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September 27, 2015 at 11:03 pm #31327
znModeratorRams Report Card: Offensive line, tight ends fail test
Jeff Gordon
Quarterback: C-
Nick Foles did a terrific job with the play-action passing scheme, but he needed a bit more help to produce points. He made the potential go-ahead play in the third quarter, hitting TE Lance Kendricks in stride streaking toward the end zone. But Kendricks dropped the ball. And when Foles tried again for Kendricks late in the fourth quarter, this time down the middle, safety Will Allen interceded an interception that helped doom the Rams.Running Backs: C
Heralded rookie Todd Gurley finally made his Rams debut after recovering from knee surgery, but he didn’t find much room to run. His big play was a 5-yard catch. Tre Mason got loose a few times, notably on a catch-and-run play that beat a Pittsburgh blitz and gained 15 yards. Benny Cunningham broke a 12-yard run for a first-down conversion in the second half and also caught two passes for 18 yards.Receivers: C
Kenny Britt had an outstanding game, catching seven passes for 102 yards and drawing a long pass interference penalty that set up a field goal. But he couldn’t quite hang on to a potential conversion pass on fourth down in the final two minutes. Tavon Austin made a couple of nice runs after catches, allowing him to gain 38 yards on five short receptions. Chris Givens used every bit of his speed to turn the corner for 24 yards on a jet sweep to set up the seconds Rams field goal.Tight Ends: F
Kendricks dropped a third-down pass at midfield to kill one of the Rams’ first-half drives. He also dropped a deep strike in the third quarter, taking a touchdown off the board. Jared Cook made a nice third-down catch over the middle, but ran his route just short of the first-down marker. He also committed a costly false start penalty in the fourth quarter and let a pass sail right through his hand in the final two minutes.Offensive Line: D-
OT Greg Robinson sabotaged a third quarter drive with an untimely holding penalty that wiped out a nice Mason run. He was also flagged for a red zone false start penalty in the fourth quarter. The front line wasn’t horrible in pass protection, allowing two sacks, but it failed to deliver a consistent run push against Pittsburgh’s Not Quite Steel Curtain. Mason and Gurley combined for just 25 yards on 15 carries. That helps explain the 2-for-10 conversion rate on third down.Defensive Line: A
As usual, all-world DT Aaron Donald penetrated the middle of the line time and again. He earned three tackles for losses on run plays and also sacked QB Ben Roethlisberger. DE Robert Quinn batted down a pass and sacked QB Michael Vick, forcing a fumble that Pittsburgh recovered. DT Michael Brokers blew up a third-and-goal run to force the Steelers to settle for a field goal.Linebackers: B
OLB Alec Ogletree delivered two sacks, including a timely one late in the first half to effectively kill the last Pittsburgh possession before the break. MLB James Laurinaitis had to play tag with explosive Steelers RB Le’Veon Bell a few times, but he did become the franchise’s all-time leading tackler during the game. The press box statistics credited him with four tackles and four assists.Secondary: A
CB Janoris Jenkins reversed the game’s momentum when he read a deep pass and secured the ball despite a collision. That led to a Rams field goal. CB Trumaine Johnson broke up a two-point conversion pass. S Mark Barron scored a blitz sack that snuffed out a drive and injured Roethlisberger. CB Lamarcus Joyner ended a fourth-quarter Steelers possession with a nice pass break-up. On the down side, Joyner got flagged for pass interference against TE Heath Miller near the goal line and officials later nailed Barron for defensive holding.Special Teams: C
K Greg Zuerlein kicked 49-yard and 27-yard field goals and his usual fine job on kickoffs. Austin’s 20-yard punt return in the fourth quarter gave the Rams decent fourth-quarter field position. On the down side, P Johnny Hekker came up a bit short on his fake punt pass to Stedman Bailey. The play was there, but the pass wasn’t. He also failed to pin the ball inside the 20 on a key third-quarter punt. A punt return holding penalty pinned the Rams back to their 12-yard line earlier in the fourth quarter and Darren Bates earned the rare kickoff offsides penalty in the fourth quarter.Coaching: C
The Rams were tactically and emotionally prepared to win this game. Their defensive scheme kept the explosive Steelers in check and kept the game within reach all afternoon. But some great play offensive calls didn’t pan out because of poor execution. Once again, the Rams found a way to lose a game that was there for them.September 28, 2015 at 1:37 am #31346znModeratorGame blog: Rams knock out Roethlisberger, still lose
Jim Thomas
Had the Rams known going in they’d hold Pittsburgh’s top-rated offense to 12 points, they would’ve liked their chances.
“Twelve points — you expect to win those,” defensive end Robert Quinn said. “But they held us to six. We’ve just got to do a little better.”
The Rams held Pittsburgh to just 2.8 yards per carry. They knocked quarterback Ben Roethlisberger out of the game with a knee injury in the third quarter, and sacked Roethlisberger and replacement Michael Vick a combined five times.
But when all was said and done, the Rams’ offense was punchless, limited to a pair of field goals in a 12-6 loss Sunday at the Edward Jones Dome.
“Well, six points isn’t going to win you a whole lot of games, and we’re averaging eight points a game the last two weeks and that’s not going to get it done for you,” coach Jeff Fisher said.
The Rams had a few chances, at least enough to put up a couple of touchdowns. But a wide open tight end Lance Kendricks dropped what looked like a deep touchdown pass from Nick Foles, saying he lost the ball in the lights.
In the fourth quarter, Foles forced another deep pass to Kendricks who had gotten behind a Pittsburgh linebacker on the play. But Foles didn’t account for Steelers safety Will Allen who swooped in for an interception and returned it 20 yards to the St. Louis 31, setting up a key Josh Scobee field goal for the game’s final points.
On the series prior to that interception, the Rams had a first-and-goal at the Pittsburgh 7, only to settle for the second of Greg Zuerlein’s two field goals. On a day when almost half of the announced crowd of 52,433 was waving Pittsburgh Terrible Towels, the Rams had to go to the silent count in the red zone because of crowd noise.
Two false starts helped thwart any chances for a touchdown on that drive.
The Rams’ last gasp came with 1:05 to play when a booth review overturned what originally was ruled a first-down catch by Kenny Britt on fourth-and-5 from the St. Louis 39.
You could make the case it was maybe inconclusive and then the call on the field stands,” Fisher said. “But (referee John Hussey) felt the ball was loose and that’s enough.”
