The most disappointing thing about tonight's game was...
...how absolutely uninspired this team looked.
The Rams had everything to play for - a .500 season and a chance to not only make the playoffs but host a playoff game in the dome. They were going up against a team that's lost seven of their last nine games, and lost handily to the Rams in October by a score of 20-3.
We heard from Steve Spagnuolo after the Chiefs game that the Rams were entering the playoff mindset (to which Steven Jackson said they should have already been in it, and I agree). This was a monumentally important game for the Rams that could have made a great statement for the direction of the team.
And they laid a giant egg on national television.
I wasn't among those fans who, prior to the game, thought this was going to be an easy win against an inferior team. I saw the Rams as a better team and believed they'd win the game, but when this game was moved to primetime at Qwest Field, I had a feeling it was going to be a tough one. Sure enough, there really wasn't a phase of the game where the Rams didn't stumble.
Bradford wasn't awful, but he misfired on a couple of key passes. The throw to Robinson on the sideline that could have been challenged wouldn't have needed to be had it arrived a half a second or so sooner. A throw to Amendola running an out route was beyond his reach. A throw to Robinson running a corner route went too far. Sam locked onto his receiver tonight, resulting in a couple of batted balls and a fatal interception. What has been an impressive rookie season ended on a sour note.
But while Bradford did not play a perfect game, his supporting cast shoulders a much larger share of the blame. The Rams' offensive line was not particularly effective; yards in the ground game were hard to come by, and the protection was inconsistent. When Sam needed his blockers the most, on the final drive of the game, they let him down tremendously with back to back sacks.
Nearly every Rams receiver had moments to forget in this game, perhaps none moreso than fan hero Danario Alexander. I don't think DX deserves too much criticism for the incomplete deep ball on the sidelines, as he was led a bit too far towards the line in my opinion. But rookie or veteran, you've got to be able to come down with the deep post pass that whiffed right through his hands. Tell that to Robinson and Fells as well. The Rams are desperate for someone to step up at this position. Scratch that, they've been desperate all year for someone to emerge. No one seems to want to become the guy, and it might cost some of them their place on this team when the summer and fall roll around.
One of the more perplexing developments in this game was the lack of Steven Jackson. The Rams' best offensive playmaker touched the ball fifteen times in this game. On the one drive where the Rams actually drove the length of the field to put points on the board, Jackson touched the ball on six of eleven offensive plays. His number would be called only 12 others times through the entire game, with two of those being incomplete passes and one a play negated by penalty. Seattle's run defense is not strong; Tampa Bay rushed for over 200 yards on them just one week ago. Yet the Rams run Steven Jackson eleven times, with fifteen total touches? If I'm #39, it would take a lot to withhold my frustration in the locker room after this one.
Defensively, it was only a matter of time in this game before Seattle started to gain some yardage, given how little the offense was helping the situation. That being said, there was no excuse for the efficiency Seattle displayed on their first drive. A missed cornerback blitz and completely blown coverage allowed the Seahawks to zip the ball down the field. I've maintained that Craig Dahl is an adequate back-up, but his deficiencies in coverage are enough that the Rams need an upgrade in the starting line-up. He demonstrated exactly what I was referring to tonight. He's a solid enough player when he's near the line, but he simply doesn't have the coverage skills to be a significant part of the defensive line-up. There were other lapses in coverage as well - the holding call on Bartell that extended what would become a touchdown drive, Fletcher playing too far off or a step behind his receiver on multiple occasions, Kevin Dockery just not doing much of anything right. When Charlie Whitehurst has a career night against you, you know you're not defending the pass very well.
Of course, disrupting the pass is not just the job of the secondary, but also the defensive front. After all, you've got to be able to pressure the quarterback into making some poor passes. Whitehurst did throw some ugly ones, and the Rams did make him move around for some of them. But they were always a step behind at actually bringing him down. Despite ranking second in the league in sacks, the Rams couldn't bring down Whitehurst at all. It's not as if the Seahawks are particularly strong in pass protection; they've allowed 35 sacks on the year, 13th worst in the league. Whitehurst himself attempted 38 passes in the previous two games and was sacked on four of those attempts. He attempted 36 passes tonight and wasn't sacked once. He consistently escaped pressure and made something happen with his feet. Simply put, the Rams did not have a consistent enough presence in the Seahawks' backfield, at least when it came to the pass. The Rams did do a good job of shutting most of Seattle's running game down early, but as I mentioned before, that would slowly fade as the offense gave their counterpart no help.
