This Sunday, the Los Angeles Rams hosted the Las Vegas Raiders for their week seven game. Sofi Stadium, the shared home of the LA Rams and Chargers, is a sort of home away from home for the Raiders, as their popularity in the Los Angeles area is extremely high. The Las Vegas faithful’s chants and jeers could be heard echoing throughout the stands.
The contest was back and forth for quite a bit, up until the Raiders began to slip by giving up several turnovers. In the end, the Rams were able to capitalize on these mistakes and get a win over the Raiders with a final score of 20-15.
The first quarter went scoreless for both sides, but was an impressive display of the Raiders defense. The Raiders made great efforts to stop the Rams in the first half, despite having to play without Christian Wilkins who remains on the Injured Reserve list. Safety Isaiah Pola-Mao made the bulk of the tackles for the Raiders, and defensive end Maxx Crosby put up the only sack for the Raiders. Late in the second half, Las Vegas cornerback, Nate Hobbs made an interception he returned for 35 yards.
Although their offense was stopped many times in the first quarter, the Raiders were able to put up the first points of the game with a field goal made by kicker Daniel Carlson, making the score 3-0. As a matter of fact, Daniel Carlson was the only Raider to score any points the entire game, making an impressive five field goals for a total of 15 points.
The Raider’s inability to score any touchdowns in large part was attributed by fans and analysts alike to quarterback Aidan O’Connell being forced out of the game in the first half with what is suspected to be a broken thumb. Quarterback Gardner Minshew was brought in to replace O’Connell, and gave up 4 turnovers.
In the eyes of some, the Ram’s offense may have struggled to get going in Sunday’s game.
“The offense sputtered,” said Victor Ruelas, “but the defense scored points and created a short field to capitalize on Raider mistakes.”
Mr. Ruelas is a teacher here at ERHS in the Social Science department, and has been a fan of football and the Rams since 1973. He shared his thoughts on Sunday’s game.
“… Stafford is missing several key weapons including Puka and Cooper and a few starting offensive linemen.” Ruelas commented. “Kyren Williams made some big plays.”
Running Back Kyren Williams did indeed have a major part to play in the success of the Ram’s offense. Williams was able to score two touchdowns and put up 76 rushing yards. Quarterback, Matthew Stafford also had an impressive game, passing for 154 yards and a higher completion percentage. The only hindering factor that the Rams had was rookie kicker, Joshua Karty who missed an extra point attempt on Kyren William’s second touchdown and a 35 yard field goal attempt.
As far as what week seven means for Rams, it’s a hopeful indicator that their team will be able to move past the injuries that have hurt the offense. There’s still 11 weeks left in the regular season, plenty of time to take what they learned from this weeks win and hopefully turn it into a lesson for future games.
As for the Raiders, this loss makes it three in a row for Las Vegas, a strain of bad luck that has fans and analysts speculating. Something that could be heard from the Raiders fans leaving Sofi Stadium was their frustrations with quarterback Gardner Minshew. Although Minshew was trusted to be the starting quarterback for the Raiders at the start of the season, his erratic and anxious play style has lead to numerous turnovers and sacks.
In all likelihood, it has been predicted that this loss will lead the Raiders to cut Minshew and bring on a new quarterback to replace him. As of the writing of this article, Adam Schefter of ESPN has reported that the Raiders will sign former Arizona Cardinals quarterback Desmond Ridder, which may be a sign that Minshew is soon to be cut from the Las Vegas Raiders.
