A second helping of home cooking for the Los Angeles Rams was not to be, L.A. could not serve up another last minute come-from-behind win at SoFi Stadium. The Rams dropped the hot plate, losing 24-19 to the Green Bay Packers, instead of pulling it out of the fire as they did two weeks ago against the San Francisco 49ers.
This loss to the Pack was another woulda, shoulda, coulda performance more akin to the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions losses. Another game the Rams should have won.
Woulda
In the Lions, Bears, and Packers losses, the Rams out-gained (1079-950), ran more offensive plays (204-173), and kept control over the time of possession (98:39-86:22) their opponents. But alas, offenses scoring 13, 18, and 20 points with those production advantages are not going to win many games. Hindsight is always 20-20, but as long as we’re doing the woulda— had the Rams converted their extra points and taken the field goal when they failed in the red zone, the score woulda been 24-24.
Shoulda
The Rams defense showed improvement, incremental, but improvement just the same. Certainly not in tackling and giving up explosive plays. Again the L.A defense consistently let ball carriers slip out of their grasp and while they did limit the explosives, those two were game busters, accounting for scores and 120 yards of total yardage. Coming into the game, Green Bay’s per game average was 26 points, 410 yards total yards, 235 passing and 175 rushing. L.A. allowed 24 points, 323 total yards, 197 passing and 126 rushing. Like I said, incremental improvement.
Coulda
As bad as a 1-4 start actually is, NFL parity and more to the point, that of the the NFC West, has the Rams still within striking distance of a playoff berth. Sure, they will have to show they can win tough games, but the Rams appear to be getting a schedule reprieve.They will be going from one of the toughest slates over the first five weeks to one of the easiest through the rest of the season. They also get seven home games in the last 12, including the Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles, and Buffalo Bills,
Who played? And who played well? Players, their total snaps and percentage in bold.
Quarterback
This year’s Rams team will go as far as Mathew Stafford (78, 100%) takes them. His play thus far has not been bad, nor has it been first-rate. With WR#1 and #2 both out, there’s good reason for something to be amiss, but Staff’s play is not elevating those left.
On Sunday Stafford’s accuracy was off, outright missing and often forcing receivers to leap or dive. Although his completion and bad throw percentages are on par with his past, his on target percentage and QB rating are at their lowest points in years.
Another area where Stafford’s problems mirror the Rams is in the red zone. Even though they were two of three against the Packers, they are still a Bottom 10 team with a 45% RZ touchdown rate. Likewise, Staff passing numbers inside the 20 are puny, 10 of 26 for 38.46% with three TD’s and an interception. Some of it can written off to questionable play calling, but on the Rams failed first attempt in the red zone Sunday, the tight end was clearly open on 3rd down and Staff missed him wild high. The 4th down attempt was even wilder.
Running back
Putting the fumble aside, Kyren Williams (67, 86%) had a strong game. He consistently made something out of nothing to extend drives. Good to see the Rams finally get Blake Corum (11, 14%) into action, it was inevitable that he would eventually supplant Ronnie Rivers at RB#2. He didn’t have any pass blocking reps, but did show he could quickly hit the holes in the run game. Rivers was limited to special teams work.
Wide receiver
Green Bay stayed disciplined in it’s high-shell coverage and forced the Rams to grind it out underneath. Demarcus Robinson (76, 97%) had a couple of nice grabs, but was pretty quiet for all those snaps. On the Rams final drive, Jordan Whittington (72, 92%) had a drop and an almost fumble, but has that “I want the ball” attitude in tough situations. He’s a keeper. Although Tutu Atwell (63, 81%) was almost beheaded on the first drive when Stafford led him into a blind-side hit, he got up and proved he can be trusted underneath as well as deep.
Snaps and targets are way down two games in a row for Tyler Johnson (11, 14%), not a good sign. Xavier Smith (8, 10%) not only got a little offensive action, he recorded a pair of grabs for modest yardage. One was an ill-fated screen where Beaux Limmer was tasked with getting outside (within a few yards of the sideline) as the primary blocker and didn’t make it. The other was a short pass that he quickly transitioned upfield for yardage.
Tight end
I think Rams fans are beginning to see what Colby Parkinson (62, 79%) is all about and why he struggled to earn reps with the Seahawks. He certainly offers a big target, has good hands, and Matthew Stafford seems comfortable targeting him, but he’s not a a twitchy player, nor does his game have a physical aspect. On the Rams final drive, he caught a short out and the cornerback just wrapped him up for no YAC. As I recall, he didn’t break a tackle in the game.