So in light of what the Rams didn't do tonight, what did they do? Well, they tucked their collective head into their collective shell, stayed conservative on offense so as to not make a mistake on the road in a hostile environment, and the result was a whopping six points on the board and a defense that quickly grew fatigued. When they had everything to fight for, they came out flat. The team with the heart, the team that was fired up, the team that looked like they had something to play for was on the other sideline, the home sideline. The Rams played not to lose, rather than playing to win. They looked like a team that just wanted to go home and get out of the cold rather than a team who wanted to return home as champions and prepare for a home playoff game.
I think it's very, very fair tonight to question the offensive gameplan and playcalling. There have been other times this year when I think it was rightfully called into question, and there were times when I believe it was blamed for issues that were brought about more by failures in execution. In my opinion, we saw both tonight. The lack of involvement of Steven Jackson, the end-around to the less-than-speedy Robinson, the complete reluctance to do anything to stretch the field until it became absolutely necessary. Drops, stupid penalties, misfires, poor blocking. You name it, it happened to the Rams tonight. That's not just on the players, but on the coaches.
This just isn't a group that's good enough yet for post-season play, even if getting there was as "simple" as a road win against a poor Seattle team. Seven wins in 2010 reminds us that the Rams are on the right track, but tonight's performance reaffirms the notion that they've still got a ways to go. Especially when, in arguably the biggest game in the careers of the players and the coaches, they look so completely uninspired and unmotivated. This looked like a team that wasn't motivated or prepared for the stage they were stepping on. Talent and coaching issues aside, there's simply no excuse for that.
Fettmaster
Re: The most disappointing thing about tonight's game was...
Perfectly written.
We made Whitehurst look like Steve Young.
Last edited by Fettmaster; -01-03-2011, 12:12 AM.
01d 0rd3r
I dont want to say that I knew we would loose after the first play of the game, but I had a very bad feeling for the rest of the game. The hawks players looked thrilled to be on the field and full of energy while our guys looked detached from the game. There is plenty of blame for everyone in this game for sure.
Receivers- Hard to believe that you get payed to catch a ball and let it pass through your hands. Even harder to believe is happened 5 times by my count.
O-line - You gotta give some room to run for sjax to play with.
QB - Be it primetime nerves or rookie mistakes Bradford simply wasnt on point this game, he wasnt horrible but nor was he good.
DB's - I want all of them to go home and think about how Whithurst carved them tonight.
D-line - I want them to go home and think about how they gave Whitehurst the time to carve our DB's
Coaching - The very next game after Shurmur calls a decent game he has another bad one, I dont know what to make of his future with the team at this point. The snap reaction is to call for his head, but I will let my emotions settle for a bit. Also, either spags didn't have the guts to throw a challenge flag or his coaches upstairs didnt see what all of America saw on the sideline catch and the fake first down that the hawks got.
Officials - I know it is very cliche, but the officials tonight seemed to be more them a little off. I will leave it at that.
ludairv
...... Spags' press conference. he dipped dived and dodged playcalling questions.... figures...
Originally posted by Fettmaster View Post
Nick, have the Rams official website to just give Nick Wagoner a rest tonight and use your post as a true article for today's defeat.
We looked BAD today, all around (save busy Donnie Jones). Indeed, terribly disappointing. :|
supachump
Originally posted by ludairv View Post
This is what scares me. Spags refuses to see how it is hurting the team. He just doesn't see it.
The Rams... Where dreams go to die.
Azul e Oro
Tremendous write-up, Nick.
There are only two things that really bother me for the long term; everything else is just not that unexpected to me. These guys are young & there are still too many holes. It's the failure to use SJ and that overall feel of the team that really make me uneasy. It's not as if the score took away the run game but it was like Spags completely screwed the pooch getting these guys tuned up & didn't even give SJ a chance to get them going.I hated seeing them go down without putting their best foot forward. All credit to The Hawks; they certainly played like they wanted it more & their coaches let them go after it.
Originally posted by supachump View Post
Its very concerning. Is this guy self-aware and making excuses, or is he really that blind as to what an offense is supposed to do?
jmk321
Maybe it's called being a leader and not throwing anyone under the bus after a tough loss whether it be his players or coaching staff. I'm sure Spags is smart enough and knows enough about football to see how the offense wasn't good tonight because you don't have to be a genius to be able to tell that 6 points isn't enough.
