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znModeratorGil Brandt@Gil_Brandt
Atlanta is the first team in NFL history to blow a fourth-quarter lead of at least 15 points in consecutive games.Aaron Rodgers is the first QB in NFL history to have at least 9 passing touchdowns, zero interceptions and be sacked 2 or fewer times in his team’s first 3 games of a season.
Tom Brady became the oldest player in NFL history with 3 passing touchdowns in a game. At 43 years and 55 days old, he is 17 days older than George Blanda was when he had 3 passing touchdowns for the Raiders vs. the Steelers in 1970.
Bears are the first team in NFL history to win multiple games in the same season after trailing by at least 16 points in the fourth quarter,
znModeratorToo many big plays doom Cardinals defense Sunday. See the ugly numbers in my story: https://t.co/6gxt0XuhJA
— Howard Balzer (@HBalzer721) September 28, 2020
znModeratorTurfShowTimes@TurfShowTimes
After missing a game-winning FG against the Seahawks in 2019, a 37-yard FG in the other Seattle game, Greg Zuerlein has now missed two PATs against the Seahawks for the Cowboys. The former Rams K still impacting NFC West race with his missed kicks.LA chose to let Zuerlein leave in free agency this offseason and on Sunday he’s making that look wise
RAMS REPORT@RamsNFLReport
Reasons why I believe the Rams need to find a different Punt Returner:– Kupp is too important on offense to risk.
– Kupp is a proven starter at WR, therefore he does not have anything to gain from making risky plays on punt returns.
– Great PR’s make risky plays.Rich Hammond@Rich_Hammond
No team in NFL history has ever won a game wearing gradient uniform numbers.Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
what have you doneznModeratorInside an unprecedented Rams comeback, and why it ultimately failed
Jourdan Rodrigue
With approximately eight minutes remaining in the third quarter of Sunday’s game in Buffalo, the Rams were down 28-3 and had less than a 2 percent chance of winning.
Fifteen game minutes later, the Rams were ahead by four points, and had about a 75 percent chance of winning.
The Rams ultimately lost 35-32 — after all that effort — but how did they manage to climb out of a hole like that in the first place? Head coach Sean McVay never has won after facing a deficit that large.
As the Rams went into the locker room at halftime, McVay basically threw out his old game plan. According to Jen Hale on the FOX broadcast, McVay and his offensive staff huddled together and essentially drew up a new script with which to open the third quarter.
“I did a terrible job of putting us in some really poor situations early in that game,” McVay said. “I make no excuses about it. Our guys ended up responding, we made some better adjustments and the guys made the plays.”
Defensively, coordinator Brandon Staley set about adjusting the types of pressures and blitzes that often failed in the first two periods, when the Rams didn’t record a sack or a quarterback hit. In the second half, Staley appeared to get more aggressive in sending defensive backs, and also his defensive line woke up, hitting Bills quarterback Josh Allen six times and sacking him four times.
And from a player perspective, veteran receiver Robert Woods said the team simply never got rattled.
“We know we’re never out of it. We’re a great team,” he said. “Just got to play like it all four quarters, and not just turn it up at the end of the game. … We knew we were down, but looking at the clock we knew we had plenty of time. Really, it was just finding that one play to just kick-start us and go.”
Quarterback Jared Goff snuck a touchdown from the 1-yard line to break the drought in the third quarter and make it 28-10. Then, safety John Johnson secured an interception that set up a 31-yard catch by tight end Tyler Higbee, then a 25-yard touchdown catch by Woods, full of his notorious yards after the catch. Veteran outside linebacker Leonard Floyd finally got Allen’s jersey dirty with a third-down sack. Cooper Kupp scored, then the Rams converted a two-point try, and then little-engine-that-could back Darrell Henderson scored, too. Just like that, the Rams scored 29 unanswered points to take a 32-28 in the fourth quarter.
The problem was, Allen and the Bills got the ball back, and kept it.
Of course, all of that effort essentially was wiped away when the Rams allowed a third-and-22 to be converted with 3:20 to play. That led to a fourth-and-8 play at the Rams’ 13, which the Bills went for because they needed a touchdown (and which led to a controversial penalty call). There’s every reason to believe that had the Rams forced a punt after that third-and-22 play, they could have run out the clock, given the way Henderson was eating up the field at that point.
Understandably, McVay did not want to discuss that third-down play in his postgame interview, remarking only that he “had to watch the tape.” But he is going to want to find out exactly what went wrong, and correct it, because instead of closing the door after an unprecedented comeback, the Rams allowed Allen to stay on the field. He ripped another 19-yard completion a few plays later, and ultimately the Bills scored the game-winner.
“We were just one step away,” Johnson said of the third-and-22. “It’s something that we see a lot. We see it a lot from our offense. We were one step away, and unfortunately in this league, that’s not good enough.”
