What I liked / Didn't like....

[CoachO]

Liked:

Pass protection for Sam
Cook-One unlucky play but huge signing for us.
Resolve of this team to not give up and come back to win.
Quinn-He kept us in the game almost single handed on D.
Mcdonlad-Kid may be a heck of a find.

Didn't like:

So sick of this soft coverage. If Jenkins and Finnegan are supposed to be so good, play press already.Every couch QB can see a quick slant is coming when Jenkins is 10 yards off. Man the F up already.
I don't think I heard Olgetree's name once.
Schotty-Not sure what to make of the play calling. We can't get 3 points with 1st and goal and the 5.
We got the last fumble but too many times the bounce goes against us. Hope that changes.
Finnegan-Not sure if he's on the decline or just a bad game. But he has me worried.
Penalties. They better run sprints until they get every stupid idea out of their heads.

More I didn't like about THIS game but at the end of the day it's a W.

But if our D plays soft against ATL we are in big trouble.

And now that I got that out let's move on to next week!

I'm glad someone else here is seeing what I'm seeing. It's really starting to piss me off that the Rams continue to play soft, off-man coverage. They are giving opposing QB's free plays. I thought the preseason was just "vanilla" defensive playcalling. It's looking like that's how they're going to play. They let WR's have the short receptions to prevent the big plays. I thought they played soft last year because they knew their safeties were bad. That shouldn't be an excuse this year. They're better. So why are they still playing 10 yards off?

And as for Finnegan specifically, he's been declining since the middle of last season. I personally think he's lost a step. We'll see.

I was at the game, and it wasn't "off man" coverage that was being exploited. When AZ went to their 4 WR package, and in a lot of the Nickel situations, the Rams stayed in Cover 2 Zone. Again, this is starting to become a mantra of Fisher's defense, they are not going to get beat deep, and instead give up a lot of intermediate stuff in zone coverage.

On the rare occurrences they actually brought in Giordano, and went to a dime package, they were able to play more man, matching up with the 4 wides.

IMO, this is the one thing that I was uneasy about. Bruce Arians won the coaching matchup with our new Def. Coordinator, Tim Walton most of the day. It was based on personnel groupings as much as playcalling. And we got caught having to switch out of man, and into zone much more than I think they wanted to.

 

[RamBall]

Likes:
Rams win
Quinn is a beast
Bradford to Cook is almost unstoppable
GZ perfect
rookies contributing in a positive manner
Pass protection
Safeties layin some wood
DL getting pressure with just 4 man rush

Dislikes:
stupid, pointless penalties
pass D, too many wide open WRs
lack of TDs in the redzone
stupid, pointless penalties

 

[bwdenverram]

Liked:

Pass protection for Sam
Cook-One unlucky play but huge signing for us.
Resolve of this team to not give up and come back to win.
Quinn-He kept us in the game almost single handed on D.
Mcdonlad-Kid may be a heck of a find.

Didn't like:

So sick of this soft coverage. If Jenkins and Finnegan are supposed to be so good, play press already.Every couch QB can see a quick slant is coming when Jenkins is 10 yards off. Man the F up already.
I don't think I heard Olgetree's name once.
Schotty-Not sure what to make of the play calling. We can't get 3 points with 1st and goal and the 5.
We got the last fumble but too many times the bounce goes against us. Hope that changes.
Finnegan-Not sure if he's on the decline or just a bad game. But he has me worried.
Penalties. They better run sprints until they get every stupid idea out of their heads.

More I didn't like about THIS game but at the end of the day it's a W.

But if our D plays soft against ATL we are in big trouble.

And now that I got that out let's move on to next week!

I'm glad someone else here is seeing what I'm seeing. It's really starting to piss me off that the Rams continue to play soft, off-man coverage. They are giving opposing QB's free plays. I thought the preseason was just "vanilla" defensive playcalling. It's looking like that's how they're going to play. They let WR's have the short receptions to prevent the big plays. I thought they played soft last year because they knew their safeties were bad. That shouldn't be an excuse this year. They're better. So why are they still playing 10 yards off?

