by Paul Teetor
It was a rough weekend for the Los Angeles pro football teams – both of them.
Oh, sure, the Rams won their first-round playoff game Saturday afternoon over the Carolina Panthers by the too-close-for-comfort score of 34-31.
Big whoop.
If they play the same way next weekend against the Chicago Bears – and old friend Caleb Williams, the former USC star quarterback — they will have no chance to win.
None.
And the Chargers? They were so bad they didn’t score a single touchdown in their first-round 16-3 loss to the New England Patriots.
Saturday’s Rams-Panthers game was a microcosm of everything that has gone wrong for Coach Sean McVay and his team over the last month, when they lost two of their last three games and almost lost their last game to the pathetic Arizona Cardinals.
That would have made it an 0-3 finish after an incredible start to the season for the Rams and, just as important, for star quarterback Matthew Stafford.
Stafford, who makes his home on the Manhattan Beach Strand with his wife Kelly and four little girls, was emerging as the consensus choice for the National Football League Most Valuable Player Award before last month. With two weeks to go, he had thrown 40 touchdown passes and only been intercepted five times. Even though at times it felt like he was being nominated for a Lifetime Achievement Award rather than this season’s MVP, the stats were there to back up the 37-year-old veteran as worthy of being named NFL MVP in his 17th NFL season.
By the end of the season his 46 touchdown passes were a career high and led the NFL this season. His 4,707 passing yards were also a career high
But in his last two games he threw four interceptions, was sacked seven times, and suddenly seemed to have lost those magic ingredients – poise, touch and 65% accuracy – that had carried him and the Rams to favorite status to win the Super Bowl.
Now the same pattern – great initially, with an 8-for-8 passing record – followed by a sudden loss of his touch seemed to be repeating itself Saturday on the road as the Rams first surged ahead with a two-touchdown lead and then fell behind late in the Carolina game.
And as Stafford lost his magic touch, everything the Rams tried for most of the third and fourth quarters went against them.
Interceptions, blocked punts, fumbles and missed field goals – everything that could go wrong did go wrong as the Rams fell behind by 31-27.
But just as it looked as if the Rams season was going down the drain, Stafford orchestrated a last-second, seven-play touchdown drive that gave them a victory that elicited more sighs of relief from McVay and his players than any kind of jubilation or celebration.
McVay, to his credit, didn’t try to sugar coat his teams near collapse. “I think you have to be honest about it,” McVay said Saturday night after the game. “I’m so grateful to be able to have the learning opportunities in spite of us being able to win this game because we are going to need to be able to play better if we expect to be able to advance past this round.”
Huh?
Did you catch his not-so-subtle rhetorical trick?
A loss would have been a disaster and reason to overhaul the whole Rams team. But this was not a loss – it was a “learning opportunity” that was going to help his team play better in its next game.
So what “learning opportunities” are the Rams going to have when they gather for practice in Woodland Hills Monday morning?
Let’s start with the special teams, an area that has been the Rams Achilles heel, so much this year that McVay made his first-ever in-season coaching change when he fired Special Teams coordinator Chase Blackburn after Week 16. This time around, it wasn’t a field goal block or miss, or a punt return for a touchdown. This time it was a blocked punt that nearly sank the Rams.
With 4:18 to play and the Rams clinging to a shaky three-point lead like a drowning man to a life raft, the Panthers overloaded the right side of the Rams’ punt protection. Carolina’s Isaiah Simmons blocked the punt and set Carolina up with the ball at the Rams 30. Four plays later, quarterback Bryce Young threw the go-ahead touchdown pass.
Blocked punts happen occasionally – they’re part of the game.
What are less excusable are the nine penalties the Rams — the least penalized team in the NFL this season — drew on Saturday, a season high that cost them 83 yards.
The first was a third-down defensive pass interference in the end zone in which corner Cobie Durant failed to turn his head to look for the ball. A fresh set of downs at the one-yard-line was all the Panthers needed for a Chuba Hubbard touchdown run.
Back-to-back pre-snap penalties by receivers Davante Adams and Xavier Smith on the next drive could be chalked up to the crowd noise impacting the Rams offense. An illegal block on left guard Steve Avila led to a first-and-20 situation that ended with a turnover on downs on fourth-and-three.
A defensive pass interference worth 28 yards by safety Quentin Lake at the end of the second quarter gave the Panthers the green light to be aggressive and score a touchdown before the break. And an offsides penalty by defensive end Braden Fiske on third-and-five gave the Panthers a fresh set of downs on a drive that ended in a game-tying field goal.
A taunting penalty on a kickoff by defensive lineman Desjuan Johnson let the Panthers start a drive at their own 46. An unnecessary roughness penalty on linebacker Nate Landman in which he led with the crown of his helmet gave the Panthers first-and-goal at the Rams 3. Hubbard would again score a play later.
Then a holding call on right guard Justin Dedich turned second-and-three into first-and-20. When the Rams failed to convert, Simmons blocked Ethan Evans’ punt.
So, to summarize, the Rams committed nine penalties by nine different players, either directly leading to or at least contributing to all 31 of Carolina’s points.
McVay is sure to hammer game discipline this week, knowing the Panthers will be in “Da Bears” screaming cauldron known as Soldier field.
“There were some things that we’ve got to be able to clean up because we have been a team that typically hasn’t had those flags,” McVay said. “You can’t have personal fouls that advance them after kickoffs. There were a lot of instances where we have to be more poised. It’s a reflection of me; I have to do a better job of creating that clarity.”
While the special teams’ issues have been characteristic of the Rams this year, the penalties have not been. But as McVay said, the Rams need to eliminate both before they can advance again this postseason.
Chargers Spit the Bit — Again
That loud thud you heard Sunday night was the LA Chargers falling flat on their faces for the second straight year with a 16-3 first round playoff loss at New England. The game was such a slog, such a cringe-worthy watch that there isn’t much to say except this: the Chargers better get a left tackle to protect their star quarterback Justin Herbert before next season.
Otherwise, he will have a rock-solid case for non-support against Chargers management. He led the league in sacks during the season and was sacked six more times by the Pats and pressured on virtually every play.
The Chargers could see this problem coming years ago and drafted a top-tier lineman – someone who could protect Herbert for the next decade – in Rashan Slater. He was great his rookie season, and then missed the next two seasons with injuries. So the Chargers moved 6-foot-8 Joe Alt to left tackle from right tackle, where had provided bookend protection with Slater for Herbert.
Then Alt got hurt and had to miss the rest of the season.
So, what did the Chargers do? Instead of trying to trade for a quality left tackle they simply mixed and matched a half dozen big, beefy guys – free agents, guys off the practice squad, journeyman pros – all of whom tried and failed to protect Herbert so he would have time to work his passing magic.
The result? Herbert played the last half dozen games with a broken left hand that impacted his performance, the team lost three of their last four games, and they were forced to play an opening round playoff game in frozen New England.
Knowing what a fierce competitor Coach Jim Harbaugh is, the front office better make protecting Herbert their top priority this off season.
If not, he’s likely to start kicking some ass himself.
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com