So as was the case last week in Washington, the Rams let a winnable game slip away. At 1-2, they must now face two of the league’s elite teams — Arizona and Green Bay — on the road in back-to-back weeks.
Pittsburgh improved to 2-1, but may have lost Roethlisberger for an extended period of time. X-rays showed no broken bones but he will undergo an MRI back in Pittsburgh.
The Rams took some early punches from the Pittsburgh offense, but yielded “only” a field goal and a touchdown early. The Steelers took only a 9-3 lead into the second half, and when Roethlisberger was knocked out of the game with a knee injury with 5 1/2 minutes to play in the third quarter, things got interesting.
“Oh yeah. I think the whole game, we thought we had a good shot,” Rams safety Rodney McLeod said. “Got some turnovers. Made some plays in the pocket (with sacks) — things that we wanted to get done. We just came up a little short.”
Safety Mark Barron got to Roethlisberger low on the pass rush, and as Roethlisberger ran forward trying to escape the pocket his left knee buckled. Enter Vick, 35, who until Sunday hadn’t thrown a regular-season pass since last Nov. 24 as a New York Jet against Buffalo.
At the game’s outset, the Steelers couldn’t wait to roll out their top-ranked offense against the Rams this week. After winning the coin toss, they took the kickoff and starting rolling. Normally the Steelers defer and sent their defense out first.
With the Rams frequently playing both safeties deep early, and giving 10-yard cushions at cornerback, it was easy pickings for Big Ben & Co. The underneath routes were there, and the Steelers took them.
In the first quarter alone, Pittsburgh’s all-world wide receiver Antonio Brown caught six passes for 71 yards.
“You’ve gotta respect that guy,” McLeod said. “He made some plays early. We adjusted a little bit to their scheme and what they were coming out in to kinda keep him from making some explosive plays today.”
Brown had a modest four catches for 37 yards the rest of the way. After piling up four pass plays of 40 yards-plus the week before against San Francisco, the Steelers’ longest reception of the day Sunday went for only 20 yards — to Le’Veon Bell.
Thanks to a third-and-goal tackle of Bell by defensive tackle Michael Brockers, the Steelers had to settle for a field goal and a 3-0 lead off the opening drive.
The Steelers second drive covered 92 yards and culminated with a one-yard touchdown run by Bell, who was making his season debut after serving a two-game league suspension.
As has been their custom this season, the Steelers went for the two-point conversion. They were 3-for-3 on 2-pointers through two games, but this time Rams cornerback Trumaine Johnson broke up the conversion pass intended for Darrius Heyward-Bey.
So the Steelers’ lead stayed at 9-0. At that point, Pittsburgh had outgained the Rams 162 yards to 28.
The Rams did stop the third Pittsburgh possession when Janoris Jenkins intercepted an overthrown Roethlisberger pass intended for Markus Wheaton. The Rams took over on their 19, and thanks to a couple of Foles completions to Britt were able to put three points on the board via a 49-yard field goal by Zuerlein.
An Alec Ogletree sack helped thwart Pittsburgh’s final drive of the half by sacking Roethlisberger. So the Steelers led 9-3 at intermission, which from a Rams perspective was a lot better than where the Steelers stood last week at intermission — leading San Francisco by 29-3 en route to a 43-18 romp.
But even once Roethlisberger was knocked out of the game, the Rams couldn’t crawl any closer than a 9-6 deficit and never could reach the end zone. On a day when the Rams’ defense reasserted itself, the offense proved to be a no-show for the second week in a row.
“We’re 1-2,” Foles said. “The world’s not ending. We’ll figure it out.”
Maybe so, but each opportunity lost means the Rams will have to steal a game no one expects them to win somewhere down the line. They let just such an opportunity slip through their hands Sunday.
September 28, 2015 at 1:39 am #31347znModeratorAnother chance at victory slips through Rams’ fingers
Jim Thomas
With just over a minute to play Sunday, Kenny Britt thought he’d just caught his eighth pass of the day, moving the chains and keeping hope alive that the Rams could pull off a late comeback.
“I think it was a beautiful catch, to tell you the truth,” Britt said later.
After a replay review, referee John Hussey concluded it was a beautiful near-catch.
The original verdict of complete pass was overturned, and instead of a Rams first down at the St. Louis 46, it was Steelers ball. With no timeouts left for the Rams, Pittsburgh merely had to kneel down twice to run off the remaining 1 minute, 15 seconds and walk out of the Edward Jones Dome with a 12-6 victory.
All the way up to that last replay reversal, the Rams had a chance to steal a victory from the highly regarded Steelers (2-1). Instead, they let a winnable game slip through their fingers for the second week in a row.
On a day when the Rams’ defense re-asserted itself, the offense proved to be a no-show once again. Pittsburgh was limited to 259 yards of offense, or 200 yards below its league leading average through the first two weeks of the season.
Even with the 2015 debut of star running back Le’Veon Bell after a two-game league suspension, the Steelers managed only 2.8 yards per carry on the ground.
Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was knocked out of the game with a knee injury in the third quarter, with the Rams sacking Roethlisberger and replacement Michael Vick a combined five times.
After ringing up the San Francisco defense for four pass plays of 40 yards-plus a week ago, Pittsburgh didn’t have a single pass play go for more than 20 yards Sunday.
You hold the Steelers to 12 points — or 20 points under their early-season average — you figure the chances of winning are pretty good.
“They have a lot of guys that are the real deal over there,” linebacker James Laurinaitis said. “Ben and Bell and (Antonio) Brown. Those guys are Pro Bowl players, and they’re cream of the crop.”
But when all was said and done, the Rams’ offense was punchless for the second week in a row, this time limited to a pair of Greg Zuerlein field goals.
“Well, six points isn’t going to win you a whole lot of games, and we’re averaging eight points a game the last two weeks and that’s not going to get it done for you,” coach Jeff Fisher said.
Not even the NFL debut of Todd Gurley could provide a spark for the Rams. In fact, a cynic might say he fit right into the Rams’ offense with six carries for only 9 yards, and one reception for 5 yards.
The Rams were pathetic on third down for the second week in a row, going two for 10 on conversions. For those scoring at home, that’s four f0r 22 on third down over the past two Sundays.