Hunter Long (17, 22%) got onto the stat sheet with his first two catches of the season and blocked well in a limited performance. If the Rams are not going to use the “12” formation, three by my count on Sunday, Long may deserve a few more reps. Continuing his comeback from a back injury Davis Allen 3, 4% saw just a bit more time than last week.
Offensive line
All five, Alaric Jackson, Logan Bruss, Beaux Limmer, and Rob Havenstein played 78, 100%. As a group, it wasn’t a standout game, but it was solid. Every defense the Rams have played and likely those in the future are trying to exploit their weakness—loops, stunts, twists, and blitzes, particularly late ones. It’s not that surprising with a rookie calling out the blocks.
Defensive line
All of the Rams defensive linemen had a drop in snaps, to varying degrees, versus Green Bay. Some of it may be gameplan, L.A. got away from their five man front base and used primarily four-man fronts against the Pack (41 to 15 by my count). But it is good to see them using a deeper rotation.
Kobie Turner (48, 81%) had his best all-around game and you could really feel his presence. The Rams really need this. Braden Fiske (30, 51%) plays with great effort and if L.A. can develop/find a true run-stopper, his game will expand exponentially.
Re-watching the the game, the thing that sticks out about Bobby Brown (28, 47%) and Neville Gallimore (19, 32%) was that late in the game they combined for a clutch tackle at the line of scrimmage. Instead of being aware of the situation they were celebrating for the TV cameras as the Rams were trying to get in substitutes. Neither got off the field and the Rams were assessed a penalty.
For Tyler Davis (7, 12%), it was his least amount of action thus far and Jonah Williams (1, 2%) just got to L.A. a few days prior. I would expect his reps to jump after the bye.
Edge
The twitchiness of Byron Young (47, 80%) is stellar. He’s inexperienced, only in his sophomore season and prone to losing edge contain by mis-direction. Something all the Rams could use a lesson in is wrapping up tackles. For example, Young forcing the interception that was returned for a TD was lucky. Although he just exploded off the edge and closed the gap on a QB rollout away from him, instead of wrapping up from the blind-side and possibly getting a strip sack, he just thumped the QB from behind. The QB was knocked off balance, but still got the throw off, it was just wildly bad. To get the sacks the Rams have to wrap up.
I liked the way the Rams are using a pass rushing package of Young, Jared Verse (41, 69%) and Michael Hoecht (38, 64%) together. The three make a good rotation. but all need to concentrate on setting the edge.
Off-ball linebacker
Troy Reeder (51, 86%) is ranked by Pro Football Focus as the 85th of 137 and SIS Datahub ranks him at 118th 0f 203, a group that includes edge rushers. Christian Rozeboom (42, 71%) stands at 110th of 137 and 127th of 203 in those same groups. Again, Omar Speights and Elias Neal were limited to special teams.
Safety
Leading the Rams in tackles, Quentin Lake (59, 100%) is all over the field. Allowing that deep pass to be completed was a bad look, but he has arguably been the Rams best secondary player. You didn’t hear Kam Curl (59, 100%) mentioned much and that’s a good thing. He led the Rams in tackles on Sunday. Jaylen McCollough (15, 25%) had his biggest workload of the season and was in the right spot at the right time for TD interception return.
Cornerback
The big news was that Tre’Davious White was a healthy scratch. This something that needs to be monitored. Ahkello Witherspoon (48, 81%) played in his stead and didn’t get officially tested by a route, but showed some horrific ball-tracking on the 53 yard bomb that set up the Packers first score. Undrafted rookie Josh Wallace (31, 53%) got the starting outside role opposite ‘Spoon and played well, coming up and tackling in space.
The changeup’s on the corners put Cobie Durant 56, 95% in the slot and he had another good game. Hard to tell if Darious Williams (29, 49%) was beaten or was playing in trail position on that deep pass breakup with 3:00 to go in the game. Either way, it was a big play and gave the Rams a chance to pull it out. The unit will be much improved with him back.
Close, but no cigar
A 1-4 record ties L.A. with six other teams for the worst record in the NFL. Are they really that bad?
The Rams have played well enough to win in four of five games, but figured a way to shoot themselves in the foot. It’s not like they haven’t had their chances, leading with two minutes to go at Detroit, knocking off the 49ers, two separate chances to right the wrong in Chicago and a last drive opportunity vs, the Packers.
The best 1-4 team in the NFL is no consolation, the Rams have to figure a way to turn these to-the-wire contests into wins. Reaching the playoffs is strictly mathematical, you are in contention until you are not. That said, to stay relevant you must stack wins, not close losses.
