Rams’ defense falters after Jaylen Watson injury in loss to Broncos

This was the vision at the start of the Rams’ offseason, before the team knew that it would trade for Myles Garrett or that Aaron Donald would come out of retirement. To remake the defense with tough, physical corners to match the safety play. Cover men who wouldn’t allow receivers to get open before the Rams’ pass rush got home.

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For a half on Sunday, the vision seemed to be coming to life against the Denver Broncos. The presence of Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson helped all the returning pieces from last year’s defense – and of course the future Hall of Famer Donald – fall into their proper places. The pass rush forced Denver quarterback Bo Nix into releasing the ball before he was ready. Safeties came in to clean up tackles instead of trying to pick the right pursuit angle.

But when Watson went out with a shoulder injury at the end of the second quarter, the Rams got a reminder of how fragile an ecosystem can be as a 16-point halftime lead turned into a 30-26 loss.

“It’s tough. But this is sports, you sign up for all it,” head coach Sean McVay said in a press conference that lasted less than two minutes. “And love our group. Just came up short.”

Watson, a Day 1 free agent acquisition, opened the game with a tackle for loss on an outside run, the kind that killed the Rams a year ago with corners unwilling to get dirty in the run game. He left the game in the second quarter with a shoulder injury, but in less than two quarters he still deflected two passes, one of which easily could have turned into an interception.

McDuffie, the former All-Pro the Rams traded a first-round pick for before signing to a then-record contract extension, moved inside to the slot for this matchup to shadow the shifty Jaylen Waddle. McDuffie’s physicality left Waddle visibly frustrated with his hands on his hips.

The Rams (1-2) held the Broncos (2-1) to 67 total yards of offense in the first half, to five first downs and a 2-for-6 mark on third down before heading into the locker room. Everything was going to plan.

By that point, the Rams had built a 16-0 lead. The game plan called for a heavy dose of 13-personnel, with eight of Stafford’s first 10 passes targeting tight ends. Veteran Tyler Higbee went in motion on a play-action pass on the goal line before floating out in the flat. Stafford found him and Higbee lowered his shoulder to go through Riley Moss into the end zone.

But the Rams stalled in their next two trips into the red zone, with penalties by Steve Avila and Davante Adams forcing the team into field goals.

“We had too many penalties that put us in negative situations,” McVay said.

With Watson unable to return in the second half, though, the Rams had to turn to Emmanuel Forbes and Josh Wallace, the holdovers from last year’s cornerback room, to mixed results. Prior to Watson’s departure, Forbes was called for a pass interference after falling to his knees and grabbing Troy Franklin’s jersey to prevent a breakaway play.

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But Forbes’ bigger errors came in the second half. He was picked off in the end zone on the Broncos’ opening drive, falling to the navy paint as Pat Bryant got open for a touchdown. Wallace was spun around by Waddle on the ensuing two-point conversion as Denver cut the Rams’ lead in half.

Forbes then did not immediately return to the field after being blocked out of bounds on the next Rams punt. Ethan Evans had to re-punt the ball, and instead of Denver starting on its own 9, it got the ball on its 48 to start the next drive, a 39-yard swing. The Broncos would need just seven plays to score again, erasing the Rams’ 16-point lead.

Wallace got some redemption, intercepting an underthrown ball by Nix under pressure from Kobie Turner to set up a go-ahead 48-yard field goal by Harrison Mevis, his fourth of the game.

The Rams got the ball back with a chance to close out the game. But Stafford misread a coverage, with safety Talanoa Hufanga jumping into the flat to intercept a pass to Kyren Williams. Hufanga took the ball 66 yards for a touchdown to give the Broncos their first lead of the game.

The play made Stafford the NFL’s all-time leader in pick-sixes, but he was unfazed. Four plays later, he found an open Konata Mumpfield up the right sideline for a 48-yard touchdown to go up 26-23.

Wallace appeared to put the game away with an interception as the Broncos drove under the two-minute warning. He jostled with Bryant for position and intercepted the ball along the sidelines. But a flag came out for pass interference, extending Denver’s possession.

“I’ll look at it,” McVay said of the call. “It looked like it was a good, competitive play from my vantage point, but we’ll go back and look at it and see what they say.”

With 47 seconds left, Nix jumped over his offensive line and reached the ball into the end zone to put the Broncos back on top.

Still, Stafford put the Rams in a position to win, reaching the Denver 14 with two seconds to play. A false start moved the Rams back five yards, only for Stafford’s final throw to be intercepted by Hufanga again to seal the Rams’ fate.

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