Category: Latest Rams news

Rams QB Jared Goff wins NFC Offensive Player of the Week for 424-yard game

Jared Goff had a huge performance against the Cardinals, winning NFC Offensive Player of the Week.

Jared Goff bounced back from an ugly month of December by throwing for 424 yards and two touchdowns, putting together his best game of the season in Week 13. He picked apart the Cardinals defense and looked sharp throwing to all areas of the field, connecting with Robert Woods 13 times for 172 yards alone.

Goff was recognized for his performance, being named NFC Offensive Player of the Week on Wednesday. It’s the first time he’s won the award this season, but the third time in his career he’s taken it home. He last won it in Week 4 of 2018 against the Vikings.

Goff completed 32 of 43 passes on Sunday, good for a completion rate of 74.4% – the highest of his season thus far. It’s just his second game with a completion percentage above 70, and the fourth time he surpassed 300 yards.

Goff now has 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions on the year, snapping a streak of three straight games without a touchdown pass.

Rams place JoJo Natson on IR, promote TE from practice squad

The Rams made a roster move Tuesday, replacing JoJo Natson with Kendall Blanton.

Sean McVay announced on Monday that return specialist JoJo Natson would be out 4-6 weeks after injuring his hamstring in Week 13. It turns out he won’t be back this season as the Rams placed him on injured reserve Tuesday.

In a corresponding move, they promoted tight end Kendall Blanton from the practice squad, taking Natson’s place on the 53-man roster.

Blanton was signed by the Rams as an undrafted free agent out of Missouri this year. He’s a bigger tight end at 6-feet-6, 262 pounds, running a 4.95-second 40-yard dash at the combine. In his final season at Missouri, he caught 22 passes for 177 yards and two touchdowns in 10 games, missing three games with a knee injury.

It’s unclear if his promotion is related to Gerald Everett’s status. Everett missed Sunday’s game with a knee injury and is considered day-to-day, according to McVay.

The Rams now have four tight ends on the active roster.

Watch: Michael Brockers was mic’d up and dying for a sack vs. Cards

Michael Brockers wanted a sack so badly – and he got one … sort of.

Michael Brockers is more of a run defender than a pass rusher for the Rams, playing the defensive end position in their 3-4 scheme. Still, he has three sacks and nine quarterback hits this season, which are both more than double his totals in 2018.

He had a half-sack against the Cardinals on Sunday afternoon, a game in which he was mic’d up. In the second half, after the Rams had already sacked Kyler Murray five times, Brockers was desperate to get one of his own.

He nearly did, splitting a sack with Aaron Donald in the third quarter. It all unfolded on the video below and it’s hilarious.

Brockers is a leader in the locker room and on the sidelines, and it’s easy to see why in the above video. He’s the longest-tenured player on the team and has been through all the ups and downs in St. Louis and Los Angeles, culminating in a Super Bowl appearance last season.

he’s as entertaining as he is productive, recording 23 career sacks and 334 tackles.

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Rams show off custom cleats for ‘My Cause My Cleats’ in Week 14

Jared Goff and at least 19 other Rams will take part in “My Cause My Cleats” this weekend.

Several players often go out onto the field for pregame warmups wearing awesome custom cleats. They’re not allowed to wear them during the game because they don’t conform to the league’s uniform rules, but that’ll change in Week 14.

The NFL is once again running its “My Cause My Cleats” campaign in 2019, allowing players to wear custom cleats to raise awareness for causes they support. The Rams have taken part in the past and this week, a number of players will be wearing shoes that represent a foundation or cause that’s close to them.

Take a look at some of the cleats that will be worn by Rams players in the tweet below.

The full gallery of photos can be found here, which features the cleats of players such as Jared Goff, Aaron Donald, Cory Littleton, Taylor Rapp, Andrew Whitworth and Robert Woods. In total, there are 20 players listed in the gallery who will be wearing customized cleats on Sunday night.

Goff is supporting California Strong, Whitworth and Woods are wearing cleats for Make-A-Wish, Rapp is honoring the United Way and Donald is backing his own foundation, AD99Solutions, which helps underprivileged youth in Pittsburgh.

The Rams are hosting the Seahawks in Week 14 with kickoff set for 8:20 p.m. ET at the Coliseum.

NFL Week 14 power rankings: Rams make big jump after 34-7 win

The Rams moved up 6 spots after their win over the Cardinals.

The month of November was a struggle for the Los Angeles Rams, going 1-2 with a stretch of unimpressive play on offense. They appear to have broken out of their slump after crushing the Cardinals 34-7 on the road, staying alive in the race to the postseason.