I’m going to get to that call in a minute, too — you know the one. But there’s a reason I have this third-and-22 placed higher up in this column than “that call,” the fourth-down pass interference flag that probably should not have been thrown, which gave the Bills one more shot at the end zone and, ultimately, the game.
That’s because, in my words and the much wiser words of Woods, you should never, ever leave a game up to the refs. They’re human, after all, and they are, to put it politely, not immune to human error.
I’m also not going to fail to recognize what put the Rams in position to need a comeback like that in the first place, a first half full of sloppy tackling, miscommunication and bad situational football. We will get to that farther down the page (stop reading here if you’d like to preserve any positivity).
It’s just … at this point in the season, with such a young team, I think there is one important takeaway to be gleaned from Sunday’s game, and that’s this one: These Rams clearly never believe they are down and out.
“We’re a tough group. We’re a mentally tough group,” McVay said. “We’re going to use this as an opportunity to respond. … I just can’t wait to get back to work with this group. I love what this team is about. I think we can use this as a real opportunity to gain some strength and gain some momentum. Fortunately these are things that, if they occur early enough in the season, you’re able to respond the right way. They can be great learning opportunities that don’t cost you in the long run.”
As a long, unpredictable season stretches on, it’s notable to have gotten a look at the backbone of this team, even in a loss as tough as this one.
Welcome to The Pile. The Rams are 2-1, and 1-1 on the road with their toughest stretch of mileage out of the way. Let’s start poking around.
That call, plus context
So, about that pass interference call. On the fourth-and-8 play, Rams cornerback Darious Williams was flagged for contact with Bills receiver Gabriel Davis. It gave the Bills a first-and-goal play at the Rams’ 3, and they scored the go-ahead touchdown.
It might have been a little bit of a makeup call, too. In the third quarter, the referees ruled in favor of the Rams on Johnson’s interception. From a broadcast view, it appeared to be a 50/50 ball on an Allen throw, which by rule would go to the offensive player. Instead, it was an interception — the first Allen has thrown this year — and served as jumper cables to a stalled Rams attack.
I think it is a good rule of thumb to follow whatever advice or context Woods gives (and how could you not?). Keep in mind, coaches can get fined for criticizing the refs, which, let’s face it, is a dumb rule. So McVay approached it a little more politically.
Anyway, here’s what Woods said about the call:
“No, obviously not (pass interference),” Woods said. “He’s playing defensive back, he’s playing hands-on, he’s checking him. As he gets into his route, the receiver initiates the contact. The quarterback is literally just throwing the ball in the area. It wasn’t even a catchable ball. Obviously they make the call, it is what it is. You have to keep playing and finish the game. Unfortunately, they were in such close proximity with such little time, fresh set of downs. Just have to close it out when we do get put in those situations.”
But Woods agreed that the game never should have come down to one call.
“We just have to close out the game,” Woods said. “We knew it was going to go until the clock hit zero. Just got to stay consistent, keep playing well, and don’t put the game in referees’ hands. … Start early on, and we won’t be in that situation.”
Feed Darrell
Henderson proved formidable for a second consecutive week, finishing with 114 rushing yards and one touchdown on 20 carries. He also was pretty much the only bright spot for the Rams in the first half.
“I’m not surprised,” McVay said. “I think he built on a really good performance from the previous week. Ran hard, leveled his pads off. I thought the touchdown run to put us up was a big-time run, just running through a lot of traffic, lot of bodies at the goal line. He made a lot of plays. He’s going to continue to make a lot of plays.”
The fact that the Rams continued to work to establish the run — understanding that pretty much everything they do in the passing game is set up by the run — was important. Normally if a team is down by any margin, let alone a 25-point deficit, the plan of attack for the offense shifts toward being pass-heavy, in theory to bite off bigger chunks of yards and limit clock runoff. But Henderson, through most of Sunday’s game, averaged over six yards per carry. So the Rams, refusing to be rattled, kept feeding him.
“I thought that was a great job by Sean, the play-calling there,” Goff said. “Because we were running the ball so well at the time, but you do have to be aggressive. So picking his spots and moving the tempo, moving me off my spot, it was really good by him.”
Here is a cool example of what the Rams were able to do by sticking with the run (besides the obvious of Goff in play-action): Last week, the Rams put on tape several reverses by Woods with a running back also in the backfield. On Sunday, the Rams were able to fake that reverse in a way, shifting traffic to be slightly wider to account for Woods moving in motion around the back of Goff, and therefore helping Henderson, who got the early carries on those plays, get more space in the gaps. Then, after that worked a few times, the defense tightened down a little to plug Henderson. In those situations, the Rams were able to instead hand off to Woods, who had success a few times.
Bills had a bead
Goff said postgame that the Bills’ defense is “probably the best” defense the Rams will face this year, and it’s hard to argue with that.
