Closing out an action-packed fourth quarter, a Los Angeles Rams last-second pass was intercepted in the end zone, resulting in a 30-26 loss on the road to the Denver Broncos.In the final 15 minutes, Sunday Night Football viewers were treated to 24 points, an interception return for a score, and numerous explosive plays along with some questionable referee calls.
L.A. jumped out to a 16-0 half time lead, out-gaining Denver 273 yards to 67, but having to settle for three field goals. The Rams came out flat
in the second half and the Broncos took advantage of poor special teams play to board 16 unanswered points setting up the furious fourth quarter.
For Rams fans, it’s a recurring bad trip.To the point where fans can expect the L.A. special teams to allow the opposition to not only flip the field, but flip the momentum as well. Sunday night was tragicomedy of errors. On coverage, substandard lane integrity/spacing, pursuit angles, and tackling. On returns, almost zero delay of opposing gunners on punts, zero lanes on kickoffs. and little creativity by the returners.
The mayhem didn’t start until the second half. For the first 30 minutes, the Rams pretty much had their way in all phases, After trading three-and-outs, L.A. punted to Denver for their second possession. The punt coverage team lost outside leverage and allowed a return of 28 yards down the sideline and the Broncos turned the short field into a score. On the Rams next possession, midway through the third stanza, Ethan Evans boomed a punt and Grant Stuard made a fine tackle, pinning Denver back at their own nine yard line. But it was all for nothing, gunner Emmanuel Forbes was pushed out of bounds and decided to run down the field out of play rather than return to it, resulting in a penalty that negated a pair of fine efforts. The re-kick was a shank, so instead of inside their own 10, the Broncos started at midfield and as often happens, took advantage of the short field and tied the score. The momentum had swung.
Rams players, their snap counts, and play percentage in bold.
Quarterback
Matt Stafford (86, 100%)
It’s not news that in the NFL, a team’s fortunes generally rise or fall with the play of their quarterback. Stafford has always been a volatile performer, prone to wild swings between big-time throws and poor decisions. Monday night was no exception.
Running back
Kyren Williams (61, 71%)
Blake Corum (25, 29%)
23 carries is not a paltry total, but it’s interesting that the Rams didn’t run more considering the early success. Williams showed why he’s the Rams RB#1. Heart, toughness, and the ability to make the first tackler miss. In a physical game like this, his competitiveness and “banger’s mentality” led to his getting the lion’s share of reps. In a game where the Rams game plan was to throw the football, Corum wasn’t able to garner enough touches to get a lather up. A dropped pass early in the game was likely enough to limit his snaps.
Wide receiver
Davante Adams (71, 83%)
Konata Mumpfield (63, 73%)
Xavier Smith (38, 44%)
Jordan Whittington (21, 24%)
Adams stacked a second straight stellar outing, this one primarily against Patrick Surtain, one of the NFL’s premier corners. If you’re into “what if’s”, he twice got open well behind the Denver defense but Stafford missed him. It was obviously Mumpfield’s best game as pro. He ran some really nice routes and Stafford was looking his way late in the game. A good sign. Neither Smith nor Whittington were targeted.
Tight end
Tyler Higbee (61, 71%)
Colby Parkinson (37, 43%)
Davis Allen (36, 71%)
Terrance Ferguson (22, 26%)
Good to see Higbee can still produce when needed. Had the Rams won, he would have been the lead. After the first couple series, it appeared that Allen was going yo join Higgs as a two-headed monster, but poof!, he disappeared from the passing game. First half injuries to Ferguson and Parkinson limited their production and led the Rams away from “13 “sets in the second half. 27.8 percent usage in the final 30 minutes, down from 45.7% in the first.
Offensive line
Alaric Jackson (86, 100%)
Steve Avila (86, 100%)
Coleman Shelton (86, 100%)
Kevin Dotson (85, 99%)
Warren McClendon (86, 100%)
Beaux Limmer ( 1, 1%)
A mixed bag, but not good by any stretch. Late blitzing and stunts seem to give the unit trouble. 55 pass attempt is a lot and all had their moment of ignominy.
Special teams
Kicker Harrison Meevis came back from last week’s miss to be, for all intents and purposes, one of the Rams most effective offensive weapons. Long snapper Joe Cardona got downfield and made a tackle. Punter Ethan Evans Ethan was serviceable.
Defensive line
Kobie Turner (41, 61%)
Braden Fiske (35, 52%)
Aaron Donald (35, 52%)
Poona Ford (21, 31%)
Tyler Davis (20, 30%)
Ty Hamilton (9, 13%)
In the face of a loss, the Rams defense actually played pretty well. Denver didn’t do anything on the ground, 25 carries for 78 yards and one of those was 14 yard reverse where a tackle was flat out missed well behind the line of scrimmage. Pass rush pressure was not outstanding against a very good offensive line, but they did keep Denver QB Bo Nix off kilter most of the game and batted down a couple of passes at the line.
