In a heart-breaking overtime loss, the Los Angeles Rams fell to the injury-riddled San Francisco 49ers 26-23 on the Thursday Night Football national stage. L.A.’s was driving for the win and in the red zone when the ’Niners defense stoned a 4th and 1 run by Kyren Williams at the 11 yard line.
While the pass defense was objectively poor, it was also an up-and-down evening for the Rams offense. They had no problems moving the football and three of four scoring drives ended with touchdowns, but watching, I couldn’t help thinking of ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde’, the central theme of which is where change (particularly negative) becomes involuntary. The Rams offense has been showing signs again, not of being stopped by others, but rather, held back by some internal struggle. In simpler terms, shooting themselves in the foot.
Let’s examine the Rams offensive drives.
Drive #1
Mr. Hyde: Alaric Jackson
L.A.’s first possession starts with a first down. Hyde’s rears his head on the next series of plays, on 2nd and 10 from their own 44, Alaric Jackson appears to be confused about the snap count. He’s looking towards the center, Coleman Shelton, but doesn’t receive. He’s still peering over when the ball is snapped and the San Francisco defensive end runs right by him, virtually untouched for the sack. Boom, 3rd and 20. As is his wont, McVay decides against trying to convert and instead chooses to run the ball.
Would they have scored without the unforced error? Who can say, but they were already nearing midfield.
Drive #2
Mr. Hyde: Blake Corum
After a pair of short completions, the Rams run the ball five straight plays, pounding the middle for 26 yards down to the 49ers 24 yard line. They go for a sixth on a quick pitch to Blake Corum, but he takes his eyes off the ball and it doinks of his face mask. S.F. collects the loose ball.
Knocking on the door of the red zone, points were quite likely left off the board.
Drive #3
Dr. Jekyll: Mathew Stafford
Trailing 14-0, McVay puts this drive on Stafford’s back and he delivers. After the Rams and 49ers trade five yard penalties, L.A. eschews the ground game and Staff goes six for eight through the air, driving the offense 85 yards to a touchdown. He targeted five different receivers, including a cameo by rookie TE Terrance Feguson. The rookie made a nice 21 yard contested catch to convert a 3rd down. On the touchdown pass, the ’Niners blitzed, L.A, held them off, and Stafford found a wide-open Kyren Williams.
Drive #4
Mr. Hyde: Jordan Whittington and Kyren Williams
To open the second half, L.A. quickly moved into 49er territory on a pair of pass completions. The drive stalled at the S.F. 35 on back-to-back dropped passes. On 2nd and 6, Jordan Whittington clanked one in the left flat and on the very next play, Kyren Williams dropped one in the opposite flat. The terrible part was both had plenty of room to run, a first down and much more had they secured the ball. Placekicker Josh Karty missed the 53 yard field goal badly, wide right.
Drive #5
Dr. Jekyll: Tutu Atwell
Trailing 20-7, with 2nd and 10 from their own 31 yard line, Stafford found wide receiver Tutu Atwell, who hauled in the well-covered toss for 34 yards into ‘Niner territory. A pair of completions to Puka Nacua sandwiched around a open-field drop by Blake Corum, and the Rams were inside the 10. From the one, Davante Adams and Nacua pulled off a perfect screen/pick, with Nacua hauling in the score.
Drive #6
Dr. Jeckyll: Matthew Stafford
Mr Hyde: The Rams placekicking blocking
Still behind, now 20-14 and starting on their own 12, Matthew Stafford again struck through the air. He targeted six different receivers, going five of seven for 80 yards. He teamed up with Davante Adams for 50 of those yards and found Kyren Williams matched up on a linebacker for an eight-yard score. Instead of taking the lead, the Niners were able to break through the “A gap” between long snapper and blocker Steve Avila to block the PAT. A very big block indeed, but the Rans had clawed all the way back.
Drive #7
After the L.A. defense forced a three-and-out, the Rams answered with one of their own. It happens. Maybe, you could complain about not running the ball, but Staff had been converting.
Drive #8
Mr. Hyde: Kyren Williams
After a 49er field goal to take a 23-20 lead, L.A. started at their own 35 with 2:52 left in the game. Within 1:30, the Rams are knocking on the door at the S.F. three yard line. It took two passes, two passes, and two short penalties (nine yards) to traverse the field. From the “Niners three, Williams looks to have room to score, but doesn’t protect the ball and a big paw reaches in and strips him at the goal line, S.F. recovers. Fumbles are always bad, but when in scoring position, the pain is magnified.
Drive #9
Dr. Jeckyll: Josh Karty
The Rams are not quite dead. San Francisco cannot get out of the shadows of the goal post and have to punt from the end zone. Xavier Smith gets a solid return of the short punt, down to the 49ers 26, but another special teams gaffe, this time a holding call on Tre Brown, sets L.A. Back to mid-field. After a pair of incompletions, Stafford hits a flat pass to Kyren Williams, bringing up 4th and 3 at the S.F. 43. McVay rolls the dice and again Staff hits Williams underneath, this time for 13. After a spike, Josh Karty drills the 48-yard field goal to tie it up with two seconds remaining.
Drive #10
Dr. Jeckyll: Matthew Stafford
In overtime, the 49ers took the lead on a field goal. Could Matthew Stafford’s arm snatch victory from the jaws of defeat? After a quick hitter pass for nine, Staff created some space/time with pocket movement and again found Tutu Atwell for a deep connection. This hit was for 38 yards to the S.F. 20. Another shot to Tutu, this one in the end zone fell incomplete and two short passes to Kyren Williams brought up 4th and 1 at the 11 yard line. This time, McVay chose to run the ball off right tackle behind Warren McClendon, Davis Allen, and Jordan Whittington. Williams wasn’t close, Rams lose a heart breaker.
Takeaways from the offense?
Quarterback Matthew Stafford’s start is off to his best in years, protecting the ball, making things happen and now in this game, showing he is capable of getting all the playmakers involved.
Kyren Williams inks a new contract and fans are assured that has worked to clean up his fumbling issues, but now in consecutive weeks he’s lost the handle at inopportune times. Does Blake Corum deserve more play, considering his own “hands” issues the past two weeks? How about Jarquez Hunter in short yardage situations?
Pass blocking was much better, but against a team that has struggled to generate one. The problems of communication on picking up and switching off on stunts, and loops are still there. The flow of the game and to a lesser extent, the fumbles, both led to fewer rush attempts. Generally speaking there were holes a part of the offense, but not so much in short yardage.
Rams fans had a Terrance Feguson sighting and he showed he can go up and win a contested catch. But it was just a fleeting glimpse, seeing only four offensive snaps.
Special teams overall are poor. Blocking on extra points and field goals have always been akin to automatic, now teams are exploiting the Rams. Imagine something relatively easy on your job and it not getting done, how would that go over. With all the high-effort, football IQ players that L.A. likes to stockpile, something is amiss with the special teams.
It doesn’t get much easier for the Rams, they’re on the road for two weeks against the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars. Both defenses appear to be in the bottom third of the league and on paper, the Rams appear to match up well. But they cannot continue to shoot themselves in the foot.
“I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man; I saw that, of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both.” — Robert Louis Stevenson
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