3 good, 3 bad, and 3 ugly takeaways in LA Rams Week 4 humbling loss

Good I: Rams running game showed up in this one

At last! Something good to talk about. The LA Rams finally had 100 yards rushing, albeit against a defense that they could have rushed for 200+ yards against. On a day where the LA Rams averaged 5.3 yards-per-carry, and back from ribs injury Darrell Henderson ran 14 times for 89 yards, this game felt mismanaged from the get-go.

Rushing is a very friendly option when the defense ends up 10 minutes more in a 60-minute game than the offense. The reason? The clock continues to run if a tackle is made inbounds. The game clock stops with each incompletion, and each time a ball carrier runs out of bounds.  When the Rams offense had the ball in Week 4, there were yards to be gained on the ground.

But they outsmarted themselves and passed. In the third/fourth quarter, with the Rams down by a score of 34-13, the Rams got a first down and goal to go from the eight-yard line. Four passing attempts later, the Cardinals had the football at their one-yard line. It’s a common theme for the Rams. Despite an effective running game, despite the need to take some of the pressure off the quarterback, the Rams passed four times in the red zone.

Run the ball, please? It helps your defense. It helps your offensive line. And it even helps to draw defensive backs closer to the line of scrimmage, helping the deep pass. The only thing that stopped the Rams rushing attack in this one was the fact that the Rams abandoned the run.

It probably did not help his cause for more playing time when Sony Michel fumbled the football deep in Rams territory, leading to a touchdown for the Cardinals. But he won’t earn the trust of the coaching staff on the bench. He has played rather well so far in a relief role. Hopefully, he will get more rushes going forward.