Los Angeles Rams at Dallas Cowboys: Stock up, stock down

The Los Angeles Rams lost in disgusting fashion to the hands of the Dallas Cowboys by a score of 44-21 in their pivotal Week 15 matchup. The Rams looked overmatched from the first whistle to the last, and it’ll ultimately cost them a shot to make the playoffs barring a miracle. With so many bad performances to choose from, we should have an interesting stock report.

Stock Down

QB Jared Goff

Even though he sustained a hand injury that may have affected his play, Goff was awful in the contest. Goff finished with 284 passing yards, two touchdowns, and one interception, but majority of those stats came in garbage time. Goff did not look in sync, rhythm, or comfortable in the contest and routinely threw errant passes to open receivers. In addition to a bunch of terrible throws, Goff’s interception to LB Sean Lee prior to halftime was inexcusably terrible. It was a very bad game for the guy the Rams invested everything in.

Offensive Line

Goff was only sacked twice, but it sure as heck felt like a lot more. The pocket was routinely penetrated by one or more defensive lineman, forcing Goff off his spot and into different launching points. In addition to being shotty in pass pro, RB Todd Gurley had 20 rushing yards as he averaged a paltry 1.8-yards-per-carry. Yikes.

Defense

The performance by the defense rivaled their performance against the Baltimore Ravens just a few weeks prior. The Cowboys did whatever they pleased time and time again. From gaining 250 yards on the ground and scoring three rushing touchdowns, to defensive backs running into each other on multiple occasions, and even old friends such as WR Tavon Austin scoring 59-yard touchdowns. It was a hideous performance by a group that missed about 1,000 tackles today, couldn’t stop the run, and applied no pressure to QB Dak Prescott.

Coaching Staff

The team looked completely unprepared. The offense looked nothing like the one from the prior two weeks as Head Coach Sean McVay scrapped the idea of using 12 personnel and used 11 personnel majority of the day. The defense couldn’t stop a nose bleed. And when you mix them both together, you get a terrible performance from both sides of the ball in the most crucial game of the season.

Stock Up

TE Tyler Higbee

Higbee was the lone bright spot on offense, though majority of his production came in garbage time. Higbee snagged 12 receptions on 14 targets for 111 yards. The connection between Goff and Higbee is evident, even on a day when #16 couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.

P Johnny Hekker

Hekker looked like his classic self today, booming five punts for an average of 55.8-yards-per-punt, four downed punts inside the 20-yard line, and a long of 69 yards (nice). As you can imagine, things probably didn’t go too well if there’s a punter in the stock up column.