The Los Angeles Rams have now won three-straight in order to move above .500 for the first time all season. LA took care of business on the road in a 20-13 victory over the Washington Commanders.
The Rams are getting healthy. They certainly haven’t peaked. They look like their missing pieces on both sides of the football, and admittedly that is true.
But staying alive is the name of the game. LA has three lives left on the year if they want to make the playoffs. They cannot afford to drop games to teams
with losing records.
So who helped the Rams rise above the Commanders? Let’s take a look at the good and bad individual efforts.
Winners
Myles Garrett, EDGE
Three sacks with a forced fumble in your first healthy game of the season will get the job done, of which was the case for Garrett. We waited nearly two-full months for him to return from a knee injury that limited him in Week 1, but the wait was worth it. Garrett looked like a game wrecker. That is an encouraging sign for the defense moving forward.
Aaron Donald also had positive moments of his own. This was the first time we saw them on the field together. I liked how it looked.
The defense should be in good shape once Trent McDuffie returns. The offense is still figuring things out. The Rams’ path forward is likely as a defensive-first team.
Puka Nacua, WR
Like Garrett’s dominant day on defense, Puka Nacua did it all on the offensive side of the ball. Nacua caught 14 of 19 targets for 150 yards and a score. He also added two rushes for 20 yards. His receiving total comprised 66% of LA’s gross passing yards on the day.
Is such a heavy workload for Nacua a sustainable way to play on offense? Probably not. But if you have a workhorse, you may as well use him.
Emmanuel Forbes, CB
Against the team that drafted him in the first round, Emmanuel Forbes defended three passes and admirably filled in for McDuffie. There were some troubling moments; however, McDuffie’s absence could have loomed much larger.
On the same side of the ball, former Rams receiver Van Jefferson had a breakout game. Forbes got the final word with a late deep pass breakup that proved costly for Washington.
Blake Corum, RB
Corum has been LA’s offensive spark plug over the last three weeks, which also coincides with their recent win streak. He carried the ball 11 times for 58 yards (5.3 average) with a score. That is a much more efficient day than Kyren Williams’ 15 rushes for 45 yards (3.0 average). Still, when the Rams had a chance to close out the game, they decided Williams was the best answer. That was puzzling to me based on how the day went prior to that drive.
Losers
Quentin Lake, DB
There were few lowlights on defense Sunday. One of them was Quentin Lake, who struggled to bring down ball carriers reliably and looked porous in coverage. The defense was able to rise above a poor performance from one of their most important contributors. Lake has a knack for bouncing back. This was not a game for him to be proud of.
Lake also dropped an interception in the fourth quarter that would have ended the game.
Wesley Bailey, EDGE
Wesley Bailey had a difficult time keeping contain. In the first half an outside run went right by him for a large gain. Of course, he was probably only on the field because Garrett is ramping up. It’s a very obvious drop off from the DPOY to the undrafted rookie. Less is more for Bailey.
Any receiver not named “Nacua”
The Rams had no consistent passing production to any receiver not named “Puka Nacua. Matthew Stafford was a little off in his connection with others, including a few inexplicable misses between he and Tutu Atwell. LA desparately needs another receiving threat to step up. Terrance Ferguson could return as soon as next week, though that is asking a lot of a player who has missed most of the season because of injury.
Tyler Higbee, TE
Higbee provided a real spark to the offense in the first weeks following Ferguson’s injury. He now looks tired and limited. The Rams struggled mightily on third down. They thought they earned their first conversation before replay confirmed that Higbee instead dropped an important catch. I could see Higbee’s role minimized once Ferguson returns in full.
