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September 26, 2023 at 8:44 pm #145688
znModeratorRodrigue: Rams let down too often by perceived ‘areas of strength’ in loss to Bengals
Jourdan Rodrigue
https://theathletic.com/4899893/2023/09/26/rams-offense-matthew-stafford-red-zone-interceptions/
CINCINNATI — Wasn’t this supposed to be the other way around?
The “no-name defense,” full of inexperienced players, was supposed to be the problem while now-veteran head coach Sean McVay and veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford, a fixed offensive line, a re-schemed and re-balanced run game were all supposed to be the buoy?
Instead, that “no-name defense” — and no, I’m not arguing that it was perfect, folks — held the Cincinnati Bengals under 20 points, mostly field goals, and just three points off of two Stafford interceptions. Meanwhile, McVay’s offense — and yes, it’s his offense, folks — was 1 for 11 on third down (the lone conversion was a late touchdown), and 1 for 4 in the red zone (again, the single touchdown evaded the shutout in that category). Stafford threw two interceptions, one tipped. The run game that McVay openly stated was his priority entering the season, not just making it more multi-dimensional but also sticking with it in games, was non-existent.
With the game pretty evenly scored in the first two quarters or close to (meaning a playing-from-deficit team isn’t skewed situationally into needing to pass more), here’s how the Los Angeles Rams’ red zone sequences went:
First-and-goal, at the 2. Stafford sacked (pass call).
Second-and-11, incomplete pass.
Third-and-11, incomplete pass. Field goal.
First-and-10, at the 12. Incomplete pass.
Second-and-10, at the 12. Kyren Williams 7-yard run.
Third-and-3, at the 5. Incomplete pass. Field goal.
I can absolutely see a world where the controversial called-back Tutu Atwell touchdown stood. No arguments there, though the officials sent the play to New York in their review and said he stepped out of bounds. But then the Rams were at the 2-yard line before taking that first-down sack! The 2! No, their problems were bigger than sloppy officiating.
Postgame, I asked McVay about the run-pass imbalance, particularly when the score was fairly even early in the game.
“There’s a lot of different things that we do, and there (are) certain things where you do want to be able to run the football,” McVay said. “Then there (are) other times when there (are) better advantageous looks to be able to get off some of the things that we did. That’s what we’ll look at. There were some favorable opportunities that unfortunately we weren’t able to capitalize on. Sometimes you have sequences where you are trying to call a run, and they’ll give you a structure that enables you to get into different plays whether that be throwing it or another run. That was something that came up tonight.”
Stafford and Williams, who didn’t seem to have a drop between them all throughout training camp, missed each other on pass plays at least four times in the first half alone. A red zone screen pass with blocking help bounced off Williams’ hands in the first quarter. There also seemed to be a miscommunication on a Stafford sack, when a Bengals free-rusher was not picked up (in part as the line slid to protect the other direction, and Williams went with them).
I want to, despite his subpar game, give a nod of respect to the second-year running back, who sat in abject misery with red, watery eyes in the locker room postgame — because he wanted to own his mistakes on the record.
“A loss is always tough, but knowing that you kind of took a part in that loss is even tougher,” Williams said. “Not being fully locked in on some of the things I should have been locked in on today, I just got to be better overall. Just better with my eyes in protection, better in the run game, and just be better for my teammates overall.
“It sucks. I (pride) myself every week on being the most locked in, being the most attentive to detail, being the most focused overall. And I was expecting big things this week, you know? And it sucks when it happens like this. It’s back to the drawing board at this point, back to the film, see what I’ve got to do to correct — and correct those things, you know? Actually hone in on correcting the things I need to correct and making it come to life.”
By the end of the third quarter, Cincinnati was up 16-9 and the Rams had to pass — a standard adjustment to trying to overcome a deficit without killing too much clock.
