Studs and duds from Rams’ 23-20 loss to Jets

It’s hard to come away from Sunday’s game between the Rams and Jets feeling good if you’re a fan in L.A. The Rams were embarrassed by New York at home, 23-20, falling to the fifth seed in the NFC and one game back of the Seahawks in the division.

Yet, despite the poor play from the Rams on both sides of the ball, there were some bright spots – even if they were few and far between.

Here are our studs and duds from Sunday’s game against the Jets

Stud: Cam Akers

Akers rushed for 63 yards on only 15 carries, averaging more than 4 yards per attempt. His numbers should’ve been almost double that, too. He had runs of 10 yards, 18 yards and 22 yards called back due to penalties on Joe Noteboom, Austin Corbett and Tyler Higbee, one of which went for a touchdown. Akers had very little trouble moving the ball against a stout Jets front, especially after Quinnen Williams went out with a head injury. Akers was a bright spot on Sunday afternoon in a game where those were hard to come by.

Stud: Robert Woods

Woods nearly topped 100 yards from scrimmage against the Jets, proving to be the Rams’ most reliable and consistent playmaker on Sunday. He caught six of eight targets for 56 yards and a touchdown, also gaining 40 yards on his lone carry just before the end of the third quarter to get the Rams in scoring range. When it came to blocking, he was also good, sealing off defenders in the running game for Akers. Woods has been excellent for the Rams this season despite the offense being rocky throughout the year.

Stud: Aaron Donald

Donald is simply in another world right now as a defender. There were so many times where he got into the backfield in a flash and blew up a play, whether he made the tackle for a loss or not. Those plays were impactful for the Rams, forcing the ball out of Sam Darnold’s hand quickly. Just take a look at this play where he makes a huge tackle for loss on second-and-3 to help keep the Jets to only a field goal. https://twitter.com/dlinevids1/status/1340868364239921155 To put his impact into perspective, take a look at this chart. He’s in his own area code in the top right, leading all defensive tackles in pass rush win rate and run stop win rate. https://twitter.com/SethWalder/status/1340859354480861184

Dud: Sean McVay

A large chunk of this loss falls on McVay’s plate. You can't fully blame him for the team not being ready, or if players didn’t play as hard as they should have. However, he is to blame for an uncreative game plan, poor play calling and questionable timeout usage. He inexplicably burned a timeout before the Jets’ 1-yard touchdown on fourth down, right after the Jets used a timeout of their own. On third-and-15 from the Jets’ 29-yard line, he called a screen to Malcolm Brown that only gained 6 yards. And worst of all, he called two deep shots to Cam Akers and Gerald Everett on third-and-4 and fourth-and-4 during the Rams’ final possession. Granted, Jared Goff is the one throwing the ball, but those play designs were poor considering L.A. only needed 4 yards. This was a poor performance by McVay, who made things much harder than they needed to be against a winless Jets team.

Dud: Austin Blythe

Blythe had the difficult task of blocking Williams throughout the game, which is no easy assignment. Williams beat him for a sack and generated constant pressure on Goff, also making a couple of stops right at the line of scrimmage and a few others just beyond it. Williams was the Jets’ best player in this one and Blythe was on the wrong end of this individual matchup. He needed more help on the interior, though David Edwards didn’t do a ton when the two doubled Williams. Blythe played poorly, but he wasn't the only offensive lineman who struggled. The group as a whole had issues, none of which were bigger than Austin Blythe's holding penalty on Cam Akers' touchdown run.

Duds: Troy Reeder and Kenny Young

Adam Gase and the Jets came out with a clear game plan on the opening drive: pick on the Rams’ linebackers. Running back Ty Johnson caught four passes on the first possession, including an 18-yard touchdown where no one covered him in the flat. Reeder was late to get outside several times throughout the game, which allowed the Jets to pick up big yardage after the catch. The same goes for Young, who followed Reeder in covering the tight end on a drag route on Johnson’s touchdown. Neither player has been particularly good at covering running backs, and the Jets exploited that for chunk plays.

Dud: Jared Goff

Goff did not play well on Sunday and if he had, the Rams would’ve won this game. He threw an ugly interception to Bryce Hall, who lurked underneath Robert Woods after Goff rolled out to his right. Then Goff was nearly intercepted again in the second half, as his pass glanced off the defender’s hands by mere inches and fell into Gerald Everett’s lap. He didn’t give Akers a chance on his third-down deep shot in the fourth quarter, and the running back was covered pretty tightly anyway. Goff was under consistent pressure, which he can't be blamed for, but throwing for 209 yards on 34 attempts with a passer rating of 89.0 against the lowly Jets is hardly impressive. Goff continues to struggle with hitting big-time throws down the field, which leads to fewer deep shots called by McVay.