Vent thread - Rams robbed by refs and kicker.

[NYCRam]

Until we fix the "home game" problem, we are playing these seasons under a severe handicap, no? Could be at least argued that we dont lose that game with a Home Field Advantage.

 

[den-the-coach]

It is the little things that drive you crazy. Rams need a kicker because they could not afford to keep Matt Gay. They decided to bring in two highly touted non drafted college kickers in Christopher Dunn of NC State the Lou Groza Award Winner & Tanner Brown of Oklahoma State the runner up to the Groza Award.

Dunn is surprisingly cut during OTA's, he didn't even make it to training camp, the reason given is that Brown is just so much better, the Rams felt cutting Dunn thus committing to Brown was the best thing to do. No reason is given for Dunn's abrupt departure, but some of that was his inability to kickoff, however, punter Ethan Evans was handling that duty, so unless they just felt they needed somebody to do that incase of injury, didn't think it was a major factor, but that is one of the reasons given.

Tanner Brown isn't given much of a chance in preseason, however, misses two makeable kicks and the Rams cut Brown and look for a veteran to solidify the special teams.

Enter Brett Maher, who, quite frankly has a big leg, but is one of the most inconsistent kickers to come around and once he misses, that can linger the whole game costing his team accordingly. However, the Rams watched Maher in the workouts & scrimmage with the Denver Broncos and decided he was their guy.

In fairness to Maher, it was nice that he had a huge leg and the Rams asked to kick from well beyond 50 yards, he had a few hiccups, but was doing okay until yesterday and many of us felt this would happen and it did and thus, that is what makes it so frustrating.

Not sure who they will bring in to replace Maher, my guess, if healthy is Zane Gonzalez who kicked for Special Teams Coach Chase Blackburn in Carolina. Gonzalez does not have Maher's range, but has been accurate, however, his issue has been injuries and he was thus injured with the 49ers this season during training camp.

Besides Gonzalez two kickers on practice squads are Lucas Havirsik (Browns) & Cade York (Titans) both have big legs, however, York struggled with consistency although he was a high draft pick & Havirsik has not kicked during the regular season.

The reason I was upset is because I felt the Rams could have easily acquired Dustin Hopkins from the Chargers, which the Browns did for like a 2025 7th round pick. Hopkins was consistent although lacked the ability beyond 50+ yards, but at the time that was not what the Rams were looking for. Hopkins has kicked well for the Browns.

 

[RamDino]

Very disappointing loss. Still trying to get over it. Sometimes the offense clicks, sometimes it's the defense, other times it's the play calling or execution. I guess this inconsistency is what we have to expect from this team for the remainder of the year. I will still watch every Sunday though, because I am a Ram fan. But seeing our team's home field get gobbled up every week by opposing fans is just brutal. I don't know how a 5 billion-dollar, state-of-the-art stadium can get overrun by 40 or 50 THOUSAND fans of the opposing team EVERY FUCKING WEEK! I feel bad that Stafford and Donald and Kupp have to endure this for the remainder of their careers instead of enjoying the applause and cheering and appreciation that every other team gets in their home field. Kroenke might have made billions moving this team to LA but I'm sure he never expected the lack of support from the hometown.

 

[Memphis Ram]

Well, that makes two unless you're just being sarcastic.

Not at all.

I believe that Morris has done a pretty good job this year given what he has to work with via the defensive personnel. He's got Aaron Donald and a bunch of guys out there. And IMO, the defense is doing better than the offense all things considered.

Given the personnel decisions this off season, the offense is what was supposed to be carrying this team this year. The offense is the one that hasn't held up its end of the bargain.

 

[Memphis Ram]

What's with all of the drive killing drops this year?
Kyren vs. 49ers (led to pick)
Puka vs. Eagles or Bengals or both (I forget)
Kupp vs. Steelers to start game and Higbee towards the end.

Game changers.

 

[Tano]

What's with all of the drive killing drops this year?
Kyren vs. 49ers (led to pick)
Puka vs. Eagles or Bengals or both (I forget)
Kupp vs. Steelers to start game and Higbee towards the end.

Game changers.

I like his gameplan with his secondary much more than last year but he has a few weaknesses

1) Why is Kendrick in the game
2) Why is Hoecht at OLB - should be DE at best
3) His pass rush is fairly non-existent for the most part
4) No turnovers at all

 

[Ramstien]

I agree Memphis, McVay needs to do better, in his game management and play calling.

 

[Dodgersrf]

It is the little things that drive you crazy. Rams need a kicker because they could not afford to keep Matt Gay. They decided to bring in two highly touted non drafted college kickers in Christopher Dunn of NC State the Lou Groza Award Winner & Tanner Brown of Oklahoma State the runner up to the Groza Award.

Dunn is surprisingly cut during OTA's, he didn't even make it to training camp, the reason given is that Brown is just so much better, the Rams felt cutting Dunn thus committing to Brown was the best thing to do. No reason is given for Dunn's abrupt departure, but some of that was his inability to kickoff, however, punter Ethan Evans was handling that duty, so unless they just felt they needed somebody to do that incase of injury, didn't think it was a major factor, but that is one of the reasons given.

