Defense played ok?

[LesBaker]

Depends on what he said. It was described as him telling the ref he was getting held on that play (which he was), and players/coaches bring that to the refs' attention all the time. That's why I'd like to know what his exact words were, so I can determine (for me) whether or not it warranted a flag. I see coaches throwing around expletives to refs all the time without recourse. I'm just curious where the line is with some of these refs. That's all.

I'd like to know too and for sure it's different for each ref. It had to be something though, because the ref was standing there and suddenly grabbed the flag. So something he said tipped the scales.

I know refs in the NBA will take a lot of crap from players but if you cross the line and swear at them or call them a name you get a technical foul so I wonder if he did that.

The point about coaches is fair too, I'm no lip reader but I've seen F-bombs dropped.

 

[fearsomefour]

I'd really love to know what Fowler said to that ref (in a calm manner, no less) that made him throw the flag.
"15 yards for hurting my feelings."

Well one could say "I'm going to sauté and eat your children and violate your wife with a common household appliance." in a nice calm voice.
I'm guessing it's the content of what he said.
But, the ref told him to get off the field a couple of times. Ignoring his requests then say "F you" as you finally turn to leave will do the trick.

 

[threesox84]

Depends on what he said. It was described as him telling the ref he was getting held on that play (which he was), and players/coaches bring that to the refs' attention all the time. That's why I'd like to know what his exact words were, so I can determine (for me) whether or not it warranted a flag. I see coaches throwing around expletives to refs all the time without recourse. I'm just curious where the line is with some of these refs. That's all.

I think that ref needs to be suspended. Unless Fowler threatened to eat the ref's children or something I'm not sure what combination of spoken words should be enough to actually affect the outcome of the game. Did he bump the ref off camera or something? Was it really just his choice of words?

 

[Ellard80]

In the post game Fowler wasn't really arguing that he didn't say anything that bad.

Who knows what he said exactly however - we all would like to think if he is walking away that the official could have thick skin.

But don't put the official in that position.

 

[Ramzheart]

This defense is more geared toward stopping the pass and making some big stops here and there. Most of the time there are only two linebackers on the field and both are better in pass coverage than they are run stuffing. Teams will be able to run on this D but the idea is that they won't be able to pass. So when this offense pulls away, the run first teams can't keep up and are forced to pass. It worked when Talib was playing.

So what if they give up yards on the ground. It's kind of a prevent, bend but don't break concept. Is it frustrating? Sure. Especially when you watch a rookie that we all wish was on the team, Leighton Vander Esch, going sideline to sideline making 13 tackles in the Sunday night game.

As long as we are winning I will just keep hoping for some improvement with this D. A balanced team like the Saints will still be an obstacle in the playoffs.

I get what you're saying, but disagree on how defense was supposed to perform. We had issues stopping the run last year. That's why we brought Suh in and you're telling me with Suh, Brockers and Donald they thought temas would be able to rack up yards like this?! I get the linebacker situation but these tackles should be making more plays before they get to the second level, imo.
Honestly, I think a little too much ego's going on except for Brockers.
I'm curious to see how McVay is going to handle this. Had we lost this game both Fowler and Donald's loss of control would have been key factors!
Donald is a super star but I'm a little disappointed in his demeanor and leadership at times.

 

[Ken]

Did Fowler say something worthy of penalty. Who knows? Probably. But it was also a golden opportunity for some parity policing as well. Keep the game close, if possible.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

I get what you're saying, but disagree on how defense was supposed to perform. We had issues stopping the run last year. That's why we brought Suh in and you're telling me with Suh, Brockers and Donald they thought temas would be able to rack up yards like this?! I get the linebacker situation but these tackles should be making more plays before they get to the second level, imo.
Honestly, I think a little too much ego's going on except for Brockers.
I'm curious to see how McVay is going to handle this. Had we lost this game both Fowler and Donald's loss of control would have been key factors!
Donald is a super star but I'm a little disappointed in his demeanor and leadership at times.