Through the first half, Buffalo was pressuring Goff a ton and knocking him off his rhythm, and even forced a crucial third-down sack on the Rams’ first drive. The Bills were also beating the Rams’ screen game in the first half, essentially asserting themselves instead of reacting to what the Rams were showing. The calculated pressure they brought also locked up tight end Tyler Higbee pretty early on as a blocker, when the Rams would have preferred to test him against a returning-from-injury Bills linebacker corps. That was a smart design from coach Sean McDermott, especially knowing how much the Rams’ tight ends could potentially wreck the game early if they were used as pass-catchers.
“Specifically, they’re a good blitzing team,” Goff said. “They had a good bead on us early. You can tell they did their homework. … It was tough early on. … What they were doing to us defensively was just dictating a lot to us early on.”
Kicker woes, continued
Rookie kicker Samuel Sloman has had a rough start to his NFL career, including a 53-yard missed field goal into notable wind on the Rams’ opening drive Sunday.
Sloman showed that the distance was well within his range inside a controlled environment at SoFi Stadium during training-camp scrimmages, but McVay thought the blame should go on himself for the missed kick, considering the circumstances.
“That was a terrible decision by me,” he said. “We can’t do that to Sam. We can’t take a sack on third down, either. We moved back eight yards. That’s a play that we can’t have and we’ll be better moving forward.”
Rams against the run
The Rams missed a combined total of 18 tackles in their first two games, according to Pro Football Reference’s advanced defensive statistics, and will be well into the 20s after Sunday’s performance.
A particular issue seems to be bringing a running back down on initial contact. Last week, it was Philadelphia’s Miles Sanders, and this week Devin Singletary rushed for 71 yards on 13 carries (5.4 yards per carry, which drastically changes what a team is able to do with its play calls on shorter downs).
“That was just us,” Aaron Donald said. “On one play, I went to try to make a back-door play to hit my gap, so that was on me. We were just missing tackles. We gotta tackle better. That was just on us. The first half, we were just all over the place. It wasn’t like us. But on the road, playing good teams, you can’t make mistakes like that. But we’ll be better, we’ll fix things. … We just have to keep working.”
Miscues and a missing safety
The Rams also struggled with explosive plays (20-plus yards), allowing six by the Bills, plus several more in the 15-to-19-yard range. In the two games prior, they allowed a total of three plays of 20-plus yards.
Failure to contain in the middle and back tiers of the defense was an issue, and it appeared — via players’ reactions on the broadcast — that there were a few miscues and some miscommunication.
Rookie safety Jordan Fuller left early in the game with a shoulder injury and did not return, and while it’s tough to assign blame to specific players on blown plays without knowing the specific calls or assignments, we can say for certain that the Rams’ secondary looked discombobulated for the first time this season.
“I just think we had a few busts,” said Johnson, who spoke highly of backup safety Taylor Rapp but did say that in-game adjustments after the loss of Fuller were initially difficult. “Fuller went down early in the game. We had to move some guys around. We had a couple of mental errors that really cost us on big plays. It’s nothing we can’t clean up. It’s literally eyes and knowing your assignments.”
The Rams had no update on Fuller following Sunday’s game. McVay will next speak with media on Monday evening.
Bottom of the Pile
You know what? Let’s skip it. I’m calling, “Water! Water!” and changing it up (viewers of Sunday’s game will know what I mean). Side note: the Rams probably will change up their calls ahead of next week, considering how clearly they came through on the broadcast.
znModeratorhe looks different. statistically he’s actually started better out the gate than he has this season. but he somehow looks more in control this season. i don’t know. it’s still too early.
Yeah, it’s early, but we can see what’s there to see. It’s not just one thing. The OL is far more solid than it was after 3 games last year, AND the running game is clicking the way it wasn’t by this time last year, AND JG is far more confident and (like you said) in control.
Compare Goff’s first 3 games last year and this year.
2019: 66 of 105, 62.8%, 246 ypg, 7.0 ypa, 4 TDs, 3 Ints, 3 fumbles w/ 2 lost, 2 games w/ qb rating below 80.
