Rams Opening Week Win Likely a Loss in Past (101ESPN)

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ShaneG

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Shane Gray provides special Rams commentaries on 101sports.com. Follow him on Twitter @ShaneGmoSTLRams.

Although the St. Louis Rams admittedly made their season opener more difficult than it probably should have been, they still managed to overcome a plethora of self-inflicted wounds to record a 27-24 win over the Arizona Cardinals. It was St. Louis’ first Week 1 triumph since 2006.

In a game that delivered frustrating mistakes too often – Jared Cook’s fumble of a would-be touchdown, two personal foul penalties by Cortland Finnegan and four infractions that eradicated positive offensive plays being notably among them – the Rams were still able to find a way to win.

If a team is ever going to struggle with unnecessary miscues like the Rams, it is best if it happens earlier in the season than later and somehow ends in a victory. Both occurred on Sunday.

“We better get this stuff out of our system early,” defensive end Chris Long said following a one-sack performance. “We don’t want to do this in Week 10. Today, we just beared down. We were talking on the sidelines and said if we can’t overcome this adversity, we’re not going to be worth much. That was big for us to overcome that, and that’s a start.”

In years past, the Rams would often succumb to such adversity and, in the end, would fail to “be worth much” in terms of wins and losses. With that recent past in mind, many fans begin fighting off “here we go again” and “same old Rams” thoughts while watching the team repeatedly shot itself in the foot.

In recent seasons, St. Louis needed to play near-perfect football to secure conquests. Yesterday, the Rams failed to play a great game on either side of the ball but still managed to escape defeat.

Quarterback Sam Bradford, who went 27 of 38 for 299 yards and two touchdowns for a 100.7 rating, alluded to the difference between this team and those gone by.

“I think in the past people looked at us …

(Hope each of you enjoy the full read here with much more from Finnegan, Cook, Bradford and more):

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albefree69

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Good job Shane.
Those views echo the thoughts of all of us here. It's good to have a team that can overcome so many mistakes. Now, if we can just do something about the soft coverage schemes used by our secondary. :lol:
 

Thordaddy

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I was gonna say a lot the same thing Shane, some of the Bradford critics may be a bit placated.
I heard the announcers saying the Rams offense was staring into space on the bench at one point ,someone rallied the troops ,IMA go with Sam.

We beat a good team ,Palmer played very well and we'll have our hands full in their house if they stay healthy ,hopefully they give us some help in the division
 

ShaneG

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albefree69 said:
Good job Shane.
Those views echo the thoughts of all of us here. It's good to have a team that can overcome so many mistakes. Now, if we can just do something about the soft coverage schemes used by our secondary. :lol:

Thanks, my friend... As for that soft coverage, it needs to be minimized and quickly.
 

nighttrain

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albefree69 said:
Good job Shane.
Those views echo the thoughts of all of us here. It's good to have a team that can overcome so many mistakes. Now, if we can just do something about the soft coverage schemes used by our secondary. :lol:
just chippin in ALBE, but to overcome all the self inflicted wounds and still win, this team by the middle of the season, well we wont see those issues.
this a great quote from SB
“There were so many ups and downs in this game. We had so many opportunities to score and didn’t. Then, (to) go down after the turnover, I think it says a lot about the guys in this locker room. For a young team to endure some of the things we did today, I’m so proud of those guys. No one ever lost their cool. We knew that if we went out there and kept executing, things would start to go our way and sure enough they did.”

train
 

albefree69

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I'm with you all the way on that train. I'm counting on Fisher to clean those things up.
 

nighttrain

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albefree69 said:
I'm with you all the way on that train. I'm counting on Fisher to clean those things up.
I think with new CBA rules about practices, this will be the norm for young teams. With experienced guys on squad, not so much
train
 

albefree69

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Those are good thoughts train but the vets made most of the mistakes. But I'm saying that based on what others have said about the game. I'll be able to talk more intelligently about this after I see the game Wednesday.
 

ShaneG

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nighttrain said:
albefree69 said:
Good job Shane.
Those views echo the thoughts of all of us here. It's good to have a team that can overcome so many mistakes. Now, if we can just do something about the soft coverage schemes used by our secondary. :lol:
just chippin in ALBE, but to overcome all the self inflicted wounds and still win, this team by the middle of the season, well we wont see those issues.
this a great quote from SB
“There were so many ups and downs in this game. We had so many opportunities to score and didn’t. Then, (to) go down after the turnover, I think it says a lot about the guys in this locker room. For a young team to endure some of the things we did today, I’m so proud of those guys. No one ever lost their cool. We knew that if we went out there and kept executing, things would start to go our way and sure enough they did.”

train

I agree that the errors should diminish as the season presses on.
 

albefree69

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BTW Shane, did you pin your location on our members map? :cheers:
You might not have any spare time but feel free to comment on other topics. We'd all enjoy your input and we'll treat you just like any other member of our family. :bg:
 

nighttrain

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albefree69 said:
BTW Shane, did you pin your location on our members map? :cheers:
You might not have any spare time but feel free to comment on other topics. We'd all enjoy your input and we'll treat you just like any nother member of our family. :bg:
yup, tromp all over all your views :cheese:
train
 

CGI_Ram

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Another enjoyable read, Shane.

I like hearing Finnegan "man-up" to his mistakes. He's probably going to always be on the edge (that's his game) but it's nice to hear him acknowledge that stuff can cost a W.
 

ShaneG

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albefree69 said:
BTW Shane, did you pin your location on our members map? :cheers:
You might not have any spare time but feel free to comment on other topics. We'd all enjoy your input and we'll treat you just like any other member of our family. :bg:

I did not see it... I will have to check that out, thanks.
 

RamFan503

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Thanks for another great read Shane. I agree with CGI. Finn needed to come out and not make excuses but man up. Hopefully there's no need in the future.
 

Rambitious1

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Hi Shane.

Good article again my friend.

I feel we are watching the the beginnings of something special here.

Your thoughts?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free
 

ShaneG

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nighttrain said:
albefree69 said:
BTW Shane, did you pin your location on our members map? :cheers:
You might not have any spare time but feel free to comment on other topics. We'd all enjoy your input and we'll treat you just like any nother member of our family. :bg:
yup, tromp all over all your views :cheese:
train

lol!!!! :)
 

ShaneG

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CGI_Ram said:
Another enjoyable read, Shane.

I like hearing Finnegan "man-up" to his mistakes. He's probably going to always be on the edge (that's his game) but it's nice to hear him acknowledge that stuff can cost a W.

I agree 100% and you know that although his young teammates were watching him mess up (unfortunately), they also heard what he had to say afterwards and that it was unacceptable.

Good to see him step up, as you said.

Thanks for the kind words.
 

ShaneG

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RamFan503 said:
Thanks for another great read Shane. I agree with CGI. Finn needed to come out and not make excuses but man up. Hopefully there's no need in the future.

Big thanks!! And it was good to see that from Cortland. What a lot of people don't understand is what a nice and soft spoken guy he is off the field.
 

ShaneG

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Rambitious1 said:
Hi Shane.

Good article again my friend.

I feel we are watching the the beginnings of something special here.

Your thoughts?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free

First off, thank you.

As for your comments on something special coming, I couldn't agree more. This has the early look of a long, sustainable run of good to great teams being built.