Los Angeles Rams at Minnesota Vikings: Pro Football Focus game notes break down Rams’ disappointing Week 11 loss

Here are Pro Football Focus’ notes on the Los Angeles Rams’ 7-24 Week 11 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

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Week 11 Rams Offensive Stats

Wide receiver Robert Woods was, once again, one of the league's highest graded receivers in Week 11. He finished off Sunday's contest with an overall grade at 84.0 and fifth best among receivers. He caught eight of the 10 targets he saw for a passer rating of 100.4 when targeting him. With his 81 yards on Sunday, Woods is now averaging the fifth most yards per route run for the entire season with a 2.32 on 303 snaps in route. If go from Week 6 on, Woods ranks first in the league and is at 3.07 yards per route run on 147 snaps in route, one of only two receivers to average over 3.00, with Antonio Brown ranking second.

Center John Sullivan was the only player on the Rams' offensive line that did not allow a single quarterback pressure. His efforts earned him the sixth highest grade among centers with a 78.6. Sunday's game was the sixth time this season the Sullivan did not allow a single pressure in a game and the second time in as many weeks. With that, Sullivan's pass blocking grade on the season sits at 80.9 and ranks fifth among all centers in that category.

The Rams' offensive line combined to give up 13 quarterback pressures on Sunday, the second most they have allowed in a single game in 2017, and tied for second most among offensive lines in Week 11. Their quarterback was only able to complete five of his 13 attempts while under pressure for 40 yards and a passer rating of 47.0, 15th among quarterbacks in Week 11. Compare that to his numbers when he was kept clean, which were 18-for-24 for 185 yards and a passer rating of 96.7. The one standout, outside of John Sullivan, was veteran left tackle Andrew Whitworth, who earned the eight highest grade among tackles in Week 11 with his 79.9. Through 11 weeks, Whitworth has the seventh highest pass blocking efficiency among tackles and has allowed the ninth fewest quarterback pressures with 14.

Quarterback Jared Goff finished Sunday's game against the Vikings with the 13th highest grade among quarterbacks with a 75.6, bringing his season grade to a 78.1, a far cry from his 45.6 grade he earned in 2016 rookie season. His pass yards lost due to drops were tied for third most in Week 11 with 25 yards lost, despite having the 19th fewest coming into Week 11 with 118. With Week 11, Goff now sits at 14th in most yards passed through the air with drops at 143, while his yards thrown in the air without drops ranks 12th at 1,305. In his seven games in 2016, Goff was dead last in yards in air with only 531, 129 less than the second lowest in that same span.

For the first time this season, running back Todd Gurley was unable to force a missed tackle in the run game and did not crack 100 yards from scrimmage. He was going up against a defense that had allowed only three running backs to break multiple tackles all year. The inability to get Gurley going was disappointing as he earned a run grade of 72.5 on 15 attempts and got the only touchdown on the day for the Rams. With Gurley staying in to pass block, he allowed his first quarterback pressure since Week 4, bringing his season total to three. Gurley now owns the eighth best pass blocking efficiency among running backs that have stayed in to pass block on at least 30 passing plays with his 93.6. Now, through 11 weeks, Gurley owns the ninth highest overall grade on the season among running backs (82.6), 21st in run grade (76.9), and fourth in receiving grade (86.9).

​​Week 11 Rams Defensive Stats

Despite playing 40 coverage snaps on Sunday, safety Lamarcus Joyner was only targeted once in his coverage and was still one of only two players on the Rams' defense to record a pass defended. He finished the game as the Rams' second highest graded player with his 86.3, behind All-Pro teammate Aaron Donald. With Sunday's 40 coverage snaps, Joyner has now played in coverage on 191 snaps this season but has been targeted by quarterbacks only 15 times. On those 15 targets, he has allowed eight of them to be caught while defending two of them and intercepting two more. His efforts have resulted in a passer rating of only 33.1 to be allowed into his coverage, the fifth lowest among all safeties and a coverage grade of 90.0 on the season (fifth best).

Once again, interior defender Aaron Donald got pressure on the quarterback a whopping seven times and finished with an overall grade of 90.3, an Elite grade in PFF standards (90.0+). His seven pressures were two more than the Texans generated as a team and the same amount as both the Giants and Broncos. Donald now has 60 quarterback pressures on the year and leads the next closest interior defender by 12 pressures, and is on pace to shatter his previous season-high which was 82 in 2016. There is no interior defender in the league that has a pass rush grade above 89.6, besides Donald, who owns a 97.6 (highest in the entire league).

For the first time since Week 4, linebacker Alec Ogletree generated four defensive stops in a single game, with his season-high at five. He was also the only other player on the defense to record a pass defended in coverage. His efforst earned him an overall game grade of 81.4, the seventh highest among inside linebackers in Sunday's games. Ogletree was one of only 10 inside linebackers able to generate at least four defensive stops and was the fourth straight game where he was able to record at least three in a game. With 29 defensive stops on the year, Ogletree ranks 12th in overall stops and 18th in run stops, which have been 15 of his 29. Add two more quarterback pressures to his season was also something he was able to do, bringing his season total up to 17, tied for his previous season-high and second most among all inside linebackers, as well as the eighth highest pass-rush productivity at the position with a 20.8.

Rookie safety John Johnson III continues to impress all over the field in any capacity that he is asked. Not only did he allow only one catch on two targets, Johnson III was able to record three defensive stops against the Vikings, tied for fifth most among all safeties. With his 79.3 overall grade, Johnson III ranks 18th among safeties in Week 11, and ranks 28th among 110 safeties on the season with an overall grade of 81.1.

Even though he only played 31 snaps on Sunday, interior defender Ethan Westbrooks was able to generate two quarterback pressures and record two defensive stops for the Rams' third highest graded defender at 82.1 (eighth among interior defenders). Sunday's performance was the first time in the 2017 season that Westbrooks was able to generate multiple quarterback pressures and multiple defensive stops in the same game. The Rams have found a sweet spot in the rotation for Westbrooks as he is currently playing in the least amount of snaps since his rookie year, though he is having his highest graded season, currently at 77.6 with his previous season-high at 67.3 in 2015. Among the 24 interior defenders drafted in 2014, Westbrooks is sixth in quarterback pressures and tied for eight in defensive stops with nine, despite having the 13th most snaps played.