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from PFF, Refocused, NFL Week 5: Los Angeles Rams 33, Seattle Seahawks 31

https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-refocused-nfl-week-5-los-angeles-rams-33-seattle-seahawks-31

It wasn’t Todd Gurley‘s biggest rushing day by any means, but he still managed to find the end zone three times and added another 36 yards on four catches out of the backfield.

Jared Goff came back to earth after back-to-back stellar performances. He had a couple of miscues, including a fumble where the ball just slipped out of his hand when trying to throw. Fortunately, that one was recovered by a teammate and didn’t lead to a turnover. However, Goff played better down the stretch to help lead the Rams to three scoring drives before running out the clock on their final possession.

It was a rough day at the office for Marcus Peters, who saved some face with an important pass break up late on, but was also the chief victim as Russell Wilson got the Seahawks downfield passing attack working.

It may not have been his best day, but you need only look at the speed with which J.R. Sweezy was beaten by Aaron Donald to understand that Donald can do things other players can only dream of.

Keys to the game:

Los Angeles: After a slow first half, the Rams were able to put long drives together and score on their first three possessions of the second half, before taking the lead and sealing off the win.

Seattle: They moved the ball because their line didn’t just hold, but did a good job neutralizing the Rams fantastic front.

Studs and duds from Rams’ win: Woods shines, Peters struggles

Cameron DaSilva

Studs and duds from Rams' win: Woods shines, Peters struggles

The Los Angeles Rams moved to 5-0 with a win over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday afternoon, grabbing a 33-31 victory in the unfriendly confines of CenturyLink Field. It was the worst performance of the season by the defense and the Rams were down two wide receivers for a good portion of the game, but Jared Goff, Todd Gurley and Sean McVay never blinked.

There were some good performances and some not-so-good ones, which we highlight in our weekly studs and duds piece below.

Studs

Todd Gurley

Gurley was once again a star for the Rams. Although his numbers weren’t eye-popping on the surface, he helped carry the offense on a day where Jared Goff wasn’t at his best. He rushed 22 times for 77 yards with a long of 16, adding another 36 yards on four catches. He was great late in the game, helping the Rams seal the win in the fourth quarter.

On the final drive alone, he had 21 yards and milked the clock for the Rams when they needed to put the game on ice. With Brandin Cooks and Cooper Kupp both out, Los Angeles needed him to step up, and that’s exactly what he did.

Aaron Donald

Donald didn’t dominate the way he did last year when he sacked Russell Wilson three times, but he was very good against a much-improved offensive line for Seattle. He had two quarterback hits and sacked Wilson once, breaking into the backfield several times with a tackle for loss, as well.

Overall, the Rams’ run defense was not good, but Donald had a strong game and forced a grounding call that was negated by Marcus Peters’ hold. He remains the best defender in the NFL and constantly commands double teams from opposing offensive lines on a weekly basis.

Robert Woods

After Kupp and Cooks went down with concussions, the burden at wide receiver fell squarely on Woods. Yet, all he did was step up and take on the bigger role as the No. 1 wideout, catching five passes for 92 yards. He also added a 56-yard rush on an end-around, which gave the Rams great field position.

If the Rams are to be without Cooks and Kupp for any period of time, Woods showed he can handle a higher share of targets and can make plays with the ball in his hands.

Cairo Santos

His missed extra point was ugly and could’ve cost the Rams a win, but Santos went full Lloyd from “Dumb and Dumber” and completely redeemed himself. He was 2-for-2 on field goals with a long of 39 – which was the game-winner – and 3-for-4 on extra points, scoring nine total points.

He doesn’t have a great leg on kickoffs, either, but he helped pin the Seahawks deep on one play after Tyler Lockett slipped at the goal line. say what you will about his missed PAT, but a 39-yard game-winner in your first action with a new team requires some talent.

Duds

Marcus Peters

This was by far Peters’ worst game as a Ram. He wasn’t great last week against the Vikings either, and perhaps it has to do with his calf injury, but he was terrible on Sunday. Not only did he allow two touchdowns, but he was beaten badly on both plays and was flagged for defensive holding, as well.

It’d be a stretch to say he was the reason for the Rams’ poor play on defense, but he was definitely the biggest culprit of their struggles. With Aqib Talib out, he has to improve and hold down the left side of the defense.

Run defense

This probably could’ve been classified as “Rams defense” because they were bad at every level, but the run defense was especially bad. They were gashed for 190 yards on 32 carries, allowing 5.9 yards per carry. The Seahawks seemed to have very little trouble running the ball against the Rams’ trio of defensive linemen up front, getting constant push past the line of scrimmage.

