The average age of Seattle is 26.4. Yes we are younger, but by what, two years? I don't buy that crap anymore. It worked the first two seasons but how many years are we going to use that excuse? Until the average age is 35?
I agree it's not an excuse. It's not the young age, it's the lack of football IQ. The Rams look like a bunch of guys that have never played pop warner, high school or college, they are just raw athletic freaks that the Rams plop on the field to run around like chickens with their heads cut off. They are told "do this" and that's the extent of what they do because they don't know how to do anything else -- they don't understand that you win football games not just by doing your job or doing what you are supposed to do, but doing that something extra that decides a football game.
I still go back to that punt where the Ram tried to "save" it from going out of bounds and pinning the opponent inside the 5 yard line. Huh? How do you not know how downing a punt works if you've played football your whole life?
The answer is some guys play football because it's their job, they were the most talented kid growing up, the fastest, strongest, etc. and that's all there is to it. There's no love to it, no deep understanding, they just go play and don't really care what happens other than what's directly in front of them. Others play football because on top of their talent they love the game and watch it 24/7 and know every in and out to it, and those are the leaders that win games that the Rams lack.
You can be in the huddle in a key situation and see the guys that are connected to the game, know the down and distance, know what their opponent has been doing all game, what they are likely to try, and how to best play it the next play. They'll move a couple steps back or forward, on their own, because they know the game. Then you see guys that have no clue that a football game is happening, they are just on the field to do what they are told against the guy in front of them, with zero big picture context to it. Every play is just the same to them inside their own little box.
The Rams players have no big picture concept and play within their own personal box. JJ is in the NFL because he has raw talent, can run a 4.4 or whatever, and not because he knows or cares about the game. Nobody that understands the game would be so idiotic to let someone behind him with 15 seconds left, that's why it's never happened in NFL history, not because of talent or age, but football IQ. But JJ had no clue about the context, he was just doing his own thing inside his own little box, and that's why the Rams lose. They have no football IQ.