- Joined
- Aug 4, 2014
- Messages
- 2,051
- Name
- Jonathan
After thoroughly enjoying the condensed game, here's my uneducated fanboy thoughts on this game, in the spirit of mfranke who I miss a lot:
Great game. Great game. What a battle between two evenly matched teams. Folks who bought tix got their money's worth today from a 12-round slugfest.
Kudos:
- GURLEY. What a beast. Churning through tackles, catching out of the backfield.... our RB1 folks. 4.35 yds / carry, 74 yds on ground, 54 in air. (Kamarra is no slouch either, he's beasting too, unfortunately for us.) We are definitely missing Malcom Brown, I think TG really needed a breather on a few possessions to keep his legs fresh - I thought I perceived a bit of lag towards the end on some plays.
- GOFF. The "Golden Armed Assassin" struck over & over. Our franchise QB & future perennial pro-bowler. The TD throw to Reynolds was a Barrett .50 bullet for 6. His footwork is unworldly, so many great throws in so many challenging situations against a D that was constantly bringing pressure. Took good advantage of the raw Vacarro several times. Kid can make any throw, the sideline throw to Kupp running away from pressure was nails. 28 of 43 for 354 yds 2 TD's / 1 fluke INT. I didn't see one pass that was interceptable.
- WATKINS. 1 TD, 4 of 9 for 82+PI yds, and a game-clinching catch of an on-sides kick. He showed up today. Picked up a critical PI call, so he was like 5 of 9. His INT bobble would've been an amazing catch, shows his concentration, but it did give up a possession. Fluke play. The EZ fade pass to SW was a very good play by the DB.
- KUPP. This kid just keeps amazing me. Almost always has 5yds of separation every time he gets a ball. No drops. 8 of 11 for 116 yds. But don't quit your day job - that pass attempt was brutal.
- REYNOLDS. Comes in for Woods & gets us 4 of 6 for 37+PI yds & a TD. Drew 1 PI call to boot IIRC so it's like 5 of 6. There was a pass to Reynolds in the EZ that I think JR just didn't turn around on; he might've high-pointed it if he did, & which he's terrific at.
- OUR D. What can you say when you hold one of the best offenses in the league to 20 points? when the opposing OL is constantly mugging you? the last TD to Kamarra should've been called back for holding against our DE. The goal line stand to hold them to 3pts was terrific, & Webster's take-down of Thomas was text book. Barron made a great play on that stand too. Good to see Quinn show up & remind Brees who he's dealing with - I think that early strip-sack might've rattled Drew a bit - after that, a lot of their plays were quick throws.
- TE's. Worth a mention, how Higbeast battled for yards on that long pass. 3 targets, 3 rec.'s. Good to see our TE's get involved. Everett showed up on his screen play. The fade to SW: I might've liked to see Everett there & see how he plays a fade. Next year he will be a beast.
- OUR OL. Held up well against an underrated Saints D. Allowed Cam Jordan to make a few plays but otherwise they played admirably. Opened nice lanes for TG, and gave Goff all day on that Reynolds TD pass against a 3 man rush.
- ST's. GZ is so automatic it's not funny. Hekker with 2-3 punts inside the 20. The 63 yarder was on target but just needed a bit more oomph. Ginn caught it but ran ob to end the half.
Issues:
- Get our DB's on the jugs!! 4-5 INT's we missed today. TruJo's was the worst.
- Clean up the flags. The helmet-to-helmet on Fleener was bad. That's a career-ender kind of hit. Not good, could've gotten him ejected & he would've deserved it. Whit with a rare holding call. I think we had a TD called back for holding as well.
- AUSTIN. 5/17 rushing, 3/-1 in air. I think he had a couple of positive plays, otherwise, he's pretty much an $8mil/yr decoy. He could do some damage, but the two runs up the gut early in the game were pointless. Ran out of bounds on one play that if he would've cut inside he could've taken it to the house. Defender was being blocked too.
- ST's. Almost every KO & PR in the 2nd half was flagged on our team. Needs to be cleaned up. No pressure on the punter this game - c'mon man!!!
Zebras:
- The refs missed some obvious fouls. A spearing by Jordan on Goff, who led with his helmet; the last Kamarra TD, our DE was getting outright mugged. How do refs keep missing holding on our D??? I think our D needs to practice "flopping" when they're held - if that will even help their plight. The refs did catch a few holding calls, and a good call on chop blocking AD99 & good PI calls. The non-PI call on our DB when the Saints WR fell down was a good non-PI call - the WR had no chance & our DB was making a play on it. Overall they called a good game though. When the refs don't get their names called, they had a good day.
