The Rams had a lot of losers and not a lot of winners on Sunday

In the literal sense, the Los Angeles Rams were losers on Sunday, and the New York Jets were winners.

But “winners and losers” posts are popular on sports blogs across the galaxy, because sometimes the winning team also has some losing elements, and sometimes the losing team has some winning elements. In this case, the former is true, and I don’t think the latter is. You gotta have the rosiest of glasses to find some wins for the Rams after that.

Still, let’s see what we can do.

Loser: The Rams

Well, you probably saw this one coming. The Rams lost 23-20 to the feckless Jets, and moved to second place in the NFC West in the process.

They should not have lost. They should not have been close to losing. They should not have had a meaningful snap in the second half.

Loser: The Jets, kind of?

Prior to Sunday, you kind of had to admire the Jets season. They had really perfected the art of losing; they were masters of their craft. They could lose comically, emphatically, or heartbreakingly. Any which way, really. They could do it all.

And then they finally — accidentally? — won one.

The win was impressive, but it pushed the Jets up to 1-13, and up from the bottom of the standings. They’ve now lost position of the top overall pick to the fellow one-win Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Jets probably didn’t want to win. Winning was losing.

Loser: The Rams, again

Now that we’ve mentioned that the Jets didn’t actually want to win, we really need to revisit just how intense of losers the Rams were.

They lost. They lost at home. They lost at home to an 0-13 team. They lost at home to an 0-13 team that didn’t want to win.

Permission to open the liquor cabinet granted.

Winner: The standings, kind of

The Rams didn’t make the ground in the standings that they wanted to. Since they currently hold the tiebreaker over the Seattle Seahawks, a win would have kept them at the top of the NFC West.

But even so, the Rams are currently in possession of the first of three Wild Card slots. That’s good, even if it’s essentially the worst thing that could have happened.

Loser: Jared Goff

On the surface, Goff’s stat line looks competent, if not particularly good. He was 22 of 34 for 209 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception. He was sacked three times for a loss of 20 yards, and had one rush for nine yards.

But against the worst team in football — the team that basically let Derek Carr walk up the field and hand the ball to his receiver in the end zone for a game-winning touchdown — Goff’s performance wasn’t nearly good enough.

Winner: Matt Gay, kind of

The Rams were so bad at kicking the football early in the season that it feels necessary to point out when they have success in that department.

They’re on their third kicker, and Matt Gay has easily been the best. Gay was one of the few Rams who did his job on Sunday, making both of his extra points and both of his field goal attempts.

Yes, this is extremely slim pickings.

Loser: The defense

We know that the Rams defense is elite, and one game isn’t going to change that. Still, giving up 23 points, at home, to the Jets is officially a case of taking a week off.

Yes, a few of those points came because of good field position, and that wasn’t the defense’s fault. But the Jets also had a 74-yard touchdown drive, a 72-yard touchdown drive, and a 72-yard field goal drive.

Not good enough.

Winner: Robert Woods, kind of

It’s hard to find good performances from LA, but Robert Woods was decent. He had six receptions for 56 yards and a touchdown, and had a 40-yard run on a beautiful reverse.

Clearing 100 yards from scrimmage is always nice.

Not nice enough.

Losers: The fans

I’m genuinely sorry that you all spent your Sunday watching that.