How far can the Rams go without a viable WR#2?

While the Los Angeles Rams did show some offensive sparks in a 35-21 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, a lack of production from the wide receiver corps could threaten to smother the embers before they ignite into flames. Sunday’s win, satisfying as it was, offered no clarity as to who will stake a claim for the WR#2 role.

A grand total of two targets were shared amongst the L.A. receiver unit not named Puka Nacua. 

Both of those targets went to Konata Mumpfield (31 snaps vs L.V.), with one catch for 15 yards. Over his 24 regular season game Rams tenure, Mumpfield has 584 snaps with 42 targets and 19 receptions, a catch rate of 45%. Over that same time frame, Tutu Atwell (25 snaps vs L.V.) has logged 275 snaps, pulling down nine of 19 targets (47%) and Jordan Whittington (15 snaps vs L.V.) has hauled in 20 of 28, a 71 percent catch rate. The three in-house candidates for WR#2 have been targeted 89 times out of 879 L.A. pass attempts for a paltry 10 percent target rate. Having a deep threat, or threats, is critical to explosive plays.

There is a correlation between explosive and scoring/winning. Drives that contain big chunk plays score at a far higher rate than without them. The Rams offense is middle of the NFL pack this season in explosives and has been trending down slightly over the past couple of games. On Sunday, they had two plays over 15 yards, both running plays. L.A.’s multiple tight end usage is all well and good and leaning on the run game more often is a welcome occurrence, but to vie for playoff contention and win against better teams, the Rams will have to show that they can press the ball downfield with the pass. They need a viable WR#2.

Here’s a review of the snap counts from Sunday. Players, their snap counts and percentage of play time in bold.

Quarterback

Matthew Stafford ( 72, 100%)

Stafford was very efficient in an underneath passing game plan. As was the case last week, he was under five air yards per attempt. He identified the open areas in the coverage, got the ball out quickly, and was accurate. It appeared that the pass blocking was good enough to allow a few more shots down field, but the short game was there and Staff took advantage of it.

Running back

Kyren Williams ( 37, 51%)

Blake Corum ( 32, 44%)

The Rams were expected to run freely through the Raiders and the consistently did throughout the game, piling up 199 yards on 38 attempts and two scores. Corum had 50 yards and two touchdowns called back by penalties. Williams ran well, but had another fumble, the 12th of his career.

Wide receiver

Puka Nacua ( 65, 81%)

Konata Mumpfield ( 31, 43%)

Tutu Atwell ( 25, 31%)

Jordan Whittington ( 15, 21%)

Alex Bachman ( 3, 4%)

CJ Daniels ( 3, 4%)

It is imperative that the Rams can develop a another receiving threat. The reasons are threefold. L.A.’s pass offense seems to have a sense that it’s built around Nacua breaking tackles for big gains, they seldom target him deep. With his “bull in a china shop” play style, he’s constantly playing banged up, another injury would be devastating to the pass game. And finally, while even good defensive teams will struggle to completely stop him, simply limiting Nacua will cause major problems to the offense overall. Bachman and Daniels got to mop up the final reps in victory formation.

Tight end

Tyler Higbee ( 53, 74%)

Davis Allen ( 50, 69%)

Colby Parkinson ( 50, 69%)

With 10 minutes left, the Rams were floundering a bit and the Raiders surging, Higbee stretched his full frame to pull in a high third down pass. It was a needed, clutch conversion. Allen came out of college profiled as a vacuum cleaner receiver and has really improved his inline blocking. Nice to see him get a few touches and find the end zone. He is always in the mix down near goal line. Even though he’s been banged up, Parkinson really played a physical game. In the future, the Rams offense will need him powering over defenders for extra yardage.

Offensive line

Coleman Shelton, Warren McClendon ( 72, 100%)

Alaric Jackson, Steve Avila, Kevin Dotson ( 69, 96%)

Beaux Limmer, David Quessenberry, Dylan McMahon ( 3, 4%)

Strong outing for big uglies. The Rams used man blocking, hat on a hat, for almost 70 percent of rush attempts (24 of 35). A couple of loops caused some pass pressure early in the game, but generally, the line offered solid pass protection.

