Stafford concerns have come full circle after the Vikings game

[TexasRam]

Stafford is 2nd in the NFL in interceptions since November.

NFL network talking about it now asked the analyst if its a concern. The answer was yes due to the fact that Stafford hasn't been in these big games that much throughout his career. Mentioned Mcvay needs to run the ball more and guide Stafford through this with a balanced approach.

Couldn't agree more.

We are no where near the 33 PPG Juggernaut we were in 2017 and 2018. We would score early and often and then Mcvay would often run the clock out for a quarter and a half, being the nice guy that didn't want to run up the score.

This 2021 offense ends 16 games as a 27 ppg team. Struggling to muster points vs a team Burrow just lit up.

Our best path in the playoffs is to run the ball, limit Staffords turnovers and rely heavily on the defense which needs to include a scheme change to our soft zone concepts. Do this and we have a legit chance.

 

[jrry32]

I didn't mind the 3rd and 19 INT at their 4 yd line, better than our punter has been doing lately. I don't even consider ones like that a turnover, just an early punt. I didn't notice the other open WRs. Were they 20 yds down field for a possible 1st down? YES, it seems all of his pick sixes are when we are inside our own 10 yd line. They all look alike. It's strange. Not sure what he is or is not seeing on those plays. It's like he feels he is in a desperate stage of the game and absolutely has to have that completion. Throw it away please! But anybody that doesn't see we are better off with Stafford now has a disconnect. He's got the moxie needed. He just needs the ball to bounce the right way and so do we!

It was 3rd and 10. We were near FG range. And Jefferson was wide open. Kupp also was breaking open. Although, it would have been a challenging throw to hit Kupp.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqM4jhpTzUY

 

[Steve808]

I know what you mean. I thought the same thing when OBJ scored the game winner. I was thinking maybe he should have gone out of bounds at the 1/2 yd line but you never know what might happen the next play. I guess the rule is if you are behind, you score when you can score or you might get a holding call the next play. Time management is a tricky thing. I actually think it is easier to do from our couches rather than from the time chaos that the live sideline environment must be. Like I was thinking way ahead when we were on that last drive about we needed to go for two but I don't know if the person making the play calls can even think about that until after the score.

Yes, I don't mean not to score, but snapping the ball after running the clock down is within our control and part of time management.

 

[OldSchool]

With how many specials they run for extremely cheap subscriptions everybody could have a sub here and get these great articles. Jourdan's headline says all that needs to be said.


View: https://twitter.com/JourdanRodrigue/status/1477830830567264256

 

[kurtfaulk]

.

great, we've got the bulger "like a punt" references coming out again. at least stafford isn't the one saying it this time. ahhhhh, "like a punt" bulger. we also got the "manu ran the wrong route" line as well.

stafford needs to get his head out of his arse otherwise the rams are going one and done in the playoffs.

we all saw what kind of game it will be in the playoffs if he wets the bed early in games. titans, whiners, packers. that's what will happen.

mcvay needs him to be on his game from the opening kick off. #2 seed is on the line this week. make him show he can play a clean game and beat these fucks like they deserve to be beaten.

.

 

[I like Rams]

He is turning it over as much as Goff did, but the offense is also better than it has been since 2018.

You can look at it in a lot of different ways, but the simplest is this:

When Gurley was the best player on offense - meaning Goff didnt need to be - he was good. When that changed, our offense suffered.

Today our offense is significantly better than it was in 2019 or 2020.

People keep trying to compare Stafford to 2018 Goff which is disingenuous because Todd Gurley had 1800 total yards and 21 TDs in 14 games.

So just simply look to last year. Go find the posts claiming our WRs weren't explosive - and compare last year's offense to this year's.

That is why we gave up those picks. Simplifying it to "we had a winning record with Goff" does not tell the whole story.