And as for Finnegan specifically, he's been declining since the middle of last season. I personally think he's lost a step. We'll see.

I was at the game, and it wasn't "off man" coverage that was being exploited. When AZ went to their 4 WR package, and in a lot of the Nickel situations, the Rams stayed in Cover 2 Zone. Again, this is starting to become a mantra of Fisher's defense, they are not going to get beat deep, and instead give up a lot of intermediate stuff in zone coverage.

On the rare occurrences they actually brought in Giordano, and went to a dime package, they were able to play more man, matching up with the 4 wides.

IMO, this is the one thing that I was uneasy about. Bruce Arians won the coaching matchup with our new Def. Coordinator, Tim Walton most of the day. It was based on personnel groupings as much as playcalling. And we got caught having to switch out of man, and into zone much more than I think they wanted to.

Coach- In your opinion then do you think Jenkins tends to play to far off at times? I can't imagine it's always by design. Seems like when it's 3rd and 5-8 yards he gets beat more times than not on quick slants. The bend but don't break defense I just don't like. I mean I get it to a point but it would seem to defeat the purpose of some of the talented CB's we do have. But that's just my amature opinion of course.

 

[fearsomefour]

Likes:
Bradford accuracy (I know, mostly underneath stuff)
No sacks
Williams play at LG
Cook certainly looks like a major mismatch
Quinn doing his thing....and a couple of nice inside moves
7 or 8 different guys caught passes
Not allowing Peterson to impact the game on ST

Dislike:
A terrible challenge on Quicks' catch
personal foul penalties
Two times have a first down inside the Cards 5; -6 yards offense and two FG.
Lack of any sort of power running game (see above)
No inside passrush from the DTs

Will be interesting moving forward. I think Atlanta really presents a great challenge. With Dallas on the road and then SF I was hoping for a 2-2 record after 4 games....that was reliant on winning a division game week one vs an improved opponent.
Good win....not pretty, but, I will certainly take it.

There was nothing wrong with challenging that play. They wanted to get it right, and even if they didn't get the TD, it gave them time to rest and select the right play call for the next play which wound up being one of the best playcalls all game.

The problem with the challenge is it was not close to being a TD. His knee was down clearly before he crossed. If you want to take a time out, take a time out and save your challenge. I dont like when challenges are wasted on plays that have no chance of being overturned.

 

[Graphicker]

Sam looked like he grew pair of balls and has full control of this team.
The Fumble and Pick did not demoralized this team. Second time since the Redskin's games I've seen us
pull a furious comeback. He shows emotion now and is no longer a Sambot. The dude has grown ten folds and knows
that the pressure is on. He's such a clutch beast as well. Det, San Fran, Seattle, Dolphins and Bills. The man makes
great decisions when the pressure is on and I love that.

What I didn't like was that Givens went missing. But he went up against PP! Whose a top 10 CB or 5 arguably.
Heck of a game. Reminded me of the 2004 game At Seattle when we were getting smashed. But Marc and co came back.
SHAUN MCDONALD!! COMEBACK COMPLETE.. Those words still give me chills.

We are watching the growth of Sam Bradford. It's been a hell of a up and down ride, I do hope that this is the year our patience
is rewarded. Jared Cook is an animal.. Such a mismatch..

 

[CoachO]

Liked:

Pass protection for Sam
Cook-One unlucky play but huge signing for us.
Resolve of this team to not give up and come back to win.
Quinn-He kept us in the game almost single handed on D.
Mcdonlad-Kid may be a heck of a find.

Didn't like:

So sick of this soft coverage. If Jenkins and Finnegan are supposed to be so good, play press already.Every couch QB can see a quick slant is coming when Jenkins is 10 yards off. Man the F up already.
I don't think I heard Olgetree's name once.
Schotty-Not sure what to make of the play calling. We can't get 3 points with 1st and goal and the 5.
We got the last fumble but too many times the bounce goes against us. Hope that changes.
Finnegan-Not sure if he's on the decline or just a bad game. But he has me worried.
Penalties. They better run sprints until they get every stupid idea out of their heads.

