A few post game random thoughts...

[Rams43]

And in no particular order...

Would have loved to be a fly on the wall in that Ram post game locker room. Probably for "mature audiences" only, huh? Lol. I completely understand why the players won't be talking about it, but still...

Keenum had a great game, statistically. But that last drive?

Was sweet to see the Rams enjoying both a running and passing game in that first half, wasn't it? Like old times, and sorta what many had expected as our new normal after the Gurley pick. A few holes in the running game and a QB constantly seeing and hitting wide open receivers. Thought we had finally turned that corner.

We have a largely still untapped TE passing attack potential.

I keep having to remind myself that it was the Lion D that our O was playing against, after all. Let's don't get carried away just yet. Besides, what happened later in the game to our balance and O effectiveness?

I fully support the choice to go for the TD on 4th and inches just before halftime. But that particular play call? A pulling Jamon Brown on 4th and inches? Still shaking my head over that one. There were tons of better play choices available, weren't there? I even considered the possibility that Brown might have run the wrong play in a brain fart!

Britt and Quick sure showed up, didn't they? Is it possible that the wrong WR (or WR's) got the $42 million contract? Just kidding. Kinda...

Wouldn't it be nice to see both our O and our D clicking in the same game? Would be rout city, huh?

I'm convinced. Ours is a top 5 D with a healthy Quinn, Brockers, and Hayes. Quinn is right up there with Donald as a Ram MVP type player on this D, in fact. Yesterday proved as much, I think. Insufficient pressure on Stafford all game long, and our CB's certainly paid the price. Didn't exactly help our LB's, either. We gave up 31 points? C'mon...

Know what? After witnessing the play of both Britt and Quick this year, I have to say that maybe WR is not nearly the need that I had thought it was. I'm now thinking that DE has moved to the top of my '17 wish list. Hope a good one is there at our pick in the 2nd round.

Put me in the camp that thinks that there's something not quite "right" about Gurley this year. Can't put my finger on it, but he doesn't look like the phenom of last year to me.

I will say this about Gurley. This O is crying out to see him even more involved in the passing game. Beyond obvious. All he does is make plays when he's targeted. C'mon, Boras. Make it happen.

Is it just me, or does this Forrest kid look like he can play LB in this league? I'm encouraged by what I'm seeing when he's in there.

Hope Quinn is 100% real soon, 'cause Gaines and Hill got undressed by Stafford because of the lack of pressure. Our whole D strategy is based upon a strong front four. Take that away due to injuries and our D drops to just so so. If that.

GZ has been automatic this year. Literally perfect through 6 games. I was wr... wr... WRONG about GZ. There, I said it.

Looks to me like both Britt AND Quick are more likely to be here in '17 than Fisher. Anybody else seeing the handicapping differently? Who'd a thunk it, especially Quick. ANOTHER Player I was 100% wrong about, btw.

What was Keenum thinking on that last pass? Target lock? I mean, after such a wonderful performance in this game? And with plenty of time? He's so easy to root for, you know? The David vs Goliath thing going for him. Plays well enough to win games for 58 minutes then gives you that awful facepalm moment in game after game. Rams can overcome it when they have a dominating D performance, but our D hasn't been dominating what with all the front four injuries.

Anybody else just sooooo tired of losing winnable games? And let's face it. The Niner, Bill, and Lion games were all winnable. I see Fisher finishing out this year as HC. That's the way Kroenke rolls. But I do NOT see Fisher as our '17 HC. Barring a miracle finish of some kind, that is. And the Rams already used their allotted miracle back in '99, I think.

So, what did I miss?

Thoughts welcome.

 

[Ajb44]

Good post. I'm still sad but like you said the offense showed so much it's hard to be sad. We know with our normal D that had potential to be a blowout.

The game tying drive where MO was called for PI on 3 and long was HUGE.

I am still not sure how or why Keenum threw that last pass. So so so much time left. I'd have spread them out and hit them with a few Gurley runs maybe catch them off guard.

Still sad. But Keenum looked great. Who knew we would draft and grab like 4 outside receivers in offseason and now Britt and Quick decide to play to their potential. Wish we could have drafted more defense knowing this...guess they needed a spark.

 

[fearsomefour]

And in no particular order...

Would have loved to be a fly on the wall in that Ram post game locker room. Probably for "mature audiences" only, huh? Lol. I completely understand why the players won't be talking about it, but still...

Keenum had a great game, statistically. But that last drive?

Was sweet to see the Rams enjoying both a running and passing game in that first half, wasn't it? Like old times, and sorta what many had expected as our new normal after the Gurley pick. A few holes in the running game and a QB constantly seeing and hitting wide open receivers. Thought we had finally turned that corner.

We have a largely still untapped TE passing attack potential.

