Rams @ Bengals · Week 15 — SapphireSportz

WEEK 15 · FINAL

THE READ

Rams beat Bengals, 28-20

The Rams beat Cincinnati 28-20 by doing something the Bengals couldn't: win on the ground. Los Angeles rushed for 161 yards to Cincinnati's 117, and Isaac Brown's 2 touchdowns on 14 carries were the difference in a game where Joe Burrow outgained Justin Fields 267 to 200 through the air but the scoreboard didn't care. Cincinnati turned the ball over 0 times, got a sack, and gained more total yards, yet still lost by 8—a clean reminder that offensive efficiency and field position matter more than volume. The Bengals are 7-7; the Rams move to 8-6 on the strength of a ground game that exposed where Cincinnati's defense couldn't hold.

Zoe Bell The contrarian

THE WIDER PICTURE

Team	SRS	SOS	MARGIN	TO +/-
Rams	+2.7	+5.5	-2.7	-4
Bengals	-2.2	+1.7	-3.9	+2

SRS is how many points a side beats an average team by once you account for who they played — beat a good team by 3 and it counts for more than beating a bad one by 20. SOS is how hard that schedule has been. Full table.

Rams — NFC #7 · 8-6 Playoff picture →

IN THE BOOTH

Marcus Reyes The numbers guy

Cincinnati outgained Los Angeles 384 to 361 and didn't turn it over once, which should've won the game by more than 8. Isaac Brown broke it open on the ground with 132 yards and 2 touchdowns—the Bengals' pass rush never materialized, and Los Angeles just ran through them.

Luca Santana Analyst · replying

Justin Fields keeps finding ways to win games he has no business winning—20 of 30 for 200 yards and an interception shouldn't beat a team that outgained you 384 to 361, but Los Angeles is 8-6 and Cincinnati is not.

They only ever read the box score and this league's own numbers — none of them has a source, and none of them can report anything that did not happen.

Joe Burrow

Bengals

21/36, 267 yards, 2 TD

Justin Fields

Rams

20/30, 200 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT

Isaac Brown

Rams

14 carries, 132 yards, 2 TD

THE STORY SO FAR

🔥 Joe Burrow has now cleared 250 passing yards in 5 straight games.

📉 Justin Fields is still searching for it: 174 passing yards a game across his last three, against an average of 249.

WHAT DECIDED IT

Through the air Bengals 267, Rams 200 Bengals

On the ground Rams 161, Bengals 117 Rams

Total yards Bengals 384, Rams 361 Bengals

Giveaways Bengals 0, Rams 1 Bengals

THE ROOM Final. The recap is below.

📺 THE WEEK 15 SHOW this game is in the week's show ▶ Watch the show

THE MATCHUP SCOUT every number below is counted from the export or read off the roster — nothing is inferred about playcalling

LEAGUE DATA counted by Madden, and arithmetic on top of it

Balanced Pass 53% · Rush 47% · 28.6 scored, 31.4 allowed

9.1 yds/att 61.4% completions 5.7 yds/carry 388.8 yds/game 1.9 giveaways/game 7.9% sack rate last 5: 3-2

Primary weapon: Puka Nacua WR — 41% of the receiving yards · DEPENDENCY VERY HIGH

SAPPHIRE METRICS QB efficiency 66 · Aggressive Balance 97 Ball security 46 Back usage 36% QB runs 5.7/game

Most exposed: one-man passing game -- Puka Nacua takes 41% of the receiving yards

PERSONNEL off the roster — unit averages, best starters only

QB 93 WR 87 TE 82 RB 90 OL 84 DL 92 LB 82 DB 89

Best: Myles Garrett LEDG 99 Fastest: Puka Nacua WR 95 SPD 7 at star dev or better

YOUR NOTEBOOK what you wrote about them — private, and never a Sapphire statistic

HOW THEY PLAY the man, not the franchise — only weeks the record attributes to him, this season

KNOFLOCKINN$$

Bengals · his last 8 games

Balanced

Pass / run61% / 39% Points for / against21.5 — 26.5 Margin-5.0 Giveaways a game1.0 Sacks taken3.1% of dropbacks Lead backChase Brown · 14.8/g Top targetJa'Marr Chase · 33% QB carries2.6 a game

glk_taza18

Rams · his last 8 games

Runs it Runs the quarterback

Pass / run55% / 45% Points for / against26.1 — 32.4 Margin-6.2 Giveaways a game1.9 Sacks taken4.8% of dropbacks Lead backIsaac Brown · 11.4/g Top targetPuka Nacua · 36% QB carries5.0 a game

Counted from the weeks each man actually held his team — so a franchise that changed hands is not credited to whoever has it now. Nothing above is a playcall: the export does not carry those, and neither does this.

THE SERIES glk_taza18 against KNOFLOCKINN$$ — the men, not the teams

glk_taza18 leads it 1-0. glk_taza18 won the last one.

1 meeting avg 28.0 — 20.0 biggest: 8 pts to glk_taza18

S2 · week 15 glk_taza18 28 — 20 KNOFLOCKINN$$ GLK_TAZA18

Only meetings Sapphire can attribute to both men are counted — a Madden export never says who owned a team last season, so the series starts where the record does.

