What's better than watching your team win, winning money while you do it. I'm Jim Costa and I'm Cash the Ticket, Mike Valenti and I give you the edge to make every game playable. At college football, NFL, we're breaking it all down game by game. Your podcast feed is going to be filled and you're going to love it. You can click on the games you care about. We do it all with our analysis for fighting games that other people aren't talking about. We're turning every Saturday and every Sunday in the days where you got a chance to win. Don't just sit on the sidelines, cash the ticket with us. Follow Cash the Ticket in the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your pod. Podcasts major injury news out of L.A. Pukka Nakua is going on short term I.R. He's going to miss at least four games. Remember that knee injury that was bothering him in the preseason? Tweeted it again. PCL injury here for Pukka Nakua and man, I mean, I get it. You know, it's like the injuries that it's part of the game, but you know, we kind of sort of were worried about this here in the preseason because he had this knee injury and it was it was hampering them all, you know, all off season, man, like what's going on here. Now all of a sudden it becomes this question of Tyler Johnson, Jordan, winning to who's going to mark his Robinson who's going to fill in here for Pukka Nakua for L.A. Man, but your initial reactions there to Pukka Nakua, this injury and what it might mean for the Rams offense. Well, sucks for the Rams offense. That's what it means. Yeah. This is as Mike Garifolo from the NFL Network reported, this is the it's a new more significant injury to the same ligament he'd previously injured. So whether you want to say that's a reactivation or whatever, it's it's not great. You know, I found it very interesting that our mutual friend and former colleague Greg Rosenthal on his podcast, NFL Daily, it basically said, you know, to Evan Silva, it was very coy about it. It was like I'm not, you know, when they're kind of talking a little bit of fantasy, I'm he's been said, I'm fading Pukka Nakua and just kind of like, he's like, that's all I'll say that left kind of left it at that during, you know, and Evan's like, is it vibes? It's just like, I'll just, I'll just say that I'm fading Pukka. You know, he, he has Jordan Rodriguez covers the Rams on his show all the time. The Rams building is literally right there by NFL Network. So same bill. I don't know. Okay. Kind of. Yeah, can, can, can put two and two together there. So that is definitely problematic for sure. Yeah. Especially just because we know that Pukka was a great prospect, he fell in the draft because of injury concerns or I shouldn't say he's a great prospect, but he was a very, very good football player on film in college at BYU. He just, he never really established career momentum because of injuries. And I think that's a lot of why he fell in the draft because of that also he wasn't like an overwhelming athlete or anything of that nature. Yeah. So this is a concern, of course, because of that it's also a concern because I have very mixed feelings about what we watched with the Rams on, on Sunday night, James. Okay. Because on one hand, I thought it was pretty unbelievable, like a true blackout type performance where Matthew Stafford behind a banged up offensive line is just somehow running functional offense for this team and, you know, Cooper cup is piling up 21 targets, 21 targets. And you know, every fantasy analyst on your timeline is, is getting, you know, their pants are getting tighter and tighter, their sweat coming down the beads and your beads of sweat coming down the brow. Like, Oh my God. Oh boy. Cooper cups. Why does he run overall? Yep. I'm the other part of me's like, doesn't this feel very 2022 Rams though, you know, a bad offensive line, Cooper cups getting 20 targets and, you know, like eight yards per reception. And, and yeah, if that, you know, and, and you look great, you look great, Stafford looked unbelievable. I just, we know what this offense looks like when they don't have a viable, another viable threat there, like another guy who can help on the outside. I think Demarcus Robinson has shown some things as their ex receiver. He probably could have had a bigger night if it wasn't a pass interference in the, in the, in the end zone for him, you know, Tyler Johnson showed some things, but at the same time, again, I don't think it will ever get quite 2022 Rams bad for this team, because Sean McBays in a better place schematically. And I think personally as well, but I just, it does make you a little bit nervous the way the Rams season has started here. Okay. Talk about some of these, you know, secondary, you know, cast members here for the LA Rams, because again, as