Studs and duds from Rams' Week 9 loss to Titans

[theramswire.usatoday.com]

Studs and duds from Rams' Week 9 loss to Titans


Cameron DaSilva
November 7, 2021 10:05 pm PT

It can be difficult to find positives from a 28-16 loss, especially when the game didn’t even feel as close as the final 12-point margin shows. The Rams decided to beat themselves instead of the Titans on Sunday night, committing error after error en route to their second loss of the season.

As one might expect, there were far more duds than studs in this game from a Rams perspective, with all of the standout players coming on defense.


For the most part, it was a game the Rams would rather forget.

Stud: Jalen Ramsey
Aside from a couple of extracurricular penalties in the first half, Ramsey played an excellent game. He picked off Ryan Tannehill on the Titans’ opening drive, made a terrific tackle for a loss on an end-around and was the team’s best coverage man. Brown did beat him on a crosser late in the game before the Titans’ final touchdown, but Ramsey still turned in a great performance. He brings so much value to the defense, whether he’s covering wide receivers or coming up and tackling in run support.


Studs: Aaron Donald and Leonard Floyd
The Rams’ two best pass rushers were impactful once again against the Titans. Floyd had one sack and three quarterback hits, splitting sacks with Ogbonnia Okoronkwo and Greg Gaines on separate occasions. Donald recorded one sack of his own, too, which came while he was being held by the tackle. He made two tackles for a loss and landed one hit on Tannehill, consistently getting into the backfield to blow up plays.


Duds: Interior offensive linemen
It was a terrible night for the Rams’ offensive linemen, and that’s probably putting it nicely for the three on the interior. David Edwards was walked into Stafford for a sack, Brian Allen got beat multiple times and was also called for a false start, and Austin Corbett was a turnstile at right guard.

Jeffery Simmons dominated all night long to the tune of three sacks in the first half alone, while Denico Autry also had a strong performance against the Rams’ offensive line. For a unit that was among the league’s best coming into this one, it was an embarrassing showing from the big men in the middle.


Dud: Matthew Stafford
Stafford hadn’t played a truly bad game up to this point, but on Sunday night, he was way off – especially in the first half. He threw an unfathomably bad interception while being whipped to the ground by Jeffery Simmons, which set the Titans up at the 2-yard line. They converted that into a touchdown one play later.

Then on the first play of the next drive, Stafford threw a pick-six to Kevin Byard, putting the Titans up 14-3 with 12:10 left in the second quarter. His offensive line did him no favors, but Stafford was careless with the football and there were times where he needed to get rid of hit quicker.


Dud: Darious Williams
Williams returned from his three-game absence while on injured reserve and didn’t look particularly good. He got beat by A.J. Brown on a slant on the opening drive and missed a tackle on Julio Jones along the sideline on third down, playing just a tick late at times in coverage and when needing to make a tackle after the catch. Dont’e Deayon was the better corner tonight and the Rams are still rotating guys in the secondary, but Williams will need to be better in the coming weeks.


Dud: Terrell Lewis
It wasn’t the best performance from Lewis, who had been playing well this season in Justin Hollins’ spot. He didn’t do much in terms of generating pressure and was called for a neutral zone infraction on third-and-9, which led to a conversion by the Titans on the very next play. He’s had better performances than this one, but at least Ogbonnia Okoronkwo made some impactful plays when rotating with Lewis.


Dud: Sean McVay
As he always does after a loss, McVay fell on the sword and said he needed to do a better job for his players of putting them in positions to succeed. He’s not wrong, either. He abandoned the run in the red zone when that was what seemed to be working offensively, and when they failed on third down, he settled for a 22-yard field goal while trailing 21-3 midway through the third quarter.

His play calling was uninspiring and he leaned too heavily on empty sets where the Titans teed off on Stafford with successful rushes. And almost inexplicably, he left his starting offense out there with three minutes to play and the score sitting at 28-9 – even after Stafford tweaked his ankle in the second half.