Saints-Rams First Half: Observations, Thoughts, Details…

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XXXIVwin

Hall of Fame
Joined
Jun 1, 2015
Messages
4,811
After a huge game like this, I enjoy re-hashing the details with my fellow Rams fans. Please feel free to comment. In no particular order, memorable moments from the first half:

Thomas’ butt-crack: Thomas is an obnoxious dude who likes to show has azz, and this time he did so literally. The bizarre split-second exterior shot of the Super Dome was due to the “Janet Jackson breast-pop rule,” where the NFL has instituted a policy of having a three-second delay of the game in case of bizarre circumstances. In this case, Talib’s aggressive tackle of M. Thomas caused his pants to slide down and we all (unfortunately) got a brief view of Thomas’ butt -crack. The NFL tried to cut-away…(but) too late.

Saints TE part 1: TE Arnold’s drop in the end zone was a huge, HUGE play. Ball was absolutely in his grasp, perfect throw, he just couldn’t bring it in.

Saints TE part 2: Littleton’s H2H hit (which could have and should have been penalized) was another humongous play. Saints were down their top two TEs for the rest of the game. Just imagine if Higbee were out of the game with appenedicitis, and then Everett was KO’d, and we had to ride with Johnny Mundt the rest of the game?

Saints TE Part 3: Good news, Saints fans! Ben Watson is healing up nicely and will be available for the Super Bowl! Oh wait…

Hurricane: With apologies to N.O. for the metaphor, but after re-watching, that 1st Quarter was even worse than I had remembered. Good Lord, what a furious onslaught. Switching metaphors—the Rams were like a boxer on the ropes, and the Saints were just flailing away. Saints SHOULD have delivered the knockout blow in Quarter One, but they didn’t. Even 17-0 would have been dramatically different than 13-0.

Crowd noise on first drive: The crowd noise on the Rams first drive was the loudest I’ve heard any stadium, anytime, ever. The reaction to the Gurley INT was just… wow.

Gurley “sorry”: On second viewing, Gurley’s performance was even ‘sorrier’ than I’d remembered. Fair to say he cost his team (edit) 7 points: 3 on the easy INT, and then another 4 points by failing to catch the ball on 3rd and six. Gurley’s runs went nowhere. One more detail—Gurley was noticeably late on his blitz pick-up vs. Eli Apple, causing Goff to throw it away to avoid a sack. Glad for Gurley he scored on that nice TD run, because other than that, his first half was a nightmare.

Anderson juice: By contrast, CJ was a life-saver. On his first carry he gained as many yards as the Rams had gained on their first two drives combined (yeah, just five yards, but still—a STRONG five yards). Loved CJ on a 3rd and short-- there was no hole anywhere, so he just got on up behind Saffold and plowed and pushed for the first down.

Goff trash talk: Yes, it’s true! There is video evidence of our mild-mannered QB talking smack to the opposition! In the 2nd quarter, Goff floated a beautiful pass (to Cooks I think?) that just barely cleared the outstretched hands of #94, Cameron Jordan. After the play, Goff singles out Jordan and goes up and talks to him. Jordan smiles a little bit, then starts to push Goff away, in a playful “get outta here” sort of way. Just thought it was cool to watch our QB do that—talking smack to the DL while he’s tearing them up during crunch-time!

Fowler: Yes, Suh had another monster game, but I didn’t fully appreciate how well Fowler played. Key pressure leading to sack, key TFL.

Cupcakes: My favorite commercial during the first half.

“Good non-call on Robey-Coleman”: I shit thee not—during the first quarter, the following words came out of Aikman’s mouth: “The refs made a good non-call on #23 Nickell Robey-Coleman.” Would love to see a doctored video where Troy’s commentary was spliced onto the controversial play at the end… just to mess with butt-hurt Saints fans…

Clanking balls: Far and away, the biggest play of the first half was the fake punt. A destiny- changing play. Great poker face from Sean McVay-- cameras focused on him before the punt, and he looked relaxed as ever, nothing to see here…

All three phases: What a gutty, heroic performance from our Rams to cut it to 13-10. Took all three phases (ST, D, and O) to survive the first quarter and get the game back on track.

Alright ROD… would love to hear comments on any of the above, or let us know about some other ‘interesting detail’ from the first half that I neglected to mention.