2020: 63 of 90, 70%, 287.7 ypg, 9.6 ypa, 5 TDs, 2 Ints, 0 fumbles, 1 game w/ qb rating below 80.September 27, 2020 at 8:12 pm in reply to: Rams Press Conferences after Buffalo – vids & transcripts #121799znModeratorTRANSCRIPT – Rams at Bills – McVay, Goff – September 27, 2020
…
Head Coach Sean McVay
(Opening Statement)
“A disappointing end to a very resilient effort by our guys. I love this football team. We’re not going to make any excuses. We’re going to use this as an opportunity to move forward. Congratulations to the Bills and we’re on to next week.”(On what broke down on the third-and-22 with 3:20 seconds left to play)
“We’ll have to go back and look at the film.”(On what changed in the second half)
“I think the guys just played like they’re capable of. I did a terrible job of putting us in some really poor situations early in that game. I make no excuses about it. Our guys ended up responding, we made some better adjustments, and the guys made the plays. I saw a lot of individual efforts that were outstanding. I saw a resilient group. I saw a team that stayed connected when you go down 28 to three against a really good football team. They just kept battling. They kept swinging. I hate it for our guys, that it ended up the way that it did and came down to some of the things that it came down to. But, we’re a tough group, we’re a mentally tough group. We’re going to use this as an opportunity to respond, and we’re not going to allow the Bills to beat us twice.”(On impressions of RB Darrell Henderson Jr. this season)
“He did a great job. I’m not surprised. I think he built on a really good performance from the previous week. He ran hard, leveled his pads off. I thought the touchdown run to put us up was a big time run, just running through a lot of traffic, a lot of bodies at the goal line. He made a lot of plays. He’s going to continue to make a lot of plays and I’ve been very pleased with (RB) Darrell (Henderson) over the last couple of weeks.”(On if there was any miscommunication after losing S Jordan Fuller)
“There wasn’t any miscommunication. (S) Taylor Rapp has played a lot of good football. I think that’s the beauty of having some depth at that safety position. It’s like anything else, we’ll go back, we’ll look at the film, and we’ll be able to clean up some stuff. I thought there was a lot of good stuff as well. So, you know, they made some plays, we made a lot of plays and we definitely did everything we could to steal the momentum back and to be able to come away with the win. Ultimately, it didn’t go in our favor for some things that sometimes are out of your control and that’s unfortunate, but we’re going to continue to move forward. I just can’t wait to get back to work with this group. I love what this team’s about. I think we can use this as a real opportunity to gain some strength and some momentum. Fortunately, these are things that if they occur early enough in the season and you’re able to respond the right way, they can be great learning opps that don’t cost you in the long run.”(On describing how Bills QB Josh Allen played)
“He’s a big strong kid. His ability to extend plays is one of his elite traits and keep eyes down on the field. I think the receivers do an excellent job working off script and off schedule for him and hats off to him. You see why he’s played so well through the first couple of weeks and he made some great plays today without a doubt.”(On his message to the team at halftime)
“It was nothing different than the norm. We’ve just got to play better. We talked about the communication and we have the right character in this football team to be able to respond and that’s what they did. I was very, very pleased and very proud of this group. I think I learned a lot about this team, things that I had already hoped and thought. You know, the way that they responded, I love this group and I’m very excited about the opportunity to continue to compete this season moving forward.”(On the 53-yard missed field goal by K Samuel Sloman)
“That was a terrible decision by me. I can’t do that to (K) ‘Sam’ (Samuel Sloman). We can’t take a sack on third down either. We moved back eight yards. That’s a play that we can’t have, and we’ll be better moving forward for that.”…
QB Jared Goff
(On what the Bills were doing early to put pressure on the team)
“They’re just doing a good job on defense. They’re a really good defense. They’re a really good team. Specifically, they’re a good blitzing team. They had a good beat on us early, for sure. You can tell they did their homework and, again they’re a really good defense. They’re going to be one of the top defense we probably will play all year and it was tough early on.”(On what they saw from the sidelines on the pass interference call against CB Darious Williams)
“There’s a million calls in the game and it’s unfortunate that one like that can go make it, essentially, that they don’t call it, the game’s over. There’s calls that went our way that game and there’s calls that went their way that game. Unfortunately, that one was at the end of the game like that, but it’s part of the game.”(On what went through his mind when they were down by 25 points)
“We were actually moving the ball relatively well and we had a couple of drives finish without points and just kind of stall, but we knew we had a really good thing going in the run game and we knew we had some good things going in drop back and play pass that we hadn’t called yet, that were kind of waiting to get called. I think that’s what we saw in third quarter is, kind of, all the bullets came out of the chamber there of what we had and what we were able to get called and just what they were doing defensively was dictating a lot of stuff to us early on. I think once we started rolling, once we scored that first one, we had 28-10, our defense got us a couple of stops and it just kept on rolling from there.”(On what the comeback with a chance to win the game says about the team and where they want to be by the end of the season)
