Rams at 49ers: Sounding Off on the St. Louis Win
First and Ten
1st:
The NFL should be ashamad and appalled by the performance of referee Jerome Boger's officiating crew in the Rams 13-10 win over the 49ers. Throughout the game, it was a stuck-on-repeat disaster comprised of one questionable call after another.
Whatever the league is doing to help its officials operate optimally isn't working. Perhaps the evaluation process itself needs a review. It seems apparent that the performance of those who are paid to accurately assess and manage games is deteriorating.
At San Francisco, St. Louis had 14 points directly wiped off the board by two bogus calls.
First, 49ers running back Frank Gore was said to have his forward progress stopped when he was clearly still moving downfield when he fumbled a football that the Rams were running back for a touchdown. With the forward progress ruling being non-reviewable, the inexcuseable call cost St. Louis seven points.
Second, Rams punt returner Tavon Austin was ruled out of bounds on a runback that was destined to end in a score. Rather than letting the play finish, the play was stopped by a warrantless whistle. Had the officials not stopped the return, the play could have culminated and eventually been reviewed in an effort to get it right.
On Sunday, both teams suffered from a myriad of clumbsy calls by those who are supposed to ensure that contests are governed fairly with rules enforced with consistent accuracy. Is there anyone out there who would dare suggest with a straight face that this is currently occurring in the manner that it should be?
I'm not even sure that Roger Goodell could pull off that sales job.
And 10:
1. After a season-long hiatus, #SackCity returned with a vengence for St. Louis.
After entering the matchup with the 49ers last in the league in sacks at the season's midpoint, the Rams reeled off eight of them in week nine alone.
The aforementioned eight sacks were the most by a Rams road team since a 2000 duel against the Carolina Panthers. The team's six first half sacks were the most in a half in franchise history.
Pro Bowl defensive end Robert Quinn -- who was held sackless in his first five games of the season's slate -- has posted five in the last three weeks, including two on Sunday.
For really the first time in 2014, the Gregg Williams led D looked like a Gregg Williams led D: it was aggressive, nasty, disruptive and productive. St. Louis can only hope this game was a harbinger of things to come.
2. Speaking of Williams' defense, one cannot say enough good things about how they performed in all phases against San Francisco.
Obviously, the pass pressure lived up to the lofty preseason expectations, but the work against the 49ers ground and air attack was pretty darn special, too.
(Hope you all will take a moment to enjoy the nine remaining points (including the future of Davis, the debut of Robinson at LT, the real Williams D, Tre Mason and much more including a question for you at the end of the column. Thanks, ROD):
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