The Bay Area and Southern California rivalry is a real thing over here on the West Coast. Los Angeles vs. San Francisco in any sport carries plenty of venom, but the final game of the Monday Night Football slant carried some as well because of the history of both franchises. The Oakland Raiders used to play in Los Angeles for the longest time, and still to this day you see more people with Raider gear walking around LA than you expect. They still follow that team and root for their success, even though the franchise up and left them in the mid 90's.
I was born in 1992, and my family doesn't have a strong affiliation with the Raiders so I never cultivated any special bond with the silver and black Oakland team. I was just dying for a team to come back to LA that I could call my own. I finally got my wish a few years ago when the Rams came back to Los Angeles after leaving the city in the 90's too! I was happy it was them and not the Raiders, I always just liked the Rams color scheme. After a horrendous 4-12 inaugural campaign in 2016, the Rams surprised everyone with an 11-5 followup in 2017, including a playoff berth. I didn't expect them to win the Super Bowl because this team had never been deep in the playoffs, but this year they come in with a ton of new talent and real, tangible expectations.
LA's executives were hard at work and they most certainly earned their salaries as they brought on star Defensive Tackle Ndamukong Suh, star cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib, all the while retaining their defensive ace and Defensive Player Of The Year Aaron Donald. Hats were off to the GMs, and expectations rose.
On Monday night we finally got to see this apparent super team in action, as the Rams laid a convincing second-half assault down on the Raiders 33-13. Oakland led after the first half and looked like they could've shocked the football world, but both LA's offense and defense found their grooves to pull away over their in-state and former same-city rival. Jared Goff put up 233 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions while completing 18/33 passes and achieving a 97.2 Quarterback Rating, while Derek Carr accumulated 303 yards and 3 picks on 29/40 en route to a 62.8 QBR. The Raiders were running off of that Oakland hometown adrenaline in the first half, but LA's focus brought both their fans and squad down to Earth for a slow, convincing death.
Game Recap
I think I speak for everyone when I say the Raiders shocked us on their opening drive! They picked up a quick first down, then Derek Carr threw it to Amari Cooper for an imposing 45-yard run. Carr pitched it to Marshawn Lynch several plays later who fought his way into the endzone through the sheer physical pushing power of him and his teammates. So much for that fearsome Rams defense! We were only at the opening drive though. That quick score set the tone for the final Monday Night game. We had a battle on our hands. Raiders up 7-0.
A couple sequences later, Rams quarterback Goff started finding his rhythm by getting some passes into the hands of receiver Ron Woods. Then in comes Todd Gurley. He found a hole on the middle right side and blazed right through it for a thirty-yard run. Rams tied it all up at 7-7.
The Rams D started to figure out Oakland's run game, but their wide receivers and tight end were still dealing consistent damage to Los Angeles. They were getting these nice slant routes and outside looks that the Rams just couldn't cover in time. All eyes were on Rams defensive coordinator Wade Phillips. Oakland rinsed and repeated for a mini-march down the field for a field goal to put the score at 10-7 Raiders up.
Jon Gruden's game plan was looking good. Every time they got a sizable gain the camera would cut back to his smug face. You knew he was hearing about this Rams defense for weeks in the leadup to this game, and here he was making them look like fools - with no Khalil Mack! Derrick Carr looked confident and under control too to spearhead the Oakland offense. Todd Gurley looked like the top offensive player for the opposition, who were stumbling around searching for their mojo. The Rams ended up copping a field goal to tie it 10-all, but the Raiders eeked out one last run and shot on the goal to gain the slight edge 13-10 heading into the second half.
The Rams quickly tied it back up at 13 to start the second half. They tweaked their defensive game plan a little to put a bit more pressure on Derek Carr. They put Aqib Talib on Raiders tight end Jared Cook, who was straight up roasting the Rams defense in the whole first half. It looked like the Rams had some momentum with the ball back in their hands all tied up at 13.
A couple sequences later, Brandin Cooks started to make some meaningful contributions for the LA team. He drew some long pass interference penalties prior to this to advance the ball, but finally, he remembered how to catch legitimate passes. Cooper Kupp took the Rams home for a touchdown along the right sideline to make it 20-13.
The fourth quarter was all Rams as they continued their strong defensive play. LA accrued a couple field goals and snagged a pick-6 via off-season signing Marcus Peters to put the nail in this game's coffin. Check out full highlights in the video below.
Takeaways
The Raiders looked like a legitimate threat without Khalil Mack in the first half. I almost forgot that they got rid of him only a few days ago. That momentum sputtered away after the Rams figured out their game plan, but I feel like the foundation is there for the Raiders to be competitive under John Gruden. Still...you have to wonder how they would have played if only they had Mack spreading mass terror and backing their line.
Jared Goff really looked like in that second half. He and his receivers finally got on the same wavelength and that's when they ran away with the game. Todd Gurley was their rock through and through the contest though. Gurley had some happy fantasy owners at end Week 1 as he put up a nice 108 yards on 20 carries. There was one little handoff from Goff to Gurley that they decided to mark as a shuffle pass as opposed to a straight handoff, which costed fantasy owners a Gurley touchdown! I'm only bringing this up because one of those fantasy owners was me, who decided to play him in the daily slant. Oh well. I'll take the promising Week 1 win over the fantasy prosperity. Cheers!
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