Things were looking up for the Los Angeles Rams after the first week of the season as they beat the Seattle Seahawks, 30-13. Then they lost a tough game to the San Francisco 49ers, a game many fans expected them to lose.
Monday night’s loss to the Cincinnati Bengals is the first real instance of significant disappointment for the Rams this year. They were flat for just about the entire game, scoring only one touchdown in the 19-16 loss, which came with 1:03 left to play.
Buy Rams TicketsSean McVay was outcoached, Matthew Stafford was outplayed by a hobbled Joe Burrow and the Rams could do nothing to stop Ja’Marr Chase.
Here are our seven takeaways from the loss, which sank the Rams to 1-2 on the year.
1
Alaric Jackson’s injury was huge
When Jackson went down with a thigh injury, the pass protection fell apart. Zach Thomas was a disaster at left tackle, allowing constant pressure on Matthew Stafford and even a couple of sacks.
It didn’t help that Joe Noteboom got hurt in the second half, too, but the loss of Jackson was massive. He’s been a stud at left tackle and the Rams clearly don’t have a viable replacement for him. Trey Hendrickson dominated against Thomas throughout the night and the Rams had no answer for him, surprisingly choosing not to use a tight end or running back to chip him at the line.
2
Rams caught a lot of bad breaks
Things did not go the Rams’ way in this one. It started with Tutu Atwell barely stepping out of bounds on the 22-yard end around, though it’s hard to definitively say he even did step out. The Rams also had a touchdown called back when the Bengals got a late timeout call into the official.
Logan Wilson’s first interception appeared to hit the ground, too, which was another play that went the Bengals’ way. But make no mistake: The Rams didn’t do enough to win this game. There were some bad breaks and questionable calls, but Los Angeles deserved to lose after going 1-for-11 on third down.
3
Sean McVay called an awful game
The Rams have shown confidence in Kyren Williams this season, to the point where they traded Cam Akers. But apparently, McVay didn’t have enough trust in him to use the running back very much against one of the worst run defenses in the league. The Bengals came into this game having allowed the most rushing yards in the NFL through two weeks.
Yet, the Rams ran it just 10 times with Williams, and they chose not to give him the ball on first-and-goal from the 2 on the opening drive. McVay’s reluctance to run the ball in the red zone bit the Rams badly.
He also opted not to give Zach Thomas any help at left tackle after he replaced Alaric Jackson. Thomas was struggling badly against Trey Hendrickson, but McVay failed to come up with a plan to help out his left tackle. The result? Constant pressure and sacks allowed from the backside.
This was a frustrating game from McVay because it was so winnable for the Rams.
4
Major regression on third down
The Rams went from being the most efficient team on third down through two weeks to putting together one of the worst performances we’ve seen from them on third down. Los Angeles was just 1-for-11 on that critical down, with the lone conversion being Tutu Atwell’s late touchdown with 1:03 left. Other than that, the Rams were 0-for-10, facing third-and-long far too often.
The Rams were terrible situationally, going 1-for-11 on third down and 1-for-4 in the red zone. That’s the primary reason they lost this game.
5
Rams had no answer for Ja’Marr Chase
Chase came into this game with 10 receptions for 70 yards in the first two weeks. Against the Rams, he had no trouble getting open and making big plays. In the Bengals’ win, he caught 12 passes for 141 yards, hauling in 12 of his 15 targets.
The Bengals moved him around the formation a bunch, putting him on the left side against Derion Kendrick, the right against Ahkello Witherspoon and in the slot where Cobie Durant was. No matter what, the Rams didn’t have an answer. No one could cover him and their zone approach didn’t work because the tackling was so poor on the back end.
6
Aaron Donald and Kobie Turner are forming a nice duo
The Rams don’t have a great defensive front. The edge rushers haven’t been very effective against the run or pass, and Donald is getting doubled or tripled on every snap. But alongside Donald, rookie Kobie Turner is holding his own.
Turner played really well against the Bengals, taking advantage of Donald’s attention-drawing dominance by winning his one-on-one matchups. He and Donald had success with some of their stunts up front, which is encouraging to see in the third week of the season.
Expect to see Turner continuing to play a bunch of snaps on the defensive line alongside Donald.
7
Bengals had a game plan for Puka Nacua
Nacua had been Stafford’s favorite target through two games, catching 25 passes in the first two weeks of the season. But against the Bengals, he had just five catches on seven targets, totaling 72 yards – 37 of which came on one play during the Rams’ final drive.
The Bengals had a good game plan to slow down Nacua, being physical with him at the line and ensuring that he couldn’t just sit down against the zones and get chunks of yardage. They challenged him and while he didn’t play poorly, he also wasn’t getting open as often as he was in the first two weeks.
