MORSE: Patriots Week 11 Opponent – Los Angeles Rams
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Right now, the LA Rams are an enigma at 4-5 halfway through the season. On Monday Night Football, they embarrassed themselves with a 20-15 loss at home to the Miami Dolphins. They face a short week and must fly across the country to play the Patriots at home. The Rams are getting healthy with both WRs Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp healthy together for three games in a row.
On Offense they rank 17th overall with 328.7 yards per game. The passing game even without both Kupp and Nacua is ranked 8th at 234.6 yards per game. When running the ball, they are ranked low at 26th with 94.1 yards per game. In Scoring they are ranked 26th at 20.6 points a game. However, they are 1-3 on the road with 18.4 points per game. The lone win was in OT, a 26-20 win at Seattle.
| Starter | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | |
| QB | Matthew Stafford | Jimmy Garoppolo | Stetson Bennett | – |
| RB | Kyren Williams | Blake Corum | Ronnie Rivers | Cody Schrader |
| WR | Cooper Kupp | Tutu Atwell | Xavier Smith | – |
| WR | Puka Nacua | Jordan Whittington | – | – |
| WR | Demarcus Robinson | Tyler Johnson | – | – |
| TE | Colby Parkinson | Davis Allen | Hunter Long | Tyler Higbee O |
| LT | Alaric Jackson | KT Leveston IR | Conor McDermott IR | |
| LG | Jonah Jackson | Steve Avila | – | |
| C | Steve Avila | Beaux Limmer | Dylan McMahon | |
| RG | Kevin Dotson | Justin Dedich | – | – |
| RT | Rob Havenstein Q | Joe Noteboom Q | Warren McClendon |
Matt Stafford was the 2009 1st overall pick in the draft by Detroit. The 6’3” 220-pound QB was later involved in the big trade for Jared Goff. The trade appears to have benefited both teams. However, Stafford is not having a good season this year and is ranked #30 by PFF. His rating for the season is 64.1. That can be attributed in part because both of his top receivers were out, and he did not have 2nd year sensation Puka Nacua until game #8. Add to that a mediocre running game and everything fell on Stafford’s shoulders. When playing away from home, this is a different team. His stats for the season are a completion percentage of 66.5%, 2262 yards, 9 TDs to 7 INTs. Former Patriots Jimmy Garoppolo is a very capable backup should Stafford get hurt. Third String is the gutsy Stetson Bennett, the 5’11” 196-pound University of Georgia 2x National Champion and 2x Championship Game MVP. He also won the Manning award (Best College QB) and Burlsworth Trophy (Best Player that was originally a Walk On). If you don’t know the story of Brandon Burlsworth I highly recommend watching the movie Greater.
Kyren Williams is an exciting Running Back. Williams was drafted in the 2012 draft in the 5th Round (#164) by LA Rams. For the season he has 664 yards, 3.8 yards per carry and 8 TDs. The Notre Dame product stand 5’9” 194 pounds. His 40-time was a disappointing 4.65. Williams has 25 receptions on 31 targets for 136 yards, 5.8 yards per catch, and 2 TDs. Williams PFF rating is 65.7 good for 64th in the league. Rookie Blake Corum is the backup. The 2023 3rd round pick (#83) is another shorter back at 5’8” but a stout 210 pounds out of Michigan.
The Wide Receiver group is a very good one led by Cooper Kupp. The 31-year-old Kupp is a former NFL Offensive Player of the Year (2021) and holds many single season NFL records. The 8-year veteran stands 6’2”, 208 pounds and was drafted in 2016 3rd round (#69) out of Eastern Washington where he was a teammate of Patriots Kendrick Bourne. His stats for the year are 41 receptions on 56 targets for 382 yards, 9,3 YPC and 2 TDs. Kupp PFF rating is 76.5 for a 30th rank. Puka Nacua burst on the scene last year as a rookie out of BYU. Nacua has played in just 4 games and has 21 catches on 31 targets for 250 yards, 11.9 YPC and no TDs. His PFF rating is 74 and would be 41st if he had the minimum required catches. He had 9 catches last week against the Dolphins. Tutu Atwell is a small slippery slot receiver out of Louisville that was taken in the 2021 draft 2nd round (#57). At just 5’9” 165-pounds, Atwell will go across the middle fearlessly. He has 26 catches on 40 targets for 372 yards, 14.9 YPC and no TDs. His PFF rating is 70.2 and a rank of 48. DeMarcus Robinson is another explosive, big play WR. The Florida WR was drafted in 2016 by KC in the 4th round (#126). He has 22 receptions on 43 targets for 350 yards, 15.9 YPC and 5 TDs. His PFF rating is 69.4 good for 60th.
TE features up and coming Colby Parkinson. The 6’7” 265-pound TE was signed away from Seattle with a 3 year $22M contract. He was drafted by Seattle in 2020 4th round (#132) out of Stanford. For the season he has 23 catches on 36 targets for 214 yards, 9.3 YPC and no TDs. His PFF rating is 62.6 and a 51st rank. Backup Hunter Long has a slightly higher 63.2 PFF rank good for 44th, but just 5 catches on the season. Tyler Higbee has been listed as Out.