Edge
Byron Young (59, 88%)
Josaiah Stewart (52, 78%)
Wesley Bailey (13, 19%)
Desjuan Johnson (12, 18%)
While he only has one sack to his credit, Young is 12th in the NFL in pressures and has 21 percent pressure rate after three weeks. Stewart had a quiet game, but I did see him lining up at off-ball linebacker. Don’t know if this a one-off for this week or if it has legs going forward. Nothing noteworthy on Johnson or Bailey. While the pass rush didn’t get a lot of quarterback hits or sacks, they did harry the Giants passing game into a 50 percent completion rate and kept Broncos from consistently attacking downfield.
Linebacker
Nate Landman (59, 88%)
Omar Speights (40, 60%)
It seems that on a regular basis, the Rams leave the flats completely uncovered and opposing offenses exploit this to their advantage. Not sure if this is scheme, blown assignments, or the linebackers inability to get out there. Landman was very quiet, while Speights led the team in tackles and had a sack.
Safety
Quentin Lake (67, 100%)
Kamren Curl (66, 99%)
Jaylen McCollough (25, 37%)
Lake seemed to be all over the place, he’s really at home as a true safety. DC Shula can still move him around the formation but he strikes me a a much better player when he faces the action. Curl was quiet, but the Rams primarily lined him up deep and the Broncos passing game was based around the line of scrimmage, not much downfield action. McCollough subbed in and lined up where the linebackers are usually positioned.
Cornerback
Trent McDuffie (66, 99%)
Emmanuel Forbes (39, 58%)
Josh Wallace (58, 87%)
Jaylen Watson (20, 30%)
McDuffie was again, quite good. Played mostly in the slot this week. Wallace was in the eye of the storm with mixed results. He played outside corner for the first time in a long while. His coverage was tight, had the interception and also batted down a pass on third down, both huge at the time. He also actually got a second INT, but was called for a phantom pass interference penalty. Negatively, late in the game he apparently left his zone wide open and Denver hit the spot for a huge gain. Forbes had a couple of major penalties. He also ran into a teammate and lost track of his man on one of the Denver passing touchdowns. I guess he’s out there because he’s fast, but he’s got no place as the gunner on coverage units. Watson was off to a good start and dropped a sure interception, but was lost to a shoulder injury right before half time, with the only reports being that he was in a sling after the game.
Ranting into the abyss
In general, I am not one to think that the results of any game hinges on one single play, good or bad. Emotion and momentum can be affected, but the results of each play sets into motion a different set of possibilities. This re-calibration occurs after each and every individual play.
Even after a bad call (or two), the Rams still had a chance (however narrow) to pull the game out. What I will say say about the referees is the same thing I’ve been saying for a few years now— the quality of their work does not match up to the product the NFL teams put on the field. The disappointing thing is that the powers that be in NFL leadership don’t seem to care about righting the situation
On the Josh Wallace interception, it was not referee looking directly into the play that tossed the flag, it was the zebra behind and screened off. The ref looking in had a clear vision of the action, but chose for not to reach for his flag. Where things went off the rails, was when he did not overturn the flag that came from no possible view and set things right. It’s not feasible to use replay for penalties, but the referees can confer and often do so. In this case, there was no parlay amongst the refs for a possible pick up of the flag.
Just throwing a few things out there
Frustrating, but if you take the emotion out of it, the Rams played well enough to beat a good team on the road, they were just a bit short. Crowd noise was factor, L.A. clearly struggled getting plays relayed in, calling audibles, and generally getting plays off before running out of time. That seems like something that would be already planned for.
Offensively, the Rams went away from lining up Stafford under center, not sure if this was just part of Bronco game plan or if they want to move that way. Getting away from that and the play action game allows opposing defenses to stay in umbrella zone and crash the run game. Also, it seems the Rams don’t use/have “hot reads” for blitzes. A lot of the blitzes that cause havoc are coming late, but many teams make good use of them. Defensively, opposing offenses seem to adjust at half time and the Rams defense has struggled in the second halves of both of their two losses. L.A. has to configure a way to counter. I don’t know what to think about special teams, they need some shaking up, but from whom?
While starting out 1-2 is not ideal, it could just as easily be inverted. The Rams braintrust cannot do anything about injuries, but L.A. cannot shoot themselves in the foot. Interceptions,, whether thrown by the offense or dropped by the defense, blown assignments on pass blocking or in coverage, and silly penalties will all be magnified until the Rams get things sorted out.
