The Rams dropped out of the top half of Doug Farrar’s power rankings this week.
The Los Angeles Rams dropped their fourth game of the season on Sunday, falling to the Pittsburgh Steelers 17-12 at Heinz Field. This week’s loss continued a troubling trend of inconsistency on offense, despite getting – and wasting – outstanding performances from their core group of defenders.
They seemed to be making progress against the Falcons and Bengals, but this weekend against a tougher opponent proved the Rams have not improved much at all. They dropped further down this week’s power rankings as Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire doesn’t see them as one of the 16 best teams in the NFL.
They’re No. 18 in his Week 11 power rankings after losing to the Steelers on Sunday afternoon.
After the Rams went 13-3 and reached the Super Bowl last season, head coach Sean McVay was the toast of the league. What a difference a year can make, and not in a good way. In a 17-12 loss to the Steelers on Sunday, McVay’s offense converted just one of its 14 third-down attempts. The Rams’ drives: Punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, fumble, punt, missed field goal, interception, interception, field goal, punt, punt, downs, interception. At one point, McVay pulled Jared Goff from the game, installed backup quarterback Blake Bortles, and then tried a fourth-down pass from punter Johnny Hekker, which was intercepted by safety Terrell Edmunds. Goff completed 22 of 41 passes for 243 yards, no touchdowns, and two picks of his own. Goff has a completion rate below 60% in each of his last five games, nobody seems to know why Todd Gurley isn’t getting the ball, and Cooper Kupp didn’t catch a single pass on a season-low four targets. The league may have figured out McVay and Goff, but McVay and Goff are helping their opponents with some truly ugly football.
Right ahead of the Rams are the Steelers, who are also 5-4. Behind Los Angeles are the Cardinals, who are better than their 3-6-1 record indicates. Now, it’s not as if the Rams have fallen below .500 or have become one of the worst teams in football, but given their talent level and expectations, 18th is certainly disappointing.
Even the Titans (No. 16) have moved ahead of the Rams and they have far fewer star players than Los Angeles. It’s just that they’ve gotten better play from their quarterback Ryan Tannehill, and more importantly, their offensive line.
The Seahawks are No. 6 after beating the 49ers on Monday night, while San Francisco ranks second.
Two years before his contract was set to expire, Jared Goff signed a massive extension with the Los Angeles Rams. It was worth $134 million for four years, including $110 million in guaranteed money.
He’ll have the highest cap hit in the NFL next season at $36 million, which is $2.5 million more than any other player. His play this year has done nothing to suggest the Rams were wise to pay Goff when they did, but how concerning has his performance been?
Put simply, it has raised some red flags, but there are also other factors to consider – like the offensive line being decimated and struggling mightily, and Todd Gurley’s lack of involvement.
We pose the question to you: How worried about Goff are you after seeing how he’s played this year? Share your thoughts and join the discussion at the Rams Wire forum.
Aaron Donald and Cory Littleton stood out as two of the best players in Week 10.
As poorly as the Los Angeles Rams played against the Steelers, there were a few standouts on the defensive side of the ball. Aaron Donald played particularly well, as did Cory Littleton, Clay Matthews and Taylor Rapp.
Donald had five tackles, a half-sack, three QB hits, two tackles for loss and a safety forced, helping limit the Steelers offense to just 273 yards. Littleton led all players with 14 tackles, also forcing and recovering a fumble, and making one tackle for loss.
Donald earned an overall grade of 92.0, which was the best of any interior defender in Week 10, also generating five pressures and three defensive stops. Littleton was even better in PFF’s eyes, receiving a grade of 92.3, second-best among all inside linebackers.
Littleton continues to fly under the radar as one of the NFL’s best coverage linebackers. He recorded five defensive stops, a forced fumble and allowed just three receptions for 16 yards.
Donald and Littleton have been studs for the Rams all season and are a big reason the defense has played as well as it has. The offense simply hasn’t done its part in many of the Rams’ other losses, which is a big reason they’re just 5-4 after nine games.
Los Angeles needs better play from Jared Goff and the offensive line if a playoff push is going to be made.
There are options available if the Rams want to sign a free agent to bolster the offensive line.
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The Los Angeles Rams have taken a few big hits to their offensive line recently, losing Brian Allen for the season and Rob Havenstein for at least one week, but possibly more. There will be a lot of shuffling up front, which already began on Sunday.
As it stands right now, Austin Blythe will move from guard to center, while Austin Corbett will likely take over at left guard. David Edwards should remain at right guard with Bobby Evans taking over for Havenstein. No matter how it shakes out, the Rams are in trouble.
Sean McVay said the Rams will look at free agents this week, so here are seven potential options for Los Angeles.
C John Sullivan
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
A familiar face for the Rams, Sullivan should at least be in consideration. The team moved on from him this offseason by declining his 2019 option, which was an understandable move after he struggled last season.