But McVay and the Rams’ other offseason priority — keeping Stafford upright — also went from shaky to disastrous. Left tackle Alaric Jackson left the game with a thigh injury and did not return. Right guard Joe Noteboom, who has played left tackle in NFL games (the Rams paid him for this job!), left briefly with a knee issue but returned — still at right guard, while inexperienced Zach Thomas played left tackle against two-time Pro Bowl defensive end Trey Hendrickson. Thomas missed his rusher multiple times, for multiple sacks. On a couple of them, Stafford was absolutely leveled. And still, the Rams’ coaching staff didn’t get him help on that side via a tight end, chipping receiver or running back, or the Ghosts of Scheme Adjustments Past.
I asked McVay, why not move Noteboom to left tackle instead, and if not, were those help adjustments discussed?
“You could talk about that, Zach Thomas had done a really good job with a lot of the repetitions he had gotten (in camp/practice) and felt like making a two-man switch wasn’t in the best interest, we’ll look at the tape and figure out if that’s something we want to do moving forward, if Alaric is out an extended period of time,” McVay said.
“There are (conversations), but they’re doing a lot of different things where you need to be able to use all five eligibles,” he added, referring to the players who would be eligible receivers. “There will be, certainly, some things that we can look at. Wish I did better. There were some opportunities for us to be able to make some plays, and to try to be able to get through some of those downs. That’s certainly something that I definitely need to be able to look at.”
Bad things happened immediately after both starting linemen left the game. Thomas was called on a false start, then gave up his first sack after taking over for Jackson. Meanwhile, Tremayne Anchrum rotated in for Noteboom briefly and had a facemask penalty on an otherwise-converted third-and-1 that set up a third-and-16 and the infamous, loathed, McVay third-and-very-long run play.
Stafford was hit 10 times and sacked six times. He finished the night 18 of 33 with two interceptions and the lone touchdown, for a passer rating of 66.4. The best summation of his night? He threw a 46-yard pass to Van Jefferson with about five minutes left in the third quarter, and then was intercepted (in part due to a tipped ball) on the next play.
“The big play to Van, it felt like we were jumping the ball, ‘let’s go tempo’,” Stafford said. “Knew what pressure they were bringing in. Got it picked (on) the next play. It was one of those deals where we have some nice plays and then, for one reason or another, we’d go backwards there for a little bit.”
Every time the offense made progress, some new fiasco was waiting just around the corner and often it was self-inflicted.
“I thought there were a lot of things, especially early on, when you look at it you say, ‘Are you really giving the clarity, how quickly can some of these guys be able to learn on the fly? How can we help and how can they help Matthew out?’” McVay said. “I know that I can always do a better job, and I’ll be the first to look inward. There was a handful of situations early on where they gave us things that we did expect and anticipate, and we didn’t quite get it communicated on some of the other opportunities that we did have. That was collectively. You got to look at yourself and say, ‘OK, are we providing the clarity? Why did we have some of those mistakes that occurred?’ … Those are all things (where) you want to do as good a job as we can of putting our players through it. There were a couple of mixers, but credit to Lou (Anarumo), they did an excellent job executing. There’s certainly some things that we can collectively do a better job on our end, but it was fairly in alignment with what we thought.”
But that’s coaching! That was the agreement McVay, his coaches and other veteran players — including Stafford — made when the head coach and the front office moved to overhaul their roster. Sure, McVay, and others, may have expected what they saw from the Bengals’ defense as he outlined in the above response.
But the point, the entire point on Monday night and the point of a season that is supposed to be about growth, is what problem-solving occurs when even the expected goes awry.
The people who are expected to lift this team in 2023 must remember that.
September 27, 2023 at 2:11 am #145691znModeratorRams-Bengals takeaways: Margin for error is razor-thin for Matthew Stafford, offense
GARY KLEIN
https://www.latimes.com/sports/rams/story/2023-09-26/rams-bengals-takeaways
CINCINNATI — The Rams lost to the Cincinnati Bengals, 19-16, on Monday night at Paycor Stadium.
