The good, the bad, and the ugly: Braden Fiske continues to make a case for DROY

Rams doomed by first quarter inefficiency

The Los Angeles Rams offense suddenly reappeared on Sunday in a much needed victory against the New England Patriots. Here is the good, the bad, and the ugly from the win.

The Good

Braden Fiske continues to make his case for DROY

When Les Snead moved up on the second day of the NFL draft to take Braden Fiske off the board he received instant scrutiny—it was the biggest overpay in the second round in recent memory. That decision continues to look like the right one as the season continues. Against the Patriots, Fiske had two sacks, three pressures, and a violent forced fumble that pushed momentum in LA’s favor. His impact on the game goes farther than just the baseline stats though. With his ability to cause disruption in the middle of the line other players are able to play off of him and many have capitalized on his efforts.

Jared Verse is the front runner for the DROY award, but it is hard not to talk about Fiske in the same breath. It may not be the “Aaron Donald” effect, but the rookie out of FSU is a problem for the opposition every week.

Beaux Limmer earns the starting center position

After last week’s poor performance from the offensive line, Sean McVay had no other option than to shake things up in Week 11. Jonah Jackson is the latest free agent benching by the Rams after a dreadful performance against the Miami Dolphins last week forced him out of favor with the team. In the end, it was all for the better. Beaux Limmer, the 217th pick of this year’s draft, officially took over as the team’s center against New England which proved to be an instant upgrade over Jackson. He only allowed one pressure and zero hurries while also grading high in run-block efficiency (78.6 according to PFF). The offensive line as a whole kept Matthew Stafford standing all game long and Limmer’s return played a huge part in that.

Explosive plays are back in LA

Let’s not sugar-coat it, the Rams offense has been hard to watch this year even in victories—that was until this past Sunday. The day was highlighted by a beautiful pass by Stafford to Cooper Kupp on zero blitz that went for a 69-yard touchdown. The pass game looked like vintage McVay offense with his ageless wonder at quarterback finishing with his highest average-yards-per-attempt this season with 13.89 yards (his highest previously being 9.64 yards in Week 3) along with a QBR of 142.7. Puka Nacua looked back to his normal self and finished with a team-high 123 yards receiving with a long of 37. Kyren Williams was also breaking free for big gains with a long of 18-yards. He finished the game with 86 yards on just 15 attempts for an average of 5.7 yards-per-rush.

The Rams have had plenty of issues with scoring in the redzone this season but that can be masked slightly if McVay can continue to get explosives from his offense.

The Bad

First Quarter efficiency hurt both sides of the ball

For all the great that was seen from the offense on Sunday, the first quarter was once again a painful watch. The Rams are now tied with the Chicago Bears with the least amount of points in the first quarter (1.3) and haven’t scored a point in their last three games. In some cases LA has been able to overcome their inefficiencies but with the quality of opponent about to ramp up in the second half of the season it will likely doom them in the future.

The defense doesn’t get a pass either. A chop-block penalty on Rhamondre Stevenson negated the Patriot’s incredible field position on their first drive of the game and ultimately lead to a punt, but their second drive looked easy. Maye had only one incompletion on the drive and threw for gains of 14, 28, 19, and capped it off with a nine yard strike to Kendrick Bourne. The offense didn’t help them much by not sustaining their first drive but at times this season it has taken LA’s defense at least a quarter to get warmed up.

The Ugly

Mistakes kept New England in the game

The penalties continue to pile up in recent weeks and once again nearly cost the Rams the game. The biggest mistake came in the third quarter when Jared Verse was called for Unnecessary Roughness for picking up a player off of the pile that formed due to LA’s second forced fumble on the day. It would have been 4th-and-11 but instead gave New England a fresh set of downs. On the next play Bryon Young was called for a facemask that put Maye and his offense in prime position to score and keep his team alive. McVay had a few questionable calls as well most notably when he got aggressive on 3rd-and-6 with just 2:27 left in the game instead of opting for a quick completion to put LA in field goal territory or move the sticks and eventually win the game. Stafford’s incompletion deep to Nacua saved the Patriots time on the clock and kept the team out of field goal range.

The Rams had a chance to put the game away early but kept it close until the very end.