Some thoughts at the half way mark...
Biggest surprise to me: Cooper Kupp. My prediction was he would either sit the first 2-3 games or be pretty limited in September and gradually be worked back in. He's been simply outstanding.
I'm shocked at how amazing his recovery from that injury has been. Does the NFL have a comeback player of the year award? Kupp should be leading candidate if they do.Biggest disappointment: Penalties. The CIN game is a good example of how dumb (and some bad) penalties can keep a lesser opponent in the game.
Final record prediction: 10-6. I'd love to see 11-5 and it is possible. But this just looks like a 10-6 team to me. I think they squeak into the last wildcard and play at Green Bay the first weekend in January.
I choose to be optimistic that they can get to at least 11-5, but that's leading with my heart.Stats to note:
- Rams are 24th in the league in 1st quarter scoring (just 3.1 ppg) but 2nd in the league in scoring (behind Houston) in quarters 2-4 at 23.6 ppg. Slow starts have hurt them....
- Points differential: +40, 8th in the league. They were +109 through 8 games last year (8-0).
I'm surprised they are as high as 8th.- Rams passer rating differential ( called "the mother of all NFL predictive stats" ) is currently -2.1 (87.1 vs. 89.2 allowed); this is 19th in the NFL. They were 11th last year.
- Rams are 12th in red zone scoring (61.3%)
- Gurley is on pace for 761 rushing yards (50.7/game)
- Everett and Higbee have 44 combined catches (57 all of 2018)
- Cooper Kupp has already moved into the Rams top 20 in receiving yards (2,227) in just 31 games
- Zuerlein needs 7 FG for 200 in his career.
So about 14 more attempts ought to do it.- Cory Littleton leads the team in INT, PD, fumble recoveries and tackles...
This guy is under the radar to the media, but is turning into one of the best all-around lb'ers in the NFL- the Rams have 14 sacks from edge defenders after having 6 all of last year (and 23.5 in 2017).
- Among head coaches with at least 40 NFL games, Sean McVay is 4th
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A thing I see Goff ATTEMPTING to do is make a lot more throws on the run. It isn't always working out for him, but I saw a couple of rollout passes Sunday where he hit the receiver perfectly in stride for extra yards. It's almost like he thinks he's trying to imitate Mahomes, which he really can't do.
I don't think it's all just a reaction to poor line protection, because he was doing it right from the beginning, and I know that he and Bortles were working on those rollouts a lot in preseason. This is not a defense, just an observation. I think Goff is trying to change/expand his game and he's struggling with it right now.
Anybody else?
Ramily!
