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Jalen Ramsey channeled some “Mamba Mentality” on one play during the Los Angeles Rams‘ Week 5 win on Thursday Night Football.
The star cornerback was in on the assist for Troy Reeder’s first-half interception during their 26-17 road win, which can be seen below.
Reeder took to Twitter to thank Ramsey on the football version of the assist, to which Ramsey jokingly compared that play to the legendary Kobe Bryant to Shaquille O’Neal connection in Game 7 of the 2000 Western Conference Finals that helped lift the Los Angeles Lakers to the victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
In this case, Ramsey called himself the “Kobe” on the Reeder pick, with the linebacker channeling Shaq. Ramsey’s answer to the L.A. media, however, was more simple and didn’t involve the Kobe and Shaq analogy.
“He threw the ball to Lockett. I couldn’t make the pick. But I just batted the ball up and Troy was running to the ball and he got a good pick,” Ramsey said near the 31:15 mark of the postgame presser.
Ramsey’s Coverage Night by the Numbers
According to Next Gen Stats, Ramsey delivered this kind of night from a coverage standpoint:
Notable: Ramsey did tangle with Seahawks All-Pro receiver DK Metcalf. While being labeled the nearest CB on Metcalf’s second-quarter touchdown, Ramsey did contain the mammoth 6-foot-4, 230-pound wide receiver to just two receptions his side, via NGS.
Meanwhile, via Pro Football Focus, Ramsey guarded Tyler Lockett on two passing attempts. Ramsey allowed one catch for 13 yards against Seattle’s two-time All-Pro.
The Rams, as defensive coordinator Raheem Morris mentioned during the week leading up to the TNF contest, did indeed move around Ramsey. Of the 60 snaps he had, Ramsey lined up on 41 plays as a slot CB. Ramsey took turns at the slot with David Long and Terrell Burgess following Darious Williams’ injury late in the game, per The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue.
Ramsey Also Had to Uplift Another Defender
Ramsey’s teammate Robert Rochell had a couple of encounters with the Seattle Pro Bowl WR duo — and lost both battles.
One involved the rookie from Central Arkansas grabbing the arm of Lockett, which led to a 47-yard pass interference call. And on his one coverage attempt of Metcalf, this happened:
Rochell made the proverbial “rookie mistakes” against the defending NFC West champions. However, there was no verbal bashing from Ramsey or anyone on the Rams’ side. Ramsey instead played the role of an uplifting type for Rochell. And the 6-foot-2 rookie remained upbeat despite the two coverage lapses.
“He stayed confident, actually,” Ramsey told the L.A. media following the game. “Even through the downs of the game, he never got down on himself. Like, we were encouraging him, of course, but he was already like ‘Yeah, I’m good, next play.’ That’s the exact mindset you have to have as a corner, especially going against good players and good teams like we went against tonight.”
Ramsey finished his night with four tackles, three solo, helped hold Seattle to 262 passing yards and of course, delivered what he called on Twitter “a lil’ oop” to his teammate Reeder.
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