A few observations from the lower bowl yesterday:

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DCH

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Goff has talent to work with - he should have been sacked way more than 4 times. His scrambling ability is going to help him a lot as the Rams' offense grows. That said, he's a rookie, and he played like one against a complex defense designed to confuse him. But he would have performed much better if not for:

Kenny Britt. Holy hell. The season he's been having, I did NOT expect him to completely stink up the joint. Snagging a bomb against the Pats' second stringers doesn't really make up for the fact that he killed - singlehandedly - a lot of drives early in the game when the Rams needed to keep the offense on the field and the D on the sideline.

Honorable mention to Kendricks, who is solely responsible for Goff's first INT of the day.

Higbee looked pretty big, fast and catch-y when they tried to get him the ball. I don't know if the OC knows how to use him, but he does pass the eyeball test as a weapon at TE.

Gurley seems lost, and part of that is a lack of opportunities. Last year, even when he was averaging 3-ish YPC, he was being fed the ball, was breaking tackles (he did a bit of that yesterday), and was good to rip off a 40+ yarder at any point in time. Blocking was bad, and he's not as hard to tackle as he was, but he's also not getting enough carries to wear down a front seven and rip off a biggie. Also, the Patriots gave the Rams' passing game zero respect, threw delayed blitzes and run blitzes and dared Goff and the passing game to beat them.

The Rams' D looked really good, aside from the long Blount run. They held the Pats to 3 on many drives, and you could tell from the stands that they were getting worn down and pissed off as the game wore on.

McDonald might have been the best player on either defensive unit. He flew all over the place, made big hits (that involved actually tackling the ballcarrier) and seemed to be a factor against the pass. You need to re-sign him. Alexander is good; McD looked like a game-changer.

I kept hearing Michael Jordan's name called over the PA, for good things - defending a pass, making a tackle. He looked decent out there, and the Pats were unable to get any long passes completed as the game went along.

Johnny Hekker is the best punter I've ever seen play the game of football.

Quick showed up a couple times. His catch (that was initially called not a catch) was SICK, and when we were watching the replay, we all agreed - damn, it was a catch, and what a catch at that.

Cooper doesn't seem to bring much, but he didn't get used much, so the jury is out.
 

MTRamsFan

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Higbee looked pretty big, fast and catch-y when they tried to get him the ball. I don't know if the OC knows how to use him, but he does pass the eyeball test as a weapon at TE.

He's struggled somewhat this year, but with Boras being a TE coach, you'd think he knows how to get the TEs involved in the offense. IMO, Boras is a position coach not a coordinator. But we have to wait the rest of the season to see if Fisher will figure that out.

@DCH Nice overall observations. Bottom line is Boras doesn't know how to put together a game plan with any consistency. Our offense has no identity and seems like he is guessing most times to see what works, but unfortunately guesses wrong. O-Line is a disaster and it can't get fixed until we enter the off-season. I think we have something in Goff, Gurley, and a couple of the rookies, but nothing's going to happen until they revamp the offensive coaching staff and re-tool the O-Line.
 

Ramlock

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DCH - good post

You hit on my big disappointment....Gurley needs more carries

The offense needs more first downs too.....3rd down drops kill this team
 

DCH

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DCH - good post

You hit on my big disappointment....Gurley needs more carries

The offense needs more first downs too.....3rd down drops kill this team
Honestly, the drops in the first couple drives really set the tone. The Pats pinned their ears back and went after Goff for the rest of the game, and the Rams D never spent more than a couple of minutes getting their breath on the sidelines.
 

LACHAMP46

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Bottom line is Boras doesn't know how to put together a game plan with any consistency. Our offense has no identity and seems like he is guessing most times to see what works, but unfortunately guesses wrong.
hmmmm....see below \/
Honestly, the drops in the first couple drives really set the tone.
Exactly...
While drops happen, especially in that weather....they were game killers early. And while Boras doesn't seem to have a clue how to continually attack a defense, he was hamstrung by the early 3 & outs....drive killing drops...not sure what was wrong with Kenny...or Lance, but the weather seemed to have their hands on ice...did they warm up correctly/adequately???? Either they were intentionally tanking, or Kenny just wasn't on his game. This is par for the course for Lance Kendricks. Not a pass catcher...No problem, just move on...
 

FRO

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The thing about the Rams if they get done by double digits early, the game is basically over. They don't have much margin of error. The pass protection was horrible yesterday and the receivers hurt their young QB. The sole goal in the offseason should be to give Goff the best players around him they can get. You don't want to waste that talent.
 

Ram65

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hmmmm....see below \/
Exactly...
While drops happen, especially in that weather....they were game killers early. And while Boras doesn't seem to have a clue how to continually attack a defense, he was hamstrung by the early 3 & outs....drive killing drops...not sure what was wrong with Kenny...or Lance, but the weather seemed to have their hands on ice...did they warm up correctly/adequately???? Either they were intentionally tanking, or Kenny just wasn't on his game. This is par for the course for Lance Kendricks. Not a pass catcher...No problem, just move on...

