Puka Nacua saves the day as Rams survive overtime, avoid collapse vs. Colts

The Los Angeles Rams beat the Indianapolis Colts 29-23 in overtime to improve to 2-2 on Sunday. In what could have been the worst collapse of Sean McVay’s coaching career, the Rams managed to hold the Colts at the end of regulation and then score a touchdown on the first drive of overtime, fittingly ending in the hands of Week 4 star Puka Nacua.

Again.

The Rams could have felt like a demoralized team at 1-3 if not for resilience to the very end, so instead stand at 2-2 with a chance to get Cooper Kupp back next week against the Eagles.

The Rams came out swinging in this one jumping to a 23-0 lead. The offense slowed down a bit as the game went on and LA had to settle for some field goal attempts in some spots where the team certainly would’ve preferred touchdowns. Sean Mcvay and the squad had opportunities to put this game out of reach, but they never did. They let the Colts hang around and it almost cost them the game.

Kyren Williams opened up the scoring and Sean McVay used the running game effectively for a while. The offense was humming for the first quarter as the Rams punched in two touchdowns before the quarter had even ended. Brett Maher had a mixed performance as he missed some field goals but for a lot of the game the offense was scoring and the Rams were in control.

At some point in the game, and I am not sure exactly when it happened, Matthew Stafford started limping and the offense began to faulter. As mentioned above Maher, missed some kicks, and the Colts came fighting back to make it a 23-23 game. The Rams gave up 23 unanswered points. The defense played competently for a lot of the game but as the Rams offense slowed down, the defense started to show some cracks too.

The Rams have asked Raheem Morris and his defense to do a lot this year. So far this season it is hard to blame the defense for any of the losses. The offense has had ample opportunities to put games out of reach and the offense has not delivered. The offense has put the defense in bad spots, and not so much the other way around. However the defense will take some heat this week for giving up 23 points and not stopping the Colts on some crucial fourth downs.

Stafford had a chance to put the game away right around the two minute warning but the offense did nothing and they punted back to the heated up Anthony Richardson who looks like a great player in his rookie season. The Rams defense forced a Colts punt and gave Stafford and McVay another chance to win the game. There was no comeback magic on this drive as the Rams had to punt the ball back to Indy. The game went to overtime. From the Rams perspective this game should not have gone to overtime.

LA won the coin toss in overtime and I am saying this again: The Rams had another chance to win this game. This time the Rams offense answered the call. Stafford put this game away with a strike to Puka Nacua, who scored the first touchdown of his career, and walked it off as the Rams won. There should be plenty to talk about this week but right now the Rams won, so the team can be satisfied with the result, but may want to examine their process.