reporters & analysts on the JAGZ game

Rams ride defense, special teams in win over Jaguars

Alden Gonzalez

http://www.espn.com/blog/los-angeles-rams/post/_/id/35869/rams-ride-defense-special-teams-in-win-over-jaguars

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — They showered, dressed, packed their belongings, greeted their loved ones, and then most of the Los Angeles Rams players did something they never have before: They went back to the hotel. The Rams are done playing the Jacksonville Jaguars, but they have yet to conclude their stay in this city. They will remain here until Thursday, practicing out of the University of North Florida, then fly to London for a Week 7 game against the Arizona Cardinals.

They’ll stay, at least, with the glow of a win.

“I did not wanna stay in Jacksonville and have a loss,” Connor Barwin said after a 27-17 victory by his Rams on Sunday. “I can talk about it now — it would’ve been miserable staying in Jacksonville having a loss. It’s just so weird anyway, to not be getting on a plane. But it’s really nice that we got the win.”

The Rams’ win was their fourth, tying their total from last season through the first six weeks. And they got it behind a dominant performance on defense and special teams.

You know, the way they used to.

The Rams allowed dynamic rookie running back Leonard Fournette to separate for a 75-yard touchdown run on the Jaguars’ first offensive snap, but kicked into gear shortly thereafter, holding Fournette to 55 rushing yards on his last 20 carries. The Jaguars went from accumulating 159 yards and 14 points in the first three drives to managing only three points and 230 yards in the next 13.

But it was the Rams’ special teams, a major culprit in last week’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks, that took over.

Twenty-one of the Rams’ 27 points were produced by that department. It included a 103-yard return for a touchdown by Pharoh Cooper on the opening kick and a blocked punt by Cory Littleton, which allowed Malcolm Brown to scoop up the football from eight yards out and run it in for a score. Greg Zuerlein added a 56-yard field goal, a 29-yard field goal and three extra points.

“It’s just momentum, more than anything,” Jared Goff, 11-of-21 for 124 yards and a touchdown, said of the special-teams points. “You get that momentum, you get that feeling, you get that belief — the belief that you’re going to win. And it’s a good feeling.”

The Rams have that belief now, more so than they have in a long time. Goff wasn’t great, but he faced a defense that might be the NFL’s best against the pass and did not turn the ball over. Todd Gurley amassed 116 yards on the ground, his struggles on the ground now only a distant memory. And the Rams won despite going 4-for-13 on third down and getting outgained by 140 yards.

“Offensively,” Rams coach Sean McVay said, “it was not good enough.”

But really, it was.

Cooper’s return was followed immediately by Fournette’s run, which, according to research from the Elias Sports Bureau, marked the first time in the Super Bowl era that two touchdowns occurred within the first 25 seconds of the game. Eight minutes later, the Jaguars went on a four-play, 75-yard drive that included big plays from Fournette, Marqise Lee, Allen Hurns and Chris Ivory, taking a 14-10 lead.

But the Rams answered with what would be their only offensive touchdown of the afternoon, when Goff pitched to rookie tight end Gerald Everett — lined up tight with the formation — for a 4-yard touchdown run. Then Littleton got free for a blocked punt. Then Nickell Robey-Coleman intercepted Blake Bortles. And then, needing a sustained drive to seal a win, Goff and the offense soaked up more than five minutes to position Zuerlein for his second field goal.

“It’s a confidence booster,” Rams linebacker Mark Barron said of the win. “We just gotta keep building off it.”

Rams’ special teams make the difference in road win over Jaguars

VINCENT BONSIGNORE

link: http://www.ocregister.com/2017/10/15/rams-special-teams-make-the-difference-in-road-win-over-jaguars/

JACKSONVILLE, Fla — It wasn’t pretty. And the Rams clearly have some things to clean up to prove they’ve truly turned the corner.

But their 27-17 win over the Jaguars on Sunday certainly had a special element. And it made all the difference.

With their offense struggling to put consistent drives together, let alone cross the goal line, the Rams turned to their special teams to save the day against the Jaguars.

They responded by scoring two touchdowns to push the Rams to 4-2 and get them off on the right foot to begin a three-game excursion away from Los Angeles. They matched their win total from last season with 10 games left to play.

The win wasn’t secured until Greg Zuerlein kicked a 29-yard field goal with 2:32 remaining to put the Rams up, 27-17. It capped a 12-play drive that wiped 5:08 from the clock.