Rams running backs Gurley, Tre Mason and Benny Cunningham combined for only 37 yards on 16 carries.
Quarterback Nick Foles completed 19 of 28 passes for a modest 197 yards and threw a costly fourth-quarter interception. After another less-than-stellar day at the office, he wants the young offensive unit to show resolve and keep working.
“We’re 1-2,” Foles said. “The world’s not ending. We will figure it out.”
The Rams did have a few chances, at least enough to put up a couple of touchdowns. But a wide open tight end Lance Kendricks dropped what looked like a sure touchdown on a beautifully thrown deep ball from Foles early in the third quarter.
Kendricks said he simply lost the ball in the lights.
“But you’ve still gotta come down with it; it’s no excuse,” Kendricks said. “I saw the ball go up, I couldn’t see it coming down at all, literally, until it hit me in the face. … I’ve just got to try to get better.”
Pittsburgh was up 9-3 at the time, so it could have been a go-head touchdown.
In the fourth quarter, the Rams had to settle for the second Zuerlein field goal when a couple of false starts helped thwart a first-and-goal opportunity from the Pittsburgh 7. A good portion of the announced crowd of 52,433 were Pittsburgh fans waving towels, so crowd noise may have been a factor there.
Later in the fourth quarter, Kendricks got behind Steelers linebacker Lawrence Timmons on a deep post pattern down the middle. But Foles overthrew Kendricks and didn’t account for safety Will Allen, who swooped in for an interception with just under 3 minutes to play.
The Steelers blitzed off the edge on the play, and Foles had told Kendricks beforehand that if he got that look to try and beat the middle llinebacker (Timmons) down the field.
“That safety, he must have seen it coming,” Kendricks said. “He kind of played it over the top, so he got to the ball before I was able to get to it.”
Foles blamed himself. He thought Allen would go wide on the play, or toward the sideline, but that didn’t happen this time.
“It was something that I’d see throughout the day, and was just trying to take advantage of it with a middle post shot,” Foles said. “It was a forced throw. It was a bad decision by me. … It really was just a poor decision.”
Allen returned the ball 20 yards, leading to a key field goal by Josh Scobee for the game’s final points.
Even so, the Rams thought they were still in business on Foles’ fourth-and-5 sideline pass to Britt, who had caught seven passes for 102 yards at that point. The throw was high but catchable, with Pittsburgh cornerback Antwon Blake undercutting Britt with a hard hit on the play.
Britt thought he held on to the ball after he landed; Hussey though otherwise after the booth-initiated review under the 2-minute mark.
“I definitely feel like I had it. What about you? What did you see?” Britt asked a reporter.
When told the replay views looked inconclusive, Britt replied: “Then how’d they overrule it? I don’t make those calls. But it ended the game, ended a drive for us, and we’re kinda mad about that.”
September 28, 2015 at 1:40 am #31348znModeratorGurley’s debut falls short of hype
Joe Lyons
For the record, Todd Gurley made his first NFL carry at 1:06 Sunday afternoon. The run off left tackle with 13 minutes to play in the second quarter started the Rams’ second drive against the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers and went for a 2-yard gain.
Sunday marked a slow start for Gurley, the highly touted running back from the University of Georgia. But it was a start, and that’s important.
“It felt great to be out there, man,” Gurley, 21, said after rushing six times for nine yards and catching a 5-yard pass in the Rams’ 12-6 loss at the Edward Jones Dome. “Definitely would’ve liked to get the win, but we’ll execute off that and try to bounce back next week. It was my first game; I’m just trying to get into the groove of things. Looking forward to tomorrow, to look at the film, to see what we did wrong and start working to be better next week.”
Selected by the Rams with the 10th pick in this spring’s NFL draft, Gurley has been brought along slowly after undergoing knee surgery in November for an ACL injury to his left knee in the final game of his stellar three-year career at Georgia.
After being inactive for the first two games of the season, Gurley said he learned that he’d play Sunday after a conversation with coaches on Saturday.
“I’ve had a good couple of weeks of practice, they asked me how I felt and it basically went from there,” Gurley said. “It had definitely been a while, but I felt good just being out there playing football again.”
Gurley was asked if he had any trouble sleeping Saturday night.
“I definitely slept. I went to bed at 9:30 last night,” he said, laughing. “I knew it was going to be a long day, so I had to get ready.”
Despite the lengthy layoff, Gurley said he didn’t feel any different Sunday.
“I feel like I still have the explosiveness,” he said. “Definitely didn’t get to show it today, but like I said, we’ll pick back up on things and try to get it rolling next week.”
Happy to have him alongside, Gurley’s teammates feel like it’s a matter of time before he becomes a cog in the Rams’ attack.
“Great to have him out there. Great to have him healthy,” quarterback Nick Foles said. “Your first rookie game, there’s always a lot of emotions. Just having him out there, he’s a huge threat and once he gets it going, it’s going to be something to see.”
Center Tim Barnes agreed: “The guy hasn’t touched a live-action ball in 10 months. It’s going to take some time, but the more comfortable he gets, the more productive he’ll become.”
Few teammates can relate to Gurley like fellow running back Benny Cunningham. Signed as a rookie free agent, Cunningham suffered a similar knee injury to end his career at Middle Tennessee State in 2013.
“I understand his situation because I went through a lot of the same things my rookie year,” Cunningham said. “The more he plays, the more reps he gets, it’s going to help slow things down and from there, we’ll start to see the player we all know he can be.”
At 6 feet 1 and 227 pounds, Gurley possesses the rare combination of speed and power that NFL teams covet. At Georgia, he ran for 1,385 yards and scored 18 touchdowns as a true freshman. An ankle injury limited him to 10 games as a sophomore but he still managed to run for 989 yards, catch 37 passes for 441 yards and score 17 times.
As a junior, an NCAA suspension for selling memorabilia and the torn ACL limited him to just six games, Still, he ran for 911 yards (averaging 7.4 per carry) while scoring nine touchdowns.
Getting the run game going is a key for the Rams. On Sunday, the team ran 18 times for 71 yards but the day’s big ground gain — a 24-yarder — came on an end-around by wide receiver Chris Givens. Tre Mason, last year’s leading rusher with 765 yards, ran nine times for 16 yards Sunday, while Cunningham’s lone carry produced a 12-yard gain.
