Where ya going buddy pic.twitter.com/CmqtTineTT

— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) December 28, 2020

.@seahawks having @Bwagz as the QB of the defense is just invaluable as they keep “breaking in” @JordynBrooks_ #JordynBrooks . No need to get to the sidelines to “FIX” something that can be done right on the field. #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/p7RelzvDmE

— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) December 28, 2020

Lindsey Thiry@LindseyThiry
For those wondering, high ankle sprains can typically take anywhere from two to more than six weeks for players to recover. Most fall in the 4-to-6 week range.

Both Rams running backs Cam Akers and Darrell Henderson have high ankle sprains.

Sean McVay talks later tonight.

The latest on @JaredGoff16 and the @RamsNFL The Aftermath continues till 6 pm eastern/3 pacific on @nflnetwork @RapSheet @RhettNFL @wyche89 @MoveTheSticks pic.twitter.com/fzrwT7Rpe5

— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) December 28, 2020

Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
If RB Xavier Jones is called upon Sunday considering Darrell Henderson’s injury, center Austin Blythe says the team is comfortable with him. “I knew since camp he was going to make the team. He flashed a lot in a team setting.”

Adam Schefter@AdamSchefter
Cardinals’ backup QB: Chris Streveler.
Rams’ backup QB: John Wolford.

Mina Kimes@minakimes
Guys I literally have pages and pages of notes on John Wolford. I’m like the random physicist who specializes in a rare event and gets the call in the science fiction movie. This is my moment.

PFF@PFF
Trophy Week 16 NFL Team of the Week Trophy

QB: Tom Brady
RB: Myles Gaskin
WR: Davante Adams

DI: Aaron Donald
EDGE: Chase Young
CB: Darius Phillips

.@Seahawks it’s the official time that we take this #Seahawks defense seriously but it’s a good talented group that are playing well together. #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/O4kN6aZI5P

— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) December 28, 2020

Zooey wrote:

I agree with that. He was pressing. And it didn’t cost the game. The failure to score from inside the 1-yard line on two tries is a more significant failure.

It was still a Terrible throw.

Yeah it was bad. I told him personally he owes the entire huddle board chat room crew pie because of that throw. He said fine, btw.

I hated the goal line thing though, just hated it.

How many of you could pop your broken/dislocated thumb back into place haha? Looks like it might be John Wolford time in Los Angeles. @NFL @RamsNFL #JaredGoff #NFL #NFLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/AL0aLDYIwn

— Olsen Fantasy Football (@FantasyOlsen) December 28, 2020

Highest-graded defenders this season:

💪Aaron Donald – 94.2
💪Khalil Mack – 92.4
💪T.J. Watt – 91.6
💪Jessie Bates III – 90.6
💪Chris Jones – 90.3 pic.twitter.com/wKy7iUPlap

— PFF (@PFF) December 28, 2020

Aaron Rodgers’ season stats…

• 353 for 502 (70.3%)
• 4,059 passing yards
• 8.8 YPA, 270.6 YPG
• 44 pass TDs – 5 INTs
• 119.4 passer rating
• 145 rush yards, 3 rush TDs pic.twitter.com/IYUZ6yWK0s

— NFL Stats (@NFL_Stats) December 28, 2020

RamsMaineiac wrote:

His consistency, with turning over the ball, spans two seasons not just one game. So OL, yeah I would say that’s an area of improvement, especially yesterday, but its a second place for me.

The OL IS the problem. And it was a problem through all of 2019. It only recently became a problem in 2020–last 2 games.

You can throw an INT and win a game. Warner threw 3 in the 99 championship game against Tampa. What you cannot do is win a game against a MASSIVE 55.8% pressure rate. As I said the league’s leader in pressure percentage, Pittsburgh, averages just under 32%.

The turnovers this year cluster in 2 games. Outside of that they are livable IMO though not desirable.

What they cannot win with is an OL that gets dominated the way they did against the Jets and Seattle. Then it simply will not matter who the qb is.

