Los Angeles Rams: Goff and Kupp team up to save team vs. Browns

The Los Angeles Rams escaped with a narrow victory on Sunday night against a struggling Browns team and now have a perfect record 3-0 for the season.

For the second straight week, the Los Angeles Rams offensively had a slow start. Much like last week at home against the New Orleans Saints, they only managed to score field goals in the first half. This time, however, they only scored one instead of two. The Browns actually led 6-3 at halftime.

I don’t know about you, but the Rams seemed too predictable in their play calling in the first half. There just did not seem to be any rhythm or creativity with how the Rams were going to get downfield to score. Rams’ Quarterback Jared Goff was frequently throwing screens and short passes underneath that the Browns defense could easily read. Goff only had a little over 100 yards after the first half.

The Browns were just as bad offensively, failing to move the ball downfield effectively. Browns’ Quarterback could not seem to connect with his Wide Receivers Odell Beckham Jr., or Jarvis Landry often enough.

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Then the second half came and both offenses suddenly awakened. Goff started to connect with fellow Wide Receivers Cooper Kupp and Brandin Cooks. Sprinkle in some of Robert Woods in there, and the trio started to better connect with Goff on his throws.

Goff specifically found Kupp wide open in the end zone for two scores where the Browns somehow lost sight of him. His two touchdown passes had to have been two of the easiest he has ever caught in his career.

Let’s fast forward to the 4th quarter where the game was close, and the Browns made a couple of questionable calls at critical parts of the game.

Scenario 1: Down 17-13 after the second Kupp touchdown, the Browns were driving toward the Los Angeles Rams end and found themselves with a 4th and 9 on the Rams 40 with about 9:19 left in the fourth.

Instead of punting the ball and giving the Rams’ tough field position, the Browns elected to go for it. Yet instead of passing the ball like a normal team would, the Browns elected to do a draw and run the ball with Running Back Nick Chubb.

And guess what? He only mustered 2 of the 9 needed yards. I mean first of all, who decides to go for it on a 4th and 9 in the early stages of the 4th quarter? And second, why run the ball and not pass it? Coach Freddie Kitchens obviously showed his inexperience here. Any normal team choosing to go for it with 9 yards would have passed the ball. C’mon Freddie.

Scenario 2: Down 20-13 after Rams’ kicker Greg Zuerlein made a 37-yard field goal, the Browns and Rams traded back to back interceptions. With the Browns in possession and driving deep into Rams’ territory, the Browns elected to take a timeout with about 33 seconds left on the Rams 4 yard line.

My thought was, gosh you have three timeouts. Even if you do not convert here, you could try and stop the Rams from getting a first down and force them to give the ball back to you with about 20 seconds left. Sure, you may have to launch a hail mary or two to the end zone, but at least you get a second chance.

Unfortunately, burning that first timeout put the Browns in an all-or-nothing situation. Convert and tie the game or lose it all. Freddie did not think.

Browns being Browns, they did not have a plan whatsoever to catch the Rams off guard on a 4th down and goal. This seems like a lack of preparation. I understand wanting to plan for it, but should they not have planned for situations like these during their practice? Was there no room to improvise?

I guess there was not. Spectators saw Mayfield roll to his right due to defensive pressure from the Rams and lob a pass to the end zone surrounded with Rams players. Rams’ Safety John Johnson III had intercepted the pass. Game Over.

And thus, the Browns ended up on the losing end dropping them to 1-2 for the season.

Final Thoughts

While the Rams earned the win, this game should not have been so close. The Browns are not a good team and this game showed it. In future games, the Rams cannot afford to get off to such sluggish starts offensively. The Rams’ offense is very fortunate its defense did an exceptional job limiting Mayfield’s looks downfield and bottling up Chubb in the first half.

If the Los Angeles Rams are to be successful against some of the more of the complete teams, they must get off to quicker starts and not depend on their defense so much.

Goff also needs to find a way to figure how to better play on the road as his home/road splits are terrible. He excels so much when playing in Los Angeles, but when he plays in opponents’ stadiums, he just cannot seem to buy the throws he needs.

The hope is that Goff can get this corrected and not be ‘bad Jared’ on the road and ‘good Jared’ at home.

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Despite the win, the Los Angeles Rams have a long way to go to round into the dominant regular-season team they were last season. Hopefully, they can get off to a better start against a quick strike Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ team.

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