Along with his main weapon put aside, Sean McVay proves to be the last word chameleon

WWhen the Los Angeles Rams took the sphere on Sunday at Wembley Stadium to face the Jacksonville Jaguars, they did so with out their finest offensive weapon, large receiver Puka Nacua, who was sidelined with a sprained left ankle. On condition that the Jaguares’ protection It’s been spicy sometimes beneath first-year coordinator Anthony Campanile, maybe Jacksonville may come away with a win that will transfer them to 5-2 on the season.

That is not how issues occurred. The Rams received 35-7, and Los Angeles quarterback Matthew Stafford accomplished 21 of 33 passes for 182 yards, 5 touchdowns, no interceptions and a passer score of 117.7. Stafford became the eighth quarterback in professional football history throw 5 or extra passing touchdowns of fewer than 200 yards; the final to take action was Jameis Winston for the New Orleans Saints towards the Inexperienced Bay Packers on September 12, 2021.

Though Jacksonville’s offense was very troublesome towards the Rams’ protection, the Rams’ offense was practically unstoppable beneath head coach Sean McVay. In earlier years, Los Angeles’ high offensive lineman has most popular 11 personnel (one operating again, one tight finish, three receivers) greater than every other personnel grouping. In accordance with Professional Soccer Focus, the Rams ranked first in 11 personnel scores for the 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons (and 2017 was McVay’s first season with the staff).

However with Nacua out, McVay went utterly towards his personal tendencies with a ton of 13 personnel packages: a operating again, three tight ends and a receiver. The Rams have not run a single passing play all season with 13 gamers, they usually’ve had simply eight consecutive performs. McVay started that includes it in week six towards the Baltimore Ravens after Nacua was injured with 10:02 left within the first quarter, and all eight 13 private performs towards Baltimore had been operating performs.

Towards the Jaguares, and figuring out full nicely that there can be no Nacua – who became one of the five best receivers in the NFL – McVay leaned closely on the 13-person archetype. On the finish of the sport, that they had 24 performs from 13 gamers. To place that into perspective, the Pittsburgh Steelers led the NFL with 49 performs on 13 gamers. whole from the primary to the sixth week.

Three of Stafford’s landing passes got here from 13 staff, together with one for Davante Adamswho changed Nacua as Stafford’s favourite goal. Adams caught 5 passes on eight targets for 35 yards and three touchdowns.

Since we’re digging into the story, Adams is the 11th player of all time end a sport with three or extra speeding touchdowns and 35 or fewer receiving yards. Tight finish Shane Zylstra did it for the Detroit Lions on December 24, 2022 (26 yards and three touchdowns), and Travis Kelce of the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs did it (after which some) towards the Las Vegas Raiders on October 10, 2022 with 25 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns.

The 5-2 Rams now have a bye and their subsequent sport will probably be towards the New Orleans Saints on November 2nd. They anticipate Nacua to return again for it, and with McVay calling it as he’s, that is an offense nobody desires to cope with.

Even the attackers they were celebrating!

MVP of the week

Drake Maye, QB, New England Patriots. Talking of offenses nobody desires to cope with, how concerning the sudden resurgence of the New England Patriots, who marched to 5-2 on the season after their 31-13 defeat of the Tennessee Titans. This sport was private for New England head coach Mike Vrabel, who was fired as head coach of the Titans on January 9, 2024, after a second consecutive dropping season however an total file of 54–45.

Vrabel would want Maye, the star sophomore from North Carolina, to make that revenge occur, and Maye was dedicated to it. He accomplished 21 of 23 passes for 222 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and a passer score of 135.9. On this sport Maye broke Tom Brady’s franchise file for completion proportion in a single sport with a fee of 91.3%, surpassing the GOAT’s 88.5% against the Jaguares on December 27, 2009.

Maye wasn’t simply throwing issues beneath both. He accomplished seven of 9 passes of 10 or extra air yards for 149 yards and each passing touchdowns, and even the announcers (together with former New England cornerback Jason McCourty) weren’t fairly prepared for Maye to do what he did.

Final week, my esteemed colleague Oliver Connolly delved into how Maye turned a Professional Bowl-caliber quarterback (as I did individually in an article and video). After this sport, any argument on the contrary can be fairly silly.

