WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – Jared Verse made a promise to his teammates after the Rams' divisional round loss to the Eagles last season.
"I don't want my teammates to feel like this again," he said postgame on Jan. 19, 2025 in Philadelphia. "I only want to look in their eyes and see anything but pure bliss and pure happiness. And I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen again."
At least one of them is making sure the outside linebacker keeps his word: Safety Quentin Lake came up to Verse early last week and told him he remembered what Verse said in his postgame interview in Philly, vowing to do everything in his power to make sure his teammates never felt that way again.
The first chance to do that comes Saturday when the No. 5 seed Rams take on the No. 4 seed Panthers in the Wild Card round of this year's playoffs at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.
"He told me he's gonna hold me to it," Verse said, "so I'm gonna make sure I hold myself to it, too."
No one could place blame for the loss at the feet of Verse, who backed his trash talk during that week with two sacks. Even still, that loss impacted his mindset going into the offseason and throughout the regular season.
"The whole off season I spent more on my mental than anything else," Verse said Wednesday. "I was trying to figure out what I had to do better in this aspect or what I have to do better in that aspect because I left so many plays on the field and I was like, 'I don't ever want to have that happen again.' This whole season I've left plays on the field, I've done things where I took a shot and I didn't make it, but I've also took a shot and I did make it. Playing in that 50/50 realm, but realizing now this is the playoffs. We can't afford to let one big play go off. We can't afford any big explosive plays. We just have to be us and I'm just going to do my one-of-11."
The heightened awareness of the slimmer margin for error is amplified in the playoffs, especially because of those plays left on the field and the chances he took throughout the regular season – some which paid off, some which did not.
When Lake was asked Wednesday about holding Verse to his word, he said the biggest thing is when someone says that, "I want them to mean it." Verse obviously did, but Lake said, at the same time, he doesn't forget things like that which are said "out loud" and to the media.
However, that accountability is also rooted in noticing how Verse felt in the aftermath of that game too, and reminding Verse to still let loose a little bit.
"But at the same time, that's a strong statement to make, you know?" Lake said. "And I just wanted to make sure that his mindset and mentality is, 'Hey, I'm staying true to that. I'm gonna do everything in my power to make sure that my teammates don't feel the way we did after the Philly game.' And more so than that, I saw how hurt he was. There was a lot of stuff going on pre-game in that game too with him and (Eagles defensive tackle) Jalen Carter, which was fun too. But at the same time, you only get a couple shots. There's a couple players in the league that have played long careers, Hall of Fame careers, and never made it to the postseason. So when you get to these games and you want to sell out for one game at a time, but how locked in can you be? Let it all loose. Don't worry about it, don't worry about your body, don't worry about the mental aspect. Go cut it loose, man. Because when you're hoisting that Lombardi Trophy, you're not gonna worry about anything else but a smile on your face."