“Pittsburgh has a strong front seven and we’re working with a lot of young guys,” Mason explained. “We have weapons here; we just have to figure out ways to win — that’s what we’re here for. It’s a long season. We just have to keep working, to keep fighting. It’s about showing up every day, putting in the work and doing what we need to do to be more productive.”
September 28, 2015 at 1:41 am #31349znModeratorBlunders abound in Rams’ latest loss
Benjamin Hochman
Hey, um, Nick Foles … WHAT WAS THAT PASS?
That vile projectile was the worst play of the game, at the worst time in the game, in a game that should prove to be the Rams’ worst loss.
I can’t get over that play. Can you? Have you? Has Nick?
Sunday’s Pittsburgh-St. Louis game was the football equivalent of a Gerrit Cole-Michael Wacha pitchers’ duel. The final score was 12-6 Steelers, but with 3:02 left, the Rams trailed just 9-6. And the Rams’ defense forced a Pittsburgh punt.
This was Nick’s time. First-and-10 on his 17. Field goal ties it. Touchdown probably wins it. Orchestrate a drive. Make St. Louis come alive.
First play: interception.
“That ball was a forced throw, it was a bad decision by me,” he said after the game. “It’s on me.”
The pass was not only overthrown, but it appeared he didn’t even see the safety who made the pick. Foles didn’t have a terrible game, per se, but the ramification of this play for the Rams? Well …
St. Louis entered the day 1-1, and this was a winnable home game — the Steelers’ starting quarterback out with an injury, and the Rams with the ball with 3:02 to play. And let’s be honest. The Rams are already struggling for support in this town. Some fans are finding reasons not to care. So, if anything, a 2-1 record would’ve given the team a little momentum. Instead? Man. The Rams are now 1-2. Their offense is offensive. Next week’s game is at the Arizona Cardinals, who beat the San Francisco 49ers 47-7 on Sunday. And the following game is at the Green Bay Packers, who are good at football.
And so, I can only image the electricity at the Edward Jones Dome on Oct. 25, when the potentially 1-4 Rams host the Cleveland Browns, the same day the Cardinals could host Game 7 of the NLCS.
The intercepted pass was corralled by Steelers safety Will Allen, who at least for a few hours before the conclusion of the Pirates-Cubs game is the most-hated Pittsburgh center fielder here in town. Of the pass, Foles said, “It’s something that I had seen throughout the day and was just trying to take advantage of a middle-of-the-field shot. “
Nick, is it unfair to say the offense has taken a step back since its season-opening win against Seattle?
“I wouldn’t say a step back,” he said — though I would. “We’ve got to put points on the board. As an offense, it’s something that we’re learning, and it’s how do you learn from it? You’re positive about it. It’s early in the season, we’re 1-2, the world’s not ending, we will figure it out. I’m optimistic because of the guys we have, and by the end of the year we’ll be where we want to be.”
Los Angeles?
And that’s the sad thing. The world isn’t ending, but this loss sets up what we all feared: the toxic mix of both the Rams trying to leave and the Rams being bad.
The good news is that the Rams’ defense can keep them in games. This, of course, is a sentence you surely read or said a lot last year, too. But with a flimsy offensive line and Foles making a few noticeably poor decisions Sunday, well, let’s let Jeff Fisher say it:
“Six points isn’t going win you a whole lot of games. And we averaged eight the last two games. … Penalties — not a lot of them, but at the wrong times. … We won’t tolerate those things anymore. … And we had three drops today. And in a field position game like that, when there’s potential swings or potential additional first downs, those are hard to overcome.”
Sunday was a day of blunders at the Dome. Of course, the first one was when the Rams’ pregame pyrotechnics led to a small fire, their greatest low on turf. It was just so St. Louis Rams: In an antiquated arena that just looks slapped together — could the end zones look more plain? — a pregame firework cart not only malfunctioned but lit the playing surface on fire, postponing kickoff.
Then there was Nick’s beautifully floated deep throw in the third quarter, which receiver Lance Kendricks “just kind of lost it in the lights. I couldn’t see it coming down at all. It’s tough because those are the plays we’ve got to make to win the game. If I could take that back, I’d catch it 100 times over. … I saw it go up, but I couldn’t see it coming down at all. Once it hit me, then I saw it obviously. It kind of hit me in the facemask. No excuses though.”
Another contender for top blunder was when left tackle Greg Robinson was flagged for a false start … in the red zone! Because there were so many Steelers fans in the Dome, the noise forced the home team to go to a silent count.
And finally, there was the final dagger, the Foles interception, which very well may have altered the course of the season.
“I’ve gone through this before,” Foles said. “Every week you go into it optimistic and you’re working hard. … It’s early in the season. It’s not like the season stops today.”
September 28, 2015 at 1:42 am #31350znModeratorRams notes: Offensive fireworks limited to pregame introductions
Jim Thomas
Unfortunately for the Rams, the day’s only offensive fireworks came during pregame introductions.
As is usually the case, the lights were dimmed in the Edward Jones Dome as the Rams’ offensive starters were announced and came running out of the tunnel onto the field one by one as their names were called by public address announcer Andy Banker.
As part of this display, fireworks are shot off a few feet in the air in the corner of the end zone where the players come out. Only this time, sparks from the display caused part of the artificial surface to catch fire briefly.
The Rams said in a statement that a pyrotechnic cart malfunction resulted in the fire. It was quickly extinguished. Nonetheless, the start of the game was delayed 28 minutes beyond the scheduled noon kickoff.
“The most important thing that we did was we had our doctor, our team physician, come over and identify the ingredients on the fire extinguisher, and there were toxins in there,” Rams coach Jeff Fisher said. “It was toxic and it was powder, and so we had to get that up because it could create irritations for the eye.”
That cleaning process took a while, so both teams went back to their respective locker rooms. They came out later, stretched and warmed up for a few minutes, and then the game finally got underway.
“I thought it was handled properly,” said Fisher, who met with Pittsburgh counterpart Mike Tomlin right away to discuss the situation. “That’s not in the rulebook for the officials, but we talked about it. I thought the league handled everything very well from an officiating standpoint.”
Quarterback Nick Foles said he’d never experienced a delayed start like that one, and he probably wasn’t alone in that assessment.
“But our strength coaches and Coach Fisher did a great job of getting us in the locker room, getting us ready,” Foles said. “Guys do their thing before we go out and just sort of activate everything again.”
