Rams secondary might not be built to withstand Jaylen Watson's injury for long

The Los Angeles Rams defense surrendered 23 points in the second half against the Denver Broncos, in addition to the seven off Matthew Stafford's pick-six. In the first half, cornerbacks Jaylen Watson and Trent McDuffie had helped stymie the Broncos offense, holding them to a shutout.

Then Watson suffered a shoulder injury in the second quarter. The Broncos roared back to life en route to a 30-26 victory. Emmanuel Forbes did not play well in a larger role. But he wasn't alone.

It's not as though Josh Wallace, Watson's understudy, played poorly. It's just that he fell victim to bad calls, perfect placement of the football, and a high volume of passes thrown his way as Denver quarterback Bo Nix learned to avoid throwing at McDuffie.

The Broncos diagnosed what little worked in the first half of the game and emphasized ways to leverage those successes by targeting Forbes and Wallace. While the results did not yield a huge game for Nix, it did result in a come-from=behind victory.

There's bound to be more where that came from.

Rams secondary has already been bitten by injuries

Safety Kam Kinchens and Watson have been waylaid by injuries in just the first three games. That means two fresh defensive backs must step into the secondary and forge instant chemistry with their teammates.

That's difficult to do on the fly. A look at some stats for each Rams cornerback:

• Trent McDuffie | 18 targets | 6 receptions | 7 PDs | 1 INT | 11 tackles | 0 missed tkls
• Jaylen Watson | 13 targets | 9 receptions | 3 PDs | 0 INT | 10 tackles | 1 missed tkl
• Emmanuel Forbes | 4 targets | 2 receptions | 1 PD | 0 INT | 2 tackles | 0 missed tkls
• Josh Wallace | 6 targets | 3 receptions | 2 PDs } 1 INT | 6 tackles | 1 missed tkl

As you can see, the secondary is not a dumpster fire by any means. But Denver's offense managed to squeeze enough out of its arsenal of skill players to keep LA's cornerbacks guessing. And the results were effective, if not impressive.

The Rams' secondary depth has reached its limit. The only excess on the active roster right now lies with safeties, not cornerbacks. And Watson's injury has been confirmed as a dislocated shoulder. Watson will most likely miss Week 4 against the Philadelphia Eagles, head coach Sean McVay confirmed.

The Rams must regroup. The Eagles have had LA's number lately. Unless the Rams secondary can play well and remain healthy aside from McDuffie, its struggles have only just begun.

As always, thanks for reading.

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