Biggest Surprise of Week 1

 


Written By: Spencer Teman, of Swish Tribune

In my eyes, the most surprising team up and down during this first full week of NFL action had to be the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams went into Seattle, one of the toughest road environments in the league, and absolutely took it to the Seahawks in dominant fashion, 30-13. 

The Rams did this all without arguably the best player on their team, definitely their biggest offensive weapon, Cooper Kupp. Kupp was placed on the IR before the season and will miss a minimum four games for the Rams to open up the season. But on Sunday the Rams proved that their offense is not all centered around Cooper Kupp. 

After the Rams closed out last season missing Matthew Stafford for their last seven games, we saw a healthy Matthew Stafford takeover the reins on Sunday. Stafford looked good as new as he threw for 334 yards on the day. He did this with the help of two very unknown receivers outside the Rams organization.

These receivers were Tutu Atwell and rookie Puka Nacua. The two each went for 119 receiving yards, combing for 238 of the 334 yards that Stafford racked up. The Rams would've loved to have Kupp healthy and ready to start the season, but these guys filled in his place and never looked back. 

On the ground, it was Kyren Williams rather than Cam Akers getting the spotlight as he went for two rushing touchdowns. Switching over to the defense, this did not look like a defense that went 5-12 just a season ago, this defense looked dominant. The defense held Geno Smith to under 120 total scrimmage yards and limited the ground game, mainly Kenneth Walker, as well. 

The Rams were nowhere near favored or projected to go into Lumen Field on Sunday and absolutely dominate the Seahawks, but that's just what they did. The Rams sure have turned a lot of heads this past week, let's see if they can keep it up. It's a small sample size, only being 1 game, but can the Rams keep this momentum and good play going throughout the rest of the season. 

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