The Rams could have won - and that's good.

[RamzFanz]

I've visited the vent thread and vented a little myself, which I try to avoid.

This loss hurt, a lot, but I'm still hopeful for the season.

When AP ran his TD, the lead blocker rode the only defender within reach of AP to the ground from behind with no flag. Zuerlein kicked his butt off, but still had a miss on a windy day. TA had a great running day and was an ankle tackle away from a huge day a couple of times. We were missing many key players.

Foles was not very good and we STILL lost drives to dropped passes that could have been game changers.

It felt like there were at least 20 times this game the Rams were a hair away from taking off with it.

The truth, in my mind, is we screwed just about everything up and still almost beat a 6-2 team on the road in an open stadium on a windy day.

4-4 with this wildcard race, Cardinals 2 games out, and Seattle all but tied with the Rams is not a good spot.

Still, there is hope. Rams are not out of it, they are in the thick of it. Making the playoffs will be just that much sweeter if we can pull it off.

The upside is we will get Quinn, McDonald, Havenstein, and Long back and we have another chance to stay healthy for the second half. The line still has the potential to settle in and produce. I have heard it said many times that new o-lines take half a season to gel. The drops could be corrected and Cook could be benched. They are using TA more and it works. Gurley is human, but they were also lucky, and he will have many more big games. Quick is more active every game and could still emerge. Foles could get better. OK, maybe that's a stretch, but he could produce more if the line settles in and the drops are reduced.


This loss hurts like the Steelers loss. You have to win these close ones where we clearly have the advantage. I still have hope we can.

 

[JonRam99]

Good post, @RamzFanz if not for a few tough breaks here & there we could have easily tilted this game fast. Refs missing a lot of lousy plays by the Vikes. I think they were baiting the Rams D into flags, which they avoided for the most part. The Midgewater hit & the Tru INT where he pile-drived Diggs were unfortunate....but, watching the replays, I think there was some milking going on. Not the last time a team tried flopping on the Rams to draw flags.
Painful loss, but I don't think it bodes ill for the future.

 

[BelgianRam]

good post

While at work (and not in a good mood), I was thinking the same things. The team made a lot of mistakes, zebras were at their finest, yet they were still in great position to win near the end on the road vs a playoff contender. That's a positive.

I have to look back at the tape for some nick foles misses, as some of them appeared to be miscommunications and I remember 3 occasions where Brian Quick appeared to be the target on those. I'm not excusing Foles from his horrendous performance, but this would be an indication that the learning curve is still in its steep phase and it should get better.

We're not outclassed by our opponents anymore, it all comes down to executing our gameplan and we will beat our opponent. And from this game I take that we finally have the talent to overcome some mishaps against good teams.

 

[RamzFanz]

Good post, @RamzFanz if not for a few tough breaks here & there we could have easily tilted this game fast. Refs missing a lot of lousy plays by the Vikes. I think they were baiting the Rams D into flags, which they avoided for the most part. The Midgewater hit & the Tru INT where he pile-drived Diggs were unfortunate....but, watching the replays, I think there was some milking going on. Not the last time a team tried flopping on the Rams to draw flags.
Painful loss, but I don't think it bodes ill for the future.

The refs were terrible for both sides. Many a BS call and many non-calls. I get that it's hard and mistakes will be made, but this one was epicly bad from my eyes. It was a bad game and we still could have won in a difficult situation.

I'm surprised they pulled Gurley so often when the game was on the line in a game that was this important. 24 carries is healthy, but you gotta win first.

 

[Athos]

*Should have won.

 

[Ram Quixote]

The refs were terrible for both sides. Many a BS call and many non-calls. I get that it's hard and mistakes will be made, but this one was epicly bad from my eyes. It was a bad game and we still could have won in a difficult situation.

I still don't understand why the zebras didn't see the block in the back on Harkey, on the punt return in OT.

Zimmer's comment on being one of the least penalized teams in the NFL. SMH

 

[HometownBoy]

I get where you're coming from, but I'm getting a little done with the would have, could have, should have. Sometimes you just have to especially with a game with such important implications as this one, our road to the playoffs got significantly harder with this loss.

 

[…..]

Foles was not very good.......

OMG stop the presses. Finally an honest opinion about Foles from you? wow....


But to your you point....that wasnt a make or break game and I'm not beat up about the loss. The schedule remaining isnt scary, we will have opportunities galor. Just handle business an somehow try to get better on offense.

In no way shape or form are we remotely out of this playoff hunt.

 

[Rmfnlt]

*Should have won.

I was OK with this line of thought (they could have won) last year... but not this year.

It's Jeff Fisher's fourth year... they SHOULD have won that game yesterday.

They didn't (IMO) because:
* Ill advised going for 2
* Way too many penalties
* Way too conservative in OT
* Just plain terrible play calling

Remove even two of those things and the Rams win, period. They were all within the Rams control... so, in my mind, the Rams did it to themselves.

And that behavior has been going on too long.

Rams should be 5-3.

 

[bwdenverram]

Don't disagree with anything you said man. That's the bitch of it, we keep doing it to ourselves. We should be 6-2 at worst but we keep hurting ourselves. 7 points in the second half wins the game but all we get is 3.

This offense has to find ways to be consistent. If and when that happens we'll be scary.

That's the thing we're all waiting on...If and when.

I want to believe in Foles so badly. But he just misses so many opportunities. Yeah, I know, the receivers and OL haven't done him any favors. But we're starting to say the same things we said about Bradford and that is an issue. And Foles, IMO is not as good as Bradford. But Foles has more weapons right now than Sam ever had and he's still playing poorly. Marcus Mariota threw 4 touchdowns and has 13 for the year. He's a rookie who had to learn a new team, system, everything. So those excuses we give our QB's only go so far before you have to just start playing good football.

