The Rams failed to show up in Week 15 in a must-win game against the Dallas Cowboys. They were dominated on both sides of the ball in a 44-21 rout by the Cowboys. Here’s a few takeaways from the Rams’ likely season-ending loss in Dallas.
Rams never recovered from disastrous second quarter
The Rams might as well have just stayed in Los Angeles this week. It didn’t look like they had any desire to try and beat the Cowboys this week.
The Rams scored a touchdown early in the quarter. That was the extent of positive things to happen to the Rams in said quarter. Former Ram Tavon Austin scored a 59 yard touchdown the following drive on a play where Dante Fowler could have had a sack and Taylor Rapp leveled the man defending Austin.
Next, the Rams went three-and-out, but Hekker was able to pin the Cowboys at their own three yard line. That didn’t matter. Dallas embarked on an eight minute, 14 play drive that resulted in a touchdown. The Rams got the ball back right after the two minute warning, and Goff tossed a brutal interception on the second play of the drive.
Then came the icing on the cake. After stopping Dallas on third down following the interception, Michael Brockers was called for illegal use of hands and the Cowboys scored a touchdown on the next play.
Neither side of the ball picked it up in the second half until the Rams had two garbage-time touchdown drives. It was a quarter that basically ended the Rams’ season. The Rams never recovered from a 59 yard touchdown by Tavon Austin.
Goff struggles behind poor offensive line play
The story of the season for the Rams has been the offensive lines struggles, and Goff’s struggles as a result. It’s been plaguing the team all year even if the line has improved in recent weeks. The group failed to protect their quarterback and didn’t give Gurley any room to run against the Cowboys. As a result, the offense was predictably bad.
Goff finished the day with 284 yards and two touchdowns, but 126 of those yards and both touchdowns came on the final two garbage-time drives of the game. We saw the same mistakes we always see when Goff struggles. He missed a few receivers and made a few questionable throws. His interception late in the second quarter was intercepted by Sean Lee, an inside linebacker. Lee wasn’t even the only player that had a shot of intercepting the football.
The offensive line deserves some of the blame for Goff’s struggles. But no quarterback is going to play behind a perfect offensive line every game of their career. Goff needs to adapt in situations like this. He can’t continue to miss throws and turn the ball over like he has this season. The Rams won’t succeed in the future if he does.
Tyler Higbee continues hot streak
Tyler Higbee was one of the few bright spots for the Rams in Sunday’s loss. For the third straight week, Higbee tallied at least seven receptions and had over 100 yards. Higbee finished the game with a career-high 12 receptions on 14 targets for 111 yards. He’s looked well-worth the contract extension he received from the Rams over the past three games. Higbee is one of the few Rams’ players trending upwards heading into 2020.
Higbee did pat his stats a bit in garbage time, but he still had seven receptions for 70 yards prior to the final two drives. He was the team’s best offensive player all day long.
Wade Phillips’ defense can’t be trusted week-to-week
The Rams defense has been wildly inconsistent under defensive coordinator Wade Phillips. You never know which unit will show up. Last week, they looked like one of the best units in the NFL. This week, they were one of the worst.
Not only did Ezekiel Elliot run all over the Rams defense on Sunday, but even backup running back Tony Pollard piled up 131 yards on 12 rushes. Dak Prescott didn’t have to do much in Sunday’s win, but he still completed 15 of his 23 passes, threw two touchdowns, didn’t turn the ball over and was never sacked. It was a walk in the park for an offense that had been struggling mightily heading into this game.
The defense comes to play more often than not under Wade Phillips. But you simply can’t expect them to be elite every single week. This is the second time in four weeks that they’ve been lifeless. They could lose the game for the Rams on any given Sunday.
Highly unlikely the Rams make the playoffs
It might seem obvious, but this loss essentially buries the Rams’ playoff chances.
The Rams have to win out now to have a chance at making the playoffs. That means they need to take care of San Francisco next week and Arizona the week after. They’d also need the Vikings to lose to both the Packers and the Bears to end the season.
Given how the Rams played this week and how the Vikings have played all season, neither of these things are likely to happen. It will take a true holiday miracle for the Rams to sneak into the playoffs as the six seed.
