Rams roster review after a tough loss to the Detroit Lions

Who played well in Week 1 and who didn’t?

After standing toe-to-toe for 56 minutes, the Los Angeles Rams finally ran out of gas and succumbed to the Detroit Lions 26-20 in an overtime barn burner on the NFL’s opening weekend. Even as injuries continued to mount, L.A. found ways to stay competitive.

First off and most importantly, the Rams should have won this game. No excuses, although “stole it” may be a better descriptor.

There’s no need for overreactions. The game plan’s on both sides of the ball were solid. There was no way the Rams patchwork offensive line would hold up and Sean McVay dusted off an older version of the West Coast Offense. They took what was given, content to grind away. On defense, there wasn’t a huge difference than in the past. Spacing appeared better, so was tackling, there was some corner/safety blitz action, and a decent mix of zone and man.

So what happened? Any one of a half dozen things could have turned the tide.

Trouble in the red zone reared its ugly head, it’s not new to Rams fans, but completely missing two scoring opportunities and settling for a field goal from the the one yard line is a recipe for disaster. I don’t fault DeCobie Durant for not coming up with the late interception, but it’s the kind of play that if made, ignites a team and turns around games. L.A. lost 32 yards of field position on the resulting punt. Ahead 20-17 with 4:10 left in the game, the Rams did not feel comfortable enough with the run game to grind down the clock. They ran seven plays, five of them passes that left Detroit with two minutes and two timeouts to tie the score.

Can’t tell the players without a lineup card

The Rams were constantly shuffling the deck at wide receiver and offensive line, but for the most part, the Rams did stand pat on the defensive side.

Here’s a review of who played well and who didn’t. Snaps played and percentage in bold and parentheses.

Quarterback

Watching Matthew Stafford (78, 100%) is an emotional roller coaster. He’s talented, gutsy, and competitive. This was not Staff’s usual gunslinger role, offensive line shuffling forced Sean McVay back to his West Coast offense roots and a controlled, short passing game.

While the Rams were forced to grind it, Stafford did a fine job running things, but he gave fans his usual cardiac-arrest inspiring moments. He had a drive-killing end zone interception, two others that clanked of interceptors hands, and another pair of quick outs that could have easily gone for pick-sixes.

Running back

The Rams came to the Motor City to throw the ball. Kyren Williams (71, 91%) did eventually get his touches, but “run attack”was not a part of the Rams gameplan. Williams never carried more than three times in any drive. Ronnie Rivers (7, 9%) did what he always does, spelling RB#1 with assignment-based play. Very interesting that Blake Corum was limited to nine special teams plays.

Wide receiver

Certainly the target share was a bit lopsided, but Cooper Kupp (78, 100%) has proven he can carry the load. Both Tyler Johnson (51, 65%) and Demarcus Robinson (72, 92%) offer good hands and willing blocking reps. It was nice to see Johnson flash some open-field running. Although Puka Nacua (25. 32%) got off to a good start, he re-injured the same knee that hobbled him in camp and now heads to the Injured Reserve List

Not much action was doled out to the reserves. Somewhat surprisingly, Tutu Atwell (6, 8%) didn’t get much of a look on offense or in the return game. A big tell on that may have been the game plan, a quick, shorter game to negate pass rush pressure. Fan fave Jordan Whittington (2, 3%) just brely got his feet wet. His end-around touchdown that was called back by penalty was a big blow.

Tight end

Colby Parkinson (69, 88%) got off to a fine start with the Rams, Davis Allen (6, 8%) got a few early snaps, but dropped a pass and wasn’t seen again. Hunter Long (3, 4%) had a couple of 2nd half reps.

Offensive line

Joseph Noteboom (27, 35%) blocked well on run plays, but really struggled in pass pro. Can’t say the injury is surprising. AJ Arcuri (51, 65%) was overmatched and Detroit didn’t even try to move Aidan Hutchinson around after ‘Boom left, they just let him feast on Arcuri. Over on the right side, McClendon (78, 100%) got a break in the matchups and battled through it. He would have to be given a plus for his performance.

Not sure how early in the game Steve Avila (37, 47%) was nicked up, but his feet were sluggish and he had some problems with foes beating off the snap. Jonah Jackson (41, 53%) moved over for Avila and was solid. The good news about Kevin Dotson (78, 100%) was that he played well, the bad was reportage of him in a walking boot after the game.

In the pivot, Beaux Limmer (41, 53%) showed he’s ready for more action on the big stage. Starter Jonah Jackson (37, 47%) blocked well, but had a lot of snap accuracy problems.

Defensive line

Generally, a solid performance against a very good offensive line. No one stood out, but as a group they held up the Lions run game until simply wearing out. Rookie Braden Fiske’s (47, 77%) first game was basically what you’d expect, although he didn’t create much pressure he held his ground. Same for Kobie Turner (56, 92%) but he did get a little more pass rush push. Disappointed in Bobby Brown (37, 61%) being pushed back off the line of scrimmage regularly. The backups, rookie Tyler Davis (11, 18%) and veteran Neville Gallimore (4, 7%) were quiet in limited roles.

Edges

For the starters, Byron Young (49, 80%) and Jared Verse (43, 70%), it was up and down. Both charted four tackles and a sack, but Detroit did a good job of pinning them inside with blocking and eye candy, allowing exploitation of the corners. Michael Hoecht (30, 49%) came off the bench and was fairly quiet, he did have a tackle for loss.

Linebackers

Troy Reeder (61, 100%) and Christian Rozeboom (45, 74%) performed well against both run and pass. As well as they played, I thought Jake Hummel would get a look, but he only drew special teams (ST) work. Rookie Omar Speights didn’t get any reps on defense either, although he did get 15 on ST..

Safeties

The only surprise, and it’s a minor one, was that Russ Yeast only played one defensive snap. Kamren Curl (61, 100%), Quentin Lake (61, 100%), and John Johnson (38, 62%) gobbled up the lion’s share. Rookie Kamren Kinchens (5, 8%) was in at the end of the game and committed a grievous penalty.

Cornerbacks

Except for one bad play, the “thin” cornerback unit had a strong day. Tre’Davious White (61, 100%) played every snap and DeCobie Durant (59, 97%) left only two mop-up reps for rookie Josh Wallace. White was badly burnt on the 52 yard touchdown pass, but Durant held Amon Ra-St. Brown to 13 yards receiving.

Final thoughts on another big problem?

The biggest problem was the defensive interior simply running out of gas. Turner, Brown and Fiske averaged 77% of snaps for the first game of the season. Last year, it was 63%, 36%, 61% for the three. Yes, the defense played gamely for the first 49:30 of the game, but in the last 6:41 they gave up 124 yards and nine points.

For many, if not most positions, snap counts matter very little.

But I happen to think the defensive interior is a completely different story and it showed down the stretch. Will Rams fans be okay with the biggest hard-working players playing 75%+? Do you think that it’s a one game thing, or should the Rams deepen the rotations more?