Following a 27-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, the defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams are 3-6. It's quite the Super Bowl slump to say the least, as the Rams look totally listless and if you didn't know they'd won it a year ago, you probably wouldn't believe anyone who told you they did.
In an absolutely scintillating game featuring starting quarterbacks Colt McCoy and John Wolford (I promise you read that correctly), the Rams finished with a whopping 256 yards of total offense. This was definitely one of the football games that was played in Week 10. Let's find someone to blame for this unsightly display, why don't we? Here are the two groups of people most to blame for the Rams' 27-17 loss to the Cardinals.
2. Can anybody be to blame?
Let's start with a caveat: of course not having Matthew Stafford is not ideal, and neither is losing Cooper Kupp during the game. In fact, anytime a team that's not the Chiefs gives twice as many targets to a tight end as any other receiver, things typically don't go particularly well for that offense! Big shocker, it didn't work out well for the Rams against the Cardinals.
Of course, this particular disproportionate targeting of Tyler Higbee has to do with John Wolford being the quarterback, and tight ends often running shorter routes that are easier for the quarterback to complete. Still, it must be said, the lower your average yards per completion is, the less likely you are to win the game. Wolford's was just under 9 yards per completion. For comparison, Kirk Cousins had just under 12 yards per completion.
With all the injuries, it's not totally fair to really blame any one person or group of people. Perhaps it should be spread equally, that might work.
1. All the running backs, I guess
If pressed on it, let's say the running backs. 66 yards rushing is far from good enough in the modern NFL. Sure, it was easier for the Cardinals to key in on the run game with their lack of fear of what Wolford could do to them, which was correctly placed. But, anytime your top two running backs combine for 12 carries for 43 yards, something isn't going right in the run game.
There are plenty of reasons for this. For instance, the offensive line has struggled since the retirement of Andrew Whitworth, but nonetheless it's concerning. The Rams have struggled in this department all year, regardless of the off-the-field situation with Cam Akers. The line can't block and none of the backs can find the holes. It's a double-edged sword of an issue for the Rams that has been brewing all year.
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The long and short of it is that the Rams are just not a good team right now. They haven't been all year, and their 3-6 record shows that in spades. Nothing is working unless Stafford is under center and Kupp is open. There is a slight problem considering neither of them are healthy at the moment, but surely that will work out in the end!
Sarcasm aside, the Rams are in serious trouble. They played the trade market the last few years and don't have many early draft picks left, so this could get a whole lot worse before it gets better. This might be the beginning of a long decline for Hollywood's superstars after a Super Bowl title.
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