Category: Latest Rams news

Cory Littleton snubbed from 2020 Pro Bowl despite stellar season

Cory Littleton has been one of the best linebackers in the NFL, but he didn’t make the Pro Bowl.

The NFL announced the Pro Bowl rosters for the AFC and NFC squads on Tuesday night, and only two Rams made the cut. Cory Littleton was not one of them, surprisingly.

Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey were the two Rams who were selected, but it should’ve been a trio of defenders heading to Orlando for the all-star game. If anything, Littleton should’ve gotten the nod before Ramsey, who’s only having an average season at cornerback.

Littleton, on the other hand, has become one of the best linebackers in the NFL and is deserving of more recognition than he receives, and that could have started with him being named to the Pro Bowl.

He ranks eighth in the NFL with 124 tackles and is tied for ninth among all linebackers with eight passes defensed. Only three other players have at least 100 tackles, two sacks, five tackles for loss and two interceptions.

The reason for him not being selected to the Pro Bowl was more about the guys he’s going up against than his individual performance. In the NFC, two linebackers always reign supreme: Bobby Wagner and Luke Kuechly. They were both named to the Pro Bowl this season, ranking second and fourth in the NFL in tackles, respectively. Wagner has only broken up six passes with one forced fumble and one interception, while Kuechly has two interceptions, 11 passes defensed and only three tackles for loss.

Littleton has more forced fumbles and fumble recoveries than both linebackers, more sacks (2.5) than both of them combined, and more tackles for loss than Kuechly (tied with Wagner). Littleton has also hit the quarterback four times, which is one more than Wagner and two more than Kuechly.

Littleton isn’t a big name, but when looking at the numbers and his overall performance this season, he’s certainly among the top linebackers in football. He’s only getting better, too, improving immensely as a run defender since last season.

Here’s where he ranked among linebackers a few weeks ago, according to Pro Football Focus.

Littleton is in the final year of his contract and is sure to break the bank next year, whether it’s with the Rams or another team. Being named to the Pro Bowl would’ve boosted his stock and increased his negotiating leverage as a free agent, but it also would’ve put his name on the map among casual fans outside of Los Angeles.

He’ll get there eventually – possibly this year when injury replacements are announced – but regardless, Littleton has shown he’s a premier linebacker in just his second season as a starter.

Rams’ Aaron Donald, Jalen Ramsey selected to 2020 Pro Bowl

The Rams had two players selected to the Pro Bowl.

The Los Angeles Rams aren’t sending as many players to the 2020 Pro Bowl as they have in the past few years when they were well-represented in Orlando. This year, they’ll only have two representatives: Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey.

On Tuesday night, the NFL announced rosters for the AFC and NFC squad and those two were the lone Rams players selected. With it being a disappointing season for the Rams that has seen many of their top players struggle, it’s not exactly surprising to see so few players voted into the Pro Bowl.

This season, Donald has 11 sacks and an NFL-high 19 tackles for loss. Although his sack numbers are down from last year, he’s still one of the best defenders in the league and commands more double teams than just about every other pass rusher.

He’s currently the betting favorite to win his third straight Defensive Player of the Year award, which would make him the first  player ever to accomplish that feat.

Ramsey came over in a mid-season trade with the Jaguars and has played relatively well since then. In eight games with the Rams, he has 29 tackles, two passes defensed and one forced fumble. In 11 total games this year, he has 46 tackles, three passes defensed and two forced fumbles. He does not have an interception yet.

This is Donald’s sixth straight year being selected to the Pro Bowl, making it every year he’s been in the NFL. Ramsey has now made it three years in a row, giving him three in his career.

Rams to work out kickers with Greg Zuerlein uncertain to play vs. 49ers

Greg Zuerlein may not be able to play against the 49ers due to a quad strain.

The Rams have some uncertainty at kicker heading into Week 16 after Greg Zuerlein strained his quad against the Cowboys on Sunday. There’s a chance he’ll be able to play against the 49ers on Saturday night, but the one fewer day of rest he has doesn’t help his cause.

