Recent Forum Topics › Forums › The Rams Huddle › power rankings & quarterly reports, week 5
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October 6, 2020 at 1:49 pm #122507
znModeratorfrom https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/lists/week-4-nfl-power-rankings-covid/
[note: this one has Seattle at 5]
7. Los Angeles Rams (3-1. Last week: 8)
The postgame fight between Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey and Giants receiver Golden Tate was the big story of the Rams’ eventual 17-9 win over the Giants, but the larger story is that Sean McVay’s offense had better right itself quickly if the Rams are to be competitive through the rest of the season. Yes, Big Blue put up an inspired defensive effort at times, but McVay’s offense put up just 240 yards after totaling 422, 449, and 478 yards in the first three weeks. Maybe it was a case of the Rams playing down to their opponent; perhaps it was letdown after losing to the Bills the Sunday before after erasing a 28-3 deficit and still coming up short. L.A.’s defense should fare well against Washington next week, but the offense needs to figure a few things out.
October 7, 2020 at 4:54 am #122576znModeratorfrom https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-power-rankings-week-5-bills-are-the-real-deal
Rank 9
Los Angeles RamsThe Rams fell into the trap of playing down to the level of an NFC East opponent in Week 4. Sean McVay’s team is better than the Giants across the board, but it took a 55-yard Cooper Kupp touchdown in the fourth quarter and final red-zone stop to ensure a 17-9 win over New York’s other winless team. Los Angeles managed just 122 yards of total offense between Gerald Everett’s first-quarter touchdown and Kupp’s score, a striking lack of production against a mediocre unit. We’ll see if the Rams are able to play up to their potential when they get another uninspiring NFC East foe this week in Washington.
October 7, 2020 at 4:58 am #122577znModeratorRams’ quarterly report leaves them with ‘a good buzz’
Team is 3-1. Players say near-comeback vs. Bills and tense win vs. Giants prove they ‘don’t blink’* https://www.dailynews.com/2020/10/05/rams-quarterly-report-leaves-them-with-a-good-buzz/
The Rams finished the first quarter of their season Sunday needing fourth-quarter heroics by Cooper Kupp and Darious Williams to beat a winless opponent.
To them, that says good things about the team as it looks ahead.
“I think we’ve shown in all four games, regardless of our record: We’re going to be in it. We’re going to find a way to try and win it,” left tackle Andrew Whitworth said Monday, the morning after the Rams’ 17-9 victory over the New York Giants.
If their path to a 3-1 start is indicative, the Rams say they’ve learned a few things:
They can win any game they play, even when they trail by 25 points as they did before rallying against the Bills in Buffalo, or when one side of the ball sputters as the offense did in going nearly 45 minutes between touchdowns against the Giants at SoFi Stadium.
They can win in different ways, but they’ll probably rise and fall with the defense. It gave up an average of 15 points a game in the victories over the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles and Giants. It gave up 35 in the loss to the Bills.
Because they’re in every game, they’re in the playoff race, even with a tough division schedule looming.
After Sunday’s games, the Rams are second in the NFC West behind the 4-0 Seattle Seahawks and tied for the fifth playoff spot in the NFC.
Rams safety John Johnson said Monday the Rams feel like a can-do team after nearly pulling off an epic comeback against the Bills and getting a timely 55-yard touchdown pass play from Jared Goff to Kupp and a game-clinching interception by Williams against the Giants.
“We don’t flinch, don’t blink. We know we’re going to hit some adversity. That’s what football is about,” he said.
Johnson feels a positive vibe among Rams players and, he thinks, beyond.
“There is a good buzz going around the locker room. It feel like the whole city. The Dodgers are doing well, the Lakers are doing well,” he said. “There’s just a different buzz.”
The Dodgers and Lakers are in the postseason. The Rams are in the early season.
Whitworth said this “feels like an entirely different 3-1” than a year ago, when the Rams won their first three games without looking sharp, before a messy loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers sent them into a spin.
“You’ve seen a little of a lot of the things you’d want to see,” the 38-year-old lineman said. “You’ve seen a big-time comeback in Buffalo, you’ve seen us dominate offensively in Philly.
“Defensively, too, when they’ve had to make stands, they have. Without an unfortunate penalty last week in Buffalo, really, they’ve done it every time.”
A disputed pass-interference call against Williams cost the Rams the Buffalo game. But they’ve benefited from breaks too.
In some ways, Whitworth said, it has been like 2018, when the Rams went to the Super Bowl.
“A lot of those games were clawing it out at the end, finding a way to win, catching a big break and doing the most with it,” he said. “It can be an ugly win, it can be a great win, whatever it is, you find a way to win that game.”
Coach Sean McVay said he saw “mental toughness” in the Rams’ first four games.
“We have found a way to win games in three different ways,” McVay said Monday. ‘I’ve seen contributions, I’ve seen improvements from our (offensive, defensive and special) teams, I’ve seen a defense that is capable of giving real problems.
“And then I’ve seen an offense that is capable of being efficient down in and down out, and even when we weren’t efficient at all (against the Giants), found a way to make a play when we had to in a game that the defense really did carry a lot of the momentum throughout.”
He added: “I’d like to see us put together a full, complete game.”
The season’s remaining three-quarters could be harder.
After facing three teams currently with losing records in their first four games, the Rams face only three others in their 12 remaining games.
The first of those is 1-3 Washington, which hosts the Rams on Sunday at 10 a.m. L.A. time.
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