Los Angeles Rams 27, Indianapolis Colts 3: The New New

The Los Angeles Rams lead the Indianapolis Colts at halftime 27-3.

No, seriously.

Now let’s all breathe. The hype-up all offseason clearly has us all in position to start buying these last 30 minutes of football and envisioning new frontiers for Rams football.

Let’s take this in slowly. It’s just one half of one game. There’s plenty of football to come.

But what we’ve gotten so far under new Head Coach Sean McVay is...very good.

The offense came out slow. The first drive stalled into a field goal and the next two ended in punts. In the interim, CB Trumaine Johnson returned an interception for a touchdown (remember, “We don’t want to sign him until we see how he does under Defensive Coordinator Wade Phillips”? Yeah...) and the Colts quick-snapped over what should have been a touchdown as the Rams held out on a goalline stand to force a field goal.

Then itshappening.gif.

QB Jared Goff overthrew WR Cooper Kupp, but he one-hand juggled the ball in. Then TE Gerald Everett worked the sideline for nearly 40 yards. And the drive was capped off by a great effort run from Just Todd Gurley to get the touchdown in. At the time, Gurley had 19 yards for 8 rushes and I was concerned he wasn’t going to get more consistent positive work. Those concerns quickly evaporated. Playaction to WR Sammy Watkins preceded WR Robert Woods over the middle. RB Todd Gurley was getting work. Goff tossed a great ball over the defense to a streaking Kupp in the end zone. The next drive was all Gurley in a 3-minute drill.

I don’t mean to focus solely on the offense either. The defense, as 3 points and a pick-six would indicate, has been phenomenal.

The question is how much of today is on the Rams and how much is on the Colts.

As enjoyable as the pick six was, how many NFL QBs not named Scott Tolzien even make that possible? The Colts cost themselves four points from the touchdown missed call and lack of a challenge flag.

So what next? What adjustments do we see? The need here is less of performance and more of production. The Rams have a win in their pocket. Step 1 is to make sure they notch Jared Goff’s first career win here. What next? The offensive line has been great in pass pro. Does McBae want to see anything more advanced in protection calls? Do we need to get more from JTG on the ground as he’s at 11-39-1 as it stands? What of the offensive targets?

Those 30 minutes were nearly perfect. Another 30 would be much appreciated.

Let’s breathe...