Rams’ youthful defense gets clutch INT from oldest player in 13-9 win over Arizona

The Los Angeles Rams entered the season with the league’s second-youngest roster. In Saturday’s pivotal, 13-9 win over the Cardinals, their oldest defensive player made their biggest play. Eighth-year veteran Ahkello Witherspoon’s acrobatic interception in the end zone with 37 seconds left may have secured the NFC West title for the Rams.

“Zero coverage,” Witherspoon told Westwood One on the field after the game. “My guy ran a go route, had my eyes back, really trying to play the ball if he threw it to me. And then he hit ‘two’ on the out and it ricocheted in the air and I was able to come down with it.”

He came down with it after Kyler Murray fired the pass a split second too early for tight end Trey McBride, who had a fantastic night with 12 catches, 123 yards and his first 2024 touchdown reception on his 98^th catch of the season. Had Murray taken a touch off his fastball, McBride may have had a second TD and Arizona (7-9) might have thrown a serious wrinkle in the NFC playoff race.

Instead, thanks to Witherspoon, two sacks from rookie Braden Fiske and a defense that has allowed 8.0 points per game over its last three outings, the Rams (10-6) are in prime position. With a boost from Cincinnati earlier on Saturday, Los Angeles now needs three combined wins in the remaining Week 17 schedule from a group of five teams (Buffalo, Cleveland, Minnesota and Washington on Sunday, or San Francisco on Monday night) to clinch a strength-of-victory tiebreaker over Seattle (9-7). That combination would guarantee the Rams a division crown and an improbable postseason berth following a 1-4 start.

“Just showing up when we needed to,” Witherspoon said. “We have a powerhouse offense. They’re not going to be incredible every single week. We’re going to have to hold it down in certain games. And we’ve been doing that this year.”

That powerhouse offense has endured a few outages during the team’s current five-game winning streak, but not because of Puka Nacua. The second-year wide receiver registered 10 catches for 129 yards, his league-leading fifth 100-yard game since Week 8, when he returned from a knee injury. After the game, Nacua said the Rams have rebounded from that 1-4 start with a unique resilience.

“I think it just shows the type of guys we have in our locker room,” he told NFL Network’s Jamie Erdahl, “and the coaches that we have and the people we have in our environment. And that there’s endurance. It takes everybody. There’s not one person that got us here. And it’s just fun because we’re not finished.”

Seattle might be, however. And if that group of five teams doesn’t settle the NFC West over the next 48 hours, the Seahawks and Rams will decide it on the field next week. The NFL will announced the kickoff day and time for their season finale once this week’s results are final.

For more information on the Rams and Cardinals, visit the L.A. Rams and Arizona team pages at ProFootballPost.com.