Winners & Losers: Offensive mistakes offset winning effort by LA’s defense

LA couldn’t get out of their own way with two costly turnovers on offense

The Los Angeles Rams are a measly 1-4 after falling 24-19 to the Green Bay Packers in Week 5. LA will have next week off with a bye as they must recalibrate expectations for the 2024 season.

A loss means a time to point fingers, and by my eye Chris Shula’s defense appeared to do enough to give the Rams a fighting chance against a wholly more talented Packers team. Green Bay was a top rushing team coming into this matchup, and Shula’s unit was one of the worst rushing defenses through the first four games. Holding the Packers to 116 yards by backs and receivers is a win considering how effective the ground attack had been for Green Bay before today.

And the pass defense looked better with Darious Williams returning and Ahkello Witherspoon working into the starting lineup. LA held Jordan Love to 224 yards while consistently applying pressure. Love through a costly pick and lost a fumble.

Let’s get into the key contributions on defense and discuss the individual performances that sunk the offense on Sunday:

Winners

Jaylen McCollough, DB

The rookie UDFA was the beneficiary of an ill-advised pass by Love from his own end zone while Byron Young applied pressure. A head’s up play by the young safety, McCollough caught the ball at the Green Bay three and stayed in bounds for the score.

The rookie is working into the lineup as the Rams rethink their rotation in the secondary. McCollough was a top performer across the preseason for LA.

Jordan Whittington, WR

Whittington hauled in seven of 10 targets for 89 yards and a long of 31 as he strung together his second-straight solid game in place of Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua. Outside of Kyren Williams and Tutu Atwell, Whittington is the only player who really appears to put fear into the defense while the ball is in his hands. He excels at catching and turning up field with a head of steam.

Whittington should have a role even after the receiving room returns to full force.

Kamren Curl, DB

It hasn’t been a good start to Curl’s Rams career, though with Darious Williams returning and Witherspoon working into the first-string he seemed to settle into a more productive role against the Packers. Quentin Lake was being used more as a deep safety instead of a hybrid/slot corner, and this allowed LA to deploy Curl more as a rusher. It’s a change that seemed to benefit the recent free agent addition.

Darious Williams, CB

Williams mostly had a quiet day, which is a good thing considering we’ve said far too much about Tre White over the first part of the season. He soared through the air late to break up a deep pass by Love. This was a key play to (1) save the Rams a timeout and (2) get the offense the ball back with three minutes left on the clock. Williams did his part, but the offense didn’t do much with their potential game-winning opportunity.

Blake Corum, RB

Fans have clamored for Corum to be more active in the offense, and they got their wish this week. The rookie back ripped off 20 yards on his first two touches and added a spark to the offense. While Ronnie Rivers is a fine back, Corum just seems to operate at another level.

Corum was given two goal line rushing attempts that were unsuccessful. Williams substituted in for third down and scored on the next play.

Losers

Matthew Stafford, QB

Stafford still hasn’t had a good game this season, and this was clearly his worst outing of the year. He threw an ill-advised and ugly pick to Xavier McKinney intended for Tutu Atwell in double coverage. There was another interceptable target deep as there was a stretch in this game where the QB’s passes seemed to be sailing on him. He had inaccurate throws in the short areas of the field that put the Rams behind the chains. Stafford took three sacks, including one where he questionably held the ball too long and LA was moved out of field goal range.

The offensive line as currently structured is nowhere near as good as the group we saw last year in what was probably Stafford’s best individual season. Still, they are probably good enough and we see quarterbacks under more pressure take those lemons and make lemonade every week.

Stafford looks diminished. If he’s not the answer at quarterback, the Rams have to be honest with themselves about the benefit of continuing to put him on the field in what is becoming a lost season. Is there any upside in leaving Stafford under center, especially if the team strings together additional losses after the bye week?

Colby Parkinson, TE

Much has (fairly) been made of the Rams’ red zone struggles. You’d think that a 6-7 TE would be a positive target in this area, but Parkinson caught just seven of his 13 targets for 52 yards with a long of nine. For the second-straight week, Parkinson led the Rams in targets even over the likes of Whittington and Atwell.

Good things just don’t seem to happen often enough when the team throws the ball in Parkinson’s direction, and he doesn’t seem like a building block for the future.

Josh Karty, K

Karty missed an extra point attempt that left the Rams chasing points early. They had to go for two late in the game to make up for it, and they ran an ugly jet sweep to Atwell that had no chance to succeed. I guess if you struggle in the red zone, you will probably also struggle with two point attempts.

Karty now has misses over the last two weeks. Is it time to worry about the rookie kicker, or will he right the ship out of the bye week?

Tre White, CB

The Rams made white a gameday inactive with the return of Williams and a larger role for Witherspoon. LA gave up a deep completion early in coverage by Lake and Witherspoon, but otherwise the Rams probably had their best day in coverage.

Addition by subtraction? Perhaps. We’ll continue to monitor White’s role and how the defense looks without him in the lineup.