Turf Show Times
The Los Angeles Rams will be going for their seventh consecutive win on Sunday when they take on the Carolina Panthers. This should be a game that the Rams are able to take care of business in and move on to next week’s divisional game against the Arizona Cardinals. However, this is also a classic trap-style game. They’ve been inconsistent with most of their wins coming against bad teams. With that said, they also snuck up on the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers. The Rams have done a good job playing their game this season and not adjusting their level to their opponent. In an early-window game on the East Coast, they’ll need to do the same on Sunday. Here are this week’s keys to victory.
Bryce Young has struggled at times this season and that’s usually when defenses force him to go through his progressions. When Young isn’t pressured, he ranks 30th in EPA per dropback, but under pressure he’s 18th. That doesn’t mean that the Rams shouldn’t pressure Young, but they need to muddy the picture for him on the backend and take away the immediate throws.
This season, Young has been very good on short throws via PFF, completing 82 percent of his passes. However, on intermediate routes, Young’s accuracy drops to 52 percent. If the Rams can get Young to target the middle of the field while still leaving a roof over the secondary and taking away the underneath passes, they should get him to target tighter windows.
Much has been said about the resurgence of cornerback Emmanuel Forbes this season. With that said, Forbes will have a new test on Sunday to show just how much he’s improved. Forbes has consistently struggled against a certain type of wide receiver. It’s always been the big, physical wide receiver that has given Forbes issues simply because of the disparity in size. That’s been the case this season as well. Forbes struggled against Elic Ayomanor earlier this year against the Tennessee Titans and AJ Brown has always given him issues.
Ahkello Witherspoon has been back at practice this week and should have a chance to play. That’s the player that the Rams will want to put on Tet McMillan who has the size advantage on Forbes at 6’4, 212 pounds. The rookie wide receiver has had an underrated season with 783 yards and five touchdowns. McMillan has only converted 3-of-12 contested catch opportunities, but he’s very good at finding ways to get open.
The Panthers defense could be in rough shape on Sunday. Cornerback Jaycee Horn hasn’t practiced this week due to a concussion while safety Tre’Von Moehrig is suspended for an incident last week against the San Francisco 49ers. Christian Rozeboom could miss the game as well, adding more problems at linebacker. At first glance, the Rams should be able to do what they want against this...