--XXXIVwin
 
Last edited:

Apt43Rams

UDFA
Joined
Sep 21, 2017
Messages
36
Goff trash talk: Yes, it’s true! There is video evidence of our mild-mannered QB talking smack to the opposition! In the 2nd quarter, Goff floated a beautiful pass (to Cooks I think?) that just barely cleared the outstretched hands of #94, Cameron Jordan. After the play, Goff singles out Jordan and goes up and talks to him. Jordan smiles a little bit, then starts to push Goff away, in a playful “get outta here” sort of way. Just thought it was cool to watch our QB do that—talking smack to the DL while he’s tearing them up during crunch-time!

Haha there was another moment during the game where Goff and Jordan exchanged some banter. They are fellow Cal guys and Cam Jordan gave Goff (and CJ) a nice Cal shoutout on the Rich Eisen show before the game.
 

rams1fan

Pro Bowler
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Messages
1,476
After a huge game like this, I enjoy re-hashing the details with my fellow Rams fans. Please feel free to comment. In no particular order, memorable moments from the first half:

Thomas’ butt-crack: Thomas is an obnoxious dude who likes to show has azz, and this time he did so literally. The bizarre split-second exterior shot of the Super Dome was due to the “Janet Jackson breast-pop rule,” where the NFL has instituted a policy of having a three-second delay of the game in case of bizarre circumstances. In this case, Talib’s aggressive tackle of M. Thomas caused his pants to slide down and we all (unfortunately) got a brief view of Thomas’ butt -crack. The NFL tried to cut-away…(but) too late.

Saints TE part 1: TE Arnold’s drop in the end zone was a huge, HUGE play. Ball was absolutely in his grasp, perfect throw, he just couldn’t bring it in.

Saints TE part 2: Littleton’s H2H hit (which could have and should have been penalized) was another humongous play. Saints were down their top two TEs for the rest of the game. Just imagine if Higbee were out of the game with appenedicitis, and then Everett was KO’d, and we had to ride with Johnny Mundt the rest of the game?

Saints TE Part 3: Good news, Saints fans! Ben Watson is healing up nicely and will be available for the Super Bowl! Oh wait…

Hurricane: With apologies to N.O. for the metaphor, but after re-watching, that 1st Quarter was even worse than I had remembered. Good Lord, what a furious onslaught. Switching metaphors—the Rams were like a boxer on the ropes, and the Saints were just flailing away. Saints SHOULD have delivered the knockout blow in Quarter One, but they didn’t. Even 17-0 would have been dramatically different than 13-0.

Crowd noise on first drive: The crowd noise on the Rams first drive was the loudest I’ve heard any stadium, anytime, ever. The reaction to the Gurley INT was just… wow.

Gurley “sorry”: On second viewing, Gurley’s performance was even ‘sorrier’ than I’d remembered. Fair to say he cost his team eleven points: 7 on the easy INT, and then another 4 points by failing to catch the ball on 3rd and six. Gurley’s runs went nowhere. One more detail—Gurley was noticeably late on his blitz pick-up vs. Eli Apple, causing Goff to throw it away to avoid a sack. Glad for Gurley he scored on that nice TD run, because other than that, his first half was a nightmare.

Anderson juice: By contrast, CJ was a life-saver. On his first carry he gained as many yards as the Rams had gained on their first two drives combined (yeah, just five yards, but still—a STRONG five yards). Loved CJ on a 3rd and short-- there was no hole anywhere, so he just got on up behind Saffold and plowed and pushed for the first down.

Goff trash talk: Yes, it’s true! There is video evidence of our mild-mannered QB talking smack to the opposition! In the 2nd quarter, Goff floated a beautiful pass (to Cooks I think?) that just barely cleared the outstretched hands of #94, Cameron Jordan. After the play, Goff singles out Jordan and goes up and talks to him. Jordan smiles a little bit, then starts to push Goff away, in a playful “get outta here” sort of way. Just thought it was cool to watch our QB do that—talking smack to the DL while he’s tearing them up during crunch-time!

Fowler: Yes, Suh had another monster game, but I didn’t fully appreciate how well Fowler played. Key pressure leading to sack, key TFL.

Cupcakes: My favorite commercial during the first half.