The team isn't there yet offensively as far as talent goes. The playcalling is still a problem but it's tough to do much with a team with a rookie qb and all of the young late round draft pick talent that they have as their only options at receiver.
chiguy
Originally posted by Nick View Post
.The Rams are desperate for someone to step up at this position. Scratch that, they've been desperate all year for someone to emerge. No one seems to want to become the guy, and it might cost some of them their place on this team when the summer and fall roll around.
Robinson played himself off the roster tonight, if you ask me. Gibson is the better route runner and with Clayton/Avery back, DX getting the benefit of training camp, and presumably a draft pick/veteran, I don't know how you keep him on the roster. We have such a dire need for speed at the skill positions, they need to give up on him if only to add that dimension to the offense. (We looked *slow* last night.)
While so many people get frustrated by Spags (which I understand), the turnaround this year was nothing short of amazing. So for all his faults in real time decision-making, I'm willing to balance that against what has been a amazing season and incredible turnaround with a pretty mediocre roster. I'm less inclined to give the same slack for the OC and for Spags to grow, he needs to be open to the idea that Shurmur just didn't have a good year and might need to be replaced. Play makers or not.
makersncoke
Great article Nick!
I think this game was just too big for this team (players and coaches) to handle. I think youth and inexperience reared it's ugly head one final time last night in a big way.
My question is this though, why as a head coach, when Spags saw his team struggling with dropped passes and some poor throws by his rookie qb wouldn't you calm the team down by giving the ball to your pro bowl running back and let him take control of the game? This is the single most puzzling thing to me about last nights game.
First of all, this is a very well thought out and written commentary. Thank you Nick.
Next, the only receiver that has EARNED a spot next season is Amandola. While he did not play his best game last night, he has been our best receiver all season. And let's face it, they focused on taking him away from us. Gibson has his moments, but he doesn't make any defensive coordinators lose any sleep. Gilyard and Robinson...I don't even know what to say here. Alexander has potential. I'd like to see what some more rehabing time and off-season workouts will do for him. Right now Avery still has a big question mark over him. He's been fast. However, he hasn't been a great route runner. I like his speed though.
Our O-Line's ability to run block has been a weakness all season. I think a new line coach would be helpful.
Speaking of coaching. I read a BUNCH of posts calling for Shurmur's head. Shurmur does not put the gameplan together in a vacuum. Spags not only has input, he can overrule the whole thing...before it's put into place AND he can do the same DURING A GAME. He has chosen not to. So, it's scapegoating to toss Shurmur under the bus. It's entirely possible that Spags is responsible for the lack of any imagination in our offense, or a combination of coaches.
I can certainly see how the coaching staff would want a simplified plan for our rookie QB at the beginning of the season. However, as the season wore on, I think it was clear that our new QB could probably handlesome different twists. So why didn't we see much? Well, most likely it had something to do with the talent level of our WRs. But I don't want to heap all of the blame there. These guys made it through the college level with some success. They must have SOME skills. They must have some ability to be coached.
Lastly, for all that Spags has done to stop the bleeding and turn this teams fortunes, last night put a flicker of doubt in my mind as to his ability to LEAD a team to the top. I saw him before the game started, he did not look confident. He did not look like he was comfortable or belonged in this game. He has been in playoff situatons before. I didn't see that experience. I'm not sure his players did either. Switch to Carroll. He was all over the place. He's been in big games too, and it showed. He had his guys ready to go mentally, physically, and emotionally.
I'm not calling for Spags to be fired (yet). I want to see if/what progression we make next season. If we make the moves to improve our roster, and the gameplanning is adjusted to showcase the talents of our star RB, and 2nd year QB, I think we'll/he'll be OK. If however, we see a lack of movement to improve the roster in the off-season, and the same uninspiring gameplan is dragged out again for the new season, I won't hesitate to start calling for his removal.
We cannot afford to start slipping backwards. There are 3 other teams in our division that are going to be working to improve. The Whiners have a talented roster. Give them a stable QB situation and a good HC and watch out. We've seen what Pete Carroll can do with a limited amount of talent. I'd be surprised if the Seahawks weren't very active in the off-season improving their roster. They will also be improved next season. Arizona has more work to do. But I expect them to be at least a bit better next season. In this league it's either keep moving forward or die.
Of course, all of this is pointless if the CBA can't be taken care of. I think a strike or lock-out could be devistating on a young team trying to turn its fortunes. Let's hope a large player/owners kurfuffle can be avoided.
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!!
Impressions after the game
by sosa39rams
- QB Sam Bradford did not look comfortable. He looked nervous, was off target, running for his life, and getting destroyed all night.
