Los Angeles Rams at Cleveland Browns: Stock up, stock down

Battling throughout an ugly game, the Los Angeles Rams escape the Sunday Night Football contest versus the Cleveland Browns with a 20-13 win. The game was a rough performance for both teams, though the Rams ultimately did enough offensively and rode the coattails of the defense to a win.

Let’s jump into the stock report:

Stock Down

QB Jared Goff

The offensive line wasn’t great tonight, though they did enough to allow the offense and Jared Goff to make plays. And while Goff did make some good plays by throwing a few darts and collecting a few ankles, he ultimately was careless with the ball, giving the Browns multiple chances to remain in the game. Goff was 24/38 for 269 yards with two touchdowns, two interceptions, and a fumble. Goff nearly had another two passes intercepted to boot. The Rams will need their signal caller to play much cleaner moving forward, though a handful of drops from the Rams’ receivers didn’t help.

RG Jamil Demby

Ugly performance by the replacement right guard as Austin Blythe’s ankle injury kept him inactive. Demby had at least two completely blown pass pro reps, as well as two false starts, one of which was on the inch yard line. Luckily for the Rams, they still scored a touchdown after being moved back, but that was an inexcusable mistake.

RB Todd Gurley

Todd Gurley didn’t have much running space at all in this one, though he didn’t do anything to help either. Gurley averaged 3.1 yards-per-carry on the ground, only had 43 yards rushing, and was completely blanked as a receiver (only receiving one target). The Rams need their highly paid running back to get back to retro Gurley asap, particularly because the offense runs through #30.

Play Calling

The play calling in this one was rough throughout. The never ending receiver screens, the lack of a running game, the lack of a creative running game to offset the “6-1” defense which all defenses have deployed against the Rams since the New England Patriots proved it’s capabilities in the Super Bowl, and the strange calls near the end of the game when attempting to ice it. The Rams’ offense is slowly being figured out, meaning Head Coach Sean McVay will need to adjust accordingly.

Stock Up

DT Aaron Donald

Aaron Donald finally came alive on the stat sheet with his first sack of the 2019 season, as well as collecting four tackles and two tackles-for-loss. Donald also drew at least three or four penalties (holdings and false starts), simply because of the fear offensive lineman possess going against the game’s most dominant force. The back injury didn’t look to be a factor at all as Donald was moving around like he always has. #99 has officially started the road to 22.5 sacks.

Secondary

The entire secondary needs a shoutout, as singling any of them out just isn’t fair. Safeties John Johnson III and Eric Weddle were very active flying all over the field and enforcing their physicality, with rookie safety Taylor Rapp coming alive towards the end with a big pass breakup on third down in the redzone. Cornerbacks Aqib Talib and Nickell Robey-Coleman made multiple great plays on the ball in coverage, hardly giving anything up in their direction. Cornerback Marcus Peters didn’t feel like he was tested at all, which is a good thing as it means he blanked his receivers all night.

LT Andrew Whitworth

Andrew Whitworth continues to be the bright spot on the offensive line as he was a stalwart on the blindside of Jared Goff. Big Whit is as productive as ever, regardless of his age and experience. The rest of the offensive line will need to pick their play up to the standards of the left tackle.

WR Cooper Kupp

Cooper Kupp was probably the best player on the Rams’ roster today, registering 11 receptions for 102 yards and two touchdowns. Kupp was targeted 12 times, letting only one pass go incomplete. Kupp continues to look 100% healthy post-ACL surgery, and his chemistry with Goff is developing into something special. His routes in the redzone that resulted in touchdowns were absolutely filthy.