NFL coaches say that doing well in the red zone and on third downs is very important if you should win games. But the Los Angeles Rams did not perform very well in those areas in their game on Monday night, and that is why they lost 19-16 to the Cincinnati Bengals.
The L.A. team had a very tough time on third downs, only making one out of eleven tries, which is not good enough (only 9%). They did not do much better in the red zone, where they only scored once out of four tries. They had to kick field goals instead of them to get more touchdowns, and that helped the Bengals stay in the game while they figured out their offense.
“There were just a lot of self-inflicted wounds,” McVeigh told The Associated Press on Monday. A penalty, a bad sack by Matthew Stafford, a dropped pass. The Rams probably committed it on third down and in the red zone.
On the Rams’ first drive, Tutu Atwell appeared to score a touchdown, but replays at the 2-yard line ruled him out of bounds. Stafford was sacked on the next play, and the Rams ultimately converted a field goal. An early mistake in the red zone set the tone for the rest of the game.
“I think the biggest thing for us tonight was we missed some chances in the red zone early in the game,” Stafford said. “If we can get some 7s out, maybe the rest of the game will be a little different.”
I thought Our Defense Kept Us in the Game All Night.
The Bengals, who were dealing with Joe Burrow’s calf injury, no longer looked like the dive-bombing threat they were accustomed to seeing early in the contest. If the Rams had gotten off to a good start and finished in double digits, Cincy might have been forced to play differently. In fact, repeated failures and mistakes allowed the Bengals to endure until they regained their form.
“I felt like I was already within striking distance,” McVay said. “I thought our defense kept us in the game all night, especially early on, when we had some looks and chances and had to make a field goal to do it. I thought it was a real shame that I wasn’t able to accomplish that.”
Stafford, the quarterback, threw the ball 18 times out of 33 tries and gained 269 yards with one touchdown (TD) as well as two interceptions. He was also tackled by the other team’s players six times.
When the Rams got close to the Bengals’ end zone, he only tried his best to throw for 1 yard and got sacked two times. At the beginning of the game, he was seen throwing very fast passes, but as more of his teammates got hurt, it became harder for him, and in the end, it looked like the Rams’ offense from last year before Stafford got hurt.