you mentioned, I know Cooper cups are 20 plus targets, but you know what's crazy? Even then there's, there's still plenty of targets here to go around because with this team, man, they're going to be, I know that they want to, you know, be able to run that ball a little bit, but they're going to throw this ball 40 times a game. I mean, let's be real here. I mean, I don't care what the offensive line looks like. They're still going to try to throw this ball about 40 times a game. I don't think who per couple see 20 targets a game. Maybe I'm wrong. I don't know. Okay. But that being said, I think there's a lot of target share available, especially with Pukan to cool gone now, right? So can we talk about breaking down to Marcus Robinson, Tyler Johnson, I have to go back and I'm like, is this the same dude that was from Tampa Bay is that is this the same guy literally had no idea. I liked him a little bit in Tampa Bay, so I go back and I watch the stuff I go back and I watch his, I think he went to Minnesota. Yeah, I go back and I watch his Minnesota stuff, right? And I'm like, of course he ends up with LA. Right? He's better on in breaking stuff, right? And he's tough to bring down after the catch of course, of course, Tyler Johnson ends up on the Rams. It's a beautiful fit. It's a perfect fit. And we saw some of that, you know, after catchability here on that big was it 60 yard, 60 yard catch and run or whatever it was that he ripped there in that game against the lion. So I have personally enjoyed watching Jordan Whittington as well, but I think that collection of wider receivers between Demarcus Robinson, Tyler Johnson and Jordan Whittington at a Texas, the rookie from Texas who didn't play in this particular game. But I do, I do want to say, Matt, it's probably just because they weren't anticipating a Puka injury when this coaching staff gets Whittington up to speed, I think he will factor in into that wide receiver rotation. I think Whittington did, didn't he play in this game and actually had a, I think he had a touchdown called back actually. So, um, or maybe I'm, uh, I don't know, dude, this was a long time, but I don't know. I'm pretty sure that happened, but anyways, but he didn't, although that was literally the only other route he ran in this game, I do believe. So that was like a one time thing, Colby Parkinson at tight end looked good too, ran 43 routes in this game. Oh my God. Wait, hold on. Hold on. You're, you're right. Did Jordan Whittington ran literally on one play. He played one snap. And that was it. That's amazing. That's amazing. I must have been, I must have been getting food or something at this point. I missed that play. Yeah. No, cause I was, I actually was in the bathroom myself, but my office has a bathroom right here. Kind of from the, and then I'm like, look up here and out there or whatever. And then I see it gets called back. So yeah, I almost missed it myself. This is how Sunday is go, man. But yeah, no. So Colby Parkinson, he was, he was involved here too. I thought that he looked pretty good in this game as a run after catch option. Yeah. I think I don't have a ton on, on Tyler Johnson. He's always a guy that people have been, here are some draft nicks that were excited about him. Uh, he just hasn't really been able to catch on anywhere. He's bounced around. Uh, but the after catch ability was interesting in this one, uh, the in breaking routes, like you mentioned, that's certainly a big part of what they're going to ask people to do in this offense. I don't know. I just, the whole thing makes me a nervous, like a house of cards here. I really do think that we are, uh, we're sitting on kind of some, some shaky ground with this Rams offense because we're talking about now two starting tackles are down. Um, you know, a lark Jackson suspended at least one more game. Haven't signed missed this contest. 61, whoever I can't remember the offensive tack, who number 61 in this game was a disaster class. There's issues on the interior where Jonah Jackson was going to be the center and then Steve Avila was going to be the center and then Steve Avila's out of this game. Jonah Jackson's this time is a, it's just, it's a lot going on in the offensive line. So I feel pretty concerned just about the Rams offense overall, but I do think that the Marcus Robinson's given them good play, uh, he was the only one with an average depth of the target north of eight in this game. So he will probably be their best vertical option going forward. Yeah. I mean, you take a look at some of the alignment data here, right? Demarcus Robinson played about 75% of his snaps, uh, lined up outside Cooper cup, just 25% outside and, uh, even Tyler Johnson, just 35% lined up outside. Right. So, um, if you're taking a look at who could play