Los Angeles Rams vs. Tennessee Titans: Stock report debuts a backup

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ILB Mark Barron

As per usual, Barron’s appearance on this list isn’t a knock on his game, it’s a knock on his health. Barron has been showing up on the injury report all season with various injuries, and has played most of the season with a large club on his hand. To his credit, he’s been a very solid player even with all of these injuries. On Sunday he was a surprise inactive after his achilles flared up in the “cold weather”, and his replacement in Cory Littleton, looked great. Look for Barron to find his way back to the field when healthy.

RG Jamon Brown

I wouldn’t say he struggled at all in the grand scope of things, but his one major blunder cost the offense quite a bit. On a stretch run to the right, Brown headed towards the left for whatever reason, and allowed an untouched DE in Jurrell Casey to smoke Jared Goff from behind, force the fumble, and have a Titans LB scoop and score. Brown’s one blunder that turned a bad play into a terrible one lands him on the list.

K Sam Ficken

There was not a single kick where Ficken lined up and I wasn’t bracing for something terrible. Ficken’s Ram career did not start well with a missed extra point as his first kick, though it was so-so afterwards. The Rams didn’t even bother attempting a 50-yard field goal on the first drive because of Ficken’s lack of range. Sam Ficken also missed a FG later in the game (a short one). The kicks he did hit, were dangerously close to the uprights too.

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ILB Cory Littleton

Cory Littleton had quite the debut as a starter, didn’t he? He managed to be in perfect coverage on Marcus Mariota’s first pass, and easily intercepted it. Not only that, but he also had a sack, and this was all completed in the first quarter. Now, Littleton did struggle in coverage a bit, but he was stuck in man coverage against one of the best TE’s in the league in Delanie Walker. Littleton finished the game with three tackles, and four assisted tackles (as well as the sack and INT).

RB Todd Gurley

MVP, MVP... Let the chants flow. Todd Gurley was the main source of offense for the Rams on the day, and it showed with his workload. Gurley had 22 carries for 118 rushing yards, and 10 receptions for 158 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Gurley continues to show that he is arguably the league’s most complete RB, and is on pace for a historically awesome season. If he can string together another solid performance in week 17, it would be very hard for him not to be the favorite for the MVP award, being the focal piece of the NFL’s best offense.

QB Jared Goff

For a day that didn’t seem to wow anybody, Jared Goff statistically shredded the Titans, as expected. Not much of it came in the deep passing attack or even against the Titans secondary, as the gameplan seemed to feature Gurley in space, and to let him beat LB’s for major yardage - and it worked. Goff had another 300 yards passing, and four touchdowns. His only blunders of the day were the two forced fumbles, one of which wasn’t his fault.