“Yeah, I think that’s the main thing you take away from this. Obviously, we would love to win that game and finish it with a great win and a big comeback for us and hooting and hollering right now. But at the end of the day, I think you learn that we’re never out of it. No matter what the situation is, what the game is, who we’re playing, this is a good team. We’re on the road. They had a good offense, a good defense, they’re well coached, and we came all the way back and were in the position to win that at the end. I think there’s a lot to be said for that, but at the same time, we would love to have closed this one out and be 3-0, but we’re 2-1 and move on to the Giants this weekend.”(On his evaluation on how he played)
“Outside of the interception early on, I thought I played well. I thought we were able to move the ball well and, I mean, there’s some things obviously I’ll always want back, but I was really pleased with how we fought upfront and…on the outside. Our guys made plays all day. You saw (WR) Robert (Woods) take a two-yard pass for a touchdown and as a quarterback, that’s always fun. You saw (WR) Cooper (Kupp) make some great plays, (WR) Josh (Reynolds) make some great plays, even…(RB) Darrell (Henderson Jr.) and (RB) Malcolm (Brown) made some great plays all day, and I thought our O-line again, really showed up today and did a great job.”(On what he wants the team to learn from the back-to-back East Coast road trips)
“Again, I think it just, kind of, shows who we are as a team. We’re a strong team and a bunch of dudes that play and play hard and love to fight a little bit and get out there and get after it. I think last week was an example of us, kind of, being on top the whole game and riding that out and finishing that. This week we had the opposite, we had to show what we can do from behind and face a little adversity this week and it really showed who we are. Again, that is the biggest takeaway, but at the same time you’d love to finish that out with a win.”(On if he had been in a game similar to that before)
“Yeah, in college, a bunch of them.”(On if he came out on the right end of those similar games)
“Always both. There are games that at the end, sometimes yeah and sometimes no. This would have been a fun one to have. But at the end of the day, I think, like I said, either way, you do see the fight that we have and the ability that we have on offense, defense, special teams. to be in a hole as big as we were, and to have confidence in everyone to dig out of it and believe in each other.”(On what he believed made RB Darrell Henderson Jr. so effective today)
“Our O-line. Our O-line played really well and them giving him some big holes and he’s a good runner. He’s a really good runner. He runs downhill and he’s obviously super fast and sees it well, really sees it well and he really fits what we do up front and has done a great job these last two weeks. I’m excited about his progression.”(On the team’s refusal to be rattled considering how they stuck with the run)
“Yeah, I thought that was a great job by (Head Coach) Sean (McVay), play-calling there, because we were running the ball so well, but at the same time, you do have to be aggressive. So, picking his spots and moving the tempos and moving me off my spot. It was really good by him in that second half, and really, just like you mentioned, we were running the ball so well, so you do want to run the ball, but we’re down by 25 points, so we needed to throw the ball. I thought he did a great job and just keeping everyone involved and hand the ball off to receivers at times and doing a bunch of things. At the end of the day, you’d love to come out with a win but we’ve got to move on.”znModeratorfrom PFF, on the Bills game: http://theramshuddle.com/topic/press-sums-up-the-bills-game/#post-121795
Goff… was accurate and efficient down the stretch. His performance under pressure should be the most encouraging thing for Rams fans, as he went 5-for-7 for 69 yards and a score when pressured. That hasn’t been the case for Goff most of his career.
znModeratorNFL Week 3 PFF ReFocused: Buffalo Bills 35, Los Angeles Rams 32
https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-2020-week-3-pff-refocused-buffalo-bills-35-los-angeles-rams-32
It took a pass interference penalty that will no doubt be debated ad nauseam, but Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills narrowly avoided an all-time collapse against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 3.
It was a tale of two different games altogether, as the Rams looked completely inept in the first half before the Bills took their turn in the second half. In the end, the Bills found their offense just in the knick of time as Josh Allen’s fourth touchdown pass of the day with 15 seconds left proved to be the game-winner.
STORY OF THE GAME
Both quarterbacks flashed what makes them so special. Allen’s playmaking ability was once again on display with three big-time throws, though he got a little too reliant on that ability down the stretch and refused to eat some plays that he should have. He broke the pocket on nearly a quarter of his dropbacks on the day, and his average time to throw was well north of 3.0 seconds. On the whole, though, it was yet another impressive outing for the young Bills quarterback, who’s now 3-0 for the second straight season.
Goff, on the other hand, was accurate and efficient down the stretch. His performance under pressure should be the most encouraging thing for Rams fans, as he went 5-for-7 for 69 yards and a score when pressured. That hasn’t been the case for Goff most of his career.
Defensively, Aaron Donald did all he could to try and dig the Rams out of their hole. He racked up at least five pressures on the day, including two sacks. With how dominant he’s been for so long, it’s easy to get desensitized to how special he is, but the second half of this game was a nice refresher.
For the Bills, cornerback Levi Wallace gets a game ball himself. He allowed only two catches from three targets for 24 yards and also picked off a pass. It was a big bounce-back game for a player who was much maligned only a week ago when he gave up over 100 yards to the Dolphins.
ROOKIE WATCH
The only rookie who saw a legitimate workload in this one was Bills receiver Gabriel Davis. It was quite easily the best outing of his young career, as he hauled in all four of his targets for 81 yards, moving the chains three times.We also saw a good deal of Bills defensive end A.J. Epenesa. After playing 17 snaps last week, he saw 23 snaps this week — he collected a sack, a hit and a hurry on those limited snaps.