I keep having to remind myself that it was the Lion D that our O was playing against, after all. Let's don't get carried away just yet. Besides, what happened later in the game to our balance and O effectiveness?

I fully support the choice to go for the TD on 4th and inches just before halftime. But that particular play call? A pulling Jamon Brown on 4th and inches? Still shaking my head over that one. There were tons of better play choices available, weren't there? I even considered the possibility that Brown might have run the wrong play in a brain fart!

Britt and Quick sure showed up, didn't they? Is it possible that the wrong WR (or WR's) got the $42 million contract? Just kidding. Kinda...

Wouldn't it be nice to see both our O and our D clicking in the same game? Would be rout city, huh?

I'm convinced. Ours is a top 5 D with a healthy Quinn, Brockers, and Hayes. Quinn is right up there with Donald as a Ram MVP type player on this D, in fact. Yesterday proved as much, I think. Insufficient pressure on Stafford all game long, and our CB's certainly paid the price. Didn't exactly help our LB's, either. We gave up 31 points? C'mon...

Know what? After witnessing the play of both Britt and Quick this year, I have to say that maybe WR is not nearly the need that I had thought it was. I'm now thinking that DE has moved to the top of my '17 wish list. Hope a good one is there at our pick in the 2nd round.

Put me in the camp that thinks that there's something not quite "right" about Gurley this year. Can't put my finger on it, but he doesn't look like the phenom of last year to me.

I will say this about Gurley. This O is crying out to see him even more involved in the passing game. Beyond obvious. All he does is make plays when he's targeted. C'mon, Boras. Make it happen.

Is it just me, or does this Forrest kid look like he can play LB in this league? I'm encouraged by what I'm seeing when he's in there.

Hope Quinn is 100% real soon, 'cause Gaines and Hill got undressed by Stafford because of the lack of pressure. Our whole D strategy is based upon a strong front four. Take that away due to injuries and our D drops to just so so. If that.

GZ has been automatic this year. Literally perfect through 6 games. I was wr... wr... WRONG about GZ. There, I said it.

Looks to me like both Britt AND Quick are more likely to be here in '17 than Fisher. Anybody else seeing the handicapping differently? Who'd a thunk it, especially Quick. ANOTHER Player I was 100% wrong about, btw.

What was Keenum thinking on that last pass? Target lock? I mean, after such a wonderful performance in this game? And with plenty of time? He's so easy to root for, you know? The David vs Goliath thing going for him. Plays well enough to win games for 58 minutes then gives you that awful facepalm moment in game after game. Rams can overcome it when they have a dominating D performance, but our D hasn't been dominating what with all the front four injuries.

Anybody else just sooooo tired of losing winnable games? And let's face it. The Niner, Bill, and Lion games were all winnable. I see Fisher finishing out this year as HC. That's the way Kroenke rolls. But I do NOT see Fisher as our '17 HC. Barring a miracle finish of some kind, that is. And the Rams already used their allotted miracle back in '99, I think.

So, what did I miss?

Thoughts welcome.

I keep thinking back to reports Gurley lost weight this offseason.
His yards after contact are way down. Obviously blocking is part of that. He has missed some holes. Makes me crazy when athletes in an explosive sport focus on "getting into shape". Means very little to have great cardio in an explosive sport.
You need power and capacity to recover.
No idea if this factors into some of his struggles.

 

[Zaphod]

Nice post. I hope you're right about Josh Forrest, I've been nervous about depth at linebacker for a while.

I think we'll continue to see the rushing and passing attack compliment each other, and I'm sure we'll see more of those hybrid play designs as optional passes to the tight ends and running backs as the season progresses. In a way, it's almost like the practice reps are allowing coach to quarterback to expand the playbook.

 

[Bluesy]

Know what? After witnessing the play of both Britt and Quick this year, I have to say that maybe WR is not nearly the need that I had thought it was. I'm now thinking that DE has moved to the top of my '17 wish list. Hope a good one is there at our pick in the 2nd round.

I agree. We need another solid DE and some help in the secondary. Time to go back to defense in the draft.

 

[RamWoodie]

I like your thinking.. but I think you take the FG at the half. You go in up 3...instead that stop make the Lions go in with momentum.

I said in another post...in 51 years of watching football, too many times the points you don't get come back to bite you.

That's what happened...the Rams lose by 3...

 

[JIMERAMS]

great post I agree with everything you posted. the last 2 drives Keenum just throws to his first read no matter what and that bothers me im not sure if he can handle the pressure when the game is on the line.

 

[LACHAMP46]

@Rams43

Great post.....think I added a comment to something on another thread...