CROWD NOISE
There were 52,433 tickets distributed for Sunday’s Rams-Steelers contest. Of the maybe 50,000 fans actually in the stands, about 20,000 were loud, energetic Steelers fans waving those familiar Terrible Towels.
Things got so loud that the Rams’ offensive unit had to go to a silent count when it got in the red zone. While commonplace on the road, going to a silent count at home is very rare.
But Steelers fans do travel well, and their presence was magnified as Rams fans continue to stay away from the Dome, partly in protest of owner Stan Kroenke’s plans to move the team to Los Angeles.
“When we were in a red zone situation, it was getting pretty loud,” Foles said. “They travel well. It’s a historic franchise. Everybody knows about their fans. You could probably go all around the world and there’s Steelers fans.
“But our fans were loud, too, throughout the day so it was evenly matched. I’m thankful for our fans coming out as well.”
All in all, it was more like a bowl game atmosphere with noise coming from both sets of fans depending on what was happening on the field.
“It’s definitely a weird dynamic,” Foles said. “It’s something you deal with through the course of the game and it’s just part of it.”
TACKLING RECORD
Linebacker James Laurinaitis became the Rams’ career tackling leader Sunday. Unofficial press box stats had him with eight tackles. He needed just two to surpass Hall of Famer Merlin Olsen’s previous Rams record of 915, so Laurinaitis will have several more than 915 following the coaches’ review of game film Monday.
Laurinaitis’ feat was mentioned during a timeout, and a brief video tribute was shown on the Dome scoreboards.
“I’ve been blessed by the Lord to be healthy for seven years,” said Laurinaitis, who made his 99th consecutive start Sunday. “I’ve been humbled that the Rams have believed in me for seven years. And I really just play my heart out every week trying to make those that know me, and my teammates, and everybody proud.
“I just wish we could’ve won this one.”
September 28, 2015 at 1:50 am #31351znModeratorReceiver Kenny Britt re-emerges for Rams offense
Nick Wagoner
ST. LOUIS — A look at three St. Louis Rams players who were “up” and those who were “down” in Sunday’s 12-6 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers:
UP
WR Kenny Britt — Aside from a 40-yard touchdown last week, Britt had been mostly quiet in the first two weeks, but he was the team’s lone reliable offensive contributor on Sunday. He finished with seven catches for 102 yards, re-establishing himself as the team’s primary receiving weapon.
DT Aaron Donald — It’s no surprise to see Donald in this spot, but he again wreaked havoc all over the field, living in Pittsburgh’s backfield and finishing with four tackles, a sack, three tackles for loss and a quarterback hit. Most importantly, he helped the Rams’ run defense improve drastically from a week ago, limiting Pittsburgh to 2.8 yards per carry.
LB Alec Ogletree — Ogletree followed his big effort of a week ago with another strong outing, including a pair of sacks, a tackle for loss and nine tackles overall. He continues to emerge as one of the Rams’ best young players.
DOWN
TE Lance Kendricks — Kendricks had two costly drops, one that would have gone for a first down and another that might have gone for a touchdown in the third quarter. The Rams can’t afford such mistakes with an offense that struggles to generate points.
TE Jared Cook — It wasn’t a good day at the office for Rams tight ends in general, and Cook joined the party. Despite a seemingly favorable matchup, he had just one catch for 7 yards and had a two-play sequence late when the Rams were driving for a potential game-winning touchdown that included a false-start penalty and a poor route on a ball thrown his way in the end zone.
The offensive line — The Rams again failed to get any push in the run game, finishing with 71 yards on 18 carries. Pass protection was a little better as Nick Foles was sacked just twice. But overall, the pocket was often shaky ground.
September 28, 2015 at 1:52 am #31352znModeratorLance Kendricks’ big drop key in Rams’ loss
Nick Wagoner
http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/21829/lance-kendricks-big-drop-key-in-rams-loss
ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Rams needed just one big play from their offense to knock off the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday afternoon. That play was there, floating through the air and into the hands of wide-open tight end Lance Kendricks, who was running down the left sideline with little more than 12 minutes to go in the third quarter.
It was a play eerily reminiscent of the game-tying touchdown Kendricks caught in that same area in Week 1 against Seattle. It could have turned the game and given the Rams a lead. But Kendricks failed to catch it. The ball bounced off his chest and fell harmlessly to the ground. The Rams went on to lose 12-6 to the Steelers at the Edward Jones Dome.
The Rams’ offense isn’t good enough to lean exclusively on big plays, nor is it consistent enough to run the ball with the frequency they’ve often discussed. So when big-play opportunities arise, they simply aren’t in position to miss on those chances. The margin for error is too small, as Kendricks’ drop proved once again.
What it means: At 1-2, the Rams find themselves in a precarious position just three weeks into the season. It was no secret that the defense would have to carry the freight early, but without much help from the offense, it has been too big of a task for them to handle so far. The Rams now hit the road for the next two weeks to play NFC powers Arizona and Green Bay in back-to-back weeks. While Jeff Fisher’s Rams can spring a surprise on anyone, a 1-4 start seems well within the realm of possibility.
What were they thinking? All week, the Rams talked about the need to be better on third down and sustain drives. Then they went out and failed to convert time and again. They finished 2-of-10 on third-down situations and, most maddeningly, often threw passes short of the sticks in hopes that they could break tackles and move the chains. More often than not, they didn’t.
One reason to get excited: The Rams took a big step forward against the run after Washington trampled them to the tune of 182 rushing yards last week. Pittsburgh mustered just 2.8 yards per carry on 22 runs. Stopping the run allows the Rams’ ferocious pass rush to do what it does best, and it did with five sacks.
Fantasy watch: With 13 minutes left in the second quarter, rookie running back Todd Gurley played his first NFL snap. He went for a 2-yard gain. Rushing yards are hard to come by on this team, and Gurley only managed 9 yards on six carries for the day, adding a catch for 5 more yards. Not that Tre Mason or Benny Cunningham had much more success. The Rams finished with just 71 yards on 18 carries. Until the Rams’ run blocking improves, it probably doesn’t matter who is playing running back.
September 28, 2015 at 1:53 am #31353znModeratorRams Lose to Steelers, 12-6
Myles Simmons
The Rams could not get anything going offensively on Sunday, and dropped a low-scoring, 12-6 contest to the Steelers.
