The Rams begin a stretch of playing two home games in five days hosting the Commanders on Sunday at SoFi Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:05 pacific time on CBS.
In advance of the contest, here is your First Look at Rams-Commanders, presented by the movie Migration:
Notable Commanders additions
- Selected Mississippi State CB Emmanuel Forbes Jr. in the first round of this year's draft: The No. 16 overall pick had some early-season struggles and saw his role change from starter to reserve. He became a starter again in Week 10, only to sustain an elbow injury in that game against the Giants that has sidelined him for each of Washington's last two games.
- Selected Kentucky RB Chris Rodriguez Jr. in the sixth round of this year's draft:Rodriguez contributed primarily on special teams for the first 10 weeks of the season before seeing greater involvement on offense over the last three weeks, in part due to injuries at the position. If Brian Robinson Jr. – who has handled the early-down work for the Commanders – ends up being unavailable this week due to a hamstring injury, Rodriguez would likely see more snaps. He has 31 carries for 154 yards in 11 games.
Top performers in Week 13 (Commanders had their bye in Week 14)
QB Sam Howell completed 12 of 23 pass attempts for 127 yards with an interception in the Commanders' 45-15 loss to the Dolphins.
Robinson paced Washington's backfield with 53 rushing yards on 7 carries.
WR Curtis Samuel led Commanders receivers with 65 yards on 4 receptions.
LB Cody Barton had 11 total tackles for Washington's defense.
On special teams, K Joey Slye missed his lone field goal attempt (53 yards) but made his lone extra point attempt, while P Tress Way averaged 42.8 yards per punt across five punts.
Early storylines to watch, and what they mean for the Rams
This will likely be a very busy game for the Rams' pass rush and secondary, given how often Howell drops back to pass.
The fifth-leading passer in the NFL with 3,466 yards, Howell's 509 attempts are most in the league entering Week 15. However, he has also been sacked a league-most 58 times.
Commanders assistant head coach and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy hasn't been shy about airing it out despite those pass protection struggles, and Howell has still managed to make something out of it, as his numbers show.
Thus, it will be important for Los Angeles' pass rush to take advantage of that matchup on paper, and for Los Angeles' secondary to play disciplined with the way Howell and his receivers have still been able to make plays.