Defense..... Not sure if it's scheme as well as players...but definitely I hate the off man with all the yards given up....3rd down defensive scheme...just wow...Stafford will pick that apart....Taint looked like MegaTron....and the 2 players we need to find some upgrades....RCB & NickleBack.....Hill & Joyner...meh...they don't have a clue about how to breakup a pass...EJ gets 4 weeks after an injury....then I'm looking at him a lil closer...half a season...lets see what he's about....but lil Fish/Chuck Cecil/GW, need to fix that bend but dont break BS....

Late add, josh forrest played his ass off....funny, he stunk up the joint against Buffalo...I guess he wanted to redeem himself....

 

[…..]

You covered alot and with good reason. Especially on target about DE being a need. But by far the most important thing you said was that the Bills, Niners, Lions were winnable. Its time for this team to start winning winnable games. I'm pretty sure thats why Jeff locked the door on the media, but i hope he looked in the mirror before addressing the team.

 

[Rmfnlt]

Wouldn't it be nice to see both our O and our D clicking in the same game? Would be rout city, huh?

This... this and this!

I'd add "on a consistent basis".

 

[lockdnram21]

Still sad. But Keenum looked great. Who knew we would draft and grab like 4 outside receivers in offseason and now Britt and Quick decide to play to their potential. Wish we could have drafted more defense knowing this...guess they needed a spark.

Tbh they only drafted 1 outside receiver. Coppers a slot receiver and if u want to include spruce he's a slot receiver to... To me looks like they were more worried about slot then outside

 

[FrantikRam]

Our defense, top 5? Stop it.

I'm sick of people praising our defense. It's never been top 5 and under these coaches, it never will be. The defense is the biggest reason why we are where we are right now at 3-3. We've invested SO MANY MORE resources into the defense, it's not fair to the offense to expect them to be on the same level. Yesterday was the worst defensive performance I've ever seen when factoring in the circumstances.

When is the last time our offense put up 4 TDs and we lost? I'm willing to bet that it didn't even happen in the Spags and Linehan days - that's how badly our defense played yesterday.

And I don't want to hear that injury excuse garbage. Brockers has been hurt before. We were HOPING to get Quinn back healthy, no guarantee that he stays healthy. And TruJo is flat our injury prone. No excuses due to injury because frankly, there are no surprises here. It's football - players are going to get hurt; players that have an injury history? Relying on them is beyond stupid.

Let's also put it in perspective here - we still had Donald, TJ McDonald, Tree, Barron and Gaines - who was awful yesterday but supposedly better than Jenkins? Lol..

So we were missing maybe our 2nd, 4th and 5th best/most important players on D? Elite defenses have won with that before - and definitely played better than the sorry excuse for whatever was on the field yesterday.

Oh but I sure am glad we kept Barron over McCleod or Jenkins.


Look I get being positive, but things need to change now - and people have been making excuses for Fisher and these coaches for 5 years now. No more.

This defense isn't just bad - it's one of the worst in the NFL. Given our personnel, even factoring in inuries, that's beyond unacceptable.

 

[99Balloons]

I thought the last play was going to be a pick as soon as the ball left Keenum's hand as there were three defenders on Kendrick and Tavon was running one step ahead against the one-on-one DB covering him.

Other observations: 1. Jamon Brown can bulldoze the guy in front of him. I'd prefer Brown over Wichmann as ROG. 2. Josh Forrest fits right in the LB position that Williams can occassionally rotate. 3. Boras needs to have open pass plays for Gurley to keep defenses from crowding the line. 4. What happen to incorporating the no-huddle or audible? I may have missed it. But I did not see any no-huddle or Keenum changing the play call at the last minute. 5. How about running plays to the left with FB Harkey opening the hole between Robinson and Saffold?

 

[Rams43]

Our defense, top 5? Stop it.

I'm sick of people praising our defense. It's never been top 5 and under these coaches, it never will be. The defense is the biggest reason why we are where we are right now at 3-3. We've invested SO MANY MORE resources into the defense, it's not fair to the offense to expect them to be on the same level. Yesterday was the worst defensive performance I've ever seen when factoring in the circumstances.

When is the last time our offense put up 4 TDs and we lost? I'm willing to bet that it didn't even happen in the Spags and Linehan days - that's how badly our defense played yesterday.

And I don't want to hear that injury excuse garbage. Brockers has been hurt before. We were HOPING to get Quinn back healthy, no guarantee that he stays healthy. And TruJo is flat our injury prone. No excuses due to injury because frankly, there are no surprises here. It's football - players are going to get hurt; players that have an injury history? Relying on them is beyond stupid.

Let's also put it in perspective here - we still had Donald, TJ McDonald, Tree, Barron and Gaines - who was awful yesterday but supposedly better than Jenkins? Lol..

So we were missing maybe our 2nd, 4th and 5th best/most important players on D? Elite defenses have won with that before - and definitely played better than the sorry excuse for whatever was on the field yesterday.

Oh but I sure am glad we kept Barron over McCleod or Jenkins.