I agree with everything you're saying, although I would not agree with our offense being better. It SHOULD be better, but there is only one receiver who gets targeted a large majority of the time. That's obviously kupp. Kupp, along with Michel seems to be our only offense. Jefferson, OBJ, Higbee and even Woods before his injury, seemed to be "jags" in our offense, which they are obviously not. The ball was spread around much more when Goff was at the helm. Not saying that makes him the better qb, but it's something that Stafford has to work on.

He also has to work on better placement of the ball. Too many balls either low or behind the receiver. Kupp has the best hands on the team, which explains why his numbers are so high, and I've seen quite a few balls that were off target that he simply makes the catch unlike our other receivers.

Edit: I also agree that it's not as simple as we had a winning record with Goff. That's why I mentioned it. There are some member who will point to our record and use that as an excuse as to why we should be happy with where we are at. That's why I brought up our record with Goff. Bc it's more than just the record.

 

[FrantikRam]

I agree with everything you're saying, although I would not agree with our offense being better. It SHOULD be better, but there is only one receiver who gets targeted a large majority of the time. That's obviously kupp. Kupp, along with Michel seems to be our only offense. Jefferson, OBJ, Higbee and even Woods before his injury, seemed to be "jags" in our offense, which they are obviously not. The ball was spread around much more when Goff was at the helm. Not saying that makes him the better qb, but it's something that Stafford has to work on.

He also has to work on better placement of the ball. Too many balls either low or behind the receiver. Kupp has the best hands on the team, which explains why his numbers are so high, and I've seen quite a few balls that were off target that he simply makes the catch unlike our other receivers.

Edit: I also agree that it's not as simple as we had a winning record with Goff. That's why I mentioned it. There are some member who will point to our record and use that as an excuse as to why we should be happy with where we are at. That's why I brought up our record with Goff. Bc it's more than just the record.

But the offense IS better, statistically (both yards and points) in than it was in 2019 and 2020.

 

[FrantikRam]

Stafford is 2nd in the NFL in interceptions since November.

NFL network talking about it now asked the analyst if its a concern. The answer was yes due to the fact that Stafford hasn't been in these big games that much throughout his career. Mentioned Mcvay needs to run the ball more and guide Stafford through this with a balanced approach.

Couldn't agree more.

We are no where near the 33 PPG Juggernaut we were in 2017 and 2018. We would score early and often and then Mcvay would often run the clock out for a quarter and a half, being the nice guy that didn't want to run up the score.

This 2021 offense ends 16 games as a 27 ppg team. Struggling to muster points vs a team Burrow just lit up.

Our best path in the playoffs is to run the ball, limit Staffords turnovers and rely heavily on the defense which needs to include a scheme change to our soft zone concepts. Do this and we have a legit chance.

Our offense has actually scored very close to what we did in 2017. We had a plethora of D/ST TDs that year and this year we only have one, which is why it looks worse than it is.

Offensive points though, were about one point per game off the pace, so very close.

Also, the Ravens got several defensive starters back that they didnt have last week. Surely you knew that? But still posted that it was the same defense that Burrow just lit up. That's odd

 

[I like Rams]

But the offense IS better, statistically (both yards and points) in than it was in 2019 and 2020.

I think we can both agree our oline is better and the addition of Michel has been a huge factor in our offense. We had one of the worst olines those 2 seasons.

 

[Tano]

It was 3rd and 10. We were near FG range. And Jefferson was wide open. Kupp also was breaking open. Although, it would have been a challenging throw to hit Kupp.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqM4jhpTzUY

Yeah I could not understand why he made that throw.

There were 3 guys around him. It was a stupid pass.

 

[Tano]

I think we can both agree our oline is better and the addition of Michel has been a huge factor in our offense. We had one of the worst olines those 2 seasons.

Our OL pass protection was definitely worse last year but our run blocking was actually pretty good last year.

We should have ran more last year but McVay has a tendency to abandon the run last year just like he does this year.

He really needs to stop doing that.

 

[Allen2McVay]

I think we can both agree our oline is better and the addition of Michel has been a huge factor in our offense.
We had one of the worst o-lines those 2 seasons.

I am not in agreement there.

