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Bonsignore: Rams put the NFL on notice with one play
Robert Woods’s 94-yard touchdown reception was significant on many levels in addition to spearheading the Rams’ 33-7 vistory over Houston on Sunday at the Coliseum. (Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer)
y VINCENT BONSIGNORE | vbonsignore@scng.com | Daily News
PUBLISHED: November 13, 2017 at 7:54 am | UPDATED: November 13, 2017 at 5:21 pm
As if the Rams weren’t becoming a big enough problem for the NFL, over the past few weeks they’ve added an important and scary weapon.
The Rams, it seems, can score from anywhere on the field.
Last week it was Sammy Watkins and Jared Goff waylaying the Giants on a 67-yard touchdown pass, their first hook-up on a long ball after weeks of trying.
Later on, it was Robert Woods taking a screen pass on third-and-33 to the house for a 52-yard touchdown.
All of which was merely a prelude to what happened Sunday against the Houston Texans.
Leading 9-7 early in the third quarter against a Houston defense that, frankly, was having its way against Goff and the Rams, and backed up at their own 6-yard line, the assumption was the Rams would play it safe and try to buy themselves some breathing room with a few safe run plays.
“Obviously you’re always looking to score, but at the very least you want to get a couple of first times for your punt team and turn the field back over,” Rams center John Sullivan said.
Rams head coach Sean McVay had other ideas. The Texans were sticking with the same first-half plan of loading the line of scrimmage with defenders, and it offered McVay the chance to cash in on the big payday he anticipated after some coy first-half play-calling.
“Look, I’m not going to pretend to understand what plays Sean was setting up in the first half for the second,” Sullivan said with a sly smile. “But I know based on how they were playing, they were running linebackers through and changing their techniques at the snap. They wouldn’t play us straight up and in that way they were doing a good job of shutting down the run. But when you commit as many guys as they did to the box, eventually it burns you.”
That became clear when, on second-and-8, Jared Goff went to hand off to Todd Gurley to the left, the same side of the line of scrimmage the Rams had run Gurley a handful of occasions in the first half. As suspected, the Texans defense flowed in that direction.
Only for Goff pull the ball back and drop back to pass.
Woods, lined up to the far right, ran a post pattern and from the right slot Cooper Kupp ran alongside him. As Woods and Kupp sprinted downfield, three Houston defenders converged on them in coverage.
Kupp eventually broke to the right after 15 yards, dragging his defender with him and forcing the safety to commit to him as well.
That left Woods, who continued running up field, in one-on-one coverage. It was a mismatch of epic proportions, and as Woods turned on the burners he easily eluded his defender. Goff, operating from a safe pocket after the play-action pass, double-cocked and heaved the ball 55 yards in the air to a wide-open Woods. The former USC star easily gathered it in and sprinted untouched to the end zone for a back-breaking 94-yard touchdown.
Just like that, the Rams led 16-7 on their way to a 33-7 blowout.
“It was crazy. Like I said, it was – they sent the ‘WILL’ (weak inside linebacker), they sent the corner and we picked it up, let (QB Jared) Goff get some space, do what he do and Rob do what he do,” Gurley said. “Ran right past the guy and go 94 yards. It doesn’t get much better than that for you to start right there inside (your end zone) and be able to go and execute.”
And in the process, they put something else out there on film.
Not only to plant a seed for future opponents, but also to add to their already growing self-confidence.
It’s the ability to deliver knockout punches from anywhere on the field.
And the peace of mind that when rhythm is hard to come by or running lanes aren’t easily available, they can strike quickly and powerfully with the big play.
The Rams have been successful mounting long scoring drives this year. It sure makes things easier when they can do it in one play sometimes.
“Anytime that you’re able to create some of the explosives that we did, I think it’s very, very helpful,” McVay said. “It’s too hard in this league to go 12 and 15 plays all the time against some of these defenses. So, to be able to get some of those chunk plays that alleviate the stress on having to just kind of having to go four and five (yards) all the way down the field was critical, and when you’ve got explosive playmakers like we do, it was big.”
The Rams came into Sunday with 40 plays of 20 yards or more – second in the NFL to the New Orleans Saints.
In addition to Woods’ 94-yard score, Gurley had a 34-yard run and a 43-yard pass reception and Watkins had a 24-yard catch-and-run.
More importantly, the Goff-to-Woods hook-up took a bite out of the Texans’ fight while igniting the Rams.
They went on to score 21 points in the third quarter to bust open a close game.
“It was fun. It was a lot of fun,” Goff said. “When it starts rolling like that, we start getting turnovers. Crowd gets into it, we start hitting big plays. We start hitting big plays, we score on the play after the turnover, that’s when you really starting getting the momentum you want. And I thought Sean (McVay) did a great job handling that with the play calls and just giving us stuff to succeed in the second half, especially just putting us in good spots.
“In his own way, his own self-evaluation, he’s done a great job of that all year just continuing to put us in great spots and I thought he did that all day.”
As if the Rams weren’t scary enough.
