After a Month on the Road, Rams Return Home to Face Texans

Kristen Lago

http://www.therams.com/news-and-events/article-1/After-a-Month-on-the-Road-Rams-Return-Home-to-Face-Texans-/91df3f2f-07a8-4cb7-81e5-8ceadfb37126

After more than 30 days away, the Rams will return home to the Coliseum on Sunday to face off against the Texans. At 6-2, Los Angeles is off to its best start in more than a decade and will look to improve upon that record with another win in Week 10.

So far, L.A. has won three straight games to take sole possession of first place in the NFC West standings. And while it may be easy to look towards the team’s promising future, head coach Sean McVay has instilled a “one game at a time” approach that has worked well for the team thus far.

“One of the things that we do is we take one game at a time, one day at a time,” McVay said. “I think we’re pleased with the progress that we’ve made [and] we’ll see if we can continue that. But it [will be] a good challenge against the Houston Texans.”

Because the Texans are the NFL’s youngest franchise — established in 1999 and playing their first game in 2002 — the Rams do not have much history with the club. Overall, the Rams lead the all-time record, 2-1, with a 38-13 victory in their last matchup in 2013.

But much has changed for the Rams since their last contest with the Texans. Only nine players who were on the roster in 2013 are currently with the franchise. On Sunday, the Texans will face a rejuvenated L.A. team with a variety of new faces, including quarterback Jared Goff.

The reigning NFC Offensive Player of the Week is coming off one of the best performances in his career, throwing for 311 yards and four touchdowns against the Giants.

“He continues to grow and that’s demonstrated by a variety of things in that game,” McVay said. “I thought he handled and managed the [Giants’] game extremely well. So, I think there’s plays that start to demonstrate week-in and week-out why he’s making steps in the right direction.”

This week, Goff and company will be taking on a Texans defense that has lost several of its most dynamic players, including defensive end J.J. Watt and outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus — both of whom are both out with season-ending injuries. The Texans will also be without their starting defensive end Joel Heath, who is out with a knee injury.

Injuries aside, Houston has been good against the run this season, allowing just 96.0 yards per game, which ranks No. 9. But it has struggled against the passing game, where the Texans are giving up 243.1 yards per game, which ranks No. 21. In all, wide receiver Robert Woods said Houston represents one of the toughest units to match up against.

“They have a lot of big injuries on their defense with Watt being down,” Woods said. “But they are still one of the top defenses on third downs. They have defensive end Jadeveon Clowney on the edge causing problems and a very experienced secondary, so a very talented defense when you watch them on film.”

In order to be successful, Goff says the Rams will need “to continue to execute our game plan,” focusing on spreading the football to their wide variety of offensive weapons. Right guard Jamon Brown echoed his quarterback, saying that “as long as we do what we’re supposed to do and play Rams’ football, then we’ll be okay.”

On offense, the Rams will be without their No. 2 running back Malcolm Brown who is out for the next few weeks

as he rehabs an MCL injury. Lance Dunbar is expected to step in as Todd Gurley’s primary backup, and should be able to bring his adaptability to the playing field.

“I think part of the reason we brought him here is he’s a pretty versatile guy out the backfield,” offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur said. “He’s got very good receiving skills and he’s a guy that’s been in the league for six years, so he’s got that veteran experience as well.”

Defensively, the Rams have strung together a series of consistent performances, holding opponents to an average of 301.3 yards and 11.3 points in their three-game winning streak. Cornerback Trumaine Johnson said that “building chemistry with the defensive scheme and coordinator Wade Phillips” has been key to the unit’s success.

“We’re coming together and you can see it these last three or four games,” Johnson said.

This week, Los Angeles will face a Texans’ team that will be without its starting quarterback Deshaun Watson. Watson underwent surgery for a torn ACL on Wednesday and will be out for the remainder of the season. In his place is quarterback Tom Savage, who started the Texans’ first game of 2017 before Watson replaced him to start the contest’s third quarter.

“Deshaun was a big part of the team in their offense and how they ran things,” middle linebacker Alec Ogletree said. “[But] they still do some of the same stuff with Savage in there. We just have to continue to be us on defense and try to limit the run game, stop them from throwing the ball deep on us and just play our game.”

Although the unit will no longer have to gameplan for Watson, it will still face a tough task in containing the Texans’ wide receivers. DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller have combined for 1,004 yards and 15 touchdowns so far this season.

“Fuller’s got great speed. He’s just so fast that he runs good routes,” Phillips said. “And then Hopkins is everything — he’s an elite receiver. He can run, he’s powerful and he can catch anything. So it’s a problem with having two wide receivers like that.”

