The Los Angeles Rams scored a much-needed 35-21 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.
The offense posted their highest scoring total on the season so far. The running game helped their unit course correct. Blake Corum and Kyren Williams took over the game.
It’s encouraging to see the offense back on track. One win isn’t enough to say the Rams have turned things around. There is certainly more work to be done in order to take a playoff berth seriously.
These are the grades and advanced metrics
from Sunday’s win from Pro Football Focus (PFF):
Top five grades on offense
1 – Blake Corum, RB: 87.4
Let’s take Corum and Williams together.
- Corum: 17 rushes for 93 yards, 1 TD
- Williams: 16 rushes for 99 yards, 1 TD, 1 fumble lost
That’s the box score. Williams probably had the more impressive day outside of his lost fumble that helped Las Vegas gain momentum.
- Corum: 2.74 yards before contact, 47 yards after contact, 2 forced missed tackles
- Williams: 1.89 yards before contact, 69 yards after contact, 8 forced missed tackles
The Rams offense needed a spark. Corum contributed two rushes over 15 yards and totaled 32 breakaway yards. Creating explosives on the ground helped an offense that is struggling to create chunk gains.
2 – Puka Nacua, WR: 86.8
It was no surprise to see Nacua handle a heavy workload with Davante Adams injured. Nacua caught eight of 10 targets for 68 yards with a touchdown. 47 of his yards came after the catch point, so he was creating in addition to what the offense designed for him.
3 – Warren McClendon, RT: 75.2
The offensive line only allowed two pressures in pass protection, of which both were attributed to McClendon. The right tackle was handed a touch matchup in Maxx Crosby, and he prevented the star pass rusher from wrecking the game. While McClendon was not LA’s best blocker in the run or pass games, he fared the best of the group across the boards. He was consistent in both phases.
4 – Kyren Williams, RB: 72.3
5 – Matthew Stafford, QB: 70.5
Stafford’s grade in this game was roughly the same as his performance in Buffalo. His best outing on the year was still Week 2 against the New York Giants. He’s at 66.5 on the season.
Stafford did not make a big-time throw against the Raiders. He also played mistake-free football—no turnover-worthy plays—despite throwing an interception. This was efficient quarterback play that stuck to the script. That’s still better than the level we’ve seen from Stafford so far this year.
On the season Stafford has nine big-time throws and 12 turnover-worthy plays.
Other notes on offense
It’s worth keeping an eye on the receiver rotation as the Rams look to replace Adams. These are the snap counts from the game:
- Konata Mumpfield: 31
- Tutu Atwell: 25
- Jordan Whittington: 15
- Alex Bachman: 3
- CJ Daniels: 3
Mumpfield was the only player of this group that was targeted. He caught one of two targets for 15 yards.
Top five grades on defense
1 – Jaylen Watson, CB: 90.5
Watson allowed just two catches on eight targets for 17 yards. He forced more pass breakups with three than he allowed completions. That’s an elite game.
Watson did his best work against Tre Tucker where he was targeted five times and allowed just one catch for 13 yards.
2 – Shaun Dolac, MLB: 84.3
3 – Omar Speights, MLB: 82.6
Omar Speights and Shaun Dolac led the defense in run grade at 84.2 and 78.3, respectively. Speights’ grade was lower because he missed two tackles. Dolac graded better in pass coverage, where he allowed only a single reception for four yards.
Nate Landman missed the game because of a stint in the NFL’s concussion protocol. His replacements stepped up in a big-time way for LA.
4 – Josh Wallace, CB: 78.5
Similar to Watson, Wallace was also targeted often. He allowed four receptions on eight targets for 22 yards, with 12 coming after the catch point. The former UDFA has played well over the last few weeks as Watson and Trent McDuffie have battled injury. The secondary is performing at a high level.
5 – Ty Hamilton, DT: 76.2
The defensive line rotation is a work in progress after learning that Poona Ford will miss the remainder of the season and Kobie Turner will be out an extended period of time. Hamilton made his case for more snaps against the Raiders with strong grades against the run and pass.
With 18 snaps in Las Vegas, will Hamilton’s workload continue to increase? This was his best performance in a long while.
Other notes on defense
While the secondary is performing very well, the defensive line is another story. LA was stingy in run defense. The Raiders are not a good rushing team.
The pass rush was another story. LA pressured Kirk Cousins 16 times, which is a positive. They finished with two sacks. This was accomplished in the aggregate as opposed to an individual player stepping up:
- Byron Young: 3 pressures
- Omar Speights: 2
- Wesley Bailey: 2
- Braden Fiske: 2
- Josaiah Stewart: 2
- Quentin Lake: 2
- Ty Hamilton, Aaron Donald, Kamren Curl: 1
