NEW ORLEANS — As the New Orleans Saints lined up for 4th-and-3 from the Rams 9 with 1:13 to play, Jared Verse knew from the offensive tackle’s stance that it would be a pass play. So the rookie outside linebacker moved out wide to give him more space to operate. He expected a chip from the tight end lined up across from him, only to discover Foster Moreau was trying to block him one-on-one.
“The No. 1 rule of playing any type of edge is you can’t be blocked by a tight end,” Verse said. “You just can’t.”
And on Sunday, Verse would not allow himself to be. He pushed Moreau back, shook him off and found himself behind quarterback Derek Carr, still clutching the ball.
“Hold onto that ball, hold on, hey, just for one second longer hold onto it,” Verse would later describe his internal monologue. “You don’t gotta do anything extra, just hold onto it just a little bit longer.”
Carr would oblige, and Verse would arrive just as the quarterback wound up and released the ball. Verse’s impact knocked the ball to the turf; after review, it was ruled a pass breakup, not a forced fumble. But the result was the same, a game-ending stop to complete the Rams’ 21-14 victory.
And the timing of that play was, to borrow a description from head coach Sean McVay, “poetic”.
A week ago, Verse, usually a lively presence, spoke in terse sentences in the locker room following the Rams’ 37-20 loss to the Eagles. The first-round pick put a good deal of the blame on himself for Saquon Barkley’s record-breaking rushing performance. He said he jumped out of his gaps and abandoned his assignments to make plays, only to see Barkley and quarterback Jalen Hurts cut into the opening he had left.
Throughout the week of practices, teammates like Byron Young, Michael Hoecht and Kobie Turner held Verse accountable, even though Verse already knew the correction he had to make.
“It was a lot more of the mental and knowing to do my job,” Verse said. “You don’t have to be a hero every play, you don’t gotta do all the extra stuff. Just do my job.”
And on Sunday, Verse did. He led the team with seven pressures, according to Next Gen Stats. On five of his six tackles, he limited the Saints runner to three or fewer yards. He was ready to follow Saints utility man Taysom Hill in motion and line up at nickel corner when the scheme called for it.
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Then when the big moment came, Verse made sure his team got the win.
“I thought it was poetic that he was able to close out that game,” McVay said. “I thought he played really hard, see the way this guy pursues the football and I thought he played within the framework of the system and of some of the play ops that he had within the game. And usually those good things end up happening. The football gods always do it right.”
BRIEFLY
WR Demarcus Robinson left the game with a hand injury. McVay said he doesn’t expect the hand to be an issue for Robinson moving forward.