Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner and his wife, Brenda, had found no place in Arizona where their developmentally disabled and legally blind son could live on his own.

So, they took matters into their own hands — and built one.@carterevans reports on “Treasure House” pic.twitter.com/HRu7lkeWBr

— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) October 9, 2018

📢 #NFL POWER RANKINGS 📢

Are the #GoPackGo really on the decline 🤔
Are the #ChiefsKingdom and #LARams unbeatable 🔥 
➡️ https://t.co/tpndOI7Wbq pic.twitter.com/O3QfcqUYr1

— Yahoo Sports NFL (@YahooSportsNFL) October 9, 2018

Getting after the QB drives everything else that happens for a defense- these teams are applying the most pressure this season.#LARams #GoPats #DUUUVAL #HereWeGo #GoPackGo #RaiderNation #GoBucs #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/PPsl77uc91

— NFL Matchup on ESPN (@NFLMatchup) October 9, 2018

#LARams WR Robert Woods balled out in Seattle. He finished with 145 yards from scrimmage. Here’s his longest play of the day. ⬇️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/rr4WM07gLk

— Myles Simmons (@MylesASimmons) October 9, 2018

Holding blocks, telling Goff what to do: Inside the Rams OL

Lindsey Thiry

http://www.espn.com/blog/los-angeles-rams/post/_/id/39091/holding-blocks-telling-goff-what-to-do-inside-the-rams-ol

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Rodger Saffold laughed, and Austin Blythe couldn’t help but to turn a bit red.

The Los Angeles Rams offensive line has performed at an elite level this season, a sometimes-unsung group in the team’s 5-0 start. And that’s why they can find humor in at least one play that went somewhat astray.

Saffold, a ninth-year pro, started to chuckle when he recalled a particular moment during a Week 3 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers.

The Rams were in the red zone and the line held their blocks for what felt like an eternity (in reality, it was 6 seconds).

That’s when Blythe, a first-year starter, turned and screamed at quarterback Jared Goff, “Throw it! Throw it!” And so Goff threw the ball out the back of the end zone.

Blythe blushed when he recalled the play. He was blocking two defensive linemen, but as they continued to push, he couldn’t hold the block any longer.

His yells were “in the heat of the moment,” Blythe said. “If I was rationally thinking, I wouldn’t have said anything.”

Yelling at the quarterback, some linemen said, is not typically encouraged. Goff, however, was lucky Blythe did, because as the third-year quarterback searched the end zone for an open receiver, he was inches away from being sacked.

“It was hilarious,” Saffold said, as he thought about Blythe’s scream. “We laugh about it now, but I think Jared has a lot of trust in us.”

That’s because they have kept Goff upright and allowed him to post eye-popping numbers.

Goff, along with Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, has been sacked a league-low six times, among quarterbacks who have started five games.

And Goff leads the NFL in several categories.

Through five weeks, he has the best passer rating, 119.7, and he even posted a perfect passer rating of 158.3 in a Week 4 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. Goff leads the league in passing yards with 1,727 and is averaging 345 passing yards per game.

“The offensive line is playing tremendously,” said Goff, who has passed for 12 touchdowns, with 4 interceptions. “Opening up stuff for Todd and keeping me clean and allowing me to get the ball out.”

The Rams line was the only group in the NFL last season to start the same five players for 15 games. This season, right guard Jamon Brown was suspended for the first two games and Blythe, a reliable backup in 2017, stepped in. Through two weeks, Blythe graded outstanding and coaches decided to leave the line intact rather than change something that had clearly been working.

“The O-line is fantastic,” said Todd Gurley II, who leads the NFL with 9 touchdowns. “… whether we run or pass the ball, or whether I’m in there or not, everybody’s in there doing their job.”

The Rams have had elite pass protection this season, according to ESPN’s Pass Block Win Rate using NFL Next Gen Stats. A pass block win is when a pass blocker sustains his block for the first 2.5 seconds following the snap, about the average NFL time for a quarterback to throw.

When a blocker is beaten within the first 2.5 seconds, the pass-rusher is given the win. Pass block wins are determined by an objective model based on player tracking data.

The Rams rank first in the league with a pass block win rate of 73 percent. The next closest team is the Green Bay Packers at 59 percent.

Even more impressive, veteran left tackle Andrew Whitworth has the highest pass block win rate this season at 95 percent, and right tackle Rob Havenstein is second at 92 percent.

