Sammy Watkins dominates in wild Rams win over 49ers

In just his third game with the Los Angeles Rams, Sammy Watkins was dominant. Here are some highlights and a recap of his performance…

It’s been quite some time since the Los Angeles Rams had an arsenal offensively to  be excited about, but it seems like they might finally have some pieces in place to contend for the NFC West. Specifically, bringing in wide receiver Sammy Watkins via trade is paying dividends early on, and he showed exactly why he was worth the price in a prime time matchup against the 49ers.

Though the 49ers don’t have the most renowned secondary, Watkins was dominant in this game, catching his first and second touchdown passes with his new team, and proving himself as a true number one target.

Prior to the game against the 49ers, we pegged Watkins as the number one player to watch. The reason is simple — Watkins had an opportunity to take advantage of a bad secondary, and he did just that.

Here are his highlights:

While Pierre Garçon made one of the most ridiculous catches you will see in this game, Watkins’ over-the-shoulder catch is as good as it gets.

Going into this game, Watkins had caught 100 percent of the passes thrown his way, but he’d only been targeted really one game’s worth of times.

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We said going into last night’s game, Watkins needed to see 8-10 targets in the passing game, and the Rams got really close. Watkins was targeted seven times in this game, catching six passes for 102 yards and two touchdowns.

After his performance on Thursday night, Watkins now ranks at the top of the NFL with a perfect wide receiver rating of 158.3. He has caught 13 of his 14 targets on the year with no drops.

In other words, Watkins has been exactly what the Rams had hoped he would be, but there are certainly other factors at play here.

Sean McVay, the new head coach of the Rams, has been instrumental in the success of his young core of offensive playmakers, led by second-year quarterback Jared Goff. Were it not for the development of Goff with McVay as his head coach, who knows if the Watkins addition would have mattered?

Goff’s progression and Watkins being healthy have given the Rams reason for optimism, and a 2-1 start to the 2017 season.