Well, it’s been half a day since the final gun...

[majrleaged]

Rams missed on two close plays which could have been tds. If Reynolds and Cooks had made those plays, Goff would have had 7 passing tds. What would the story line have been then?

Since ifs are in vogue right now, on the bomb to #10, if AD wasn't held he would of had another strip sack because his hand was only a foot away from knocking the ball out on Mahomes back swing. I mean come on. The rams were the better team. They are the better team.

 

[Rams43]

OH, for the love of Pete...

We've faced since Week 3 without Talib: Cousins, Wilson, Keenum, Beathard, Rodgers, Brees, Wilson and Mahomes.

Other than Keenum who is capable as he showed this week beating the Chargers and Beathard, all of those are top QBs playing at a time when good offense is going to trump good defense on most plays. And we've gotten the BEST those teams could give and still ONLY have 1 loss to a team playing out of their minds IN their dome which is one of the toughest places to win outside of Seattle, NE and KC.

Now if we just won a 54-51 game against the Jets or Cardinals...then yeah, I'd be with you, but Mahomes and Brees are having record years, Rodgers and Wilson are exceptional and Cousins had a tremendous game in that loss.

You're saying, "I can't believe we got a D on defense" and I'm saying "well, considering this wasn't an algebra test, it was a thesis defense on non-Euclidian geometries in space time".

When we had an algebra test with Talib, we ACED it, 34-0 and the game wasn't that close. We aced our Calc exam against the Chargers 34-23 and it wasn't that close, either.

Negating the difficulty of an opponent removes all context.

Also, championship teams find a way to win these games. This team has found ways to win that other teams haven't.

You watch when Talib comes back. This defense is going to be HUNGRY. Our DL took some time to gear up and wasn't really going when Talib was playing and STILL only allowed 12 ppg. With our DL playing like this AND Talib back in the secondary... oof.

It's going to be a special 5 game stretch.

That was a masterful job of spin there, MacKeyser. My compliments, sir!

You almost make me want to apologize for pointing out that our scoring D has been a sieve lately.

But...

The following quote simply won’t get out of my head.

This is a quote from the OP.

Look, we just allowed 51 points to the Chiefs. We’ve allowed 282 points through 11 games, do the math. In the last 4 games Rams have allowed 154 points. That is not a misprint.

[www.espn.com]

No amount of spin will makes those facts disappear. Sorry.

Spin and rationalizations will be useless in the playoffs. You and I both know that. Wade either gets a handle on this Ram scoring D sieve or we flame out against the likes of the Saints. Period.

 

[Ramlock]

Since ifs are in vogue right now, on the bomb to #10, if AD wasn't held he would of had another strip sack because his hand was only a foot away from knocking the ball out on Mahomes back swing. I mean come on. The rams were the better team. They are the better team.

Watch the short pass to Conley with :27 left in the 2nd for a TD.

Aaron Donald was tackled, not held, flat out tackled, which sprung Mohomes to scramble and throw the TD pass.

At 6:28 of the video -


View: https://youtu.be/EyG-J7mVOSM

 

[I like Rams]

Also left out all the bad stuff going on with shootings, fires, cancelled practices, etc., etc. No media jock seems to mention that as a factor.

If all that wasn't going on, maybe Rams win 88-17!

They did last week against the hawks, but you know how media is. That was last weeks news. Don't mind the fact its only gotten worse.

 

[Mackeyser]

That was a masterful job of spin there, MacKeyser. My compliments, sir!

You almost make me want to apologize for pointing out that our scoring D has been a sieve lately.

But...

The following quote simply won’t get out of my head.

This is a quote from the OP.

Look, we just allowed 51 points to the Chiefs. We’ve allowed 282 points through 11 games, do the math. In the last 4 games Rams have allowed 154 points. That is not a misprint.

[www.espn.com]

No amount of spin will makes those facts disappear. Sorry.

Spin and rationalizations will be useless in the playoffs. You and I both know that. Wade either gets a handle on this Ram scoring D sieve or we flame out against the likes of the Saints. Period.

There is a massive difference between spin and context.

I was providing context. At no point did I assert that the Rams shouldn't be working hard on improving their defense.

Spin would have been either trying to assert that the Rams D is a top D, (it's not, at least without Talib) or making excuses for their poor play.

I am one who respects legit opponents and understand that sometimes an opponent scores or we don't score because the opponent won their assignments in an affirmative action, not that our guys failed. That negates the possibility of defeating a well executed play which we see happen often... just watch Aaron Donald!

We've played since week 3 when Talib went out, 6 of 8 teams capable of making the playoffs. That's context.

Unless you or anyone can make a legitimate case that anything short of an undefeated season for the Rams amounts to a failure on their part.

If you look at each game in context, we've seen plays made against us that are otherworldly...and we still win. So defeating very talented teams who are actually making tremendous plays is a testament to how good this team is as a whole team.

Of course the D can be better, but as constructed, we're missing the 2nd most critical defender and we haven't built the depth necessary to allow for this.

That's context, unless one can make the case that injuries shouldn't matter and it's all just helmets and "scoreboard".

 

[Rams43]

There is a massive difference between spin and context.

I was providing context. At no point did I assert that the Rams shouldn't be working hard on improving their defense.

Spin would have been either trying to assert that the Rams D is a top D, (it's not, at least without Talib) or making excuses for their poor play.

I am one who respects legit opponents and understand that sometimes an opponent scores or we don't score because the opponent won their assignments in an affirmative action, not that our guys failed. That negates the possibility of defeating a well executed play which we see happen often... just watch Aaron Donald!

We've played since week 3 when Talib went out, 6 of 8 teams capable of making the playoffs. That's context.

Unless you or anyone can make a legitimate case that anything short of an undefeated season for the Rams amounts to a failure on their part.

If you look at each game in context, we've seen plays made against us that are otherworldly...and we still win. So defeating very talented teams who are actually making tremendous plays is a testament to how good this team is as a whole team.

Of course the D can be better, but as constructed, we're missing the 2nd most critical defender and we haven't built the depth necessary to allow for this.

That's context, unless one can make the case that injuries shouldn't matter and it's all just helmets and "scoreboard".

First, let me say that you’re one of my favorite posters, Mackeyser. I make it a point to never miss a post of yours.

And all of the points you’ve made are valid, as far as they go.

But the Rams D has been a sieve for the last 4 games, in particular. That’s just a fact, and one must confront it.

One can rationalize or make excuses as to why until the cows come home, but the fact remains that Wade must get a handle on this and pdq.

Otherwise, a team like the Saints will ravage us in the playoffs. Just as they already did in Week 10.

To be fair, there are some hints of improvement with Fowler and Ebu, plus Talib’s return has gotta be a big boost. Let’s hope that Wade has, or gets a handle on this after our bye.

Good discussion, man.