The Good, the Bad and the Difference

The LA Rams defense should be taken quite seriously at this point. Another quarterback blasted asunder, another offense held to 10 points or less. Thursday’s 24-3 victory against the Patriots marked the fourth time in 2020 that the Rams held an opponent to 10 or fewer points and that is now the most of any team in the league.

Offensively, Cam Akers rushed for more yards than any other NFL rookie this season.

No victories are perfect but few can compete with beating Bill Belichick by 21 points and forcing him to pull out his rarest move since the Cleveland days, benching a starting quarterback for poor performance.

The Rams came to play and now they can see the NFC West title in hand’s reach. The hand of Aaron Donald.

The Good

Cam Akers for 35 yards

Cam Akers had 100 total yards by the end of the first quarter. I think that he matters. He seems to be more valuable than his counterparts with the football in his hands and I believe that the sum total of that value helped the Rams win the football game. This seems like an easy aspect of the game to understand.

Jared Goff gives Rams 7-0 lead

Goff has four rushing touchdowns this season.

Cam Newton throws a pick-six to give Rams 17-0 lead

This was Newton’s first pick six since Week 10 of the 2018 season, though he did miss most of 2019. In any case, this was the closest he’d come to a scoring play all night.

Kenny Young played a season-low 23% of the snaps last week. The night of his life this week.

Michael Brockers sacks Cam Newton

Brockers was on the injury report this week but looked healthy.

Goff to Cooper Kupp to make score 24-3

The Patriots didn’t think it was a touchdown. It was a touchdown.

Michael Brockers sacks Cam Newton

Michael Brockers looked healthy. He has five sacks this season, one shy of a new career-high.

Aaron Donald sacks Cam Newton

Aaron Donald probably won’t post a new career-high in sacks (but Jets next week) but he will probably get a new second-most.

Kenny Young sacks Cam Newton

More Kenny Young.

Jared Goff punch instincts

The Bad

Jared Goff interception

I don’t have much to add in the bad.

The Difference

There are a lot of things that could have been “the difference” tonight and I think it’s best again if you tell me...

What was the difference in the Rams making it easy against the Patriots tonight?