“Six points isn’t going to win you a whole lot of games,” head coach Jeff Fisher said. “We’re averaging eight points a game the last two weeks, and that’s not going to get it done for you. That’s my biggest area of concern.”
St. Louis had just 12 first downs and had only 258 offensive yards in the contest. Like last week, the offense made two of their 3rd-down chances, this time going 2-of-10. There were also a couple key false start penalties in the red zone, contributing to a seven penalties for 97 yards overall.
The Rams’ six points came on two field goals from Greg Zuerlein — a 49-yard strike in the second quarter, and a 27-yard kick in the fourth.
“With all due respect to Greg Zuerlein, I don’t want to see him on the field as much,” Fisher said. “We need to put the ball in the end zone. We’ve got to keep working on that because that doesn’t win you a lot of games that way.”
“Our defense did a tremendous job today,” quarterback Nick Foles said. “They gave us an opportunity — we’ve got to be able to score more. We’ve got to score more points than them in those situations.”
With many completions and run plays, the game had a quick pace throughout. In the first quarter, Pittsburgh’s first two possessions netted only nine points, but were 13 and 12 plays, respectively.
The visitors got returning running back Le’Veon Bell involved early, with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger completing a short pass to him for 10 yards on the game’s first play. The Rams’ defense would eventually tighten up in the red zone, with defensive tackle Michael Brockers stuffing Bell for a 1-yard loss on 3rd-and-goal from the 2-yard line. The Steelers settled for a field goal, giving them a 3-0 lead.
“We fortunately held them to three, which was a big deal for us,” Fisher said.
The Rams did convert a third down on their first drive, but the possession petered out after only six plays. On 3rd-and-2 from the home team 48, tight end Lance Kendricks dropped a low pass from Foles that would have netted a first down.
Though Johnny Hekker got off a good punt, the Steelers came back with a 12-play, 92-yard drive to get back on the scoreboard. Pittsburgh effectively used its no-huddle offense to get down the field, and Bell took a 1-yard handoff into the end zone for a touchdown. The Steelers went for two, but did not get it with cornerback Trumaine Johnson coming away with the pass breakup toward the front of the end zone.
“Our ability to defend the two-point conversion gave us a shot,” Fisher said. “But, nonetheless, you’ve got to score points.”
Running back Todd Gurley made his debut on the next drive, taking a handoff and making a reception. But the rookie was largely ineffective for the whole game, gaining only nine yards on six carries and a 5-yard catch. The Rams, needing to sustain a drive, tried a fake punt from the Steelers’ 48. But the pass from Hekker to an open Stedman Bailey on the left sideline was underthrown and bounced into the wide receiver’s arms.
But the home team’s defense came through, with Janoris Jenkins coming up with a big interception. On 2nd-and-19 from Pittsburgh’s own 39, Roethlisberger attempted a deep pass to wideout Markus Wheaton. Jenkins didn’t bite on Wheaton’s double move, stayed over the top on coverage, and intercepted the ball near right sideline.
It was a significant play that set the Rams up to get on the board with a 49-yard field goal from Greg Zuerlein. The score cut the Steelers’ lead to 9-3, which held through halftime.
The third quarter looked like it could start well, but a key drop stalled the Rams’ first drive. After picking up a couple first downs, Foles dropped back for a play-action pass. Kendricks was open on the left side and the quarterback threw a ball right in the bread basket. But the tight end couldn’t handle it and the ball ended up incomplete.
“I saw the ball go up and I just lost it in the light. I couldn’t see it coming down at all,” Kendricks said. “Once it hit me, then I saw it, obviously. That’s why it kind of hit me in the facemask because I couldn’t see it. But no excuses — I’ve still got to find a way to catch it.”
“It’s hard. That’s hard,” Fisher said. “We had three drops today, and you’re in a field-position game like that where there’s potential swings, or potential additional first downs, those are hard to overcome. We didn’t drop them on purpose, but we needed to make that play.”
Foles was sacked on the next snap, which effectively ended the Rams’ scoring threat.
But that’s when defensive tackle Aaron Donald made a string of strong defensive plays. The Pittsburgh native came up with two TFLs and a big sack of Roethlisberger on the ensuing drive. But after that, the Steelers’ quarterback went out with a knee injury from an unintentional low hit by Mark Barron on a sack. Roethlisberger did not return, as veteran QB Michael Vick replaced him for the duration of the game.
“You never want to see a competitor and a guy like that go down,” Foles said of Roethlisberger. “I’ll be saying my prayers for him.”
The Rams again cut the lead in the fourth quarter with a long drive that resulted in a field goal. On 3rd-and-4 from the St. Louis 35, Kenny Britt induced a pass interference call from corner Antwon Blake that put the home team on Pittsburgh’s 24. On the next play, wideout Chris Givens took an end around 24 yards to the right side, giving the Rams 1st-and-goal at the 7. But a pair of false start penalties moved St. Louis back, and the club had to settle for three points, cutting Pittsburgh’s lead to 9-6.
“Penalties were at the wrong time,” Fisher said.
Though Bell broke off a 23-yard run to start Pittsburgh’s ensuing possession, the defense came through with a big stop. And with 3:09 left in the contest, Tavon Austin fair caught a punt at St. Louis’ 17-yard line.
But with a poor throw from Foles, the drive lasted only one play. Though Kendricks beat his defender off the line and had some space on him down the seam, there was a safety over the top. Will Allen intercepted Foles’ pass and returned it to the St. Louis 31, setting up a field goal to extend Pittsburgh’s lead to 12-6.
“It was a forced throw,” Foles said. “That’s on me. That’s something that I never want to happen. But the game goes on and we’ve got to keep playing.”
With 1:51 left and no timeouts, the Rams commenced their final drive from their own 21, with Foles promptly hitting Britt for a 13-yard reception. But on the next set of downs, a short pass and a pair of incompletions left St. Louis with a 4th-and-5. Though it initially appeared Britt made a catch to extend the drive, the call was reversed on a review. The referees said the ball hit the ground, and thus the pass was incomplete.
The Steelers took a pair of knees to run out the clock.
With the offense’s struggles, Foles said his mentality is to stay positive. The signal-caller said the unit is experiencing growing pains, but it is learning and growing together.
