Los Angeles Rams vs New York Giants: Report Card All Smiles

Quarterbacks

300-yard game for Jared Goff. Four touchdowns to zero turnovers. Quite a day. Goff was able to keep the Rams offense in good rhythm all day, and his deep pass to Sammy Watkins for a long touchdown was gorgeous. Goff was comfortable in the pocket all day and maintained great composure all game. The QB was impressive.

Running Backs

What seemed like a chance at a huge game, turned out to be just that. On the first drive, Todd Gurley had two major runs that setup a scoring drive. Gurley’s effort on the touchdown was a beautiful display of power and churning legs. The Rams as a whole had 162 rushing yards, and averaged 4.2 YPC even including the clock-killing fourth quarter.

Wide Receivers

On a 3rd-and-33, the Rams ran what looked like a “let’s get into FG range” type screen.... But, it did more than that. With blockers in front, Robert Woods turned on the jets and scampered his way to a 52-yard touchdown. He also scored on another small reception on a crossing route. Sammy Watkins and Jared Goff finally connected on a deep ball for a 62-yard TD. Cooper Kupp also had three receptions.

Tight Ends

Tyler Higbee caught his first TD of the year, which was also the Rams first TD in the game. Gerald Everett had a major splash play on a 44-yard reception where he was gliding wide open down the sideline. Most of the work came in the running game from the TE group.

Offensive Line

Every week feels like the same story with these guys. 162 rushing yards, 311 passing yards, 4.2 YPC, and zero sacks given up. Somehow, every week the offensive line manages to impress me in a new fashion. Sure, the Giants defense aren’t the ‘85 Bears, but for an offensive line which was terrible last year, the turnaround to this season has been nothing short of miraculous.

Defensive Line

The defense as a whole didn’t impress as much as the offense did, though they turned in a pretty good performance themselves. Aaron Donald registered another sack, which was also a FF and recovered by a Ram. He had another sack-fumble later in the game which was unfortunately overturned.

Linebackers

The LB’s had a tale of two halves. First half, the front seven generally struggled against the run, continuously allowing four or five yard carries to the Giants running game. As the game went on, the group improved. Mark Barron led the way with seven tackles, and fellow ILB Alec Ogletree had a forced fumble that was recovered by the Rams. Lastly, Connor Barwin scooped himself a gimme sack when Eli Manning hit the grass like a sack of potatoes.

Defensive Backs

The DB’s also had their moments. The Giants scored two receiving TD’s (one of which was a miscommunication), though #1 CB Trumaine Johnson got an INT back for his group on a beautiful read where he jumped the WR. All in all, the starters performed admirably as no major damage was done, and they held the Giants in check to only 10 points.

Special Teams

Greg Zuerlein was 3/3 on FG’s, and 6/6 on XP’s. Johnny Hekker had a punt inside the 20-yard line, and Pharoh Cooper averaged 18-yards per punt return, though he had a major return or two called back on tacky penalties. Good stuff from Coach Bones’ guys.

Coaching

Anytime your team can throw up a 50-burger, and hold the other team to only 17 points (seven of which were scored against second-stringers), you deserve an “A”. This may be an arguable “A+”, but I’d like to see the defense tighten up against the run and start to begin faster.