When the OL holds up, the Rams win. In the Tampa and Arizona games they could not run the ball and combined threw it 98 times–for a 78.6% completion rate. 2 wins.

But if the recent OL regression continues, again, it will not matter who the qb is. NO qb plays well under those conditions.

And if qb pressure did not make that much of a difference the Rams wasted money signing Donald.

…

RamsMaineiac wrote:

Of course the QB is going to be scrutinized. In looking at other “playoff caliber” QBs, how does Goff compare to any of the seven QBs that have already clinched a playoff spot

None of them recently played a game where he was pressured on 55.8% of his passes?

Cause (1) that’s true, and (2) no qb plays well under those conditions. Unless you can name one–I will check the numbers.

Goff was pressured on 24 of 43 dropbacks, which is the most in any Rams game since 2017 (and I just don;t know the 2016 numbers).

Nobody gets a 50+% pressure rate. Nobody. The team leading the league in pressures, the Steelers, avg. a pressure rate of 31.8%.

There was the exact same discussion in 2007. That year the Rams OL fell apart at an unprecedented level. Guys signed off the street during the season were starting for replacements who got injured after replacing starters. And, there were always people who put it all entirely on the qb. One pretty vocal theory was that Bulger was playing badly because after signing his big contract in 2006, he just didn’t care any more. Responding that no qb plays well under those conditions was often called “making excuses.”

.

Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
Two incoherently bad decisions by the QB.
OL outmatched.
A head coach who blames his calls for confusing, inconsistent offense.
A Sisyphean defense.

Are we in a time loop? Am I Matthew McConaughey behind the bookcase?

==

Jared Goff’s decision-making stifles the Rams’ offense again in defeat: The Pile

By Jourdan Rodrigue

https://theathletic.com/2287161/2020/12/28/jared-goff-john-wolford-thumb/

Rams quarterback Jared Goff forced his right thumb back into place after dislocating it during Sunday’s loss to Seattle, but it’s the unforced errors that have been killing the Rams’ momentum all season.

Sunday’s 20-9 loss to Seattle was no different. Goff committed his 17th turnover of the season (out of the Rams’ season total of 23) with a baffling interception on first down at the Seattle 29-yard line in the second quarter. Late in the third quarter, he dislocated his thumb, then re-set it and finished the game.

Goff’s status is uncertain as he undergoes further testing. While NFL Network reported that his thumb is broken and will need surgery, and that Goff likely will miss next Sunday’s game against Arizona, sources told me that the Rams won’t rule out Goff until they see how he can grip and throw the ball, and how he can handle snaps under center over the next day or so.

The reason they are not quick to rule him out — both Goff and McVay publicly called Goff’s status “uncertain” — is because Goff was able to finish Sunday’s game, even with the injury, and said that it didn’t feel too bad.

If Goff can’t play, the Rams will start backup quarterback John Wolford, and likely will activate rookie quarterback Bryce Perkins off the practice squad as depth, because they need to have two quarterbacks active on game day. Goff has never missed a start due to an injury in his five-year NFL career.

But a couple of unforced errors by Goff — who, let’s be fair, started the game pretty decently — in the first half had fans on social media clamoring for Wolford anyway (as is usually the case when Goff performs badly). First came the interception, which Goff called “one of the worst plays” he has made in his career. Goff forced a throw while trying to lead receiver Robert Woods back toward the middle of the field, and it was picked easily by Quandre Diggs. Goff could have held the ball and gained as many as seven yards on the ground — and he had been doing so on similar plays earlier, when his receivers weren’t immediately open downfield. Somehow, that logic escaped his decision-making process and he forced that throw.

“I need to stop trying to make a play if it’s not there. I think that’s the result of the one today — just dumb,” Goff said. “Just really dumb. I’m a lot smarter than that. I’ve made a lot of better plays than that and I just need to not make something out of nothing sometimes and just take what they give (me).”