They were consistently ranked in the bottom-half of Doug Farrar’s power rankings at Touchdown Wire, but the Rams made a big jump forward with their lopsided win over the Cardinals. They moved up from No. 19 to 13, which was one of the biggest leaps in the league this week.

Here’s what Farrar wrote about how he views the Rams right now.

If Jared Goff could play consistently as he did against the Cardinals on Sunday, there wouldn’t be so much angst about his contract, his future, and how limited Sean McVay’s offense has become with him at the helm. But against Arizona’s leaky pass defense, Goff looked as good as he ever will, completing 32 of 43 passes for 424 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Todd Gurley also got back on track with 95 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries. It may be too late for the Rams to do anything in a postseason sense, but for one Sunday, they managed to look like the team they envisioned in training camp.

Los Angeles simply hasn’t been able to put together many games where the offense and defense are both clicking. They’ve had trouble with consistently on offense, largely because of Jared Goff’s struggles.

Outside of two games against the Bucs and Ravens where the Rams allowed 100 total points, the Rams defense has been great this season. In the other 10 games, they allowed a total of 150 points.

They have four weeks to get on track and make a push for the postseason, but it might be too late for them to make any noise.

David Long, Todd Gurley make PFF’s Week 13 Team of the Week

David Long had a standout performance against the Cardinals on Sunday.

Todd Gurley continues to run the ball well for the Rams, racking up 95 yards on just 19 carries against the Cardinals on Sunday. He has at least 73 yards rushing in three of his last four games and has averaged 4.63 yards per carry in that stretch.

David Long Jr. hasn’t gotten much playing time as a rookie this season, but he was great against the Cardinals in Week 13, too. He played 27 snaps, which nearly equaled his total in the previous 11 games combined, and did a nice job in coverage. Long made two tackles and had one pass defensed in the game.

Both Gurley and Long earned spots on Pro Football Focus’ Team of the Week for this past slate of games. Gurley’s 90.6 overall grade was the best of any running back in Week 13, while Long’s 79.4 was the second-best among corners.

Here’s what was said about Gurley:

It’s been a quiet year for Gurley, but Week 13 did wonders for his season-long outlook. Tasked with 19 carries against the Arizona Cardinals, Gurley racked up 95 rushing yards, 61 rushing yards after contact, one touchdown, four additional first downs and three forced missed tackles. As if that wasn’t enough, he also took his lone pass target of the day 22 yards after the catch for a touchdown.

And what PFF wrote about Long’s performance.

One of PFF’s pre-draft favorites, Rams cornerback David Long did a great job against the Cardinals’ passing attack in Week 13, forcing an incompletion on his single target of the game. He ended the game having allowed a passer rating of just 39.6.

Long is a big part of the Rams’ plans in 2020 and beyond, and could very well be a starter next season opposite Jalen Ramsey. As a third-round pick this year, he hasn’t gotten on the field much, but that could change as the coaching staff gains more trust in him.

 

Sean McVay loved Jared Goff laying a block for Robert Woods

Sean McVay had no issue with Jared Goff blocking for Robert Woods: “Hell yeah. Go make that block, man.”

Jared Goff earned some respect from his coaches and teammates on Sunday, not by throwing for 424 yards and leading the Rams to a 34-7 win, but by what he did when the ball wasn’t in his hands.

On a busted screen pass to Robert Woods, Goff laid a block for his wide receiver after Woods had to reverse field and go completely across the formation. Goff got in Patrick Peterson’s way, who essentially stiff-armed the quarterback, but it freed Woods up to gain big yardage.

The play went for 48 yards and Sean McVay loved it.

“Hell yeah. Go make that block, man,” McVay said on Monday. “I think what’s as fun as anything is the excitement that you hear from the teammates. When you get a chance to show the things that we did well or that we can do better collectively, and you hear how fired up guys get. I think you pick and choose if that’s a different player out there, I think he told you guys yesterday. Peterson got him good around the neck right there, but he ended up getting that block and Robert went inside. I think those are things that sometimes is just reactionary.”

McVay never expected the play to go for 48 yards, but there are a lot of instances where a play doesn’t go as planned and it winds up working out.

“This is still a game that is full of a bunch of different things that you don’t know how to exactly a play is going to play out,” he said. “If you told me that that screen was going to cut across the grain for a 48-yard gain, I would have told you there’s no way. That’s why when you’ve got 22 moving parts on each snap, sometimes things play out and I think that was a natural reaction for him. I think his guys love that and so did we.”

Goff already had the respect of his teammates, but it never hurts to make a play like that one to fire everyone up. Cooper Kupp would rather his quarterback not block downfield, though.

