The Los Angeles Rams and Jacksonville Jaguars traveled across the pond for a Sunday morning showdown in London. Both teams entered the game with a 4-2 record, and the winner would put themselves in a prime position to make the playoffs as long as they don’t fall off a cliff later in the season.

The Rams came out hot and never let off the gas, scoring 21 points in the first half while pitching a shutout defensively. Things were a bit slower in the second half. The Jags finally got on the board with a big touchdown to Travis Hunter, but only after they fell behind 28-0 on a big Rams touchdown. Then, Matthew Stafford connected with Davante Adams for his fifth touchdown of the day to make it 35-7 late.

This was a VERY disappointing performance for the Jags, who will now head home and wonder what the heck just happened. On the other hand, the Rams will head back to LA feeling very good about themselves heading into their bye.

Here were my takeaways from Sunday morning’s game.

Why did the Jags go hurry up late in the first half?

The Jags made some questionable decisions on Sunday morning, but in my mind, there was no bigger mental blunder than the end of the first half, even if it didn’t really cost them anything.

The Jags were down 21-0 and got the ball back with 4:37 left on the clock. They very easily could’ve drained the clock and kicked a field goal or scored a touchdown with next to no time on the clock, but instead, they went hurry up and handed it right back to LA with just under two minutes.

This just made no sense to me. I understand it was their best drive of the game, and the tempo was working, but you just can’t do that.

After a four-yard run on 1st-and-10, the Jags could’ve let the time run down to two minutes, but ran a play with 2:02 on the clock, meaning it was third down when we came back from the two-minute warning.

Then, after coming back out, the Jags threw the ball, and of course, it was incomplete, stopping the clock. Instead of kicking a chip-shot field goal, the Jags went for it on 4th-and-7, and turned it right back over to the Rams.

For some reason, the Rams didn’t try to score again before the half despite having multiple timeouts, but these are the kinds of things the Jags do that make me not believe in them. I know it’s Liam Coen’s first year as a head coach, but everyone watching was wondering why they were hurrying it up.

It didn’t really hurt them in the end, but it’s the little things like this that separate the good teams from the great teams. If the Rams had scored there, it wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the game, but he would’ve been heavily criticized for that blunder.

The Rams’ pass rush is up there with the best of them

The Rams have one of the best defenses in football, which was evident today, and it’s largely due to their elite pass rush. Byron Young, Jared Verse, and Braden Fiske have been an elite pass-rushing trio, and they live in Jacksonville’s backfield on Sunday.

Young finished the game with 1.5 sacks, and Verse finished with one, but I want to see their official pressure numbers. I’ll give the Jags some credit, Trevor Lawrence had some clean pockets to throw from at times, but whenever the Rams’ defense needed a big play, their pass rush was getting home.

If this defensive line stays healthy, the pass rush is going to help them win a lot of games in December and January.

Jags kept shooting themselves in the foot

We already talked about their questionable decision to go to the hurry-up before halftime, but let’s talk about some other big mistakes the Jags made.

First, after falling behind 14-0, the Jags finally got a stop and forced a punt. They returned it all the way for a touchdown, but it was brought all the way back to their own 30-yard line because of a block in the back penalty (to be fair, I’m not so sure it was a penalty, but I digress).

After that, the Jags managed to march down the field. They found themselves in a 3rd-and-3 on the Rams’ 32-yard line, and Trevor Lawrence found Brian Thomas Jr. open over the middle, but he dropped it, resulting in fourth down. They could’ve gone for it, but elected to kick the field goal, and of course, Cam Little missed it.

In their first drive of the second half, the Jags marched down the field again and were in a 3rd-and-2 situation. Lawrence dropped back and had a wide-open receiver, but he overthrew him, and it fell incomplete. They’d go for it on fourth, and were unable to pick it up, turning it over on down inside Rams territory once again.

The Jags’ defense made a big stop late in the third quarter, and it felt like the Jags needed to have a drive to give themselves a chance, but once again, they shot themselves in the foot. Thomas slowed down on his route and ultimately dropped a pass that was a bit long on 2nd-and-10 before a false start pushed them back to 3rd-and-15. Then, Lawrence made a beautiful throw over the middle to Parker Washington, who dropped it, and the Jags were forced to punt.

I could go on and on about all the little mental mistakes the Jags made today, but you have to look no further than the fact that they had 13 penalties for 119 yards in this game to get my point. Great teams don’t shoot themselves in the foot, and the Jags do it consistently pretty much every weekend.

Trevor Lawrence is who he is, and I don’t know if he’s the future in Jacksonville

Trevor Lawrence is a very talented quarterback. That has been evident since his days at Clemson. He can make some incredible throws and is mobile enough to make some big plays with his legs when needed, but he is just so inconsistent, and I’m not sure he’s the guy that’s going to take the Jags where they want to go.

I know they just paid him a boatload of money, so unless some team is willing to trade for him and take on that contract, the Jags really have no choice but to play him. But the issues he’s having now are the same issues he’s dealt with for his entire career. He just isn’t consistent enough to lead a top offense in this league, even with some really good weapons.

I’ll cut Lawrence some slack because his offensive line isn’t great, but it’s serviceable. He should be playing better football than he has been this year, especially with a play caller like Liam Coen and receivers like Brian Thomas Jr. and Travis Hunter out there.

I just don’t think Lawrence has that much development left in him. After 4.5 seasons, you kind of know what you have in a guy, and what they have in Lawrence is someone with an incredibly high ceiling, but also a very low floor.

Someone like Lawrence could get hot at the right time and lead a playoff run, but it’s very hard to win a Super Bowl with a guy who can’t string multiple big games together. He’s going to be a slightly above-average quarterback in this league for a while, but I don’t see him ever getting to the point where he’s a top-five guy.

No Puka, no problem

Historically, the Rams’ offense has not been all that good when Puka Nacua doesn’t play. In their last six games without Nacua, the Rams have averaged under 18 points per game, but today, they had no problems moving the football.

The Rams didn’t have the most passing yards; Matthew Stafford threw for just 182 on 33 attempts, but they scored five touchdowns (an international single-game record) through the air without Nacua.

While Davante Adams did the brunt of the work with three touchdowns, the Rams spread the ball around. 10 different players caught a pass in this game, which was the most in the Sean McVay era, which began in 2017. Obviously, they would’ve loved to have Nacua out there, but they had no problem winning this game without him.

The Rams’ offense is dangerous, even with Nacua out.