Here’s what we learned from the defeat that dropped the Rams’ record to 1-2.
Let’s qualify this by acknowledging that passes that bounce off a receiver’s hands, helmet or other body parts and into the arms of defenders typically are not Stafford’s fault.
But the Rams’ margin for error is minuscule. And Stafford is at the controls of the offense.
The 35-year-old quarterback is still making outstanding throws and has even shown a knack for scrambling.
But this was the second game in a row that Stafford had two passes intercepted, and the Rams lost both.
Wait a second. The subhead on last week’s game review read: “The offensive line has protected Stafford.”
Well, a lot can change in a week, especially with injuries beginning to pile up a la 2022.
Left tackle Alaric Jackson left the game because of a thigh injury and did not return. Oft-injured right guard Joe Noteboom was out for a time because of a knee issue.
The Bengals, as expected, took full advantage and finished with six sacks.
Second-year pro Zachary Thomas played in place of Jackson and performed about as well as could be expected given his experience.
Now the question is: How will the beat-up line play at Indianapolis in a short week?
Rams fans certainly enjoyed his record-setting start, and it was fun while it lasted.
But Nacua’s pace was not sustainable.
Nacua caught five passes for 72 yards, ending the rookie receiver’s streak of catching more than 10 passes and amassing more than 100 yards receiving.
Nacua made several tough catches, including one he hauled in with his left hand.
His longest reception covered 37 yards.
Jefferson, a fourth-pro, was supposed to be the No. 2 receiver behind Cooper Kupp, and his prominence should have grown in Kupp’s absence.
Instead, he was the forgotten man.
While Nacua and Tutu Atwell shined, Jefferson stood out for dropped passes and missed opportunities.
But against the Bengals, Jefferson caught a 46-yard pass.
Atwell continued to show his versatility. He caught four passes for 50 yards and a touchdown. He also appeared to score on a 24-yard reverse. But upon review, officials ruled he had stepped out of bounds at the two-yard line.
Aaron Donald bounced back from a rare no-tackle stat line against the San Francisco 49ers by making seven tackles against the Bengals, including a sack and another tackle behind the line of scrimmage.
The three-time NFL defensive of the year has 1½ sacks this season, 104½ in his career.
Edge rusher Byron Young and tackle Kobie Turner shared another sack.
Ahkello Witherspoon’s fourth-quarter interception of a Joe Burrow pass was the first turnover for the Rams defense this season.
Unfortunately for the Rams, the offense failed to capitalize.
Witherspoon, a seventh-year pro who signed a veteran-minimum contract, also broke up a pass.
September 28, 2023 at 7:18 pm #145734znModerator3 Rams things: Sean McVay’s comments on game management questions and more
Jourdan Rodrigue
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — In a Los Angeles Rams season that will be unpredictable, at times chaotic and always interesting, we’re going to learn a lot about the young and older players (and their coaches) each week.
This week, coach Sean McVay’s game management is under scrutiny. Plus, more offensive line updates, and we go inside a big play.
My three things in Week 4:
McVay explains questioned game management
A series of puzzling decisions from the head coach, especially through the end of Monday night’s 19-16 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, bear expanding upon — and so does some poor situational execution.
McVay often takes timeouts rather than incur a delay of game penalty if the Rams are cutting it too close to the end of the play clock. Monday night, the events on the other side of those timeouts weren’t good.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford was sacked for a 7-yard loss on second down, after McVay’s third-quarter timeout, his first timeout of the second half (12:33, third quarter; the Bengals were flagged for a facemask and the Rams got a first down, but settled for a field goal three plays later). Stafford was sacked again, this time for a 10-yard loss on third down, after McVay’s second timeout of the second half with 7:05 to play. Offsetting penalties led to a repeat of the down, a Rams 5-yard gain. The Rams had just one timeout left at this point, down 10 points. From there, the situational football and game management got more puzzling.
With 6:09 left to play, and at least two possessions needed to overcome their deficit, the Rams had a fourth-and-5 at their 30-yard line. McVay elected to punt.
