tweets … 9/21

Updated FPI ratings and rankings after Sunday's action.

-Ravens extend lead for No. 1 spot
-Rams biggest risers
-NFC West at 4-5-6
-Eagles biggest fallers
-Giants drop to No. 32 pic.twitter.com/Q9XJOsHOZB

— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) September 21, 2020

TurfShowTimes@TurfShowTimes
Rams Jared Goff looks back on track with start that resembles his Super Bowl form and the offense is one of the most efficient in the league

PFF@PFF
Only two starting QBs without a turnover-worthy play in 2020:
Aaron Rodgers
Jared Goff

PFF LA Rams@PFF_Rams
Highest graded #RamsHouse players on offense and defense in yesterday’s matchup against #FlyEaglesFly :

▶ Offense: Cooper Kupp (90.8)
▶ Defense: Jordan Fuller (74.8)

TurfShowTimes@TurfShowTimes
Rams team stats thru 2 games that you’re gonna love:
– 1st in Net yards per pass attempt
– 3rd in rushing yards
– 2nd best passer rating allowed

RIPKobeBeanBryant@Rams24_7
Rams have played 2 media darlings to start the season and all I’ve heard the media talk about is Gallup/Ramsey and Wentz. Let’s just keep stacking dubs and they’ll notice eventually

TurfShowTimes@TurfShowTimes
Most tackles through a safety’s first 2 career games:

– TJ Ward, 22
– Baccari Rambo, 18
– Jordan Fuller, 17

Pete Prisco@PriscoCBS
Nine quarterbacks are completing over 70-percent of their passes this season, led by Russell Wilson with an amazing 82.5 completion percentage. Defenses are getting shredded.

Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
RB Darrell Henderson drops a great line about playing without crowd noise: “Well, the other team was talking so that’s enough crowd noise.”

Lindsey Thiry@LindseyThiry
This is wild, considering he had 121 all purpose yards yesterday: Darrell Henderson says he’s almost back to 100% after suffering a hamstring injury in training camp.

Stu Jackson@StuJRams
Hill said he anticipated he might be competing for the nickel DB role after Nickell Robey-Coleman left.

He views the opportunity as a blessing because it allows him to show that he’s versatile/not just an outside cornerback

Rams RB Darrell Henderson Jr. on his big day against the Eagles: “I just went out there and played my game.”

Henderson also gives credit to the Rams’ offensive line: “It started up front. They gave me a great push.”

Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
[snap counts] confirm to us the eye test that the Rams were in nickel (Hill/Williams snap counts) most of the game and have pretty much committed to Fuller in that base and nickel variation of base but will add Rapp when needed. It also reinforces commitment to Young as ILB2.

Rich Hammond@Rich_Hammond
Rams ran the ball 40 times vs. Dallas and 39 vs. Philly. Their high last season was 36, and they were under 25 in eight(!) games last season. Yes, you run more when you’re leading (and when your lead running back is healthy), but this still seems significant.

DOWNTOWN RAMS [DTR]@DowntownRams
The #Rams were 27th in pass rush win rate for week one. Curious to see where they are in week two.

Lindsey Thiry@LindseyThiry
The NFC West is 7-1, with the 1 loss occurring in a division game between the 49ers & Cardinals.

The 2002 AFC West is the only other division to combine for a 7-1 record through 2 weeks since realignment, but the division only ended up having 1 playoff team, per @ESPNStatsInfo

And that one playoff team, the Raiders, did make it to the Super Bowl.

Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
Ok, story time ahead of Bills week, because these ain’t your grandma’s Bills and this could actually be a heck of a fun matchup: Back in 2019, when I was in Carolina and the Panthers were prepping to host the Rams to open the season, the Panthers also hosted the Bills in training

camp. We made all the jokes you could make because the Bills had so many parallels to Carolina in terms of former players, staff, front office guys etc., but it was clear in that camp that the Bills were on the rise and Carolina was maybe starting to slip out of its window.

Anyway, there were a few days of camp that were weird because the Panthers had an extra DB on the field outside of their usual nickel, and that guy was Ross Cockrell. Well, come to learn by chatting with a couple guys that the Panthers were installing a variation of a dime

package to counter what at the time looked like a pretty unstoppable 11 personnel attack from Sean McVay and the Rams. And the Panthers literally had never played a snap of dime under Rivera, not one. Didn’t ever really need to based on matchups/having a guy named Luke Kuechly,

who could really swallow up in coverage back in those days (ask Julio Jones). But against the Rams, this would be a problem. So they took those two weeks of camp to install the package, which they called “Bolt”, and used it largely in must-pass or clear-pass situations.

Well, here’s the thing that is now most interesting to me: There was only one other team in the NFL that was at the bottom of the league in terms of playing dime, at the time. It was the Buffalo Bills, coached by Sean McDermott, fresh off the Ron Rivera coaching tree.

Now, these Bills aren’t those Bills. They are better.
But these things all can be true: The Bills still don’t play much dime (in part because their LBs are very good). Where they are ESPECIALLY good, per @JoeBuscaglia , is against TEs. Per Joe, that LB tandem has allowed

just 13 catches for 162 yards and one touchdown on 96 snaps to TEs.
What can also be true is the fact that Sean McVay put out a heck of a lot of tape on his No.1 tight end, Tyler Higbee, this week, and less on his No3/4 receiver, Van Jefferson. It’s further true that

the Rams have played 69% of offensive snaps in 11 personnel, the eighth-most in the league, and 28.1% of offensive snaps in 12 personnel, the seventh-most in the league by a slim margin. The Bills last 2 opponents rank middle to late-middle in the league in 11 personnel played.

So anyway, while all of these variables are true in and of themselves…the fun part comes when we get to see how each coach combines them into one game plan in Sunday’s “Sean Bowl” up in Buffalo.

Zooey wrote:

zn wrote:

Pete Prisco@PriscoCBS
Nine quarterbacks are completing over 70-percent of their passes this season, led by Russell Wilson with an amazing 82.5 completion percentage. Defenses are getting shredded.

Prescott against Rams: 64%
Wentz against Rams: 60%

Here are the top 16 qbs as of 2 games, rated by completion percentage.