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By: Steve Rebeiro | 1 hour ago
The Los Angeles Rams opened the season with a 30-27 victory on the road against the Carolina Panthers.
It was a nail-biter, but the Rams ultimately pulled it out in the end. All things considered, this was a solid victory for a team that didn’t play the majority of their key players during the preseason. Here are five key takeaways from the afternoon in Charlotte.
Defense bends (a lot) but doesn’t break
The Rams have always had a “bend but don’t break” mentality on defense since Wade Phillips took over as the team’s defensive coordinator.
Against the Panthers, they bent about as much as Mr. Fantastic in a fight with Dr. Doom. But they didn’t break, and forced a few major turnovers when they needed to.
It felt like a miracle when the Panthers finished the first half with just three points. They were making plenty of plays against the Rams, but L.A. showed up when it really counted. It wasn’t nearly as pretty in the second half, but the defense still was able to come alive in a few big moments and did just enough to help the Rams win the game.
Dante Fowler and Cory Littleton led the charge on the defensive side of the ball today. Fowler had two monster sacks on Cam Newton. Littleton wasn’t perfect in pass coverage, but he was everywhere on the field and made things happen. He led the team with 14 total tackles, forced a fumble (which he recovered), and had a clutch interception late in the game that helped seal the deal. On a quiet afternoon for Aaron Donald, these two made up for it.
It was far from a perfect outing for the Rams defense, but they did enough to make us think there will not be a big drop off from last year. When you lose three starters from last season, it’s a good start.
Gurley struggles early, finishes strong
It was a wild ride this afternoon for anyone who is invested in Todd Gurley.
Entering the game, nobody knew for certain what would happen with Gurley in Week 1 following a summer of well-documented concerns about his knee. Gurley played the entirety of the Rams first two drives, but only touched the ball three times.
On drive No. 3, where the Rams started in the red zone, backup Malcolm Brown trotted onto the field. He scored the first touchdown of the game.
Brown continued to be the better back when on the field for most of the game. The Rams would give each of them the entirety of a drive when they switched off. Brown was the lead back on a 75-yard drive capped off by his touchdown in the third quarter. When Gurley returned to the game on the following drive, he fumbled a pitch. It seemed that not only would we see a full-blown split backfield in the coming weeks, but that Brown might actually be the better of the two backs for now.
Luckily, Gurley got it together in the fourth quarter. Gurley plodded for 41 straight yards on four plays to lead the Rams to another touchdown. Oddly enough, Gurley was pulled in the red zone in favor of Darrel Henderson, who ran the ball into the back of an offensive lineman before Goff threw a touchdown the next play.
If Gurley can look like he did in the fourth quarter against New Orleans next week, he should remain the lead back and receive the bulk of the snaps. Brown was only the lead back on three of the team’s 13 drives against Carolina. He just happened to be the one who was in on a few touchdown drives. Gurley ended the game with more touches, more yards, and a higher YPC average than Brown. He should remain the clear lead back leading forward.
Special teams plays uncharacteristically poorly
It may have been the worst outing for John Fassel’s special teams unit since Pharoh Cooper fumbled two punts and cost the Rams a victory against Atlanta in the 2017 playoffs.
There was no shortage of missed opportunities by this unit today. Hekker booted off a 7-yard punt on a near-block. Later on, he was actually blocked deep in Rams territory. Zuerlein was having a nice day until he missed a crucial 41-yard field goal near the end of the game. He also had a kickoff go out of bounds.
You can’t chalk this one up to rust as Zuerlein, Hekker, and quite a few special teamers saw plenty of action in the preseason. But it’s still hard to call this a concern until we see it again. The Rams have consistently had one of the best special teams units in the NFL under the leadership of Fassel and his two boots. They’ve earned the benefit of the doubt here.
Shaky afternoon for Jared Goff
Two major thoughts pop up when thinking about Goff’s first game in 2019: he missed Cooper Kupp, and he didn’t look great.
Boy, did he really miss having Kupp in the lineup. Goff completed four passes to Kupp on the Rams’ first seven snaps. Kupp finished with seven catches for 46 yards on 10 targets.
Overall, this was not the best day for Goff. He failed to find a few open targets and overthrew a few more. His lone interception was an ugly pass behind Robert Woods on a crossing route. Goff took a few chances like he always does, but he didn’t really hit on any today.
Goff had some rust to shake off, but this does trigger some minor concerns here. He was not great on the road last season. You can blame the cold for a few of them, but one of his worst games of the year was indoors against the Lions. It’s also worth noting that Goff struggled against the Raiders last season, although he did seem to find himself in the second half of that game.
Don’t be concerned about Goff moving forward. It’s one game. But we’ll be watching closely when the Rams travel to Cleveland in Week 3.
No excuses next week
Outside of special teams, you can use the same excuse for every single Ram who didn’t play great in this game: “They haven’t played since February, give them a chance to get back into the swing of things.”
Sure. The Rams struggled in the first half against Oakland last year. Carolina is a much better team than Oakland was last year. Anybody who expected the team to come in and blow the Panthers out was delusional. This was a little too close for comfort, but it was a nice win for the Rams, all things considered.
The excuses won’t be available in an NFC championship rematch next week. The rust has been shaken off. It’s go-time. The Rams will need to look much better than they did today to take down the Saints in Los Angeles next week.
5 takeaways from the Rams' 30-27 victory over the Panthers
The Los Angeles Rams pulled out a major victory in Charlotte against the Panthers. Steve Rebeiro provides his five biggest takeaways.
theramswire.usatoday.com
