Glass Half Full

[FrantikRam]

I've wallowed since last night. Couldn't sleep. Was sick to my stomach, just revisiting the Corum fumble, Kyren drop on 3rd down, the missed FG, the blocked XP, the last Corum fumble, and the 4th and 1 playcall. This is how good we can be - with the above, we left a possible 18 points on the board. With our terrible defensive showing, we still should have won this game by 10-14 points. It would have ended up looking VERY similar to the Bills/Dolphins Thursday game from a week or two ago, where it was back and forth but the Bills pulled away.

I need this post to clear my head and move on from this damn game. So here we go..

-This is officially the best offense we've had since 2018. Yes we won it all in 2021, but we couldn't run the ball to save our lives.
-Stafford is ON FIRE - this is a Super Bowl caliber offense
-With two backups, the OL held up - though part of that was the Niners having no healthy players
-Adams is still an elite WR, and it opens this offense up
-Puka is the best WR in the league
-This has to be Kyren's last chance, and I'm chalking this up as a positive because for us to make a run, he can't fumble again

The above were positives after watching the first five games. Pass rush or no, the Niners pass defense had been VERY good, and Shanahan knew they wouldn't be able to stop us anyways.

Kyren fumbling is what it is. The dropped pass that led to the missed FG was also a HUGE play.

Weird stuff happens on Thursday nights....so what are the real takeaways here?

-Clean up the execution on some things - goes without saying
-GO GET A CB

Sean, please. Please. This appears to be the best year of Stafford's entire career thus far. We're five games in. He's playing at an MVP level. And while we've shown we CAN play with anyone (Eagles), we've shown we can play with anyone (this walking IR Niners team last night). What was the common theme in both games? PLEASE SEAN.

The execution will get cleaned up. Kyren will know that one more fumble and he may not be a Ram. Those things are fixable. The execution is fixable.

Right now, we are a good (10/11 win) team who can win a playoff game. But with this CB room (even with Akhello I fear), we cannot win it all. I would rather spend one of our first round picks to maximize this season from Matt than roll the dice with this shitty CB room. PLEASE SEAN. Please.




TLDR: everything will be fixed from last night. The game meant nothing. The Brady Pats once lost to a bad Bills team 31-0. The Chiefs from a few years ago lost to an awful Raiders team. David has been beating Goliath since the beginning of time. The worst part for me is that I love watching and listening to everything in the media about the Rams, and I have to turn that off for 10 days - but everything will be fixed.......it will be. Except that our CB room can't magically get better, and it IS the thing that will stop this team from being a Super Bowl caliber team.


We will get it fixed. Avoid the media stuff. Avoid other forums. But us fixing it, we're still just a divisional round team right now until we upgrade that CB room.



EDIT: I forgot what I named this post - apologies, it probably should have been "well there is a glass, and its both half full and half empty"

 

[Rams8821]

Good post.

Sux to lose, but I believe in these guys. It's the NFL if you dont play your best (which we were no where near that) you can lose.

That said we should have won this game when we played AWFUL. That says something.

Im always gonna be positive and back these guys. 3-2 in a better spot than we were in 23 and 24.....

We move.

 

[Spider2YB]

Yeah that loss fucking stings like shit but there’s still a bunch of football to be played. This time last year we were 1-4 and still came within inches of the NFCCG.

Offensively it feels like we are just scratching the surface of what’s possible. So much meat has been left on the bone, especially in the RZ. This team should be able to roll out of bed and score 30 points by November. Just gotta keep Stafford upright and take better care of the football.

 

[methomas50]

Nutshell version: how many times has this team started 2 and 3 the last few seasons and turned around and drastically improved as the season wore on? They are one game better with a better roster. They should be 5 and 0. I am not worried about the regular season.

Now for a little reality: Rat boy exposeed every flaw on the roster last night. Corners and O Line. Does Matthew play past this year? Are we gonna waste it? Trader Les gonna need to make a couple moves or we are gonna be real unhappy in January.

 

[Varg6]

We can only hope this and the eagles game are the catalyst to getting these guys to play at their best each and every week.

Maybe we need a pissed off angry team.

The talent’s there. We just need to execute.

My biggest concern outside of CB is our kicking situation. Those kinds of errors will come back to bite us, and last night they certainly did. We can’t be missing extra points…

 

[OldSchool]

Still positive about the season and I never give up. Sucks that flaws a lot of us saw in the offseason are still there and promina.t but I love our coaching staff and have confidence they can get the best from the team.

 

[jrry32]

We do need a CB. I agree. I wouldn't get desperate and give up an insane amount of compensation, but if a serviceable or better starting CB becomes available for a reasonable price, they should make a move. Asante Samuel Jr. also should be available in FA at some point later in the year, but I'd prefer we add a bigger CB.

I'm not convinced yet on the offense. We need the OL to be better in pass protection and Staff to be more consistent than he was the past few weeks. (He was much better last night.) But the offense has a lot of potential, especially if Tutu is starting to hit his stride on the deeper routes. Adams and Puka can absolutely eat in the short to mid ranges.

 

[dang]

If the Rams had won 27-20 by scoring a TD rather than fumble on the 2 yard line the majority of fans/talking heads would be celebrating the win and praising the Rams up and down for a great comeback victory.
Buried beneath the praisewould be the soft middle pass defense, crappy CB play, sloppy fumbles/missed kicks and dismal pass pressure on Mac fuckin’ Jones. The loss sucks, but it forces an examination of all those faults and shortcomings. Now it’s up to McVay and Company to improve on each of those and find a way to correct by midseason in order to be ready for a significant playoff run.

 

[snackdaddy]

Even if we won it was never a game we played well enough to win. More like we played bad enough to lose. And we did. If you wanna look at a silver lining we're two games better than last year at this point. And we went won 9 more games. If we do that again we'll be 12-5.

