Using a balanced offense and stifling defense, the Los Angeles Rams used the Monday Night Football platform to gain entry to the winning side of the ledger. L.A. knocked off the New York Giants by a 28-6 marginat SoFi Stadium. The Rams not only welcomed back Aaron Donald after a two-year hiatus, but appear to have ushered in a new TE#1, Terrance Ferguson.
The Rams opened the game in a two-tight end set and it was Ferguson and Davis Allen on the field. Ferguson went on to accumulate 36 snaps (58%)
and six catches on nine targets. It wasn’t the sheer numbers that hint that he will be main tight end going forward, it was his role in the offense. L.A. deployed him inline, out of the slot, and in motion. He ran routes on over 70 percent of snaps and had a target share of 31 percent. After two weeks, Ferguson heads up the on it in routes run, target catches, yards, and touchdowns.
While he did have a pair of dropped passes that must be cleaned up, Ferguson showed why the Rams drafted him in the top half of Round 2. He flashed his all-around skills, able to find the soft areas in the zone, catch the ball away from his body, and run after the catch. He’s definitely been working on blocking and it manifested with a solid effort. Fans have witnessed his abilities in the medium/deep areas of the field, Monday was time for work in the underneath/medium zones.
Quarterback
Matthew Stafford (62, 100%)
I’ll be honest, those first few drives had me worried that “Bad Stafford” was going to show up and the Rams offense was going to be— force it in to Davante Adams and hope he makes the catch. But, Staff quickly righted the ship and ended up having a solid game, He jumped up the all-time charts for touchdown thrown (6th), most games with 4 TD’s thrown (6th), and most games with 300+ yards thrown (7th).
Running back
Kyren Williams (34, 55%)
Blake Corum (28, 45%)
If you set the fumbles aside, both had strong efforts. Williams consistently makes the first tackler miss in tight spaces. He did a good job of breaking plays outside for healthy gains. Corum’s burst really stands out and he runs with stellar vision. A solid one-two punch, but dammit, you gotta hold on to the football. Is there a RB controversy?
Wide receiver
Davante Adams (40, 65%)
Found the Fountain of MNF Youth.L.A. needed him to step up and he looked as if in his prime, just amazing route running and ability to high point the ball. Wish McVay would have fed him the ball a couple more times so that his personal best yards per game would be as a Ram.
Konata Mumpfield (43, 69%)
Very quiet, lot of reps with only two targets. Really made a run after catch effort on his single completion.
Xavier Smith (26, 42%)
One flat route target that should have been caught and a rough day getting any traction on returns.
TuTu Atwell (11, 18%)
Vintage TuTu, he runs a picture-perfect out route and gets his feet down for a catch on the sideline, then runs a fly where the pass is mis-fired, and completely disappears after that. Welcome back.
Tight end
Colby Parkinson (44, 71%)
Kind of a quiet evening considering he was on the field almost 3/4 of the offensive snaps. Targeted twice on short passes and made both catches.
Davis Allen (32, 52%)
The dirty work guy, in the game on multiple tight end sets. He he’s really improved his blocking and was rewarded with a late game target, which he converted.
Tyler Higbee (16, 28%)
Simply not much for left him anymore. Insurance, I guess.
Offensive line
Alaric Jackson, Steve Avila, Coleman Shelton, Kevin Dotson, Warren McClendon (62, 100%)
Strong effort by the big guys up front. They dominated the line of scrimmage, consistently opening run lanes to the tune of 165 total yards at 5.8 per tote. They allowed one sack where the defender split a double team, but overall, only allowed a pass rush pressure rate of 15 percent, one of the lowest Stafford has faced since joining the Rams in 2021.
Special teams
Ethan Evans, Joe Cardona, Harrison Meevis
New season, same old special teams output. Harrumph!! Hopefully, Meevis got that miss out of his system. He’s been solid over a short sample, not time to worry, yet.
Defensive line
Aaron Donald (33, 57%)
The crowd went wild upon his entry, and so did opposing offensive blocking plans. To no one’s surprise, the “AD effect” was in full force on Day 1. Donald drew the attention of double-team blocking at a rate of 39% on 19 pass plays. Although he only accrued one pressure, he had a 28 percent pass rush win rate and a get-off rate 0.75 seconds, third best across the NFL for the season. Against 14 run plays, he booked three tackles with one for loss. That tackle for loss tied him for 4th place on the all-time list at 177.