“We’ve got a bunch of young guys who go to work every day and they want to get better. And that’s what I see,” Foles said. “And that’s why I’m optimistic, because of the guys we have. My goal is to just keep grinding forward and by the end of the year, we’ll be where we want to be.”
“We’re 1-2. The world’s not ending,” Foles added. “We will figure it out.”
The Rams will be back in action next week when they face the Cardinals in Arizona.
September 28, 2015 at 2:54 am #31360znModeratorJeff Fisher’s Rams are Heading the Wrong Way
Bernie Miklasz
http://www.101sports.com/2015/09/28/jeff-fishers-rams-are-heading-the-wrong-way/
By now you’re familiar with the latest misadventures of the Futile Franchise.
The Rams contained the offensive mayhem created fast-paced Pittsburgh Steelers to 12 points, a good day’s work by any reasonable measure … and lost the game 12-6.
The Rams put Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger out of the competition and in search of crutches with a painful and unfortunate third-quarter knee injury … and still could not find a way to step over his fallen body to find a way to win the day.
The Rams trapped Big Ben and his backup Michael Vick for five sacks. They held the Steelers to 72 yards in the second half. Pittsburgh’s imposing ground game netted only 62 yards rushing, with franchise back Le’Veon Bell surrounded by men in blue, averaging only 3.3 yards per carry … and the Rams could not score enough to make it matter.
On the other side of the scrum, the Rams offense had only 12 first downs. They converted only two of 12 third-down plays. The roll-out debut of running back Todd Gurley did not lead them to the end zone. Gurley, the No. 1 draft choice, joined Tre Mason and Benny Cunningham in the impossible task of making it through the Steelers’ defensive blockade. The Rams’ three running backs were forced to scrounge for 37 yards on 16 carries.
In the first three games Rams’ backs have 42 rushing attempts for 111 yards, an scant average of 2.6 yards per run.
Where have you gone, June Henley?
You want to prevent Rams owner Stan Kroenke from running to Los Angeles? Easy: just put him behind this massive but passive Rams’ offensive line stocked with carefully scouted, hand-picked draft choices. And The Kronk won’t be able to go anywhere.
In a close game, with Big Ben felled and the triumph there for the snatching, Rams quarterback Nick Foles completed four of nine passes for 34 yards and one first down in the fourth quarter. The fourth-quarter misfires included a terrible decision to release a throw that became a fluttering, sailing, paper-airplane interception. And you think Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal made a bad pitch down the street at Busch Stadium? Foles’ fourth-quarter passer rating: 15.3.
Rams receivers dropped so many passes, they might as well have used oven mitts as part of their gear.
There was a pregame fire on a patch of the plastic field before the game … and if you think I’m going to write a lame joke about how the Rams might want to think about saving the fireworks for their offense — well, you’ve come to the wrong comedy club. I don’t have anything clever to say.
But I do have questions that are bugging me, so let’s get to the stinking point:
Jeff Fisher, shouldn’t you be winning games by now?
Coach Fisher, shouldn’t you have an offense that’s more evolved and in synch with 2015?
The primitive version of the NFL legalized the forward pass in 1906, so haven’t you had plenty of time to figure this out?
Coach, you came to St. Louis with a reputation for having tough teams, and an offense that would maul the opposition’s defensive fronts to win the bloody skirmishes in the pit to pile up the rushing yards.
So why can’t your team run the football?
Isn’t that your speciality?
This is Fisher’s fourth season as coach. Along with GM Les Snead, Fisher has had the benefit of four drafts, considerable free-agent dollars, and trades to build a decent offense.
Fisher-Snead have invested 21 draft choices in their offense. The count, by position: nine offensive linemen (including four tackles), five running backs, five wide receivers, and two quarterbacks.
By now the Rams should have an offense that, at minimum, is ruggedly effective. An offense that can road grade a defense. An offense capable of cultivating an efficient if unimaginative passing game.
The Rams made the gigantic trade with Washington in 2012, bartering the draft rights to quarterback Robert Griffin III for a collection of premium draft choices. But the whopper of a deal did not produce a single player that’s bringing the Fisher offense out of the Stone Age.
And Fisher and Snead made a trade for Foles, their coveted quarterback. Time will tell on that one, but Foles’ last two performances didn’t come close to matching his opening-day slinging against Seattle.
When offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer left the Rams and the NFL after the 2014 season to run the offense for Mark Richt at the University of Georgia, Fisher had a chance to go outside the organization and recruit a creative mind to pull this offense out of the ditch. Instead, Fisher promoted within. Granted, it’s early but Frank Cignetti makes Schotty look like Mike Martz by comparison.
But the shot at Cignetti misses the point.
As I’ve written and said many times: this is the Jeff Fisher offense, and will remain the Jeff Fisher offense as long as Jeff Fisher is the Rams’ head coach. Blaming the offensive coordinator for the Rams’ miserable offense would be like faulting the ship’s orchestra for the sinking of the Titanic.
This is Fisher’s 20th season as an NFL head coach.
For now, we’ll just review the first 19 seasons — even though the 20th season is looking rather familiar.
In the annual league rankings for points scored from scrimmage by an offense, Fisher’s first 19 teams finished in the top 10 only three times and haven’t been better than 12th over the past 10 seasons.
Using the same measure — points by the offense, and not defense or special teams — Fisher’s offense has scored more than the league average only nine times in 19 seasons … and only three times over the past nine seasons.
I went back and looked at the average offensive-points totals of teams that made the playoffs during Fisher’s first 19 seasons.
Fisher’s offenses have matched or exceeded the playoff-caliber average for a particular season only three times out of 19. And it hasn’t happened for 10 consecutive seasons, through 2014. (And only once over the past 14 seasons.)
So for the love of Don Coryell, how in the world does this coach — or the team’s detached owner — expect to put together a playoff-level team with an offense that’s so chronically behind the modern standard for points scored?
We should view all of these Rams’ running plays that get stuffed as something of a metaphor; the failure represents Fisher’s insistence on repeatedly slamming into a big and impenetrable wall and expecting it to crumble when there’s little or no chance of breaking through.
This is an example of hard-headedness in the worst way: sticking with a preferred style that does not work — but stubbornly refusing to change.
In Fisher’s first three seasons the Rams ranked (in order), 28th, 22nd, and 23rd in points from scrimmage on offense.
Three games into the 2015 schedule, the Rams are sinking even lower.
