The Los Angeles Rams fell to the Philadelphia Eagles 37-20 on Sunday Night Football. The Rams got significantly outclassed and because of that, there aren’t many silver linings to point to in this one. Puka Nacua had a second consecutive 100-yard game, but that’s become almost expected from him. Here is this week’s stock up, stock down.
Stock Down: RB Kyren Williams
This isn’t to say that the Rams should completely turn to Blake Corum. However, an argument could be made that he should be incorporated into the offense a lot more than he currently is. Kyren Williams lost his second fumble in three weeks and now has eight fumbles over the last two years. It’s a problem and one that needs to get resolved. If Williams is going to be the primary running back in this offense, he needs to take better care of the ball. The Rams drafted Corum in the third round for a reason and he is itching to get more playing time.
Williams will be someone that gets discussed this offseason on whether or not he should be offered a contract extension. The Rams haven’t paid a running back since Todd Gurley and that’s unlikely to change. If Williams can’t get his ball security issues under control, that won’t change anytime soon.
Stock Up: Chances in the NFC West
While the Rams lost on Sunday night, the good news is that the NFC West is still well within reach. The Arizona Cardinals lost to the Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers fell to 5-6 with a loss to the Green Bay Packers. The Rams remain within one game of the NFC West lead and three of their final six games are division matchups.
The Rams still need to take care of business against teams like the New Orleans Saints and New York Jets. That said, the Rams still very much control their own destiny. If they can find a way to be consistent for six weeks, they can still sneak into the postseason.
Stock Down: Rams run defense
Over the past two months, the Rams run defense had been looking very good. As Jourdan Rodrigue from The Athletic noted, following the Week 6 bye, the Rams ranked third in rushing defense EPA and fifth in yards per carry allowed. On Sunday night, they looked much more like the defense that started the season than the one that had started to find its identity.
Saquon Barkley had the most rushing yards by a single player against the Rams in franchise history. It was the first 200-yard game given up in the Sean McVay era as well. To say that the run defense was bad would be an understatement. A silver lining is that they won’t face another running back like Barkley the rest of the season, but Sunday night was a wake-up call.
Stock Down: K Joshua Karty
As much as I have defended Joshua Karty, he needs to start performing better. For the third consecutive game, Karty missed a field goal. He is a rookie and with that comes ups and downs as well as inconsistency. These are similar inconsistencies seen by other rookies at other positions, but Karty’s mistakes lead to points left off of the board.
Unless he completely falls off, it is unlikely that the Rams will cut Karty at this point in the season. However, going into next season, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Rams bring in some competition to compete with the kicker from Stanford.
Stock Down: Warren McClendon as Rob Havenstein’s Replacement
Warren McClendon performed well against the Patriots last week, giving some optimism that he may be a potential replacement for Rob Havenstein. That idea was fun while it lasted. McClendon was responsible for a team-high of two sacks and also gave up three pressures.
The Rams offense very clearly misses Havenstein and will be glad to have him back when he returns from injury. He remains the consistent and steady piece on the offensive line and that presence is missing. McClendon may be a good depth piece, but until he can prove that he can string a few solid games together, he will likely be a sixth-man.
