The Los Angeles Rams are, by most accounts, seen as a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
Roll through some preseason power rankings and you'll see the Rams consistently listed in the top 10. NFL.com and The Athletic had them ninth, ESPN had them eighth and Pro Football Talk had them seventh, to pull a few examples. Head coach Sean McVay and quarterback Matthew Stafford have, deservedly so, earned the benefit of the doubt – winning a Super Bowl while going to the playoffs in three of their four seasons together will do that.
If you click on those links, though, you might notice something else. The Colts were 27th, 27th, 26th and 24th in that cross-section of preseason power rankings. It's why, after starting 3-0, Colts coaches and players have been asked a version of this question in media settings:
"Did you see this coming?"
The answer, of course, has been yes – "As a player, this is what you expect, this is the standard you hold yourself to," wide receiver Ashton Dulin said on this week's Colts Show podcast. Internally, the Colts were confident heading into 2025.
But while this is what the Colts expected, coaches and players understand Sunday's matchup with the Rams at SoFi Stadium is a sort of measuring stick for the success they've had over the first three weeks of the 2025 season.
"Got a lot of respect for the Rams and what they have been able to do over the past, whatever – six, seven years," head coach Shane Steichen said. "Got a great coach over there, really good players. Got a lot of respect for the quarterback, the defense, everything. So we've got be ready to roll this week. Be detail-oriented in everything we do in our process, and excited for the challenge."
"It's a really good football team, a team that's been at the top of the league for a number of years consistently," quarterback Daniel Jones said.
The Rams enter Week 4 as the only team in the NFL with both a top-five average yards per play on offense (5.99, 5th) and average yards per play allowed on defense (4.38, 4th). Los Angeles is a blocked field goal away from being 3-0; think of the remarkably small margins here, as the Colts are a leverage penalty on a field goal away from being 2-1 (that's not to say the Colts were lucky and the Rams are unlucky; Dalton Tucker helped draw that leverage penalty, while the Rams have now had two field goals blocked this season).
Collectively, the Rams do a handful of things extremely well. They're allowing just 13.5 yards per kickoff return, utilizing knuckling, bouncing kicks and tight coverage, leading opposing offenses to start possessions on their own 25-yard line (2nd in NFL). That, in turn, has helped Los Angeles allow just five touchdowns in three games (T-6th; five teams have allowed four touchdowns).
Notably, against the Rams in Week 3, the Philadelphia Eagles' average starting field position was the 19-yard line, the lowest of any team in a game this season.
The Rams also enter Week 4 with 12 sacks, tied with the Denver Broncos for the most in the NFL.
The Colts' defense will also have to contend with a Rams offense featuring the NFL's leading receiver through three weeks in Puka Nacua, who has 29 receptions for 333 yards. Likely future Hall of Famer Davante Adams joined the Rams this offseason, too, giving Stafford a reliable weapon on the perimeter. Running back Kyren Williams is ninth in the NFL with an efficient 226 rushing yards, while former Michigan standout Blake Corum has brought explosiveness on the ground with 7.1 yards per carry on his 14 rushing attempts.
And, of course, Stafford is one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the position; McVay is universally respected around the NFL not just as an offensive mind, but as an overall head coach.
"It's definitely going to be a good challenge this week," defensive tackle DeForest Buckner said, "really to see how we stack up against them."
The Colts didn't aspire to be the best team in the NFL in September. Every team expects to start a season strong, but hit its collective stride come November into December and then January. But along the way, there are certain games that'll go a long way into the Colts learning what they're truly good at, and where they need to make improvements to reach their long-term goals.
And Sunday's game against the Rams sure looks like one of those games.
