Rams are back at home & ready to take on the Cowboys | Week 5 Game Preview

Oct 07, 2022 at 01:25 PM

J.B. Long

Voice of the L.A. Rams

Tough week. Even tougher draw.

On the heels of a Monday Night Football defeat, the Los Angeles Rams and their ailing offense run into one of the most daunting defensive matchups of the season.

The Dallas Cowboys are very much equipped to bother a depleted unit in the manner that Buffalo and San Francisco have.

But as Sean McVay is fond of saying: "Tough times don't last; tough people do."

Sunday will be about creative solutions, executing while short-handed, and tapping into a tenacity that so far has been lacking.

Time to stop searching and start swinging.

Standing Flat

The Rams are one of 15 franchises with a 2-2 record, the most such teams through Week 4 of a season, per NFL Research.

No other season had more than 13 such teams.

"I think there's a lot of bad football from what I watch," Tom Brady said Wednesday, with his 2-2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers very much in that .500 boat.

And he said that before Colts-Broncos.

Fortunately for L.A., the NFC West is one of four divisions without a single team with a winning record (most such divisions through Week 4 of a season since the NFL merger).

So while the sting of losing to San Francisco is very real, its consequences don't necessarily have to be.

Now About That Dallas Defense

The 49ers have allowed the fewest points per game (11.5) and yards per play (3.8) in the NFL. And this league has a not-so-funny way of finding your weakness and exploiting it.

These Cowboys aren't far behind that San Francisco pace, and in particular, have been a nightmare for opposing quarterbacks: first in the league in hits, second in sacks, third in opponent passer rating.

And like the Bills and Niners before them, they don't have to blitz to do it.

Deep In The Heart Of Texas

There are a few other reason Matthew Stafford may have spent some sleepless nights preparing for Dallas.

The Cowboys have allowed a 20.4 passer rating on deep throws, per NextGen Stats – the second lowest average in the NFL. And perhaps nothing illustrates the deficiencies of the Rams offense to date like the precipitous drop in Stafford's deep throw success.

A year ago? More production downfield than any other quarterback.

Through four games of 2022? At the bottom of the NFL with a passer rating of 8.3 and 46 passing yards total on deep throws.

That's not an indictment on QB1, though certainly he has a hand in it. That's a reflection of just how difficult it's been for the Rams to stay on schedule, pass protect, win routes and get separation, and then connect on those opportunities.

Warning: Graphic Content

There were plenty of visual aids making the rounds this week, but I found these two (linked here) to be most illustrative.

The Rams aren’t bad at moving the chains. They did have drives of 14, 10, 16, and 13 plays on Monday in Santa Clara. They earned 21 first downs compared to just 13 for the Niners.

But being locked in on the line to gain is a biproduct of not being able to manufacture explosives.