After a breakout game in Week 2, Rams safety Jordan Fuller left the game early with a shoulder injury.
znModeratorGoff in 3 games, averages:
21 of 30, 70%, 287.7 ypg, 9.6 ypa, 5 TDs = 1.7 per game, 2 Ints = 0.7 per game
For 16 games TDs would be 27, Ints would be 11.
znModeratorJourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
The Rams allowed six plays of 20-plus yards today after only allowing three total through the first two games of the season. Safety John Johnson said it was “eyes, and knowing assignments” while Aaron Donald added the running gashes were guys in right place, but missing tackles.More sage advice from Robert Woods: “…and don’t put the game in the referee’s hands.”
BTHRams@BTH_Rams
Random silver lining: Interception included, this was Jared Goff’s best game of the yearznModeratorx
znModeratornick Wagoner@nwagoner
The #49ers did not punt in today’s win against the Giants. The last time they played a game without punting was Week 16 of 1993, a 55-17 win against the Detroit Lions.Field Yates@FieldYates
A complete list of players to throw for at least 4 or more TD in each of his team’s first three games in NFL history:
* Russell Wilson.znModeratorfrom https://theramswire.usatoday.com/lists/rams-bills-week-3-takeaways-reaction/
Jared Goff looks more like his 2018 self
One of the most encouraging parts of the season thus far has been the play of Jared Goff. once again, he was sharp on Sunday, throwing for 321 yards and two touchdowns, completing 23 of his 32 pass attempts. His lone mistake was an ugly interception intended for Van Jefferson, forcing the ball into tight coverage on third down.
He made several great throws down the field, hitting four different receivers for gains of at least 20 yards – and Gerald Everett twice for gains of 18 and 16 yards. He looked sharp, more like the player we saw two seasons ago than the one that struggled mightily last year.
The improved protection certainly helps, but he’s making great decisions, throwing accurately to all levels of the field and has really found a rhythm on the field.
Ramatic@randy_mcmillon
Rams fans FYI Jared Goff was 23 of 32 for 321 yards 2 touchdowns 111.8 passer ratingRich Hammond@Rich_Hammond
Rams did not record a sack, a tackle for loss or a QB hit in the first half.znModeratorD.K. Metcalf fantasy owners 👀 pic.twitter.com/dmnS1xQdBP
— Marc Sessler (@MarcSessler) September 27, 2020
znModeratorSuh-weet!
Rams lose without punting once all game
How many times has *that* happened?
I’m not going to run thru everything, but the Rams:
– Passed for more yds than the Bills
– Ran for more yds w/a higher YPC than the Bills
– Never punted (Bills punted twice)
– Had fewer turnovers (2-to-1)
– Had more sacks
– Didn’t give up a special team score
– Held the ball 5 min longer… and lost.
==
Cameron DaSilva@camdasilva
Jared Goff hit four different receivers for gains of at least 20 yards each. And that doesn’t include 16- and 18-yard passes to Gerald Everett.He was good today.
Stu Jackson@StuJRams
Rams WR Robert Woods: “I’ve been saying it to these guys every single day I’m around them, really. We’re a great team, the best team in the league, believe it, go out there and play like it. We were down 28-3 but that still didn’t put any fear, any doubts in our head.”Rams QB Jared Goff on team’s resiliency facing a 25-point deficit: “I think that’s the main thing you take away from this… At the end of the day, I think you learn that we’re never out of it, no matter what the situation is, what the game is, who we’re playing.”
Sarina@sarina
Sean McVay after losing to the Bills 35-32:
“I saw a lot of individual efforts that were outstanding. I saw resilient group. I saw a team that stayed connected when you go down 28 to three against a really good football team, and they just kept battling. They kept swinging.”Greg Beacham@gregbeacham
Rams coach Sean McVay was clearly agitated in his postgame interview, but also upbeat: “I was really proud of this group. I think I learned a lot about this team, things I already knew and thought. I’m excited for the future with these guys.”Sosa K@QBsMVP
There’s maybe one area of genuine concern for me as it pertains to the Rams – the pass rush. Outside of Aaron Donald, they’re just bad. They made some big plays down the line today (mostly #99) but they have barely gotten any pressure over 3 games now.Very concerning.