But the Rams secondary seems up for the task. Johnson who recorded his 18th career interception last week was excited for the challenge, as was strong safety John Johnson III.

“Hopkins is a tremendous athlete,” Johnson said. “He’s fast, a first-round pick. I can’t wait, it’s going to bring some great matchups.”

“I played against Fuller in college,” Johnson III said. “He’s a fast guy and we just can’t let him get behind us that’s the biggest thing.”

For just the third time this season, the Rams could be without one of its starters on defense. Though L.A. has been very fortunate on the injury front, starting outside linebacker Robert Quinn is doubtful for Sunday’s contest as he continues to deal with an illness. Luckily, the Rams have some depth at the position with Matt Longacre and Samson Ebukam able to step in if needed.

Overall, the Rams will look to remain consistent with a big win over the Texans on Sunday. Should L.A. take the contest, it would mark just their third win in 11 regular-season games at the Coliseum since the start of the 2016 season. Kickoff for Sunday’s contest is scheduled for 1:05 p.m on CBS. The game will be simulcast on KCAL 9.

What They’re Saying: The Houston Texans

http://www.therams.com/news-and-events/article-1/What-Theyre-Saying-The-Houston-Texans-/5aee20ee-f8a7-4654-a8ff-374847021f42

Each week TheRams.com will be taking a look at what Los Angeles’ opponents have to say about facing the Rams. Heading into Week 10 of the regular season, check out what the Houston Texans’’ coaches and players had to say about their matchup against the Los Angeles Rams at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum:

On what he has seen in terms of development from QB Jared Goff:

“Jared has shown a lot of improvement from last season to this season. The Rams are doing really good right now. I always told people that when he was a rookie. He was young and seeing Jared how he went at Cal, what he needed to do was get comfortable, get comfortable with his teammates, with the system. I talked to him. He really likes his head coach, his teammates and they got him Sammy Watkins.”

– Texans’ TE Stephen Anderson

“Where do you begin? (Rams Head Coach) Sean’s (McVay) done a great job with this guy. Jared, I spent time with him before the draft. He’s a very bright guy, obviously drafted at No. 1 with great arm talent, intelligence, competitiveness. I think the things that Sean is doing with him make them very difficult to stop from a defensive point of view, whether it’s a quick passing game or the shots down the field with the different play-actions that they have. Obviously, (RB) Todd Gurley (II) running the football – they’ve got it going. To me, they’re one of the best teams – they’re playing as one of the best teams in the league right now, so it’s a very difficult challenge for us.”

– Texans’ HC Bill O’Brien

“Goff’s doing a great job distributing the football to everybody and it seems like you can’t really key on anyone in the offense. They are doing a great job of just having a balanced offense. Goff is definitely in a groove, their offense is in a groove so we have to disrupt that on defense in the backend and try to limit all that stuff.”

– Texans’ CB Kevin Johnson

On what makes the Rams difficult to defend when it comes to their offensive weapons:

“If you look at their receivers, they’ve got a good mixture of receivers – they have good size and speed, they have quickness, all of them are very competitive, have great hands, very smart, instinctive route runners. The tight ends do a really good job in the running game and in the passing game – Gurley at running back. They’re strong in every area. Their offensive line is playing well and they’re just doing a very good job. Obviously, Sean is doing a great job. Those guys are being put in positions to make plays and they’ve scored 50 points, they’ve scored 40 points – they’re doing a great job.”

– Texans HC Bill O’Brien

“They have a very balanced attack. They have a ton of weapons and are just kind of distributing the ball to everybody. They have a couple good receivers, a good running back, good tight ends and the quarterback is doing a good job of getting the ball to all of them.”

– Texans’ CB Kevin Johnson

“We have to stop them from scoring. They are a good team, having a good year so we have to go out there and play hard. Stop the run, build a wall from the line of scrimmage. We’ll try to focus on things we try to do every week, go out there and be able to stop them.””

– Texans’ DT D.J. Reader

On what makes a Defensive Coordinator Wade Phillips’ defense challenging:

“I just think when you give Wade Phillips the players that he has he really knows how to create an attacking style defense where, when you line up you just feel like these guys are all over you. They’re close to the of scrimmage with the front and with their secondary and they play up in your face type defense. They’re an attacking defense. They’re a one-gap defense. I’ve been sitting here for a couple days now watching (DT) Aaron Donald. This guy’s one of the best players I’ve seen. He’s a great player. But, then they have a lot of other guys: (LB Alec) Ogletree, (DT Michael) Brockers, and (OLB Robert) Quinn – I mean they’ve got guys up and down the roster that fit well with what he wants to do and he knows how to put it all together. He’s been doing it a long time. He’s been a pro football coach since he was basically 10 years old (laughs). He’s just been around a long time. He does a great job.”

