Last season, the Rams averaged 33 points per game, which was good for second-best in the NFL. They only had one game in which they failed to score at least 23 points, rolling to a 13-3 record and eventual Super Bowl appearance.
In comparison, Los Angeles has scored just 35 total points in its last three games and now only average 22.6 points per game on the year – 14th in the NFL. The numbers don’t tell the whole story because the offense has been abysmal in recent weeks, and is one of the biggest reasons for Los Angeles’ unimpressive record.
Jared Goff is obviously at the forefront of it all, being the leader of the offense. He hasn’t thrown a touchdown since Halloween and has five interceptions and four fumbles in his last three games.
After Monday’s demoralizing 45-6 loss to the Ravens, Goff was asked what needs to happen for the Rams to fix their offense.
“A million things. I think there’s no one thing. It’s just be better consistently. I know that’s easy to say, but it’s the truth. We need to be better down-in and down-out and not kill ourselves with little mistakes, penalties. I can distribute the ball better, we can do different things in the run game. There’s a million things. There’s not one thing and I think you just have to focus every single day on getting better, trusting the people around you and just do your best.”
A million is a slight exaggeration by the fourth-year quarterback, but he’s not wrong about the number of issues plaguing the Rams. They’re committing bad penalties at inopportune times, even taking a touchdown off the board against the Bears last week.
The ground game has gotten nothing going as Los Angeles ranks 24th in rushing and 26th in yards per carry.
Goff isn’t one to point fingers and he’s not doing that here, but at the same time he probably realizes he’s not the only player to blame for the Rams’ struggles. When asked about the offense as a whole and whether the Rams are far off from being an elite team, he had this to say.
“I don’t know. It’s so hit or miss every week. You want to stay consistent, but I think this game just got away from us. That’s the best way to describe it. Got away from us and I think everyone on offense, defense, special teams would look at themselves and say, ‘We can be better.’ I’ve said this before, it starts with me. I can be better and I think like I mentioned, we let the game get away from us.”
The Rams are running out of time to get the ship righted, having just five weeks left in the season. With their playoff hopes all but evaporated, this team might have to start looking forward to 2020 instead of the postseason.