“Good non-call on Robey-Coleman”: I crap thee not—during the first quarter, the following words came out of Aikman’s mouth: “The refs made a good non-call on #23 Nickell Robey-Coleman.” Would love to see a doctored video where Troy’s commentary was spliced onto the controversial play at the end… just to mess with butt-hurt Saints fans…

Clanking balls: Far and away, the biggest play of the first half was the fake punt. A destiny- changing play. Great poker face from Sean McVay-- cameras focused on him before the punt, and he looked relaxed as ever, nothing to see here…

All three phases: What a gutty, heroic performance from our Rams to cut it to 13-10. Took all three phases (ST, D, and O) to survive the first quarter and get the game back on track.

Alright ROD… would love to hear comments on any of the above, or let us know about some other ‘interesting detail’ from the first half that I neglected to mention.

--XXXIVwin
Okay. A few disagreements

Littleton helmet to helmet if I recall should not be a penalty. Rules states a player must lower his helmet to be deemed an infraction. Same thing with NRC no call PI where people say it was helmet to helmet. Yes helmets collided but NRC did not lower helmet and use as weapon .

On Gurley causing Rams to cede 11 points. You got this one wrong. On the INT Rams held Saints to FG. On the pass Gurley dropped it really did not matter much as the Rams were called for offense pass interference on the play which would push then back into a third and 20 something position.
 

Classic Rams

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Goff trash talk: Yes, it’s true! There is video evidence of our mild-mannered QB talking smack to the opposition! In the 2nd quarter, Goff floated a beautiful pass (to Cooks I think?) that just barely cleared the outstretched hands of #94, Cameron Jordan. After the play, Goff singles out Jordan and goes up and talks to him. Jordan smiles a little bit, then starts to push Goff away, in a playful “get outta here” sort of way. Just thought it was cool to watch our QB do that—talking smack to the DL while he’s tearing them up during crunch-time!

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Goff's a cool cat. And great touch on the ball. "Hey Cam you almost got that one!"
 

RamBall

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Name
Dave
The hit from Littleton was clean, if anything the TE should have been flagged as he lowered his head to strike Littleton with the crown of his helmet. And the non call was early contact but it wasnt a case of NRC using his helmet to hit the WR, and from the replays the ball was uncatchable. It was thrown behind NRC so even without contact the WR had no way of getting to the ball. Dont know why the officials didnt just say the pass was uncatchable when the play was over, it would have ended all this conspiracy bullshit. The saints think that the penalties that went unflagged in the first 58 mins dont matter but that the officials should officiate differently in the final 2 mins. I've said it before consistent calls/non calls is what all fans should want to see. There is nothing worse than seeing a flag thrown based on the team it goes against. PI is PI regardless of who commits it, and if its not PI when team A does it it shouldnt be PI when team B does it.
 

FarNorth

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Joined
Jun 23, 2014
Messages
3,063
After a huge game like this, I enjoy re-hashing the details with my fellow Rams fans. Please feel free to comment. In no particular order, memorable moments from the first half:

Thomas’ butt-crack: Thomas is an obnoxious dude who likes to show has azz, and this time he did so literally. The bizarre split-second exterior shot of the Super Dome was due to the “Janet Jackson breast-pop rule,” where the NFL has instituted a policy of having a three-second delay of the game in case of bizarre circumstances. In this case, Talib’s aggressive tackle of M. Thomas caused his pants to slide down and we all (unfortunately) got a brief view of Thomas’ butt -crack. The NFL tried to cut-away…(but) too late.

Saints TE part 1: TE Arnold’s drop in the end zone was a huge, HUGE play. Ball was absolutely in his grasp, perfect throw, he just couldn’t bring it in.

Saints TE part 2: Littleton’s H2H hit (which could have and should have been penalized) was another humongous play. Saints were down their top two TEs for the rest of the game. Just imagine if Higbee were out of the game with appenedicitis, and then Everett was KO’d, and we had to ride with Johnny Mundt the rest of the game?

Saints TE Part 3: Good news, Saints fans! Ben Watson is healing up nicely and will be available for the Super Bowl! Oh wait…

Hurricane: With apologies to N.O. for the metaphor, but after re-watching, that 1st Quarter was even worse than I had remembered. Good Lord, what a furious onslaught. Switching metaphors—the Rams were like a boxer on the ropes, and the Saints were just flailing away. Saints SHOULD have delivered the knockout blow in Quarter One, but they didn’t. Even 17-0 would have been dramatically different than 13-0.

Crowd noise on first drive: The crowd noise on the Rams first drive was the loudest I’ve heard any stadium, anytime, ever. The reaction to the Gurley INT was just… wow.

