Failure to keep pace cost Rams against Steelers/Wagoner

[RamBill]

Failure to keep pace cost Rams against Steelers
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-ra...ilure-to-keep-pace-cost-rams-against-steelers

EARTH CITY, Mo. -- Looking back at three things to watch from the St. Louis Rams' 12-6 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.

1. Wrangling Roethlisberger: First and foremost, the Rams knew that to have a chance, they wouldn't be able to allow Ben Roethlisberger to get in a groove and dictate the tempo of the game.

A shoddy start looked like it would translate into a long day for the Rams defense but after it settled in and made some adjustments to Pittsburgh's quick-hit passing game, Roethlisberger didn't have much success in the second and third quarter. The Rams got to him for three sacks before he suffered the left knee injury that cost him the final 20 or so minutes of the game.

Roethlisberger finished with 192 yards on 20-of-24 passing with no touchdowns and an interception but it's worth noting that he was 11-of-12 for 127 yards in the first quarter. The Rams would like to get off to a better start but they did a good enough job against Roethlisberger to be in position to win the game.

2. Keeping pace: The Rams fared pretty well in two of the three areas to watch but this is the one that they weren't able to earn a mostly positive mark in. After struggling to sustain drives and move the ball consistently, the Rams hoped to fare better against Pittsburgh's defense. They couldn't.

The run game was poor again, posting 71 yards on 18 carries. Receiver Chris Givens was the team's leading rusher, taking an end-around 24 yards late in the game. But Rams running backs combined for just 37 yards on 16 carries, 12 of those coming on one carry by Benjamin Cunningham. All told, the Rams finished with just 258 yards of offense. They had 12 first downs and were 2-of-10 on third down and 0-for-2on fourth down. Time of possession was closer this week as the Rams had the ball for 27:41 but it wasn't enough to get the Rams into the winner's circle.

3. Going for two: In an interesting "what if" scenario, the Steelers' aggressive approach to going for the two-point conversion very nearly came back to bite them against the Rams. The Steelers set the tone in the first two weeks by going 3-for-3 on two-point tries. Sure enough, when they scored their lone touchdown in the first half, coach Mike Tomlin went for two.

The Rams defense was ready for it, though, and managed to stop the Steelers short. That made it 9-0. After the Rams trimmed it the deficit to 9-3, they had a chance to take the lead with a touchdown and an extra point for most of the rest of the game. As it turned out, it didn't matter but it could have turned some scrutiny on Tomlin if the Rams stole a 10-9 victory.

 

[RamBill]

Rams' comeback attempt fizzled on Nick Foles' interception
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-ra...eback-attempt-died-on-nick-foles-interception

EARTH CITY, Mo. -- A look back at the turning-point play in the St. Louis Rams' 12-6 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday afternoon:

The situation: With the Rams defense rolling in top form and trailing the Steelers 9-6, the Rams got the ball back at their 17 with 3:02 to play in the game. A long touchdown drive was asking a lot, especially given the Rams' anemic offense to that point in the game, but if the Rams could swing it, they almost certainly would have won the game. Otherwise, perhaps quarterback Nick Foles could drive the Rams close enough to kick a field goal to send the game to overtime.

After Foles and the Rams worked some late-game magic in the home opener against Seattle (with a little help from a falling safety), the stage was set for some more heroics and possibly another big win.

The play: On first-and-10 from the Rams' 17, Foles wasted no time looking to push the ball down the field. Lined up with receiver Tavon Austin split left and Kenny Britt to the right, the Rams had Cory Harkey at fullback, Tre Mason at running back and Lance Kendricks at tight end attached to the left side of the line. The Steelers defense lined up in its base 3-4 defense with both edge rushers at the line of scrimmage and a safety creeping up the offense's left edge. That left safety Will Allen playing centerfield.

At the snap, the Steelers blitz off the left side with the safety coming as the extra man and the linebacker on the opposite side bailing out into zone coverage. More important is what happens to Foles' left. Kendricks runs a deep post route right from the snap. Austin is the one to watch here as he takes a little stutter step inside before running past the corner. But once Austin clears the corner, he slows down as soon as he sees Foles has let the ball go in Kendricks' direction.

According to Rams coach Jeff Fisher, someone didn't run their route properly.

"But often times when there are balls that are intercepted, there’s more involved than just the throw," Fisher said. "There’s routes that need to be run correctly and pushed down the field, so we have it in perspective.”

While Fisher declined to name the player, he did say that the incorrect route kept Allen from taking a wider approach to the play. Looking at the play again, Austin is the only logical culprit. What the exact route was supposed to be isn't clear, but it would stand to reason that if the route was supposed to be "pushed down the field" that Austin probably was supposed to run something closer to a straight go route than the stutter start he had inside. If that was the case, Austin would have been further downfield than Kendricks when Foles threw the ball and Allen would have had to worry about helping over the top on both routes.

Instead, Foles' pass sailed on him a bit as he threw to Kendricks deep down the middle of the field. It landed in Allen's waiting arms at Pittsburgh's 49. He returned it to the Rams' 31, instantly killing the drive before it ever got going.

The fallout: The Steelers promptly went three-and-out before getting a 41-yard field goal from kicker Josh Scobee to make it 12-6 with two minutes to go. The Rams got another possession from there but were unable to piece together a drive, as a fourth-down pass to receiver Kenny Britt was ruled incomplete to end the game.

With the loss, the Rams fell to 1-2 on the season with road trips to Arizona and Green Bay, perhaps the NFC's two best teams, coming up next.

 

[Faceplant]

Yep, that looks about right from the clip I saw. Not sure Tavon's route really made the difference as the safety seemed to have seen the ball released as well, but TA still has to sell that to keep him honest. With a single high safety, why not run Britt deep right and throw to the WR on the wide side of where the safety lines up? I like Britt's chances in a jump ball in that matchup with the DB. That safety can't cover the entire width of the field to help out.