More I didn't like about THIS game but at the end of the day it's a W.

But if our D plays soft against ATL we are in big trouble.

And now that I got that out let's move on to next week!

I'm glad someone else here is seeing what I'm seeing. It's really starting to piss me off that the Rams continue to play soft, off-man coverage. They are giving opposing QB's free plays. I thought the preseason was just "vanilla" defensive playcalling. It's looking like that's how they're going to play. They let WR's have the short receptions to prevent the big plays. I thought they played soft last year because they knew their safeties were bad. That shouldn't be an excuse this year. They're better. So why are they still playing 10 yards off?

And as for Finnegan specifically, he's been declining since the middle of last season. I personally think he's lost a step. We'll see.

I was at the game, and it wasn't "off man" coverage that was being exploited. When AZ went to their 4 WR package, and in a lot of the Nickel situations, the Rams stayed in Cover 2 Zone. Again, this is starting to become a mantra of Fisher's defense, they are not going to get beat deep, and instead give up a lot of intermediate stuff in zone coverage.

On the rare occurrences they actually brought in Giordano, and went to a dime package, they were able to play more man, matching up with the 4 wides.

IMO, this is the one thing that I was uneasy about. Bruce Arians won the coaching matchup with our new Def. Coordinator, Tim Walton most of the day. It was based on personnel groupings as much as playcalling. And we got caught having to switch out of man, and into zone much more than I think they wanted to.

Coach- In your opinion then do you think Jenkins tends to play to far off at times? I can't imagine it's always by design. Seems like when it's 3rd and 5-8 yards he gets beat more times than not on quick slants. The bend but don't break defense I just don't like. I mean I get it to a point but it would seem to defeat the purpose of some of the talented CB's we do have. But that's just my amature opinion of course.

Trust me, that is very much by design. There is no way they let that happen unless they are coaching him to do it. It's not just Jenkins. When HE is "off", if you look across the field, Johnson most likely is too.

If you watch, when they DID play man coverage, Jenkins was able to make plays on the ball most of the day. I get there are times, when they just don't get the match ups to stay in man coverage. Its not as simple as just coming out and saying we will MATCH UP and play press man coverage.

Arizona did a real good job of dictating this most of the day. They used Fitzgerald in the slot quite a bit, and motioned him to get him in the soft spots. Andre Roberts is VERY under rated as a 3rd WR, and Michael Floyd looks like the guy they drafted.

I think part of the thing you saw, by having #11 in the slot, they had him isolated on Finnegan, and the Rams realized that was NOT in their best interest to play straight man coverage in that case. Hence, my comment that Arians won the coaching duel with Walton. HE forced the Rams to play much more zone than they wanted to.

 

[Rabid Ram]

Sam looked like he grew pair of balls and has full control of this team.
The Fumble and Pick did not demoralized this team. Second time since the Redskin's games I've seen us
pull a furious comeback. He shows emotion now and is no longer a Sambot. The dude has grown ten folds and knows
that the pressure is on. He's such a clutch beast as well. Det, San Fran, Seattle, Dolphins and Bills. The man makes
great decisions when the pressure is on and I love that.

What I didn't like was that Givens went missing. But he went up against PP! Whose a top 10 CB or 5 arguably.
Heck of a game. Reminded me of the 2004 game At Seattle when we were getting smashed. But Marc and co came back.
SHAUN MCDONALD!! COMEBACK COMPLETE.. Those words still give me chills.

We are watching the growth of Sam Bradford. It's been a hell of a up and down ride, I do hope that this is the year our patience
is rewarded. Jared Cook is an animal.. Such a mismatch..

Givens did his part he kept pp out of play and helped keep cook and co down the middle open for Bradford

 

[GreeneCounty]

Schotty needs to get creative. So sick of this bad play calling on offense.

