RamView, 12/12/11, Game #13: Seahawks 30, Rams 13, by Mike Franke
RamView, December 12, 2011
From The Couch
(Report and opinions on the game.)
Game #13: Seahawks 30, Rams 13
Two NFL coaches were fired Monday after getting blown out Sunday – will Steve Spagnuolo join them soon? Or did the Ram offense save him for another week by scoring a TD from inside the one-yard line on its EIGHTH try?
Position by position:
* QB: I don't know what, if anything, was accomplished by rushing Sam Bradford back into the starting lineup for this game. His bad ankle required special support and had to be numbed before the game. The medical maneuvering left him as mobile as Marc Bulger in quicksand and unable to get a pushoff on any of his throws, and Bradford was suitably terrible as a result: 12-for-29 (41.4%), 193 yards, over a third of that coming on two long screen passes, and a passer rating of 49.9 that barely beat out Marshawn Lynch. Almost anything he threw downfield looked like a lob, and very little of it was accurate. He threw behind receivers, overthrew them, threw one-hoppers. He was intercepted once, when Brandon Browner dived for a poor pass behind Brandon Lloyd to start the 2nd half, but should have been picked off at least three other times. OK, he did hit Lloyd, the only Ram receiver who ever got open all night, twice on the sideline to set up the Rams' first FG. And he hit Lloyd for 40 down the sideline with a pretty touch pass to set up the Rams' ONLY TD. Bradford helped salvage that TD by improvising a poor play call. 2nd-and-goal at the 8, seeing the Seahawks have blown up the stupid TE screen, he hung in the pocket and fired for Danario Alexander in the end zone instead, drawing an interference penalty. Other than about three plays, though, the Ram passing game was awful all night, and there was little point or sense in having Bradford on the field at all. Yes, I know Chris Long also played on a bad ankle and is also a young, highly-paid, franchise player. But it's a lot clearer that Long can play successfully with his injury without increasing his overall injury risk. I'll salute Bradford for his old-school toughness, but not his decision-making, nor that of the Rams' higher-ups. They took a stupid gamble with their franchise player and it didn't come close to paying off.
full report: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.nflfans.com/rams2/article.php?story=20111213165507950" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.nflfans.com/rams2/article.ph ... 3165507950</a>
RamView, December 12, 2011
From The Couch
(Report and opinions on the game.)
Game #13: Seahawks 30, Rams 13
Two NFL coaches were fired Monday after getting blown out Sunday – will Steve Spagnuolo join them soon? Or did the Ram offense save him for another week by scoring a TD from inside the one-yard line on its EIGHTH try?
Position by position:
* QB: I don't know what, if anything, was accomplished by rushing Sam Bradford back into the starting lineup for this game. His bad ankle required special support and had to be numbed before the game. The medical maneuvering left him as mobile as Marc Bulger in quicksand and unable to get a pushoff on any of his throws, and Bradford was suitably terrible as a result: 12-for-29 (41.4%), 193 yards, over a third of that coming on two long screen passes, and a passer rating of 49.9 that barely beat out Marshawn Lynch. Almost anything he threw downfield looked like a lob, and very little of it was accurate. He threw behind receivers, overthrew them, threw one-hoppers. He was intercepted once, when Brandon Browner dived for a poor pass behind Brandon Lloyd to start the 2nd half, but should have been picked off at least three other times. OK, he did hit Lloyd, the only Ram receiver who ever got open all night, twice on the sideline to set up the Rams' first FG. And he hit Lloyd for 40 down the sideline with a pretty touch pass to set up the Rams' ONLY TD. Bradford helped salvage that TD by improvising a poor play call. 2nd-and-goal at the 8, seeing the Seahawks have blown up the stupid TE screen, he hung in the pocket and fired for Danario Alexander in the end zone instead, drawing an interference penalty. Other than about three plays, though, the Ram passing game was awful all night, and there was little point or sense in having Bradford on the field at all. Yes, I know Chris Long also played on a bad ankle and is also a young, highly-paid, franchise player. But it's a lot clearer that Long can play successfully with his injury without increasing his overall injury risk. I'll salute Bradford for his old-school toughness, but not his decision-making, nor that of the Rams' higher-ups. They took a stupid gamble with their franchise player and it didn't come close to paying off.
full report: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.nflfans.com/rams2/article.php?story=20111213165507950" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.nflfans.com/rams2/article.ph ... 3165507950</a>