Why?
“I did (consider going for it),” McVay said Wednesday afternoon. “Just didn’t feel like it was the right thing, there were some struggles that we had had on third down and so had confidence in our defense at that point and so that was kind of the thought process there.”
The decision ran counter to ESPN’s analytical modeling, which believed it should have been a “go” call — and not just because deciding to punt cost the Rams 0.9 percent in win probability. Analyst Seth Walder explains below:
Walder’s model also found a 3 percent difference in win probability in the second quarter, when McVay elected to kick a field goal on fourth-and-3 at the Bengals’ 5-yard line instead of go for the conversion. “Only 3 percent?” you ask — but consider that the difference here dropped the Rams from a 51.7 percent win probability at that time, to a 48.7 percent win probability, according to ESPN’s model. These percentage points of difference in win probability may seem small, but McVay often says that games are won or lost in the margins.
McVay annually trends toward more conservative fourth-down and even two-point conversion decision-making, but he went for a goal-line fourth down against Seattle in Week 1 and got a touchdown. After that game, he sarcastically poked a little fun at himself for normally skewing toward kicking the field goal in that situation, but cited confidence in his players in that particular moment.
I asked McVay on Wednesday, what is the Rams’ process in such decision-making? Do they use analytical models, etc., and what is the conversation like although understandably unfolding in a very fast-paced situation?
“It’s a combination of some of the analytics, and sometimes I think a big part of it is the feel for the flow of the game,” McVay said. “A lot of it is, ‘OK, what is the (play) inventory that you would have, where are you at in regards to who is available (and) what is your injury situation?’ Certain models and metrics that I definitely believe in, but I also think there’s a feel for the flow of the game and then there are 22 moving parts — that’s a huge factor to me.”
Meanwhile, the clock and lack of timeouts became a significant factor after the Rams’ defense got a stop on the Bengals’ drive following McVay’s punt decision. The Bengals ran it on third down, wound down the clock, then their own punt team also wound the clock down to about 3:40 (the Rams’ third-down stop happened at about 4:30). Stafford finally got the ball in his hands at 3:34. But then on consecutive passes, tight end Tyler Higbee ran for the sticks, and not the sideline, and Tutu Atwell cut inside to avoid a defender and go for the conversion. The two plays took more than 30 additional seconds off the clock.
Stafford scrambled on fourth-and-3 and converted the must-get down, but a play later he was sacked a sixth time. The two plays took the clock from 2:43 all the way down to the two-minute warning. Stafford then hit Puka Nacua on a deep shot that set up the Rams at the Bengals’ 3-yard line. McVay, who had only called 11 run plays the entire game to that point (and just one red zone run), ran the ball. The failed run play took another 22 seconds off the clock.
When Stafford hit Atwell for a touchdown with 1:03 to play, the Rams kicked an extra point. This meant that they would need an onside kick recovery plus touchdown to win, versus an onside kick recovery plus field goal to tie. If they were successful on a two-point conversion, they would need an onside kick recovery plus only the field goal to win.
McVay said he did not consider going for the two-point conversion, indicating that he was playing for the tie: “We still needed another possession. It was something (where) we felt like, ‘well, let’s give ourselves a chance, if we do recover the onside kick — because we only have one timeout left in that situation, the field goal is what would have sent it into overtime. You make it a touchdown game if you don’t end up converting.”
Still, the clock doesn’t run during two-point conversion attempts. Converting there would have meant the Rams would have needed to eat up less of the field if they recovered the onside kick — they could have won with a field goal, in that scenario — and so could have made their dearth of timeouts less of an issue. The Bengals had just one time out left.
Stafford, on the other hand, chuckled while recounting what he told an assistant coach as the Rams prepared for their onside kick.
