Hello ROD,
Last Sunday I made my annual pilgrimmage from my small country and attended my 4th game in Saint Louis and yes it is the 4th win I in person have witnessed of my beloved Rams. And boy what a thrill ride it was, absolutely awesome (like Tavon). The crowd was as has been said loud and I was proud to be a part of it as evidenced by the fact that today I'm finally able to speak with a normal voice again. At the end I've never seen so many people be so happy and ecstatic apart from the crying shehawk fans with their ridiculous #12 jerseys.
When people in Europe ask me to describe the game I use the analogy to a soccer game "well we were 3-1 in front with 1 quarter left, we got behind 3-4, tied the game in the last minute and won in overtime" with the caveat that it was a lot more exciting than a soccer match could ever be.
Some general observations:
Refs have not skipped a beat from last year ...
Nick Foles just has an aura of a winning starting NFL QB, he's not perfect by any means, but his mental resilience is refreshing. 2 examples: after the disaster of the first offensive series that lead to the punt return, he promptly lead his offense to a touchdown. And of course the sack fumble followed by the game tying bomb to lance kendricks (btw if you think the ball hung up long in the air on TV, in person it was a lot longer). His beautiful pass to stedman between 25 and 29 in overtime speaks for itself.
It was however frustrating to see him miss some of the shorter throws, out routes in particular and sometimes his mechanics would be a mess (some happy feet as well).
Tavon Awesome is moving real fast out there and he's actually running go routes and look he beat the self proclaimed best CB in the league for a 50 yd pass interference (oh right refs ...). Punt returns we know already and I could be mistaken but from what I saw if he fielded the second one (over the shoulder) cleanly there was room for a big return. Find ways to get this guy the ball in space beyond the LOS please.
O-line: they were not a liability, in fact they held up very well against a very good d-line, also aided by some nice play calling.
Frank Cignetti: we probably don't win this game with schottenheimer and/or Bradford. nice to have play action passes that go deep instead of a dump of to the TE. jared cook could finally have the year he's capable off.
Aaron Donald nothing to be added here ...
Marshawn Lynch is a big powerful dude as much as I hate the seahawks this dude is just a sight to behold and watch bounce off tackles.
I have more thoughts but I think most of them have already been expressed on this site. It was a wonderful experience being at the best home opener the rams have had since GSOT and I don't regret a single skymile that I had to travel to witness it. I'll definitely be going next year and keep my streak alive. Heck I'm contemplating going again this year, but there are some financials involved ...
Last Sunday I made my annual pilgrimmage from my small country and attended my 4th game in Saint Louis and yes it is the 4th win I in person have witnessed of my beloved Rams. And boy what a thrill ride it was, absolutely awesome (like Tavon). The crowd was as has been said loud and I was proud to be a part of it as evidenced by the fact that today I'm finally able to speak with a normal voice again. At the end I've never seen so many people be so happy and ecstatic apart from the crying shehawk fans with their ridiculous #12 jerseys.
When people in Europe ask me to describe the game I use the analogy to a soccer game "well we were 3-1 in front with 1 quarter left, we got behind 3-4, tied the game in the last minute and won in overtime" with the caveat that it was a lot more exciting than a soccer match could ever be.
Some general observations:
Refs have not skipped a beat from last year ...
Nick Foles just has an aura of a winning starting NFL QB, he's not perfect by any means, but his mental resilience is refreshing. 2 examples: after the disaster of the first offensive series that lead to the punt return, he promptly lead his offense to a touchdown. And of course the sack fumble followed by the game tying bomb to lance kendricks (btw if you think the ball hung up long in the air on TV, in person it was a lot longer). His beautiful pass to stedman between 25 and 29 in overtime speaks for itself.
It was however frustrating to see him miss some of the shorter throws, out routes in particular and sometimes his mechanics would be a mess (some happy feet as well).
Tavon Awesome is moving real fast out there and he's actually running go routes and look he beat the self proclaimed best CB in the league for a 50 yd pass interference (oh right refs ...). Punt returns we know already and I could be mistaken but from what I saw if he fielded the second one (over the shoulder) cleanly there was room for a big return. Find ways to get this guy the ball in space beyond the LOS please.
O-line: they were not a liability, in fact they held up very well against a very good d-line, also aided by some nice play calling.
Frank Cignetti: we probably don't win this game with schottenheimer and/or Bradford. nice to have play action passes that go deep instead of a dump of to the TE. jared cook could finally have the year he's capable off.
Aaron Donald nothing to be added here ...
Marshawn Lynch is a big powerful dude as much as I hate the seahawks this dude is just a sight to behold and watch bounce off tackles.
I have more thoughts but I think most of them have already been expressed on this site. It was a wonderful experience being at the best home opener the rams have had since GSOT and I don't regret a single skymile that I had to travel to witness it. I'll definitely be going next year and keep my streak alive. Heck I'm contemplating going again this year, but there are some financials involved ...
