LA Rams’ Loss To Buffalo Bills Changes Perspective

It was ugly, no doubt. Now after the LA Rams’ 19-30 loss to the Buffalo Bills, things look much, much different...inside and out.

Injuries

We’re approaching the first pass of an actual injury crisis.

DT Michael Brockers, RB Benny Cunningham, DE William Hayes and DE Robert Quinn were all held out of yesterday’s game after coming out of the final injury report. WR Kenny Britt and S Cody Davis, though listed on the report, were active for the game.

Making things worse, CB Trumaine Johnson looked to suffer a pretty serious ankle injury late while G Cody Wichmann was lost early on.

We were already pressed into a strange situation on the defensive line. Now we’ll have to see if we make any other roster moves following the release of CB Coty Sensabaugh late last week let alone the difficulty of shifting around the inactives.

And of course, this week’s injury report (including Thursday’s hypothetical) will be crucial.

Performance Issues

Not sure how much to even try to unpack here.

The offense remains a mess (ranked 32nd in yards per game), though the Rams did put together some decent drives in terms of yardage gained. The bigger issues are (a) consistency, (b) Todd Gurley’s ineffectiveness, (c) turnovers and (d) finishing drives.

Maybe more worrisome was the defense. For a unit that needs to perform at a top-10 level to get the Rams a win, they weren’t very close yesterday. Bills RB LeSean McCoy tore them up while Tyrod Taylor finished two drives from close proximity through the air. Any time the Rams’ defense gives up three touchdowns, something is very, very wrong.

Standings

Tough to get a sense of this division right now, partly because the Rams went 2-1 in their early run with the one loss being a blowout to the San Francisco 49ers.

Going to need another month to get anywhere close to knowing how things are going to shape up.

If you’re thinking that’s obvious, look at the AFC East or NFC South. Some divisions are shaping up very quickly between the haves and have nots.

Not so, the NFC West. October’s going to be wild...

Schedule

The loss changes things big time.

The Rams have just two games in front of them before the bye week in Week 8. Those games carry newfound heft after the Week 5 loss.

A road game in Detroit and a London-based battle against the Giants aren’t easily winnable games for the Rams considering their two losses this year. So finding a way to hold on to the winning record at a 4-3 minimum has to be the demand now. The Rams come out of the bye against a struggling yet talented Carolina Panthers team before playing three of their next four on the road, so things look very uninviting overall.

The bye’s the obvious marker. The Rams have to stay afloat until then.

Otherwise...well, let’s not consider that today.