What we learned from Los Angeles' 30-20 win

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1. Nacua and Kupp fuel the Rams' season-changing victory. Puka Nacua was – surprise! — active for Thursday's game, and he was also surprisingly active in the win, fueling the Rams' upset of the Vikings with seven catches for 106 yards as if he had never left the lineup. Matthew Stafford looked for Nacua early and often and fed him the ball on three of the first five plays. He was also back Cooper Kupp; He started a little slower but drew two pass interference flags in the red zone and worked to take the lead after Stafford brilliantly dodged a sack and found Kupp for a welcome back touchdown in the second quarter. Nacua and Kupp entered Thursday having played just 24 snaps together this season, and the Rams' offense suffered as a result. But even Demarcus Robinson blossomed when the band got back together, with both receptions going into the second half. Stafford just looked different on Thursday — not the sometimes exhausted, harried version we saw without his top two targets playing. The Rams have turned their season around over the last four days with the return of the dynamic duo from LA.
2. The Vikings suffered their second loss in four days, a serious injury to Darrisaw. The Vikings' trajectory has changed in less than a week, both with their first two losses of the season after an 0-5 start and with the left tackle's injury Christian Darrisaw. Towards the end of the first half, Darrisaw was overrun and eventually eliminated. Even worse, it was a play that the Vikings technically didn't even need to run because they were protected against their own end zone. Darrisaw has been replaced by David Quessenberrywho, according to Next Gen Stats, allowed six pressures on 14 pass block snaps and was at least partially responsible for that Jared verse's 13-yard sack with five minutes left and the Vikings on the ground. Minnesota started off steep, like Sam Darnold ripped apart the Rams' defense with precision early, but things had stalled before Darrisaw left the game. Even though they showed some life on a few field goal attempts in the second half, it wasn't enough. The Rams got away with a facemask that went past the game-winning safety (another sack by Verse), but the protection failed on a key play with a chance to tie the game late.
3. Why couldn't the Vikings find Jefferson late? During the early offensive fireworks Justin Jefferson was the Vikings' go-to guy, shredding the Rams' defense in the first half and following up with catches for 27 and 14 yards on the third-quarter field goal drive that gave the Vikings a 17-14 lead. Darnold missed Jefferson, who was stumbling in the end zone on third-and-goal before that punt, and then…he never saw the ball again. The Vikings attempted seven passes, and none had Jefferson's name on them. Granted, the Rams tried their best to get the ball anywhere but into Jefferson's hands, but it felt like Darnold wasn't even looking his way on most of those throws. Some of them worked. Not enough. Darnold was accurate most of the night but struggled on third down. He scored Aaron Jones had quite a fade but couldn't convert first downs on his other five third-down throws. The third-and-goal pass was Jefferson's only third-down target of the game. He had his first 100-yard effort in five games, which was great. But the Vikings really needed him, especially with TJ Hockenson The return is still a week away, but drives remained tight in the second half.
4. Did this game turn both teams into trade deadline buyers? There have been some rumors surrounding the Rams (no, not the silly one about Stafford) that they might look to move on from some of their higher-priced veterans. At 1-4 less than a week ago this idea made more sense. But at 3-4, the season is suddenly back on track – especially given the chaotic conditions in the NFC West this year. So much so that they tend to be buyers rather than sellers. The return of Nacua and Kupp has revitalized the offense and reinvigorated Stafford, at least in one game. With Rams general manager Les Snead, anything is possible. The Vikings have now lost two in a row and are in danger of falling into the tide of the highly competitive NFC North. I don't get the feeling that the Vikings view two losses as one earth collapse; This is still a team that still feels on top of their game in terms of projections and they have a lot of salary cap space next year with 2025 looking like a big year so it seems a bit premature to consider their future assets to blow up. On the other hand, if the NFC is as wide open as it feels, the Vikings might consider a targeted move or two – perhaps OT will help if Darrisaw is out for an extended period of time.
5. McVay vs. KOC proved to be a good show early on. If you're a fan of fairly attacking football – and who isn't? — then this game is just right for you. At least the first 20 minutes or so. Things were a little slower in the penalty-heavy second quarter, but the first quarter was just surgery. A beautiful comeback from deep for Jefferson for 17 yards. An over route to JJ for 17 more. The misdirection on Nacua's first 13-yard catch. A review of Nacua for 21 more. And so on and on. The first four series, all of which ended in 70-yard TD drives, were purely offensive art. Great coaching and execution early on, especially for a game on a short week. That's to be expected since there are two of the better young coaches in the game in Sean McVay and Kevin O'Connell. Did O'Connell have to start a drive on the play where Darrisaw was injured? I'm not sure you can blame the coach for this awkward play against his own end zone. McVay elevated his offense again with some nice designs, including the fade to Robinson, on the go-ahead TD drives. That evening, the teacher – McVay, although he is younger – brought out the best in his former “student” in his first face-to-face meeting as a head coach.

Next-Gen Stats Insights for the Vikings-Rams (via NFL Pro): After producing 1 pressure on 13 passes (7.7%) in the first half, Jared Verse generated 3 pressures on 10 passes (30.0%) against the Vikings in the second half. Verse failed to generate a single pressure in six face-offs against Vikings starting left tackle Christian Darrisaw before suffering an injury on the Vikings' second-to-last play of the first half. In the second half, Verse generated 3 pressures and 0.5 sacks in 8 matchups against backup left tackle David Quessenberry (37.5%).

NFL Research: Justin Jefferson passed WR Jake Reed (6,433) for the fifth-most receiving yards in team history. Jefferson now has 6,545 career yards, trailing only Adam Thielen (6,682), Anthony Carter (7,636), Randy Moss (9,316) and Cris Carter (12,383).