Alec Z@alec_zamora
Goff cooked a top 5 d today btw. You’ll still hear slander tomorrow though.znModeratorRams fall just short of franchise-best comeback, lose to Bills late https://t.co/MkWbdCLs9W
— RamsNewsNow (@RamsNewsNow) September 27, 2020
znModeratorHow Sean McVay views timeouts pic.twitter.com/c6hGx8Fjey
— SeattleRams (@seattlerams_nfl) September 27, 2020
znModeratorJourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
Robert Woods: “We’re a great team. We just have to play like it for all four quarters.”Los Angeles Rams UK@LARams_UK
I feel better about this years 2-1 team than I did about last years 3-0 team at this stage.BTHRams@BTH_Rams
So many positives from that game. Weird to have that from a loss.Stu Jackson@StuJRams
Rams HC Sean McVay: “I love this football team. We’re not going to make any excuses. We’re going to use this as an opportunity to move forward.”McVay on adjustments made at halftime: “I saw a lot of individual efforts that were outstanding. I saw a resilient group, I saw a team that stayed connected when you go down 28 to three, against a really good football team. And they just kept battling, they kept swinging.”
McVay also took responsibility for how the first half unfolded: “I did a terrible job of putting us in some really poor situations early in that game. I make no excuses about it. Our guys ended up responding. We made some better adjustments. And the guys made the plays.”
Lindsey Thiry@LindseyThiry
“No, obviously not,” Rams WR Robert Woods said when asked if it appeared teammate Darious Williams committed pass interference. “The receiver initiates the contact and the quarterback is literally just throwing the ball in the area and it wasn’t even a catchable ball…”znModeratorBills blow 28-3 second-half lead but score with 15 seconds left to win 35-32 https://t.co/KGQxIWzWOE
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) September 27, 2020
znModeratorRams' miraculous comeback falls short in 35-32 loss to Bills: Everything we know https://t.co/EDwrxX34ZB
— Rams Wire (@TheRamsWire) September 27, 2020
znModeratorGame Recap: Rams fall to Bills 35-32 despite late rally
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) September 27, 2020
znModeratorTurfShowTimes@TurfShowTimes
Rams RB Raymond Calais active for first time — had a 100-yard kickoff return at Collegiate Bowl, ran 3rd fastest RB time at combine, 7th rd pick by TB, Bucs sign Fournette, Akers hurt, here we goznModeratorfrom https://ramblinfan.com/2020/09/25/fox-sports-speak-for-yourself-bucky-brooks/
Bucky Brooks made me sit up and take notice of his observations about the LA Rams starting quarterback Jared Goff.
What did he say? Well, it went something like this:
“So Acho (Emanuel)< just last week we had an opportunity to see number one and number two square off in Philadelphia. Jared Goff lit the Eagles up, and so now if I’m (Eagles GM) Howie Roseman if I’m (Eagles head coach) Doug Pederson, I am over there looking across the sideline with envy because I’ve seen Jared Goff not only get my team into the playoffs, and take my team to a Super Bowl. But I’ve actually seen him run out and play in the game. And then, when my guy Jared Goff had a bad year? (Do) you know what he did? He fixed it and rectified it. And now I’m looking at the Rams and they are undefeated. And (Rams head coach) Sean McVay has somehow found a way to unleash the number one overall pick (of the 2016 NFL Draft). And so, maybe just maybe, the Rams got it right when they made the decision to take Jared Goff over Carson Wentz? Because they knew there was only one franchise quarterback in that draft, and his name was Jared Goff – Bucky Brooks
znModeratorStu Jackson@StuJRams
RB Raymond Calais active for the first time this season. DB Darious Williams (ankle) is also active after being listed as questionable, but HC Sean McVay said Friday he expected Williams would be ready to go today.znModeratorHighest passer rating when targeted (TEs):
1. Noah Fant – 158.3
2. T.J. Hockenson – 155.8
3. Tyler Higbee – 149.8 pic.twitter.com/aODDIYmU25— PFF Fantasy Football (@PFF_Fantasy) September 27, 2020
znModeratorCameron DaSilva@camdasilva
Rams gonna start 3-0 for the third straight year? Or 2-1 for the second time in four years?J.B. Long@JB_Long
A friend sent this “blind resume” comparison for Jared Goff. Thought it would be a fun way to start game day. Let me know if you can identify Player X (hint: retired).
Goff after 56 games:
62.6%
14,761yds
90TD
43 INT
35-21 recordPlayer X:
63.5%
13,067yds
84TD
44 INT
34-22J.B. Long@JB_Long
Player X is Joe Montana.Rams Brothers@RamsBrothers
Nothing better than #GAMEDAY!#Bills still locked in as a 2-point favorite. O/u point total is set at 47. Some enticing player prop bets for the #Rams…
• Kupp: over 54.5 receiving yards
• Goff: over 264.5 yards passing (Fitzpatrick just threw for 328 against them)znModeratorIan Rapoport@RapSheet
Sources: The #Falcons-#Bears game is officially on, despite ATL CB AJ Terrell being placed on the COVID-19 reserve list and contact tracing over the last more than 24 hours. All ATL players and personnel are cleared for today’s game. No positives from testing conducted yesterday.Two notes on this:
— When checking contact tracing for #Falcons CB AJ Terrell, the tracers found no players registered as being a close contact for Terrell.
