Sunday was a bloodbath. Nobody survived; not Jared Goff, not Todd Gurley, not the defense and not Jeff Fisher. The Rams, in a display of putrid preparation and effort, got dismantled 44-14, in which all 14 for the Rams points game in fourth quarter garbage time. For all intents and purposes, the game was a shutout.
Rams Offense vs Falcons Defense
The Falcons defense is league average, at best. Their is youth at every level of the defense and the defensive line needs to add talent this off-season. Flashes of great play have been seen throughout the season, but largely, the Falcons defense gives up as many big plays as they create themselves. That was not the case on Sunday.
The Rams offense was swarmed by Falcons defenders. Every passing play was suffocated, either by defensive end Vic Beasley or by one of the defensive backs, i.e. Jalen Collins. On the ground, the Rams had something going, but completely abandoned the running game once it was clear that this game was going to be a shootout.
Once the game was thrust upon Jared Goff’s shoulders, the game was over. Goff, while he had a handful of nice throws, was not ready to handle such a task. He failed to navigate the pocket, could not consistently throw accurate passes and snowballed off of his mistakes. It was an ugly performance.
Game Notes:
- Jared Goff does a good job of sensing pressure, but fails to adjust to it.
- Kenny Britt isn’t who he was at the beginning/middle of the season.
- The Rams offense allowed nearly all of the Falcons young defenders to look great.
- I gave Rob Boras the benefit of the doubt early on, but it’s become clear that his offense is miserable. It’s too vanilla and predictable, even considering there is a rookie quarterback at the helm.
The Falcons Defense Had the Mental Advantage
All game long, the Falcons knew what they were getting. The Falcons defensive line had a tough time neutralizing the Rams running game, but the Falcons dominated through the air. It seemed as if they knew every passing concept better than the Rams offensive players did.
It didn’t take long for the Falcons to smother the Rams. This was the first play of the game. With three receivers split out to the wide side of the field, the Rams tried to run a screen to Tavon Austin. Two things went wrong for the Rams here.
The first of two problems is that cornerback Robert Alford had this play read immediately. As soon as Austin stepped back for what looked like a screen route, Alford knifed behind the line of scrimmage and broke up the pass. Alford’s efforts could have been stymied, though.
Kenny Britt’s block—if you can even call it that—was horrendous. Britt jogs over near Alford, then lackadaisically lunges at the cornerback to try to force him out of the way. Alford was operating at 100%, while Britt was functioning at roughly 50%. The better player won this play.
The Offense and Jared Goff’s Shortcomings Within It
Rob Boras’s passing offense is as bland as could be. Slant/curl, slant/flat and curl/flat are damn near all the offense runs. Most of the time, one side of the play with run one concept and the other side will run another, but the concepts are so limited and commonly used that defenses have gotten an easy jump on them by now.
This is the look that the Rams gave pre-snap. The Rams have run curl/flat from this exact formation on the short side of the field (bottom of screen). To the field side, the Rams ran a slant/flat concept, which has been one of their most common concepts. Anyone who has watched the Rams this season could have guessed the play call and had a 75% chance of getting it exactly right. Linebacker Deion Jones must have watched enough of the Rams in preparation for this game.
Jones didn’t even look around at the route concept. He knew the formation and followed Goff’s eyes. Goff stared this route down from the snap and never once alluded to going elsewhere with the ball. Jones had full confidence in where this ball was going and jumped right in the way to intercept the pass. This was the easiest touchdown pass that Goff has thrown all year.
Rams Defense vs Falcons Offense
Even without Julio Jones, the Falcons ravaged the Rams defense. The Falcons mostly ran screen passes, other short passes and pounded the ball on the ground, and it worked. On occasion, the Falcons took shots down the field and had success with those, too. The Falcons did whatever the hell they wanted to do.
Game Notes:
- Something needs to be done about the linebackers.
- Offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan did as good a job as anyone could of neutralizing Aaron Donald.
- Every defensive back outside of Trumaine Johnson had issues in coverage.
Mark Barron Was Horrendous
Mark Barron has had his moments this season. Every few games, Barron has an excellent performance that keeps all of us interested in him, but for every great game, Barron has one or two poor games. This week, he had one of those poor games.
Barron couldn’t read outside zone here. Outside zone is designed to stretch the defense horizontally, then have the running back cut up the field and burst through the gaps created by a stretched out defense. Barron played right into the trap.
From the jump, Barron stretched himself out far too wide. From the looks of it, Barron assumed this play would go outside of the tackle, but outside zone isn’t designed to go there unless the play side B gap is clogged (which it is not, in this scenario). Barron needed to tighten up his angle and clamp down on the line of scrimmage, not flow that wide.
Secondary Troubles
Cornerback Trumaine Johnson is the only Rams defensive back that can be counted on. With E.J. Gaines out, the No.2 cornerback spot was a mess. In addition, the safeties looked lost a lot of the time. It was a miserable outing from all angles.
This pre-snap look would indicate that the Rams are running either Cover 2 or Cover 6 (Cover 2 to short side, Cover 4 to field side). If Cover 2, the field side cornerback would have to take #1 vertical if that is where he goes. On this play, #1 does go vertical, but the cornerback doesn’t commit to it correctly and it sparks confusion for the safety behind him.
The safety to the field side got lost on the vertical routes. With both players going vertical and the cornerback not committing to either receiver, the safety was forced to choose one and hope to be right. He was wrong.
With the receiver streaking down the middle left wide open, quarterback Matt Ryan had the easiest touchdown throw of his career.
Conclusions
There isn’t much left to say. The Rams are dead and disinterested. The Falcons had exactly the type of game that was expected of them. This was the bloodbath that we all saw coming from a mile away.