Best and worst players in Week 9 win

Robinson was already playing well before Puka Nacua got ejected, but he really stepped up afterwards, too. He caught his third touchdown pass in the last two games, a 1-yarder from Matthew Stafford where he juked Riq Woolen with a jab-step at the line of scrimmage and got wide open for his quarterback. Then in overtime, he caught another touchdown pass from Stafford, the game-winner from 39 yards out to give the Rams a victory. He finished with six catches for 94 yards and two touchdowns.

Kupp didn’t put up big numbers against the Vikings last week but he had a huge performance back home in Washington on Sunday. He was targeted 14 times by Stafford, catching 11 of those passes for 104 yards with a long of 23 yards. His 23-yarder was a terrific toe-dragging catch along the sideline, picking up a first down for Los Angeles. He consistently got open for Stafford, even if many of his routes were on the shorter side and close to the line of scrimmage.

Verse just keeps getting better. After recording 1.5 sacks last week against the Vikings, he added another sack on Sunday and was equally good against the run. Yes, he jumped offsides a couple of times, but his play on the field far outweighed those infractions. He finished with four tackles and a sack, consistently blowing things up in the run game and allowing the linebackers to rally to the ball.

Kinchens has had some growing pains this season, getting lost in coverage at times, but he was arguably the game’s MVP for the two red zone interceptions he came up with. The first was returned 103 yards for a touchdown to give the Rams a 20-13 lead, and the second came at the Rams’ 7-yard line to prevent Seattle from potentially tying the game. They were the first two interceptions of Kinchens’ career and they couldn’t have come at better times.

Sean McVay said it after the game: It felt like Fiske was in the backfield all afternoon. He’s not wrong, either. Fiske had four tackles and two sacks, recording two QB hits and two tackles for a loss in the win. Even when he wasn’t the one taking the quarterback down, he was knocking Geno Smith off his spot and allowing his teammates to clean things up – which is exactly what happened on Tyler Davis’ half-sack.

With one of his top receivers throwing as many punches as he had receptions, Stafford leaned on Kupp and Robinson at wide receiver. Stafford dodged defenders in the pocket and extended plays with his legs to avoid sacks. His completion rate wasn’t very high, completing 25 of 44 passes, but he threw for 298 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception on a deep shot before halftime.  

Nacua came into the game listed as questionable but he was active and started on offense. Unfortunately, he didn’t even make it to halftime because he was ejected in the second quarter for throwing a punch at a Seahawks defender after Matthew Stafford’s interception. He finished the afternoon with just one catch for 11 yards on four targets, making it the worst game in his NFL career.

Parkinson did nothing as a receiver in this game and he appeared to get benched for Davis Allen in 11 personnel packages. In fact, it was Hunter Long and Allen in on a 12 personnel play late in the fourth quarter, so unless there was an injury, he was demoted to third-string. He wasn’t targeted a single time and was called for illegal formation in the red zone, setting the Rams back 5 yards for that penalty.

Durant had a tough day against Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who caught seven passes for a career-high 180 yards and two touchdowns. Durant was trailing Smith-Njigba in coverage all game long, getting beat on crossers, over the top and on just about any route the elusive receiver ran. Durant was coming off a great game against the Vikings but this was a rough outing for the young cornerback.