#LARams Postgame LIVE: Jared Goff https://t.co/qXJpEsk7GL

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) October 15, 2017

nittany ram wrote:

zn wrote:

When was the last time Rams were 4-2?

2008. They finished 8-8.

2006 I think you mean. Typo man. In 2008 they went 2-14. Which, admittedly, does have a 2 and a 4 in it.

.@JaredGoff16 with the shovel pass, @lightningstrk12 with the TD!#LAvsJAX pic.twitter.com/ztdccNQSWe

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) October 15, 2017

.@slotgod23 with the INT! 👐#LAvsJAX pic.twitter.com/m3ZslSN6BE

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) October 15, 2017

Rams vs. Jaguars: Who has the edge?

RICH HAMMOND

link: http://www.ocregister.com/2017/10/13/rams-vs-jaguars-who-has-the-edge/

RAMS OFFENSE vs. JAGUARS DEFENSE
Sean McVay, the Rams’ exuberant coach and play-caller, sometimes needs to pull back a little bit, and now is the time. Last week against Seattle, the Rams passed 47 times and ran only 22 times, even though Todd Gurley had been magnificent in recent weeks. The Rams can’t overthink this one. The Jaguars lead the NFL in sacks and interceptions but have been relatively porous on the ground. The Jaguars intercepted Ben Roethlisberger five times last week, and Jared Goff looked a little shaky against the Seahawks. The danger for the Rams comes if the Jaguars stop Gurley early or force a couple turnovers. The Rams can’t afford to play from behind and get desperate on offense. EDGE: JAGUARS

JAGUARS OFFENSE vs. RAMS DEFENSE
Jacksonville running back Leonard Fournette had a huge breakout game last week against the Steelers, when he rushed for 181 yards and had a 90-yard touchdown run. The Jaguars’ offense has been riding Fournette, who leads the NFL in rush attempts (109), and that’s smart because fifth-year quarterback Blake Bortles has been inconsistent. Three weeks ago against Baltimore, Bortles was brilliant, with four touchdown passes and zero interceptions in victory. Seven days later against the Jets, Bortles completed only 15 of 35 attempts for 140 yards. That’s when the Jaguars decided to lean heavily on their run game, so the Rams’ challenge will be to slow Fournette and make them one-dimensional. EDGE: RAMS

SPECIAL TEAMS
The Rams, uncharacteristically, were rough on special teams last week. Punt returner Tavon Austin fumbled twice, kicker Greg Zuerlein missed a field goal for the first time this season and ultra-reliable punter Johnny Hekker had a rare poor attempt. Pharoh Cooper, the Rams’ primary kickoff returner, is expected to replace Austin on punts. Jaguars kicker Jason Myers has made 10 of 11 field-goal attempts inside 50 yards this season but has missed his only attempt from beyond 47 yards. The Jaguars’ return game hasn’t done much, as former USC standout Marqise Lee has averaged only 2.6 yards per punt return. Jacksonville has yet to record a kickoff return longer than 28 yards this year. EDGE: JAGUARS

COACHING
McVay’s play-calling has been criticized at times this season, including by the Rams’ coach himself. McVay seems to want to outsmart the opposing defensive coordinator at times, rather than make more simple, effective calls, so perhaps the Rams can get back to basics this week. Jacksonville coach Doug Marrone took over as interim coach near the end of last season and was retained. Marrone, a longtime offensive line coach, coached current Rams Sammy Watkins, Robert Woods and Nickell Robey-Coleman in Buffalo. Marrone quit that job in 2014, after he compiled a 15-17 record in two seasons. EDGE: RAMS

INTANGIBLES
This season is different, or at least that’s what the Rams insist. A year ago, they started 3-1, lost a home game, then lost a pre-London road game and lost in London. Well, now the Rams (3-2) are coming off a home loss and play a toss-up road game before next week’s flight to London. Now would be an excellent time to prove that they’ve changed and that this season isn’t going to spiral into failure the way 2016 did. The Jaguars are looking for some momentum. They’re 3-2 and lead the AFC South, but they’ve yet to win back to back games this season, and they’ve coming off a victory over Pittsburgh. EDGE: RAMS

MATCHUP TO WATCH
Rams quarterback Jared Goff vs. Jaguars safety Tashaun Gipson: Perhaps the Rams will be able to run the ball effectively , but at some point they’ll need Goff, and they’ve need him to play the way he did in his initial four games, and not like last week against Seattle. Goff, who had only one interception going into the Seattle game, made poorer decisions with the ball and, in once case, lobbed the ball into the arms of Seahawks free safety Earl Thomas. No doubt Gipson, the Jaguars’ free safety, watched that tape and will be looking for opportunities. Gipson leads Jacksonville with three interceptions in five games this season.