 

[had]

Sam looked like he grew pair of balls and has full control of this team.
The Fumble and Pick did not demoralized this team. Second time since the Redskin's games I've seen us
pull a furious comeback. He shows emotion now and is no longer a Sambot. The dude has grown ten folds and knows
that the pressure is on. He's such a clutch beast as well. Det, San Fran, Seattle, Dolphins and Bills. The man makes
great decisions when the pressure is on and I love that.

What I didn't like was that Givens went missing. But he went up against PP! Whose a top 10 CB or 5 arguably.
Heck of a game. Reminded me of the 2004 game At Seattle when we were getting smashed. But Marc and co came back.
SHAUN MCDONALD!! COMEBACK COMPLETE.. Those words still give me chills.

We are watching the growth of Sam Bradford. It's been a hell of a up and down ride, I do hope that this is the year our patience
is rewarded. Jared Cook is an animal.. Such a mismatch..

I think this is a good post.

Bradford has, to my eye, improved significantly. Effectively rolling away from pressure and hitting receivers on the run. Draw for 2. Suffering a pick 6 semi-fluke and bringing the game back when, I promise, half the bitches on this forum were throwing their diapers across the room.

Bradford. The real deal? Seems so. And that's the biggest development in 10 years.

Other than that, I am disappointed in Finnegan. Got punked. Played like a punk. Come on Finnegan. Come on.

 

[DegenR(g)ambler]

Liked:

Pass protection for Sam
Cook-One unlucky play but huge signing for us.
Resolve of this team to not give up and come back to win.
Quinn-He kept us in the game almost single handed on D.
Mcdonlad-Kid may be a heck of a find.

Didn't like:

So sick of this soft coverage. If Jenkins and Finnegan are supposed to be so good, play press already.Every couch QB can see a quick slant is coming when Jenkins is 10 yards off. Man the F up already.
I don't think I heard Olgetree's name once.
Schotty-Not sure what to make of the play calling. We can't get 3 points with 1st and goal and the 5.
We got the last fumble but too many times the bounce goes against us. Hope that changes.
Finnegan-Not sure if he's on the decline or just a bad game. But he has me worried.
Penalties. They better run sprints until they get every stupid idea out of their heads.

More I didn't like about THIS game but at the end of the day it's a W.

But if our D plays soft against ATL we are in big trouble.

And now that I got that out let's move on to next week!

I'm glad someone else here is seeing what I'm seeing. It's really starting to piss me off that the Rams continue to play soft, off-man coverage. They are giving opposing QB's free plays. I thought the preseason was just "vanilla" defensive playcalling. It's looking like that's how they're going to play. They let WR's have the short receptions to prevent the big plays. I thought they played soft last year because they knew their safeties were bad. That shouldn't be an excuse this year. They're better. So why are they still playing 10 yards off?

And as for Finnegan specifically, he's been declining since the middle of last season. I personally think he's lost a step. We'll see.

I was at the game, and it wasn't "off man" coverage that was being exploited. When AZ went to their 4 WR package, and in a lot of the Nickel situations, the Rams stayed in Cover 2 Zone. Again, this is starting to become a mantra of Fisher's defense, they are not going to get beat deep, and instead give up a lot of intermediate stuff in zone coverage.

On the rare occurrences they actually brought in Giordano, and went to a dime package, they were able to play more man, matching up with the 4 wides.

IMO, this is the one thing that I was uneasy about. Bruce Arians won the coaching matchup with our new Def. Coordinator, Tim Walton most of the day. It was based on personnel groupings as much as playcalling. And we got caught having to switch out of man, and into zone much more than I think they wanted to.

Well coach I'll say this, if we play that "off" on the receivers next wk at Atlanta we will get destroyed. That qb and those receivers will pick us apart. Promise.

 

[bluecoconuts]

In order to beat Atlanta we probably need to do it via shootout. Especially since they are at home and pissed from dropping the opener.