Do think the O-Line is better in 2021 but not 'one of the worst' in 2019 and 2020.

I think the Rams surrendered less than fifty sacks combined those two seasons; and were top-5 in that category. The run-game was poor in 2019, and the Line had injuries at multiple positions but the run-game improved the next year.

 

[Tano]

Yeah I could not understand why he made that throw.

There were 3 guys around him. It was a stupid pass.

And the pick 6 was even worse. This board would have been hopping mad if Goff made that throw last year.

 

[Angry Ram]

Our offense has actually scored very close to what we did in 2017. We had a plethora of D/ST TDs that year and this year we only have one, which is why it looks worse than it is.

Offensive points though, were about one point per game off the pace, so very close.

Also, the Ravens got several defensive starters back that they didnt have last week. Surely you knew that? But still posted that it was the same defense that Burrow just lit up. That's odd

Also there were rumblings the Bengals were still passing and running up the score late to stick it to Harbaugh.

 

[Tano]

I am not in agreement there.

Do think the O-Line is better in 2021 but not 'one of the worst' in 2019 and 2020.

I think the Rams surrendered less than fifty sacks combined those two seasons; and were top-5 in that category. The run-game was poor in 2019, and the Line had injuries at multiple positions but the run-game improved the next year.

Goff was actually pretty good at avoiding sacks and getting the ball off except for inside rushes.

And McVay made sure Goff got the ball off on 3rd and long by having him do a roll-out, quick WR screen, or a half back draw play.

Very rarely did he have Goff do a long developing play because he knew the inside rush would get to Goff before he could get the throw off.

 

[Allen2McVay]

Goff was actually pretty good at avoiding sacks and getting the ball off except for inside rushes.

And McVay made sure Goff got the ball off on 3rd and long by having him do a roll-out, quick WR screen, or a half back draw play.

Very rarely did he have Goff do a long developing play because he knew the inside rush would get to Goff before he could get the throw off.

Agree with most of that. Still don't think the Rams' O-Lines were 'one of the worst' in 2019 and 2020.

Do you?

 

[Tano]

Agree with most of that. Still don't think the Rams' O-Lines were 'one of the worst' in 2019 and 2020.

Do you?

They were pretty bad in 2019 but I stated that our run blocking in 2020 was actually pretty good.

We just had one major weak link in our pass blocking in 2020 and I have already gone way overboard in my appraisal of that pass blocker

Oh and that weak link was only weak on 2nd and long of 10 yards or more or 3rd and long of 7 yards or more.

 

[Allen2McVay]

They were pretty bad in 2019 but I stated that our run blocking in 2020 was actually pretty good.

We just had one major weak link in our pass blocking in 2020 and I have already gone way overboard in my appraisal of that pass blocker

Oh and that weak link was only weak on 2nd and long of 10 yards or more or 3rd and long of 7 yards or more.

OK. Still not sure if you think the O-Line 'one of the worst' but OK.

 

[jrry32]

I am not in agreement there.

Do think the O-Line is better in 2021 but not 'one of the worst' in 2019 and 2020.

I think the Rams surrendered less than fifty sacks combined those two seasons; and were top-5 in that category. The run-game was poor in 2019, and the Line had injuries at multiple positions but the run-game improved the next year.

2020 OL was good. The 2019 OL was a turd. It was one of the worst in the NFL.

 

[Tano]

OK. Still not sure if you think the O-Line 'one of the worst' but OK.

Not one of the worse in 2020 just bad on certain plays

2019 - they were in the bottom 10 in the middle 5 games

In 2019 - they were pretty good in the first 5 games or so, then injuries struck and they were pretty bad in the next 5 games or so and not until they got some experience did they become pretty good in the last 5 games.

If you recall, Goff was above average in those last 5 games.

Dallas just destroyed us offensively the game we played them in one of those games and SF - Goff scored 29 points in that last game against a Superbowl Team and I believe we would have won that game if not for a really bad play by Rapp on a 3rd and 22