- Isaiah Pead has struggled mightily so far. He picked his play up eventually, but hes really struggling. On the other hand, Darryl Richardson looks like an absolute steal. Hits the hole hard, has a great burst, will never lose yardage.
- The offensive line was horrible. Just plain terrible.
- Robert Quinn is a beast. He had multiple pressures on Romo tonight and could have easily had 3 or 4 sacks. He did over-pursue some running plays though.
- Michael Brockers is a monster. He was flying to the ball and making great wrap-up tackles. Clogged running lanes.
- Janoris Jenkins got abused tonight. Gave up a huge first long touchdown, and the second one he didn't even attempt at tackling. Better now than in the regular season.
- Craig Dahl is horrible.
- Rodney McLeod looks nice. Had a few nice plays, and a good pass breakup.
- Rookie kicker Greg Zuerlein is a BEAST. He is 3/3 on FG's of 50+ yards. Going to be the next Janikowski.
Feel free to add anything else!
RamView, 8/20/2011: Rams 17, Titans 16 (Long)
by MFranke
RamView, August 20, 2011
From Row HH
(Report and opinions from the game.)
Preseason Game #2: Rams 17, Titans 16
The Rams pull off another preseason win, but not with the good vibe that accompanied last week's. The Rams showed too many holes in run defense and pass protection to like how they shape up for the Eagles Opening Day. Good thing that's still three weeks away.
Position by position:
* QB: It looked like tonight was going to be a big ol' party for Sam Bradford (8-15-138, 79.3 passer rating); his first pass, the first play of the game, even, was an 83-yard TD bomb to Brandon Gibson. The Titan secondary bit on play-action and on Lance Kendricks' crossing pattern and left Gibson all alone behind them on a simple post route. The rest of the first half for Sam was far from that easy. He wouldn't lead the Rams to another score, or even that much sustained offense. A poor throw for Mike Sims-Walker the next drive got him several caroms and an interception for his troubles. Sims-Walker's pratfall the next drive denied Bradford a chance to move the chains. As the second quarter arrived, so did the Titan pass rush. Will Witherspoon came in essentially unblocked for a sack to kill a drive; Cortland Finnegan repeated that feat the next drive. By the time Finnegan flew in again and nearly blindsided Bradford into next week with a second hit, it had become clear that though he's getting the ball downfield more quickly than he was at the scrimmage, he still needs to get it out quicker against real competition. Pass pro was poor, but that final slobberknocker was more Bradford's fault, and too much more of that is going to make Josh McDaniels, if not Steve Spagnuolo, harness their inner Shurmur. Bradford knows, too, that he has to do better than one TD in one half of play. A.J. Feeley (5-9-44, 105.8 PR) played the third quarter-plus and has looked surprisingly sharp in games. He split the defenders with a perfect 19-yard TD to Donnie Avery. And it may be time to wonder if Thaddeus Lewis (8-10-74, 97.5 PR) isn't playing too well to make it through waivers and to the practice squad again this year. He led the Rams from their own 9 in 3:30 to set up Josh Brown's game-winning FG. Lewis showed good mobility, pocket awareness, field reading and throwing accuracy in taking the Rams 67 yards in 11 plays. The Ram passing game might have taken a step or two into the future tonight; they did show some ability to stretch the field. But when it came down to brass tacks, they won the game with Shurmurball. Whether that's the offense's future in 2011 remains to be seen, but Bradford and his offensive line can't continue getting him knocked around.
* RB: The Ram running game, distressingly, didn't get anywhere tonight, 44 yards on 21 carries, to the credit of the Titans and the discredit of the Rams' offensive line. In an all-too-familiar tune, Steven Jackson (6-10) got met in his own backfield...
Rams fall 12-6 to Cardinals; The Good, Bad and Ugly
by general counsel
The Rams fought hard tonight, played well defensively, but came up just short due primarily to their failure to capitalize on the few opportunities they had in losing 12-6 to a very very good Cardinals team. The Rams have nothing to be ashamed of, both their strengths and shortcomings were quite evident tonight. We need better offensive line and qb play in order to take the next step forward and become a playoff team, especially if we are going to win 10 plus games in the brutal nfc west. I really thought that the Rams were going to pull this one out 13-12 when we got a first down at midfield at the 2 minute warning. It was obvious that the Cardinals, playing with a third string qb, were not going to score again, but Hill made his worst throw of the night at a time when it counted the most, missing a WIDE OPEN Bailey for a first down and gain deep into Cardinals territory on a 3rd and 3. It's a demoralizing loss, especially when you are playing at home and the opponent does not score a single TD. But that's what you make even a small number of critical mistakes in a close game and the opponent doesnt turn the ball over at all. The Rams weren't terrible tonight, they lost to a better team, a team that ran the ball better than we did, didnt turn it over at all, and frankly played even better defense than we did. We have come a long way, but we have a long way to go.