However, his veteran leadership would at least bring some stability to the line, and he’s obviously familiar with the blocking scheme.
The Rams will likely thrust rookie Bobby Evans into the starting lineup at right tackle.
Sean McVay shared some bad news about the Rams’ offensive line on Monday, announcing that Brian Allen is out for the year and Rob Havenstein might miss a few weeks. It’s two more blows to an offensive line that’s been one of the worst in the NFL, if not the very worst.
As much as Allen and Havenstein have struggled this season, replacing isn’t something the Rams want to do. It’s forcing them to dig into their depth up front, which is already thin at the moment.
McVay explained how the Rams will handle the recent injuries and shift the offensive line, but there are still moves that could be made.
“We’re working through some of those things. I think you got a chance to evaluate some guys yesterday, just based on the way the nature of the game went,” McVay said. “I thought Austin Blythe did a nice job at center – he’ll step into that position. Austin Corbett did some really good things at that left guard spot. Then I thought – before he ended up having to transition out to the tackle spot – David Edwards did a nice job at right guard. As far as the tackle position – exactly how we fill that void from Rob – you could look at Bobby Evans, some other options. We’re working through those things right now as all that information just within the last few hours – we’re working through that.”
To summarize, this is how the offensive line could look in Week 11 with Havenstein and Allen out:
LT Andrew Whitworth
LG Austin Corbett
C Austin Blythe
RG David Edwards
RT Bobby Evans
McVay said he feels good about Edwards staying at guard instead of moving him outside to right tackle – a position he played throughout his college career. He’d also prefer not to “feel like you’re falling off at two spots” by having to slide in a replacement at right guard where the Rams are getting solid play from Edwards.
The Rams could also look to the pool of free agents that are available, though McVay didn’t specify any names. Waivers are another option, if a player gets waived by a team in the near future.
“There’s certainly some names,” McVay said. “There’s some potential guys that you look to put a claim in and maybe other teams end up getting on that guy first. Those are things that we’re working through in the meantime.”
Perhaps the Rams tried to claim guard Aaron Stinnie off waivers from the Titans. The Bucs won that claim, and maybe that’s what McVay is referring to by saying “maybe other teams end up getting on that guy first.”
No other linemen have been claimed in the past few weeks, so if McVay is indicating the Rams tried to claim someone, Stinnie would make sense.
At the very least, Los Angeles needs to add some depth up front in case another injury occurs. Right now, Jamil Demby and Coleman Shelton are the only remaining offensive linemen on the 53-man roster as backups, with Chandler Brewer and Jeremiah Kolone on the practice squad.
The Rams have had the worst offensive line in football this year. You can blame the players, but blame falls on the guys that trusted them.
Things continue to get worse for the Rams’ struggling offensive line. After another horrifying performance against Pittsburgh on Sunday, the team has announced it’ll be without two starters up front for Week 11. Rob Havenstein has been ruled out for Sunday and could be out for a few weeks, while, starting center Brian Allen has is out for the remainder of the season.
For the first two years of Sean McVay’s tenure as head coach, the Rams rolled out a healthy and reliable offensive line. Not a single starter missed significant time as the offense rolled to back-to-back NFC West titles. The offensive line was the engine that kept the offense rolling.
In Year 3, the Rams have fielded the NFL’s worst offensive line, and the offense has struggled mightily as a result. They’ve gone from one of the most feared offensive units in the NFL to one of the league’s most exploitable and turnover-prone. The difference between McVay’s 2018 and 2019 offenses is night and day.
Injuries have devastated this offensive line. Still, they were bad before the injuries, and they’ll likely continue to be bad in the weeks ahead. The players deserve blame for their poor play. But the front office and the coaching staff deserve more of the blame for actually thinking this would work.
Stability and consistency were staples of the Rams offensive line in 2017 and 2018. Six players started meaningful games for the Rams in that stretch: Andrew Whitworth, Roger Saffold, John Sullivan, Rob Havenstein, and Jamon Brown, who was replaced by Austin Blythe in 2018. They weren’t a perfect unit, but it was rare that they’d be the reason the Rams lost a game, even with Sullivan’s slump in 2018. Jared Goff and Todd Gurley were comfortable playing behind that unit, which allowed Mcvay to unleash the offense he wanted to run.
The Rams chose to break up this unit. It wasn’t forced upon them, it was a choice. The decisions to move on from Sullivan and Saffold were financial ones. Sullivan wasn’t worth the money he was owed, but as far as we’re aware, the Rams made no attempt to bring him back on a cheaper deal. They simply declined his option for this season.
