, even if their records would suggest otherwise.

Philadelphia, the defending conference champ, has lost three in a row and appears particularly vulnerable defensively. Coming into Thursday, the Eagles ranked 15th in net yards per pass attempt allowed, 28th in passing yards allowed and 26th in points allowed. While Philly is still recording sacks at a fairly high rate (39), it has recorded just six interceptions.

It wasn’t a total shock to see the Eagles lose to the 49ers or on the road to Dallas, but last week’s loss to Seattle was eye-opening. The defense is allowing teams to hang around in games, and if Seattle can climb back to win, so can a team like Los Angeles.

The Cowboys have lost only one of their last six games, but that loss was also telling. The Buffalo Bills leaned on James Cook and the ground game to control Dallas, grinding out a 31-10 victory.

That game highlighted a simple fact. If teams are willing and capable of sticking with the run, they can find big plays—the Cowboys have allowed 4.3 yards per carry on the season. If Buffalo provided a blueprint, the Rams can follow it.

The Cowboys should be dangerous in a home playoff game, but if they go on the road against the Eagles or 49ers, they’ll be in trouble. Right now, there’s no way to even guarantee that the Cowboys would outlast the Saints or Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a road matchup.

The Detroit Lions, who can clinch the NFC North this weekend, appeared ready to challenge the Eagles and 49ers in the NFC early in the season. However, recent losses to the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears have shown that last season’s defensive liabilities haven’t completely disappeared. And if Jared Goff doesn’t play a nearly perfect game, Detroit’s offense can’t compensate.

The winner of the NFC South may well have a losing record and will be a short-term threat at best. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Saints or Falcons might steal one at home, but they probably wouldn’t be favored against L.A. if they played right now.

Those aforementioned 49ers? We saw during their three-game midseason losing streak how vulnerable they can become with one or two key injuries. Their tendency to occasionally struggle against the run—the Cardinals topped 200 rushing yards in Week 15 and the 49ers have allowed 4.3 yards per carry on the year—could also be a postseason problem.

The Rams played a close one against San Francisco in the first meeting (a 30-23 loss), and L.A. is a much better team than it was early in the season.

While the Rams have lost to the Cowboys, Eagles and 49ers during the regular season, those losses feel like a lifetime ago. Stafford was still getting back into a rhythm against San Francisco and Philadelphia, and L.A. didn’t have Williams against Dallas.

Stafford (328 yards, 2 TDs on Thursday) is healthy now and playing some of the best football of his career. The emergence of Williams has given the Rams the ability to grind out plays on the ground, and L.A.’s new-look wide receiver corps is as good as any in football.

McVay can scheme up offensive production with the best of them, and with a defense brimming with young talent, Los Angeles has become one of the hottest teams in football. The Rams’ only loss over the past six weeks came in overtime against the AFC-leading Baltimore Ravens.

Based on the history of teams seeded sixth or worse in the playoffs, it’s unlikely Los Angeles makes a deep run. But a good matchup here, an injury there and a lucky bounce or two could be all it takes.

The Rams are a squad that no team should want to see on Wild Card Weekend, and possibly even after that.