There wasn’t much to be excited about coming out of the Rams’ 28-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday afternoon, but not everyone on the team played poorly. The defense, in particular, had a strong afternoon, limiting the Dolphins to only 145 total yards and eight first downs.
The offense is what struggled most, committing four turnovers, three of which led directly to Dolphins touchdowns. The discrepancy between the offense and defense were reflected in Pro Football Focus’ Week 8 grades for the Rams, with most of the top performers coming on Brandon Staley’s unit.
Here are some of the notable performances by Rams players, led by Aaron Donald, Rob Havenstein and Taylor Rapp.
Yesterday's loss was not without some notable individual performances by the @RamsNFL (PFF grades):
Donald 94.8^
Havenstein 87.5+
Rapp 85.1*
Williams 82.2*
Ebukam 82.2*
Hollins 76.8*
Young 74.7*^matches career-high
+career-high
*season-best pic.twitter.com/3J70uwLWV0— J.B. Long (@JB_Long) November 2, 2020
It may seem unusual for Havenstein to have a career-best grade in a game where Jared Goff was under constant pressure, but he wasn’t directly at fault for the offense’s shortcomings. Those fall more on Goff and Sean McVay, who failed to adjust to the Dolphins’ zero-blitz packages and stacked fronts.
Rapp forced a fumble and broke up another pass, while Donald forced a fumble and had four tackles. Kenny Young had a much better game than what we’ve seen lately from him, making smart reads and form tackles on ball carriers.
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