Los Angeles doesn’t have a set plan in place in case Zuerlein doesn’t play, but arrangements are being made. Sean McVay said at Tuesday’s press conference that the team will bring kickers in this week as possible replacements for Zuerlein in San Francisco.

“We’ll have some guys that have recently – we’ve got a couple names. ‘Bones’ (John Fassel) was on top of that right away when this situation came up,” McVay said. “If we do feel like it’s going to be something that we anticipate maybe he can go, maybe he can’t, we might end up keeping somebody that’s close by overnight, or we might end up having to sign somebody later on in the week if we make the determination that he isn’t able to go. That’s not what we expect, but we will have some guys coming in here Thursday night.”

McVay didn’t say who would be working out for the Rams, but he indicated that they’ll be looking at kickers who were recently with teams. He also left the door open for the possibility that they could go for two after every touchdown and get more aggressive on fourth down rather than settling for field goals.

“I think those guys that are street free agents that have most recently been with teams, I think they kind of know what the gig is that you never know when your number is going to be called. … Then we can always just go for two every time and we had a similar situation two years ago. And you can change up a lot of your tendencies on third down, too. So you never know,” he said with a smile.

It’s worth noting that Zuerlein is a free agent after this season, so bringing kickers in now to work out could give them an early look at a few options if Zuerlein doesn’t return in 2020. The Rams would probably like to bring him back next season, but he’s also had his share of struggles in 2019.

Zuerlein is only 4-for-9 (44%) from 40-49 yards after going 41-for-49 (83.7%) from that distance in his previous seven seasons combined.

Watch: Mic’d-up Andrew Whitworth helps direct offense vs. Cowboys

Andrew Whitworth wore a mic for Sunday’s game against the Cowboys.

Andrew Whitworth has been a leader for the Rams the last three years after holding a similar role with the Bengals for a decade. In the locker room and on the field, Whitworth helps guide his teammates and acclimate young players to the speed of the NFL.

He’s particularly valuable at the line of scrimmage, calling out things he sees with the opposing defense and coaching up his fellow linemen up front. He was mic’d up against the Cowboys in the Rams’ 44-21 loss on Sunday, and it shows just how much he provides from a leadership standpoint.

Whitworth can be heard making calls, helping Austin Corbett with his blocking assignments and communicating with players such as Jared Goff and Cooper Kupp.

Unfortunately, it didn’t do enough to help the Rams get the win as they were dominated by the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium, all but ending Los Angeles’ chances of making the playoffs.

Which Rams players should be selected to 2020 Pro Bowl?

(Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images) The NFL will reveal its Pro Bowl rosters on Tuesday night, announcing which players will take part in the star-studded game in January. The Rams have sent several players to the Pro Bowl in each of the last two …

(Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images)

The NFL will reveal its Pro Bowl rosters on Tuesday night, announcing which players will take part in the star-studded game in January. The Rams have sent several players to the Pro Bowl in each of the last two years, ranging from Aaron Donald to Todd Gurley to Jared Goff, but they may not be as well-represented this season.

In the midst of a down year, here are three players who are deserving of being named to the 2020 Pro Bowl.

DT Aaron Donald

Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

Donald surprisingly isn’t the top vote-getter at defensive tackle anymore, being overtaken by DeForest Buckner of the 49ers. Still, Donald is a lock to make the Pro Bowl, given the way he’s played this season. He won’t come close to the 20.5 sacks he had last year, sitting at 11.0 with two games remaining, but he leads the league with 19 tackles for loss and has 28 hurries – only two fewer than last year.

He’s arguably the best defensive player in the league and is the favorite to win his third straight Defensive Player of the Year award, so how could he not make the Pro Bowl?

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Rams’ 2020 home opponents set: Who will they host at SoFi Stadium?

The Rams’ eight home opponents for their first season at SoFi Stadium are set.

Although the schedules for next season won’t be revealed until sometime in April, teams are beginning to find out who they will play in 2020 as this season comes to a close. Opponents are determined by where teams finish within their division, as well as other factors such as the rotation of divisions from the opposing conference each year.

