The Rams were outclassed by the Eagles on Sunday Night Football. Here are 10 key takeaways.
The Los Angeles Rams fell 37-20 to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday Night Football in a game that they needed to steal. It’s their biggest loss since Week 2 when they fell 41-10 to the Arizona Cardinals. The Rams were simply outclassed and outmatched by a better football team. Here are my 10 takeaways.
1. Kyren Williams has a fumbling problem and he needs to fix it
The Rams offense came out looking really good to start the game. Matthew Stafford scrambled for 15 yards and then Kyren Williams took a handoff for an explosive run and gained 27. Just as the offense entered the red zone, Williams fumbled, killing any early momentum.
Williams has a fumbling problem and it has to get fixed. He’s now fumbled eight times over the last two years. That doesn’t include a dropped pass that ended up an interception last year against the San Francisco 49ers. His fumble against the Miami Dolphins two weeks ago was also a huge momentum killer. Either Williams needs to take better care of the football or we need to see more Blake Corum.
2. Offense started strong, but fizzled
For only the second time this season, the Rams offense scored a touchdown in the first quarter. Early in the game it seemed that Sean McVay had been dreaming of his next matchup against Vic Fangio and was ready for the moment. The Rams had a strong performance last week against the New England Patriots and that looked to have carried over into Sunday Night.
Everything shifted on the third possession of the game. The Rams led 7-3 with another chance to take control. They had 2nd-and-4, but two consecutive incomplete passes led to a punt. It would start a run of three straight drives to end in a three-and-out. The Rams finished the night 0-for-8 on third downs. Winning on early downs was crucial in this game and the Rams averaged nine yards to go on third downs.
3. Rob Havenstein’s presence at right tackle is missed
Rob Havenstein is consistently a name that gets brought up as someone that the Rams need to replace on the offensive line. However, it’s becoming very clear as he misses more time that he is the glue to the offensive line. Against the Dolphins, it was Joe Noteboom who struggled at right tackle. While Warren McClendon played well in a spot start last week, he struggled consistently at right tackle against the Eagles. McClendon simply looked overmatched.
Havenstein remains an extremely underrated player and his presence over the past three weeks has certainly been missed. The Rams are missing a steady presence along the offensive line and that’s exactly what Havenstein brings to the table.
4. Rams needed to win in the trenches and got blown off the ball
It was said all week that in order for the Rams to beat the Eagles, they would have to win in the trenches. That’s exactly what was happening early in the game. Stafford was getting time to throw the ball and lanes were created for Williams in the run game. Defensively, Braden Fiske and Jared Verse were on the verge of taking over once again.
That didn’t last. From the second quarter until the end of the game, Stafford was consistently under pressure on passing downs. Meanwhile, the Eagles were having their way on offense, especially in the run game. This was a big test for both the offensive and defensive lines and it’s clear that they have a long way to go.
5. That was the worst performance in defending the run in a long time
The most rushing yards that the Rams had ever given up to a single player in the McVay era was to Tony Pollard in 2019. The Rams hadn’t allowed more than 200 yards rushing since 2012 when Adrian Peterson had 212 yards. Saquon Barkley rushed for 255 yards on Sunday night. That surpassed DeMarco Murray’s 253-yard performance for the most rushing yards allowed to a single player in a game in Rams franchise history.
Over the past two months, the Rams have done well defending the run. The Eagles are a different offensive line that bullied the Rams’ smaller defensive front and Barkley is a different type of running back. Barkley had 136 rushing yards over expected. The Rams missed tackles and consistently struggled to contain the Eagles running back.
6. Defense was undisciplined and lacks consistent focus
This was a talking point in the early part of the season and it seemed like the Rams defense was starting to find its identity. It’s very possible that Sunday night was just an off-game, but it didn’t look good. There were several disappointing moments in this game that go beyond just the rushing yards allowed.
With the Rams trailing 20-14, the defense set the Eagles up at 3rd-and-10 at the 44. That’s a favorable situation to get off the field and force a punt or very long field goal. Instead, the Eagles converted but offsetting penalties gave the Rams another chance to get a stop. Hurts then hit Barkley on a screen to convert for a second time.
Later in the game, Tyler Davis jumped offsides on 4th-and-1 from the Eagles own 18-yard line. Both moments resulted in eventual touchdowns. The defense has a tendency to over-pursue and throw fundamentals out the window. An experienced team like the Eagles took advantage of that.
7. The kicker is the least of the Rams’ worries after big loss
The Rams lost by 17 points and would have been 23 if not for a garbage time touchdown to Kupp. While Karty’s missed kick was a problem, it isn’t among the first 15 things that should get brought up in this game. Yes, I understand the irony in bringing this up in a 10-takeaways list.
Even if Karty makes the kick, it turns a two-score game into a two-score game. There isn’t a huge difference in 27-14 vs. 27-17. There’s not a huge shift in momentum on that missed kick. In fact the Eagles went from a 94.4 percent chance of winning the game to a 94.5 percent chance. The Eagles offense had scored touchdowns on its previous two possessions. It’s simply among the many things that went wrong in this game. There are way more important problems to worry about after that loss.
8. A conversation needs to be had about attendance
I’m not quite sure what the Rams do at this point when it comes to their fan attendance issue. On the broadcast, that sounded like an Eagles home game. Those in the stands noted that it looked like a 70-30 split at best. There is something to be said about SSL and price gouging big matchups like this. It’s going to take time for the Rams to build a fanbase in Los Angeles after being gone for 25 years.
At the same time, the Rams need to get creative with it. This isn’t the reason why the Rams lost, but in six homes games, they may have had the crowd advantage in two of them. The Rams not only got run over by the Eagles on the field, but in the stands as well. Next year will mark 10 years in Los Angeles and the Rams will have had a losing record in at worst three of them with two Super Bowl appearances.
9. Loss shows just how far Rams are from contending teams
Everybody wants to keep comparing this Rams team to the one that went 7-1 down the stretch last season. However, this team has not shown any level of consistency to do that. The Rams are a team that’s been consistently hurt on one side of the ball and they are inexperienced on the other. They didn’t just lose to the Eagles, but got completely outclassed.
The Rams are likely set up better to compete next season, but this current version of the roster isn’t going anywhere. There’s a chance that they could still fall into a playoff spot by winning the NFC West, but there’s not a lot of confidence that they could compete once they made it.
10. The margin for error is becoming extremely thin
The margin for error is now extremely thin for the rest of the season. With a matchup against the Buffalo Bills in two weeks, that is likely the only loss that the Rams can afford. Winning out in the division is nearly essential for tiebreaker purposes and now the Rams have to beat the New Orleans Saints next week and New York Jets on the road. That means that the Rams would have to get season sweeps on the Seahawks and 49ers.
That’s not to say that the Rams can’t do it and can’t make the playoffs. However, that would just take a level of consistency they have yet to show this season. Last night was a display of the gap and how far off they are right now. The margins are thin and with six games left to play, there is almost no room for error.