“It just comes down to the whole offense,” said Havenstein, a fourth-year pro who signed a four-year, $32.5 million extension before the season. “We do such a good job of scheming things, making things look similar that are different, that we can have that extra half second, that extra second of kind of figuring out what we’re doing.”

All three of the Rams’ interior linemen rank in the top 12 among guards and centers. Saffold is at 91 percent, center John Sullivan at 89 percent and Blythe at 87 percent.

“They’re playing the best in the league right now and I don’t think it’s really close,” Goff said. “I mean even just hits, pressures — not even sacks. Just all that stuff is incredible and they’re doing such a great job.”

To further demonstrate that the line has excelled, look no further than how often they hold their blocks through 3 seconds — considered an overwhelming amount of time for a quarterback to throw the ball.

Whitworth, a 13-year pro, holds his block through 3 seconds 89 percent of the time, Saffold 87 percent and Havenstein 86 percent.

“It just means a lot to us to nail the game plan, to do things efficiently and to really be on the same exact page every week of exactly how we want to make things happen,” Whitworth said. “We take pride in just the offense as a whole and really all of us being able to click.”

Rams Defense Once Again Shows Up When Needed Most

https://www.therams.com/news/rams-defense-once-again-shows-up-when-needed-most

Wilson’s offense was moved out of Janikowski’s range by a pair of penalties, and then sent off the field by a batted down pass and intense pressure by linebacker Cory Littleton. “Oh man, you can put him [Littleton] anywhere,” defensive tackle Michael Brockers said after the game. “He can cover running backs, cover tight ends, one on one, he can rush off the edge and inside off running backs — he can do anything.”

“It felt great because we got back to the basics, everybody trusted each other, played their gap, won their gap, and when it came to the perimeter runs, the secondary stepped up and closed it off,” Brockers said of the fourth-quarter performance.

“We just have to calm down,” Brockers said. “As a defense, we have a lot of great talent on this team, so everybody wants to make a play, everybody wants to be seen and wants to be that guy. As this defense, we have to work together, we don’t have to be the guy, everybody just has to do their job and do it well.”

The Athletic@TheAthleticLA
on the Rams’ gutsy decision to go for it on fourth down and seal Sunday’s big win in Seattle:
Jared Goff took control of the huddle, giving “a couple words” of encouragement. “Probably not printable,” Rob Havenstein said laughing.

Seahawks duel Los Angeles Rams in shootout but fall short, losing 33-31 10/08/2018

https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/seahawks-duel-los-angeles-rams-in-shootout-but-fall-short-losing-33-31/

Seahawks run with rampaging Rams, but depleted defense can’t hold on in 33-31 loss

https://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/nfl/seattle-seahawks/article219642355.html#storylink=rss

Terse, frustrated Pete Carroll explains end-game decisions, including to call time out before Rams went for it on decisive 4th down in Seahawks’ loss

https://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/nfl/seattle-seahawks/article219651915.html#storylink=rss

jrry32

CBs & DL, Seattle game

The CB depth wasn’t the problem today. Hill and Shields played well (outside of Hill’s boneheaded PF). Hill played on running downs with Shields entering on passing downs because of Shields’ issues as a perimeter run defender.Doug Baldwin did nothing. Brandon Marshall did nothing. Jaron Brown did nothing. Troy Hill had a nice deflection on the long pass to Marshall. Shields nearly had a pick six on a third and three pass. The biggest problem with our pass defense today was Marcus Peters. He was playing like early-career Janoris Jenkins out there. Instead of sticking to his man, he kept gambling and giving up TDs. David Moore had two TDs. Both came against Marcus Peters (to be fair, one should not have counted). Tyler Lockett had three big catches. His long TD came against Marcus Peters.

As for Suh, Wade doesn’t run a typical 3-4. He doesn’t want a NT who occupies space. He wants his NT to penetrate and disrupt. Suh had some inconsistencies today as a run defender, but he’s been a very good player for us this year. Suh at NT isn’t really an issue. He’s been a 1T for much of his career. I think Suh is the prototype for what Wade wants in a NT. He had some inconsistencies today, but it was Brockers who was struggling mightily. That’s quite abnormal. Brockers is an animal in run defense usually, but they were gashing us through his gap today. He’s an outstanding run defender, so I’ll give him a mulligan for what went down today.

ramsfan1977

This is on the bomb to Lockett in the 4th quarter…

Downtown Rams@DowntownRams
Troy Hill through 70 snaps is the highest graded active CB on the roster and it’s not that close.

