Thiry, Bonsignore, Hammond on Rams responses to the loss

Identity crisis: Can anyone truly tell who the Rams are anymore?

Vincent Bonsignore

https://theathletic.com/718465/2018/12/17/identity-crisis-can-anyone-truly-tell-who-the-rams-are-anymore/

LOS​ ANGELES — If​ you think of​ an​ NFL season​ like​ a masquerade ball,​ then​ the​ month​ of December is​ the big​​ reveal that occurs at the stroke of midnight.
It’s when the masks come off and everybody’s true identities are finally revealed.
For better or worse.
“I’ve played 13 years and I said it a month ago, this month is crazy,” left tackle Andrew Whitworth told The Athletic. “Every year you see teams that weren’t winning all of a sudden start winning and you see teams that were (winning), struggling against those teams.”
The big reveal is upon us. The masks are about to be lifted.
Can anyone truly tell who the Rams are anymore after stumbling the last two weeks in disturbing losses that’s left everyone scratching their heads? And who will be the leader they so desperately need to grab them by the necks and shake them out of the funk they find themselves in?
The Rams (11-3) have lost two straight games after dropping a 30-23 decision to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night at the Coliseum. At a time when teams are either trending up or down, the Rams are moving in the wrong direction.
There are MVP candidates — or were — throughout the locker room, from Todd Gurley to Jared Goff to Aaron Donald. Can one of them stand up and guide the Rams out of the darkness before the start of the playoffs?
That’s not really a question. It’s a challenge. The Rams’ postseason fate depends on it.
“We have really good leadership,” Goff maintained. “In a time like this, you need it — from players to coaches to strength staff to equipment staff to the training staff. There’s good leadership and it allows us to get through stuff like this. This is the first time since [head coach] Sean [McVay] has been here that we’ve lost two in a row. So, we’ll see how we respond – I have a pretty good feeling it’ll be in a positive way.”
The clock is ticking. The sense of urgency is real. The Rams are in danger of losing their grip on everything they held so securely.
It happens like that sometimes. And when it goes, it goes fast. Two weeks ago, the Rams were thinking about home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Now, they need to hold on to make sure they get a much-needed bye in the first round.
But with the way they are playing, nothing is guaranteed anymore.
“We’ve got to get it figured out in a hurry,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said. “It’s guys that are making decisions that, typically, we haven’t seen. It’s guys that are making mistakes that we’ve typically haven’t seen. But, however you cut it, we’re all in this together. We’ve all got to do better and it starts with me.
“But, we’ve got to figure it out and that’s — all they know how to do is go back to work, work as hard as we possibly can to figure out the solutions and get better for next week. But this wasn’t good enough. It’s a tough pill to swallow.”
The Rams’ response will define the rest of their season.
For so long, they were the prince of the party after waltzing to a 10-1 record and swooning everyone into believing they were Super Bowl worthy.
Then November turned to December and it has all fallen apart. It started with an ugly win over the hapless Detroit Lions. Then came last week’s loss to the Chicago Bears, a somewhat understandable and acceptable misstep in the frigid cold off Lake Michigan against an up-and-coming team that treated the showdown like a quasi Super Bowl.
The Rams were disappointed but not deterred, vowing to immediately rebound. But against Philadelphia, they repeated some of the same mistakes.
Have the Rams been pulling the wool over our eyes the last three months? Are they really the team that routinely hung 30-40 points on everyone or toyed with opponents before delivering vicious knockout blows? Are they still the Rams who survived rough road trips to Seattle and Denver and came away with character-building wins? Is this still the team that beat the Kansas City Chiefs in an epic showdown against the AFC’s best?
Or are they the Rams that looked helpless against the Bears last week and did not fare much better against the Eagles, who landed in L.A. with faint playoff hopes (and starting quarterback Carson Wentz sidelined with a back injury) only to soar back to Philadelphia right smack in the middle of the NFC East chase?
The Rams could do no wrong the first 12 weeks of the season, but suddenly they can’t do much of anything right.
Goff looks unsure and tentative. The ball is no longer coming out of his hand decisively or with purpose. Far too often, he’s playing under duress, the result of an offensive line that’s suddenly sprung holes in pass protection and isn’t consistently opening holes for running back Todd Gurley.
It’s been four weeks and three games since Goff played like himself. That’s not a blip on the screen. It’s a disturbing trend. There are two weeks left in the regular season. Is there enough time to get him back on track?
“Just stay the course,” Goff insisted. “Just understand that there’s some things that we need to do better, especially offensively, that we will. Just get them fixed and stay the course.”
It sounds practical and prudent and convincing. But it’s the third straight week Goff has essentially uttered the same words.
The results have not reflected the conviction.
Donald has four total tackles the last two weeks and isn’t generating much heat on the quarterback. He has gone two straight games without a sack.
The rest of the Rams defense isn’t picking up the slack, registering just two sacks in the two losses while getting gouged in the run game and surrendering too many big plays through the air.