— The rest of the teams and players were clear for today’s games, source said. No issues.znModerator49ers and Rams create an interesting apples-to-apples comparison on the question of whether West Coast teams should travel home between consecutive East Coast games https://t.co/48giZ80DCA
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) September 27, 2020
znModeratorIs Josh Allen Actually Good Now?
link https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/is-josh-allen-actually-good-now/
Josh Allen has had his share of doubters since entering the league. Perhaps his most outspoken critic — Jalen Ramsey — will be playing across the line of scrimmage from him this Sunday.
Ramsey, a starting cornerback for the Los Angeles Rams, infamously described Allen as “trash” after the Bills selected him with the seventh overall pick in the 2018 draft. At the end of Allen’s 2018 rookie season, there weren’t many who would argue with Ramsey’s assessment; in its annual QB Index, the NFL network ranked him 32nd among the 33 NFL quarterbacks with at least 500 snaps. The next year, in 2019, Allen improved to 18th despite completing just 58.8 percent of his passes and averaging 6.7 yards per attempt, numbers that didn’t do much to quell his skeptics.
This year — at least so far — things have been quite different. During his first two years in the league, Allen never threw for more than 266 yards in a game. In his first two games this season, Allen has already eclipsed 300 yards passing twice, the first Bills quarterback to have back-to-back 300-yard-plus games since Drew Bledsoe in 2002. Allen is just the fourth QB in NFL history to start the season with 700-plus passing yards, six-plus touchdowns and no interceptions.
Allen’s Total Quarterback Rating (QBR) is fourth-best in the NFL, behind only Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson and Patrick Mahomes. That’s heady company for a guy who ranked 24th in ESPN’s signature metric both of the past two seasons. His top-line season-to-date stats are just as impressive: Allen completed 70.4 percent of his passes for 727 yards against the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins. He passed for six touchdowns and zero interceptions despite facing the fourth-most blitzes of any quarterback through Week 2. And he’s been particularly good when forced to operate on the fly: On passes outside the pocket, Allen has the third-best QBR in the league (97.3).
Allen has also made strides in the small things coaches expect from a franchise QB. In Week 1 against the Jets, facing a third-and-5 early in the second quarter, Allen coaxed an offside penalty from the Jets defensive line with his hard count. The flag was enough to give the Bills the first down, but Allen wisely wanted more. He used the free play to take a deep shot downfield to John Brown, who narrowly missed catching the ball for a 30-yard gain.
The Bills have an analytically inclined front office1 and have surrounded Allen with talent. They traded four draft picks — including a 2020 first-rounder2 — to Minnesota for wide receiver Stefon Diggs in the offseason. Diggs already has 16 catches for 239 receiving yards on the year. The offensive line has done a good job of protecting its QB, posting the sixth-best Pass Block Win Rate in the league. And Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll has also done his part to give Allen the best chance for success, dialing up play-action — the most efficient play type in all of football — 34.8 percent of the time, good for fourth-most frequent in the league. It’s paid off: 54.4 percent of the Bills’ passing yards have come from those play-action calls, tops in the NFL.
There’s been a lot to like in Allen’s game this year. But how confident should we be that this season is the new normal, and not just a mirage? After all, we have two seasons of Allen playing below average and just two games of him playing close to elite. One way to make sense of the numbers is to divide them into two groups: stats we know are predictive of future performance and stats that are not.
For quarterbacks, the stats that tend to be stable over time include passing efficiency from a clean pocket, passing efficiency with no play-action, completion percentage over expected and the share of throws that are off target or negatively graded. Each of these aspects of a QB’s performance is indicative of their true skill and is less affected by circumstances and luck. Stats that aren’t predictive of future performance — and that tend to be highly affected by circumstances and luck — include passing under pressure, passing outside the pocket and passing efficiency with play-action.
Allen’s numbers are great in the unstable, less predictive metrics and middle of the road in their stable, more predictive counterparts. Allen’s QBR when not under pressure (79) is good for just 19th in the league. His off-target throw percentage (16.3) has improved from previous years3 but is still good for just 16th in the NFL. And his completion percentage over expected, an NFL Next Gen Stats metric that compares the difficulty of each pass to that of a league-average quarterback in a similar situation, is just 2.1, 16th in the league.
Given the Bills’ opponents so far, this should probably give us pause. Both the Jets and the Dolphins are rated as bottom-10 teams by our Elo rating system, while the Rams, the Bills’ upcoming Week 3 opponent, are a top-10 team.
Allen has raised his ceiling this year, performing at a level many would have considered improbable before this season. But if the math holds up, and Jalen Ramsey has anything to say about the outcome of this Sunday’s game, we should probably expect Allen to begin looking a little less like Mahomes and Wilson and a bit more like the player we’ve seen take the field the past two years.
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