Social Roundup: Players React to Week 5 Victory

https://www.therams.com/news/social-roundup-players-react-to-week-5-victory

After Sunday’s Victory, Rams have Won Three of Last Four Games in Seattle

https://www.therams.com/news/after-sunday-s-victory-rams-have-won-three-of-last-four-games-in-seattle

Reynolds, Hodge Step Up as Cooks, Kupp Land in Concussion Protocol

https://www.therams.com/news/reynolds-hodge-step-up-as-cooks-kupp-land-in-concussion-protocol

I get that the ref dropped his hat for a different player going out of bounds, but if you look at Moore’s foot here, it’s clearly in the white.

How did NY miss this call? pic.twitter.com/5b4d3NykoA

— SeattleRams (@seattlerams_nfl) October 8, 2018

==

—

On Gurley’s 2nd down run, this is the absolutely earliest you could ever contend he was down. (I do not believe he was down yet.)

The spot is unfortunate. As is the fact TV never showed a replay. As is the fact Rams couldn’t challenge (inside 2:00; didn’t have timeout anyway.) pic.twitter.com/h1dz4RxL27

— J.B. Long (@JB_Long) October 8, 2018

==

Upon closer study, I remain surprised this did not lead to an ejection, much less draw a flag.

Standards:
❓Lowers helmet to establish linear body posture (Last second, I do think Thompson tried to take helmet out.)

✅Unobstructed path to opponent

✅Contact clearly avoidable pic.twitter.com/ZzPaPooO9T

— J.B. Long (@JB_Long) October 8, 2018

Zooey wrote:

Frank “Crash” Ganz. I think.

Gansz. To be pedantic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Gansz

A lot of fans could not stand him, including Jim Fadler and Fast Eddie, but I thought he fielded good units.

Peter King

FMIA Week 5: Awaken the Sleeping Giant? Browns—Yup—Feeling Frisky

Behind the McVay call. The league’s getting gutsier, it seems. (Except for Jason Garrett.) Intriguing call for Sean McVay on Sunday at Seattle. L.A. ball, fourth and a half-yard, Rams 42, 1:39 left, no timeouts left for Seattle. High stakes here. If the Rams go for it and make it, the game’s over; they can run out the clock because Seattle has no timeouts left. If the Rams go for it and fail, Seattle needs 15 yards to be in breezy field-goal range for the winning kick.

If the Rams punt, they could likely pin the Seahawks around their 15-yard line. On the bus to the airport Sunday evening, McVay explained the call to go for it thusly: “I think the biggest thing was this: Our offensive linemen had the confidence to be able to get those six inches. I thought Jared [Goff] did an excellent job of mixing up his cadence a little bit, and I felt like he could catch them off guard.

We attack success. We don’t fear failure. We want to go for the win in that situation. Getting six inches to close it out was something that we felt the percentages were in our favor.” Smart move, and not just because it worked.

MVP Watch

Jared Goff, QB, Los Angeles Rams. This is not just Sean McVay’s influence making Goff a player. You don’t make the kind of precise throws into tight coverage the way Goff is doing with a coach pulling strings and making you a robot. Sunday in Seattle was the kind of tough struggle even the best teams are going to have to win regularly in the course of a long season.

…

Russell Wilson was vintage MVP-contender Russell Wilson for much of the 33-31 loss to the Rams, leading five scoring drives in nine possessions and compiling a 132.5 passer rating. But 48 net yards for the Seahawks in the fourth quarter sealed their fate.

…

Todd Gurley, at $11.5-million a year average, for the next six years, is a pretty reasonable contract for the Rams. I won’t say cheap, but reasonable.

By the way, there is no way the Todd Gurley touchdown should have been reversed in Seahawks-Rams. I repeat what the NFL had been doing a good job of until the Cleveland first-down reversal late in last week’s game at Oakland: Reverse only the plays that are absolutely shown to be wrong on appeal.

…

I think the Rams basically won the NFC West with the win in Seattle, barring some major injuries. The Rams have a three-game lead over Seattle with the tiebreaker over the Seahawks, which means they’ve got a three-and-a-half game lead in effect. And L.A. has Denver and San Francisco in the next two weeks, so 7-0 seems quite possible. All those years the Rams were finished by Dec. 1, and now they could clinch by then.