– Texans’ HC Bill O’Brien

On what he sees from DT Aaron Donald that makes him so special:

“I just think the way that he plays the game, he’s got a very relentless playing style. He uses his hands well. He’s very quick. He’s an attacking guy, he’s tough guy. You’ve got to block him to the echo of the whistle. He never gives up on a play and he’s a great player.”

– Texans’ HC Bill O’Brien

Rams are all right with right side of the offensive line stabilized

VINCENT BONSIGNORE

link: http://www.ocregister.com/2017/11/09/bonsignore-rams-are-all-right-with-right-side-of-the-offensive-line-stabilized/

Inside the Rams locker room at their practice facility in Thousand Oaks, players are sectioned off by position group. Defensive linemen are an especially loud group. Wide receivers can bring the noise as well.

By sheer numbers, the quietest section belongs the quarterbacks.

But the offensive lineman are easily the most low-key group. Maybe it’s just the thankless, almost tedious and methodical nature of their job. And the anonymity that comes with it.

Last year, the reserved atmosphere for the offensive line seemed appropriate considering the major liability the group became during a disastrous 4-12 season. Yet nobody has more of a right to demand a share of the 2017 spotlight than Andrew Whitworth, Rodger Saffold, John Sullivan, Jamon Brown and Rob Havenstein.

The Rams are averaging a league-high 32.9 points per game – up from 14 last year. Running back Todd Gurley has regained his status as an elite running back with 986 rushing yards and seven touchdowns. And second-year quarterback Jared Goff has silenced his critics by emerging as one of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL while throwing for 2,030 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Without Whitworth, Saffold, Sullivan, Brown and Havenstein, none of that happens.

“We’re in a good spot right now but the work continues. And we feel we can play better,” is about as far as Sullivan will go.

And good luck getting any self congratulation for a job well done thus far.

“I will at the end of the season, depending on what happens,” Havenstein said. “But even at that, it’s not going to be a ‘me’ thing or an ‘offensive line’ thing. It’s going to be a ‘team’ thing and an ‘offensive’ thing and an offensive thing within the scheme of a team-wide thing.”

“So far this year it’s been good. But obviously there’s a lot of football left to be played. No one knows what’s going to happen.”

As bad as the Rams offensive line was last year, with left tackle Greg Robinson solidifying his bust status and Saffold having to move to fill gaping position holes and injury and ineffectiveness sabotaging center and right guard, they went into training camp confident that the left side of their line would be dramatically better with Whitworth, a perennial Pro Bowler, replacing Robinson and Saffold being permanently slotted at left guard.

That, coupled with Sullivan locking down center, gave the Rams peace of mind on the left side.

Things were much less certain on the right side – or, as Sullivan and others refer to it, the “young side.”

While Havenstein and Brown have solidified their position with effective, consistent play, it wasn’t so long ago the pair was considered among the biggest question marks on offense.

Havenstein was coming off an injury-riddled season and, for a time anyway, was moved to right guard when Robinson was given one-last shot at right tackle. But that plan was scrapped in OTA’s, with Havenstein moving back to tackle and Brown getting the nod – albeit tenuously – at right guard.

Rams coaches continually referred to the right side as a work in progress. Brown and Havenstein understood the situation.

“It’s the NFL. There’s always anxiety,” Havenstein said. “You’ve got to play football to stick around. But I think everyone who’s here right now had a great mentality about it. No one was scared about the competition.”

Brown and Havenstein were drafted together in 2015 and the Rams envisioned them being long-time anchors. As did the two young teammates, perhaps even side by side. But circumstances always got in the way.

Brown battled injuries, including a broken leg that limited him to nine games in 2015 and a broken hand that cost him five games last year. When he was healthy, Rams coaches couldn’t figure out a position for him. In fact, last year he played every line position but center.

Meanwhile, Havenstein missed all of training camp and preseason last year.

“So we never really were able to stick together,” Brown said. “This is the first time we’ve gotten a chance to settle in over a long period, get in sync and develop a chemistry.”

And it shows in their play — Goff has been sacked just 10 times on 244 pass attempts after going down 26 times on 205 attempts last year.

