Rams PFF grades: Best and worst performers vs. Giants
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theramswire.usatoday.com]
Cameron DaSilva
Aside from a slow start in the first quarter, the Rams made things look easy on Sunday afternoon against the Giants. They cruised to a 38-11 win, even putting in their backups at the end of the game when things were already decided.
The defense put together its best performance of the season, resulting in five players earning grades above 80.0 from Pro Football Focus. The offense had a few standout performers, led by Cooper Kupp, but there were some lower grades on that side of the ball.
Here are the best and worst performers from Week 6 based on PFF’s grades.
Top 3 offense
WR Cooper Kupp: 84.4
TE Tyler Higbee: 81.8
LT Andrew Whitworth: 76.5
Kupp has been the best receiver in football this season. He only has one game with an offensive grade lower than 72.5, with Sunday’s game marking his second-best grade of the year. What’s impressive is that he still had an 84.4 overall grade despite being pinned with two drops, which obviously hurt his grade in PFF’s eyes.
Higbee bounced back with a nice performance after posting four straight games with a grade lower than 65, catching five passes on five targets for 36 yards. He also held up well as a blocker, with grades of 77.2 in pass protection and 74.6 in the running game.
Whitworth didn’t play the whole game but he allowed zero pressures and had a team-high 85.8 pass-blocking grade.
Top 3 defense
OLB Ogbonnia Okoronkwo: 91.6
S Taylor Rapp: 90.5
DT Aaron Donald: 89.7
Okoronkwo has played well since being activated off injured reserve, leading the defense with an overall grade of 91.6 and a pass-rush grade of 91.4. He had one sack and two hurries, totaling three pressures on Daniel Jones. His strip sack also resulted in a fumble, which was recovered by Leonard Floyd.
Rapp had maybe the best game of his career, picking off Jones twice and recording four total tackles. He also broke up another pass and hit Jones once on a blitz, flying around the field on defense.
Donald was credited with a half-sack and two tackles, one of which came right at the line of scrimmage after he split a double team easily. He did miss one tackle, which hurt his overall grade, but this was another strong performance from AD.
Bottom 3 offense
LT Joe Noteboom: 57.0
WR DeSean Jackson: 56.5
WR Van Jefferson: 55.9
Noteboom replaced Whitworth in the second half and although he didn’t allow any pressures on five pass-blocking snaps, he received a 51.3 run-block grade on 14 snaps, struggling in that phase of the game.
Jackson and Jefferson weren’t heavily involved against the Giants as most of the targets went to Kupp again. Jefferson caught three of four targets for 19 yards but his average depth of target was only 3.3 yards downfield. Jackson caught one pass for 6 yards, proving to be a non-factor in the win.
Bottom 3 defense
LB Ernest Jones: 50.5
NT Greg Gaines: 50.5
DE Michael Hoecht: 42.5
There are no real concerns with the lowest-graded defenders. Jones came in as a backup during the blowout and missed one tackle, also allowing a 14-yard reception in coverage. He could begin to get more playing time as the season goes on, but there’s obviously room for him to grow.
Gaines also missed a tackle, which resulted in a tackle grade of 24.8. He had one pressure on 24 pass-rush snaps, so he wasn’t very productive in that area, either.
Hoecht played 27 snaps and only generated one pressure on 24 rushes, failing to record a single tackle in the game.
Other notables
OLB Leonard Floyd: 89.5
S Jordan Fuller: 81.9
RB Darrell Henderson Jr.: 71.6
QB Matthew Stafford: 61.8
C Brian Allen: 59.4
CB Robert Rochell: 57.8
Floyd was just shy of cracking the top three on defense, still earning an elite grade of 89.5. He tied for the team-high with four pressures and recorded 1.5 sacks, forcing a fumble on the Giants’ opening drive, too.
Fuller is finding his footing after a somewhat slow start to the season, and Rochell was understandably graded lower for his struggles in coverage. He allowed five catches on nine targets for 69 yards, and also whiffed on a tackle against Kadarius Toney in the first quarter.
On offense, Henderson, Stafford and Allen all had lower grades than you might have expected. Henderson rushed for 78 yards and a touchdown, and also added 29 yards receiving with two total touchdowns. Stafford only threw six incompletions and scored four touchdowns, gaining 251 yards on just 28 attempts.
Allen allowed two pressures and was given a 58.0 run-blocking grade, resulting in his second straight week with an overall grade lower than 60.0