Vrabel’s hiring was a triumph for the Patriots, a company misplaced within the last days of Invoice Belichick in 2023 and beneath former coach Jerod Mayo in 2024.

As for the Titans, who fired coach Brian Callahan final week? Not a lot.

Video of the week

You might or could not like Patrick Mahomes’ State Farm commercials, however it appears like Mahomes’ efficiency is beginning to repay on the sphere. Early within the second quarter of Kansas Metropolis’s 31-0 defeat of the Las Vegas Raiders, Mahomes seemed to be making an attempt to get the Raiders offside, yelling earlier than the snap that “This shit by no means works, man!”

Mahomes then handed the ball off to operating again Kareem Hunt, who gained three yards on fourth-and-1, extending the offense.

Not precisely Sir Laurence Olivier, however it’ll do.

Statistics of the week

30. That is the variety of first downs the Chiefs had in that Raiders sport… and it is also the variety of performs the Raiders had been allowed to run. It is the fewest performs any NFL staff has run because the Browns ran simply 28 in a 43-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept. 12, 1999, within the franchise’s return to Cleveland with the “New Browns.”

Pete Carroll’s Raiders had no excuse for enlargement. They gained 85 whole yards and went 0-for-7 on third-down conversions. This can be a nice solution to get off the sphere earlier than having to run a whole lot of these sophisticated performs.

Elsewhere within the league

The wildest sport of the day got here in Denver, the place the Broncos watched their visitors, the visiting New York Giants, take a 19-0 lead earlier than going to work within the fourth quarter. The Broncos scored 33 factors within the last quarter-hour, turning into the primary staff in skilled soccer historical past to attain that many factors after being shut out within the first three quarters of a sport.

One sequence appeared to place the nail within the coffin for the Broncos, however Sean Payton’s staff managed to beat it. With 1:08 remaining, the Giants had fourth-and-19 at their very own 26-yard line, however rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart hit receiver Wan’Dale Robinson for precisely 19 yards. Not that Dart wanted it, as Broncos defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers was flagged in a suspect violating passerby call.

Two performs later, Dart threw downfield to receiver Beaux Collins, and Broncos cornerback Riley Moss was flagged for a even more suspicious pass interference call.

That put the ball on the Giants’ two-yard line, and Payton added one other yard to that with unsportsmanlike conduct towards referee Brad Allen (whose legacy is… It’s not exactly great). Dart ran the ball for a go-ahead landing, however kicker Jude McAtamney missed his second further level of the sport, which meant the Broncos may nonetheless win with a subject aim.

Which they did when the time expired. And there was his 33-32 last.

The Indianapolis Colts entered Sunday’s sport towards the Los Angeles Chargers ranked first in offensive DVOA (FTN Opponent-Adjusted Effectivity Metrics) and their 38-24 victory, which propelled them to an NFL-best 6-1 file (till what would occur to the 5-1 Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night time) did nothing to cloud the staff’s outlook. Daniel Jones, the previous New York Giants draft decide within the first spherical, continued his unbelievable profession comeback with 23 completions in 34 makes an attempt for 2 touchdowns, no interceptions and a passer score of 113.4. However the actual star of the sport was operating again Jonathan Taylor, who totaled 94 yards and three speeding touchdowns on 16 carries.

That is the third time this season that Taylor scored three rushing touchdowns in a single sport – he did it in week three towards the Titans, and in week 5 towards the Raiders. At this fee, Taylor has a good shot at being the primary operating again to win the NFL Most Invaluable Participant award since Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings did so on the finish of the 2012 season.

Not solely did the Browns outlast the Miami Dolphins 31-6 for his or her second win of the season; in addition they did it with a notable rookie class. The Browns turned the primary staff this decade to have rookies lead them in passing yards (quarterback Dillon Gabriel), speeding yards (operating again Quinshon Judkins), receiving yards (tight finish Harold Fannin Jr) and tackles (linebacker Carson Schwesinger) in any sport.

The Browns are nonetheless making an attempt to return to relevance, however with a rookie class like this, and an additional first-round decide in 2026 as a result of commerce that allowed the Jacksonville Jaguars to maneuver up and choose Travis Hunter, the long run really appears considerably vibrant for a franchise that spent most of this millennium on the improper aspect of all the pieces.