“One of our coaches came up to me and was like, ‘All right, if we recover the onside we’ve got about 15, 20 yards to get into field goal range,’ I was like, ‘hell no, man,’” Stafford said. “If we get this freakin’ onside, I’m freakin’ gonna gut ’em and go get a win, let’s get the hell out of here.’”
Not having more than one timeout to deploy in a two-possession game seemed to significantly affect McVay’s “go” decision-making.
The Rams were not moving the ball well Monday night, but could have used every advantage they could get — including those related to decision-making and situational execution.
Offensive line, in the run and pass
In pass protection, the Rams’ offensive line gave up 20 pressures and six sacks Monday night, according to TruMedia.
Starting left tackle Alaric Jackson is dealing with a hamstring issue and his status for Sunday in Indianapolis is unknown, though McVay said Jackson is “feeling good.” What won’t happen, if Jackson can’t play, is a repeat of second-year reserve tackle Zach Thomas playing on an island against the pass rush as he often was (with disastrous results) Monday night. Both McVay and offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur indicated the team would devise a different plan, if Jackson is unavailable, whether that is moving Joe Noteboom back to that spot or getting help for Thomas via schematic changes.
The Rams also ran the ball just 12 times against the Bengals, a departure from McVay’s often-publicized emphasis on developing an identity through their rushing attack this season.
A deficit often prompts teams to go more pass-heavy. But the Rams have only trailed in games on 53.8 percent of snaps (No. 15 in the NFL). Stafford has thrown 126 passes, second-most in the NFL, while the Rams have run the ball 75 times (ranked No. 20, and 40 of those runs happened in Week 1).
Even in the first half of Monday night’s game, with the score largely even, five of six red-zone downs were pass plays and the halftime run/pass split was 8/15.
The Rams are also facing light boxes on 55.7 percent of their snaps through their first three games (and had the same percentage in Week 3), according to TruMedia, which means more defenders in coverage and less up front on a little over half of their total snaps.
LaFleur expanded on why — at least from the Rams’ perspective — they didn’t run the ball more, indicating that the Bengals’ pre-snap looks led the Rams to more passing checks (even if the post-snap rotation reflects a lighter box on the stat sheet).
“The thing about what Lou (Anarumo) does is they don’t allow you to run at times,” LaFleur said. “You want to stay balanced, but if they tell you, ‘you’re not running the ball here’ (based) on the punt-block type of pressures they’re bringing in those situations. So there were a lot of runs called that unfortunately had to get checked out of it into some passes. Some of the results were good, some weren’t as good. Always want to stay balanced, but you’re not just gonna go beat your head against the wall if they’re saying ‘you’re not gonna do it.’
“They’ve always, I’ve personally played him three years in a row now. … They have found a way to have a system, which I think is in alignment to what we try to do on offense and similar to what (Raheem Morris) does on defense, it’s just, in my opinion, a good menu. A lot of things start out looking the same and end up being different. They might show you an eight-man front with a nickel and safety up, and the two backers inside — they might bring both of those guys off the edge. They might bring one of them and play a Cover 2 shell behind them so they’re bringing a run pressure but also protecting the back end. It’s just a really good menu of stuff. They know that. It makes it difficult.”
Inside Ahkello Witherspoon’s interception
Ahkello Witherspoon’s one-armed interception highlighted a tough fight from the defense against Cincinnati. I asked the veteran cornerback about the play in the locker room postgame, in hopes of saving a tidbit or two for this column that illustrates how fast adjustments have to be made in these situations:
“Really, what I felt was (receiver Tyler Boyd) coming back to the football,” Witherspoon said. “Like, not trying to let me get the pick. He ended up kind of getting (the ball) for a second, and I was still, with that right arm, trying to tuck it because I had the inside edge. That’s really what made it one-handed, was his aggression back (to the ball), not trying to give up the pick. And so I just lost that other hand, and scooped it.
“I had inside leverage. I thought it was going to be really just an easy catch (for me). But then he started coming downhill, trying to almost take it away from me. So I just had to pull it out with one hand. (You have to be) more physical.”
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