Suh isn't the same playerr he was 5 years ago. Donald will always have the green light to push up field. The weak spot against the run though is the LBers. The Rams don't use the run stuffing LB type. Wade didn't use it at Denver either.

Despite Seattle using a blocking back and TE to run the ball on most plays, Wade still didn't put 8-9 in the box. He was still guarding against the pass. With the emphasis on high scores, the power run game isn't going to win a lot of games. The pass is what kills teams consistently. The Saints combined with Peters' mistakes beat the Rams more than Kamara and Ingram. The Packers passing was what hurt this defense the most. Against the Shehawks it was Wilson extending plays and some bad penalties that made that game close. Seattle rbs weren't going to outscore the Rams offense.

I would prefer a stud ILB that could cover and play the run equally well but guys like that usually go early in the first round. Corner is looking like the bigger need right now and the Rams will be picking after the 22nd pick so I doubt there is an easy fix. That's for next year though. This year, nothing will change. Wade will keep playing the pass first.

 

[Ramzheart]

And don't think teams aren't going to try and get in Donald's head now and get a flag or try to get him ejected.
When that scumbag Bennett was on Seattle I'd always say I'd cheap shot him early and get him out of his game.

Yeah, agreed and the annoucers stated he was on the sidelines for a couple plays because he was so amped up about getting held. I get that it must be frustrated but it's not anything that other defensive players are going through!

 

[Ramstien]

The defense has to start faster and be better prepared when the game begins. I like the adjustments that they make in game but I want to see the offense not playing catch up for a big part of the game. Luckily we have not been turning the ball over in these close games.

 

[Sleepy1711]

I think they havent gelled yet. I hope the KC game is where they all start playing as a whole unit.

 

[RamWoodie]

I say the defense played much better in all phases. They tackled better, the covered better in the secondary, and they got better pressure.

Where they screwed up is the untimely personal foul penalties they got. They gave the Hags a second life.

Even when Hill got beat for a TD he was right there...the ball was just right where it needed to be.

 

[MTRamsFan]

The defense gets gashed one week against the rush, then gets gashed versus the pass the next week. Each week seems to be a guessing game as to which part of the defense will show up. I honestly think some of the egos are causing many of the breakdowns. Wade has a pretty simple way of approaching the defense... Alignment, Assignment and Responsibilities. If some of these guys could set aside their ego and follow this philosophy, we'd have a great defense. We also have some deficiencies, in certain positions, which seem to get exposed each week. Getting Talib back will help the secondary. IMO, there will need to be some upgrades next off-season, but we can't worry about that now. We are who we are and hopefully the offense can continue to put up points offsetting the defensive woes.

 

[Steve808]

When I watched the game to see where the weaknesses were, I didn't see the pigeons running up the gut against Donald and Suh. It was mostly crashing our edge and opening up gaping holes. I saw Ebukam get detstroyed more than once which lead to large gains for he pigeons. So maybe there will be a need to adjust the scheme although I think Fowler will help shore up a part of this.

The other fix would be the darn refs calling actual holding which seems to directly contribute to opponents touchdowns each week. That's not to say the Rams don't get away with anything but this is not a two way street. Fowler was getting yanked so hard that I could see the white plastic on his shoulder pads. Aaron's Donald got tackled like a running back on a play in the first quarter.

 

[majrleaged]

I

I totally agree! No sugar coating this, blaming penalities, etc.
There's no excuse we're getting run on like this with our line! One of the guys on primetime, believe it was Sharpe, said that with Donald and Suh both flying around offensive linemen going for sacks it's opening creases?! Sounds like this could be part problem!
All I know we're done for come playoffs if we don't get this figured out!
Also, we play this team twice a year and we don't know you have to keep a spy on Wilson?!
Maybe Wade needs to ck out some of Fishers defensive strategy against the Hawks?!
Off topic- come on guys why are we giving balls to Mayweather instead of kids or how about some deserving Vets?!

Yeah that bummed me out a bit. A woman beater getting a ball handed to him by a rams player.