Week 5 Recap Reaction: SOSAR In LA

The Los Angeles Rams have fallen to 3-2.

After a streak of three wins, the Rams lost in Week 5 to give the Buffalo Bills their own three-game winning streak. The Rams were without three of their defensive line starters (Michael Brockers, William Hayes and Robert Quinn), leaning on players like Cam Thomas, Ethan Westbrooks, Eugene Sims and Dominique Easley to fill the void. Sadly, not all the blame can go strictly to the defense, which also lost CB Trumaine Johnson to a right leg injury late in the game.

A Fisherball offense must do one thing absolutely perfect to give the team a chance: not turn over the ball. Despite having the worst-ranked offense and somehow being even worse this season in YPG, the Rams have three wins out of five attempts due to their extremely stingy and turnover-hungry defense. However, having two pick-sixes in the last three weeks is not a sustainable recipe to win at least half your games. Case Keenum is not the long term answer at quarterback. While he filled in admirably leading the Rams to a “win” in time of possession, yardage, etc. the turnovers by him and Todd Gurley helped to bury the chances to win the game.

Mistakes were not limited to just to offense. The defense had some extremely head scratching plays and terrible gap discipline:

While the Rams defense did buckle up in the second half, it’s hard to lean on a unit to prevent scores when not on the field (turnovers).

Lastly, coaching seems to be a problem. Again.

The Rams continue to be penalized at an alarming rate. Jeff Fisher preaches that he is trying to fix this culture but the Rams had many avoidable penalties (back to back delay of games, roughing the kicker, holding in the red zone by Saffold on a five yard loss, etc.). In addition to these mistakes and unfixed errors, Jeff Fisher went for a fake punt on his own end of the field with 4+ min left in the game AFTER kicking a field goal on the 5 yard line with 6 min left. This coach justifies going for two while up 11 with four minutes left in a game in hopes to “make the kicker make two kicks”. This coach justifies that going for a fake punt on your own quarter of the field is a better chance play and choice than going for it on fourth and goal from the five yard line. This coach justifies that he “liked the look” and that he “wouldn’t have called it if he didn’t think it would work”. Every week is a new mystery as we all get to dive into the mind of Jeff Fisher. It’s not just the fans that see or think it.

No, the sky is not falling. The Rams are still 3-2 and can correct the ship. But if I had to take my chances, it’d be in the red zone and not on the shadows of my own end zone with the coach who told us all to “kiss his ass”.