PREDICTION: RAMS 24, JAGUARS 21
This is going to go one of two ways. Either Fournette and the Jaguars run all over the Rams, get an early lead and force Goff to unwisely throw the ball against an elite secondary, or the Rams are patient and smart with the ball, the way they were two weeks ago against Dallas, and grind out an ugly, narrow (but important) victory. Jacksonville will be expecting the Rams to be Gurley-heavy on offense, but that shouldn’t matter. Gurley should have room to run, and that will open up some play-action opportunities for Goff. McVay and Goff need to show improvement in their respective roles, but this is a winnable game.

Andy Benoit‏ @Andy_Benoit
#Rams Film: Goff working through his progressions maturely. You can see he’s honoring the process.

I am one of those who is a bit skeptical about AO.

Not sure about him.

.

Rams’ red-zone woes need fixing in a hurry

VINCENT BONSIGNORE

link: http://www.ocregister.com/2017/10/12/bonsignore-rams-red-zone-woes-need-fixing-in-a-hurry/

Shortly after trading the obligatory handshake with Pete Carroll after the Rams suffered a frustrating loss to the Seattle Seahawks last Sunday, Sean McVay turned to leave the Coliseum field on his way to the locker room. The look he wore was angry. And with each hurried step he took, he appeared to be muttering to himself.

McVay was a disappointed coach alone with his thoughts. And it was obvious he wasn’t about to easily let himself off the hook for what just transpired over the course of the previous three hours.

The Rams entered that game leading the NFL in scoring at 35.5 points per game. Yet all they could manage was a measly 10 points.

This, in spite of the fact they out gained the Seahawks 375 yards to 241. They were far better through the air with 275 yards to 179, and were more productive on the ground with 100 yards to 62.
And while the superior production could be seen in a positive light, it actually shined an even brighter one on the issue making McVay seethe, and the one he’s focused like a laser beam on this week ahead of the Rams’ important trip to Jacksonville.

That issue being: How and why did the Rams churn out that kind of yardage yet manage just 10 points? The answer, of course, was eating at McVay’s offensive soul.

“We got into the red zone and we didn’t do a very good job,” quarterback Jared Goff succinctly summed up.

The Rams’ ability to successfully flip the frustrating explanation will go a long way toward determining what happens Sunday against the Jaguars and, even more importantly, what kind of course they chart for themselves over the next two months.

The Rams need to start scoring touchdowns again. Like, in a hurry.

Problem is, their end zone compass has inexplicably been malfunctioning lately inside their opponent’s Red Zone. It works fabulously everywhere else, as their overall yardage against the Seahawks can attest, and as does the 412 yards they pummeled the Cowboys with the week before.

But it’s going haywire in the very region of the field they need it to work best.

On the Rams’ last eight visits to the Red Zone, they’ve come up with exactly one touchdown. That includes four trips inside the 20 against the Seahawks that resulted in one lousy field goal.

And while Greg Zuerlein was able to offset the issue some against the Cowboys by kicking seven field goals, he provided no such coverage against the Seahawks. And, even if he had, there’s no way the Rams are satisfied trading touchdowns for field goals – or nothing at all – after working so hard to get into an area of the football field where they contenders distinguish themselves from the pretenders.

It’s not touchdowns or bust, mind you. But the Rams are leaving themselves extremely vulnerable if they can’t improve the field goal/touchdown ratio they’ve managed the last two weeks. The question is, is it a playcalling issue, an execution issue or a talent issue?

“I think you’ve got to first of all look at … it starts with me and I’ve got to make sure that I’m looking at myself critically,” said McVay, who calls the plays. “Are we running plays that are conducive for giving our players a chance to have success? So, those are things that after wins or losses you’ve got to look at yourself first and then we’ve got to evaluate some of the things that we’re doing.”

