Is the Rams offense broken? | You Pod To Win The Game
Yahoo Sports Senior NFL Writer Charles Robinson and Senior Writer Frank Schwab discuss the Los Angeles Rams terrible performance in their loss against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, and debate if the Rams offense can be saved from its early season slump.
Video Transcript
FRANK SCHWAB: Dallas and the Rams, this was interesting. Hey, I'm going to say, I called my shot, picked Dallas to win this one straight up. The Dallas Cowboys, they look like a better team, 22 to 10.
Do you look at this as bad Rams or good Cowboys, because I think it's almost to the point where we got to say this is bad Rams. They are they're broken right now. This is not a good football team.
CHARLES ROBINSON: I think-- we talked about the offensive line last week. I think that it's fundamentally broken. Like, I don't know that this offensive line is fixable, and today was the game where Matthew Stafford took more hard hits in this game.
FRANK SCHWAB: There was one where they're showing a replay. You can tell he's just in pain.
CHARLES ROBINSON: He was in pain, like, straight-- yeah, like he looks like he's taking punishment that is affecting him snap to snap now. And that is absolutely not what you can have with Matt Stafford. Even though I have some problems with them defensively, really, it's just to me, it's about offense.
Like, they can't survive if he is going to constantly get beat up in games. And when Andrew Whitworth is done and you don't have your anchor anymore and you've also suffered other losses along the line, you have to hope everybody stays healthy, everybody grows up fast. And if it doesn't, this is what culminates, and I just don't know how they get out of this now.
FRANK SCHWAB: Right, and I mean, I hate-- it sounds so much like I told you so, but when you trade all your draft picks, something's got to suffer. And it's the offensive line. It really is.
Like, they can't protect right now. They cannot run the ball at all. Like--
CHARLES ROBINSON: No.
FRANK SCHWAB: Every hand off to Cam Akers is a wasted play. I hate to say it.
CHARLES ROBINSON: It feels that way.
FRANK SCHWAB: Story, but-- they're handing him off the ball, every time on first and 10, and it's like, second and 12. What could he do, Matt Stafford? And he's just-- there's nothing going downfield.
Well, they completed a deep pass to Tutu Atwell today. It was like, whoa--
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
FRANK SCHWAB: Actually completed a deep ball, whereas, last year, that was happening every series. Like, that that's where the Rams were last year. They really missed Van Jefferson of all people, I think. Like--
CHARLES ROBINSON: Yeah.
FRANK SCHWAB: And they missed Allen Robinson, who still has not shown up for the season and might not. And that's killing them because Tyler Higbee is a perfectly reasonable tight end. Tyler Higbee should not be the number two option in anybody's offense.
He's just the closest one. He's-- Stafford's like, I got to get rid of the ball because the pass rusher is on my lap. There's Tyler Higbee, OK, there you go.
They need to-- I think they need more Darrell Henderson in the offense instead of Cam Akers. I hate to say-- again, I love the Cam Akers story. It's just not happening for him right now. And it didn't happen last year either, and their forcing it and it's not working.
But I get why they are because they've got to take some pressure off Matthew Stafford, who's getting pounded behind that line. Part of this, though, is they played the 49ers defense, which is unbelievable, best defense in the league, in my mind. And the Cowboys defense might be number two.
That defense is really good, man. I know [? Jory ?] had the story of-- I think it was Micah, who said, doomsday is back. It might be. Like, this defense is carrying that tape for--
And seriously, anybody out there who's like, Cooper Rush is 4 and 0. Cooper Rush is not 4 and 0. The Dallas Cowboys are 4 and 0, and that defense is carrying all the weight right now. It is really impressive what they're doing.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Their front four is fun. Like--
FRANK SCHWAB: It's a pass--
CHARLES ROBINSON: It is a fun front four to watch. Like, they don't need to-- like, they can dial up, and they have occasionally dialed up some stuff with the linebackers in terms of the blitz. They don't really have to do that. I mean, the front four is just chaos.
It's amazing, suddenly, to watch. The NFC East alone, it's just, what a bizarre story. This is-- for me, personally, I never--
FRANK SCHWAB: No, it's bizarre. I'm fine with bizarre because who would have thought the NFC East would have been the best division of football right now? And I think you could seriously say that right now.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Yeah. Not-- certainly not expected. But yeah, I agree with you, Cooper Rush is not 4 and 0, and--
FRANK SCHWAB: He's done his job [INAUDIBLE] great. I tip my cap to Cooper Rush. But this whole like, should Cooper Rush start? No, stop. Please stop. Like, no.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Listen, I just want to see the argument that ensues if the offense somehow changes or the game flow changes because it is a very methodical-- it is a methodical offense. They're running the ball really well.
FRANK SCHWAB: Very conservative.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Very conservative.
FRANK SCHWAB: They're smart. It's been very smart.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Not a lot of turnovers.
FRANK SCHWAB: Mike McCarthy over there, yep.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Right? Yeah, so-- that's not going to be this offense when Dak comes back. They're going to throw the ball downfield. There's going to be some turnovers. The pacing of it's going to be different.
I don't know how it's going to affect the run game. It's just going to be kind of interesting to see how this changes and whether it changes the flow of the team moving forward, and how Cowboys fans feel about that.