With the Rams 8-6 and having no chance of catching the Seahawks or 49ers, they’re guaranteed to finish third in the NFC West, ahead of only the Cardinals. As a result, their home opponents for next season at SoFi Stadium are set.

Here’s who the Rams will host in their first season at the new venue: Seahawks, 49ers, Cardinals, Giants, Cowboys, Patriots, Jets, Bears.

https://www.facebook.com/Rams/photos/pb.113735558483.-2207520000../10158361728268484/?type=3&theater

As you can tell, the Rams will face the NFC East and the AFC East next season as part of the division rotation. They will also face the third-place team in the NFC North at home (Bears) and the third-place team in the NFC South on the road, which has yet to be determined.

That team could be any one of the Falcons, Bucs or Panthers, who are all separated by two games. Most likely, it’ll be the Falcons or Panthers, both of which are currently 5-9.

In addition to the third-place NFC South team, the Rams will also face the Eagles, Redskins, Bills and Dolphins on the road in 2020, as well as their usual NFC West foes.

Sean McVay highlights Rams’ biggest issues in lopsided loss to Cowboys

Tackling and poor execution on blocks were two of the Rams’ primary issues against Dallas.

Since Sean McVay took over as head coach, there haven’t been many instances where the Rams were embarrassed and completely dominated by an opponent. Sunday against the Cowboys was undeniably one of those instances, though.

They went into AT&T Stadium and laid an egg, getting blown out 44-21 by a sub-.500 Cowboys team. At one point, the Rams were down 37-7 before scoring two touchdowns in the final four minutes to make the final score a bit more respectable.

McVay was understandably frustrated after the game and in his press conference Monday, he admitted the film was reflective of just how poorly the Rams played as a team the day before.

“Yeah. It wasn’t very good. Really, in a lot of instances, it’s never as bad, it’s never as good as you think, but a lot of the things that we felt like after the game, I think, kind of showed up,” McVay said. “The expectation and the confidence that I do have in our players and in our team to be able to execute and just do the fundamental things that you have to be able to do to win in this league, we really just didn’t do. That’s not the norm for us.”

The Rams rushed for only 22 yards, Jared Goff threw a costly interception before halftime that led to a Cowboys touchdown and Dallas gained 263 yards on the ground in the win.

There was a lot that went wrong for the Rams, from their lack of protection for Goff to their inability to tackle, which led to Dallas scoring 44 points. For a defense that had been playing so well, this was a huge surprise.

McVay pointed out issues that plagued the team on Sunday, from missed tackles to poor execution on blocks.

“Defensively, not tackling, not maintaining some of our gap integrity, playing our leverages right in coverage. Those are things that we pretty much, for the most part, done a really nice job of. We didn’t do that yesterday” he said. “Again, you give Dallas credit for being able to force some of those missed tackles and things like that. That was a big result as some of the production that they had. Just not finishing some of the plays and then offensively, a lot of the same. Not attacking some of the blocks the way that we had talked about, not just making standard throws and making the catches, creating some separation. A lot of the things that are really just instrumental from a fundamentals and techniques standpoint to be able to play good football, we didn’t really do and didn’t give ourselves a chance to be in that game as a result of that.”

McVay acknowledged the problems the Rams had on offense, but he did come away pleased with the way the offense closed out the game. It doesn’t make the end result any better, but he did like the way Goff and company finished with two touchdown drives.

“Really, we just didn’t have really any sort of drive continuity. We weren’t converting on third downs, they did a good job on their offensive side being able to sustain some drives and then the next thing you know, the score is what it is,” he said. “We make no excuses about it, we didn’t play good enough – I was pleased with the way the guys finished. You don’t ever have any sort of moral victories, but I was interested to see how we continued to compete, especially offensively, even though it was, what it was and they were playing more softer zone-coverages and just to get some completions, get into a little bit of a rhythm was important to finish out that way.”

The Rams will take on the 49ers at Levi’s Stadium on Saturday night, which will help decide their playoff fate. A loss will end any chance of them making the postseason. A win by Minnesota on Sunday will do the same.

McVay’s squad doesn’t have much left to play for, but he expects to see a better team against the 49ers than the one that played in Dallas this week.