I think Bradford can hang with anyone in the league for a shootout. However we don't have the offensive weapons that Atlanta has, so its going to be real difficult. A good measuring stick though.

 

[RamsSince1969]

Not going for a QB sneak when it was 4th and 3 inches. That one bothered me.
Penalties. Not pressing the wideouts.

Likes: Come from behind win!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, biggest surprise of the game, Sam's QB Draw 2 point conversion! That was awesome.

 

[LumberTubs]

I would have liked to have seen more production from receivers other than Cook but, thinking about it, this might be indicative of how the offense looks in a lot of games this year. This week it was Cook putting up the numbers but next week it might be Austin in the slot (or wherever the hell else he finds himself) or Givens deep or the big wideouts like Quick/Pettis.

The good thing about this offense (and this has been said on here before) is that the opposition can't stop everyone. Atlanta might look to stop Cook based on what he did last night but that leaves others who can potentially step up and take advantage.

 

[albefree69]

bluecoconuts overestimating the Falcons weapons:
I think Bradford can hang with anyone in the league for a shootout. However we don't have the offensive weapons that Atlanta has, so its going to be real difficult. A good measuring stick though.

<a class="postlink" href="http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/09/08/roddy-white-admits-his-ankle-wont-be-healed-for-a-while/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... r-a-while/</a>

Roddy White admits his ankle won’t be healed for a while
Yes, Falcons receiver Roddy White played today. Yes, he played through an injury on Sunday, as he often has done during an NFL career that has seen him miss zero regular-season games.

Yes, White concedes that he’s not the guy he normally is because of a high ankle sprain suffered during the preseason.

“They wanted me in certain areas to do certain things so that they couldn’t just bracket guys,” White tells D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an article trapped behind a pay wall. “That’s what we did.”

In other words, White was in some respects a decoy. He was on the field, but he was impaired in comparison to what he otherwise can do.

“It’s hard to cut,” White said. “It’s hard to do just about everything at the position.”

The fact that White played is a testament to his toughness. But until that ankle heals, he won’t be as effective as he’s been in the past.

 

[bluecoconuts]

bluecoconuts overestimating the Falcons weapons:
I think Bradford can hang with anyone in the league for a shootout. However we don't have the offensive weapons that Atlanta has, so its going to be real difficult. A good measuring stick though.

<a class="postlink" href="http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/09/08/roddy-white-admits-his-ankle-wont-be-healed-for-a-while/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... r-a-while/</a>

Roddy White admits his ankle won’t be healed for a while
Yes, Falcons receiver Roddy White played today. Yes, he played through an injury on Sunday, as he often has done during an NFL career that has seen him miss zero regular-season games.

Yes, White concedes that he’s not the guy he normally is because of a high ankle sprain suffered during the preseason.

“They wanted me in certain areas to do certain things so that they couldn’t just bracket guys,” White tells D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an article trapped behind a pay wall. “That’s what we did.”

In other words, White was in some respects a decoy. He was on the field, but he was impaired in comparison to what he otherwise can do.

“It’s hard to cut,” White said. “It’s hard to do just about everything at the position.”

The fact that White played is a testament to his toughness. But until that ankle heals, he won’t be as effective as he’s been in the past.

Good, we can stick Johnson on him, tell Jenkins to stick to Julio like underwear, and Finnegan can redeem himself against Douglas.

 

[Selassie I]

I'll tell you what bugged me more than anything else watching the game yesterday....

That fucking retard ronde barber. Worst color guy I've heard during any NFL game. I pray he doesn't get assigned to any more of our games.


I saw lots of growth in our team... enjoyed the typical hard fought division WIN. Never easy to get those.


btw... fuck ronde barber... he needs to be permanently assigned to tampon games only.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Likes:
Rams win
Quinn is a beast
Bradford to Cook is almost unstoppable
GZ perfect
rookies contributing in a positive manner
Pass protection
Safeties layin some wood
DL getting pressure with just 4 man rush

Dislikes:
stupid, pointless penalties
pass D, too many wide open WRs
lack of TDs in the redzone
stupid, pointless penalties

I like this list.