Kobie Turner (34, 59%)
Tyler Davis (23, 40%)
Braden Fiske (30, 52%)
Poona Ford (18, 31%)
Ty Hamilton (8, 14%)
Stellar performance by the defensive interior. No single effort really stood out, mostly because all played so well. Maybe not enough reps to go around magnifies the hustle and effort.
Edge
Byron Young (41, 71%)
Strong effort for Young, Pro Football Network gave him an 80.7 impact score. He not only pressured from outside, but was employed in numerous loops, which fit his athleticism and burst . He logged a sack and three quarterback hits.
Josaiah Stewart (46, 79%)
I was hoping Stewart would step up and stand out. A quiet outing.
Wesley Bailey (19, 33%)
Good to see the undrafted rookie competitive in his first pro action and he got a hustle sack to boot. I thought he clearly outplayed Johnson in the preseason and now doubling his snap count, makes a case for E#4.
Desjuan Johnson (10, 17%)
As of now there are snaps to go around, but when Myles Garrett returns, a decision will have to be made. Will Johnson be able to hold onto his place in the rotation, or be limited to mop up duty?
Off-ball linebacker
Nate Landman (49, 84%)
Omar Speights (25, 43%)
Both played as well as can be expected. Speights reps were down just a little from Week 1. Interestingly, Shaun Dolac did not get a single defensive snap.
Safety
Kamren Curl (58, 100%)
On the Giants first possession of the game, they were in Rams territory and completed a short flat pass, Curl triggered downhill and made a stellar open-field tackle. If he misses, it’s a big play and the GMen are in the red zone. Instead it’s third and eight, Dart is injured dropping back to pass on the very next play. The game would have been very different had Curl missed that tackle.
Quentin Lake (58, 100%)
Played more of a true safety role and was solid. I think he’s at his best in this role, making tackles and coming downhill in coverage rather trying to stay attached to more athletic receivers
Jaylen McCollough (30, 52%)
Recipient of the reps that would have went to Kamren Kinchens, although the Rams defensive braintrust most often uses McCollough as a pseudo-linebacker, subbing in on the second line of defense on passing downs (Speights, usually). Didn’t stand out on my radar.
Cornerback
Trent McDuffie (58, 100%)
L.A. is certainly getting their money’s worth from this big bucks capital outlay. Love his willingness in run fits. The Rams are primarily using him where he’s at his best, in man-to-man from both the slot and outside and he’s showing very sticky coverage from both. The Rams game plan had McDuffie shadowing the Giants WR#1 Malik Nabers all over the field. The old box-and-one? LOL.
Jaylen Watson (55, 95%)
Been a tough start for Watson, he didn’t have a particularly good Week 1 and had a couple of mis-steps against New York. Early in the game, he had decent coverage on a long crossing pattern, but wasn’t able to make a play on the ball at the catch point. Luckily, that was dropped. Later in the first half, on another crosser, he ran into a teammate and the receiver hauled it in for 33 yards, the Giants longest gain of the day.
Josh Wallace (36, 72%)
Although listed as a corner, in the Rams amorphous defensive secondary, Wallace handled the “STAR” role and could be found lined up as the nickel corner covering a slot receiver, an outside corner, or deep as a safety. No real bad or real good plays on Monday night.
Emmanuel Forbes (7, 14%)
Got in a little mop-up work.
That’s more like it
It was good to see the both the offense and defense get rolling.
The defense was dominant. It was night and day from the Week 1 loss to San Francisco, aggressive and attacking. After playing some form of zone pass coverage on nearly 80% against the ‘Niners, the Rams defense dialed up a very balanced secondary plan. Against the GMen, zone coverage was employed at a 56% rate and man at 44%. These ratios better fit the L.A. off season cornerback additions of Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson. Finding the balance between showcasing their skills and that of the holdovers, who are inclined towards zone, will have to be decided upon. Against the run, the Rams clamped down for a 26% run success rate and a mere 52 total yards at 2.5 per carry against a Giants team that ran for 165 yards in Week 1. The defensive interior stayed fresh with a six-man rotation.
Offensively, the line needs to be shouted out. I thought Warren McClendon played particularly well, but all were strong in both run and pass blocking. ESPN has them in the Top 5 of run block win rates. Traversing the field for 480 yards is a nice comeback from the Week 1 steaming pile. Going forward, more play action is prudent if the run game stays strong and hopefully Davante Adams can stay motivated until Puka Nacua heals up. I hate to open this can of worms again, but if Nacua doesn’t, L.A. needs to get TuTu Atwell engaged. In the end, like most NFL teams, fortunes rise and fall on the play of their quarterback and the Rams are totally dependent on one Matthew Stafford. The good one, not the bad one.