Look I get being positive, but things need to change now - and people have been making excuses for Fisher and these coaches for 5 years now. No more.

This defense isn't just bad - it's one of the worst in the NFL. Given our personnel, even factoring in inuries, that's beyond unacceptable.

Hardly know where to start, Frantik.

Especially considering your man crush on Jenkins. Lol.

Just a few things...

Assuming that our D starters are all 100& healthy, yeah, I stand by my top 5 statement.

What you're failing to realize is that 3 of our 4 starters on our most important position group have been either missing (Bills) or a combination of missing and playing hurt (Lions). That has a ripple effect on the entire D. Healthy Quinn, Brockers, and Hayes together with Donald and this D is night and day better.

Missing TruJo hurts. He's top tier, man. And when the front 4 is getting no pressure on Stafford? Gulp.

And to call TruJo injury prone after a player rolls up on him? That's silly.

We are in agreement that the Ram coaching is inadequate. Fisher has to be upgraded next year.

 

[bomebadeeda]

Good post......
I agree w/ some of your assessment on Gurley. What I think is the problem is the play calling isn't suiting him as much as it does our offense. 4th and 1, just do a pitch to him on the outside. reach block w/ the TEs and let him race the LB to the pylon. I understand the up the middle stuff sets up play action passes.....but sometimes our runs, just need to be runs....and I don't think there's a LB in the game that can keep up w/ him in that "race".

 

[den-the-coach]

IDK right now I feel like LBJ did during Vietnam..."We're winning, but we're losing, we're winning, but we're losing."

 

[FrantikRam]

Hardly know where to start, Frantik.

Especially considering your man crush on Jenkins. Lol.

Just a few things...

Assuming that our D starters are all 100& healthy, yeah, I stand by my top 5 statement.

What you're failing to realize is that 3 of our 4 starters on our most important position group have been either missing (Bills) or a combination of missing and playing hurt (Lions). That has a ripple effect on the entire D. Healthy Quinn, Brockers, and Hayes together with Donald and this D is night and day better.

Missing TruJo hurts. He's top tier, man. And when the front 4 is getting no pressure on Stafford? Gulp.

And to call TruJo injury prone after a player rolls up on him? That's silly.

We are in agreement that the Ram coaching is inadequate. Fisher has to be upgraded next year.

Three years in a row he's missed games due to injury. His first two years he wasn't a full time starter.

So since we've needed to be able to depend on him, he hasn't been dependable from an injury standpoint. You can say it's silly - but the fact is he's been injured and missed time for 3 years straight now - so your comment about missing TruJo hurts - we knew this was going to happen. He gets injured. Factor that with the reliance on Gaines, who didn't even play last year?

I was behind the personnel decisions in the offseason - but we all knew this was a possibility. We were relying on Quinn/Ogletree/Gaines/Johnson to be significant contributors this year - and that foursome combined to play 26 out of a possible 64 games last year.

And it turns out our depth is even worse this year than it was last year.

And yea I need to stop about the Jenkins thing, but I decided I was only going to be okay with choosing TruJo over him if TruJo didn't get hurt this year. Even if you want to say TruJo is a better player, which itself is debatable, is 75% of a better player really better? No. And now that I've said that again I'll try to tone it down, but it's extremely frustrating.

As for your players in 3 of 4 position groups missing time - I think you've missed my point. We all KNEW that was likely to happen given these players injury histories. A back is not something one easily recovers from in life, much less football. TruJo gets hurt, it's what he does. Gaines hasn't played well coming back from injury. These were all things that easily could have been anticipated.

Hayes getting hurt is not. He has less of an injury history than the others.

The "if healthy" argument is asinine when talking about football - no team is going to stay healthy. You say missing top players from 3 different position groups - but that doesn't paint an accurate picture. If you look at who is left healthy, we should be much better than this. That performance Sunday was the worst I've ever seen given what the offense did.

 

[JerseyRam1]

The record with Fisher at this point is the same every season. Its constant attrition to get to .500. I really hope Goff becomes the starter if they get a couple games below .500. Just tired of spending Mondays saying, "Fisher just blew another winnable game".

 

[FrantikRam]

$ amounts - I suppose I should have clarified that instead of just saying resources.

On offense you have one player that's been re-signed long term from their drafts, and nobody that was here before them. Britt was re-signed, but for a short term deal.

On defense we have Quinn and Brockers re-signed, TruJo franchised, Barron re-signed long term after trading for him.

You also have 4 Rams first round picks on defense.

Only have 3 on offense, and one of those is GRob..

If you made a pie chart with % of the cap used, it would be skewed toward the defense.

The other thing I didn't even mention is that Fisher is a defensive coach - and he claims that we wants this to be a defense-first team. All of those things indicate that we should have far higher expectations of the defense than we do the offense.