LOS ANGELES -- There have been times this offseason that the last down the Detroit Lions needed to beat the Los Angeles Rams in the playoffs plays on a loop in Quentin Lake's head.
On second-and-9 from the Detroit 32, with two minutes to play, Lions quarterback Jared Goff found receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown for 11 yards, essentially clinching the 24-23 victory for Detroit. Goff then took a knee three times to run out the clock and end the Rams' season.
Lake, a safety entering his third season, was the closest defender on the play.
"It puts a fuel on my fire because I feel like I could have done something to at least maybe, just maybe, help the team maybe get to a third down," Lake said. "Or done something where the last play wasn't on me because obviously they took a knee after that.
"I think about that all the time. Because we had the team. If we got past the Lions, I think we were going to go to the Super Bowl. Really, honestly, truthfully, I fully full-heartedly believe that. It is what it is though. We have another chance this season to do great things. I think we are going to do great things."
The Rams will get that chance -- albeit with much lower stakes -- when they open their season against the Lions at Ford Field, the same place their 2023 season ended. While the Rams return most of their core on offense, they will return without a key piece of their defense -- future Hall of Famer Aaron Donald, who retired in March. And although Donald's absence leaves a gaping hole, the Rams believe they are capable of building upon last year's success.
"Anybody that has something to prove, anybody that didn't get a chance to do what they did in that last game, we have every opportunity to do what we want to in [Week 1]," Lake said.
WHEN KYREN WILLIAMS thinks back to that loss, he says he feels an "anger and a disappointment" in himself because he didn't finish the game. The running back sustained a broken bone in his hand, forcing him out in the fourth quarter.
"I felt like I was just getting hot," Williams said. "As an offense, we were just getting hot, especially in the run game. We were able to open it up in the fourth quarter and so we were really starting to roll.
"And I wasn't able to finish that game. So for me it's just a little bit of all the mixed emotions. I'm excited to get back to be able to prove to them what I can do, but also what we weren't able to do last year -- that's to come out on top like we felt like we were supposed to last year."
Not only had the Rams' offense been rolling, but the unit played so well down the last stretch of the season that they went from 3-6 before the bye week to a 7-1 run to end the regular season.
The Rams scored at least three touchdowns in seven straight games to end the regular season, which is three more games than the next longest active streak in the NFL. According to ESPN Stats & Information, this is the Rams' longest streak since doing so in 10 straight games in 2000.
The turnaround happened when Williams returned from injured reserve in Week 12, something Rams coach Sean McVay pointed to time and time again last season when talking about the offensive resurgence.
Williams went seven straight regular season games with 100 scrimmage yards to end last season, which is the longest active streak in the NFL. He had 69 yards from scrimmage in the playoff loss before leaving with the injury.
The run game became "a tone-setter" for the Rams' offense, Williams said.
"We got to a mentality [last season] to where we're going to run the ball," Williams said. "You might know we're going to run the ball but we're still going to run the ball. And so that's just the mentality that we kind of developed over the course of last year going on throughout the season."
The offensive skill position players who started the playoff game for the Rams will be back with the exception of tight end Tyler Higbee, who sustained a torn ACL and MCL in that game. The Rams revamped their offensive line this offseason and drafted running back Blake Corum in the third round in an effort to help spell Williams and help the third-year running back make it through the season healthy.
The Rams also enter the season with a healthy Cooper Kupp. After finishing with the receiving triple crown and Super Bowl LVI MVP in 2021, Kupp has played in just 21 games over the past two seasons.
Kupp missed the first four games of last season with a hamstring injury and played through injuries for much of the rest of it. Kupp's injury plagued start had lasting effects through that final game -- finishing with only five catches for 27 yards.
But perhaps most importantly for the Rams offense as they try to beat the Lions in Detroit is their experience of playing in a loud Ford Field before. While Stafford and McVay were both clear that each season is its own challenge, both acknowledged how loud it was during the playoff game.
"It's just really using that experience for the guys that were here, the importance of the nonverbal communication," McVay said. "But it was rocking."
And while last season was Stafford's first game at Ford Field since he was traded to Los Angeles after the 2020 season, the quarterback noted the experience will be different since it's not a playoff game. "Just because something happened a year ago doesn't mean it's going to happen again," Stafford said.
"Good, bad, indifferent. ...You go to a stadium and beat somebody, it doesn't mean the next time you show up you're going to go beat them. For me, emotionally obviously it just is a little bit different than the fact that it's not a playoff game and the fact that if you lose your season's not over, you're not going home.
KOBIE TURNER REMEMBERS the moments after that final game last season. Throughout that deciding drive, he said, the focus was giving the ball back to Stafford.
"Never at any point during that game was it like, 'We're going to lose this,'" Turner said. "It was always, 'We're going to win this. We're just going to get this stop.'"
But then after that first down and the end of the game, there was shock.
Then anger.
And then tears.
Not only was it the end of a season for the Rams, but Turner had a feeling it might be his last time sharing a field with Donald.
"And I'm coming back in the locker room and I'm crying. I'm just beat up and ... I'm pissed off. And he's like, you got a lot more football left to play. And he's sitting there smiling. I'm like, this is kind of weird. This might be the end here."
Last season with Donald on the field, the Rams defense had a pressure percentage of 32%, compared to 23% without him. According to ESPN Stats & Info, the Rams' Pass Rush Win Rate was 46% when he was on the field and 31% without him.
And although Turner led rookies with 9 sacks last season, he had the benefit of playing with Donald. Donald was double-teamed a league-high 311 pass rush plays in 2023.
No one player will replace Donald's production or presence in the locker room, but the Rams committed to improving their defense in the draft this offseason, selecting outside linebacker Jared Verse at No. 19 and defensive tackle Braden Fiske at No. 39.
Along with losing Donald and former defensive coordinator Raheem Morris, the Rams also lost their two other defensive captains from last season: inside linebacker Ernest Jones IV (traded to the Tennessee Titans last week) and safety Jordan Fuller (signed with the Carolina Panthers). Instead, players voted Turner (second season) and Lake (third season) as their defensive captains.
"There's a youthful exuberance [on defense], but then there's also a maturity, even for some younger players," McVay said.
And while McVay has been clear to Turner that he wants him to be himself -- and not just a replica of Donald -- it's evident how much Turner has learned from sharing a field, locker room and meeting room with Donald last season.
"When you think of leaders, you think of really, really vocal people," Turner said. "[Donald's] really vocal when he needs to be, but he was always one of those guys that was just 'follow me' and if my example is worth following, then other people will. And so that's kind of what I've taken from him is, OK, make sure that my example is worth following.
"Not only is it going to bring me success, but if I'm doing something that other guys want to follow along, then I can encourage them and bring them into my process. I'm going to have them gain success as well."
When the Rams run out onto Ford Field on Sunday night, they'll do it with their two young captains -- Turner and Lake -- who haven't let themselves forget what it felt like to end their season in the same place.