“I heard about that. I heard ‘PP’ gave him a little shot on that one. I typically discourage Jared from blocking as much as he can,” Kupp said after the game.

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How Rams can take over No. 6 seed on Sunday after Vikings’ loss

The Rams are still very much alive in the NFC.

The Rams got a little help from their bitter rivals on Monday night at CenturyLink Field. The Seattle Seahawks beat the Minnesota Vikings 37-30, not only taking over the NFC West lead, but also pulling the Rams one game closer to catching the Vikings for a wild-card berth.

Los Angeles went into Week 13 two games back of Minnesota and handled its business by beating the Cardinals 34-7, moving to 7-5 on the year. With the Vikings losing and falling to 8-4, the Rams are now just one game back for the sixth seed in the NFC.

Incredibly, after it seemed like the Rams had very little chance of making the playoffs, their chances are still alive and well. In fact, they can take over the No. 6 seed in the conference as early as Sunday night. It’s fairly simple, too.

They move to No. 6 in the NFC if:

  • Rams beat Seahawks AND Vikings lose to Lions

Both teams would be 8-5 and the Rams would hold the tiebreaker based on conference record. They don’t play the Vikings this season, so head-to-head won’t come into play, but Minnesota has one fewer game against the NFC remaining so the Rams are technically in control of that tiebreaker.

If the Rams happen to lose to the Seahawks in Week 14 and the Vikings beat Detroit, which many expect to happen, it’ll set Los Angeles back significantly. They would have to overcome a two-game deficit in three weeks, having to face the Cowboys, 49ers and Cardinals to close out the year.

The Rams would need to win at least two of their last three and have the Vikings lose at least two of their final three games, too. Minnesota faces the Lions, Chargers, Packers and Bears the rest of the way.

Todd Gurley, Taylor Rapp among highest-graded Rams by PFF in Week 13

Check out the five highest-graded Rams from Week 13.

The Rams finally put it all together on Sunday against the Cardinals, blowing out their division rivals 34-7 at State Farm Stadium. It was a much-needed bounce back after getting crushed by the Ravens at home, keeping their playoff chances alive in the NFC.

The Rams were great on both offense and defense, which isn’t something that can be said about many of their performances this season. Todd Gurley had a productive day with 95 yards rushing, Jared Goff put up 424 yards in about three quarters of action and Robert Woods racked up 172 yards receiving on 13 catches.

Defensively, Aaron Donald was once again a menace, while Taylor Rapp broke out with a pick-six and another pass defensed. The rookie safety earned some high praise from Pro Football Focus, which gave him an 86.4 overall grade – second-best on the Rams defense this week.

Gurley had the highest offensive grade (90.6), followed by Tyler Higbee (85.8) and Woods (85.2).

The Rams can’t expect to win by 27 every week, but they are certainly capable of putting together performances like this one more regularly than they have. The offense had very little trouble moving the ball against Arizona’s underwhelming secondary, but the defense completely shut down Kyler Murray and a unit that was gaining momentum.

It’s good to see Goff and the offense back on track after an ugly November.

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Analyzing Rams’ snap counts in Week 13 win vs. Cardinals

The Rams dug deep on their depth chart in Sunday’s blowout.

The Rams were able to give their backups some playing time on Sunday afternoon in Arizona, blowing out the Cardinals 34-7 on the road. It was their fifth straight win over the Cardinals dating back to 2017, all of which were by at least 16 points.

As a result of the lopsided score, the snap counts were impacted and starters didn’t get as much run as they typically do. Many of the starters on offense were replaced in the fourth quarter, as was the majority of the defense.

Blake Bortles and Darrell Henderson handled the offense on the final few drives, giving Jared Goff and Todd Gurley a rest. Here’s how the rest of the snap counts broke down on that side of the ball.

Offense

Tyler Higbee was the starting tight end with Gerald Everett out, and he made the most of his opportunity. He played 91% of the snaps, which was the same number as Jared Goff and the other starters who were pulled in the fourth quarter, turning his extended playing time into a career-high seven catches for 107 yards and one touchdown.

Robert Woods led all wide receivers with 67 snaps played, followed by Brandin Cooks (61) and Cooper Kupp (57). Josh Reynolds played 29 snaps, while Mike Thomas got in for seven snaps at the end of the game. Woods was targeted 19 times in the game, so when he was running routes, Goff was looking his way.

Todd Gurley got a little bit of a breather, playing only 68% of the snaps. Malcolm Brown spelled him on occasion, while Henderson closed out the game with four carries for 17 yards.

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