Will add;

Like:
Another division win. This team keeps doing it.
DR's quickness.
Came away in pretty good health.
SB delivers another 4th quarter come back.
Even when down, the coaches stayed patient (we/fans were the only ones panic'd)

Dislike:
We let Arizona set the tone of the game
Questionable offensive play calling. Conservative. At times... bonehead.
Soft "off-coverage" by the CB's
Run blocking needs work
Lack of toughness in the Redzone
Chris Long MIA
Would have liked to see more Stacy or Cunningham. DR was worked too much.

 

[DR RAM]

Liked, numbered, but not in order except for the win:

Defense

#1 Division win.

#2 T.J. McDonald was a complete beast, and McLeod looked like he belonged out there.

#3 Robert Quinn was a dominant player.

#4 Alec Ogletree played much better than people are giving him credit for--he was in on MANY plays.

#5 Tru Johnson's lights turned on in this game, he had a very sub-par preseason.

#6 Jermelle Cudjo, Matt Conrath, William Hayes, and Eugene Sims all made impacts in the game.

#7 Special teams played pretty good, special mention to Bates, Daniels, Ray-Ray, and Giordano in coverage.

Offense

#1 Division win.

#2 Not many drops.

#3 Jared Cook IS the Cookie Monster.

#4 Bradford brought us back, and played tough.

#5 Richardson looked explosive.

#6 Chris Williams opened up some holes.

#7 Harvey Dahl opened some holes.

#8 Both tackles played tough.

#9 Greg Zeurlein was perfect.

#10 Johnny Hekker kept Peterson out of the game.

#11 Kendricks is back, and made a few nice plays.

Didn't like:

Offense and Defense

#1 Arizona dictated the game. Almost like they knew our plays.

#2 Offensive playcalling at times.

#3 Defensive playcalling at times, especially on a couple of 3rd down calls. Nobody covering Fitz on one, and Brockers dropping back to cover Roberts....

#4 Not enough push in the middle for our big guys.

#5 Way too much pressure given up in the middle. Our A gaps were a sieve all day.

#6 Redzone offense needs work.

#7 Richardson needs to do a better job in blitz pickup. He basically whiffed on a third and goal, where we only had one viable option on the play, allowing pressure in Bradford's face, and an early throw.

#8 Finnegan played like a has-a-been, and really did some stupid shit out there.

#9 Janoris needs to clean his game up just a little, he could have made more plays.

#10 Saw some sloppy routes, which would NOT have resulted in first downs. One of them that stuck out was by Quick.

#11 Too many penalties, come on guys.

#12 Chris Long had a couple of pressures, but didn't really impact the game.

#13 Tavon Austin didn't really make anybody miss in this game.

#14 Not enough targets to Givens, and not enough deep shots to loosen up the defense.

#15 Too much pressure, and a couple bad line calls, you have to fire out on the defensive lineman, right at their bellies on those short lateral passes.

 

[-X-]

#5 Way too much pressure given up in the middle. Our A gaps were a sieve all day.

Thank you. I was banging that drum all day yesterday. Nowhere for Bradford to step up, and that's gotta change. Clearly AZ's 3-4 defense can prevent problems in that regard, but still... I really hope that's priority number one in the meeting rooms.

 

[DR RAM]

#5 Way too much pressure given up in the middle. Our A gaps were a sieve all day.

Thank you. I was banging that drum all day yesterday. Nowhere for Bradford to step up, and that's gotta change. Clearly AZ's 3-4 defense can prevent problems in that regard, but still... I really hope that's priority number one in the meeting rooms.

It should be. Looks like they were getting that on delayed blitzes, after our lineman already chose to help each other. Show a little more patience, keep your body in a better square position on help, so that you can still eyeball and protect your gap.