https://www.profootballfocus.com/ne...ek-8-los-angeles-rams-29-green-bay-packers-27
Refocused, NFL Week 8: Los Angeles Rams 29, Green Bay Packers 27
BY PFF ANALYSIS TEAM
Quarterback
Jared Goff wasn’t perfect and missed on more throws than usual due to his offensive line struggling to protect him, but he made enough big plays to win the game. Oddly enough, the Rams didn’t run a single screen all game long after averaging about five per game coming into the week.
Running back
Todd Gurley has received a lot of MVP talk because of his gaudy stats but was mostly held in check as a runner and didn’t break 100 yards until his final run. His offensive line opened up a lot of running lanes, especially in the second half. He also made a spectacular catch down the sideline off a deflection.
Another day, another monster performance for arguably the best player in football right now,
Aaron Donald. He had two sacks, knocked him down a couple more times and generally kept the pressure on him for much of the game.
It wasn’t the best outing for Los Angeles’ cornerbacks.
Troy Hill gave up a deep touchdown after whiffing on a jam, and
Marcus Peters was beaten by
Davante Adams for a few catches and gave up at least one deep pass, as well.
Rookie cornerback
Jaire Alexander was excellent in coverage, as he broke up five passes on nine targets. He battled
Brandin Cooks for a good chunk of the day and while he did get beat on a couple of occasions, three of the six targets thrown Cooks’ way were broken up by Alexander. He’s currently battling Browns rookie cornerback
Denzel Ward for top rookie CB.
Mike Daniels was a monster on the interior, as he racked up several pressures and a couple of run stops. He did most of his work against center
John Sullivan, who struggled all game long against anyone he was facing.
Aaron Rodgers hit on a few deep passes, including a touchdown to
Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who had torched Rams’ Hill off the line. But uncharacteristically, Rodgers missed on several short-to-intermediate throws, and it seemed he fared far better when he wasn’t under pressure.
On the outside, tackles
David Bakhtiari and
Bryan Bulaga were pretty solid, but guards
Lane Taylor and
Byron Bell struggled mightily.
Keys to the Game
Los Angeles
The Rams’ offense, despite scoring 27 points (two to a safety), seemed out of sync all game. However, Goff was able to overcome a lackluster first half and delivered big in the second half.
Green Bay
The Packers’ defense held the Rams to a field goal to set up a potential two-minute game-winning drive opportunity, but a fumble by
Ty Montgomery kept Rodgers on the sideline and effectively sealed a Rams win.
https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2018/...-ryan-fitzpatrick-todd-gurley-michael-dickson
The Winners and Losers From NFL Week 8
By Rodger Sherman
Loser: Everybody Besides Todd Gurley
Scoring is too easy for Gurley. Sometimes he decides not to score to spice things up a bit.
View: https://twitter.com/ActionNetworkHQ/status/1056694992318685184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1056694992318685184&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theringer.com%2Fnfl%2F2018%2F10%2F29%2F18036996%2Fweek-8-winners-losers-ryan-fitzpatrick-todd-gurley-michael-dickson
Gurley stopped running because the Rams were up by two points with under a minute left. If he’d scored, the Rams probably still would’ve won—they would’ve gone up nine, which would have forced the Packers to score a touchdown, recover an onside kick, and kick a field goal with no timeouts—but hey, better safe than sorry. Because he held up, the Rams were able to end the game by kneeling.
However, Gurley’s decision had major impacts outside of the Coliseum.
- The spread in this game was Rams -7.5. If Gurley would have scored, the Rams would have covered, even without hitting the extra point. But he didn’t.
- The over/under in this game was 57. There had been 56 points scored when Gurley was running. Even a field goal would have pushed the game over, but by picking up a first down and remaining in the field of play, Gurley ensured that the game would stay under.
- And of course, Gurley is the most important fantasy football player in the NFL. He had another dominant day, giving the lucky jerks who got the no. 1 pick in their leagues a solid 25.5 points. But they could’ve had six more if he’d just kept moving forward. Surely, fantasy matchups across America were decided based on Gurley’s choice.
Players have passed up touchdowns to seal wins before, but I can’t remember a choice as impactful as Gurley’s. It flopped every possible way we degenerates have invented to make football more interesting, ruining the days of exactly half of the people who cared.
Loser: Whoever Was Responsible for Painting the Rams’ Field
Have you ever watched those videos where
the stadium staff at a sports arena turns over the stadium for a new sport? They’re
magical. The work done by arena employees—generally in the dead of night, with nobody watching, for little money—is incredible.
I would like to watch a time-lapse of whatever happened at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum between Saturday’s USC home game and Sunday’s Rams home game.
View: https://twitter.com/Riley_McAtee/status/1056644442285780992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1056644442285780992&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theringer.com%2Fnfl%2F2018%2F10%2F29%2F18036996%2Fweek-8-winners-losers-ryan-fitzpatrick-todd-gurley-michael-dickson
View: https://twitter.com/rodger/status/1056649365308108802?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1056649365308108802&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theringer.com%2Fnfl%2F2018%2F10%2F29%2F18036996%2Fweek-8-winners-losers-ryan-fitzpatrick-todd-gurley-michael-dickson
The stadium crew didn’t even try to fully obscure some of the on-field USC imagery, and when they did, they apparently used transparent paint that still allowed viewers to see the stuff painted under it. Considering the amount of visiting fans in the stadium, I wasn’t sure whether I was watching a Rams home game, a USC home game, or a Green Bay home game. It’s the worst paintover I’ve seen
since Kenyon Martin decided he didn’t want Trina’s lips tattooed on his neck anymore.
This is the first time the Rams and USC have played home games in the Coliseum on the same weekend this season, although it did happen multiple times last year, and I don’t recall the field being semi-Trojan. There are a lot of teams with similar arrangements!
The Steelers share Heinz Field with the Pitt Panthers, the Dolphins share Hard Rock Stadium with the Miami Hurricanes (somehow, Hard Rock Cafe, a restaurant chain based on the idea that people are willing to pay a lot of money to eat regular food near a bass used by Whitesnake in 1983, still exists and has enough swing to sponsor an NFL stadium), the Buccaneers share Raymond James Stadium with the USF Bulls, and the Eagles share Lincoln Financial Field with the Temple Owls.
And yet I can’t recall seeing a field so sloppily dealt with. Sure, you might see faint remnants of the college hash marks on the fields, nothing like this. It felt like a college football team had been trapped under the stadium by a pro football team and was trying to send a signal for help via subliminal end zone messages.
Maybe try opaque paint next time. I don’t even know why they sell transparent paint.