But we’ve heard that all too often, right? So I followed up by asking Goff: Where does he think those lapses in judgment come from?

“I think it’s just a natural response to try and make something happen,” he said. “I’m the quarterback of this team and I’m trying to score some points. Unfortunately, it has led to some dumb decisions, specifically today. Specifically just that one, honestly. It just can’t happen. Can’t do it.”

Goff nearly had a second throw, a downfield pass to tight end Tyler Higbee in coverage, picked off by safety Jamal Adams, but it was dropped.

Another baffling play came late in the second quarter. Goff, who doesn’t always baseball-slide as much as he “topples” on keeper plays, actually executed a perfect slide on a third-and-8 scramble, but he slid one yard too short of the conversion marker, so the Rams had to punt.

That was bad. But I’d say the turnovers — Goff has turned the ball over 38 times since the start of the 2019 season — are the worst hindrance to a Rams team that just cannot find stability. For as often as the defense has taken the ball away this year — tied for fifth in the NFL with 21 — they’ve turned it over more often and are at minus-2 in their differential. That’s awful.

I asked McVay — who doesn’t go blameless in all of this, but we’ll get to that in a second — whether Goff has been able to consistently set the offense up for success considering the turnovers, and he responded by deflecting the question.

“I wouldn’t make an overarching statement like that over that turnover. That was a costly one today,” McVay said. “It’s a collective effort and as a coach when you’re responsible for making a lot of the decisions, things like that, as a play-caller I have expectations of putting guys in spots (to succeed), and those are things that I don’t feel like I’ve consistently done enough for us.

“Jared and I, we’re in this together and that was a tough outing. There (were) enough things in terms of moving the ball that could have given ourselves a chance. Not finishing on the (third-quarter) goal-line stand and that turnover, those end up being costly for you, especially with the way that our defense played.”

Here’s the thing — and I’ll repeat this until getting hoarse: The Rams adjusted their offense this offseason toward higher-probability plays, meaning shorter air-yards plays, thus relying on catch-and-run receivers and tight ends to create “explosives” instead of doing so with low-probability deeper throws. They did so to help Goff, who struggles when pressured, and also because they knew their offensive line was not going to markedly improve its pass-blocking from last year and thus needed to work in shorter-developing plays with higher-explosive probability. This works. We’ve seen it work. We’ve seen the Rams rank in the top six in explosive plays this season. We’ve seen them score more than 30 points in a game. But the plan doesn’t work if the ball is getting turned over at a rate of 1.5 times per game.

What a mess. The Rams are 9-6. Welcome to The Pile — let’s start poking around.

Defense does its job

Rinse, repeat.

There isn’t much left to be said about this Rams defense, which, try as it may to put the offense in position to be successful, sees its efforts squandered in nearly all of the Rams’ losses (and even some wins).

It’s downright Sisyphean at this point. Aaron Donald, Jalen Ramsey, Sebastian Joseph-Day, John Johnson, Jordan Fuller, Michael Brockers, Leonard Floyd and company roll the boulder up the hill, only to watch helplessly as it tumbles back down.

Sunday, three of the Rams’ five sacks came on third down, and two came from Floyd, who also appeared to be superhuman in the effort to contain the run. Physical Seahawks back Chris Carson was held to 69 yards on 16 carries.

In the first half, the defense limited Russell Wilson and the Seahawks to just 3.5 yards per play and six first downs (and just six points, on two field goals). Overall, the Rams held Seattle to one touchdown and two field goals (one in a sudden-change situation), for a total of 13 points, until three minutes remained in the fourth quarter. And I wondered aloud, at that point: What kind of a crappy feeling must it be to know you’ve done your job as best you can, and yet 13 points (which ultimately became 20) is not enough to win? How deflating that must be.

