Simmons says resilient Rams have solid road to playoffs after OT win at Seattle

The NFL has seen this Hollywood production before. Last year, after a 3-6 start, Sean McVay’s Rams won seven of their last eight to reach the playoffs. This year, on the strength of a resilient 26-20 overtime win at Seattle on Sunday, Los Angeles has won three in a row after a 1-4 start.

Left for dead at the end of September, the Rams (4-4) have come out of the ground, thanks to DeMarcus Robinson’s one-handed, 39-yard touchdown catch from Matthew Stafford. The Rams’ seismic Seattle win not only put them just a half game behind first-place Arizona (5-4) in the wacky NFC West, it also plunged Seattle (4-5) from first to last place.

“I just like them,” said The Ringer’s Bill Simmons on Sunday night’s Bill Simmons Podcast. “I like Stafford. I like how resilient they are. I really like McVay. I think they’re overachieving with what they have. I like some of their young guys. They really hit a home run with Jared Verse; he’s all over the place in every one of these games.”

Verse was all over the place on Sunday, just as he has been over the Rams’ three-game winning streak. He sacked Geno Smith to help force a second-quarter punt and then, with Los Angeles protecting a 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter, dropped Kenneth Walker for a 2-yard loss. He also broke up a fourth-quarter pass intended for Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

But the rookie’s most critical effort was stuffing Walker for no gain at the Rams’ 16-yard line on a third-and-1 in overtime, after Seattle won the coin toss. Rather than kick a field goal and taking their chances against Stafford, Robinson (six catches, 94 yards, two touchdowns) and Cooper Kupp (11 catches, 104 yards), the Seahawks decided to go for it on fourth-and-1. But nose tackle Bobby Brown and rookie non-drafted free agent Omar Speights combined to stuff Walker again.

Stafford, who finished 25 of 44 for 298 yards with two touchdowns and an interception, then guided the Rams on a four-play, 83-yard march and won it on his play-action pass to Robinson. Stafford set up the play with pinpoint passes to backup receivers Tyler Johnson and Tutu Atwell, after officials ejected Puka Nacua following Riq Woolen’s second-quarter interception.

Seattle also played without a key wide receiver, DK Metcalf, inactive with an MCL sprain. But the Seahawks got a career-high 180 yards on seven catches from Smith-Njigba, whose 14-yard touchdown reception with 51 seconds left in regulation sent the game to overtime. But in the end, Simmons said, this loss could really wind up hurting Seattle.

“If I’m a Seahawks fan, this was an absolute crusher,” Simmons said. “Geno Smith had some awful, awful, awful throws. They seemed like they were going to pull it out when it got to 20-20 near the end. JSN was going nuts; it seemed like he was wide open the entire game, making plays everywhere. And then they win the toss, and then they’re going down, and it’s like, ‘Here we go. Are they going to score? Are they going to kick a field goal?’ Then, all of the sudden they get stopped on fourth-and-1, and Stafford just jumped all over it.

“This Rams team, they’re 4-4. It felt like their season was over a month ago … To me, they’re a playoff team. I think they know how to pull these games out. I trust them. I trust their infrastructure more than some of these other teams.” This Rams team suddenly has the third-best record (11-5) in the NFC since Week 11 of last season, surpassed only by Detroit (12-4) and Green Bay (12-5) over that period. Los Angeles can move above .500 and extend its streak to four games by beating Miami (2-6) on Monday Night Football at SoFi Stadium, where the Rams have won seven of their last eight.