[www.ocregister.com]
Robert Woods’s 94-yard touchdown reception was significant on many levels in addition to spearheading the Rams’ 33-7 vistory over Houston on Sunday at the Coliseum. (Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer)
y VINCENT BONSIGNORE | vbonsignore@scng.com | Daily News
PUBLISHED: November 13, 2017 at 7:54 am | UPDATED: November 13, 2017 at 5:21 pm
As if the Rams weren’t becoming a big enough problem for the NFL, over the past few weeks they’ve added an important and scary weapon.
The Rams, it seems, can score from anywhere on the field.
Last week it was Sammy Watkins and Jared Goff waylaying the Giants on a 67-yard touchdown pass, their first hook-up on a long ball after weeks of trying.
Later on, it was Robert Woods taking a screen pass on third-and-33 to the house for a 52-yard touchdown.
All of which was merely a prelude to what happened Sunday against the Houston Texans.
Leading 9-7 early in the third quarter against a Houston defense that, frankly, was having its way against Goff and the Rams, and backed up at their own 6-yard line, the assumption was the Rams would play it safe and try to buy themselves some breathing room with a few safe run plays.
“Obviously you’re always looking to score, but at the very least you want to get a couple of first times for your punt team and turn the field back over,” Rams center John Sullivan said.
Rams head coach Sean McVay had other ideas. The Texans were sticking with the same first-half plan of loading the line of scrimmage with defenders, and it offered McVay the chance to cash in on the big payday he anticipated after some coy first-half play-calling.
“Look, I’m not going to pretend to understand what plays Sean was setting up in the first half for the second,” Sullivan said with a sly smile. “But I know based on how they were playing, they were running linebackers through and changing their techniques at the snap. They wouldn’t play us straight up and in that way they were doing a good job of shutting down the run. But when you commit as many guys as they did to the box, eventually it burns you.”
That became clear when, on second-and-8, Jared Goff went to hand off to Todd Gurley to the left, the same side of the line of scrimmage the Rams had run Gurley a handful of occasions in the first half. As suspected, the Texans defense flowed in that direction.
Only for Goff pull the ball back and drop back to pass.
Woods, lined up to the far right, ran a post pattern and from the right slot Cooper Kupp ran alongside him. As Woods and Kupp sprinted downfield, three Houston defenders converged on them in coverage.
Kupp eventually broke to the right after 15 yards, dragging his defender with him and forcing the safety to commit to him as well.
That left Woods, who continued running up field, in one-on-one coverage. It was a mismatch of epic proportions, and as Woods turned on the burners he easily eluded his defender. Goff, operating from a safe pocket after the play-action pass, double-cocked and heaved the ball 55 yards in the air to a wide-open Woods. The former USC star easily gathered it in and sprinted untouched to the end zone for a back-breaking 94-yard touchdown.
Just like that, the Rams led 16-7 on their way to a 33-7 blowout.
“It was crazy. Like I said, it was – they sent the ‘WILL’ (weak inside linebacker), they sent the corner and we picked it up, let (QB Jared) Goff get some space, do what he do and Rob do what he do,” Gurley said. “Ran right past the guy and go 94 yards. It doesn’t get much better than that for you to start right there inside (your end zone) and be able to go and execute.”
And in the process, they put something else out there on film.
Not only to plant a seed for future opponents, but also to add to their already growing self-confidence.
It’s the ability to deliver knockout punches from anywhere on the field.
And the peace of mind that when rhythm is hard to come by or running lanes aren’t easily available, they can strike quickly and powerfully with the big play.
The Rams have been successful mounting long scoring drives this year. It sure makes things easier when they can do it in one play sometimes.
“Anytime that you’re able to create some of the explosives that we did, I think it’s very, very helpful,” McVay said. “It’s too hard in this league to go 12 and 15 plays all the time against some of these defenses. So, to be able to get some of those chunk plays that alleviate the stress on having to just kind of having to go four and five (yards) all the way down the field was critical, and when you’ve got explosive playmakers like we do, it was big.”
The Rams came into Sunday with 40 plays of 20 yards or more – second in the NFL to the New Orleans Saints.
In addition to Woods’ 94-yard score, Gurley had a 34-yard run and a 43-yard pass reception and Watkins had a 24-yard catch-and-run.
More importantly, the Goff-to-Woods hook-up took a bite out of the Texans’ fight while igniting the Rams.
They went on to score 21 points in the third quarter to bust open a close game.
“It was fun. It was a lot of fun,” Goff said. “When it starts rolling like that, we start getting turnovers. Crowd gets into it, we start hitting big plays. We start hitting big plays, we score on the play after the turnover, that’s when you really starting getting the momentum you want. And I thought Sean (McVay) did a great job handling that with the play calls and just giving us stuff to succeed in the second half, especially just putting us in good spots.
“In his own way, his own self-evaluation, he’s done a great job of that all year just continuing to put us in great spots and I thought he did that all day.”
As if the Rams weren’t scary enough.
[www.ocregister.com]