Gurley “sorry”: On second viewing, Gurley’s performance was even ‘sorrier’ than I’d remembered. Fair to say he cost his team eleven points: 7 on the easy INT, and then another 4 points by failing to catch the ball on 3rd and six. Gurley’s runs went nowhere. One more detail—Gurley was noticeably late on his blitz pick-up vs. Eli Apple, causing Goff to throw it away to avoid a sack. Glad for Gurley he scored on that nice TD run, because other than that, his first half was a nightmare.

Anderson juice: By contrast, CJ was a life-saver. On his first carry he gained as many yards as the Rams had gained on their first two drives combined (yeah, just five yards, but still—a STRONG five yards). Loved CJ on a 3rd and short-- there was no hole anywhere, so he just got on up behind Saffold and plowed and pushed for the first down.

Goff trash talk: Yes, it’s true! There is video evidence of our mild-mannered QB talking smack to the opposition! In the 2nd quarter, Goff floated a beautiful pass (to Cooks I think?) that just barely cleared the outstretched hands of #94, Cameron Jordan. After the play, Goff singles out Jordan and goes up and talks to him. Jordan smiles a little bit, then starts to push Goff away, in a playful “get outta here” sort of way. Just thought it was cool to watch our QB do that—talking smack to the DL while he’s tearing them up during crunch-time!

Fowler: Yes, Suh had another monster game, but I didn’t fully appreciate how well Fowler played. Key pressure leading to sack, key TFL.

Cupcakes: My favorite commercial during the first half.

“Good non-call on Robey-Coleman”: I crap thee not—during the first quarter, the following words came out of Aikman’s mouth: “The refs made a good non-call on #23 Nickell Robey-Coleman.” Would love to see a doctored video where Troy’s commentary was spliced onto the controversial play at the end… just to mess with butt-hurt Saints fans…

Clanking balls: Far and away, the biggest play of the first half was the fake punt. A destiny- changing play. Great poker face from Sean McVay-- cameras focused on him before the punt, and he looked relaxed as ever, nothing to see here…

All three phases: What a gutty, heroic performance from our Rams to cut it to 13-10. Took all three phases (ST, D, and O) to survive the first quarter and get the game back on track.

Alright ROD… would love to hear comments on any of the above, or let us know about some other ‘interesting detail’ from the first half that I neglected to mention.

--XXXIVwin
Great
After a huge game like this, I enjoy re-hashing the details with my fellow Rams fans. Please feel free to comment. In no particular order, memorable moments from the first half:

Thomas’ butt-crack: Thomas is an obnoxious dude who likes to show has azz, and this time he did so literally. The bizarre split-second exterior shot of the Super Dome was due to the “Janet Jackson breast-pop rule,” where the NFL has instituted a policy of having a three-second delay of the game in case of bizarre circumstances. In this case, Talib’s aggressive tackle of M. Thomas caused his pants to slide down and we all (unfortunately) got a brief view of Thomas’ butt -crack. The NFL tried to cut-away…(but) too late.

Saints TE part 1: TE Arnold’s drop in the end zone was a huge, HUGE play. Ball was absolutely in his grasp, perfect throw, he just couldn’t bring it in.

Saints TE part 2: Littleton’s H2H hit (which could have and should have been penalized) was another humongous play. Saints were down their top two TEs for the rest of the game. Just imagine if Higbee were out of the game with appenedicitis, and then Everett was KO’d, and we had to ride with Johnny Mundt the rest of the game?

Saints TE Part 3: Good news, Saints fans! Ben Watson is healing up nicely and will be available for the Super Bowl! Oh wait…

Hurricane: With apologies to N.O. for the metaphor, but after re-watching, that 1st Quarter was even worse than I had remembered. Good Lord, what a furious onslaught. Switching metaphors—the Rams were like a boxer on the ropes, and the Saints were just flailing away. Saints SHOULD have delivered the knockout blow in Quarter One, but they didn’t. Even 17-0 would have been dramatically different than 13-0.

Crowd noise on first drive: The crowd noise on the Rams first drive was the loudest I’ve heard any stadium, anytime, ever. The reaction to the Gurley INT was just… wow.

Gurley “sorry”: On second viewing, Gurley’s performance was even ‘sorrier’ than I’d remembered. Fair to say he cost his team eleven points: 7 on the easy INT, and then another 4 points by failing to catch the ball on 3rd and six. Gurley’s runs went nowhere. One more detail—Gurley was noticeably late on his blitz pick-up vs. Eli Apple, causing Goff to throw it away to avoid a sack. Glad for Gurley he scored on that nice TD run, because other than that, his first half was a nightmare.

