Key events
TOUCHDOWN! Jaguars 0-7 Rams 7:01, 1st quarter
No Nacua, no problem. Stafford uses five different receivers on the first drive finishing with rookie Konata Mumpfield (who?) for a five-yard score. It is only his second catch in his young career. Excellent work to finish that under pressure after going for it on 4th and 3.
Jaguars 0-0 Rams 7:01, 1st quarter
The Rams are on and in Nacua’s absence Davante Adams is targeted but overthrown on the opening play. Tight end Tyler Higbee then finds the first down with an easy short pass out Stafford’s right. A nice mix of run and pass in the rain finds another couple of first downs with the tight ends featuring. Higbee in particular is keeping this drive moving with a couple of great grabs with what looks like more of a bar of soap than a ball. And here we go, McVay does not trust his kicker alert. 4th and 3 on the 16-yard line and the Rams go for it. And they get it thanks to running back Kyren Williams making the grab.
Jaguars 0-0 Rams 14:03, 1st quarter
Here we go! Lawrence and the Jaguars offense take the field for the opening drive. First play and Verse sacks the QB. Told you the pass rush was good. Not the start Jacksonville were looking for. Three and out. Punt.
Preamble
Hi and hello football fans, week seven of N-F-L is upon us and has brought with it that rarest of treats: a game between two teams (two!) with winning records in London! The 4-2 Jacksonville Jaguars host the 4-2 LA Rams at their home away from home in Wembley. This is very much cause for celebration as at 2.30pm in the UK and the earliest of mornings for fans in Los Angeles at 6.30am we have a shot at closing out this year’s London series with a cracker.
England’s capital has been graced only once before with a matchup between two “good” teams when the Giants and Packers, both 3-1, came to party in 2022. Yes it only took 15 years of slop to finally receive a blessing in Daniel Jones vanquishing Aaron Rodgers 27-22 with a fierce second-half comeback after trailing 17-3.
The G-men would go on to make the playoffs so are either the Rams or Jaguars heading in that direction? Both are well positioned with LA in a three-way tie at the top of the NFC West and Jacksonville one game back from Jones’ Indianapolis Colts in the AFC South.
It is a little early to start projecting for the postseason however so let’s take a look at today’s matchup. The big team news is the Rams are missing the great Puka Nacua at wide receiver and the Jaguars are without star linebacker Devin Lloyd. On the field the story so far for both teams has been one of successes let down by inconsistency. For LA the kicking game has been a problem while the offense, led by quarterback Matthew Stafford, has been one of the most productive in terms of yards and success rate across the league but are 24th in red zone efficiency scoring a touchdown only 50% of the time they get inside the 20-yard line. Watch out for head coach, Sean McVay, digging into his box of tricks to throw the Jaguars lots of different looks as the Rams aim to break the 30-point mark for the first time this season (second if you count the Titans).
On defense LA are much more solid and have not allowed teams to score a single touchdown twice this season. The men the Jaguars need to be most wary of are the best pass-rushing duo in football Jared Verse and Braden Fiske. The game could be won and lost with how well Jacksonville protect their quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Or they could try and get the running game going again to nullify the pressure on him after struggling against the Seahawks. Jags fans will hope the Lawrence who took down the Chiefs shows up today.
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