I was thinking Kendricks has hands of stone. He makes some catches but messes up on easy catches. That was a killer miss. It was a up hill battle after all the early missed catches.
 

Rmfnlt

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The thing about the Rams if they get done by double digits early, the game is basically over. They don't have much margin of error.

In a nutshell... period... that's all folks!
 

DCH

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Nice to see you back here @DCH and thanks for managing to find some positives for us. (y)
I may no longer be a fan of the Rams, but I am still a fan of y'all. Good people, and I hope for Christmas this year you get a new head coach and success in the future.
 

Jacobarch

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Lynch was repeating something very interesting from Tom Brady during the game. Brady was saying they let teams beat themselves which is why they have such a great track record. It was apparent they are 100% correct on how to approach an NFL game because the Rams shot themselves in the foot on every drive and it was disgusting.

Fisher needs to be canned. Period
 

RamDino

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Also, the Patriots gave the Rams' passing game zero respect, threw delayed blitzes and run blitzes and dared Goff and the passing game to beat them.

Five years and counting...
 

Legatron4

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I may no longer be a fan of the Rams, but I am still a fan of y'all. Good people, and I hope for Christmas this year you get a new head coach and success in the future.
Man, I don't blame you. But I don't think I would care about football if it wasn't for the Rams.
 

Elmgrovegnome

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It has become abundantly clear that the Rams offense isn't much better off than it was three years ago. At least they have a QB and a RB but they need a new Oline and WRs. That doesn't usually happen in one offseason.

When will Fisher ever realize that drafting receivers with great hands that run good routes is better than raw athleticism? How about cerebral Olinemen that understand how to practice and execute their blocks correctly without penalties? I hope he makes some big changes on the offensive coaching staff. New OC, and new Oline coach at the least.........and if he hires Loney I may quit the NFL until Fisher is finally fired.
 

DCH

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Man, I don't blame you. But I don't think I would care about football if it wasn't for the Rams.
If I didn't live in an NFL city, that's probably the route I'd have taken, but the last six years of my life I've lived about ten miles from Foxboro, and I've been in the greater Boston area over a decade. Having a local or hometown connection to a team is necessary for me.

Also having Long and Amendola on the Patriots has helped a lot. Two of my favorite players in the League.
 

UKram

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If I didn't live in an NFL city, that's probably the route I'd have taken, but the last six years of my life I've lived about ten miles from Foxboro, and I've been in the greater Boston area over a decade. Having a local or hometown connection to a team is necessary for me.

Also having Long and Amendola on the Patriots has helped a lot. Two of my favorite players in the League.
I don't know your story DCH ... and I'm. It ragging on you but you were once a Rams fan and changed for the pats ?
 

gabriel18

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I may no longer be a fan of the Rams, but I am still a fan of y'all. Good people, and I hope for Christmas this year you get a new head coach and success in the future.
Must be nice to be a fan of a team that shows up to play year after year . I wonder what a coach like Belicheck would've done with all the talent and picks the Rams have wasted . I don't particularly like him but he deserves respect for what he does year in and year out .
 

DCH

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I don't know your story DCH ... and I'm. It ragging on you but you were once a Rams fan and changed for the pats ?
Basically, yeah. I'm a St. Louis native who had parts of season tickets from the time the team arrived until I left the state for grad school, was a rabid Rams fan until they left St. Louis, was extremely upset by the fact that they left (and seemingly burned bridges hard on their way out), and ended up adopting the team that has been local to me since 2005.

I would have stuck with the Rams until the end of time, but I'm a city-first fan. Some disagree with that, and that's fine, and many St. Louisans continue to support the Rams. Me, I can't bring myself to be a fan - year in and year out, success or failure, good times and bad - unless I'm connected to a team by ways of geography/community. I understand and respect that other people have different driving forces behind their fandom.

FWIW, I'm past the "I hate the Rams, blah blah blah" stage of losing my hometown team, and harbor no ill will towards Rams fans or players. There remains a touch of schadenfreude, but I truly wish the best for the people I've met during my years as a fan of the St. Louis Rams who are being subjected to these shenanigans on a weekly basis.
 

DCH

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Must be nice to be a fan of a team that shows up to play year after year . I wonder what a coach like Belicheck would've done with all the talent and picks the Rams have wasted . I don't particularly like him but he deserves respect for what he does year in and year out .
Belichick is interesting to watch operate. Don't forget, he's borked more than his fair share of draft picks, and a lot of his personnel decisions make you scratch your head (Jamie Collins for a 3rd? Wut?). But you listen to the guy talk, and he's obsessed with football. Almost unhealthily so.

He's a big part of why I think the Rams would do well to hire Matt Patricia if they're in the market for a head coach.