Week 4: Rams at Chicago Vent thread. Thread will be locked in 24 hours

[OldSchool]

One pretty funny thing in here, and I love a good laugh so thank you, is the number of people who said last week things like "we can lose the rest of the games and it's still a good season", and things like that. Some of those people are venting and complaining the hardest. Always entertaining

 

[snackdaddy]

Hang in there. If we were healthy we'd be 3-1. 70 percent of the league is 2-2 or worse right now. If we lose this week then it might be time to embrace the tank (which we won't of course but we should lol).

Not sure I can agree with that. The defense is not suffering the injuries the offense has had. Other than JJ3 they've pretty much been healthy. The offense would have to be playing at a high level week after week. Not sure any offense can do that.

 

[DzRams]

Not sure I can agree with that. The defense is not suffering the injuries the offense has had. Other than JJ3 they've pretty much been healthy. The offense would have to be playing at a high level week after week. Not sure any offense can do that.

That's how this team is structured. The offense is supposed to be elite and carry the defense.

The defense is one of the youngest in the league and it's the cheapest in the league. It has some talent but it's developing talent. The expectation should be that it's going to struggle.

 

[Ram_Rally]

Not sure I can agree with that. The defense is not suffering the injuries the offense has had. Other than JJ3 they've pretty much been healthy. The offense would have to be playing at a high level week after week. Not sure any offense can do that.

I hear you for sure. We're not really designed to win games defensively though. We're designed to outscore our opponents like the chiefs teams before last year. So if we had better drives then we'd probably score more points and keep our defense out of harms way more. We lost to the lions in overtime and loss to the bears in a low scoring game where we couldn't score TDS. I'm confident we have more points than we did if the offense was healthy.

 

[Merlin]

While I agree with every single item of this post, it seems to me the offense has underperformed more than the defense has. The offense is supposed to be a top unit that carries this team, but I have no confidence that they can score enough points to beat anyone.

They scored 18 today and 7 of Chicago's points was on the offensive unit. They scored a net 10. Yet most people want to talk about the defense. ‍

Players matter. The opponent quality matters. This offense was facing a top defense without their top two receiving weapons and an iffy depth player at LG. They could have performed better and kept us in it but what we saw are the types of things that happen against a defense like Chicago's. So sure, the offense disappointed. No doubt about it.

But to win that game required a big outing by the defense and that did not happen.

Both sides of the ball showed some good things. Bottom line though if you want to contend you will need to be able to do two things:

1. Win shootouts. This means your offense can elevate when your defense is being overpowered and get the dub.

2. Win defensive scrums. This means your defense can elevate when your offense is being overpowered and get the dub.

This is because in the playoffs you face opponents with great units that can dictate. You will face great defenses. Look at the GSoT in '99. Were they a shit offense because they required our defense to keep us in that game vs Tampa? Of course not. But that team had greatness on both sides of the ball fortunately.

 

[DzRams]

Players matter. The opponent quality matters. This offense was facing a top defense without their top two receiving weapons and an iffy depth player at LG. They could have performed better and kept us in it but what we saw are the types of things that happen against a defense like Chicago's. So sure, the offense disappointed. No doubt about it.

But to win that game required a big outing by the defense and that did not happen.

Both sides of the ball showed some good things. Bottom line though if you want to contend you will need to be able to do two things:

1. Win shootouts. This means your offense can elevate when your defense is being overpowered and get the dub.

2. Win defensive scrums. This means your defense can elevate when your offense is being overpowered and get the dub.

This is because in the playoffs you face opponents with great units that can dictate. You will face great defenses. Look at the GSoT in '99. Were they a shit offense because they required our defense to keep us in that game vs Tampa? Of course not. But that team had greatness on both sides of the ball fortunately.

I don't disagree with any of this.

We shouldn't expect big outings by the defense at this point. They're essentially the youngest and cheapest in the league. Maybe we can expect improvement by the end of the year but it's not realistic to expect them to carry the offense or win defensive scrums at this stage.

Which of course is why the injuries on offense are so damaging. That unit is supposed to be consistently carrying the team.

 

[Merlin]

I don't disagree with any of this.

We shouldn't expect big outings by the defense at this point. They're essentially the youngest and cheapest in the league. Maybe we can expect improvement by the end of the year but it's not realistic to expect them to carry the offense or win defensive scrums at this stage.

Which of course is why the injuries on offense are so damaging. That unit is supposed to be consistently carrying the team.

Yesterday was the game for the defense to dominate. We needed them and I was certain they were going to show up but they did not dominate.

The offense will be able to carry things vs units that are not top units. They're just not gonna score a ton of points on defenses like Chicago's.

 

[DzRams]

Yesterday was the game for the defense to dominate. We needed them and I was certain they were going to show up but they did not dominate.

The offense will be able to carry things vs units that are not top units. They're just not gonna score a ton of points on defenses like Chicago's.

