Rams rushing attack stampedes Raiders into submission

The season has began to slip away for the Las Vegas Raiders.

After starting out the season 3-0, the Raiders have lost four games in a row and it's not getting any better anytime soon.

The Los Angeles Rams, who looked like a team without an identity after six weeks, used their running game to dominate Las Vegas from start to finish in a 35-21 victory on Sunday afternoon at Allegiant Stadium.

Running backs Kyren Williams and Blake Corum rushed for 99 and 93 yards respectively to showcase a balanced running attack. The Raiders had no answer for either back as they gave up 199 rushing yards as their front seven was dominated in the trenches by the Rams offensive line.

It made for a relative easy day for quarterback Matthew Stafford who put on a clinic in the first half with three passing touchdowns all without standout wide receiver Davante Adams who was out on injured reserve with a hamstring injury. It was National Tight Ends Day and Stafford obliged with two touchdowns to seldom used back up tight end Davis Allen. Allen came into the game with just six receptions but ended the afternoon with four catches for 20 yards to go along with his two touchdowns.

“It’s nice feeling a little bit more comfortable in the fourth quarter, and that’s just a testament to how the guys played,” Stafford said. “Great team effort. I thought our coaches did a great job of giving us a plan that we felt great about coming in here to execute. Just proud of the way we worked throughout the week, and I think that showed today. We're going to have to keep doing that and doing it at a high level.”

The Raiders offense dug its own grave while getting dominated inside the trenches by Los Angeles' front four led by veteran defensive end Aaron Donald. They never let Las Vegas' run game get going and made the Raiders offense one-dimensonal throughout the enitre game. They pressured quarterback Kirk Cousins relentlessly with well-timed blitzes and most of the time their front four had their way with the Raiders offensive line which has looked terrible during the four-game losing streak.

Los Angeles led 7-3 after the first quarter as the first connection from Stafford to Allen was the result of eight play 59-yard drive that used a balanced attack of four rushing and four passing plays. The Raiders linebackeres of Nakobe Dean and Quay Walker had difficulty covering the tight ends on pass plays and were getting blocked easily on the running ones.

The Rams took over the game in the second quarter with three straight touchdowns to jump out to a 28-6 lead. Allen scored his second touchdown, a five-yarder, with 10:01 left. Then Stafford found his favorite receiver Puca Nacua with a quick pass out to the slot for a 11-yard touchdown with 4:15 remaining. Then after a turnover on downs by the Raiders offense, Williams scampered into the endzone for a 17-yard touchdown with 1:19 left in the first half.

“I’m super grateful for everybody in the training room and also the belief in coach (Sean McVay) and everybody for me to be able to go out there and still perform,” Nacua said.

Las Vegas mustered just two Matt Gay field goals in the first 30 minutes of play as they punted twice and also had Gay miss a field goal earlier in the half. It was that kind of the day Las Vegas head coach Klint Kubiak's offense as a combination of vanilla play calling and the poor play from the offensive line led to an afternoon of futility.

Even when the Raiders defense clamped down in the second half with a three and out and a forced fumble on the Rams first two possessions to keep them in the game, the offense continued to sputter as both possessions in the third quarter ended with turnovers on downs. Both possessions stalled either inside the Red Zone or just outside of it. Instead of taking the possible six points to cut into the Rams lead, Kubiak opted instead to go for it on fourth down and was burned both times.

In the fourth quarter Los Angeles took its foot off of the gas pedal both sides of the ball. Las Vegas scored touchdowns on back-to-back drives in the fourth quarter. Cousins threw a deep out to wide receiver Tre Tucker out to the left sideline. Thanks to a brilliant individual move by Tucker to deke out a Rams defender to go down on the play, Tucker raced into the endzone for a 37-yard touchdown.

Then the Raiders finally took advantage of a turnover. Dean intercepted Stafford on the first play of the Rams ensuing drive setting up Las Vegas at the Rams 34-yard line. Aston Jeanty took advantage of a mismatch as he got behind a Rams defender on a wheel route and made an over the shoulder catch from a touch pass from Cousins for a 15-yard touchdown reception, his lone highlight of the day.

Both times Kubiak elected to go for the two-point conversion instead of kicking the extra point which would've made it a one-score game but the Raiders failed to convert both chances and the closest they got was 28-18 early in the fourth quarter.

Los Angeles put the game way with its rushing attack with a methodical 12 play 70-yard drive that ate up over six and a half minutes off of the clock. Corum ran untouched for a four-yard rushing touchdown as he and Williams had a mirrored day with over 90 yards rushing with one touchdown a piece.

During the four-game losing streak, Las Vegas's run defense has been exposed as well its young secondary. On the offensive side of the ball, without a running game to rely on, the offense has become one-dimensonal having to rely on a 38-year-old quarterback to produce miracles that simple aren't there to be made. Center Tyler Linderbaum, the high priced center the team acquired in the offseason as one of the top free agents, has been a disappointment so far underpeforming along with his four other linemates.

Stafford finish with a very efficient 23 of 29 for 195 yards to go along with his three touchdowns and one interception. Nacua, who was questionable coming into the game, led the Rams in receiving with eight catches for 68 yards. Colby Parkinson chipped in with five catches for 48 yards.

Cousin was 26 of 44 for 295 yards to go along with his two touchdowns and was sacked twice. Cousins has 16 touchdowns to lead the league but nine of those came in the first three games of the season, while the last seven have come in the past four. If the slide continues for Las Vegas and every indication is pointing to that it will, sooner rather than later Kubiak will need to insert the 2026 number one overall draft pick Fernando Mendoza into the starting lineup and give a glimpse into the future of what the former Indiana and Cal quarterback can do for the offense.

Mike Washington Jr led the Raiders in rushing with only 27 yards on six carries compared to Jeanty who had eight carries for a measly 15 yards. Tucker led all receivers with five catches for 103 yards, including a 41 yard catch and run late in garbage time that ended up being the longest play of the day for the Raiders offense. Tight end Brock Bowers was a non-factor despite his six catches for 73 yards as the majority of his eight targets came in the fourth quarter with the game well out of reach.

For the Rams the win a big shot in the arm, as along with the San Francisco 49ers first loss of the season to the Atlanta Falcons, it keeps them still in the race for the NFC West as they came into the season with high expectations as Super Bowl contenders for which they did not look like after the first six weeks of the season.

“This league is so humbling,” McVay said. “Humility is only a day away, but I was proud of the way the group prepared and, most importantly, celebrating each other’s success, having the right energy when you’re on the road and it’s just you versus the opponent and their fans.”

The Raiders don't have time to feel for sorry for themselves as they travel out to the East Coast to take on a deflated New York Jets team, that gave the Miami Dolphins its first win of the season in a 28-25 loss at home, on Sunday November 1st at 10:00am from Met Life Stadium.

“Well, no one’s coming to help us,” Kubiak said. “We’ve got to figure it out ourselves as a coaching staff, with the players, and we have to complement each other as well because we’ve got to start the game a lot faster offensively.”