Studs and duds from Rams’ Week 3 win over the Buccaneers

Finally, the Rams got a complete performance from the entire team on Sunday, with the special teams unit putting together a clean effort against the Buccaneers. The result was a 34-24 win at home, improving the Rams’ record to 3-0 on the year.

There were standouts on both sides of the ball, most notably with Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp continuing their hot streak on offense. Defensively, it was Aaron Donald and Terrell Lewis who stood out, along with Kenny Young.

Here are our studs and duds from Sunday’s victory.

Stud: Matthew Stafford

Stafford started the game 1-for-5, struggling to hit his receivers in the early goings. However, he then settled down and found a rhythm on offense, putting together an excellent performance. Despite missing two deep shots to DeSean Jackson in the first half, Stafford still finished with 343 yards and four touchdowns. His connection with Cooper Kupp was strong once again, throwing two touchdown passes to the wideout and bringing Kupp’s total to five on the year. The offensive line helped by giving Stafford plenty of time in the pocket, which allowed downfield routes to develop, but Stafford was sharp once the adrenaline subsided.

Stud: Aaron Donald

The Bucs had no answer for Donald in this one. He was constantly around Tom Brady and in the Bucs’ backfield, recording one sack, a forced fumble, a batted pass and a tackle for a loss on a third-down screen pass in the third quarter. He garnered a ton of attention from the Buccaneers’ offensive linemen and he was still able to wreak havoc like he always does. Tampa Bay had a tough time containing No. 99 in the middle of the defense.

Stud: DeSean Jackson

Finally, Jackson broke through with a big performance – and against one of his former teams, nonetheless. Jackson caught a 75-yard touchdown pass from Stafford to open the third quarter, which came after he broke open on two other deep routes earlier in the game but Stafford missed him with underthrows. Jackson also had a 40-yard reception on a crossing route that put the Rams at the 10-yard line, setting up a touchdown by Cooper Kupp. He was a real factor for the first time in this game and it was great to see.

Stud: Terrell Lewis

The Rams have been searching for a situational pass rusher to rotate in with Leonard Floyd and Justin Hollins, and they may have found one in Lewis. He had a strong performance against the Bucs, even if he didn’t put up huge numbers. He generated pressure a couple of times in his limited reps as a pass rusher, also landing a huge hit on Rob Gronkowski as soon as the big tight end caught a pass. Lewis also landed a hit on Brady after pressuring the quarterback, making two tackles on the afternoon.

Studs: Offensive linemen

There hasn’t been a single easy matchup for the Rams’ offensive line yet this season, but the group has stepped up week in and week out. Against a really talented pass rush on Sunday, the Rams’ front gave Stafford a ton of time in the pocket and allowed him to go through his reads, which led to his 75-yard touchdown pass to DeSean Jackson and a handful of other big plays where his No. 1 option wasn’t open. When you can limit Shaquil Barrett, Vita Vea and Ndamukong Suh to two total hits on the quarterback and no sacks, it’s a good day for the offensive line.

Stud: Cooper Kupp

Kupp keeps on cooking. After posting two 100-yard games in the first two weeks of the season, Kupp caught another nine passes for 96 yards with two touchdowns, giving him five scores on the year. He caught nine of his 12 targets and many of them were uncontested because he left his defender in the dust with excellent route running. He’s on pace for a massive season this year and while it’s hard to imagine him averaging more than 100 yards per game the rest of the way, he’s poised for a career year.

Stud: Kenny Young

A missed tackle early in the game shouldn't take away from the performance that Young had on Sunday. He made a great tackle for a loss in the open field, sacked Brady on a blitz up the middle by beating Giovani Bernard and also forced a fumble along the sideline, making nine total tackles in the game.

Dud: Darious Williams

Brady looked Williams’ way often and had a lot of success doing so. Williams didn’t break up a single pass and allowed a bunch of receptions to the bigger Mike Evans, though he didn’t give up any long plays to Brady’s top target. Still, Williams has had better days in coverage than the one he had against the Buccaneers because he was pushed around a little bit on Sunday.

Dud: Taylor Rapp

Rapp has never been the best safety in coverage and there were a few times where he was beat by his man. He did save a touchdown with a shoestring tackle on Tyler Johnson over the middle, but Rapp was burned by Rob Gronkowski on a throw that Gronk somehow dropped, and Godwin beat him on the same drive. In a game where there weren’t many duds, Rapp could’ve played better, especially when asked to cover man-to-man.

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