Rams, Week 3 — What Repeats: Play-Action Came and Went

Last week this show said play-action was back. This week it came and went inside one game. In Denver the Rams used a fake on 13 of 58 dropbacks, 22 percent, 20-first of the 32 offenses this week. Across all of last season the rate was 35 percent, and against the Giants a week ago it was 34. The split by half is the story. 11 of the 13 fakes came before halftime, on 33 dropbacks. After halftime, two fakes on 25 dropbacks, and both came after Denver had tied it at 16. And the fakes did not carry the yards. Matthew Stafford's 12 play-action throws went five for 57 yards, under five yards a throw. His other 41 throws, leaving out two spikes, went 25 for 333, about eight a throw. That is the second week in a row the throws with no fake out-produced the throws with one, after a 2025 in which his play-action throws were the more productive kind.

The ball charting explains the rest of a 390-yard night that ended in a four-point loss. 34 of Stafford's 53 throws were charted catchable, 64 percent, tied with Green Bay for 20-third of the 32 offenses this week, with his two spikes to stop the clock left out. Last season he was at 73 percent, so this was well under his norm. 13 throws were contested — a receiver and a defender arriving together — 25 percent, seventh-highest in the league this week, against 15 percent last season. Three throws were charted interception-worthy, balls a defender should have caught, six percent, seventh-highest this week, against two percent last season. He was intercepted twice. Here the halves matter again: in the first half, 22 of 31 throws were catchable and none was interception-worthy. In the second, 12 of 22 were catchable and all three interception-worthy throws arrived. The receivers added three drops on the 34 catchable balls, nine percent, seventh-highest this week, against just over five last season.

Denver came after him. Five or more pass rushers on 24 of the 58 dropbacks, 41 percent, seventh-highest rate any offense faced this week. That number has climbed every week: 14 percent against San Francisco, 34 against the Giants, 41 on Sunday, against 30 percent across last season. Four sacks, and the charting put none of them on the quarterback. Stafford left the pocket on nine of the 58 dropbacks, 16 percent, right at his 2025 rate.

The run game held its line for a third week. Denver showed six or fewer defenders in the box on six of 22 designed runs, 27 percent, 20-eighth of the 32 this week. That is three straight weeks in the bottom five: 20-ninth, 20-eighth, 20-eighth. Last season this offense saw a light box on 52 percent of its designed runs. The 22 runs gained a hundred six yards, 4.8 per designed run, eighth in the league this week, and the 16 runs into a loaded box gained 74 of those yards on their own. Three defenses have crowded the box against the Rams, and the run game has been top 10 by yards per designed run in two of the three weeks.

Now the defense, and the question last week's notebook left open: which week was the pass rush. The answer is Week 1. Los Angeles sent five or more rushers on eight of Bo Nix's 35 dropbacks, 23 percent, 20-first of the 32 this week. Against the Giants it was 47 percent and eighth. Against San Francisco, 14 percent. Last season, just under 20. So the 47 was the outlier, not the pattern. What held was the other thing: 18 of Nix's 34 throws were catchable, 53 percent, the lowest rate any defense allowed this week, and it was the lowest last week too, at 44 percent against the Giants. Last season opponents threw catchable balls 72 percent of the time against this defense. Four of the 34 were interception-worthy, 12 percent, the third-highest rate a defense forced this week; the Rams caught one of them. The charting does not say the four-man rush produced the throws. It says the rush mostly stayed at four and the throws were still bad. The league's least catchable passing has now come against this defense two weeks running, once behind a heavy rush and once without one.

Against the run, the heavy box went away and the run defense held up anyway. Los Angeles showed a light box on 14 of Denver's 25 designed runs, 56 percent, ninth-highest in the league this week, after 36 percent in Week 1 and 24 in Week 2. Last season it was 65. Those 25 runs gained 78 yards, 3.1 per designed run, 20-second of the 32, where low is the good direction for a defense. The runs into a light box gained 39 yards on 14 carries. The lighter box did not cost this defense.

The stat lines have settled, scored half-PPR. Stafford: 30 of 55 for 390, two touchdowns and two interceptions, 20.9. Kyren Williams: 15 carries for 88, +6 catches on seven targets for 70, 18.8. Konata Mumpfield caught four of eight for 93 and a touchdown, 17.3. Davante Adams, seven of 13 for a hundred 37, 17.2. Tyler Higbee, eight of 11 for 62 and a score, 16.2. For Denver, Nix went 17 of 34 for a hundred 86, two touchdowns, an interception and a rushing touchdown, 24.1. Pat Bryant caught both his targets for 44 and a score. J.K. Dobbins ran 17 times for 49.

One line on the yardstick. This is the last week the comparison is to last season, a different roster in places and a year older everywhere. From here on, the Rams get measured against the Rams of this season.

For anyone new: last season the Rams went 12 five. This season they lost to San Francisco 27 to seven, beat the Giants 28 to six, and lost at Denver 30 to 26 on Sunday night. One and two. Last week's notebook had three lines. Play-action back at last season's rate: it did not hold, and it left the game after halftime. Opponents crowding the box against the run: held, for a third week, and the run game keeps producing anyway. A pass rush sending five or more at nearly half of dropbacks: did not hold, and the uncatchable throws came anyway. What goes in the notebook now is Stafford's ball after halftime — three interception-worthy throws in 22 — and a pass rush faced that has gone up every week. Next is the Eagles in Philadelphia.

That's your Rams — every game, by the numbers. This is Muffed: we do the same deep dive for all 32 teams. Follow the Rams show wherever you're listening, so next week's recap lands the moment it's out. No theater. Just the football.

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_Data via nflverse. Charting: FTN Data via nflverse._