Another strong performance by the defense, albeit against a third string qb in the second half. The Rams allowed only 274 total yards. We also had only one sack (Aaron Donald, another strong game for him) despite blitzing repeatedly. We allowed only 13 first downs and gave the offense plenty of chances to win the game. In the NFL, you are going to win almost all of your games in which you allow 12 points and no td's. I am not going to put this next line in the "bad" category, but i will point out that the Rams did not force any turnovers on defense and that was a huge key to this game. The defense had a huge hold early after the turnover, holding arizona to a field goal. I think the bottom line is that the defense played well enough to win, but not spectacular enough to overcome a great performance by the cardinals defense and a lousy performance by our offense. I can't say that the defense played "bad" because they didnt score. I have a couple of criticisms that i will point out below, but it really was a solid defensive effort. We had some nice pass breakups in the secondary and some nice tackling in the secondary, especially trumaine, gaines and mcleod.
Hekker was terrific all night doing his best to flip field position even when we couldnt move at all. He averaged 50 plus yards on 8 punts and dropped a number of punts inside the 20.
Kenny Britt and Bailey both played well under the circumstances, Britt had a sensational catch on the last drive to get us out of a deep hole and...
Week Fourteen: Post-Game Observations
Well, where to begin?
Despite how poorly they played, I hope Rams fans enjoyed seeing this team on primetime, as I suspect it's not going to happen again for a long while. This team simply looked abysmal, and they did it in front of a national audience. While I don't think Rams owner Stan Kroenke is going to make any moves during the season, this kind of performance surely hurt the already slim chances of the coaching staff and front office personnel to hang onto their jobs.
First things first – Steven Jackson is a fighter. 123 total yards, half of which came through the air as a receiver. While his rushing numbers weren't fantastic, he was out there running hard and with purpose on every play, breaking off a couple of nice jaunts. Everyone felt the frustration he exuded during the Rams' second goalline stand as offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels clearly outthought the situation by trying everything imaginable besides pounding the rock with his Pro Bowl caliber runner. It's a shame that such a talented running back as Jackson will go down in history for playing the majority of his career for a poor organization.
Handing the ball off to Jackson for some reason was the clearly injured and impaired Sam Bradford. I questioned prior to the game why the Rams would even think of starting Sam, due to the risk of aggravating the injury as he did when he was rushed back earlier in the season. Word today from the Rams is – shocker! – Bradford is "extremely sore" and will have to be monitored closely this week. So what exactly was accomplished by playing him? While I agree Bradford could use the reps, the risks far outweigh those benefits in this situation. He looked inaccurate and rusty, completing only 12 of 29 attempted passes. His lone interception was thrown well behind his receiver, allowing the Seattle defender to grab it. With nothing to play for and an injury to recover from, I'm baffled as to why this team doesn't shut Sam down and start preparing him for next year.
The rest of the offense was uninspired, though it certainly could be worse. Brandon Lloyd remains the only receiver on this roster worth talking about right now. He led the team with five receptions; no other receiver caught more than one pass. Lance Kendricks had a nice crossing route reception, but was a ghost the rest of the game. For the second year in a row in Seattle, Danario Alexander's biggest moment in this game was a drop, this time in the endzone. Brandon Gibson has completely disappeared on a team looking for playmakers to step up; nice job answering the challenge, Gibby! When you consider the state of the offensive line, they actually didn't perform as poorly as you'd imagine. Jackson had some holes to run through, although they weren't a regular occurrence. Bradford was sacked three times, one of which was the fault of tight end Billy Bajema. So all in all, it could have been a much worse outing for the group.
Simply Painful To Watch
by r8rh8rmike
Starting with the hold by Bartell that led to the only touchdown Seattle scored, to the ensuing horribly timed penalties, dropped passes, inability to execute and the "play not to lose" mentality of the coaching staff, this was a gut wrenching game to witness. I had a bad feeling from the get go.
Maybe I had unreasonable expectations, but Seattle was a train wreck the Rams allowed to get back on track. They showed more passion, more desire, threw caution to the wind, and it paid off. They deserved the win.
I see better days on the horizon, but this one is going to hurt for a while.