Crowd / Stadium:
Wow, butts were back in seat en masse. If the Rams keep rolling, could they fill that place to capacity? I know Stan has blocked off a lot of seats to help logistics, but if USC can handle that many people, why can't the Rams staff figure it out? With better logistics & planning this stadium would be on fire. More exits? sidewalks? trams / busses to off-site parking? Stan could take a few pointers from events like the Edinburgh Tattoo - even temporary structures would go a long way towards extending the stadium ingress/egress capacity & other support facilities. Otherwise, the old Colliseum feels more & more like home for the Rams with every game they play there.
One issue that I see every game in LA: the turf looks like crap before they even take the first snap. USC roughs it up every Saturday. I saw several players slip, including Austin & Saints' Thomas. Can't wait until Saturday NFL football... but then there's the Rose Bowl... sigh. Anyone know if the Rose Bowl is a mid-week game??
Play Calling:
I actually thought that McVay called a pretty good game. the drive in the 4th to eat up the clock was a dagger to the Saints. But we need to do something about Austin. It's just not working out for him, or else opposing D's just aren't fooled anymore. But the Everett screen play was nice, & Sammy's 1st TD catch was a great call. And it's nice to see our WR's constantly being schemed open vs. relying on their talents alone to make plays. The D made a lot of nice plays, and got lots of pressure from the front 5 with not much blitzing.
Up Next:
Cards. Can't wait for TG to punch Honey Badger in the mouth on a wheel route. All's I'm gonna say about that game.
Playoffs? Playoffs??? you betcha. A few more wins may be all it takes to get there. If we beat the Shewalks in their house we can punch our ticket, even with an L to the Iggles. @TEN will be a pivotal game. I wanna see our QB out-class Mariota & draw wandering STL Rams fans back into the fold.
Super Bowl? why not?? yes climbing Mt. Wentz will be a tough challenge; but if our D keeps on fire, I think we can get there - I like our D against the Iggles' O, as Wentz is just not Goff-like in his accuracy (see what i did there) & could get rattled into making bad throws. We'll find out soon enough!! There's a lot of other NFC teams that are pretty scary at the moment, including the Saints, Falcons, Panthers, & Vikes, so there's a really tough road left to get there.
But I'll just throw this out there: LA could easily be in the SB - just not the Rams. The Bolts are heating up & with 5 very winnable games left should win the AFCW over KC & could very well finish at 10-6. They played the Patties pretty tough early in their season. If Spanos gets a SB appearance before we do, I will throw up in my coffee mug & dry-heave every time I see them on TV in SB week.
Such a joy to watch this young team, & exciting to think that they're getting better with every game. I stopped watching them halfway through last season. But they're oozing confidence & competence in virtually every area now. Cheers!
~Jonram99
Great game. Great game. What a battle between two evenly matched teams. Folks who bought tix got their money's worth today from a 12-round slugfest.
Kudos:
- GURLEY. What a beast. Churning through tackles, catching out of the backfield.... our RB1 folks. 4.35 yds / carry, 74 yds on ground, 54 in air. (Kamarra is no slouch either, he's beasting too, unfortunately for us.) We are definitely missing Malcom Brown, I think TG really needed a breather on a few possessions to keep his legs fresh - I thought I perceived a bit of lag towards the end on some plays.
- GOFF. The "Golden Armed Assassin" struck over & over. Our franchise QB & future perennial pro-bowler. The TD throw to Reynolds was a Barrett .50 bullet for 6. His footwork is unworldly, so many great throws in so many challenging situations against a D that was constantly bringing pressure. Took good advantage of the raw Vacarro several times. Kid can make any throw, the sideline throw to Kupp running away from pressure was nails. 28 of 43 for 354 yds 2 TD's / 1 fluke INT. I didn't see one pass that was interceptable.
- WATKINS. 1 TD, 4 of 9 for 82+PI yds, and a game-clinching catch of an on-sides kick. He showed up today. Picked up a critical PI call, so he was like 5 of 9. His INT bobble would've been an amazing catch, shows his concentration, but it did give up a possession. Fluke play. The EZ fade pass to SW was a very good play by the DB.
- KUPP. This kid just keeps amazing me. Almost always has 5yds of separation every time he gets a ball. No drops. 8 of 11 for 116 yds. But don't quit your day job - that pass attempt was brutal.
- REYNOLDS. Comes in for Woods & gets us 4 of 6 for 37+PI yds & a TD. Drew 1 PI call to boot IIRC so it's like 5 of 6. There was a pass to Reynolds in the EZ that I think JR just didn't turn around on; he might've high-pointed it if he did, & which he's terrific at.
- OUR D. What can you say when you hold one of the best offenses in the league to 20 points? when the opposing OL is constantly mugging you? the last TD to Kamarra should've been called back for holding against our DE. The goal line stand to hold them to 3pts was terrific, & Webster's take-down of Thomas was text book. Barron made a great play on that stand too. Good to see Quinn show up & remind Brees who he's dealing with - I think that early strip-sack might've rattled Drew a bit - after that, a lot of their plays were quick throws.
