RamView, 9/21/2014: Cowboys 34, Rams 31 (Long)

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Orchid

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Jul 28, 2014
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742
Name
Obert
Wow... lots to digest and comment on . My thoughts are in bold. Enjoy or disagree as you chose.

In a tale of two games, it was the worst of times yet again for Rams fans, as the home team blew a three-TD lead with critical mistakes, ineffective and overrated defense, and the road team always getting every call from the officials. The hallmarks of losing football just never seem to go away around here.

Position by position:
* QB: Like many of his teammates, Austin Davis (30-42-327, 3 TD, PR 98.0) had a strong game that would have been a winning game if not for a couple of key mistakes. Out of the gate, the Rams were the height of offensive confidence, driving on Dallas for nearly nine minutes for the opening TD. Davis converted three third downs on the drive, making a clutch throw across his body to Zac Stacy for one, and a well-thrown sideline flare route to Austin Pettis for another.

Do not understand or agree with the notion of "clutch" throw. Play to Stacy was a one way read that he was late on which made it more difficult than it look.

Davis has made a habit of hitting these tough, short sideline throws, and you know what? He throws them better than Sam Bradford. He did it again for the TD, waiting forever for Lance Kendricks to get the tiniest amount of separation so Davis could fire him as good a one-yard pass as you’ll ever see, a seeing-eye pass that found Kendricks barely in bounds and just inside the pylon. And young Davis was just warming up. Next drive, after barely missing Kenny Britt with a long ball, he threw a perfect sideline bomb to Brian Quick for a 51-yard TD. The Rams were up 21-0 in a blink, and Davis didn’t stop driving them, getting them across midfield before halftime before Scott Wells botched a snap for a turnover, getting them into the red zone after halftime before a run failed on 4th-and-inches and getting them back downfield to start the 4th with what should have been a TD and dammit, Jared Cook has to catch that ball, but the FG still made it 24-20.

They are tough because he is late with his throws most of the time. I dare you to ask find anyone (GM or scout) who thinks Davis throws a better or more accurate ball. On the TD to Kendricks, the RB was open from the snap for a touchdown and he completely missed him and that was the side of the field he was suppose to be reading. The TD was because of the poor technique of Claiborne. What no one is appreciating is the flat out massive improvement of the receivers. They have gone from a D group to a solid B group and it is in inspite of who the QB is. You are forgetting just how far down Davis was on the depth chart two week before the season started.

The Ram defense undid all those heroics and let the Rams fall behind by three, setting Davis up for a fall. Deep in his own end and with a Dallas blitzer breaking through, Davis, who’s been fearless and consistently tough with a pass rush in his face, got a little too fearless, put a soft pass over the middle and got picked off by LB Bruce Carter, who I doubt Davis ever saw, for a crushing TD that put Dallas up 10. That deflated the home crowd, but not Davis, who methodically drove the Rams 80 yards to get back within three. As he’s done for two-plus games, Davis did a nice job stepping up in the pocket and keeping plays alive with his feet. At the goal line, he rolled away from trouble and gave Pettis enough time to pop wide open in the corner of the end zone for the TD. Davis got the ball back with a chance to win or tie, but settled for too much short stuff and had to force a long pass that Quick didn’t get to for a game-ending INT.

You think we were not in 4 down territory? With 65 seconds left you do not have to throw into double/triple coverage when you have receivers over the middle open for plus 1st down yardage. Bad decision period.



But by all looks, Austin Davis has got “it”. Seriously? 75% completion rate and over 300 yards? Bradford’s had three games in his career in that neighborhood. Davis looks fearless under pressure, keeps plays alive, shows excellent accuracy on sideline throws, has a deep ball to keep defenses honest, has put together a lot of solid drives, has his defensive teammates standing up for him on the sideline… what more do you want? Austin’s picks this week may cause Jeff Fisher to shy away from keeping him as the starter. Shaun Hill may look better on the practice fields at Rams Park. Davis, though, has looked much better, and given the Ram offense a much-needed spark, on the field that matters. He’s earned at least the chance to test his luck against the stiffer competition to come.

Not to make the killer mistake and to make quicker and better reads. I just do not see him as the savior.

* RB: A surprise of the game was the Rams’ move to a three-headed rushing attack, even as Zac Stacy showed the all-around game (12-67 rushing, 5-54 receiving) to be a workhorse back. With some mauling cooperation from his offensive line, Stacy banged out 12 yards on his first carry and wasn’t slowed often, adding a key reception to keep the opening drive alive and churning for 8 yards down to the 1 to set up the first TD. The 9-minute drive would have been a 3-and-out, though, if not for Benny Cunningham’s (9-29) dive for the down marker with a short 3rd-down pass. Stacy made all the feature plays, though.