“We just have to get back into our groove,” Donald said quietly. “It’s tough, man. I hate losing so [we] just have to watch the film, correct it, just have to get better. From everybody, from defense to offense to special teams, we just have to play better.
“We have a great team. We’ve got great coaches. That [the losing] is on the players. That’s on us. I’m going to try to do better and I’m going to try and do more. I’ve got to try to find a way to get free no matter what they’re trying to do and slow me down. There’s no excuses. If you want to be great, you have to be great. You have to show up in big games and this was a big game for us.”
Meanwhile, the penalties are piling up — 14 in all the last two weeks and seemingly every one of them pushing the Rams off stride or adversely impacting them. The Rams have turned the ball over seven times over the last eight quarters, including five interceptions by Goff and a killer fumble by punt returner JoJo Natson on Sunday that all but sabotaged their comeback hopes in the closing minutes.
And if there are answers to be uncovered, McVay has not yet provided them. His team has looked flat, out of rhythm and uncertain for three straight weeks.
“I think we’ve still clinched a playoff berth,” Marcus Peters reminded everyone. “So we’re not tripping. We just have to get back to our P’s and Q’s.”
Peters is right, of course. The Rams are in the playoffs after wrapping up the NFC West division title weeks ago. And yes, there are still two weeks remaining in the season. That’s plenty of time to get back on track.
But the clock is ticking. And it grows louder by the day.
The New Year beckons. The postseason is nearly upon us. What was supposed to be a coronation has suddenly become uncertain and anxious times.
McVay is a second-year head coach. Goff is a third-year starting quarterback. The bulk of the team has only minimal playoff experience, and that was the one-and-done postseason appearance last year against the Atlanta Falcons in the divisional round.
Only Aqib Talib and Brandin Cooks have any real postseason awareness, each with a Super Bowl appearance on the resumes.
The Rams promise to make this a collective effort. It won’t be one or two players who lead the way. It will be the result of a unified front.
“I think it will be great,” Whitworth said. “I think in reality we’ll bounce back. We’ll be fine. We have plenty to play for and plenty of talented people in this locker room that all care and are all made of the right stuff. I look forward to how we bounce back.”
A month ago, we all believed.
But can we really be sure of anything anymore with the Rams?

Rams and Jared Goff continue to struggle in home defeat to Philadelphia Eagles

RICH HAMMOND

link: https://www.ocregister.com/2018/12/16/rams-and-jared-goff-continue-to-struggle-in-home-defeat-to-philadelphia-eagles/

LOS ANGELES – That magical night against Kansas City is one that Rams fans will never forget, which is good, because it’s starting to feel more like a period than a comma, particularly for quarterback Jared Goff.

The Rams, right now, are broken. The level of external panic will be elevated beyond necessity, because poor play is now a trend, not a blip. The Rams can be fixed, and they have enough time to do it, but there’s a lot of work to be down after their mostly dismal 30-23 loss to Philadelphia on Sunday at the Coliseum.

The Rams (11-3) have lost consecutive regular-season games for the first time in two seasons under Coach Sean McVay and almost certainly have lost their chance to claim the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs with two games remaining. Their best hope now is a 2-0 finish and a first-round bye.

“We’ve got to be able to figure this out, and figure it out fast,” McVay said, “because these last couple weeks, we’re doing things that are totally uncharacteristic of what good football teams do, what we’ve done.”

Philadelphia (7-7), which came in as a 13-point underdog, broke open a game that was tied 13-13 at halftime with 17 consecutive points, as Goff threw a terrible second-half interception that caused the game to snowball against the Rams for a while.

The Rams scrambled back late and pulled within a touchdown on Todd Gurley’s 1-yard scoring run with 4:06 to play. The Rams’ defense held Philadelphia to a three-and-out on the ensuing possession, but JoJo Natson flat-out dropped the ball on a punt return and the Eagles took over at the Rams’ 36.

“Fluke play. I tried to switch the ball and it came out. Fluke play,” Natson said. “I’m just trying to make a play for the team. You know what I’m saying?”

Again, the Rams’ defense stiffened, and Goff and the offense got one more chance after the Eagles missed a 53-yard field goal attempt. The Rams took over with 1:08 to play and no timeouts, and Goff quickly got them down to the Eagles’ 18 yard-line. But his pass intended in the end zone for Josh Reynolds sailed high and incomplete on the game’s final play.

But until those two last-ditch drives, the Rams were clearly out of sync, especially on offense. During one stretch, they went eight consecutive possessions without a touchdown.

“We’ve got two weeks until the playoffs,” Goff said, “so we’ve got two weeks to figure it out. I don’t think it’s much. It’s little things here and there. I need to do a better job and we need to do a better job across the board.”

