The Los Angeles Rams made their home debut at the Los Angeles Coliseum against their division foe Seattle Seahawks. The Rams went on to win this tough defensive game 9-3 to improve their record to 1-1. With Rams having a 1-1 record there is a 4 way tie atop the NFC West now.
Positives:
- The passing game looked much improved. Case Keenum didn’t play great in this game but definitely improved off of his week 1 blunder in San Francisco. Keenum against the Seahawks finished with 239 yards & a QB rating of 48.2 which was 24th in the NFL & is better than his previous QB rating of 5 in week 1.
- Pass rush. The defensive line looked like they woke up after a disappointing week in week 1 with 0 sacks. The Rams finished with 2 sacks on the day & were consistently in Russell Wilson’s face all day. William Hayes & Robert Quinn were the Rams who each came up with sacks.
- Stopping the run. The Rams defense did a great job slowing down the Seahawks run game limiting them to 67 yards on 24 carries for 2.8 yards per carry. The Rams were constantly in the backfield making plays totaling 7 tackles for loss in the game.
- Clutch defensive stand. The Seahawks had a chance to win the game by driving down the field & scoring a touchdown but the Rams cut the drive short when Alec Ogletree stripped Christine Michael & recovered the fumble with 57 seconds left.
Negatives:
- Lack of a run game. The Rams lack of a running game connects directly to the lack of a viable passing game they have. Gurley through 2 games has only 98 yards on 36 attempts which comes to an abysmal 2.7 yards per carry average. The opposing teams consistently are going to put 7-8 guys in the box & dare Case Keenum to beat them.
- No touchdown. The Rams have yet to score a touchdown this season & through 2 games they’re the NFL’s worst scoring offense averaging just 4.5 points a game. Luckily for the Rams they played the Seahawks who are also struggling offensively averaging just 7.5 points a game which makes them the 2nd worst scoring offense.
- Lack of big plays in the offense. The Rams have not done a good job taking their shots downfield. After 2 weeks the Rams longest pass play is 44 yards to Lance Kendricks & the longest run by the Rams is 11 yards by Todd Gurley (both plays happened against Seattle). I don’t see this changing much while Case Keenum is the starting QB for the Rams because e lacks the arm strength to push the ball downfield.
- Bad third down conversion rate. For the 2nd week in a row the Rams were terrible converting on 3rd down. The Rams through the first 2 weeks have converted only 6 0f their 27 third downs for a conversion rate of 22.2% which makes them the worst team on 3rd down in the NFL. Last year the Rams finished with the worst 3rd down conversion rate at 25.9% so being bad on 3rd down isn’t a new issue for them.
Moving Forward: The Los Angeles Rams will be traveling to Raymond James Stadium to play the 1-1 Tampa Bay Buccaneers in week 3. The Bucs looked good in week 1 when Jameis Winston threw for 4 touchdowns & 1 interception en route to a 31-24 victory against the Atlanta Falcons but in week 2 he flipped his stat line with 1 touchdown & 4 interceptions against a tough Arizona Cardinals defense. The Buccaneers have also lost Doug Martin for a few weeks due to a hamstring injury so it is unknown how the running game will look & it is unknown what young Buccaneers team will show up Sunday. Hopefully the Rams can pull out a win but they need to improve in a lot of areas especially on offense & maybe a touchdown in this game would be nice.
