The Rams picked up another win as they continued to turn themselves into the Greatest Rebuild on Earth (okay, that has no ring to it whatsoever). The Panthers are left looking longingly as they see a rookie quarterback take to the NFL like a duck to water while their quarterback struggles resurfaced in this one.

Indeed, any hopes the Panthers had of building on their first win of the season went south with some extremely sloppy play that this team just isn’t good enough to overcome.

Panthers: Three performances of note

It starts with the quarterback for the Panthers and a week after making our team of the week, Matt Moore (-1.9) was back to what we’ve come to expect from him. He didn’t complete any of his nine throws beyond 20 yards and only completed four farther than 10 yards. The Rams weren’t challenged deep and it made things a lot easier for their defense.

On a more positive note, the breakout season of James Anderson (+5.6) continues. Anderson was excellent in every area of the game, and while we initially saw him as the weakest starting linebacker the Panthers have, we can no longer make an argument for that. He blitzes with excellent timing (a sack, a hit and a pressure), makes tackles counts (the six tackles he made were all defensive stops) and of the two balls thrown at him, only 8 yards were yielded. This is developing into a Pro Bowl-type season.

With Charles Johnson (-1.2) not making the big plays he did in 2009 and giving up two penalties, the rest of the defensive line needed to pick up the slack. Unfortunately, for the most part it didn’t. They generated next to nothing pressuring the quarterback (Johnson’s four pressures were more than the rest of the starters combined) and they couldn’t get the better of the Rams’ line in the run game. That was what we expected at the start of the season.

Rams: Three performances of note

We can’t help but continue to be impressed by DE Chris Long (+4.4). He’s turning into one of the most consistent pass rushers in the league, even if the sack numbers aren’t blowing people away. He picked up a sack and a further seven pressures on his 36 pass rushes. Great work from a player who is starting to live up to his draft status.

But it’s easy to ignore Long when you’re looking at the Rams. That’s because the focus is rightfully shifting towards Sam Bradford (+5.1), given the work he has done to rejuvenate this franchise. It wouldn’t be wrong to start comparing it to the rookie season of Matt Ryan if Bradford continues to play like he did in this one. He avoided making mistakes, picked up an impressive 7.3 yards per attempt when he was faced with pressure and completed 69.2 percent of passes when blitzed.

On the downside, we saw another poor display from the fullback spot. Mike Karney (-2.9) has to do more to help his running back and quarterback out, after struggling with his lead blocking and getting beat twice to give up a couple of pressures. In a display when the Rams were in control at all times despite never really getting out of second gear, this is probably the worst thing you can say about them.

Rookie report

Greg Hardy (+0.2) got a quarterback hit but hasn’t built on a strong couple of opening weeks. … It was back to normal for David Gettis (-1.4) as he struggled to gain separation and didn’t catch any of the three balls thrown his way. … Brandon LaFell (+1.1) picked up a smart touchdown after catching four of seven thrown his way.

We didn’t see much of Mardy Gilyard, so Roger Saffold (-0.4) was the one rookie to stand out. He was caught out a bit in the run game but only gave up two pressures in the passing game. … Jermelle Cudjo (+2.2) had his best game as a pro with some strong work in run defense. … Cornerback Jerome Murphy (-0.6) gave up a touchdown.

Random note

It appears David Vobora is now sixth on the depth chart for linebackers. Those “We Want Vobora” chants need to be louder. … All three of Moore’s interceptions were on balls aimed for Steve Smith.

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