December chill continues for once mighty Rams
Quarterback’s troubles in back-to-back losses disconcerting for NFC West champs
What in the heck has happened to the Los Angeles Rams? And Philadelphia Eagles?
And, for that matter, a slew of teams on Sunday?
Mid-december games typically bring clarity in the NFL, as good teams become better and the riff-raff invariably worse. Not in Week 15 this year.
Four of the divisional leaders lost, and the Houston Texans nearly made it five on Saturday, requiring a late rally to slip past the dismal New York Jets.
Week 15’s biggest shocker — even more than San Francisco’s upset of Seattle, Dallas’ shutout loss at Indianapolis and Kansas City’s late collapse against the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday — came on Sunday night, at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The wobbling Eagles, with super-sub Nick Foles filling in for regular starting quarterback Carson Wentz, held a 30-13 lead over the Rams early in the fourth quarter, and were 18 yards from adding to their blowout, before an interception turned the tide. The Eagles held on for a 30-23 win.
After losing ugly the previous Sunday at Chicago, the Rams now have lost two straight and didn’t look particularly good the week before that in a victory at Detroit. Is Rams head coach Sean Mcvay concerned?
You betcha.
“We’ve got to be able to figure this out, and figure it out fast,” Mcvay said, “because these last couple weeks, we’re doing things that are totally uncharacteristic of what good football teams do.”
The blunders and head-scratchers are too numerous to list here. But two stood out.
First, as Los Angeles attempted to tie or win the game with a touchdown in the final minute, twice a Rams player did not bother trying to get out of bounds to stop the clock after snaring a dump-off throw: Tight end Gerald Everett, then star running back Todd Gurley, on plays separated by one fast sideline dump-off to Everett.
To start that sequence, L.A. had the ball at Philadelphia’s 39-yard line with 45 seconds left. But when Gurley stayed in bounds and was tackled at the Philly 18-yard line, Rams quarterback Jared Goff had to rush up to spike the ball with four seconds left.
Three sideline dump-offs ate 42 seconds. Ridiculous.
Goff threw incomplete on the last play, as the Eagles held on for the upset victory.
What were Everett and Gurley thinking?
The other overriding issue for the Rams is Goff. The third-year quarterback suddenly is in one helluva funk.
In helping lead the Rams to a 10-1 start this season, Goff completed 68 per cent of his passes, averaged 322 yards per game, had a passer rating of 113.5 and a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 26 to six. Sparkling stats.
In three December games, however, Goff ’s production has plummeted: completing just 55 per cent of his passes for 242 pass yards per game, a 51.3 passer rating and a TD-TO-INT ratio of one to seven.
“He’s got to make better decisions,” Mcvay said.
The Rams should win their last two games — at Arizona and at home against San Francisco — to finish 13-3 and earn a first-round playoff bye. Then we’ll all just have to wait to see which Rams team shows up for the playoffs in January.
Just about everybody gave up the Eagles for dead at 6-7, on the periphery of both the NFC East and conference wild-card playoff races. But Dallas losing at Indianapolis changed everything, as the Cowboys (8-6), Washington (7-7) and Eagles (7-7) are now all bunched up in the NFC East.
Whether Wentz can play again this season — with the stress fracture in his back diagnosed last week — is up in the air.
Eagles head coach Doug Pederson announced Monday that Foles will start again this week, with “just another week of rest” in store for Wentz. The club won’t place Wentz on injured reserve, Pederson said.
The Eagles play host to Houston Sunday before finishing at Washington. Don’t count them out quite yet from defending their Super Bowl championship.
ESPN reported Monday that Miami Dolphins running back Frank Gore isn’t expect to play again this season, because of a sprained foot.
Gore, 35, is the NFL’S No. 4 career rusher with 14,748 yards. He trails only Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton and Barry Sanders on that list.