Tanner Brown isn't given much of a chance in preseason, however, misses two makeable kicks and the Rams cut Brown and look for a veteran to solidify the special teams.

Enter Brett Maher, who, quite frankly has a big leg, but is one of the most inconsistent kickers to come around and once he misses, that can linger the whole game costing his team accordingly. However, the Rams watched Maher in the workouts & scrimmage with the Denver Broncos and decided he was their guy.

In fairness to Maher, it was nice that he had a huge leg and the Rams asked to kick from well beyond 50 yards, he had a few hiccups, but was doing okay until yesterday and many of us felt this would happen and it did and thus, that is what makes it so frustrating.

Not sure who they will bring in to replace Maher, my guess, if healthy is Zane Gonzalez who kicked for Special Teams Coach Chase Blackburn in Carolina. Gonzalez does not have Maher's range, but has been accurate, however, his issue has been injuries and he was thus injured with the 49ers this season during training camp.

Besides Gonzalez two kickers on practice squads are Lucas Havirsik (Browns) & Cade York (Titans) both have big legs, however, York struggled with consistency although he was a high draft pick & Havirsik has not kicked during the regular season.

The reason I was upset is because I felt the Rams could have easily acquired Dustin Hopkins from the Chargers, which the Browns did for like a 2025 7th round pick. Hopkins was consistent although lacked the ability beyond 50+ yards, but at the time that was not what the Rams were looking for. Hopkins has kicked well for the Browns.

Great post, Den.

 

[Tano]

It is the little things that drive you crazy. Rams need a kicker because they could not afford to keep Matt Gay.

That's the thing that makes me grumble the most. They could have resigned Gay at a low first year salary with bonus money. Again I keep going on about the CAP going up a lot next year due to the new TV contracts. (Someone tell me I am wrong that the CAP is not going up as much as I think.)

 

[majrleaged]

I don't get how that could be an oversight either. I'm sure a lot of thinking by supposedly intelligent professionals goes into scheduling.

Scheduling is dificult. Events, some stadiums have 2 teams. You get the picture. Rams were percieved as tanking anyway and take away bye weeks by opponits makes it easier. So it wont mater. We will make up for it next year. Just a possible explanation.

 

[Angry Ram]

Congrats on your win yesterday.

And a congratufuckinlations for a snark ass comment that added absolutely nothing.

 

[gabriel18]

I think the world of Stafford , but he always seems to make at least one big mistake every game. Yesterday it was costly. One thing that doesn’t get mentioned much is how he constantly checks out of plays that result in nothing. Maybe stick with the original play , because what you’re checking to isn’t working.

 

[Psycho_X]

I wish one of our players was dating Taylor Swift so we could get fans in LA willing to pay to go to them.

 

[Neil039]

FUDGE

 

[Oregonram]

Not a good game by Stafford. He needs to stop trying to chuck it downfield on every pass play. More than once he forced the ball deep and missed and I was yelling toss it to Henderson standing at the line of scrimmage no ones around him... the Rams are too impatient with their play calling.

One of Matt’s boyhood QB heroes is Brett Favre…and he is sometimes careless with the ball like Favre…

 

[Oregonram]

Was it the offense that gave up 14pts, allowed nearly 12-minutes of possession and 192 yards in the fourth quarter?

Partially yes…when the offense can’t convert a 3rd down in the 4th quarter, they are hurting your defense.

 

[Tumak61]

I don't know about getting robbed. That penalty on Witherspoon was a wash. The spot at the end of the game was bad, but would have been overturned if McVay had saved just one timeout.
Rams got 3 1st downs from penalties. Steelers got none.
Ram mistakes lost this one.

 

[snackdaddy]

Plenty of blame to go around with every loss. Bottom line is, we're not that good. Pittsburgh might be a marginal team but they're better than we are. We got beat by a better team. Its that simple. We're gonna have more losses to better teams this year.

Remember Demoff's letter? Wasn't hard to read between the lines. He was trying to warn the fans what was coming.

We got excited because we caught a couple teams who weren't quite ready coming out of the gate. Now that the season's a third of the way through we're starting to see who teams really are. And who we really are.

 

[Kupped]

Was it the offense that gave up 14pts, allowed nearly 12-minutes of possession and 192 yards in the fourth quarter?

Nope.

And I’ve already said the D wasn’t good

Buy that unit has been appreciably better than. I expected, given the personnel.

If the kicker makes one of those kicks and Stafford doesn’t throw the int, Rams win.

The starting DBs are 6th round picks and a vet min.

 

[den-the-coach]

If the kicker makes one of those kicks and Stafford doesn’t throw the int, Rams win.

I agree, need to look at other kickers maybe Zane Gonzalez if he is finally healthy. And I did not like the call to open the quarter with a pass, should have started with a run, it appeared the Steelers were thinking pass IMO.