The marquee matchup in Week 13 was the battle between Jalen Ramsey and DeAndre Hopkins in Arizona. It was the eighth time these two stars have matched up on the field, but just the first since they were both traded to the NFC West by their former AFC South squads.
Ramsey didn’t line up exclusively across from Hopkins in this game, which the Rams won 38-28, but he did get the chance to cover the All-Pro receiver a lot. Kyler Murray struggled throughout the afternoon, mostly settling for short, underneath throws rather than pushing the ball downfield against the vaunted Rams defense.
In total, Hopkins was targeted 13 times by Murray, with eight of those passes coming while Ramsey was covering him. Hopkins finished the afternoon with a total of eight catches, but only gained 52 yards with a long reception of 10 yards.
We broke down every target for Hopkins while Ramsey was in coverage and showed how the Rams cornerback all but erased the man they call Nuk. It’s clear Ramsey won Round 8 against his rival receiver.
