Welcome back Rams fans. We’re back with some tape takeaways from this past weekend, where the Rams travelled to Tennessee to take on the Titans in a Week 2 showdown. With another dub in the books, it’s time to check out the All-22 to see where this team had some notable performances. Today, it’s five takeaways that were oh-so evident when it came to the film breakdown.
I’ll still be providing some player matchup analysis for every Sunday matchup that can be used for fantasy football/betting on my X page (https://x.com/PlusMoneyPost), but the main focus of this site will be all #RamsHouse.
So, without further ado, let’s get to the tape.
Five Takeaways from Week 2 vs Tennessee Titans
1. While Jared Verse Got All the DPOY Award Love In the Preseason – Byron Young May Be the Actual Dark Horse to Bet On
Full disclosure: This is not a slight to Verse at all; but this wasn’t his best game. Don’t get me wrong, he still made some good plays, specifically later in the game. You can see in this clip that he still has his fastball, grabbing the bull by the horns with a power-filled bullrush on $82 Million dollar LT Dan Moore, causing Ward to get it out early on a back-shoulder ball that CB Darious Williams breaks up.
Still, there were some plays that left a lot to be desired. Here, early in the game on 1st and 10, Verse loses contain when he gets a bit greedy thinking that the play is a run. It’s pretty clear that he wouldn’t have been even able to make the play in the run game, so this lack of discipline isn’t exactly understandable. With Verse unable to stop Ward from rolling out, Ward is able to take his time on the boot to find a gap between Rams defenders on his way to a 26 yard gainer.
Verse had his issues in the run game too. This is the play right after that one, where the Titans call a run right at Verse. His get off isn’t bad, but he almost accepts the outside lane instead of stuffing his gap to prevent a hole from forming. He’s lucky his teammates helped him out and Pollard missed the hole to break this one outside.
Again, these plays were few and far between, but they were noticeable enough after his consistently great play from last week.
While Verse had those struggles – Byron Young (aka Agent Zero) dominated. I thought he had a very good game last week, but this was something special. Don’t just trust me in saying that – McVay had the same assessment post-game after giving Young a gameball:
Just watch this play on the Titans first drive of the game. Byron’s lined up over the RT (in all fairness, it was the Titans’ backup RT this week) on 2nd and 15 with Cam Ward in an empty backfield. There’s the snap, and faster than you can say “Rams are Super Bowl bound”, Byron is at the QB bringing him down for a huge early sack. I mean, just look at this get-off (nasty twitch) and Young batting that poor RT’s arm down like it was paper-mache to get past him on the edge.
Here he is again later on in the game, with the Titans at 2nd and 8 with the game still relatively close. The Rams were in man coverage, and every DB did an unreal job at staying sticky to their guy. This caused Ward to hold the ball longer, letting Byron (who was initially stone-walled) make a great second-effort play made possible by Edge Josiah Stewart bringing good pressure off the left side (great game by him btw). The result – a huge strip sack for Young to get the Rams right into the redzone, changing the complexion of this game.
But it wasn’t just in the pass game – Young was also quite the stalwart against the run. Here he is with the Titans running on their first drive of the second half. You’ll see him take on the RT and move him inside to plug the hole where the RB initially wants to go. Then, with a swift block shed, he’s off the RT and making a play on the ball-carrier to bring him down for a short gain.
So while I still believe Verse is the premier talent of this defence (and he’ll get his sacks/pressures in the weeks to come), Young is an amazing edge defender who may benefit even further with the attention that has to be paid to the reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year.
2. Davante Adams Has His Breakout Game – But Him & Stafford Left Even More On the Table
What a nasty performance from Adams and Stafford in this one. I mean, Puka still got his on a day where the Titans had some serious troubles in coverage – but Adams was next level, and by far Stafford’s favourite option as his 13 targets would suggest.
With that being said, those 13 targets only turned into 6 receptions. While this was very encouraging usage, there is still some chemistry that will come with Stafford + Adams playing more together through the season (remember, Stafford missed almost all of training camp with the back injury).
One very notable play that showed how great this duo could work together was a pass in the middle of the field in the 2nd half. Stafford’s in shotgun, takes the snap, and is immediately pressured off his right as Havenstein is driven back into his lap (not a great day for Havenstein). Stafford has great feel to step up in the pocket, and throws an absolute dime sidearm piece to Adams who beats his guy coming across the middle on a good in-breaking route. Now that’s a tight window.
And I’m sure all of you saw the Adams release package go to work when the Rams were in the Red Zone after the Byron Young forced fumble. He hits TEN CB Snead with the hesi right off the line, getting him to slow down, before burning along the outside to catch a very well-thrown ball from Stafford in the back of the end zone. Chalk that one up for 6 on a big 3rd down.