I think the most disappointing is the way the defense played. Mac Jones picked them apart. There was barely any pressure for 3 and a half quarters. But even with that if you wanna pick one play that lost it that would be Kyren's fumble. Of course if the XP wasn't blocked we'd be one point ahead at the end of regulation. Blocked kicks are officially a problem. You could say it cost both losses.

 

[SoCalRam78]

This was a hideous loss. There’s no sugar coating this L. Eagles, yeah sucked. But that’s the SB champs on the road. This was too SF’s backups at home. Eagles game was lost in the blocked FG. We lost this one 3-4 x.

Rams were very lucky against Indy too. Not sure how good this team is. They play up and down to every level of competition. They have weaknesses too they didn’t address. They did nothing about the CB room. Also their kicker looks bad. 53 yarder? Have to make that.

 

[Tano]

If the Rams had won 27-20 by scoring a TD rather than fumble on the 2 yard line the majority of fans/talking heads would be celebrating the win and praising the Rams up and down for a great comeback victory.
Buried beneath the praisewould be the soft middle pass defense, crappy CB play, sloppy fumbles/missed kicks and dismal pass pressure on Mac fuckin’ Jones. The loss sucks, but it forces an examination of all those faults and shortcomings. Now it’s up to McVay and Company to improve on each of those and find a way to correct by midseason in order to be ready for a significant playoff run.

I would still have complained about the DC game plan.

 

[Jacobarch]

I would still have complained about the DC game plan.

Yeah man, I don't know what the fuck Shula was seeing. What makes it worse is fans are seeing it and he either isn't or he's just as stubborn as McVay. Either way, losses like this will cause a coaching staff to dig deep and look within...Hopefully.

 

[FrantikRam]

Every now and then it feels like the universe predetermined a team would not win a game, and it plays out in contrast. That's what this felt like.

It feels like power ball odds, or worse, to think that we would be down 20-14, score a TD and then with an opportunity to take a lead for the first time - XP gets blocked. And then ultimately the fumble when we had the game won. For both those things to happen and for us to never have had the lead - we just were never going to win this game.

 

[rdlkgliders]

I think we can beat anybody and am pretty certain it wouldn't be pretty in most cases.
Stafford and McVay are covering up a non ideal O.L situation like the creative experienced vets they are.
On D our back end is an issue when we don't get to the QB, and that is going to pose problems throughout the season.

 

[RamsSince1969]

I think that last handoff up the gut was McVay letting the team decide the outcome. Phil Jackson used to let the Lakers play down to the opponent and let them lose a lead so they can figure it out going forward. I would be screaming "call a tiime out" and he would just sit there on the bench as the Lakers would unravel.
That was McVay saying "I believe in you guys, just don't let me down. And if you let me down, and we lose this game, I'll take the blame, but just remember, I went all in on you and I have your backs."
That is why the guys love this coach and play their rear ends off for him.
I'm really sick they lost the game, but, the coach put the ball in the hands of the players and said go get the win.
Hey, I'll bet you,somewhere, fricken Vince Lombardi is tipping his hat to Sean McVay because Vince Lombardi would have done the exact same play. Old school, hard nose, up the gut football. Think of that QB sneak with just seconds left in the Ice Bowl.

 

[0311rams]

Yeah man, I don't know what the fuck Shula was seeing. What makes it worse is fans are seeing it and he either isn't or he's just as stubborn as McVay. Either way, losses like this will cause a coaching staff to dig deep and look within...Hopefully

 

[0311rams]

head coach material still?

 

[Jacobarch]

head coach material still?

I mean Morris got a job and he used to pull shit like that all the time.

 

[AZRams]

I think that last handoff up the gut was McVay letting the team decide the outcome. Phil Jackson used to let the Lakers play down to the opponent and let them lose a lead so they can figure it out going forward. I would be screaming "call a tiime out" and he would just sit there on the bench as the Lakers would unravel.
That was McVay saying "I believe in you guys, just don't let me down. And if you let me down, and we lose this game, I'll take the blame, but just remember, I went all in on you and I have your backs."
That is why the guys love this coach and play their rear ends off for him.
I'm really sick they lost the game, but, the coach put the ball in the hands of the players and said go get the win.
Hey, I'll bet you,somewhere, fricken Vince Lombardi is tipping his hat to Sean McVay because Vince Lombardi would have done the exact same play. Old school, hard nose, up the gut football. Think of that QB sneak with just seconds left in the Ice Bowl.

For all the carrying on about the OL last night, being without Havenstein mattered on that play.

 

[FrantikRam]

Rams remaining schedule:
How I see it right now:


@Ravens - L
@Jaguars - W
Saints - W
@Niners - ?
Seahawks - W
Bucs - W
@Panthers - W
@Cardinals - W
Lions - L
@Seahawks - L
@Falcons - W
Cardinals - W



49ers remaining schedule:

@Bucs - L
Falcons - W
@Texans - L
@Giants - W
Rams - ?
@Cardinals - W
Panthers - W
@Browns - W
Titans - W
@Colts - L
Bears - W
Seahawks - L


The 49ers schedule no longer looks quite as easy as it did. The Browns beat the Packers in Cleveland and have held down every offense they've played. The Cardinals always give the Niners a fight, and going to Houston isn't going to be easy even if they aren't a great team this year. That puts us both at 11-6 if we can beat them in SF. If we lose that one, I can't see how we win the division. Under the scenario above, I believe we would win the division with the common games tiebreaker (division record would be 4-2 for both and we split) with us beating the Colts, Bucs and Texans and them losing to them.

So losing to the Eagles, Ravens and Lions wouldn't hurt too badly in that regard - more important to beat the teams the Niners and Seahawks also play in case it comes down to that.