As for Saffold, it’s obvious that the Rams didn’t want to pay him the money he had coming to him. Saffold signed a four-year, $44 million deal with the Titans after eight seasons with the Rams. But Saffold’s contract has a cap number of just $6.375 million with an out after the 2020 season that wouldn’t result in a devastating cap hit. The Rams could have made this contract work if they thought he was worth it. They’re paying Clay Matthews similar money this season and had the cap space to give Tyler Higbee a four-year, $29 million contract extension. The Rams could have afforded to pay Roger Saffold, they just didn’t want to.
(Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images)
Still, walking away from Saffold wasn’t the worst decision. The bigger problem was how the team chose to replace Saffold and Sullivan. When the Rams didn’t add a single offensive lineman in free agency, many figured they’d choose to address the need with their first-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.
They didn’t. The Rams chose to trade out of the first round and move back 14 picks. Six of those 14 picks ended up being offensive lineman. The Rams still had a chance to take center Eric McCoy at 45. They decided to move back again and chose safety Taylor Rapp at 61. While Rapp has turned out to be a solid pick, McCoy is currently the starting center in New Orleans and has the second-highest PFF grade in the league at the position. The Rams did select two offensive linemen during the draft: Bobby Evans in the late-third round, and David Edwards in the late-fifth round.
The decision to move on from Saffold and Sullivan and not replace them in the offseason was due to the team’s trust in 2018 mid-round picks Joseph Noteboom and Brian Allen. Both the front office and the coaching staff must have agreed that Allen and Noteboom were good enough to replace Saffold and Sullivan despite no in-game evidence proving as much. Neither guy played any real meaningful snaps in 2018. Still, it sounded like McVay trusted them. That was enough to keep most fans optimistic about the pairing heading into 2019. Clearly, it wasn’t the right decision.
The team’s decision to add essentially no depth behind their new offensive line may have been an even worse decision. Drafting Evans and Edwards was the extent of the Rams adding offensive linemen this offseason. Since McVay doesn’t play his starters in the preseason, which included Allen and Noteboom this year, the backups got a chance to shine on the offensive line. They shined about as bright as a dull rock that had been buried under thousands of pounds of dirt for centuries. Jamil Demby, the team’s first lineman off the bench at every position, looked like he didn’t even belong in the NFL. It became clear quickly that the Rams would be in big trouble should a starter get injured.
It became just as clear that the Rams were already in big trouble early on in the season. Not only were Allen and Noteboom completely in over their heads, the right side of the line seemingly forgot how to play football, and father time continued to catch up with Whitworth. The Rams couldn’t have predicted that their three vets would regress like they did, but they should have known that their new additions would have failed to pick up the slack. They put all their eggs in the Allen and Noteboom basket. That basket was filled with holes, and now all we have to show for it is broken eggs.
In addition to Noteboom and Allen being exposed this year, the team’s lack of line depth came back to haunt them. Demby graded out as one of the worst offensive linemen in the NFL while filling in for Noteboom and went from starting to being a healthy scratch. Edwards has looked better than expected filling in at guard, but he’s not exactly setting the world on fire. With both Allen and Havenstein set to miss next week’s game against Chicago, the team will turn to Blythe at center and likely in-season acquisition Austin Corbett at left guard. Bobby Evans could take over at right tackle with Edwards remaining at right guard.
Goff and Gurley have been noticeably worse in 2019. McVay’s play-calling has been questionable at times. But the source of the offense’s regression starts and ends with the offensive line. They replaced veterans with un-proven youth, and the youth failed to prove anything. They’ve been bad, but maybe they weren’t that good to begin with? You can’t blame bad players for being bad. You have to blame the people who trusted them to be good.
The Rams dug themselves into this hole in the offseason. They’re going to need a pretty big shovel to dig themselves out of it. They’re not getting that shovel this season, and it might be tough to find a shovel big enough to dig themselves out of the hole this offseason. Snead and McVay have quite the task ahead of them when it comes to salvaging this offensive line.
The Rams lose yet another starting offensive lineman, as center Brian Allen has been ruled out for the remainder of the season.
Los Angeles Rams starting center Brian Allen has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2019 season with a knee injury, the team announced on Monday.
Allen suffered the injury during Sunday’s loss to Pittsburgh. It’s yet another blow to an offensive line that has been plagued by injuries and poor play all season long. Allen will likely join fellow first-year starter Joseph Noteboom on the injured reserve.
A fourth-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, Allen and fellow 2018 mid-round pick Noteboom were tasked with taking over for departing veterans John Sullivan and Roger Saffold. Sullivan, the team’s starting center last season, was cut simply due to his poor play and cap number. Allen didn’t prove to be much better. He finishes his season with a PFF grade of 53.9, the 27th-best among eligible centers and slightly better than Sullivan’s 51.8 grade from last year.
The Rams chose to replace Allen with starting guard Austin Blythe on Sunday, sliding him over from left guard to center and replacing him at guard with Austin Corbett. Blythe had primarily played center up until last season when he replaced suspended guard Jamon Brown. Corbett also has experience at center, but it seems likely the Rams will continue to roll with Blythe at the position.