Nonetheless, we’re still seeing some plays where this combination left significant production on the table. There was a drive in the middle of the 1st half where Adams was targeted by Stafford 3 (!!!!) times out of 3 plays at the TEN 3 yard line (all 3 of which were not completed). The 1st down play was the one where more time together/chemistry looked like it might help. You’ll see from the tape that Stafford buzzes one just a little out of the reach of Adams, as it looked like he was expecting Adams to either dive or to be a little faster going to the sideline. This should get worked out with time, but that play was there to be had.
But the disconnect didn’t just happen on that drive. There was a play a bit earlier that drive on 1st and 10 where Stafford runs play-action and has Adams pretty clearly open on a modified corner route. Stafford throws a really great ball, and the play looks like a gimme 30 yard completion …. and it goes through Davante’s hands.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a tough catch to make – but I expect Adams to get that one. The thing is, when you start playing with a different QB, it takes time before you’re used to tracking and catching the ball from that QB, especially on deep shots.
Regardless of the production that was left on the table by this duo, I was still very encouraged by Adams’ usage and the thought of having two amazing WRs for Stafford to target. I don’t want to get too ahead of myself, but this is starting to look a lot like the WR duo that made me fall in love with the Rams all those years ago.
3. Why Whittington is Playing More Than ($10 Million Man) Tutu Atwell
It’s been two weeks in a row now where I’ve noticed an interesting trend: Whittington over 50% of offensive snaps, and Atwell under 45% of offensive snaps. This came as a surprise to me after seeing Atwell get rewarded over the offseason with a quick $10 Million to be the locked-in WR3 in this offence.
But here comes 6th Round 2nd-year WR Jordan Whittington outsnapping him on a regular basis (through two weeks that is). So, why’s this happening?
Well – the clearest reason comes from the tape, where Whittington has been absolutely solid when it comes to blocking in the run game. You’ll see a good example in this play, where Puka made some magic happen prior to taking the rock 45 yards for a house call on 4th and 1. Just watch Whittington closely on the outside.
He steps up on his guy and absolutely stonewalls him, sealing the edge where Puka is set to run and giving a clear path to a hole on his outside shoulder. While it might look like he should’ve been blocking more to the outside on this one (to allow Alaric Jackson to take the guy on the inside), it looks more to me like Alaric should’ve bounced out once he saw Whit had the DB lined up right across from him. If Whit was to start the play going more to the left (leaving the DB lined across from him for Alaric), there’s a possibility that either (i) that DB beats Alaric on his outside shoulder at the line of scrimmage and gets a 4th down stop, or (ii) that there’s a gap in the line due to Alaric spreading out to the DB where a TEN LB could penetrate through to stop this one for a loss. Overall – a solid rep.
But there was an even better one later in the game. The Rams were lined up for a run to the right with Corum on 1st and 10. You’ll see Whittington (near the OLine at the bottom of the screen) get up on his guy and immediately engage, pushing him back and sealing him to the outside. This created a wide open hole for Corum to hit hard on his way to a 15 yard gain (tied for the Rams longest run of the day for an RB).
All that is great to see on an offence that’s predicated on the WRs actually blocking in the run game. But Tutu? Didn’t do so well in this regard.
I get that it’s difficult for a 5’9”, 165 lb WR to get good blocks off in the run game, but when asked to at least try in this game, the results weren’t good. Here is the glaring example, where the Rams are lined up in 11 personnel and Tutu is sent in motion to hit a block on the backside of a run. As he motions over and the ball is snapped, he clearly overshoots the block he’s supposed to hit right outside the LT. What could have been a pretty decent rushing gain is negated to 2 yards because the backside defender got right by Tutu to bring Kyren down from behind.
Now, all of that could be considered negligible if Whittington struggled as a pure WR when compared to Atwell. But that just didn’t seem to be the case. Watch this one here, where a great McVay play design and Whittington’s underrated speed makes for a 40 yard completion on the outside over the CB in zone coverage. You’ll see Whit make a slight out-and-up adjustment in the route that allows for the timing to be spot-on and for him to be in the right spot when Stafford releases the ball. Love it.
After two weeks of game tape analysis, it seems pretty clear to me that it’s the right decision for Whittington to be out there a bit more than Tutu. Don’t get me wrong – Atwell is still a valuable member of the WR room and should be in there over 40% of the time. That being said, Whit has earned his spot as the WR3 in this room.
