20 Random Titanic Debacle Thoughts

[Mojo Ram]

15. The Cardinals are making it tough for the Rams. Unlike the Cowboys, Packers and Bucs, who will likely coast to division titles, the Rams have to catch a Cardinals team that is suddenly a full game and a tiebreaker up on them.

Nah, what the #1 seed who beat us is doing is irrelevant, as long as the 3 win 49ers and Seahawks lose every week all is well in Ram nation and everything will work out because its a long season.

 

[André]

This is the Bears game from 2018. There is a template now to beat the Rams offense: pressure up the middle and punch Stafford in the face. Don't allow big plays. Bend don't break and let the Rams have field goals.

Last time, we weren't able to adjust beyond it and it bit us in the ass all the way through the Super Bowl.

We paid cash and draft capital to change QBs, which they identified as the problem. We better do a better job of adapting to the league's adaptations to us, or we'll end up the wild card and losing in the first or second round of the playoffs on the road. And LA can be a fickle fan base (not including those on here, of course); we can get quickly forgotten if we can't follow through on the promise of this year.

 

[Ram65]

Bad game for the Rams. They lost their cool. The Titan's pass rush won the game.

Always easy to second guess McVay. It didn't take many here to see that the drop-back passing game was in trouble. I think they will work it out. As bad as it was without the turnovers the Rams could have won. The defense held up well. The offense should have learned a lesson.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Did anyone notice the very good linebacker play by the Titans. I get that the Rams have a formula but the whole devaluing a position always bothered me. “So what if our DBs aren’t that good, we still need cheap linebackers”

Sometimes you take what the draft gives you. It feels a bit unbending to me.

 

[OntarioRam]

The Titans are an elite team. I think it was laughable people wrote them off for the season once Henry went down. They played with a real chip on their shoulder last night. Hats off. I am a sucker for smash-mouth football. In recent years, I always have picked the Titans and Ravens to come out of the AFC. Maybe this is the year it happens.

The Rams likely win that game without Stafford's turnovers. Not a good look when you give up all of your draft capital to upgrade at QB and avoid costly picks... And then your prized QB1 does exactly that. The Rams' defence played really well. Tennessee was gaining almost nothing on offense. It was shaping up to be a tense, physical, and low-scoring game early. If it stayed like that, I think the Rams offense squeezes a few more points out of it than the Titans do and we take the W. Of course, in those sorts of contests, you can't turn the ball over. We spotted them 14 points, and Tennessee broke the game open...

I've been crucified on this board before for my McVay ramblings but I am not convinced he can get it done. He's good at beating up on weak teams. And scheming up plays against fronts that are not overly physical. Even physical teams he can sometimes out-match based on our offensive talent alone. So, in short, he's great against 90% of the NFL. But any upper-echelon team that plays physical defence (i.e. the other 10%) seems to immediately foil him. Not just make him less effective. But turn him into complete garbage to the point it handicaps the team. Every coach has strengths and weaknesses. But McVay's few weaknesses I fear are so monstrous they are fatal. An Achilles heel, if you will. He refuses to run (although last night's game script dictated heavy passing). Even when it is working. And particularly in the red zone. He doesn't adapt formations. Or at least not until it is too late. Where were the quick passes? The roll outs? The creative running plays? Nowhere to be found until it was too late. Yet again. This has been going on since 2018...

The reffing was atrocious but hardly the reason we lost.

The offensive line was brutal but sometimes a physical and elite d-line will make the night theirs. The coaching needs to adap when that happens.

7-2 is still a decent place to be. I think the Rams win that game if we don't shoot ourselves in the foot. But can you really call it shooting yourself in the foot, when the Rams are being forced into making the mistakes by a physical defence? I am not so sure. And that is the frustrating part. If McVay can just find a way to counter those kinds of fronts, I don't think this team is beatable.

Hope Stafford's ankle is okay or we are in trouble...

Robinson and Gaines looked great stepping in for SJD!

Williams is having a rough year, and at this point, might not get-resigned for cap reasons. Deayon has been better. That was all unthinkable last season.

 

[majrleaged]

Both our losses we beat ourselves with multiple dumb mistakes.

The pattern I see and have seen it since the Bears game in 2018 and to many times since, is when we play against a physical defense. Mostly their Dline and our Oline, but also the D backs get away with way more contact than they should and move us off our routes and out of timing, we start to get penalties and we shoot ourselves in the foot. Our QB makes big mistakes. Our play caller is slow to adjust to what is happining and we loose big. It has happened twice this year, but is not a new experience.