outside receiver for them, uh, there's just not that many options, Matt, I just, I just wonder, is Demarcus Robinson going to be enough? You know, are they going to try to move around Tyler Johnson, are they going to try to move around, um, you know, Jordan Whittington and have these guys try to play a little bit outside? Cause I just think at this point, at the age of, you know, this is 30 age 31 season. I just don't know if Cooper cup can play out there on the flanker side. I just, I just don't know if he's gotten in them yet. I'm with you on this one. You know, we talked a lot about for Cooper cups reception perception last season, uh, in 2023 where, you know, it's still really good against zone coverage, 83.3% success rate versus zone, which was a top eight mark of the players I charted last year, still a very good zone beater. He ran only 8.1% of his routes against press coverage in the games I charted. That was, uh, one of the lower marks that he's seen in a minute. Uh, so that was certainly helpful in terms of when he was able to be out there in, in 2023, also his rate of snaps behind the line jumped up to 81.9% which is a, was a career high by a lot, uh, his slot rate, 60.8% was up from 46.6% in 2022. So that's definitely, I'm with you, he probably should be in the slot. He's got to be off the line of scrimmage. We don't want him doing a ton. And also, you know, the ways that used to use him as a, you know, blocker and on some rushing plays, like how much do you really want to be doing with that with him? At this point in his career and exposing him to, you're already going to throw the ball to him fricking 20 times in a game. Do you want to then add five more run plays as a rush or an indoor block, you know, blocker? I, I just think there's a lot that you're asking him of him in that regard. So, um, certainly something to monitor his usage in that way, because I don't think that, yeah, I just don't think they can go back to using him in the way that they used to and putting that much on his plate. I think that would be putting a lot on a veteran receivers plate. That's why Puka was so important because not only was he great in his own right against press man as an outside route runner, um, but he brought that same rugged physical approach to the receiver room that I think is kind of a must to play as a Sean McVay receiver right now. And you lose that guy, then it's, you're kind of looking at, all right, do we put that back on Cooper cups plate or do we get a guy like Jordan Whittington, who's a tough player involved? Because I don't think Tyler Johnson's that guy and to Marcus Robinson is kind of that pure vertical receiver for this team. Yeah. I totally agree. Um, if I had to, if I had to pick one guy, uh, that might emerge as a wide receiver three, all this entire off season, I'm thinking Jordan Whittington, right? But the more I watch Tyler Johnson play, I almost think because of his inside outside versatility. Um, again, he's not a pure outside guy, but I just don't see him as a pure inside guy either. Um, I think it might be Tyler Johnson, uh, but I'll be, I don't know. Like I said, by the way, I, I said this before about other beat writers, but bro, what? Come on. Now, where, where were the press clippings on Tyler Johnson? Where where? I mean, you and I have done this for a lot. We've analyzed this stuff like, come on, brother, where tell me where were the Tyler Johnson press clippings? I did not see a single one. I was shocked. I was stunned. I'm like, how the hell is Tyler Johnson even on this team? Like what is going on? Um, give me where, where were the beat writers talking to me about Tyler Johnson upside? Where, where was this? Cause I, cause I'll tell you right now, I didn't see it, Matt. I didn't see it. I didn't see one, one piece during this off season, bro. Yeah. That makes me think that this could just be kind of a one week flash in the pan for Tyler Johnson. So that's definitely, um, on my radar for sure. Uh, this is like, this is again, this is, this is like with a Brandon IU dog house stuff. What was it? Like two, three years ago? Yeah. Three years ago. Right? Like, I didn't see, I didn't see no beat reporters talking about that then. You know what I mean? All of a sudden he's in the dog house. Like, and everyone's like, Oh, well, so yeah, we were, we were worried about them. No, you weren't. We didn't write about this. You didn't write about this. You talk about, dude, we've, we've come, we've come so far from the Brandon IU dog house days, the darkest days potentially in our, in our businesses history. Let's, let's not. Okay.
Matt and James share their thoughts on how the Rams offense will look after Puka Nacua was sent to IR with a knee injury.
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