What do you even do with the Los Angeles Rams? Through four games, they were 3-1 with wins over the Seahawks and Cardinals. After last week’s loss to the Bills, they squandered an outstanding effort by quarterback Case Keenum today and now have a .500 record.
For most of the game against the Detroit Lions, Keenum was practically perfect. He had a 321-yard game, three touchdown passes (along with one rushing TD), and only a handful of incompletions. Keenum’s performance maybe even made Rams fans forget about Jared Goff, the rookie QB picked first overall who still hasn’t played this season.
Despite all that, the Lions had Matthew Stafford, who tied the game at 28 in the fourth quarter with his fourth touchdown pass of the day. After a Los Angeles three-and-out, Stafford led another drive that ended with a Matt Prater field goal to take a 31-28 lead. Keenum had roughly a minute and a half of time to exceed expectations even further than he had already exceeded them. His second pass of the possession was a ball into triple coverage that was picked off by Rafael Bush.
Keenum finished the game with a completion percentage of 84.3 and a loss. The defense should shoulder more blame for bleeding 31 points to Detroit, but Keenum’s regression came at the worst possible time for his team, and Los Angeles is 3-3. Head coach Jeff Fisher is finally at a familiar balance.