Special teams

Although the coverage units are still a sieve and the Rams former special teams coordinator thumbed his nose at his former bosses with a successful fake punt, it’s nice to report the that the special teams did not put the Rams behind the eight ball.

Defensive line

Aaron Donald ( 50, 74%)

Braden Fiske ( 43, 63%)

Tyler Davis ( 28, 41%)

Ty Hamilton ( 18, 26%)

Larrell Murchison ( 17, 25%)

I’m pretty sure I saw the Rams some of their old 5-2 fronts. It was quite a menagerie of pre-snap looks L.A. threw at the Raiders. Donald is beginning to look like his old self, penetrating and blowing up offensive plans. Fiske got the only official Rams sack. Hamilton should have had his first pro sack, but the Raiders QB intentionally grounded the ball.

Edge

Byron Young ( 54, 87%)

Josaiah Stewart ( 47, 69%)

Wesley Bailey ( 29, 43%)

Desjuan Johnson ( 6, 9%)

Darryl Peterson ( 5, 7%)

Young has blossomed as a solid defender against the run, rushing the passer, and dropping into coverage. His pursuit speed stands out. He had three pressures and his pressure rate is hovering around 20 percent, an NFL Top 10 number. Stewart’s continued disappearance is the most frustrating, he didn’t register a tackle on Sunday. Bailey continues to play hard, but has yet to show that he’s more than only there because of Myles Garrett’s injury. Johnson is still not seeing much action. Peterson got his feet wet after being advanced from the practice squad and had 13 special teams reps. 

Off-ball linebacker

Omar Speights ( 40, 59%)

Shaun Dolac ( 13, 19%)

The numbers show that the Rams defensive game plan was to use defensive backs as Nate Landman’s replacement. Obviously, Speights did have an increase in reps, but not a lot more than he was receiving in the past. Dolac played well in a limited role and deserves more snaps. Landman’s play, and Speights for that matter, are known quantities and best suited for running situations. Dolac and/or the safety-heavy packages should be utilized regularly.

Safety

Quentin Lake ( 68, 100%)

Kamren Curl ( 67, 99%)

Kamren Kinchens ( 56, 82%)

Jaylen McCollough ( 42, 62%)

The Raiders didn’t attack deep and the safeties were employed in interesting formations. L.A. often using four safeties together, lining two of them up as 4-3 linebackers and/or right up on the line of scrimmage.. Lake had a nice breakup, but was also flagged for a pair of 15 yard penalties. Curl and McCollough gave up big plays when tasked with deep coverage. On the Raiders opening drive, Kinchens was a hair away from changing the whole complexion of the game missing an intreception that would be returned for six.

Cornerback

Josh Wallace ( 68, 100%)

Jaylen Watson ( 65, 96%)

Emmanuel Forbes ( 29, 43%)

Wallace continues to improve with more time on the field. He led the team in tackles and broke up a pass. He was again involved on the losing end of a ticky-tack pass interference penalty. Watson was very sticky in man coverage throughout the game  with numerous pass break ups. Forbes had his most work in four games, it will be interesting to see if it continues.

What’s next?

Offensively, it was nice to see the run game as more than an afterthought and to see the red zone attacked rather than reacted to. 35 points and 100 percent efficiency inside the 20 is solid work. Although there were some rough patches with turnovers and penalties, they didn’t result in major self-inflicted wounds, just scares. In the first six weeks, L.A. had shown steely aim, at their own feet. Four Rams drives had previously ended with a missed or blocked field goal, five drives ended with a turnover on downs, and six have ended with an interception. That is a lot of possible points left on the field

The Rams defense looked more like an attacking college defense, lots of different guys on the line of scrimmage, mugging, stunting, and faux charging. It appeared they blitzed quite a bit, but I did not keep track. Substantial amount of press/man coverage. It wasn’t all a bed of roses though, the Raiders were onto the Rams side of the field on nine of their 11 offensive drives and six went inside the 30. Things could have easily gotten hairy.

Now that L.A. is off the schneid, it’s a must to stack a few wins. There are nine teams ahead of, or tied with the Rams. Parity in the NFL will help, but Sean McVay must stimulate his charges to stay attached to the pack until the Thanksgiving through Christmas schedule meat grinder.