Back from St.Louis-Just my game thoughts

  • To unlock all of features of Rams On Demand please take a brief moment to register. Registering is not only quick and easy, it also allows you access to additional features such as live chat, private messaging, and a host of other apps exclusive to Rams On Demand.

bwdenverram

Legend
Joined
Jul 25, 2010
Messages
5,497
Name
BW
What a great trip. Only thing that sucked is the Cards lost the WS game I went to (Sunday) and the Rams lost a game they dominated entirely. I will say I got to see a lot more of St. Louis and man it's a pretty cool place to be in a lot more areas than I ever thought.

So I read a lot of the reaction from the game and I agree with a lot I saw but I'm a little torn on some others.
Will say the turnout was WAY better than I thought it would be considering the Cards were playing also. But the dome was still rocking so kudos to all the fans that came out. With Bradford out and what we've seen so far I just wanted to see us play hard and not get embarrased on MNF. As I'm sure everyone felt at the end, we let one really slip away.

Defense- All I can say is it's the best perfromance I can remember in 30 years. Take out one lucky 80 yard pass and the defense gave up 55 yards. 55 freaking yards. The effort was unreal. Everyone flying around. Quinn and Long 6 sacks combined. Great run D and not much given up to a team that many think is SB bound.
Jenkins had one bad play (or unlucky) but for the most part they played how I thought they would all year.Maybe a sign of things to come?

Stacy- I will fully admit I wasn't sold on him early on. Really just for the fact he doesn't have the speed I want in a every down back. That said, he has opened my eyes. what a game and he continues to impress each game. I haven't had a chance to read much so I hope his ankle injury isn't serious.

OL-They obviously did a great job against the run so no real complaints there. I don't have the game recorded so I only have what I saw live, but it looked to me most of the game the pass blocking was so/so on average. Overall against a very good defense they did a pretty good job from my perspective.

WR's-This is where it gets complicated for me. I think there's issues that tie QB, WR's and Shotty together. And I have to say, I don't see the same effort on offense as I do on defense. At times I swear Cook is just not running full speed. I realize not all plays are called for him but you would think with all this speed we could get more seperation. So maybe it looked different on TV? I know Seattle has probably the best DB's in the game but it just looks like the routes are not crisp and easy to defend. I really hate how Austin is being used to be honest. I don't think we put him in the best spots to succeed. Still too many drops and I don't think we really tried to get Quick involved.

Clemens- Getting harder now. I'll be honest, I think Clemens is just a bad QB. He makes bad decision and bad throws. However, from what I saw tonight he didn't have very many open receivers. I'm sure he missed a few but Seattle does a great job in coverage and as I said the routes seemed a little slow and not crisp.
He did keep some drives alive with his feet and you have to give him the last 97 yard drive. But in general I can't imagine anyone feels all that comfortable with him for 8 more games. If anyone watched last night and didn't get more of an appreciation for Bradford then I don't know what you're watching.

Schotty- This is really the hardest thing to guage. At times I want to pull my hair out with the plays he calls.
However-It's easy to watch and see that we really lack in execution. A LOT. We run plays that I have seen other teams run (like the Broncos) that are very successful. Yet when we run them we miss blocks, we run routes the rong depth or cut them off early. So to me it's a combiniation of things. Good and bad play calling, good and bad execution. To me, even with Stacy getting hurt, the playcalling at the end of the game was just bad. Why not run Kendricks in to block and try a sweep or something not right up the middle? Richardson is not a between the tackles runner so why do we keep doing it?

I'm not sold on BS, but I do know you can't blame it all on him. We have a lot of youth that really doesn't execute the plays all the time and it makes everything look that much worse. And if Sam is the future going to another OC probably only sets us back.

I hate to put a loss on any one player but if Clemens manages the game and doesn't throw 2 INT's we win.
He just can't make throws that bad, especially in tight games. And they both happen when we're making decent drives. I personally would like to see Austin play. He's as mobile and at least from what I can recall didn't turn the ball over as much. Probably won't happen but just my 2 cents.

Most don't believe in moral victories and I was pissed leaving the stadium. But the fact we went toe to toe with a team expected to go to the SB and pretty much owned their ass all night was pretty cool to watch.
It shows that the D CAN play to that level and I firmly believe with one more good draft and FA period this team will be primed to make a huge jump in 2014. Still pissed we lost. I mean, 7 first downs and 135 yards and we lost? I hope the team doesn't give up and sees we really are headed in the right direction. Hard to see it right now with all the bad luck and high expectations this year but it's coming. Call me a homer but it's coming.

Thanks for staying awake if you made it this far :cheese:
 

-X-

Medium-sized Lebowski
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Messages
35,576
Name
The Dude
Cool story, bro.

Thanks for posting!
 

DR RAM

Rams Lifer
Rams On Demand Sponsor
Joined
Aug 7, 2010
Messages
12,111
Name
Rambeau
Nice breakdown, and I can't argue much with it. Pretty much how it played on defense. Glad you had a good time. Cook did stop on that route, although Quick (I think) was wide open, and on the same side of the field. Clemens missed on the Austin Pettis route, no matter what was said, but a better effort could have been there, and a better effort could have been made by Quick in the end zone. It's still painfully obvious that we need a #1 receiver, and obvious Tavon will never be that, not that the Rams said he will. He's a complementary player, nothing more.

I don't like the fact that we are still looking for that guy, Quick is the only one that would have a chance, but he's more interested in being distracted than trying to make a play on the ball, on the biggest stage and play in his life. He doesn't get it. We need to find it, we need to find it quick, we've wasted years doing it.
 

bwdenverram

Legend
Joined
Jul 25, 2010
Messages
5,497
Name
BW
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4
I agree DR. I think part of it is we're not using the talent we have to their full potential. But, if we had an AJ Green, Megatron, Fitz type of WR that was not only a go to receiver but took attention away from other spots, it would open things up. I really thought Cook and Austin would do that. But watching them yesterday, it's really not that hard to defend guys that are going 10 yards. Austin against Carolina ran a great deep route (damn you Long) and that is the kind of thing I expected. Not these 5 yard curls and outs. I do think he's having major rookie pains with drops that I didn't exepct. Quick- Man he flashes at times. Many say it takes 2-3 years. Do we think he'll make another leap in 2014? He sure has the ability. I dont' know. He doesn't alway suse the height and strength he has. He needs to go to the Tony Gonzalez school of blocking your man off.
So question is, IS there anyone that special in the draft worth a #1 or #2 pick? Or anyone in FA or worth trading for that would have the impact we need?
 

DR RAM

Rams Lifer
Rams On Demand Sponsor
Joined
Aug 7, 2010
Messages
12,111
Name
Rambeau
I agree DR. I think part of it is we're not using the talent we have to their full potential. But, if we had an AJ Green, Megatron, Fitz type of WR that was not only a go to receiver but took attention away from other spots, it would open things up. I really thought Cook and Austin would do that. But watching them yesterday, it's really not that hard to defend guys that are going 10 yards. Austin against Carolina ran a great deep route (damn you Long) and that is the kind of thing I expected. Not these 5 yard curls and outs. I do think he's having major rookie pains with drops that I didn't exepct. Quick- Man he flashes at times. Many say it takes 2-3 years. Do we think he'll make another leap in 2014? He sure has the ability. I dont' know. He doesn't alway suse the height and strength he has. He needs to go to the Tony Gonzalez school of blocking your man off.
So question is, IS there anyone that special in the draft worth a #1 or #2 pick? Or anyone in FA or worth trading for that would have the impact we need?
As far as receiver goes...I'm not sure yet.