The beaten-up Los Angeles Rams came into Kansas City to face off against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs dominated the injured Rams with a score of 26-10.
It is glaringly obvious that the Rams have caught the injury bug worse than most of the NFL. Los Angeles had five offensive starters out due to injury, players including Matthew Stafford, Allen Robinson and former Offensive Player of the Year Cooper Kupp.
Quarterback Bryce Perkins made his first start of the season filling in for Stafford. He was not given the best situation, his top receivers available were Tutu Atwell and Van Jefferson. But Perkins managed the game better than most expected especially early on. But once it was do-or-die time, Perkins laid an egg as he threw two picks in the fourth quarter.
Along with the injuries the Rams also shockingly cut starting running back Darrell Henderson recently. This roster move led the way for Cam Akers to prove his value in Sean McVay’s offense. Akers led the team’s running backs in rushing yards the past two games but received fewer carries than Kyren Williams this week.
At one point Perkins led the Rams to a great touchdown drive to get within 10 points. But the backup quarterback struggled to regain that momentum throwing two straight interceptions late in the game.
The Rams’ offense ultimately couldn’t sustain drives together to make Kansas City feel uncomfortable. One positive thing the Rams can take out of this game is that their defense held Mahomes and the Chiefs offense to a rather average game. But with a 3-8 record and 0 first-round picks there are few positives for the reigning super bowl champions.
On the other hand, this is Kansas City’s fifth straight win improving their record to 9-2. The Chiefs continue to look like the best team in the AFC and clear super bowl contender as we head into the last stretch of the regular season.
The rookie out of Rutgers Isiah Pacheco made his second straight start against the Rams and looked great. Last week Pacheco showed that he is a difference maker rushing for over 100 yards.
Despite the young running back running for only 69 yards this game Andy Reid had no problems feeding him the rock as he ran the ball 22 times. Pacheco seems to be the the clear-cut starting running back as he adds a running game the Chiefs haven’t had recently.
Pacheco should continue to receive a large workload down the stretch as his explosiveness will open up the play-action game for Mahomes.
Patrick Mahomes also had an impressive day even though his stats may not pop off the box score. Mahomes spread the ball around this game. He found ten different targets with eight of those receivers racking up over 20 yards.
It wasn’t the explosive Chiefs offense that we have all become accustomed to but this was a great game for the defense to step up. They may have been playing Los Angeles’ B squad but they still held them under 200 offensive yards.
The Chiefs are currently the number one seed in the AFC and travel to Cincinnati next week to take on the Bengals.
This concludes the Chiefs vs. Rams takeaways.
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