Week 6 perspective recap
After a frustrating loss, here's how things are shaping up for the Rams with just two games to go to the bye.
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FOOTBALL
That sure as hell wasn’t fun.
The Los Angeles Rams dropped a very frustrating Week 6 trip up north to the San Francisco 49ers, 16-24.
Let’s get into it.
Injuries
The Rams seemingly got out of this one without anything notable. We’ll have to see how the injury report looks tomorrow afternoon. With only ILB Micah Kiser a concern going into Week 6, things are looking positive on the injury front.
Performance Issues
Well, this starts at the top with HC Sean McVay. He had his ass handed to him by his friend and peer 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan as well as Niners DC Robert Saleh who has done this to McVay before. That however is a somewhat singular and anomalous outcome. There aren’t many coaches who can make a fool out of McVay. I think it might be fair to just chock this one up to the parity of the NFL and the nature of the sport and tuck it under the rug. Out of sight, out of mind. And when we get past the season and go through the house and take the rug in for deep cleaning only to realize, “Oh shit! Week 6! I forgot I put it under here.” Well, at that point you can just laugh about it.
Hopefully.
Offensively, it was tough for the guys on the field as they weren’t put into great positions to succeed. That being said, the offensive line was fine. QB Jared Goff had some clear misses but delivered some very good balls as well. RB Darrell Henderson, Jr., played his way into a fair question of why he didn’t get the ball more in this game but also earlier this season but also last season. I’d bank on a good chance that more carries for Hendo only amplifies those questions. If you’re looking for a scapegoat here, this was probably the most upsetting game for WR Cooper Kupp since…well, this might be it. That Week 5 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in 2017 at least brings up a candidate in the voting here, but Monday might be Kupp’s biggest night to forget of his NFL career.
On defense again, it was more systemic. Shanahan was entirely in his bag early just toying with McVay and Rams DC Brandon Staley. They yet again settled into a stellar second half performance that should be included in our evaluation of the game. Instead of calling this a “bad game” we should at least ensure that refers to the offense as the defense actually had a decent showing overall. But between the scheme and the play of 49ers RB Raheem Mostert early, they really got behind the curve early. It will be interesting to see how these two teams prepare for the battle when San Fran has the ball early in Week 12 when they meet again.
Standings
This is going to be a war.
I’m not sure there’s anything I can say to add any clarity beyond the upcoming football in this division right now. So while we don’t re-engage the division until inviting the 5-0 Seahawks to SoFi Stadium in Week 10, keep an eye on them.
Their next five games?
At the Arizona Cardinals, home against San Francisco, at the Buffalo Bills, coming to us in Week 10 and then back in Seattle for Arizona Pt. II. That could be a defining stretch for better or worse ESPECIALLY with the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants, New York Jets and Washington Football Team all on deck thereafter to puff up their record.
We’re not far off from being able to clip off the bottom of the conference. Long-time readers at TST know I’ve been wont to do so when the likelihood of the bottom of the conference making the playoffs gets far out of reach even if it’s not mathematically impossible. So I might start doing that next week as the Rams head into the bye.
It’s been made a bit tougher with the expanded playoffs, but the chances of a 1-6 team turning it around and winning maybe seven of their final nine to go 8-8 and sneak in are probably low enough for me to feel comfortable chopping wood. It’s made more available though thanks to the NFC East with the Dallas Cowboys leading the division at 2-4. Yeesh.
The wild card (ok, perhaps I shouldn’t use that term…) could be the Carolina Panthers. They’ve gotten out to a 3-3 start with QB Cam Newton having shipped off to the New England Patriots and RB Christian McCaffrey injured. HC Matt Rhule rocketed up the coaching ranks the last few years in college ball with a four-year run at Temple followed by three impressive years at Baylor before jumping to the NFL with Carolina this year. Panthers fans have to be buoyed by the early results. Their next three games? At the New Orleans Saints, back home to take on the hapless Atlanta Falcons, and then back on the road against the Kansas City Chiefs. Opportunity!
FOOD
It’s nutty from the parmesan. It’s hearty from the onions and garlic. It’s roasty from the…roasting.
It’s good.
I will offer one suggestion to tweak. Inside of doing this at such a high roasting heat (425), bring it down. I do mine at 375 and toss after 20 while checking to make sure that not too many onions get to the outside of the baking sheet. If they do, they tend to cook through and char quickly (they taste fantastic after a round or two of roasting, but can’t hold up through the whole period). Keeping the onions on the interior while tossing and then going through a 20 minute roast, a 15 minute roast and then tossing them with the 1/2 cup of parm for 12 or so comes out with a fantaaaaaaaaaaaastic product and parmesan clumps that look and crunch like breadcrumbs.
A really, really good side dish.