Where even to begin? The Rams followed that breathtaking victory over the Chiefs last month with a bye and they’ve been bye-bye ever since, certainly on offense, and with mixed results on defense.

Goff, beset by more porous offensive-line play that he’s become accustomed to since the start of 2017, looks lost – particularly when pressured – and the receivers, who not long ago dazzled with zig-zag routes all over the field, now look pretty run-of-the-mill. Gurley, who left the game in the second half with a knee injury but later returned, no longer is dominating games.

Gurley led the Rams with 76 receiving yards (on 10 catches) and had two rushing touchdowns, but ran for only 48 yards on 12 carries. McVay said after the game that Gurley would have his knee “checked out.”

“I returned, so I was fine,” Gurley said.

Perhaps this is some prolonged rope-a-dope by the Rams, since they’ve already clinched the NFC West and can secure a first-round playoff bye by winning season-ending games vs. Arizona and San Francisco. Yet it sure doesn’t feel that way for a team that seems to have lost its way, and that starts with Goff.

Since the bye, Goff has looked more like the tentative, battered 2016 rookie than last year’s All-Pro player and the MVP candidate of this season’s first two-plus months. Goff completed 35 of 54 attempts for 239 yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions, one week after an awful showing against Chicago.

“We’ve all got to be better,” McVay said when asked about Goff. “He’s got to make some better decisions. … He’s trying to make plays. We learn from all our mistakes, and that’s players and coaches alike, but there’s certainly some things that we can look at and we’ve got to be better. Everybody.”

Rams quarterback Jared Goff loses the ball as he is hit by Philadelphia Eagles outside linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill in the second half of the game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2018. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Too often, an uncomfortable-looking Goff either threw off his back foot, looked like he was expecting to be sacked, or both. An offensive line that has allowed too much pressure to come up the middle certainly carries some responsibility, but for a third consecutive week, the Rams looked out of sorts on offense.

The worst moment came late in the third quarter, when Goff had his foot stepped on by center John Sullivan, then attempted an ill-advised, off-balance heave that was intercepted. The Eagles scored two plays later to take a 30-13 lead.

The Rams actually led 7-3 at the end of the first quarter Sunday. Then they failed to score a touchdown until the end of the game, and their defense didn’t look particularly impressive either.

For much of the game, the Eagles – with backup quarterback Nick Foles in for Carson Wentz – carved the Rams’ defense with off-tackle runs and deep balls to wide-open receivers. Foles, last season’s Super Bowl MVP, looked like a calm veteran in his first start since September and, after the game was tied 13-13 at halftime, the Eagles scored 17 consecutive points.

“I think we’re in a slump right now, but it’s been worse over here,” guard Rodger Saffold said. “Around this time last year, we had four or five losses. That’s something to think about. At the end of the day, everything is right in front of us and we still control our own destiny. We still have the playoff picture in mind.”

The Rams generated some hope late in the first quarter when they actually scored a touchdown. They’d gone 14 consecutive possessions without one, and it seemed they’d found a flow with a Gurley-led attack.

Not so much. Gurley had seven carries and three receptions on the Rams’ first two drives, compared to a total of 14 touches last week, and the Rams held the ball for 8:55 in the first quarter, but it didn’t last.

The Rams led 7-3 after Gurley’s 9-yard touchdown run with 1:16 left in the first quarter, and then 7-6 after a nice red-zone stand by the defense. The Rams then marched to the Eagles’ 14, but on first down, instead of giving the ball to Gurley, McVay called a pass play and the Rams were called for pass interference.

After that, Goff took a sack, the Rams went nowhere and they settled for a field goal and a 10-6 lead. The Eagles took the lead at 13-10 with a touchdown on their next possession, and the Rams tied the game with a field goal as time expired at the end of the first half.

Those looking for a bounce-back game from Goff, who threw four interceptions a week earlier at Chicago, were left waiting. Goff did join Jim Everett, Kurt Warner and Marc Bulger as the only Rams quarterbacks to throw for 4,000 yards in a single season, but he rarely looked comfortable in the pocket.

Perhaps it’s the pass rush, as teams increasingly seem to be getting interior pressure against the Rams’ line. Perhaps it’s the loss of receiver Cooper Kupp to a knee injury, because since he went out, Goff hasn’t seemed entirely comfortable with any target except Robert Woods, and hasn’t shown much chemistry with Josh Reynolds. Perhaps it’s just good defense and some malaise after the Rams clinched a playoff spot.

“That’s just part of the NFL,” Gurley said. “You’re going to have your ups, you’re going to have your downs. You’ve got to take it with a grain of salt and just move on. No one is going to have a great career, every game, every year. He will respond like he always does and he will lead us to win next week.”