Los Angeles Rams rookie sensation Jared Verse watched a pigskin bound loose before him after Sam Darnold coughed up the sacred oblong.
Verse scooped it up, dashed 57 yards, then went horizontal diving into the end zone to seemingly end any Minnesota Vikings threat in an eventual 27-9 wild-card victory on Monday night.
“I saw that ball loose, I was like, now let me pick this up,” Verse said, via the team’s official website. “Let me show them, I’m trying to get a little wide receiver rep.”
The Defensive Rookie of the Year frontrunner gave the Rams a 17-3 lead with his recovery and return. Reaching 19.88 mph, he became the fastest 260-plus pound ball-carrier over the past seven seasons (since 2018), per Next Gen Stats. Verse became the first rookie with a defensive touchdown in a playoff game since J.J. Watt in 2011 — the fourth rookie in NFL history with a 50-plus yard defensive TD in a playoff game.
The play highlighted a smothering day for the Rams defense, which collected nine sacks, tied for most in a playoff game in the Super Bowl era, and set the Rams’ playoff franchise record.
Verse generated the TD return, but he wasn’t one of the eight players who earned at least 0.5 sacks, the most of any team in a playoff game since 1982. Kobie Turner led the way with 2.0 sacks. Neville Gallimore and Byron Young each had 1.5. Ahkello Witherspoon, Cobie Durant and Desjuan Johnson had 1.0 apiece. Michael Hoecht and Braden Fiske rounded things out with 0.5 sacks each.
L.A.’s defense wasn’t just taking down Darnold. They were doing so in high-leverage situations. Four of the nine sacks came on third or fourth downs.
“There was matchups that we liked, and I think the biggest thing for us is not really about the other team,” Hoecht said. “It’s about playing within our scheme and structure, trusting each other to be in the right spots and be on time. The way this group has come from where we started the year to now, we just have a really good feeling of timing and tempo and playing together.”
The Rams held an explosive Vikings offense to just 269 total yards and 3.8 yards per play on 71 snaps. The secondary forced Darnold to hold the ball, and the front applied the pressure. According to NGS, six of the nine sacks occurred at least 4.4 seconds after the snap, highlighting the complementary play of the secondary and D-line.
Entering the 2025 season, there were questions about how the young crew on defense would continue to ascend with Raheem Morris leaving for Atlanta. New coordinator Chris Shula’s crew didn’t miss a beat. After Monday night, there are no lingering inquiries.
“I thought Chris and the defensive coaches did an excellent job of creating an understanding of the intent, why we’re doing it, and then being able to get it done, get to them at the right times, and then the execution to come to life, there’s nothing better than that,” coach Sean McVay said.
Now they need a repeat performance in the Divisional Round against Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, and a Philadelphia Eagles offense that put up 37 points with 314 rush yards in a Rams Week 12 loss.
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