Eight games into the season, whatever anxiety that existed about the right side of the Rams line has vanished.

“Very pleased with those guys,” said Rams head coach Sean McVay. “Certainly there’s always things that we can clean up, but I think you watch their progression, the way that they continue to mature – they’re playing really good football right now. I think they’re getting comfortable, they’re getting a rapport with each other.”

There are more factors in play.

Getting consistent snaps alongside each other has been huge for Havenstein and Brown’s working relationship. The addition of McVay and offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur has meant a better utilization of individual skills and strength. And new offensive line coach Aaron Kromer has added a thorough, thoughtful voice that provides an element of high-level teaching with encouragement and allowance for input and feedback.

“Everybody is super detail oriented,” Sullivan said. “And just the dynamic of the room, the way Krom coaches, the amount of input that we’re able to give in terms of what we’re seeing and what we’re feeling. And then he’s able to take that and talk with Sean and make a final decision.”

Brown and Havenstein continually keep a close eye on their veteran teammates for tips. Especially Whitworth and Saffold their left-side tackle and guard counterparts.

“I’ve been very pleased with those guys and want to continue to seem them grow and develop,” McVay said of Brown and Havenstein. “But, just looking at where they are in their career and just kind of projecting moving forward, I feel very good about those two.”

Watched #Texans 3rd Down Pass Defense the last 4 games: Holding QBs to 47% completion, 45% blitz, allowing just 18% of those to convert for 1st downs.

Was surprised by the amount of MAN coverage: 82%. Very solid Defense overall! pic.twitter.com/JpMiOKtBhN

— NFL Matchup on ESPN (@NFLMatchup) November 7, 2017

These are the top QBs when it matters most – 3rd down#FlyEaglesFly #LARams #GoPats #OnePride #Jets #ChiefsKingdom #GoBills #GoSaints #GiantsPride #FinsUp #Browns #KeepPounding #GoNiners pic.twitter.com/PPcXznECxb

— NFL Matchup on ESPN (@NFLMatchup) November 8, 2017

These QBs and Skill Players get the most yardage from Screen Plays!#GoSaints #HTTR #Bengals50 #KeepPounding #Jets #InBrotherhood #Browns #OnePride pic.twitter.com/xmSyaK1V6r

— NFL Matchup on ESPN (@NFLMatchup) November 8, 2017

These are the top Defenses at defending Play Action!#HTTR #TitanUp #SKOL #KeepPounding #HereWeGo #Bengals50 #Jaguars #GoNiners #BroncosCountry pic.twitter.com/hnD8AIAvgG

— NFL Matchup on ESPN (@NFLMatchup) November 9, 2017

#LARams LIVE: Wade Phillips https://t.co/DFqxng4byO

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) November 9, 2017

Barnwell’s picks for NFL MVP, best rookies, more at midway point

Bill Barnwell

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/page/Barnwellx171106/2017-nfl-midseason-awards-picks-bill-barnwell-mvp-offensive-defensive-players-year-best-rookies-week-9

…

Free agent signing of the year

It’s not an award, of course, but every front office in the league will have a discussion at some point during the year about which team came away with the best signing in free agency. There will always be more mistakes in March than success stories, and it’s easy to wonder what the Browns saw in Kenny Britt or why the 49ers paid Kyle Juszczyk millions more than any other fullback, but there are certainly a few teams that are happy with their big-ticket items from this spring.

On a smaller scale, the Bills have to be thrilled with kicker Stephen Hauschka, while the Colts got solid production out of John Simon before he went out with a stinger. More expensive players such as Denver guard Ronald Leary and Jags cornerback A.J. Bouye are in line to make the Pro Bowl, but there are two grizzled veterans on either side of the line of scrimmage competing here for me.

Bouye’s teammate in Jacksonville, Calais Campbell, is a strong candidate for Defensive Player of the Year. (More on that in a minute.) The former Cardinals star leads the league with 11 sacks and has tossed in 19 quarterback knockdowns. In the opposite corner, 35-year-old Andrew Whitworth has finally solidified the left tackle spot for the Rams, protecting Goff and making things easier for the rest of the players around him. Los Angeles has an effective offensive line for the first time since Orlando Pace was on the roster, and Whitworth is a big reason why.

Current winner: Andrew Whitworth, LT, Los Angeles Rams

I’ll go with Whitworth, just because his contract is far smaller. Campbell was basically paid superstar money, as his four-year, $60 million deal has $30 million guaranteed over two years, while Whitworth’s contract maxes out under $34 million over three seasons, with just $15 million guaranteed at signing.