Another concerning pattern is when things go well and we become the flavor of the week, we shit ourselves come game time. We get to happy, complacent, to full of ourselves, whatever. It is predictable we lay an egg. It is time for the coaching staff and players to wise the fuck up. If it was once or twice so be it, but it happens over and over and over. Shame on the Rams. Time to change the mind set. I don't have an answer for it. Maybe during the week when things look so good the coaching staff could find some reasons to be upset, make them run laps till they drop. or find a way to piss the team off. Instead of looking fat dumb and happy all week long. I had a bad feeling about this game the minute I learned Henry was out. Then we traded for Von and I just knew. This is what the Rams do.

 

[majrleaged]

The Titans are an elite team. I think it was laughable people wrote them off for the season once Henry went down. They played with a real chip on their shoulder last night. Hats off. I am a sucker for smash-mouth football. In recent years, I always have picked the Titans and Ravens to come out of the AFC. Maybe this is the year it happens.

The Rams likely win that game without Stafford's turnovers. Not a good look when you give up all of your draft capital to upgrade at QB and avoid costly picks... And then your prized QB1 does exactly that. The Rams' defence played really well. Tennessee was gaining almost nothing on offense. It was shaping up to be a tense, physical, and low-scoring game early. If it stayed like that, I think the Rams offense squeezes a few more points out of it than the Titans do and we take the W. Of course, in those sorts of contests, you can't turn the ball over. We spotted them 14 points, and Tennessee broke the game open...

I've been crucified on this board before for my McVay ramblings but I am not convinced he can get it done. He's good at beating up on weak teams. And scheming up plays against fronts that are not overly physical. Even physical teams he can sometimes out-match based on our offensive talent alone. So, in short, he's great against 90% of the NFL. But any upper-echelon team that plays physical defence (i.e. the other 10%) seems to immediately foil him. Not just make him less effective. But turn him into complete garbage to the point it handicaps the team. Every coach has strengths and weaknesses. But McVay's few weaknesses I fear are so monstrous they are fatal. An Achilles heel, if you will. He refuses to run (although last night's game script dictated heavy passing). Even when it is working. And particularly in the red zone. He doesn't adapt formations. Or at least not until it is too late. Where were the quick passes? The roll outs? The creative running plays? Nowhere to be found until it was too late. Yet again. This has been going on since 2018...

The reffing was atrocious but hardly the reason we lost.

The offensive line was brutal but sometimes a physical and elite d-line will make the night theirs. The coaching needs to adap when that happens.

7-2 is still a decent place to be. I think the Rams win that game if we don't shoot ourselves in the foot. But can you really call it shooting yourself in the foot, when the Rams are being forced into making the mistakes by a physical defence? I am not so sure. And that is the frustrating part. If McVay can just find a way to counter those kinds of fronts, I don't think this team is beatable.

Hope Stafford's ankle is okay or we are in trouble...

Robinson and Gaines looked great stepping in for SJD!

Williams is having a rough year, and at this point, might not get-resigned for cap reasons. Deayon has been better. That was all unthinkable last season.

I just wrote something similar attached to a post before this one. I agree, time for the coaching staff to realize they need a plan b prepared for physical Ds. They need to adjust a little faster knowing if they stay the same the team will shoot themselves in the foot if they don't adjust quickly. Hell they need to come up with a game plan for these types of teams instead of coming out with the same thing every game.

 

[majrleaged]

Oh and one more thing while I am venting. When McVay came here the fan base of the WFT said his biggest problem was scoring TDs in the RedZone and it is still a problem. Maybe go for the endzone before the 20 is the answer I don't know, but he has a problem.

 

[Steve808]

I saw that the Rams played 11 personnel the entire game, probably would have been beneficial to play some 12 and keep an extra blocker in there.

The Rams should sprinkle in the double TE set and smash mouth the ball or play action off of that set. It would force additional game planning for our opponents.

 

[Flint]

1. That was really ugly.

2. It starts with the offensive line. Horrible performance, particularly by the interior.

3. Matthew Stafford had little chance on most of the pressure situations, but both INTs were on him. The first one was something that should never happen to a veteran like him. The second wasn't much better.

4. I thought Sean McVay was slow to adjust his protections.

5. Stafford is better than Jared Goff in most every aspect of QB play. The exception, however, might be rollouts and bootlegs. He doesn't look particularly natural on those plays.

6. It was hardly the reason we lost, but there were some bullshit calls by the refs. The holding call on Havenstein that negated a first down in the fourth was ticky tack (the kind of "hold" that can be called on most every play, and should not be called in that situation). The roughing call on Aaron Donald was an absolute joke.

7. Its somewhat ironic that our running game was fairly effective. The situation of the game made it irrelevant.

8. Shame to waste such a strong performance by the defense. 195 total yards/3.5 yards per play allowed.

9. Seemed like the Titans had a decent amount of fans at the game.

10. In 1999, the Rams played the Titans in the middle of the season. They got down 21-0, as the Titans harassed Kurt Warner, sacking him 6 times. Though the Rams made it closer than today's contest (losing 24-21), they would fall that day. We all know what happened in the rematch.