Rams slip in Week 16 power rankings after 44-21 loss to Cowboys

The Rams dropped in this week’s power rankings after falling to the Cowboys.

The Los Angeles Rams’ playoff chances weren’t exactly great entering Week 15, but they were just one game behind the Vikings for the sixth seed in the NFC. They owned the tiebreaker over Minnesota, too, making a postseason appearance very possible.

Unfortunately, the Rams’ loss combined with Minnesota’s win all but sealed Los Angeles’ fate. The Rams’ playoff chances now sit at 5% with the path to the postseason clear (yet near-impossible): win the last two and Minnesota loses its last two games.

With the Rams losing 44-21 to the Cowboys on Sunday, they dropped in Touchdown Wire’s power rankings for Week 16 – only one spot, though. They slid from No. 13 to 14, one spot behind the Cowboys and one in front of the 7-7 Bucs.

A year after reaching the Super Bowl, the Rams’ playoff hopes are hanging by a thread following a blowout loss to the Cowboys on Sunday. What’s gone wrong? Injuries have been a part of it. But the main problems are that Todd Gurley no longer is the focal point of the offense — no matter what the coaches say — and the offensive line isn’t very good. Gurley simply isn’t the same back he was. His knee isn’t healthy enough to carry this offense anymore. And quarterback Jared Goff isn’t good enough to carry the Rams, who must recalibrate their offense next season.

This was a disappointing season for the Rams, to say the least. They were aggressive midway through the year, acquiring Jalen Ramsey and trading away Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters. All of the trades were understandable and appeared to help Los Angeles, but they weren’t enough to get the Rams back to the playoffs.

Dante Fowler: Jaguars ‘literally hated me,’ wrongfully fined me over $700K

Dante Fowler Jr. was wrongfully fined 25 times for more than $700K by the Jaguars during his time there.

Dante Fowler Jr. and the Jacksonville Jaguars didn’t exactly have an amicable breakup when he was traded to the Los Angeles Rams last season. The Jaguars were clearly not happy with his on- or off-field performance, and he wasn’t thrilled with his role as a backup in Jacksonville.

There’s another layer to the split, though. this week, the NFLPA won an arbitration grievance against the Jaguars for requiring players to get treatment at the team’s facility. One player was fined 25 times for more than $700,000 for missing mandatory treatments, which were not actually required.

Fowler confirmed on Twitter that he was the player fined 25 times, saying the team hated him.

In the NFLPA’s statement, the association took a direct shot at the Jaguars and warned players about signing with Jacksonville.

Fowler was drafted third overall by the Jaguars in 2015. He was never a full-time starter with them, making just one start in three-plus seasons; he missed his rookie year due to injury.

He has since become a key player for the Rams, starting 18 of a possible 22 games since coming to L.A.

Josh Reynolds says Rams got in their own way vs. Cowboys

Josh Reynolds says the Cowboys didn’t do “too much to stop us” on Sunday.

Based on the scoreboard, it didn’t look like the Rams were completely shut down by the Cowboys. They scored a respectable 21 points on the road, which isn’t a terrible number. However, 14 of those points came in the final minutes of the game when it was already out of reach.

The Rams finished with only 289 yards of total offense and were 4-for-12 on third down, gaining only 22 yards on the ground. Wide receiver Josh Reynolds says it wasn’t anything the Cowboys did particularly well, but more a matter of the Rams getting in their own way.

“One play at a time,” Reynolds said of the status of the Rams offense. “They weren’t doing too much to stop us. We were kind of stopping ourselves. We weren’t executing plays. Busted blocks. It falls on all of us. We are going to take another week to correct things, watch this film, and get better.”

The Rams committed five penalties, Jared Goff threw a costly interception before halftime and the ground game was non-existent due to poor blocking and execution. Los Angeles was a mess offensively and on defense, Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard could not be stopped.

Taylor Rapp didn’t have the same take on Dallas’ performance, saying the Cowboys “totally dominated us.”

There’s no doubt the Rams tripped themselves up with mistakes, but the Cowboys also played well and didn’t make many errors.