Good teams keep losing teams losing.
While the Los Angeles Rams are one of the NFL’s best teams on paper, their 2-3 start to the season is a major disappointment. There remains plenty of time to course correct and find footing in the NFC playoff picture; however, the jury is still out—are the Rams good?
Sunday’s Week 6 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals isn’t certain to bring us more answers. How far does the needle swing if the Rams trounce the bottom-dwelling Cardinals? What can we really glean
from this game in terms of LA’s place in the standings?
The answer is not much, and the same goes for their earlier game this season against the New York Giants. Sunday is not a resume builder. It’s a requirement in order to keep pace with the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC West divisional race.
So with that in mind, what could spell trouble for the Rams in Week 6? There a few items I can’t seem to shake out of my head.
1 – David Quessenberry at LT against Josh Sweat
Alaric Jackson was initially suspended for two games following a post-game altercation against a Bills player. The league reduced his time missed to a single game. David Quessenberry will earn the start at left tackle in replacement.
Quessenberry last started in 2023 for the Vikings. While he’s been a reliable spot contributor over his career, we have not seen him play much meaningful football during his LA tenure. At age 36, Quessenberry may not still be the same player he once was. We have no way of knowing whether that is the case. Sunday will be our first answer on this front.
The fortunate news is that the Cardinals have very little pass rushing talent outside of Josh Sweat. The bad news is that Sweat will likely align across from Quessenberry most of the time. It’s best on complete unknown—if not best versus worst.
No player on the Cardinals has more than nine pressures this season. Interior defensive lineman Dante Stills leads Arizona. Josh Sweat is second with eight. For comparison, Rams EDGE rusher Byron Young has two games with seven pressures. The Cardinals get most of their pass rushing production from the interior, including Walter Nolen and Darius Robinson. Sweat is the only individual you must worry about on the edge.
2 – The Arizona defense is a mess
The Cardinals have lacked premier defensive talent for years. Former head coach Jonathan Gannon made up for this with creative defensive play calling. Gannon’s defensive coordinator, Nick Rallis, is still in place. It’s too early to say whether the same extent of creativity remains; however, we have enough information to conclude that his defense is one of the worst in football.
Arizona ranks 30th in EPA per play. They are 25th in success rate and 29th in allowing explosive plays. The Cardinals are 25th in missed tackle frequency and allow the most points in the NFL on a per drive basis.
You can look for a silver lining. There isn’t one.
And that is good news for a Rams offense that is putting up a ton of yards but not necessarily efficient. Matthew Stafford is performing closer to average rather than at the MVP level we saw from him a year ago.
Last week against the Bills should have been a “get right” game. It wasn’t. This is the weakest defense the Rams have faced yet. If they can’t light up the scoreboard against Arizona, it may be time to sound the alarm.
3 – Is Blake Grupe really an upgrade?
The Rams released kicker Harrison Mevis this week and signed Blake Grupe in replacement. Grupe certainly is more capable from longer range. Whether he’s consistently accurate is an open question.
Because LA signed Grupe from the New York Jets’ practice squad, he must remain on the 53-man roster for at least three games. The Rams aren’t likely to lose to the Cardinals because of a missed field goal—hopefully it doesn’t come down to that. But LA does need to leave Sunday with earned confidence that Grupe is their kicker for the rest of the season.
The Rams have invited volatility. Have they stopped the bleeding?
