Tag: Ogbonnia Okoronkwo

Bad roughing the passer penalty cost Jalen Ramsey first INT with Rams

Ogbonnia Okoronkwo was called for roughing the passer, which negated Jalen Ramsey’s first INT with the Rams.

Jalen Ramsey has made a huge difference for the Rams since coming over in a midseason trade. While he may not be creating big plays the way Marcus Peters has for the Ravens, his man-coverage ability has allowed the Rams to be more aggressive on defense – and it’s shown in the numbers.

Outside of last week’s 45-6 loss the Ravens, the Rams have yet to allow more than 17 points in the other five games since acquiring Ramsey.

Los Angeles was particularly good defensively against the Cardinals on Sunday and Ramsey nearly came away with his first interception as a member of the Rams. unfortunately, the play was negated by a penalty on Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, which was questionable, to say the least.

Here’s the play in full-speed, which shows off Okoronkwo’s ridiculous spin move to beat the left tackle.

Even when you slow the play down, it doesn’t look clear and obvious what Okoronkwo did wrong. He made contact with Kyler Murray’s helmet, but it wasn’t intentional or initiated by Okoronkwo lowering his own helmet.

He was simply leaping over D.J. Humphries in an attempt to tackle Murray.

Okoronkwo didn’t seem to agree with the call, posting a thinking emoji on Twitter after the game.

Officiating has been highly criticized by everyone from players to fans to coaches this season, and this appears to be yet another example of a blown call.

Fortunately, it didn’t change the outcome of the game, but it did take a turnover for the Rams and QB hit off the board for Okoronkwo. Still, it was a great performance by the defense.

In the locker room afterwards, Ramsey said this about the way the defense played.

“The defense played a really good game,” he said. “There were a lot of sacks, guys played well, guys got opportunities, stepped up and played well.”

He would’ve loved to nab his first interception with his new team, but he’ll have to wait at least one more week. Perhaps it’ll come against Russell Wilson and the Seahawks on Sunday night.