- TE's. Worth a mention, how Higbeast battled for yards on that long pass. 3 targets, 3 rec.'s. Good to see our TE's get involved. Everett showed up on his screen play. The fade to SW: I might've liked to see Everett there & see how he plays a fade. Next year he will be a beast.
- OUR OL. Held up well against an underrated Saints D. Allowed Cam Jordan to make a few plays but otherwise they played admirably. Opened nice lanes for TG, and gave Goff all day on that Reynolds TD pass against a 3 man rush.
- ST's. GZ is so automatic it's not funny. Hekker with 2-3 punts inside the 20. The 63 yarder was on target but just needed a bit more oomph. Ginn caught it but ran ob to end the half.
Issues:
- Get our DB's on the jugs!! 4-5 INT's we missed today. TruJo's was the worst.
- Clean up the flags. The helmet-to-helmet on Fleener was bad. That's a career-ender kind of hit. Not good, could've gotten him ejected & he would've deserved it. Whit with a rare holding call. I think we had a TD called back for holding as well.
- AUSTIN. 5/17 rushing, 3/-1 in air. I think he had a couple of positive plays, otherwise, he's pretty much an $8mil/yr decoy. He could do some damage, but the two runs up the gut early in the game were pointless. Ran out of bounds on one play that if he would've cut inside he could've taken it to the house. Defender was being blocked too.
- ST's. Almost every KO & PR in the 2nd half was flagged on our team. Needs to be cleaned up. No pressure on the punter this game - c'mon man!!!
Zebras:
- The refs missed some obvious fouls. A spearing by Jordan on Goff, who led with his helmet; the last Kamarra TD, our DE was getting outright mugged. How do refs keep missing holding on our D??? I think our D needs to practice "flopping" when they're held - if that will even help their plight. The refs did catch a few holding calls, and a good call on chop blocking AD99 & good PI calls. The non-PI call on our DB when the Saints WR fell down was a good non-PI call - the WR had no chance & our DB was making a play on it. Overall they called a good game though. When the refs don't get their names called, they had a good day.
Crowd / Stadium:
Wow, butts were back in seat en masse. If the Rams keep rolling, could they fill that place to capacity? I know Stan has blocked off a lot of seats to help logistics, but if USC can handle that many people, why can't the Rams staff figure it out? With better logistics & planning this stadium would be on fire. More exits? sidewalks? trams / busses to off-site parking? Stan could take a few pointers from events like the Edinburgh Tattoo - even temporary structures would go a long way towards extending the stadium ingress/egress capacity & other support facilities. Otherwise, the old Colliseum feels more & more like home for the Rams with every game they play there.
One issue that I see every game in LA: the turf looks like crap before they even take the first snap. USC roughs it up every Saturday. I saw several players slip, including Austin & Saints' Thomas. Can't wait until Saturday NFL football... but then there's the Rose Bowl... sigh. Anyone know if the Rose Bowl is a mid-week game??
Play Calling:
I actually thought that McVay called a pretty good game. the drive in the 4th to eat up the clock was a dagger to the Saints. But we need to do something about Austin. It's just not working out for him, or else opposing D's just aren't fooled anymore. But the Everett screen play was nice, & Sammy's 1st TD catch was a great call. And it's nice to see our WR's constantly being schemed open vs. relying on their talents alone to make plays. The D made a lot of nice plays, and got lots of pressure from the front 5 with not much blitzing.
Up Next:
Cards. Can't wait for TG to punch Honey Badger in the mouth on a wheel route. All's I'm gonna say about that game.
Playoffs? Playoffs??? you betcha. A few more wins may be all it takes to get there. If we beat the Shewalks in their house we can punch our ticket, even with an L to the Iggles. @TEN will be a pivotal game. I wanna see our QB out-class Mariota & draw wandering STL Rams fans back into the fold.
Super Bowl? why not?? yes climbing Mt. Wentz will be a tough challenge; but if our D keeps on fire, I think we can get there - I like our D against the Iggles' O, as Wentz is just not Goff-like in his accuracy (see what i did there) & could get rattled into making bad throws. We'll find out soon enough!! There's a lot of other NFC teams that are pretty scary at the moment, including the Saints, Falcons, Panthers, & Vikes, so there's a really tough road left to get there.
But I'll just throw this out there: LA could easily be in the SB - just not the Rams. The Bolts are heating up & with 5 very winnable games left should win the AFCW over KC & could very well finish at 10-6. They played the Patties pretty tough early in their season. If Spanos gets a SB appearance before we do, I will throw up in my coffee mug & dry-heave every time I see them on TV in SB week.
Such a joy to watch this young team, & exciting to think that they're getting better with every game. I stopped watching them halfway through last season. But they're oozing confidence & competence in virtually every area now. Cheers!
~Jonram99