A 17-yard screen pass loosened up the Cowboys for a long Brian Quick TD. Early in the 3rd, he hit a spin move in the hole and banged up the middle for a run reminiscent of a couple of legends who proceeded him. Later, he popped outside for 16 and then pounded up the middle for 9 to help set up a FG. Stacy and Cunningham also did a fine job throughout the game in blitz protection. And not to forget the third head, the surprising Trey Watts (5-24), who added a nice small-back change-of-pace to the mix. 12 carries seems too few for Stacy, but it may be just right in the end. He made the most out of every touch he got.

* WR: Stacy and the TEs took a lot of targets away from the WRs this week, but they still caught two TDs. Brian Quick (2-62) hasn’t been known for deep speed, but he burned Morris Claiborne down the home sideline for a 51-yard TD bomb. Quick’s targets were way down compared to the first two games, so Kenny Britt (5-69) picked up some slack. Britt had one great catch and several near-misses. He made an outstanding 38-yard sideline grab in the 3rd of a ball that went between Claiborne’s hands.

Britt showed some shortcomings, though. He was a step slow on one long ball and had another go off his fingertips that he really should have pulled in. The Rams got Britt to stretch the field and need him to do better at making these kind of plays. Austin Pettis (3-28) was his usual self, popping up for a couple of clutch catches, including the last TD. Surprising and disappointing, though, that Stedman Bailey wasn’t even targeted. Hopefully the bye week will provide enough time to get him back into his preseason groove. He’ll make the Ram passing game even better adding his sweet intermediate route-running into the mix.

I have a hard time with your statement that Britt showed shortcomings. My review of the ALL 22 tape showed that the one long ball that he was slow on he beat the DB by two steps and the ball was 6-7 yards overthrown. The other ball was a dying quail that he had to come back inside. At best its a 30/70 ball.


— Mike
 

Alan

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Oct 22, 2013
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  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #22
Orchid with his observations:
Do not understand or agree with the notion of "clutch" throw.

Early in the game each play doesn't have as much pressure on it and thus he's not under as much pressure. Only the really good ones perform as well or better under intense pressure IMO.

They are tough because he is late with his throws most of the time. I dare you to ask find anyone (GM or scout) who thinks Davis throws a better or more accurate ball. On the TD to Kendricks, the RB was open from the snap for a touchdown and he completely missed him and that was the side of the field he was suppose to be reading. The TD was because of the poor technique of Claiborne. What no one is appreciating is the flat out massive improvement of the receivers. They have gone from a D group to a solid B group and it is in inspite of who the QB is. You are forgetting just how far down Davis was on the depth chart two week before the season started.

I'm not sure your reading what was said correctly. No one is saying that Austin has a better arm than Sam. Like all of us, we have our strong points and our less strong points. Short touch passes are not Sam's strong point and it appears, with this small sample, that Austin is good at them. Better than Sam but only in this one small area.

I have a hard time with your statement that Britt showed shortcomings. My review of the ALL 22 tape showed that the one long ball that he was slow on he beat the DB by two steps and the ball was 6-7 yards overthrown. The other ball was a dying quail that he had to come back inside. At best its a 30/70 ball.

I included this last one because it's obvious that you're under the misapprehension that I wrote this article. I wish. :( This was written by Mike Franke who posts on several other boards. I stole this from The Rams Huddle.

However, I will say that you seem to be ignoring the huge mistake he made (IMO) in not taking his route far enough down the field so that we wouldn't be faced with 4th and inches. Not only did he not take that extra step before the ball was thrown, after he caught the ball he ran sideways instead of up the field which at the very least showed a complete lack of awareness of the situation. All he had to do was fall forward for the first down. Most would think that was a big mistake. I do too.
I only included these quotes of yours because I either agreed with the other things you said or have no comment. I'm going to use your same style in my replies so here goes.
 
Last edited:

dbrooks25

Pro Bowler
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Sep 2, 2014
Messages
1,119
[QUOTE
Shotty's offense did what they needed to do(score more points than they're designed to). I don't want to hear about Cook's mindfuck TD drop, not kicking FG's or Davis' INT's. If anyone wants to lay this defeat on the offense for not scoring 40 points then fine. Lol. Thats just silly and unrealistic.

The defense is the problem.
/rant

The only thing i miss from RRF's is your RamView breakdowns, Mike. Good stuff as always. X's and O's with passion.
Thanks for posting @Alan[/QUOTE]


I agree with this. Some like to focus on that dropped td catch by Cook and we all know the refs were terrible but the defense did not play a good game on Sunday. Had they showed up, the wack ass calls and dropped TD pass would not have mattered.