The Todd Gurley delirium is over for the St. Louis Rams and after two consecutive losses dropping them below .500, it’s not out of the realm of possibilities that Nick Foles will be benched and Case Keenum will take over at quarterback.
Right now, Jeff Fisher isn’t that desperate, saying he and the coaching staff will think about it, but right now it’s still Foles. The Rams are last in the NFL in passing yards with 178.7 per game. Foles is completing less than 57% of his passes (28th in the NFL), has just seven touchdown passes to go with six interceptions, and his passer rating (75.9) is 29th in the league. He’s been sacked just 13 times so far this season – this isn’t an offensive line problem.
He hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass in three of the last four games, including the last two losses. In them combined he’s barely completing more than half his passes (50.72%) while posting a passer rating of 60.5. In the meantime, falling behind means less and less Gurley touching the ball and running with it, by far the best weapon the Rams have. Their receivers aren’t that bad, but Foles is struggling making plays, and his ability from the first four games of the season suddenly seems to be gone in the wind.
The Rams thought they solved a problem by making the Sam Bradford for Foles trade. Foles isn’t exactly elite, but he has one excellent season (2013) in the recent past, and seemed like an upgrade over the guys trying to throw the ball for the Rams last season. But his sunken to some consistent sub mediocrity, and for a team trying to make the playoffs out of a still tough division, this kind of incompetence at the most important position just can’t be tolerated or accepted.
The options? Keenum, who was on the field for one game this season but basically hasn’t done anything in the NFL, despite the misleading 2-0 record with the Texans last year before the trade to St. Louis. Sean Mannion is a rookie (third round pick) out of Oregon State, but right now it’s really difficult seeing him being a better option than even Keenum. He didn’t seem that special while playing for the Beavers, and it’s a long shot he becomes the savior option for the Rams at this time.