The Offensive Line is anchored by Alaric Jackson at Left Tackle. The 2021 UnDrafted Free Agent out of Iowa has performed remarkably well. At 6’7” and 285 pounds, he is little underweight which hurts him in the run game. His PFF grade is 69.2 good for 36. Jackson will be an Unrestricted Free Agent in 2025 and will be able to back up the Brinks truck and name his price id the Rams don’t Franchise him. He is a player to keep an eye on. Jonah Jackson is the LG. He has returned from injury last week and showed some rust. At 6’4” 311 pounds he has ideal size. He was drafted by Detroit in the 3rd round (#75) of the 2020 draft out of TCU. His PFF grade is 53.4 which would have been an 87 rank. Steve Avila also returned last week and fared a little better than Jonah Jackson. He stands 6’3” 332 pounds and the TCU product was a 2nd round pick in 2023 by the Rams. His 63.4 grade ranks 27th amongst Centers. Right Guard is Kevin Dotson a 6’4” 321 Louisiana Ragin Cajun. He was a 2020 4th round pick (#135) of Pittsburgh. His 66.4 rating is 41st among Guards. Right Tackle is Rob Havenstein who is entering his 10th year in the league. He missed last week’s game versus Miami and was listed as DNP in both Wednesday and Thursday practices. His backup Joe Noteboom was also listed as DNP both days. Noteboom played very badly last week subbing for Havenstein. If both are out on Sunday, then third string Warren McClendon may have to play. McClendon is one of the worst Tackles in the league with 120 ranking. His ranking is worse than Chukwuma Okorafor. This could be an interesting matchup for newly acquired Yannick Ngakoue.
The Rams Defense is in the bottom 3rd of the league ranked 22nd, giving up 347.1 yards a game. Scoring Defense they are 22nd at 24.1 per game and against the rush they rank 19th at 127.6 yards a game. Against the pass they rank 22nd with 219.6 yards per game. In the Red Zone they defend at a 51.6% and on 3rd down they are at 37.3%.
| Starter | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | |
| LDE | Braden Fiske | Tyler Davis | – | – |
| NT | Bobby Brown | Neville Gallimore Q | – | – |
| RDE | Kobie Turner | Desjuan Johnson | Larrell Murchison IR | |
| WLB | Byron Young Q | Nick Hampton | ||
| LILB | Christian Rozeboom | Jacob Hummel | – | – |
| RILB | Jaylen McCollough | Omar Speights | Troy Reeder IR | |
| SLB | Jared Verse | Michael Hoecht | Brennan Jackson | – |
| LCB | Darious Williams | Derion Kendrick IR | ||
| SS | Kamren Curl | Jaylen McCollough | – | |
| FS | Quentin Lake | Kamren Kinchens | John Johnson IR | – |
| RCB | Josh Wallace | Ahkello Witherspoon | Tre Tomlinson IR | – |
| NB | Cobie Durant | Charles Woods Q | – |
Left Defensive End has rookie Braden Fiske from Florida State. The 6’ 5” 297-pound DE was taken in the 2nd round (#39). His PFF rating is a poor 54.4 for 116th among DEs. Nose Tackle Bobby Brown is a stout 6’4” 324 pounds. He played for Texas A&M and was drafted in the 4th round (#118) of the 2021 draft. His PFF rating is 65 for 47 ranking. I watched a little of the MIA / LAR game last Monday and Kobie Turner really impressed me. The 6’3” 288-pound RDE was disruptive all night. His play is reflected in his PFF rating of 70.7, the #25 DL in the league.
Weakside Linebacker Byron Young is listed as Questionable, but I expect he will play on Sunday. He has been Limited in both practices this week. The 6’2” 250-pound edge player from Tennessee was taken in the 2023 draft in the 3rd round (#78). His PFF rating is 57.2 good for 125th. Young leads the team in sacks with 5. Left Inside Linebacker is filled by Christian Rozeboom, a 2020 UnDrafted Free Agent from South Dakota State. He stands 6’2” 230-pounds. His PFF rating is 52.5 ranked 128th. Jaylen McCollough is a Strong Safety playing in the box at Right Inside Linebacker. The 6’ 206-pound safety from Tennessee was a 2024 UnDrafted Free Agent. His PFF Rating is a very good 78 which is good for 15th amongst Safeties. However, he had a horrible game last week against Miami in which he had a 34.7 rating. Jared Verse is the player the Pats will need to plan for on the Defense. The 2024 1st round selection (#19) from Florida State, Verse has 4.5 sacks on the season. His 86.9 PFF rating is the highest of active players on the team.
The secondary features Left Corner Back Darious Williams who was a 2018 UnDrafted Free Agent from University of Alabama Birmingham. He was signed originally by Baltimore. The 5’9” 187 back has a PFF grade of 66.3 which is good for a 74th rank. Strong Safety is Kam Curl. The 6’2” 198 Safety from Arkansas was a 2020 7th round pick (#216) by Washington. His PFF rating is 57.8 for a 101st rank. Free Safety is Quentin Lake a 6’1” 201-pound product from UCLA. Lake was taken in the 2022 draft in the 6th Round (#212). His PFF rating is 60.5, good for 88th. Josh Wallace is the Right Corner Back. The 6’ 190-pound DB played at Michigan and was a 2024 UDFA. His PFF rating is 51.2 which is good for 172nd. Lake and Wallace were listed on the injury report as Limited. If they can’t go, the Rams have quality backups in Safety Kam Kinchens and Ahkello Witherspoon.
| Starter | 2nd | 3rd | |
| PK | Joshua Karty | – | – |
| P | Ethan Evans | – | – |
| H | Ethan Evans | ||
| PR | Xavier Smith | Kyren Williams | – |
| KR | Blake Corum | Jordan Whittington | Xavier Smith |
| LS | Alex Ward | – |
Joshua Karty is ranked 19th in Field Goal % with an 84.2% (tied with Joey Slye). His Kickoff average is 47th and he is ranked 18th in scoring. Ethan Evans is 24th in Yards Per Punt with 46.8 and has a Net of 41.6 good for 21st. Xavier Smith is not a very effective Punt Returner ranked 27th. Blake Corum has a 31st rank in Kickoff returns. The Patriots should have a big advantage on Special Teams.
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