2021 NFL Power Rankings Week 10: Cardinals, Titans overcome the odds
By Randy Gurzi
51. . . Previous: 2nd. Los Angeles Rams. 4. team
Facing the Tennessee Titans — without Derrick Henry nonetheless — the Los Angeles Rams were hoping to overtake the No. 1 spot in these 2021 NFL Power Rankings. With the Green Bay Packers being taken out by the Kansas City Chiefs while Aaron Rodgers was out, they could have not only done that, but more importantly, they would have been alone as the No. 1 seed in the NFC thanks to their tiebreaker over the Cardinals.
That’s not how things went down though as the Rams looked out of sorts all night as they were handed their second loss of the season. Tennessee came out fired up and Jeffrey Simmons was camping out in the L.A. backfield.
His pressure even led to Stafford throwing one of the most ill-advised picks of his lengthy career. While going down in the end zone, Stafford threw an ugly pass right into the hands of David Long, Jr. Tennessee scored, and then things got really bad as Stafford’s very next pass was also picked off, this time by Kevin Byard, who took it to the house for another touchdown.
It was the worst performance of the season for Stafford as well as the Rams defense. They ended up just being one of many teams atop the standings to suffer a loss that wasn’t expected.