Then at least for this year we will lose against the Chicagos of the world. If the offense can only carry things versus average units, we won't go far this year. Hopefully, this outlook changes with a return to health for the offense.

Asking the defense to dominate against anyone is unrealistic.

 

[Loyal]

Nobody was good enough Sunday. It was discouraging watching the team get slowly overwhelmed, like a scene in Saving Private Ryan. The Jewish soldier fighting hand to hand with the bigger German soldier was on his back while the German slowly plunged the knife into his chest. Just horrible.
I know for me, beating the Niners is like having an ice cream Sunday which is so tasty! But without meat and potatoes of consistently playing well, the sunday doesn’t satisfy.

 

[Merlin]

Asking the defense to dominate against anyone is unrealistic.

Bullshit.

They should have dominated Chicago's offense. That OL is fucking shit. Plenty of blame to go around in this game. But the heaviest lies on Shula and his boys.

 

[Faceplant]

Parkinson was supposed to be a red zone target wasn't he?? Have we even thrown to him in the RZ yet this season??? That game was there for the taking and they blew it. Super depressing season thus far.

 

[DzRams]

Bullshit.

They should have dominated Chicago's offense. That OL is fucking shit. Plenty of blame to go around in this game. But the heaviest lies on Shula and his boys.

I think you're overestimating what we have on D. Strong outings? Maybe. Domination? No.

But we can agree to disagree.

 

[Loyal]

Bullshit.

They should have dominated Chicago's offense. That OL is fucking shit. Plenty of blame to go around in this game. But the heaviest lies on Shula and his boys.

Shula hater!i

 

[Ram_Rally]

Williams completed 17 passes and only had 150 yards as well. Lots of checking down in there. Where the heck was the pursuit?

 

[Mackeyser]

I hated the whole scenario where we lost Jones. My thoughts were.. “There has to be a legit reason for this”. Im not sure what it was, contractual, locker room issues, or something else. I am definitely not a fan of Reeder or Rozeboom. We will have to see how it all plays out over the season. I hated losing Ogletree and Littleton. Both turned out to be savy moves by McSnead. As of the beginning of week 4 Reeder has more tackles than Jones and Rozeboom has just 2 less. I don’t know if the lynch pin to our defensive woes is the trade of Jones. Time will tell.

Yeah, McVay seemed pissed about it and uncharacteristically took offense when questioned about “best for the football team” or whatever.

Something happened and we have no idea, but either he was sent away without McVay’s approval and he was pissed about that or something pissed off McVay so much that EJ got sent away.

As a fan, I’d like to know, but it doesn’t change anything about this season… we still are lacking in fundamentals and Rozeboom and Reader aren’t the only ones on D not tackling or taking bad angles.

I don’t know if this is a rocky start or a rebuild season… and I don’t think the Packer game will tell us, either…

 

[A.J. Hicks]

Can we get a game without Mark Sanchez doing the commentary!

 

[Tano]

One thing I couldn't understand was why we weren't playing close to the line on most plays.

Williams pretty much only threw short passes.

If we played tight coverages, I doubt Williams gets 100 yards passing.

He is definitely not ready for the NFL yet. And I stress yet since there are some people who think I am a Williams hater.

I think he is going to be good eventually but it will take time for him to learn the game.

 

[Merlin]

Yeah, McVay seemed pissed about it and uncharacteristically took offense when questioned about “best for the football team” or whatever.

Something happened and we have no idea, but either he was sent away without McVay’s approval and he was pissed about that or something pissed off McVay so much that EJ got sent away.

McVay also said Jones was behind on their scheme install due to missing time from the knee. So if the Rams thought he was milking that injury out and wasn't all-in mentally due to his contract status, that is reason to move the player. We will never know of course, unless someday one of the Rams brain trust come out with it. But they're not stupid. They're not gonna move Jones unless they are feeling like the dropoff vs BS factor is close enough to say fuck it.

I also think they were impressed by Speights, and possibly Hummel as well, given how well they played in preseason. The problem was they didn't stop to think that their plan to play Reeder and Rozeboom for so many games might blow up in their faces, which it certainly has.

For myself I won't say this is a mistake until I get a load of Speights in a few games this season. Because if the plan was to work him in anyway, due to Jones leaving in FA and his knee issues and lesser range, then the trade makes more sense. If Speights comes in and looks like he doesn't have a future then yeah this will go down as a big mistake of a trade. But sometimes the players make the trades possible and we don't know what happened behind the scenes.

 

[Merlin]

Can we get a game without Mark Sanchez doing the commentary!

Don't worry by week 8 you'll be a card carrying member of the man-bun community with Mark and our very own @Loyal.

 

[dieterbrock]

So the Rams lost on the road in Chicago. Thats the NFL. Road games arent easy and this Bears team is improved from years past.
Look at this year's survivor results to see how many teams have lost games they "should have" won