GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Rams defense dominates the Vikings winning 27-9 to advance to the NFC Divisional round on Monday night. Los Angeles will now move on to the Divisional round where they will travel to face the Philadelphia Eagles. The Rams will play on Sunday at 12pm looking to advance to the NFC Championship game.
Here are takeaways from the Rams win over the Vikings:
Rams defense shines in the brightest lights
This Rams defense at the beginning of the year was looked at like a young group trying to find their way after the retiring of Rams legend Aaron Donald.
To where we are now with them being one of the hottest defenses in the NFL.
The Rams put together an all dominant defensive performance, sacking Darnold an NFL playoff record-tying nine times.
The Rams defense not only kept the Vikings out of the end zone but they also scored a touchdown themselves.
Defensive back Akhello Witherspoon got free knocking the Minnesota quarterback Sam Darnold to the ground as the ball popped loose and rookie pass rusher Jared Verse scooped up the ball for a 57-yard touchdown with 4:35 left in the second quarter to give the Rams a 17-3 lead.
Defensive back Cobie Durant picked off Darnold earlier in the second quartered the strip-six just added to the tough night for the Vikings quarterback.
The Rams defense slowed down superstar receiver Justin Jefferson allowing him to catch just 5 of his 8 targets for 58 yards.
The Rams have allowed less than 10 points in 5 of their last 6 games and look in primed position to help the Rams to possibly extend their playoff run.
Stafford gets things going early for the Rams
Matthew Stafford & the Rams offense got things going for the Rams which helped lead Los Angeles to their big win.
It started with the first drive. The Rams received the ball first and went down to score the first points of the game.
Stafford went 6-for-6 for 64 yards including his five-yard touchdown pass to running back Kyren Williams.
The one-time Super Bowl champion followed that up going 5-for-6 throwing 60 yards on the next drive that ended up with the Rams adding three more points to take a 10-0 lead.
Stafford later added another touchdown pass late in the second quarter when he found tight end Davis Allen to give the Rams a 24-3 lead that felt like the end for the Vikings and it was.
When Stafford can come out this hot with the play of the defense it makes the Rams a hard team to beat.