“Losing is frustrating, but we do it as a team,” Ramsey said, refusing to point fingers postgame. Again, he and Joseph-Day lamented (as Rams defensive players did last week) that they were unable to record any takeaways or points after a previous streak of three games with a scoring play. (Cornerback Darious Williams was close on a first-half near-interception that may have gone for points.)

While I think it’s admirable to emphasize scoring as a defense, and especially with a group this talented, it’s really sad to me that these defensive players feel like they have to put it on their own shoulders, when it’s clearly not on them. Asking your defense to make up for the pitfalls of your offense week after week is like asking someone to run the 400-meter dash, but making them start the race knee-deep in sand while everybody else gets to start on solid ground.

Taking out defensive points, the Rams are averaging less than 20 points per game over their last five. And no, the defense was not perfect on Sunday — especially on the Seahawks’ final scoring drive, which went 80 yards and took 4.29 off the clock in the fourth quarter. But overall, they’re playing like a unit that deserves a shot at the postseason, and they’re doing it with little help from the offense.

McVay frustrated with his own calls

If we’re fairly evaluating Sunday’s loss, it wasn’t all on Goff. McVay also took the blame for some questionable play calls, which he says contributed to long third downs, failures in the red zone and an all-around inconsistent outing from the offense.

“Really, my job is to put these guys in better spots, and I don’t think I’ve consistently done a good enough job of that,” he said. “I have much higher expectations for myself. I haven’t been good enough. I’m not going to sit up here and make excuses. … I can be honest with myself, and I don’t feel like I’ve done a good enough job for (our) standards (and) expectations, and we’re all in it together. We’ve got to be able to produce, but I expect to put our guys in better spots. And for the last couple weeks, I have not done a good enough job of that.”

Editorially speaking, I think he’d particularly like to have the end of the Rams’ long third-quarter drive back. The Rams, trailing 13-6, had first-and-goal at the Seattle 2. McVay called three run plays for Malcolm Brown and a quarterback sneak. All failed, and the Rams turned the ball over on downs at the Seattle 1.

Cooper Kupp on third down

It’s time for Cooper Kupp to get his own section this week (honestly, he had earned it much earlier), and I’m not going to let other disasters on offense take away from a stellar performance by Kupp.

Kupp caught eight passes on nine targets for 66 yards against Seattle. Five — five — came on third-down plays that were converted, and a sixth was a conversion on second down. The Rams converted nine third downs all game. Kupp and Woods also sprang open the longest rushing plays of the night for the Rams, courtesy of tough downfield blocking.

Tough going on the ground

Even when they added extra blockers, the Rams struggled to get the ball moving on the ground. Rookie running back Cam Akers missed the game after suffering a high ankle sprain last week. Darrell Henderson started, but only averaged 3.5 yards per carry in the first half. His longest carry, a 23-yard outside run to the right side, came in the third quarter. On that same drive, Henderson was stopped just short of the end zone on a phenomenal play by Adams, who hauled it from across the field to push Henderson out of bounds and prevent a touchdown.

But Henderson also injured his ankle on the play and was unable to return to the game, leaving Brown as the Rams’ only back with any carries this season. Brown had just 27 yards on seven carries to finish the game.

I’m not certain Akers will be able to play next week with an injury as fickle as a high ankle sprain. Henderson, who has battled a few injuries this season, is also questionable. If the Rams want to keep running outside plays, they should try out Xavier Jones, who was active Sunday but did not get a carry. That’s not meant as a slight toward Brown, but he’s been more solid as a downhill and short-yardage runner, and the Rams have re-emphasized mixing it up in their rushing attack this season, instead of just running downhill.

Special teams Jekyll and Hyde

The Rams’ special teams unit is going to give me a stroke one of these days. And McVay might beat me to the hospital in that regard. Has there been a game in which all has gone smoothly on special teams? Sunday was more of the same.