It did seem there were some instances against the Seahawks in which McVay, a highly creative offensive mind, may have over-thought things a bit in trying to stay a step ahead of Carroll, the de facto Seahawks defensive coordinator who seemed inspired by the chess match going on between himself and the Rams’ 32-year-old wonder kid.

“I’ve been extremely impressed with the young coaches out there, Sean McVay in particular,” Carroll said. “I mentioned to him afterward, everything I said (complimentary) about (him) during the week I meant it. He’s done a fantastic job and he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with.”

But the old master might have gotten in the young gun’s head a few times.

That certainly seemed to be the case when the Rams reached the Seahawks 16-yard-line in the fourth quarter trailing 16-10.

McVay opted to go away from what’s been a Rams strength — putting the ball in Todd Gurley’s hands — on first and second down by turning to Tavon Austin instead. Maybe McVay wanted to avoid the obvious or break from a tendency, but the results could not have been worse as a first-down pass to Austin fell incomplete and an Austin off-tackle run was blown up for a two-yard loss.

That set up a third and long — never a good thing for an offense — and while Goff’s throw into to tight end Gerald Everett against man-on-man coverage was accurate, Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor was still able to swat the ball away.

“Kam Chancellor makes a play and we didn’t,” McVay said.

The double whammy being Zuerlein missing on a 36-yard field goal to leave the score 16-10.

The sequence was even more glaring given Gurley touched the ball just 16 times on Sunday after dominating the previous two weeks to earn NFC Offensive Player of the Month honors for September and Offensive Player of the Week honors the first week of October.

Not to mention how Sammy Watkins, whom the Rams traded for to be a difference maker, was largely ignored all afternoon Sunday after catching just one ball the week before against the Cowboys.

Gurley and Watkins are the Rams most dynamic playmakers, and it seems only logical they should be featured more than they were on Sunday. Especially in the Red Zone.

“There are certain opportunities where maybe we could have gotten Sammy involved,” said McVay. “That, to me, is on me as a playcaller because we try to call plays to get players involved, to attack certain coverages.”

But while play-calling will certainly be evaluated, much of the focus is on the Rams being sharper and more efficient. Something they weren’t on two other trips to the Red Zone on Sunday.

That included Gurley losing his grip on the football at the Seahawks’ goal line on the Rams first drive — resulting in an automatic touchback with the ball being awarded to Seattle, rather than the Rams setting up shop at the 1-yard line. And later, Gurley and Goff getting their feet tied up on first down from the Seattle 15-yard-line to set back the Rams 10 yards.

Trailing 13-10 late in the third quarter, Goff threw incomplete on second and long, and, much worse, slightly overthrew Gurley on a third-down screen pass that tipped off Gurley’s outstretched hand and hung in the air just long enough for Sheldon Richardson to come up with a crushing interception.

The two turnovers cost the Rams valuable points that would have changed the whole complexion of the game. Even two field goals rather than two turnovers would have meant a 16-16 game, rather than 16-10.

“I think you just go back to seeing how important it is to take care of the football,” said Goff. “There’s a couple plays that stick out. The screen to Todd that, you know, I just maybe got a little lazy on and let it sail a little bit over his head, turned into an interception that took points off the board.”

The good news is this isn’t like last year when the Rams were grasping for answers trying to figure out ways to simply move the ball — let alone get in the end zone more consistently. As we know, there simply were no available answers last year.

That isn’t the case this year. The answers are right in front of the Rams, and the talent is on hand to implement them.

Now they just need to fix that faulty compass.

#Rams & LB Alec Ogletree agreed on a 4-yr extension worth $42M with over $30M in guarantees. Guarantees 2nd only to Kuechly at ILB 💰 💰 💰

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 13, 2017

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Alden Gonzalez@Alden_Gonzalez
Ogletree is the game’s second-highest paid ILB. Interesting to see what Donald’s deal will eventually look like.

Some more financial info on Ogletree’s deal …

Alec Ogletree is on track to be paid $50 million over the next five years with the Rams, including this one. His extension is $42 million over four years, a source confirmed. In average annual value, it slots Ogletree between the deals signed by Christian Kirksey (Browns) and Vontaze Burfict (Bengals) this year. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Ogletree will be paid $33 million over the first three years of the extension.

==

Les Snead on giving an extension to Ogletree, who he called "a true leader." pic.twitter.com/hwfvDvAzhb

— Joe Curley (@vcsjoecurley) October 13, 2017