One of the top surprises on Christmas Day for the Los Angeles Rams was the performance of Larrell Murchison — who ended his afternoon with two sacks in the 51-14 trouncing of the Denver Broncos.
But here’s another surprise from the game: Head coach Sean McVay admitting he never formally met the recently added defensive tackle until immediately before the 37-point win.
“Just met him 15 minutes ago,” McVay said in the postgame press conference.
The Journey of Murchison
Murchison was officially added to the Rams roster by being claimed off waivers from the Tennessee Titans on December 12.
However, when he was claimed, he was listed as inactive for the 24-12 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Monday, December 19.
He had played in 26 total games with five starts in Nashville. He was once on a one-year, $895,000 contract in Tennessee and played on a defensive unit that featured five-time Pro Bowl selection Jurrell Casey next to him in the trenches.
The @Titans just made a big addition to their defensive line with the big fella, Larrell Murchison! 💪🐺
The 25-year-old Murchison, however, had never put together a multiple sack day in the NFL until December 25 came along. Murchison delivered his first sack of Russell Wilson at the 3:27 mark of the first quarter and then the 8:01 mark of the second — both losing nine yards each for Denver.
The last time the 6-foot-2, 297-pounder delivered two sacks in a single game was on October 10, 2019 while with North Carolina State. He finished with two sacks in the 16-10 win over Syracuse. He also posted a 3.5 sack outing the previous week against Florida State in the 31-13 loss. He ended his last CFB season by registering seven sacks with 48 tackles, 24 solo stops and two fumble recoveries. He entered the league as the 174th pick in the fifth round of the 2020 draft.
Will Murchison Suit up Versus Chargers?
Murchison, despite putting together the breakout Christmas performance, unfortunately left with a neck injury and walked out under his own power.
Now, with the battle of Los Angeles now on the horizon on New Year’s Day with the Rams as the visiting team, will the breakout Christmas Day star be healthy enough to play? McVay provided that update over Zoom on Monday, December 26.
“He’s gonna be okay,” McVay said. “Has some neck soreness, but we don’t anticipate it to affect his ability to be ready to practice on Wednesday and ready to go this week.”
“Just your typical bumps and bruises, but nothing that’s going to affect anybody’s game status moving towards the Chargers,” McVay continued. “So that was a positive for us.”
Murchison was part of a Rams defense that produced a season-high six sacks of both Wilson and backup quarterback Brett Rypien. It marked the first time since December 10, 2020 when the Rams snatched six sacks in a game — which was in the 24-3 home win over the New England Patriots. That game also had Chargers head coach Brandon Staley running the Rams defense.
McVay has gone from barely meeting “Murch” to being a part of his first breakout NFL game.
“I think when you look at ‘Murch’, he’s a guy that we’re just getting to know,” McVay said. “Just a guy that did a great job capitalizing on his opportunities.”
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Rams’ Sean McVay Barely Met Breakout Christmas Star, the HC Says