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Rams sustained drives, but turnovers did them in against Packers
By Nick Wagoner
http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-ra...ves-but-turnovers-did-them-in-against-packers
EARTH CITY, Mo. -- A look at how the St. Louis Rams fared in three key areas of Sunday's 24-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers.
1. The best defense ... : One way to slow Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is to keep him on the sideline. The Rams' offense did its best job this season in sustaining drives and actually winning time of possession by a comfortable margin.
Nick Foles' four interceptions killed the momentum built by the Rams' ground game.
Most of that can be attributed to running back Todd Gurley's 30 carries for 159 yards as the Rams finished with a time of possession of 33:43 to Green Bay's 26:17. The Rams even had their first two drives of more than five minutes on the season.
All good signs, right? Well, yeah if those longer drives are ending in points. The Rams had four drives end with turnovers and three more that finished with missed field goals. The idea of a long, sustained drive is that, at worst, it puts the offense in position to score some points. The Rams did the first but the second wasn't frequent enough.
2. Staying disciplined: The Rams and Packers both had some issues with their communication devices which helped lead to delay-of-game penalties on both sides. The Rams had three, though one was of their own choosing before a punt, and they had to burn two timeouts to avoid another couple of flags. Overall, the Rams had six offsides, delay-of-game or false-start penalties. They were even offsides on a kickoff.
On the bright side, they let Rodgers draw them offsides only twice, once on a running play in which it was close enough that Rodgers couldn't switch it to throw deep and another time when the Rams played through to force the officials to blow it dead. So Rodgers was unable to add to his list of victims who bite on his cadence to set up big plays down the field. Still, the Rams finished with eight penalties, all of the 5-yard, mostly avoidable variety.
3. Takeaway time: I thought it was asking too much of the Rams' defense to come up with three takeaways against the Packers, considering that Green Bay entered the game with just one giveaway. It wasn't.
The Rams defense did more than you could have asked, forcing Rodgers into three turnovers, the first time he ever has done that at Lambeau Field. So looking through this list, the Rams checked each box as a positive until this one. The problem? The Rams couldn't afford to nullify their takeaways by giving the ball right back. Quarterback Nick Foles, under pressure for most of the day, threw four interceptions, and the Rams simply couldn't overcome them no matter what the defense was able to do.
By Nick Wagoner
http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-ra...ves-but-turnovers-did-them-in-against-packers
EARTH CITY, Mo. -- A look at how the St. Louis Rams fared in three key areas of Sunday's 24-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers.
1. The best defense ... : One way to slow Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is to keep him on the sideline. The Rams' offense did its best job this season in sustaining drives and actually winning time of possession by a comfortable margin.
Nick Foles' four interceptions killed the momentum built by the Rams' ground game.
Most of that can be attributed to running back Todd Gurley's 30 carries for 159 yards as the Rams finished with a time of possession of 33:43 to Green Bay's 26:17. The Rams even had their first two drives of more than five minutes on the season.
All good signs, right? Well, yeah if those longer drives are ending in points. The Rams had four drives end with turnovers and three more that finished with missed field goals. The idea of a long, sustained drive is that, at worst, it puts the offense in position to score some points. The Rams did the first but the second wasn't frequent enough.
2. Staying disciplined: The Rams and Packers both had some issues with their communication devices which helped lead to delay-of-game penalties on both sides. The Rams had three, though one was of their own choosing before a punt, and they had to burn two timeouts to avoid another couple of flags. Overall, the Rams had six offsides, delay-of-game or false-start penalties. They were even offsides on a kickoff.
On the bright side, they let Rodgers draw them offsides only twice, once on a running play in which it was close enough that Rodgers couldn't switch it to throw deep and another time when the Rams played through to force the officials to blow it dead. So Rodgers was unable to add to his list of victims who bite on his cadence to set up big plays down the field. Still, the Rams finished with eight penalties, all of the 5-yard, mostly avoidable variety.
3. Takeaway time: I thought it was asking too much of the Rams' defense to come up with three takeaways against the Packers, considering that Green Bay entered the game with just one giveaway. It wasn't.
The Rams defense did more than you could have asked, forcing Rodgers into three turnovers, the first time he ever has done that at Lambeau Field. So looking through this list, the Rams checked each box as a positive until this one. The problem? The Rams couldn't afford to nullify their takeaways by giving the ball right back. Quarterback Nick Foles, under pressure for most of the day, threw four interceptions, and the Rams simply couldn't overcome them no matter what the defense was able to do.
