Heading into the Week 9 bye week, the Los Angeles Rams have to be feeling disappointed with their recent performance against the Miami Dolphins.
Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins offense did not need to do too much as their defense and special teams unit scored touchdowns that the Rams could have avoided. Turnovers were Los Angeles’s demise, with Jared Goff being responsible for all four of them in the 28-17 loss.
Goff was intercepted twice and lost two fumbles, one of which was scooped up and returned for a touchdown. The signal-caller was under duress most of the game with Miami dialing up blitzes that baited him into ill-advised throws.
It was an ugly game in every phase for the Rams but Goff took most of the responsibility for the loss, via Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic:
“Not even close to good enough on my part, and throughout the whole game,” Goff said. “Just need to be better. Got to be better. I will be. … They did a good job applying some pressure. … We did not respond quickly enough, or well enough.”
Goff has had a solid 2020 season so far, but his performance against the Dolphins was easily his worst of the year. His decision making under pressure has always been questionable at best, but Miami was able to expose that weakness and capitalize on them in a game where Tagovailoa only had 94 passing yards.
While the defense has continued to get better each week, Sean McVay and the offense have seemingly regressed since their hot start. Some of that is due to the level of competition the Rams have faced and lends to some concern midway through the season.
However, the bright side is that Los Angeles has a week off to evaluate their play and resolve issues they find on tape. Goff in particular should bounce back as it is hard to imagine him having another turnover-filled day like he had. There is no reason to panic yet, although a looming date with the Seattle Seahawks will say a lot about where this team stands among the rest of the playoff-hopeful teams.
