STRENGTHS
The Rams have run the ball better than they've thrown it so far this season, with Todd Gurley getting help from Malcolm Brown to put up 123.7 yards per game. On defense, Los Angeles is holding opposing teams to 192.7 passing yards per game and 5.30 yards per pass play, both fourth-best in the NFL. Here are some more specific areas in which the Giants are off to a good start in 2019:
When the Rams' offense gets a first down inside the opposing 10-yard line, it's very difficult to keep it from continuing on to the end zone. Los Angeles is one of 10 teams that has scored a touchdown on every one of its goal-to-go possessions so far, but the Rams are at the top of that list because they've had more of those opportunities and converted them all. Specifically, the Rams are eight-for-eight in goal-to-go situations, and they haven't been predictable, scoring four teams each on the ground and through the air.
Jameis Winston threw the ball down the field on Sunday against the Giants about as well as he ever has, completing seven passes of 20 or more yards, including strikes of 55, 44, 41 and 30 yards. That was an encouraging sign but it will be difficult to duplicate in Los Angeles. No team has allowed fewer completions of 20 or more passes than the Rams. They've only been solved on the deep ball four times; the next lowest team total is six and the NFL average is 11.
Todd Gurley is a good pass-catcher, but as noted above, the Rams have a trio of trustworthy receivers who are on the field a lot. The Rams' official depth chart lists all three as starters, and all three – Woods, Kupp and Cooks – have been on the field for at least 92.9% of the team's offensive snaps so far. It's not terribly surprising, then, that Los Angeles runs more of its passing game through its wideouts than any other team in the NFL. Wideouts have accounted for 86.2% of the team's receiving yards this year; the league average per team is 65.1%.
The Buccaneers want to see improvement in their red zone offense as soon as possible, and Bruce Arians specifically noted that his team had started off doing well in the passing game in that area but has since taken a dive. Pulling out of that dive in Week Four will be complicated by an L.A. defense that has allowed a collective passer rating of 33.2 in the red zone, third-best in the NFL. The league average is 91.7.
WEAKNESSES
It's a small sample size at this point but the Rams' interception rate on offense is a bit high, a mark of 2.86% that is ninth worst in the NFL. There's not much to criticize on defense, but L.A.'s punt coverage units have given up an average of 12.8 yards per runback. That's second to last in the NFL. In addition:
As good as the Rams' defense has been, it's been susceptible to the run on second down. The Los Angeles defense is allowing 4.16 yards per carry overall to rank right in the middle of the NFL pack, but on second down specifically it is giving up 5.57 yards per tote. That includes four runs of over 10 yards allowed.
The Rams can strike quickly with Gurley or Cooks, but they haven't exactly been grinding out long drives so far this year. Los Angeles has just two possessions through three games that has lasted at least five minutes, and only one of those actually resulted in a score. That's tied for the third-lowest total in the NFL.
As good as the Rams have been at punching it in from first-and-goal opportunities, they have not run the ball particularly well in the red zone. The bar is lower down there – the NFL average is just 3.0 yards per carry – but the Rams have fallen short of it, picking up just 2.1 yards per try inside the 20. That's 24th best in the NFL.
Rams QB Jared Goff has yet to recapture the downfield passing form he showed in 2018 on the way to the Super Bowl, though it's likely just a matter of time until that happens. Last year, the Rams ranked fourth in passer rating on balls thrown more than 20 yards in the air, at 110.1, and they had the best completion rate on such passes, at 46.4%. So far this year, those numbers are 81.9, which ranks 23rd, and 33.3%, which ranks 22nd.