4. In the Same Vein – Why Corum Should Start Eating Into Kyren’s Workload
We all heard the same offseason nonsense from McVay this year about Kyren’s workload being “reduced”, with more carries going to the other guys in the RB room. I, along with many other fans, refused to believe this – as we’ve heard this song-and-dance before in previous offseasons. And then, Week 1 comes, and Kyren has almost 100% of the RB opportunities. Didn’t seem like much of a surprise. Still, McVay came out after that one and continued to harp on his vision for the RB workload. Here’s a direct quote from his presser after the HOU game:
“Yeah, we’d like Blake to get more,” McVay said. “I’d like us to be able to run the ball more efficiently. I’d like to do a better job for our group. I’d like us to be more efficient on early downs, be able to sustain some more drives. It was a unique game. Sometimes those things can unfold, but that is not ideal.”
Well – McVay certainly ended up doing that in this game, with Corum accounting for 30% of snaps and over 22% of RB rushes in Week 2. This seems more aligned with what McVay wants, as he so eloquently put it in a recent presser.
It’s important to note that Corum didn’t really get too many chances until later in the game, but the chances he did get were taken advantage of. Here was one play I really liked, where the Rams were 2nd and 10 and lined up in shotgun on an inside zone. The OLine (specifically Dotson and Shelton) do a good job blocking here, but none of this gets going without Corum’s great vision. He starts off taking it to the right, scanning the second level, before immediately hitting the cutback into a wide open hole on the left with great burst. The result was a 15 yard gain, giving Corum his second 10+ yard rush of this game.
Then – there’s Kyren (who also had two 10+ yard carries, but on 12 more carries than Corum). A good workhorse with minimal durability issues, but definitely has his shortcomings when it comes to creating off the rush and vision. Here is a very similar situation, where the Rams are on their first offensive play of the game and run Kyren right up the middle. The blocking is pretty good, and you’ll see in the picture below the video that Kyren has a huge cutback lane he can hit to the right with upside for a nice gain. Instead of hitting this, Kyren cuts back out left, getting stopped for a minimal gain.
And I get it – it’s much easier for me to sit here and harp on how he should have cut that one right when I’m not the one making split-second decisions on the football field. But it just looked like Kyren had difficulty getting any yardage that wasn’t clearly blocked for him. He got better towards the end of the game, with a great cutback rush like this one.
But it’s hard for me to tell if that was just TEN’s D being lackadaisical because the game was basically over, or if Kyren got a little fire going under his ass because Corum was crushing it. I mean, compare these two runs and show me who has more juice.
(No cherrypicking here, as Kyren’s run was early in the 1st quarter, so both guys were fresh in the respective videos)
The difference isn’t astounding – but there’s enough there where I wouldn’t mind seeing Corum get even more work on the way to a 60-40/65-35 split with RB opportunities. No disrespect to Kyren – Corum’s just earned it based on what I’m seeing.
5. McVay’s Play Designs Strike Again – And the TEs Execute These Designs Well
I was a little harsh on the TEs (specifically when it came to blocking) in my article last week. Well, in this one, I really enjoyed some of their work – specifically on well-designed pass plays by McVay.
The first one of note happened on the first drive of the game. It’s play action left with the defence biting pretty hard on the fake. Higbee is lined up on the right side and does a good job of selling a block before drifting out to get ready for a TE screen. Higbee grabs the pass, lets his blocking get set up, and hits a nice cutback to get 11 yards and a first down. Great design, and some great execution from Higbee.
But it wasn’t just on designed TE screens where these guys found success. Here we are a little later in the first half, where the Rams are 3rd and 1 in TEN territory. It’s another play-action fake to the left with Higbee lined up on the right. Higbee does an even better job selling the run in this one, engaging as a blocker for a good two seconds before releasing into the flat wide-open. Stafford sees this, throws a nice touch pass right to him, and Higbee takes care of the rest with some nice RAC on his way to a 20 yard gain.
Then, the play right after, McVay goes back to the well on 1st down. I love it when McVay has the play action going to one side with Stafford booting out to the other side along with multiple pass-catching options at different levels heading to the sideline (a classic McVay staple). Here, Higbee gets on his blocker until he’s sure the defender is going to rush Stafford. Once that happens, he disengages with the defender and again finds his way to the flat where he makes a catch for a decent gain. Almost identical concepts – with great execution each time.
But it wasn’t just Higbee getting in on this action – Davis Allen had a great rep too that resulted in a timely TD. It’s almost a mirror image of the last play, with the PA boot to the right and Allen on the chip-and-release to get TEN defenders lost in space. A great touch pass from Stafford, and an unreal finish from Allen to put points on the board.
With the TE room’s ability to sell these blocks, McVay’s creative designs, and Stafford’s ability to stay patient and diagnose when they’ll be open – I’d expect to see a lot more of this come next Sunday.
Well, that’s all she wrote for this week. Good on the guys for taking care of a trap game on the road in Week 2. Now – we’re on to a Divisional Round rematch with the dreaded Eagles. Let’s get it.