11. FWIW, by the way, my preseason Super Bowl pick was Rams vs. Titans.

12. At least we're not the Bills, who lost to the Jaguars 9-6 today.

13. Or the Cowboys, who were dominated by the Broncos.

14. Or the Packers, who lost with a backup who is clearly not ready to take over for Aaron "I'm such a victim" Rodgers.

15. The Cardinals are making it tough for the Rams. Unlike the Cowboys, Packers and Bucs, who will likely coast to division titles, the Rams have to catch a Cardinals team that is suddenly a full game and a tiebreaker up on them.

16. While I was hoping to see Von Miller tonight, I understand why they would not wish to rush him. Hopefully, he will be ready to debut with the Rams next Monday night against the 49ers, and then will have 2 weeks to get acclimated before the stretch run.

17. I'm thinking that Matthew Stafford is going to need some rest during the bye as well.

18. Matt Gay was a real find. We're fortunate to have him.

19. If the Rams can't get up next week... Monday night... vs a 49ers team that has won the last 4 meetings... need to redeem themselves before the bye....

20. Well, nobody said this was going to be easy. Okay, maybe somebody did, but he's probably going back and deleting those posts.

1. Yup
2. Simmons was certainly a problem, I’m surprised McVay didn’t have a better plan for him.
3. Stafford is expecting someone to win eventually but he has to pull the plug earlier, this ain’t Detroit, we’re still in it even with a safety.
4. Seems like he “knows” it’s gonna start working if he stays with it. Sometimes it’s not.
5. McVay is almost giddy with the empty sets, maybe this is a reality check( but I doubt it)
6. I’m watching the Steelers practically give Fields the atomic elbow with no flags. Can’t wait to hear the explanation for the AD hit, it was way inbounds, not to the head and not late.
7. Maybe more Sony?
8. I can see why the Chiefs keep firing, their d could fail any time but the ram d has played well enough to rate a little confidence in their ability to keep it close.
10. It’s a long season, the Bucs were mediocre the first half season.
12. Titans look like the best team in the afc.
15. Doesn’t look like we’ll be getting any help from anyone else in the west, if the niners lay down against the cards but bring it Monday nite I’ll hate them every more.
16. I bet Aaron Donald is kinda pissed off, so whoever’s on the other side should have a good day.
19. It’s a great chance to silence the critics on national tv.
20. Cards, Bucs, Boys and Packers are leading divisions so a wild card looks pretty good but the cards only have 2 games against teams with winning records right now so it’s an uphill climb with rams still with the pack, Ravens and cards. It’s really important to handle the niners cuz this is a rough stretch.

 

[fanotodd]

Deep down in places we don’t talk about at parties...

the Rams don’t fare well when punched in the mouth early. Don’t necessarily have to be known as a physical team. See jets and dolphins games last year. Had the lions had ANY talent on that roster, they would have pulled off an upset too.

It’s one thing to go down early, but getting fisted in the first quarter usually leads to a bad afternoon. As Rams fans, we’ve seen it all too often.

More bad news: both zona and the titans are good teams. We still have our annual egg to lay vs a subpar team.

Good news: originally I didn’t like thi 2 game stretch because I thought the 9ers would be better and that they would be getting us after a tough game. I figured we’d lose one of these games. Well, we have and we get a wounded 9er squad next. We have absolutely no excuse not to be focused and kick their ass.

 

[dang]

File this game under anomoly.
1. Stafford throws 2 TDs to the Titans defense.
2. OL gives up 5 sacks Granted TN defense gets credit for their tenacity.
3. 11 friggin penalties for 100+ yards. At least 4 of them were BS by a hack officiating squad. It actually became comical how shitty that squad was.
4. Overturned TD with 0 evidence to overturn it.
5. McVay losing his shit as he sees 1-4 happening before his tender eyes.

There will not be another game this season where half of this stuff happens in one game. So I say chalk it up to anomoly and move forward.

 

[Ramstien]

A deficit for McVay is 3 points

That is with the Rams up by 3 points!

 

[iamme33]

a few things i think i think. #1 i am not to sure we have any kind of a home field advantage seems like we lose more at home than on the road #2 mcvay almost seems to refuse to challenge calls or ball spotting by refs and lord knows they make plenty of mistakes that need challenged #3 most want to run the ball more but i think that henderson is a notch above michelle and over use may result in an injury. #4 i just keep hearing that our young players will get better with more experience but sometimes playing more put film out there for teams use to find flaws in a players game. there is no doubt that playing more helps most players but it is not a sure thing