The Rams have a severe lack of depth up front and losing Allen is a devastating blow. With starting right tackle Rob Havenstein also out for Week 11’s matchup with Chicago, the Rams will be without three of their Week 1 starters on the offensive line. The Rams replaced Havenstein with Coleman Shelton after the former was injured against the Steelers. It remains unclear what combination of players the Rams will roll out to protect Jared Goff against Chicago.
Sean McVay said both players will be out this week against the Bears.
The injury bug has bitten the Los Angeles Rams hard the last few weeks and it’s really taking a toll on the offense. Not only is center Brian Allen out for the year with an MCL injury, but Rob Havenstein has a knee injury of his own.
Sean McVay announced Monday that Havenstein and Brandin Cooks have both already been ruled out for Week 11 against the Chicago Bears.
Havenstein could be out multiple weeks with the meniscus injury, and Cooks is still recovering from his second concussion of the season.
The Rams’ depth up front was tested against the Steelers on Sunday.
In the last two years, the Los Angeles Rams started essentially the same offensive linemen for all 32 games. The only major change was with Austin Blythe replacing Jamon Brown at right guard last season.
This year has not been as kind to the Rams in terms of health and continuity. Joseph Noteboom is out for the year with a torn ACL, while both Brian Allen and Rob Havenstein suffered knee injuries on Sunday.
Those injuries have really tested the Rams’ depth up front this season, especially against the Steelers in Week 10. Looking at the snap counts, Los Angeles had to do a lot of shuffling on the offensive line.
Offense
Allen only played 13 snaps before injuring his knee. He was replaced by Blythe at center, which caused Austin Corbett to step in at left guard. No one on the offensive line played well Sunday, and the injuries only made things worse.
When Havenstein went down late in the game, David Edwards moved to right tackle after already making the switch to right guard to start the game. Coleman Shelton came in and played guard to complete the unit.
Josh Reynolds played more than Cooper Kupp, which is surprising. Kupp was blanked on the stat sheet, failing to catch any of the four targets that came his way. Robert Woods played every offensive snap, while Mike Thomas chipped in three plays.
Todd Gurley played 74 percent of the snaps, which is his third-highest snap share of the season. He only carried the ball 12 times, though, and gained 73 yards. Malcolm Brown and Darell Henderson split the other 20 snaps Gurley didn’t play.
Gerald Everett played more than double the snaps Tyler Higbee did and caught eight passes for 68 yards. Higbee caught three of his four targets for 22 yards. Everett remains the Rams’ best option at tight end.
The Rams have to hope San Francisco gets a win on Monday night.
The Los Angeles Rams’ playoff hopes took another big hit on Sunday following their loss to the Steelers. However, thanks to a few other NFC foes losing, the Rams are still in the hunt for a postseason berth.
It’s just that a win over Pittsburgh would’ve helped their chances greatly, pushing them closer to the No. 6 seed. As it stands right now, the Rams are seventh in the conference, bunched in a tie with the Eagles and Panthers, and just one game ahead of their Week 11 opponent, the Bears.
Let’s take a look at the playoff picture as it stands right now.
Clearly, things are tight in the NFC. The Rams are 1.5 games out of a wild-card berth behind the Vikings, and two games back of the Seahawks. They trail the 49ers by 2.5 games in the division and have very little chance to catch San Francisco.
Monday night’s matchup between the Seahawks and 49ers only complicates things for the Rams. On one hand, they’ll pick up half a game on someone. On the other, one of the teams is sure to move another step ahead of the Rams – barring a tie, of course.
So who should the Rams (and fans) be rooting for tonight? Following Los Angeles’ loss on Sunday, that answer is much clearer: San Francisco.
If the 49ers win tonight, they’ll move to 9-0, which is four games ahead of the Rams. With only seven games remaining, that’s a margin too wide for Los Angeles to close. More importantly, it’ll drop the Seahawks back to 7-3, which is 1.5 games ahead of the Rams. That’s not an impossible gap to close, especially with the two teams having one matchup left this season.
Seattle winning would give the 49ers their first loss and drop San Francisco to three games ahead of the Rams, but it would also give the Seahawks a 2.5-game cushion for a wild-card spot. That’s a recipe for disaster for the Rams and would create an even steeper climb to the fifth or sixth seed.
There’s no doubt the Rams need a lot of help. They need the Cowboys, Eagles, Seahawks, Vikings and even the Panthers to lose quite a few games. The 49ers crumbling wouldn’t hurt, but San Francisco’s cushion is likely already too big for the Rams to overcome.
On Monday night, the Rams have to hope San Francisco comes away victorious and pushes further ahead in the division – simultaneously knocking the Seahawks back a bit.
