NFL Week 16 Grades: Rams get an 'A' for clinching NFC West
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Rams get an A
The Rams needed a win to clinch the NFC West on Sunday, and it seems that Todd Gurley took that as a personal challenge. Apparently he also told Jared Goff about that challenge, because those two players led the Rams to a wild victory in Tennessee.
With the Rams needing a win to take home their first division title since 2003, Gurley went out and totaled 276 yards and two touchdowns -- and the Rams needed all of that -- in their 27-23 defeat of the Titans.
The most impressive part about Gurley's performance is that he threw himself to the front of the MVP race by doing something that no NFL player had done in more than 30 years.
Of Gurley's 276 yards in Tennessee, 118 came on the ground and 158 through the air, making him the first player since Herschel Walker in 1986 to rack up 100 rushing yards and 150 receiving yards in the same game. Gurley's yardage total was also the highest number put up by any NFL player this season.
If there's one thing we've learned since the arrival of Sean McVay, it's that he knows how to use every weapon he has on offense, and Gurley is proof of that. To give you an idea of how much McVay has opened up the Rams offense, just consider this crazy fact: With one play against the Titans, Gurley topped his highs for touchdown catches and receiving yards in a game under Jeff Fisher.
Before McVay's arrival, Gurley had zero touchdown catches under Fisher, and his highest receiving total was just 49 yards. Gurley topped both those numbers with just that one 80-yard touchdown catch against the Titans. Since the hiring of McVay, Gurley has suddenly become one of the most versatile players in the NFL. Under McVay, Gurley has now caught six touchdown passes, including two Sunday against the Titans, after none in two seasons with Fisher.
With just 10 catches and 22 carries in the game, Gurley averaged an amazing 8.6 yards per touch. You can basically waltz down the field when your running back is putting up numbers like that.
Gurley's game against Tennessee was actually so amazing that Goff's performance almost became an afterthought, even though he threw for 304 yards and four touchdowns. When you hear this Rams team being compared to the Greatest Show on Turf teams of the early 2000s, it's not as crazy as it sounds, and Goff is the proof. The Rams' second-year quarterback is putting up numbers that Rams fans haven't seen since Kurt Warner played.
Now that the Rams have won the division, they can starting setting their sights on something bigger, like winning the Super Bowl. Gurley seems ready to carry them there if that's what needs to be done.
L.A. Rams 27-23 over Tennessee
Rams: A
Although we gave the headline to Todd Gurley and Jared Goff, it's definitely worth noting that the Rams were once again dominant on defense. The Rams only gave up 16 points on defense, with the other seven coming after the Titans returned a Jared Goff fumble for a touchdown. The Rams' defense came up especially big in the fourth quarter: With L.A. clinging to a 27-23 lead, the Titans got the ball three times in the quarter, but came nowhere close to scoring.
Titans: B-
This game is a good example of why no one in Tennessee seems to know if Marcus Mariota is actually a franchise quarterback. At times, he looks like the quarterback of the future for the Titans; at other times, he looks like he's playing football for the first time. One of Mariota's most inexplicable plays was an interception that he threw on Tennessee's opening possession.
The pick hurt because the Rams turned it into a touchdown just three plays later. Mariota also gave his team no chance to win when he made a crazy throw on fourth down on Tennessee's final drive of the game. That's not exactly how you want to bookend your performance when your team is fighting for a playoff berth.
#HelmetHornsMatter
“Well, the color is good, I like the metallic blue,” Youngblood recently said while laughing, via NFL Journal. “The horn is terrible. It looks like a ‘C.’ When I first saw it on the logo I honestly thought it was a Charger logo.
