The Los Angeles Rams gave the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles their biggest postseason challenge, a 28-22 Divisional Round loss in Philly, in which Matthew Stafford had the ball late with a chance to win.
The Eagles steamrolled every other playoff opponent, giving the Rams what-if vibes heading into the 2025 season.
Rams defensive lineman Kobie Turner said on NFL Network's The Insiders last week that he's had the Week 3 rematch with Philly circled since the schedule came out this spring.
"I've had that loss in the back of my mind for a while," Turner said. "Obviously, it's on to a new season and on to continue to progress, but I definitely have -- I believe it's Week 3 -- circled. I mean, even in the individual training right now, we're breaking down, 'OK, this is how some of the guys, some of the offensive linemen for the Eagles, this is how they block, and this is how we're going to defeat that.'"
The Rams' biggest issue last year in two games against Philly was big runs by Saquon Barkley. In the Divisional Round matchup, Barkley blasted off for touchdown runs of 78 and 62 yards -- 140 of his 205 rushing yards. In the Week 12 game, Barkley scored on runs of 72 and 70 yards -- 142 of 255 rushing yards.
In 2025, the Rams know they can't give Barkley those creases to turn singles into home runs.
"So, I mean, ultimately, the thing that really got us last year is there's a couple of big runs," Turner said. "We stopped the run for the most part, handled it really well, but a couple of those runs where we didn't fit it up right, where Saquon was able to get to the second level fast, and he's super dangerous there. So at the end of the day, it's about getting Saquon down, and that's what we're gonna do a lot better of this year, making sure that we stop the run on the run. And you guys saw what happened when it got to second-and-long situations, third-and-long situations, guys come to life. I mean, (Jared) Verse came to life that game crazy, (Braden) Fiske came to life, and he left early.
"So I'm just super excited to be able to run that back. Obviously those guys are Super Bowl champs, they won it, they deserve it and whatnot, but this year's a new year, and man, we definitely have that game circled, I definitely have that game circled, and I'm super excited to get another crack at those guys."
