RamsWire: Studs and duds from Rams' win

Studs and duds from Rams' win: Woods shines, Peters struggles
By: Cameron DaSilva | 1 minute ago

The Los Angeles Rams moved to 5-0 with a win over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday afternoon, grabbing a 33-31 victory in the unfriendly confines of CenturyLink Field. It was the worst performance of the season by the defense and the Rams were down two wide receivers for a good portion of the game, but Jared Goff, Todd Gurley and Sean McVay never blinked.

There were some good performances and some not-so-good ones, which we highlight in our weekly studs and duds piece below.

Studs

Todd Gurley

Gurley was once again a star for the Rams. Although his numbers weren’t eye-popping on the surface, he helped carry the offense on a day where Jared Goff wasn’t at his best. He rushed 22 times for 77 yards with a long of 16, adding another 36 yards on four catches. He was great late in the game, helping the Rams seal the win in the fourth quarter.

On the final drive alone, he had 21 yards and milked the clock for the Rams when they needed to put the game on ice. With Brandin Cooks and Cooper Kupp both out, Los Angeles needed him to step up, and that’s exactly what he did.

Aaron Donald

Donald didn’t dominate the way he did last year when he sacked Russell Wilson three times, but he was very good against a much-improved offensive line for Seattle. He had two quarterback hits and sacked Wilson once, breaking into the backfield several times with a tackle for loss, as well.

Overall, the Rams’ run defense was not good, but Donald had a strong game and forced a grounding call that was negated by Marcus Peters’ hold. He remains the best defender in the NFL and constantly commands double teams from opposing offensive lines on a weekly basis.

Robert Woods

After Kupp and Cooks went down with concussions, the burden at wide receiver fell squarely on Woods. Yet, all he did was step up and take on the bigger role as the No. 1 wideout, catching five passes for 92 yards. He also added a 56-yard rush on an end-around, which gave the Rams great field position.

If the Rams are to be without Cooks and Kupp for any period of time, Woods showed he can handle a higher share of targets and can make plays with the ball in his hands.

Cairo Santos

His missed extra point was ugly and could’ve cost the Rams a win, but Santos went full Lloyd from “Dumb and Dumber” and completely redeemed himself. He was 2-for-2 on field goals with a long of 39 – which was the game-winner – and 3-for-4 on extra points, scoring nine total points.

He doesn’t have a great leg on kickoffs, either, but he helped pin the Seahawks deep on one play after Tyler Lockett slipped at the goal line. say what you will about his missed PAT, but a 39-yard game-winner in your first action with a new team requires some talent.

Duds

Marcus Peters

This was by far Peters’ worst game as a Ram. He wasn’t great last week against the Vikings either, and perhaps it has to do with his calf injury, but he was terrible on Sunday. Not only did he allow two touchdowns, but he was beaten badly on both plays and was flagged for defensive holding, as well.

It’d be a stretch to say he was the reason for the Rams’ poor play on defense, but he was definitely the biggest culprit of their struggles. With Aqib Talib out, he has to improve and hold down the left side of the defense.

Run defense

This probably could’ve been classified as “Rams defense” because they were bad at every level, but the run defense was especially bad. They were gashed for 190 yards on 32 carries, allowing 5.9 yards per carry. The Seahawks seemed to have very little trouble running the ball against the Rams’ trio of defensive linemen up front, getting constant push past the line of scrimmage.

This was a major problem for Los Angeles last season and it’s continued to be a problem in 2018, too. And don’t try to blame it on Mark Barron being the common denominator, either. He had a strong game with nine tackles, but the running lanes were just too big all day long.

Sean McVay

His gutsy call on fourth down with under two minutes remaining essentially won the Rams the game, but it certainly wasn’t his best performance on the sideline. He used all of his timeouts in the first 20 minutes of the second half, leaving the Rams with none for the final nine minutes of the game.

Had the Rams needed a drive in the final minutes to win the game, it would’ve been much more difficult without any timeouts. Fortunately, it didn’t come back to bite the team, but that could’ve been disastrous.

Additionally, he was admittedly shaky in the red zone.

“I gotta start learning my lesson with some of the plays I’m selecting in the red zone and that’s something that I gotta look critically at myself and be better for our football team moving forward.

[theramswire.usatoday.com]

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