Anderson juice: By contrast, CJ was a life-saver. On his first carry he gained as many yards as the Rams had gained on their first two drives combined (yeah, just five yards, but still—a STRONG five yards). Loved CJ on a 3rd and short-- there was no hole anywhere, so he just got on up behind Saffold and plowed and pushed for the first down.

Goff trash talk: Yes, it’s true! There is video evidence of our mild-mannered QB talking smack to the opposition! In the 2nd quarter, Goff floated a beautiful pass (to Cooks I think?) that just barely cleared the outstretched hands of #94, Cameron Jordan. After the play, Goff singles out Jordan and goes up and talks to him. Jordan smiles a little bit, then starts to push Goff away, in a playful “get outta here” sort of way. Just thought it was cool to watch our QB do that—talking smack to the DL while he’s tearing them up during crunch-time!

Fowler: Yes, Suh had another monster game, but I didn’t fully appreciate how well Fowler played. Key pressure leading to sack, key TFL.

Cupcakes: My favorite commercial during the first half.

“Good non-call on Robey-Coleman”: I crap thee not—during the first quarter, the following words came out of Aikman’s mouth: “The refs made a good non-call on #23 Nickell Robey-Coleman.” Would love to see a doctored video where Troy’s commentary was spliced onto the controversial play at the end… just to mess with butt-hurt Saints fans…

Clanking balls: Far and away, the biggest play of the first half was the fake punt. A destiny- changing play. Great poker face from Sean McVay-- cameras focused on him before the punt, and he looked relaxed as ever, nothing to see here…

All three phases: What a gutty, heroic performance from our Rams to cut it to 13-10. Took all three phases (ST, D, and O) to survive the first quarter and get the game back on track.

Alright ROD… would love to hear comments on any of the above, or let us know about some other ‘interesting detail’ from the first half that I neglected to mention.

--XXXIVwin
Excellent post, but now we need the second half too!!
 

XXXIVwin

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  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #7
Littleton helmet to helmet if I recall should not be a penalty. Rules states a player must lower his helmet to be deemed an infraction....
On Gurley causing Rams to cede 11 points. You got this one wrong. On the INT Rams held Saints to FG. On the pass Gurley dropped it really did not matter much as the Rams were called for offense pass interference on the play which would push then back into a third and 20 something position.

On Littleton H2H, what can I say— I’m a Rams fan, so I’m more than okay that no foul was called. But if it were the other way around, and a Saints LB KO’d Higbee after an H2H hit?I’d be furious.

And yes, you are quite right— the Gurley INT led to 3 points, not 7. (I edited my original post to reflect the change, thanks for the correction). However, on the second Gurley drop, the refs picked up the flag and said “there was no foul on the play.”

Cheers
 

rams1fan

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Messages
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On Littleton H2H, what can I say— I’m a Rams fan, so I’m more than okay that no foul was called. But if it were the other way around, and a Saints LB KO’d Higbee after an H2H hit?I’d be furious.

And yes, you are quite right— the Gurley INT led to 3 points, not 7. (I edited my original post to reflect the change, thanks for the correction). However, on the second Gurley drop, the refs picked up the flag and said “there was no foul on the play.”

Cheers
You are right that they picked it up but the question was would they have if Gurley caught the ball. They did not make a wrong call. It was offensive pass interference. Dead on. Saints also were guilty of the same play for a TD. Again it should be called.

As far as Littleton again one needs to lower helmet to be called for a penalty. Accidental contact of helmets is not a penalty. The intent of players wearing helmets is for safety. There will be many accidental contacts to the head. That is what wearing a helmet is all about. The issue is when you use the helmet as a weapon. For a good example of when a helmet to helmet penalty should be thrown look at the Eli Apple hit on Woods at just under the seven minute mark to go in the first half. Apple should have been flagged but was not.
 

Lurker

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29
You are right that they picked it up but the question was would they have if Gurley caught the ball. They did not make a wrong call. It was offensive pass interference. Dead on. Saints also were guilty of the same play for a TD. Again it should be called.

The explanation from the ref was that there was no foul for offensive interference because the defender initiated contact...so in theory it wouldn't matter if Gurley caught it...
Wondering if they would have called it if he had caught it was speculation on Aikman's part.