“Now when I see it on the helmet, it just isn’t a ram horn. There is no distinct curl like a mature ram horn. I don’t know how the Rams could get that wrong. That is your symbol and it has been for what? Seventy years or more? Longer than I have been alive? It’s just not us, it’s not the Rams.”---Mr. Ram Jack Youngblood
The Rams needed a win to clinch the NFC West on Sunday, and it seems that Todd Gurley took that as a personal challenge. Apparently he also told Jared Goff about that challenge, because those two players led the Rams to a wild victory in Tennessee.
With the Rams needing a win to take home their first division title since 2003, Gurley went out and totaled 276 yards and two touchdowns -- and the Rams needed all of that -- in their 27-23 defeat of the Titans.
The most impressive part about Gurley's performance is that he threw himself to the front of the MVP race by doing something that no NFL player had done in more than 30 years.
Of Gurley's 276 yards in Tennessee, 118 came on the ground and 158 through the air, making him the first player since Herschel Walker in 1986 to rack up 100 rushing yards and 150 receiving yards in the same game. Gurley's yardage total was also the highest number put up by any NFL player this season.
If there's one thing we've learned since the arrival of Sean McVay, it's that he knows how to use every weapon he has on offense, and Gurley is proof of that. To give you an idea of how much McVay has opened up the Rams offense, just consider this crazy fact: With one play against the Titans, Gurley topped his highs for touchdown catches and receiving yards in a game under Jeff Fisher.
Before McVay's arrival, Gurley had zero touchdown catches under Fisher, and his highest receiving total was just 49 yards. Gurley topped both those numbers with just that one 80-yard touchdown catch against the Titans. Since the hiring of McVay, Gurley has suddenly become one of the most versatile players in the NFL. Under McVay, Gurley has now caught six touchdown passes, including two Sunday against the Titans, after none in two seasons with Fisher.
With just 10 catches and 22 carries in the game, Gurley averaged an amazing 8.6 yards per touch. You can basically waltz down the field when your running back is putting up numbers like that.
Gurley's game against Tennessee was actually so amazing that Goff's performance almost became an afterthought, even though he threw for 304 yards and four touchdowns. When you hear this Rams team being compared to the Greatest Show on Turf teams of the early 2000s, it's not as crazy as it sounds, and Goff is the proof. The Rams' second-year quarterback is putting up numbers that Rams fans haven't seen since Kurt Warner played.
Now that the Rams have won the division, they can starting setting their sights on something bigger, like winning the Super Bowl. Gurley seems ready to carry them there if that's what needs to be done.
L.A. Rams 27-23 over Tennessee
Rams: A
Although we gave the headline to Todd Gurley and Jared Goff, it's definitely worth noting that the Rams were once again dominant on defense. The Rams only gave up 16 points on defense, with the other seven coming after the Titans returned a Jared Goff fumble for a touchdown. The Rams' defense came up especially big in the fourth quarter: With L.A. clinging to a 27-23 lead, the Titans got the ball three times in the quarter, but came nowhere close to scoring.
Titans: B-
This game is a good example of why no one in Tennessee seems to know if Marcus Mariota is actually a franchise quarterback. At times, he looks like the quarterback of the future for the Titans; at other times, he looks like he's playing football for the first time. One of Mariota's most inexplicable plays was an interception that he threw on Tennessee's opening possession.
The pick hurt because the Rams turned it into a touchdown just three plays later. Mariota also gave his team no chance to win when he made a crazy throw on fourth down on Tennessee's final drive of the game. That's not exactly how you want to bookend your performance when your team is fighting for a playoff berth.
#HelmetHornsMatter
“Well, the color is good, I like the metallic blue,” Youngblood recently said while laughing, via NFL Journal. “The horn is terrible. It looks like a ‘C.’ When I first saw it on the logo I honestly thought it was a Charger logo.
“Now when I see it on the helmet, it just isn’t a ram horn. There is no distinct curl like a mature ram horn. I don’t know how the Rams could get that wrong. That is your symbol and it has been for what? Seventy years or more? Longer than I have been alive? It’s just not us, it’s not the Rams.”---Mr. Ram Jack Youngblood
