INGLEWOOD — It was all set up for the Rams. Their jumbled, indecisive division, was there for the taking. A win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, and the Rams would move into a first-place tie in the NFC West with the Seahawks and Cardinals, the former of which beat the latter earlier in the day.
Instead, as it’s been for much of the season, it was one step forward, two back for the Rams (5-6) in a 37-20 loss.
The offense that moved in the first quarter like it was on the I-110’s ExpressLane, with nine first downs, zero third downs and a Kyren Williams touchdown? Replaced in the second quarter by a group that went three-and-out three times and totaled negative six yards in four drives.
This allowed the Eagles (9-2) to possess the ball for 10:57 in the second quarter, and slowly begin to wear out a Rams defense that had played feistily to start the game. But all good feelings evaporated first when Philadelphia went back ahead with an A.J. Brown touchdown with 1:27 left in the second quarter, then again when running back Saquon Barkley popped off a 70-yard touchdown run on the first play of the third quarter.
Given the Eagles were set to receive that second-half kickoff, you’d think the Rams would have wanted to be aggressive to end the second quarter after getting the ball back with 1:27 to play.
But after quarterback Matthew Stafford was sacked for the second of five times, head coach Sean McVay opted to let the clock run before rushing the ball on third down. The Eagles used their first timeout to force the Rams to punt with under 30 seconds left. A fourth-down tackle for loss by outside backer Michael Hoecht ended any threat, but the sequence underscored how little confidence McVay appeared to have in his offense before halftime.
It’s not hard to understand why.
Williams fumbled the ball twice. The second was recovered by the Rams, but the first went back to the Eagles and ended a promising Rams drive on their opening possession. Right tackle Warren McClendon Jr. was under siege throughout the game after a clean performance a week ago.
The team went 0-for-8 on third down and 2-for-4 in the red zone. Puka Nacua was flagged for a push-off penalty on a play that would have converted 3rd-and-9 in the fourth quarter with the Rams trying to make it a one-possession game.
So after the Barkley back-breaker, one of 26 carries for 255 yards on the evening, the Rams responded with a drive down the field for a Demarcus Robinson touchdown. But the defense was already gassed and quickly allowed the Eagles to respond, with Barkley and Kenneth Gainwell continuing to take bites out of the Rams before swallowing them whole with a 13-yard touchdown carry by the latter.
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Rams kicker Joshua Karty missed his third field-goal attempt in as many games on the ensuing drives, and there was nothing to hold the Eagles back at that point.
It was not a completely cataclysmic weekend for the Rams; they dropped to third in the NFC West, tied with the 49ers. One game back with six to play, including one against each divisional rival, is not an impossible hole to climb out of.
But it’s getting late in the season for the Rams to keep fixing the same mistakes that recur week to week, and have the potential to sink their playoff dreams.