MATCHUP ADVANTAGES unit averages against each other — inside three points is a push

Rams receivers vs Bengals secondary 87 v 82 RAMS

Bengals receivers vs Rams secondary 88 v 89 EVEN

Rams line vs Bengals front 84 v 84 EVEN

Bengals line vs Rams front 78 v 92 RAMS

Rams backs vs Bengals run defence 90 v 82 RAMS

Bengals backs vs Rams run defence 80 v 89 RAMS

Rams passer vs Bengals secondary 93 v 82 RAMS

Bengals passer vs Rams secondary 97 v 89 BENGALS

TOP PERFORMERS

Joe Burrow QB Bengals 267 pass yds

Justin Fields QB Rams 200 pass yds

Isaac Brown HB Rams 132 rush yds

Puka Nacua WR Rams 126 rec yds

Ja'Marr Chase WR Bengals 100 rec yds

Chase Brown HB Bengals 62 rush yds

Tee Higgins WR Bengals 53 rec yds

Kyle Dugger SS Bengals 1 INTs

🎬 The Game Recap
this game as an episode -- the score, the stars, the numbers that decided it -- and a video you can post ›

BOX SCORE

RAMS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Justin Fields QB	20/30	200	2	1	1	70	93.7

BENGALS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Joe Burrow QB	21/36	267	2	0	0	34	100.1

RAMS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	BTK	YAC	LNG
Isaac Brown HB	14	132	9.4	2	5	79	40
Kyren Williams HB	4	20	5	0	2	16	11
Justin Fields QB	4	6	1.5	0	0	0	5
Terrance Ferguson TE	2	3	1.5	0	0	0	6
Puka Nacua WR	0	0	0	0	1	0	0

BENGALS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	BTK	YAC	LNG
Chase Brown HB	13	62	4.8	2	11	13
Tahj Brooks HB	9	31	3.4	0	0	7
Joe Burrow QB	4	21	5.2	0	0	7
Ja'Marr Chase WR	1	5	5	1	0	5
Colbie Young WR	0	0	0	2	0	0
Jamari Johnson TE	0	0	0	1	0	0
Tee Higgins WR	1	-2	-2	0	0	0

RAMS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	LNG
Puka Nacua WR	7	126	18	1	72	70
Max Klare TE	3	21	7	0	15	8
Terrance Ferguson TE	2	17	8.5	0	5	9
Luke Wysong WR	2	15	7.5	1	3	11
Isaac Brown HB	3	13	4.3	0	7	8
Kyren Williams HB	3	8	2.7	0	8	8

BENGALS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	DRP	LNG
Ja'Marr Chase WR	5	100	20	1	46	1	34
Tee Higgins WR	5	53	10.6	0	2	0	13
Colbie Young WR	2	35	17.5	0	7	0	27
Erick All Jr TE	2	29	14.5	1	6	1	22
Chase Brown HB	3	21	7	0	11	0	13
Jamari Johnson TE	3	20	6.7	0	2	0	9
Mike Gesicki TE	1	9	9	0	1	1	9

RAMS

PLAYER	TKL	PD	CMP ALW
Omar Speights WILL	8	0	5
Zah Frazier CB	5	0	4
Trent McDuffie CB	5	0	3
Jaylen Watson CB	5	0	5
Nate Landman MIKE	4	0	2
Dexter Lawrence II DT	4	0	0
Quentin Lake SS	3	0	0
Jailin Walker SAM	2	0	1
Byron Young REDG	2	0	0
Kobie Turner DT	2	0	0
Myles Garrett LEDG	2	0	0
Josaiah Stewart LEDG	1	0	0
Shaun Dolac MIKE	1	0	0
Isaiah Pola-Mao FS	0	1	0

BENGALS

PLAYER	TKL	SCK	INT	PD	CMP ALW
Demetrius Knight Jr WILL	8	0.5	0	0	4
Barrett Carter MIKE	7	0	0	0	4
DJ Turner II CB	4	0	0	0	4
Shemar Stewart REDG	3	0.5	0	0	0
Boye Mafe REDG	3	0	0	0	0
Cashius Howell LEDG	3	0	0	0	1
Dax Hill CB	2	0	0	0	2
Bryan Cook FS	2	0	0	0	4
Cedric Johnson REDG	1	0	0	0	0
Kris Jenkins Jr DT	1	0	0	0	0
Kyle Dugger SS	1	0	1	1	1
Jonathan Allen DT	1	0	0	0	0
Tacario Davis CB	1	0	0	0	0

RAMS

nothing recorded

BENGALS

PLAYER	FG	XP	LNG
Evan McPherson K	2/4	2/2	41

RECENT FORM

Rams

L 7–56 vs Seahawks WK 14

W 20–15 vs 49ers WK 13

L 28–56 vs Seahawks WK 12

Bengals

L 21–31 vs Ravens WK 14

W 17–10 vs Titans WK 13

L 27–33 vs Cardinals WK 11

TEAM STATS

Rams		Bengals
361	TOTAL YARDS	384
200	PASSING YARDS	267
161	RUSHING YARDS	117
1	SACKS ALLOWED	0
0	SACKS MADE	1
1	GIVEAWAYS	0
0	TAKEAWAYS	1

Bold is the side that won that line. Giveaways come off a team's own offensive rows and takeaways off its own defensive rows — two separate payloads, so they need not tie out against each other.

ALL-TIME HEAD-TO-HEAD

1 RAMS — 0 BENGALS

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