This was a major problem for Los Angeles last season and it’s continued to be a problem in 2018, too. And don’t try to blame it on Mark Barron being the common denominator, either. He had a strong game with nine tackles, but the running lanes were just too big all day long.

Sean McVay

His gutsy call on fourth down with under two minutes remaining essentially won the Rams the game, but it certainly wasn’t his best performance on the sideline. He used all of his timeouts in the first 20 minutes of the second half, leaving the Rams with none for the final nine minutes of the game.

Had the Rams needed a drive in the final minutes to win the game, it would’ve been much more difficult without any timeouts. Fortunately, it didn’t come back to bite the team, but that could’ve been disastrous.

Additionally, he was admittedly shaky in the red zone.

“I gotta start learning my lesson with some of the plays I’m selecting in the red zone and that’s something that I gotta look critically at myself and be better for our football team moving forward.

Peter King

FMIA Week 5: Awaken the Sleeping Giant? Browns—Yup—Feeling Frisky

Behind the McVay call. The league’s getting gutsier, it seems. (Except for Jason Garrett.) Intriguing call for Sean McVay on Sunday at Seattle. L.A. ball, fourth and a half-yard, Rams 42, 1:39 left, no timeouts left for Seattle. High stakes here. If the Rams go for it and make it, the game’s over; they can run out the clock because Seattle has no timeouts left. If the Rams go for it and fail, Seattle needs 15 yards to be in breezy field-goal range for the winning kick.

If the Rams punt, they could likely pin the Seahawks around their 15-yard line. On the bus to the airport Sunday evening, McVay explained the call to go for it thusly: “I think the biggest thing was this: Our offensive linemen had the confidence to be able to get those six inches. I thought Jared [Goff] did an excellent job of mixing up his cadence a little bit, and I felt like he could catch them off guard.

We attack success. We don’t fear failure. We want to go for the win in that situation. Getting six inches to close it out was something that we felt the percentages were in our favor.” Smart move, and not just because it worked.

MVP Watch

Jared Goff, QB, Los Angeles Rams. This is not just Sean McVay’s influence making Goff a player. You don’t make the kind of precise throws into tight coverage the way Goff is doing with a coach pulling strings and making you a robot. Sunday in Seattle was the kind of tough struggle even the best teams are going to have to win regularly in the course of a long season.

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Russell Wilson was vintage MVP-contender Russell Wilson for much of the 33-31 loss to the Rams, leading five scoring drives in nine possessions and compiling a 132.5 passer rating. But 48 net yards for the Seahawks in the fourth quarter sealed their fate.

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Todd Gurley, at $11.5-million a year average, for the next six years, is a pretty reasonable contract for the Rams. I won’t say cheap, but reasonable.

By the way, there is no way the Todd Gurley touchdown should have been reversed in Seahawks-Rams. I repeat what the NFL had been doing a good job of until the Cleveland first-down reversal late in last week’s game at Oakland: Reverse only the plays that are absolutely shown to be wrong on appeal.

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I think the Rams basically won the NFC West with the win in Seattle, barring some major injuries. The Rams have a three-game lead over Seattle with the tiebreaker over the Seahawks, which means they’ve got a three-and-a-half game lead in effect. And L.A. has Denver and San Francisco in the next two weeks, so 7-0 seems quite possible. All those years the Rams were finished by Dec. 1, and now they could clinch by then.

Social Roundup: Players React to Week 5 Victory

https://www.therams.com/news/social-roundup-players-react-to-week-5-victory

After Sunday’s Victory, Rams have Won Three of Last Four Games in Seattle

https://www.therams.com/news/after-sunday-s-victory-rams-have-won-three-of-last-four-games-in-seattle

Reynolds, Hodge Step Up as Cooks, Kupp Land in Concussion Protocol

https://www.therams.com/news/reynolds-hodge-step-up-as-cooks-kupp-land-in-concussion-protocol

Quotes & Notes 10/8/18: McVay Talks Wide Receivers in Seattle Win

https://www.therams.com/news/quotes-notes-10-8-18-mcvay-talks-wide-receivers-in-seattle-win

Five Takeaways: Robert Woods Shows Versatility in Victory over Seahawks

https://www.therams.com/news/five-takeaways-robert-woods-shows-versatility-in-victory-over-seahawks

What we learned from the Rams’ 33-31 victory over the Seattle Seahawks

http://www.latimes.com/sports/rams/la-sp-rams-what-we-learned-seahawks-20181008-story.html#nt=oft-Single%20Chain~Feed-Driven%20Flex%20Feature~~sub-topic-feed-1~~1~yes-art~automated~automatedpage