The irony is we got beat by our own MO. Good D, good running game and not a lot of mistakes. Do we beat them if we're 100% healthy? Yeah, most likely we do. But we should of anyway.
Just like, Pitt and Green Bay.

Gotta stop shooting ourselves in the foot and take the training wheels off the offense.

 

[RamBall]

I still don't understand why the zebras didn't see the block in the back on Harkey, on the punt return in OT.

I'm sure they saw it, the only way to miss it would have been to be looking away from the play. The more interesting question is why didnt they throw a flag for it?

 

[gabriel18]

We fans want a playoff game . Anything less is a failure with the talent they have . Stupid penalties and bad decisions will cost them

 

[Fatbot]

Agree with the overall theme of this thread. My only negative is wondering if we keep listing the same things that go wrong in every one of these pivotal games, at what point do they cease being called "screw ups " instead of just who we are?

 

[RamzFanz]

I have to look back at the tape for some nick foles misses, as some of them appeared to be miscommunications and I remember 3 occasions where Brian Quick appeared to be the target on those. I'm not excusing Foles from his horrendous performance, but this would be an indication that the learning curve is still in its steep phase and it should get better.

I just finished watching again. Foles wasn't good, especially at the end, but he was nowhere as bad as I first thought. He was hit and harassed all game. There were key drops and mistakes by WRs. Foles' misses wouldn't even matter if he had seen the open receivers he didn't. There were at least 3-4 big gaines he should have seen and didn't.

 

[RamzFanz]

OMG stop the presses. Finally an honest opinion about Foles from you? wow....


But to your you point....that wasnt a make or break game and I'm not beat up about the loss. The schedule remaining isnt scary, we will have opportunities galor. Just handle business an somehow try to get better on offense.

In no way shape or form are we remotely out of this playoff hunt.

Just because we don't agree, doesn't mean YOU or I are being dishonest.

Foles had a bad game and made mistakes. It's not his first. He was STILL hit and harassed all game and made good, game changing passes, that were dropped. He's better than this game and almost all the games this season and better than most are giving him credit for.

Outside of Green Bay, which many attempted to pin on him, he has 1 INT this season.

If we could keep him clean for half a game or catch his passes, this offense would be producing.



It wasn't a make or break, but it sure would have helped a lot in both the NFCW and wildcard race. I still like our chances.

 

[Force16X]

I still don't understand why the zebras didn't see the block in the back on Harkey, on the punt return in OT.

Zimmer's comment on being one of the least penalized teams in the NFL. SMH

the defensive line penalties hurt the most. hayes had 2 and someone else had 1 on the same series. if hayes didnt get the first one i think it would have been a 3rd and 11 from inside the 15 or 20 yd line. cant give opponents free downs / yards. i think the DL was worn down from a lack of rotation due to injuries, so they were trying to get an edge wherever they could. just got caught is all.

 

[RamzFanz]

I'm not disagreeing with the negatives.

I'm just glad none of the real issues the Rams have had are lack of talent.

We COULD have won and we COULD win going forward but I'm done with SHOULD until they actually repair their repairable mistakes and bad decisions.

 

[Zombie Slayer]

As most Rams fans would probably say, we are tired of the games they lose that they should have won. We are just beyond the moral victories. The good teams win most of the games they should. The Rams at this point are exactly what they are, and most likely will continue to be under Fisher, a .500 team that may occasionally make the playoffs. I don't see this changing until he's gone. It's halfway through the season now but I'm not that optimistic on them finishing with more than 9 wins.

 

[DR RAM]

I've visited the vent thread and vented a little myself, which I try to avoid.

This loss hurt, a lot, but I'm still hopeful for the season.

When AP ran his TD, the lead blocker rode the only defender within reach of AP to the ground from behind with no flag. Zuerlein kicked his butt off, but still had a miss on a windy day. TA had a great running day and was an ankle tackle away from a huge day a couple of times. We were missing many key players.

Foles was not very good and we STILL lost drives to dropped passes that could have been game changers.

It felt like there were at least 20 times this game the Rams were a hair away from taking off with it.

The truth, in my mind, is we screwed just about everything up and still almost beat a 6-2 team on the road in an open stadium on a windy day.

4-4 with this wildcard race, Cardinals 2 games out, and Seattle all but tied with the Rams is not a good spot.

Still, there is hope. Rams are not out of it, they are in the thick of it. Making the playoffs will be just that much sweeter if we can pull it off.

The upside is we will get Quinn, McDonald, Havenstein, and Long back and we have another chance to stay healthy for the second half. The line still has the potential to settle in and produce. I have heard it said many times that new o-lines take half a season to gel. The drops could be corrected and Cook could be benched. They are using TA more and it works. Gurley is human, but they were also lucky, and he will have many more big games. Quick is more active every game and could still emerge. Foles could get better. OK, maybe that's a stretch, but he could produce more if the line settles in and the drops are reduced.


This loss hurts like the Steelers loss. You have to win these close ones where we clearly have the advantage. I still have hope we can.

I absolutely agree with you on most of your points, and I too think that shows how much we have improved. We were horrible, and we are still winning, or close to winning games. I have always said that is a mark, of when your team is getting good. Winning ugly. We just can't forget, and not strive, whatever it takes, for the winning part, of the winning ugly formula. We have to play to win, on offense, always.

 

[Memento]

I'm past the point of moral victories. I'd rather have an ugly win than a pretty loss like this one.