Los Angeles Rams: Offense compensates for defensive lapses
The Los Angeles Rams finished with a 38-31 victory over the Minnesota Vikings Thursday, showing a great offense can compensate for a vulnerable defense.
The Los Angeles Rams went into Thursday’s matchup with the Minnesota Vikings without cornerback Aqib Talib because of ankle surgery and fellow cover man Marcus Peters battling a calf injury, but the offense came out in full force.
Quarterback Jared Goff had an awe-inspiring performance that showcased his remarkable growth under head coach Sean McVay. He threw lasers all over the field, lighting up the Vikings pass defense for 465 yards, five touchdowns with a perfect passer rating of 158.3.
At times, Vikings defenders put themselves in position to make a play on the ball, but Goff’s marksmen-like accuracy pierced through small windows for highlight receptions. In other cases, the Rams managed to find favorable matchups against linebacker Anthony Barr, who trailed pass-catchers on three of the five touchdown passes.
It’s a tough task for a 255-pound linebacker to cover receivers downfield or an exceptional receiving back like Todd Gurley. It says more about McVay’s wizardry in play design than Barr’s physical ability.
Despite Goff’s Thursday night highlight reel, Minnesota kept the scores close throughout the contest. Los Angeles never led by more than 11 points. In the fourth quarter, the Vikings had an opportunity to tie the game on their final drive, but defensive end John Franklin-Myers forced a fumble to seal a victory.
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The Rams’ ability to close the game with a takeaway showed this squad’s defense isn’t all about the flashy names. Yes, Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh made their contributions in the pass rush. Nonetheless, a rookie fourth-rounder made the pivotal play to put the game away.
Los Angeles’ defense will absolutely need Talib or a healthy Peters in the secondary to sustain their early success. In the meantime, the offense can simply outscore opponents in shootouts, which is what we witnessed Thursday night.
Last year’s No. 1 offense added a speedy deep-threat perimeter weapon in wideout Brandin Cooks to replace Sammy Watkins. With Gurley in the backfield, the Rams can go through stretches of defensive lapses on the back end and still finish with an impressive win.
Furthermore, defensive coordinator Wade Phillips will likely turn up the temperature on the front-end pressure to ensure quarterbacks don’t have maximum time in the pocket to pick apart weaknesses downfield.
The Rams sacked quarterback Kirk Cousins four times. Minnesota’s offensive line has some holes, but Donald and Suh should develop into an elite duo in the middle as the season progresses. For the first time together, they wreaked havoc in the trenches with noticeable results, logging a combined three sacks.
In Talib’s absence, cornerback Sam Shields isn’t someone to overlook. He’s a Pro Bowler who missed the 2017 campaign because of repeated concussions, but the 30-year-old has started 63 out of 84 career games. The savvy veteran can hold a prominent role opposite Peters for an extended period.
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General manager Les Snead made offseason moves to significantly improve the defense, but this squad doesn’t need a shutdown unit with the offense averaging 35 points per contest—second-best in the league. Goff can help any of his top-three wideouts or featured running back log 100 receiving yards. Cooper Kupp, Robert Woods and Cooks all hit the century mark Thursday.
McVay pulls the strings to the best offensive show in the NFL, and it’s powerful enough to keep this team on top.