The Rams again fell to their division rivals in a 31-14 loss. The Rams looked good the first half, leading at halftime only to come out in the second half and not put up any points. There were many things that went wrong for the Rams, including a 3 touchdown game from Christian McCaffrey. The Rams will now travel to face the Buccaneers who have also been struggling as a team. Let’s review the good, the bad, and the meh from this disappointing divisional loss.
Good
Leonard Floyd
Floyd had his best game of the year so far and finished with 2 sacks and 9 tackles, leading the team in both. Floyd consistently pressured Jimmy Garoppolo in the backfield and made him feel his presence. Floyd finally showed up this year, the last time he had a sack was in the Super Bowl. Floyd seemed to have disappeared after signing his contract, but some signs of life showed on Sunday.
Jalen Ramsey
Ramsey was all over the field on defense, making tackles wherever needed. He delivered a couple of big hits as well as two big pass deflections. Ramsey also dropped an interception that popped into his hands after an incompletion. Ramsey is asked to do a lot for the defense on the back end, especially with a shallow secondary.
Bad
Ernest Jones
Jones was being bullied by the 49ers’ offense. He got blasted by Kittle on a run block which led to a big gain. Jones also pushed a 49ers player out of bounds resulting in an unnecessary roughness penalty. That penalty helped the 49ers get into the red zone and eventually score. Jones has been solid in coverage this season but had an off game at a time that you need your depth to shine.
Pass Rush
Jimmy Garroppolo had all the time in the world to make the throws he needed to win. No one aside from Floyd could generate pressure on him resulting in some big plays. The Rams have been thrown around as a team that’s interested in trading for a pass rusher and it’s pretty easy to see why. Leonard Floyd has barely contributed and Terrell Lewis and Justin Hollins haven’t been able to get it going after their injury setbacks. At this point, I don’t think they’ll be contending for the Super Bowl so it might be a good idea to keep those picks to draft and develop an edge instead.
Secondary
The secondary today got back Troy Hill but still underperformed. Between him and Derion Kendrick, they both gave up some huge plays to the 9ers offense. LA’s corners seemed to be consistently beaten whether that be on a route from Brandon Aiyuk or CMC. Taylor Rapp also had a couple of blown coverages and hasn’t impressed since his rookie year. The soft zone coverages being played were taken advantage of by the 49ers when they were running short crossing routes and targeting the middle of the field.
Injury Management
Higbee exited the game with an injury only to come back and not look like himself. It seemed as if he almost forced himself back out there and in a loss, I don’t think that’s what you want one of your starters to be doing. Especially due to the shallow tight end position, playing Higbee that late into the game was a bad move by the staff and I would hate to see him pop up on the injury report in practice this week. The other major injury happened during garbage time to Kupp. It was described as a rolled ankle, similar to what he was nursing in the Carolina game, but it’s uncertain whether it was aggravated. It’s pretty infuriating to see the Rams’ best player still out there when they were down by so much and that he had to be hurt because of it. If they were to lose Kupp who knows how they would get by on offense?
Meh
Matthew Stafford
Stafford played a solid game and just like the rest of the team just got beat up. He consistently was facing pressure all afternoon, but when he had a clean pocket was great. According to Next Gen Stats, Stafford before the half versus no pressure went 15/18 for 136 yards and a touchdown but faced a pressure rate of 22% for the rest of the game. You can’t expect much from your quarterback when he’s hit one out of every four snaps, but Stafford showed he was able to make the quick decisions. Sunday’s game also marked the first time he didn’t throw an interception since the Arizona game, a bad streak the Rams QB finally fixed.
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