FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Do the Los Angeles Rams think Sunday’s game against New England got a lot easier with Rob Gronkowski out of the lineup?

Gronkowski, the all-everything tight end and favorite target for Tom Brady, was placed on injured reserve Saturday after having back surgery earlier in the week. He is done for the season and the Rams won’t have to worry about covering New England’s all-time leader in touchdowns.

“Now we don’t know what to expect out of their offense,” Coach Jeff Fisher said. “(Coach) Bill (Belichick) has always found a way to adjust.”

Fisher knows there is plenty of evidence to prove New England can still function well without its four-time Pro Bowler. The 27-year-old has missed three games this season due to injuries and the Patriots won all three. The only time Brady took the field without Gronkowski this season, he ended up throwing for 280 yards and four touchdowns against the 49ers.

Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams doesn’t expect New England to significantly alter its offense just because of Gronkowski’s absence, pointing out the presence of former Pro Bowl tight end Martellus Bennett. The Patriots acquired Bennett in an offseason trade with the Bears, and he has since caught 42 passes for 540 yards and four touchdowns. His catch rate of 77.8 percent is a career high.

Without Gronkowski, Belichick and his staff could also decide to lean more heavily on their trio of running backs. LeGarrette Blount leads the league with 12 rushing touchdowns, while James White and Dion Lewis have combined for 594 yards from scrimmage.

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“They’ve been practicing all week without him anyway,” Williams said. “They’ve got a plan.”

But do the Rams have a plan?

They are coming off a 49-21 loss to New Orleans where quarterback Drew Brees threw for four touchdowns, and running backs Mark Ingram and Tim Hightower combined for 197 rushing yards and 75 receiving yards.

“We should have played for free the way we got our (butt) kicked,” defensive end William Hayes said. “Giving up seven touchdowns and letting them have their way with us … that’s not how our defense is. It’s just embarrassing all the way around.”

The Rams have given up nine touchdowns in their opponents’ last 15 possessions after giving up 19 in their first 114. The 555 total yards yielded at New Orleans was the third-highest total given up by the Rams in their 80-year history.

“Those numbers are not acceptable and we have to get better,” cornerback Trumaine Johnson said. “We have to start locking up, especially at the end of the game, when it’s grind time.”

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The mistakes were addressed in the film room, “and now we’re moving on from it,” defensive tackle Aaron Donald said. “It’s going to be fixed and it’s not going to happen again.”

Said linebacker Alec Ogletree of Sunday’s game at New England: “We’ll definitely come out ready to play.”

But a game against Brady could be another recipe for disaster.

Brady has an NFL-best quarterback rating of 116.7 and has passed for an average of 314 yards in seven games, with 18 touchdown passes and one interception in 256 attempts.

He has a deep and versatile pass-catching fleet, even without Gronkowski. Julian Edelman is one of the NFL’s best possession receivers, with a team-leading 64 catches for 617 yards.

James White is a threat out of the backfield, with 43 receptions for 375 yards, and Chris Hogan (23 catches for 461 yards) and Bennett (42 for 540) are big-play threats.

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New England ranks sixth in the NFL in points at 26.6 a game, in offense at 286.2 yards a game and in passing at 270.4. Led by Blount – who has run for 869 yards to gi with his 12 touchdowns – they rank seventh in rushing.

“Tom Brady will go down in history as one of the best quarterbacks in the league,” Rams cornerback Lamarcus Joyner said.

“When you have a quarterback who can make the guys around him just as good as he is, then you have to play disciplined, sound football.”

It all starts up front. For the Rams to compete with the Patriots, they’ll have to pressure Brady, much like the Denver Broncos did last January in the AFC championship game, when they sacked Brady three times and had 14 additional hits in a 20-18 victory.

“Any time you put pressure on the quarterback or hit him and get sacks, you can make him frustrated, no matter how good he is,” Donald said.

“If we can do that, it will make their job harder and the job of our guys in the back end easier.”


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