I thought Rice was excellent in the first game and felt he was a big part of us building pressure by snuffing out any attempts from Iran to break out and then putting us back on the front foot with quick simple passes.
He was a big part of the problem against the US though as he seemed reluctant or unable to play forwards through the midfield which resulted in us having too much possession between the two centre-backs.
Yesterday I didn’t really notice him much which means he probably helped us in controlling the midfield but as you say nothing inspiring with his passing.
The simple explanation for Rice looking good or not is the quality of opponent. A semi-pro footballer would look godly against me for obvious reasons.
Playing against Iran's midfield is obviously an easier task than playing against experienced Premier League players like Tyler Adams.
The truth is Rice is not, nor has he ever been,
that great. He is good at a lot of things but excellent at pretty much nothing. It is fairly obvious that he will never have the comfort in possession or the passing range of a player like Casemiro. As I'm English, I hope to be shown up. However, its fairly obvious to me that Rice will have a job dealing with the press from players like Gueye. I've seen West Ham vs Everton, I know what that battle looks like.
I'm extremely pessimistic about our ability to outplay Senegal, or anyone. Our best hope is for goals from set pieces or transitions. However, I doubt the Senegalese will play an open game and make life easy for us. Again, I hope I'm wrong.