Los Angeles Rams fans couldn’t help but get excited after the first three weeks of the 2021 NFL season with the team picking up three big victories and looking like the best team in the league in the process.
The addition of Matthew Stafford was looking like a brilliant move to put the Rams over the top, and while the defense wasn’t as dominant as last season, they were still playing well enough to win.
That all came crashing down in Week 4 though when the Rams welcomed the division-rival Arizona Cardinals to town for a matchup of undefeated teams. It was the Cardinals, not the Rams, that looked like the best team in the league, cruising to a 37-20 victory in a game that they dominated in all facets.
While this was far from a must-win game this early in the season, every division game carries extra importance considering how stacked the NFC West is. This also was the chance for the Rams to make another statement that they are the best and most complete team in football and they failed to do so.
In my weekly observations and analysis, I took a look at what went wrong for the Rams against the Cardinals.
Humble pie
I sat here a week ago and wrote a ton of words about how great the Rams are. How they were the Super Bowl favorites, how Matthew Stafford was the MVP, Jalen Ramsey the Defensive Player of the Year, etc.
Well…it’s now time for me to eat my humble pie just like the Rams.
They didn’t look like any of those things against the Cardinals. Arizona had more first downs (27 to 24), more total yards (465 to 401), fewer turnovers (zero to two) and more time of possession (35:10 to 24:50).
The two turnovers, one that was a Stafford interception on a deep shot to DeSean Jackson and the other a Sony Michel fumble, were costly and something that we hadn’t seen from the Rams offense in the first three weeks.
It was one of those days where everything went wrong and while I don’t think it’s cause for overreaction, it is worth looking into what the issues were and how they can be corrected moving forward.
Back to the drawing board, defense
So let me start with the defense. The Rams’ defense was the best in football all of last year. Just flying around hitting hard, getting pressure on quarterbacks and creating turnovers. It was so much fun to watch.
Through four weeks of this season though, the Rams defense ranks 26th in yards per game allowed (396.8) and 19th in points per game allowed (24.8).
I wasn’t really concerned about the defense until now for a couple of reasons. First, with the addition of Stafford and the offensive improvements, the defense doesn’t have to be the best in the league for this team to win games. And second, even though the defense gave up a ton of yards the first three weeks, they were essentially a “bend but don’t break” defense that remained stout in the red zone, creating turnovers and holding teams to field goals.
While part of that is luck and good fortune, my thought was that the scheme and production in the middle of the field would improve as Raheem Morris got more familiar with his personnel.
That certainly didn’t happen in Week 4 though as L.A. had no answers for Kyle Murray and the Cardinals rushing attack. It’s hard to win a game in this league when you allow more than five yards per carry and 216 total yards on the ground.
Combine that with the Rams not being able to contain Murray and that is not a recipe for success. When you’re facing a running quarterback like Murray (who is also a very good thrower), the defensive ends have to be able to keep containment and not let him get outside the numbers where he can create plays with his feet and/or arm.
With the receiver talent on Arizona being as good as it is, the secondary had a tough enough challenge as it is and it was made tougher by Murray being able to extend plays. David Long Jr., in particular, was being picked on all day regardless of who he was covering.
The Rams tried to keep a spy on Murray, but that simply doesn’t work when the player who is being spied is faster than the spy himself.
The easiest solution is for the Rams to get quicker pressure on Murray, but credit to the Cardinals offensive line for not letting that happen. It was Aaron Donald’s most quiet game in years.
Running game was solid, why abandon it?
On the offensive side of the ball, it just looked like a rare day where Stafford wasn’t on the same page as his wideouts, particularly Cooper Kupp, who came into the game leading the league in receptions, yards and touchdowns but only had five receptions for 64 yards.
My only complaint offensively would be why did they get away from the run? I’m not going to pretend to know more about football than Sean McVay but I just thought he got a little pass-happy when the run was working.
Darrell Henderson returned to action and had a solid game, carrying the ball 14 times for 89 yards (6.4 yards per carry). Even though the Rams were losing, that didn’t mean they had to get away from their game plan and start passing on every play, particularly in the red zone.
The main sequence that comes to mind was early in the fourth quarter when the Rams were at the 1-yard line and tried a QB sneak that didn’t work. Instead of going back to the run, they attempted a pass on fourth-and-goal that fell incomplete, basically ruling out any possibility of a comeback.
I think the Rams did a really good job of balancing the pass and run in the first three weeks of the season and benefitted because of it, being able to make big plays off the play action. Hopefully they can get back to that moving forward against a Seattle Seahawks team that has struggled against the run, allowing 152 yards per game on the ground.
Up next…
As I just alluded to, the Rams now travel to take on the Seahawks on Thursday night in another tough division game.
While Thursday Night Football is never fun for the players, it could be a benefit for the Rams right now as they will not have any time to think about the Cardinals loss, being forced to turn the page and focus on Seattle immediately.