Let’s start with the positive. Kicker Matt Gay appears to have been a great find (and remember, punter Johnny Hekker and long snapper Jake McQuaide found him). He was 3-for-3 on his field-goal attempts, including his first attempt at beyond 50 yards this season (a 51-yarder in the first half). Gay is additionally a good deal for the Rams because his contract tender will be cheap this offseason, compared to, say, an extension for former kicker Greg Zuerlein. With their $3 million or so in savings, the Rams can tender Darious Williams. Gay didn’t get a chance at point-after attempts because the Rams never scored a touchdown.

Then there’s the other side. The Rams started the game with a penalty on the kickoff. The Rams almost fumbled away a third-quarter punt return, because Nsimba Webster did not appear to have it secured upon contact. It seemed to be a lucky break that the fumble was ruled as a recovery for the Rams, because the replay showed a multitude of Seahawks players in the action. Webster got pulled in favor of Kupp for the next punt return. Remember, Kupp started the year as the punt returner. The Rams’ indecision there, and at kicker (Gay is their fourth rostered kicker of the year), plus continued inconsistencies in what feels like every game this season, don’t bode well for first-year coordinator John Bonamego.

Bottom of The Pile

The Rams aren’t mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. If they beat Arizona next week, or the Bears lose to the Packers, they will be in. But can they make a run? I’m not going to sugarcoat it. This defense could win a title, but we have seen little proof that the offense can get it together for more than two consecutive games.

Did anybody else notice that Woods took an absolute beating this week? Whether it was getting sandwiched between two defenders on a failed outlet pass as Goff’s pocket collapsed, or laying out for a sideline pass that was simply too wide, or the usual crossers and “hospital balls” he navigates, it was hard to watch. Woods did an admirable job blocking downfield on a couple of plays during the Rams’ first drive of the third quarter, too.

It was interesting to watch the Seahawks scheme receiver DK Metcalf away from Ramsey on Sunday. They ran Metcalf in a few motions to get him as far away from Ramsey as possible, and in fact, Metcalf’s first target of the game with Ramsey legitimately in coverage resulted in a pass breakup. It would not be surprising to see more teams try that against Ramsey, who has played extremely well in man coverage situations all season.

The Rams had a 4-0 record after a loss this season … but broke that streak on Sunday.

JackPMiller wrote:

It’s a team problem you say? A mcvay playcalling problem? Maybe it’s just a QB problem that the rams have.

Oh man, it’s this crap again. Never ends. What do 2019 and the last 2 games this year have in common? OL got dominated. Last year it was because of injuries and inexperience. I don’t know what it is this year, maybe they miss Whit AND Blythe got exposed.

But we’re going to hear endlessly how it’s just all on the qb. It’s 2007 all over again.

…

Lindsey Thiry@LindseyThiry
The Seahawks pressured Jared Goff on 24 dropbacks Sunday, the most in Goff’s career and the Seahawks 3rd most under Pete Carroll (and most since 2015), per @ESPNStatsInfo
.

InvaderRam wrote:

is he as bad as those rankings suggest? i don’t think so. i think he’s better than that. it’s frustrating for sure. but there’s better days to come for goff.

I agree with that.

The deeper issue that both the Seattle and Jets game have in common is that the OL got dominated. Goff AND McVay AND the Rams offensive personnel don’t have anything that will compensate for that when it happens. No receiver scares the D, their running game is too inconsistent, McVay doesn’t have anything to call on when that happens, and Goff is harassed and presses.

By the way in spite of that he had a 47% percentage third down conversion rate today. Across 15 games that would rank 4th in the league. You don’t do that if you are the terrible regressed qb many are claiming.

InvaderRam wrote:

he’s making bad decisions.

I think the issue is that he presses. In fact–I have always thought that. (I’ve always said it too.) What’s the difference? Just put in the abstract like that, “makes bad decisions” suggests he can’t process things. “Pressing” on the other hand means he tries to make plays when he shouldn’t and knows he’s in a bad situation.

Notice fumbles disappeared as an issue since the Two Really Bad Games. But sacks increased. He’s taking the sacks instead of trying to make the play in spite of an impending sack.