5 losers and 4 winners from Rams' Week 6 loss to the Cardinals

The nightmare just never ends, does it? The Los Angeles Rams, crowned offseason Super Bowl champs, sit 2-4, last in the NFC West after falling 18-16 to the Arizona Cardinals in Week 6.

It wasn't just the loss, a bad enough comeuppance in and of itself. It was the special teams disaster, again, allowing big runbacks and losing kicker Blake Grupe to an early injury.

It was Chris Shula's zone defense once again being slice n' diced by Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett. It was Bam Knight running all over the Rams' defensive front.

It was the offense going MIA between its first and and second touchdowns, LA's only scores of the day, and clamming up in enemy territory.

We'll take the bitter medicine, because there's nothing else to do. Gotta hand it to Cardinals linebacker Mack Wilson, after all. The Rams couldn't deal with 'em.

Rams' Week 6 winners and losers from deflating loss to Cardinals

From a Rams perspective, there are no real winners in a game like this, even in the valor category. Spoiler alert: the winners section won't take up much space. Let's just get it out of the way.

Winner - running back Blake Corum

Corum finally got a little something going on the ground after failing to eclipse 20 yards in any of his last three games. He finished with nine carries for 42 yards, plus two catches for 18 and a touchdown. Maybe the Rams can get back to having a running back tandem instead of having to lean on Kyren Williams for the lion's share of rushing production.

Winner - defensive lineman Aaron Donald

Donald barreled through the line for a big tackle for loss early. For a second straight week, he came oh-so-close to his first sack of the season, hitting Brissett just as the ball was released on a red-zone incompletion. He finished with three tackles on the day and, more importantly, took another step closer to regaining All-Pro form.

Winner - Rams' red-zone defense

Getting there was far too easy, but the defense did buckle down in the red zone. Arizona went 0-for-5 on red-zone trips, settling for a field goal every time. It should have been enough, but the offense couldn't carry its weight. When the Cardinals took over down one with 45 seconds left, the Rams couldn't keep them out of field goal range, setting up the game-winner from 43 yards out.

Poor Josh Wallace. Another bogus penalty at his expense, this time for unnecessary roughness on incidental contact, made life much easier.

Winner - punter Ethan Evans

He made the extra point, his-ever in the NFL. That was the job. He did it. Congrats. It would be a lot more fun to talk about if the Rams had come away with the win.

Loser - kicker Blake Grupe

This has nothing to do with Grupe's performance and everything to do with his unfortunate knee injury, which he sustained making a touchdown-preventing tackle on Cardinals returner Devin Durvernay early in the game.

Ironically, it came on the kickoff following Grupe's made field goal, a 45-yarder right down the middle, his first attempt after joining the team earlier this week off the Jets practice squad. Grupe only had to make a play on Durvernay because, surprise, surprise, the Rams' coverage unit once again failed to contain the returner. If Grupe doesn't shove Durvernay out of bounds, it's a touchdown.

If he doesn't, he keeps his 5-foot-7,156-pound frame intact.

Loser - Rams' run defense vs. Bam Knight

If the name Bam Knight didn't mean much to you before today, you're not alone. With RB1 Jeremiyah love sidelined by an ankle injury, Knight carried 15 times for 80 yards. For context, he came into the game with three carries all year.

LA was much more effective stopping Tyler Allgeier, who managed just 38 yards on 18 rushes. Okay, good job. That's how you're supposed to handle backups.

Loser - Rams' Trent McDuffie-less secondary

With McDuffie ruled out due to a late-week groin injury, the Rams felt his loss painfully.

After a Quentin Lake interception on the Cardinals' first series, their pass-catchers came open all day. Arizona's is not an explosive offense - McBride's 26-yard catch was the longest - but it can dink and dunk down the field.

By leaving McBride and company cushions of space, Rams DBs allowed the Cardinals to do just that. Leaning on the run game and a catch-and-run pass attack, they controlled the clock for a nearly 10-minute advantage in time of possession.

Loser - Defensive coordinator Chris Shula

Shula played a lot less man coverage with McDuffie out of the lineup. It may have been by necessity, but to problematic effect. Those pockets of space aren't all on Rams defenders; it's also on Shula for effectively scheming Cardinals receivers open. It didn't work in Week 1 against the San Francisco 49ers, and it didn't work in Week 6.

Brissett rebounded after the interception to go 24-of-35 for 218 yards, while avoiding a sack.

Loser - Sean McVay's offense

McVay ran the ball more this time (you're welcome), but to much the same result. The offense simply couldn't get going consistently. For a third straight first half, the explosives simply weren't there. Stafford's arm is too good to spend a whole 30 minutes playing pepper.

His 42-yard completion late was mostly Puka Nacua breaking tackles and rumbling after the catch. And although the run game was effective, it was a lot of eight-yard gains or stuffs. The entire operation was once again out of sync.

Going 2-for-4 in the red zone doesn't work when you don't have a kicker. At least last week they had a pretend one.

The late go-ahead touchdown only provided a one-point lead, and the defense couldn't keep the Cardinals out of range for a game-winning kick.

This is getting old.

Add us as a preferred source on Google