The first special teams score came on Pharoh Cooper’s 103-yard kickoff return to start the game in which the second-year wide receiver made a brilliant play to avoid Jaguars tacklers — and the out-of-bounds line — to race the length of the field to put the Rams up 7-0.

The second came in the second quarter when backup linebacker Corey Littleton broke through the Jaguars offensive line to block Brad Norton’s punt inside the Jacksonville 10-yard-line and Malcolm Brown picked it up then rambled into the end zone to put the Rams up 24-14 in the second quarter.

Those two scores, coupled with an opportunistic defense that forced a Blake Bortles interception by Nickell Robey-Coleman and kept the Jaguars out of the end zone over the final three quarters, were enough for the Rams to escape Northern Florida with a victory.

Big given the Rams offense was spotty, inconsistent and at times sloppy while crossing the goal line just once — on a 4-yard shovel pass from Jared Goff to Gerald Everett — yet still managed to come up with the win.

The Rams felt good if they put the Jaguars in third-and-long situations and put the game in the hands of Bortles, they’d be in decent shape. Doing so required the Rams limiting the production of the Jaguars powerful running game, specifically rookie running back Leonard Fournette, on first and second down.

While that worked eventually, it certainly wasn’t the case early on. Fournette answered Cooper’s 103-yard touchdown return on the opening kickoff that put the Rams up 7-0 by blasting through a big hole for a 75-yard touchdown run to tie the score 7-7.

It was part of a 100-yard first quarter rushing effort for Fournette that, briefly, gave the Jaguars a 14-10 lead when Chris Ivory went 22 yards for a touchdown on a screen pass.

The key was the Jaguars putting themselves in manageable situations by being productive in early downs.

But the Rams got that cleaned up in the second quarter and continually forced Jacksonville into third and longs. Bortles, ill-equipped to manage those situations, failed miserably and the Rams continued to force punts.

The last of which resulted in Littleton busting through the Jaguars line of scrimmage to block Brad Norton’s punt attempt inside the 10-yard line and Brown picking it up and taking it in for a touchdown to make it 24-14.

Goff finished with 121 yards on 11 of 21 passing while Todd Gurley ran for 116 yards on 24 carries.

It wasn’t pretty. But it was enough for the Rams leave Florida with a big win.

Rams ride their special teams, defense to victory The Rams’ offense struggled on Sunday, but they dominated on special teams and defense to capture a 27-17 win over the Jaguars.

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=21037003

Five Takeaways: Rams Defeat Jaguars 27-17

Myles Simmons

http://www.therams.com/news-and-events/article-fivetakeaways/Five-Takeaways-Rams-Defeat-Jaguars-27-17/a0d2c719-faa8-472c-9317-e71a83b96c2d

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — After Sunday’s 27-17 victory over the Jaguars, the Rams are 4-2 for the first time since 2006 and 3-0 on the road for the first time since 2001. Though the club’s offense had trouble putting up points, special teams contributed two touchdowns, providing what head coach Sean McVay called the difference in the game.

Here are five takeaways from the win.

1) Special teams are special

The Rams’ special teams unit has been one of the club’s strengths since coordinator John Fassel arrived in 2012, but Sunday marked a particularly strong performance. For the first time in franchise history, the Rams scored a touchdown on a kickoff return and returned a blocked punt for a touchdown in the same game.

“It’s huge,” McVay said of the two special teams touchdowns. “It ended up winning the game for us today.”

Kicker Greg Zuerlein also connected on a 56-yard field goal — his longest of the season so far. He continues to have an outstanding year so far in 2017, as he leads the league with 17 field goals.

By scoring two non-offensive touchdowns, the Rams built an advantage that was too much for the Jaguars to overcome.

“t’s very difficult in the NFL — when you give up that many points on [special] teams — it’s very difficult to win the game,” Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone said. “So I thought were trying to battle our way back in there, but obviously that hurt. We weren’t able to overcome that, which is difficult to do in this league.”

Through six games, wide receiver Pharoh Cooper leads the league in kickoff returns (15), return yards (476), and return average (31.7 yards). He also has the longest kick return in the league this year (103 yards) and its only touchdown return.

2) Defense tightens up

Running back Leonard Fournette rushed for a 75-yard touchdown on the Jaguars’ first play from scrimmage. Jacksonville had a four-play, 75-yard drive result in a touchdown midway through the first quarter.

