Rams win, but fail to score on offense

The Los Angeles Rams finally got a win on Sunday, over the New York Jets. Like their previous four games, which were all losses, there was very little offense. Kicker Greg Zuerlein scored the only Rams points with three field goals. To win more games Los Angeles needs to score offensive touchdowns, both running and passing.

Todd Gurley had a good day on Sunday, rushing for 64 yards and catching 8 passes for eight yards. Benjamin Cunningham had six carries for 40 yards and three catches for seven yards. But no touchdowns.

Quarterback Case Keenum passed for 165 yards, not a very notable day for any QB.

One bright spot for the Rams offense was wide receiver Kenny Brit. He had seven receptions for 109 yards. When asked about the lack of offense by wide receiver Tavon Austin, Rams head coach Jeff Fisher told the media, “His presence on the field creates some other opportunities for other players. We created a lot of one-on-ones with Kenny (Britt) and Kenny answered. Kenny answered against a good corner. ”

As for more production from Austin, Fisher said, “It’s an ongoing process. We’re not disappointed because he’s a highly talented player. We just need to give him more opportunities.”

When asked about getting touchdowns, Fisher said, “We’ve got to execute.” He added, “It’s the things that we’re not doing, we had some big play opportunities, we had some mistakes up front, some protection mistakes with people running down the field. Now granted, credit the opponent, because they’re creating those problems because that’s how Todd (Jets head coach Todd Bowles) is with his defense, he creates problems for you. We talked about this, it was before Detroit, I think. We talked about finding a box of touchdowns in the storage room — we have to get back to that. We have to get back to scoring.”

There were two phases of the Rams that were instrumental in their win: defense and special teams. Besides Zuerlein’s three field goals, Johnny Hekker kicked seven punts, with an average of 51.7 yards. The defense held the Jets offense to just 296 yards, allowing just one touchdown from New York quarterback Bryce Petty. The Jets were unable to convert on the point after.

Rams linebacker Alec Ogletree intercepted a pass in the 4^th quarter, shutting down any chance New York had to tie the game or win it.

Their next opponent will be the Miami Dolphins, who just had a big win against the Chargers in San Diego. Miami has a better offense than the Jets so the defense will have more challenges to overcome.

One of the challenges will be the loss of defensive end Robert Quinn, who admitted himself to a local hospital for a non-football condition. Fisher said Quinn is still undergoing tests for an unspecified condition. Fisher said it looked encouraging, that Quinn was in stable condition and wanted to get back on the field as soon as possible. Fisher told the media, “I’m not going to go into specifics. We’re still doing tests, but it’s highly unlikely,” when asked if the condition was related to a brain tumor Quinn had in high school.

That could be the biggest question mark for the Rams going into their next game, but with the poor performance of the offense, there is a growing chorus for the Rams to try Jared Goff, their number one pick in the NFL draft to see what he can do.

The Rams will be at home against the Dolphins this Sunday. We will see how they do without Quinn in their defense and if Jared Goff finally gets some playing time. They have seven more games to finish with an 11-6 record. A tall order, considering they have to play the New Orleans Saints, New England Patriots, the Atlanta Falcons and the Seattle Seahawks, who may not be so easy to beat twice in a season, especially in Seattle.

Photos by Claudia Gestro