Rams DT Sebastian Joseph-Day on losing to lowly Jets: “Anyone can get got.”
INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- Still processing a disappointing loss to the New York Jets, defensive tackle Sebastian Joseph-Day tried to explain the unexplainable -- how a team like the Los Angeles Rams that was considered by some NFL observers as a possible Super Bowl contender could lose to another team that had lost 13 straight games this season?
“Honestly, like I said this league is very competitive, week in and week out,” lamented Joseph-Day. “When you’re going against the best of the best, anyone can get got – that’s what I feel a lot of people don’t realize about this league.”
Oddsmakers had the Rams as 17-point favorites entering Sunday’s contest and no one gave the Jets a chance to win on the road. But at one point the Jets looked like the team that should have been favored, jumping out to a 20-3 lead midway through the third quarter and holding on for a 23-20 victory, the team’s first win of the season.
As usual, Rams head coach Sean McVay shouldered the blame, saying he did not have his team prepared to play.
“I got to do a better job getting us ready to go,” McVay said. “And really it was in all three phases, it wasn’t good enough. This loss will demoralize us only as much as we allow it to. It’s going to be embarrassing and I’m sick to my stomach about it. But we have two games left and we have got to find a way to rebound.”
The Rams missed out on an opportunity to clinch a playoff berth for the third time in four seasons under McVay, and now will have to figure out how to win on the road against the NFC West division-leading Seattle Seahawks.
L.A. finished 2-of-11 on third down, had a punt blocked and for the first time in eight games did not create a turnover on defense. The Rams had scored defensive touchdowns in three straight games before Sunday’s loss the lowly Jets.
Bottom line, the Rams lacked urgency. The Jets played like a team that had more at stake; they were hungrier for the win.
“It’s the NFL,” Rams safety John Johnson III said. “Those guys get paid, too. It’s the name of the game -- it’s a high-stakes, high-risk league. You’ve got to go out there and come to play every week, and today they got the best of us.”
The last two offensive plays for the Rams served as a microcosm of the game. On third-and-four from New York’s 37-yard line with a little over four minutes left in the game, Goff threw down the sideline to Cam Akers, but overshot the rookie running back who had a step on the defender, not giving him a chance to make a play.
Instead of kicking a potential 55-yarder with new kicker Matt Gay, McVay chose to go for it on fourth down. Jets cornerback Marcus Maye – the team’s best defensive back – made a nice, diving play to break up the pass intended for tight end Gerald Everett deep down the sideline.
Both plays seemed like low percentage throws when the Rams just needed four yards to move the chains.
Goff was asked what he saw on both plays and had this to say:
“The first to Cam, I would have liked to give him a little bit more of a chance there, or maybe progress through the play. I didn’t love where I put it,” he said. “The second one, yeah, I got everything I wanted. I threw it out there and No. 20, Maye, he made a great play. I mean, he made a great defensive play.”
Good teams that expect to make deep playoff runs are supposed to beat teams like the hapless Jets.
Last week, the Seattle Seahawks defeated the Jets 40-3 at home.
On Sunday, the Rams lost to the previously winless Jets at SoFi Stadium, and at one point trailed by 17 points
With two games left in the regular season, these two, differing results might provide a good indicator of where the Rams and the Seahawks will be at the end of the year.