But after that? The Rams’ defense surrendered only three points — and that was off a sudden change where the offense fumbled.

“We can’t take away that first play, but we played a lot better after that play,” said outside linebacker Connor Barwin, who recorded his third sack of the season on Sunday. “We knew their offense was going to try and run the ball with Fournette and that’s what we focused on all week.”

In the Rams’ last three games, the defense has allowed just 15 second-half points combined to the Cowboys, Seahawks, and Jaguars — six against Dallas, six against Seattle, and three to Jacksonville. It’s a sign that things are beginning to come together well for the unit.

“We are encouraged to get the win today and there’s still a lot of things we want to do better and get fixed,” Barwin said. “But it’s encouraging that we seem to be playing better every week and that’s the most important thing.”

3) Robey-Coleman makes a big play in a big moment

Down 24-17, Jacksonville had an opportunity to draw closer with a drive that made it well into Los Angeles territory early in the fourth quarter. But cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman put a stop to it with his second interception of the season.

On 3rd-and-13 from the Los Angeles 31, Jags quarterback Blake Bortles fired a pass to his right for tight end Marcedes Lewis. But the ball was just outside of Lewis’ reach, as he tipped the ball off his hands. Robey-Coleman was in the right place at the right time to end Jacksonville’s scoring threat.

“I had vision on the quarterback and Marcedes Lewis came underneath. When Blake threw it, I just broke on the ball,” Robey-Coleman said. “I thought Marcedes was going to catch it. He tipped the ball and it just landed in my hands.”

With the pick, Robey-Coleman has tied his career high for interceptions in a single season. The former Buffalo corner set the mark last year, coincidentally, with two interceptions against the Rams in October.

4) Gurley reaches 110 again

Running back Todd Gurley was in a familiar setting at EverBank Field — the site of the annual Florida-Georgia matchup. Gurley improved his personal record to 3-1 in the facility with the Rams’ win, and did it with a lot of tough yards.

Gurley finished with 116 yards on 23 carries — good for an average of 5.0 yards. His longest run of the day was 14 yards, which means he was able to get plenty of gash runs to help keep L.A. ahead of the chains.

Six of Gurley’s first-down carries went for six to eight yards — a fact that illustrates his effectiveness and how well the offensive line was blocking.

“You definitely have to earn everything, especially the 3rd-and-1s,” Gurley said of facing the Jaguars. “Those big boys up front, the receivers, and tight ends — everybody — has been able to do their jobs. We have been able to go out and execute.”

Gurley has now reached at least 110 yards rushing in three of the Rams’ last four games. He had 113 against San Francisco and 121 against Dallas before reaching 116 on Sunday.

5) Offense sputters, but was effective on final drive

Los Angeles’ pass game had a tough time getting going on Sunday, as quarterback Jared Goff finished just 11-of-21 passing with 124 yards and a touchdown. The signal-caller was under heavy pressure for much of the contest, as he was sacked three times and the Jaguars registered five quarterback hits.

“I missed a couple. I think I missed Sammy [Watkins] down the field there and Tyler [Higbee] on the one down the sideline,” Goff said. “I think I made a couple bad decisions there and made a couple bad throws. For the most part, I was happy I didn’t turn the ball over. I think against a good defense like that and a team that you know they are waiting for you to do that if anything.”

The numbers were noticeably down across the board, as L.A. ended the contest with 249 total yards, 12 first downs, and 4-of-31 in third-down efficiency. Two of those third-down conversions came on the Rams’ five-minute drive midway through the fourth quarter, which took 5:08 off the clock and induced Jacksonville to call all three of its timeouts.

McVay said that if L.A. could put a drive together like that toward the end of the game, the team felt it would be in good shape. And that’s exactly how it turned out.

“To [the offense’s] credit, they made the plays when they had to, and churned some clock off,” McVay said.

There’s plenty to correct from an offensive standpoint — McVay said, bluntly, “Offensively, it was not good enough” — but the Rams were still able to get a 10-point victory on Sunday.

“There was a lot of plays that we’d like to have back offensively. I do not want to get away from giving credit to Jacksonville for forcing us into not being able to make those,” McVay said. “There were some situations that we’ll look at. We think that we can get better. We can create some of those explosives that you see us doing earlier on in the year.”