They’ve scored only 43 points on offense. Ugh. And that’s the fewest in the league.
Four teams have more than doubled the Rams’ 43-point output. Eight offenses have put up 70+ points so far. And 14 teams have 60+ points on offense, with Green Bay almost certainly raising that count to 15 pending, and the Chiefs needing 16 points tonight to make it 16 teams with 60 or more.
After defeating Seattle in the first game, the Rams scored one touchdown an 16 total points in losses to Washington and Pittsburgh. In the two losses they converted only 4 of 22 third-down plays … and we can make that 4 of 25 if we include three failures on fourth down. The Rams have only 23 first downs in their last two games — the lowest two-game total during Fishers’s four seasons here.
The Rams are going the wrong way.
There’s no excuse for this.
Not in the fourth year of a program.
Not after using 21 draft picks to stock the offense — with 10 prospects chosen in the first three rounds, and 11 going among the first 100 players selected overall in their draft class.
Not after making WR Tavon Austin the 8th overall pick in 2013, and left offensive tackle Greg Robinson the No. 2 overall selection in 2014. (Gurley, the No. 10 overall choice in 2015, obviously gets a pass in this accounting. He just appeared in his first game.)
Not after using the 33rd overall pick in 2012 on WR Brian Quick, who hasn’t been put on the game-day roster in the first three weeks of the ’15 season. Not after using the No. 50 overall pick in ’12 on spare-part running back Isaiah Pead.
Not after lavishing free-agent dollars on offensive pieces such as tight end Jared Cook, center Scott Wells, wide receiver Kenny Britt, and offensive tackle Jake Long. (Among others.)
Not after trading for Foles.
The Rams are going the wrong way.
In Fisher’s first two seasons in St. Louis: 14 wins, 17 losses, a tie for a .453 winning percentage.
In Fisher’s last two seasons (19 games): 7 wins, 12 losses and a .368 winning percentage.
The Rams, 1-2, are staring at the distinct possibility of a 1-4 record. Their next two games will send them to Arizona, and then to Green Bay.
Going back to last season, the Rams are 1-5 in their last six games, and that could be 1-7 two weeks from now.
I ask this sincerely: is there any legitimate reason to believe Coach Fisher is capable of significant change, and can reverse so many ominous trends that have him wallowing with a .428 winning percentage in his last seven seasons as an NFL head coach?
I liked his hiring before the 2012 season. I liked the team’s immediate improvement under Fisher with that 7-8-1 record in his first season here. But even though progress has been made in refurbishing the roster, the coaching is another story. I don’t believe Fisher can adapt. I hoped that he could, but I no longer see a reason to have the same optimism I felt when he too over.
Any talk of firing Fisher is irrelevant. Kroenke won’t do that. Not when he still has Fisher under contract (at $7 million) in 2016. And not when there’s still a chance of the Rams moving to Los Angeles.
A substantial part of Fisher’s appeal to Kroenke is obvious: Fisher has experience in coaching a relocating team, having been in charge when the late Bud Adams moved his Houston Oilers to Tennessee to become the Titans in 1997.
As crazy as it sounds, Jeff Fisher has as much job security as New England head coach Bill Belichick.
September 28, 2015 at 10:07 pm #31393znModeratorMonday Wrap-Up: Improving on 3rd Down
Myles Simmons
The Rams struggled offensively on Sunday against the Steelers, and a significant indicator is the club’s third-down efficiency.
St. Louis converted only 2-of-10 third-down opportunities. It was the second week in a row the Rams only made two third downs, as they were 2-of-12 against Washington in Week 2.
“Our issue is third-down offense,” Fisher said. “Converting third downs and then making plays in the plus territory — touchdowns rather than field goals.”
Given the Rams made myriad changes to the offense during the offseason, it was realistic to expect some growing pains for the unit. But that doesn’t mean Fisher thought scoring would decrease to this level.
“Didn’t anticipate the issue with the lack of points in the last two weeks,” Fisher said. “But the potential was certainly there. The three drops, the penalties — they take points off the board.
“The points will increase once our drives increase,” Fisher continued. “We just haven’t had the opportunity with the drives. And really, it all circles around the third-down efficiency. We’re just not converting third downs.”
One of the factors contributing to the third-down struggles is the new offense and new personnel. The situation will probably improve as quarterback Nick Foles gets more experience with the group.
“It’s Nick in the system, pre-snap diagnosing man or zone and knowing where to go with the ball,” Fisher cited as one example of where there’s room for improvement. “We had some opportunities there. He’s seen it, we’ve discussed it, and we’ll improve upon it.”
But the Rams have to get better on their early downs as well. Many times, third-down conversions are a product of the offense setting things up well from the first two plays in the set.
“We had some tackles-for-loss that created 2nd-and-12s and then the 3rd-and-7s and then we weren’t getting off,” Fisher said. “It contributes to all that. More importantly than that, we have to avoid the third downs if at all possible. Make bigger plays and get more production on early downs.”
As for the quarterback, Fisher complimented Foles, saying he made some nice throws during the game. Unfortunately, there were more opportunities that turned into incompletions.
“The three drops were significant,” Fisher said. “We had several last week, and had none in Week 1. We’ve got to catch the ball when given the opportunity.”
Yesterday after the game, Foles spoke extensively on remaining optimistic as the season is still young. The comments largely echoed the topics Fisher touched on during Monday’s presser.
“We’re going to put ourselves in a situation where we’re in the red zone more, we convert on third downs more and we’ll be alright,” Foles said. “I say it’s early in the season just because it’s not like the season stops today. We’ll play next week and we’re going to work hard this week to be better because that’s the guys we have in the locker room.”
Fisher said Monday he feels Foles has the right attitude with his positivity.
“I think he’s got a real legitimate perspective of where we are as a football team right now,” Fisher said of Foles. “If you look at it the way we’re looking at it, then there’s optimism and confidence this team is going to get better.”
And it’s not going to get easier for St. Louis as the team will play Arizona next week and Green Bay on Oct 11 before the bye week.
“We’re moving on,” Fisher said. “Our attention now goes to one of the top-two teams in the NFC right now — it looks like we’ve got them both back-to-back. So we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. So we’re moving forward.”
NEWS AND NOTES
There was more to come out of Fisher’s press conference on Monday. Here are some of the highlights from what the head coach said.
— Fisher complimented the Rams’ defensive line play, especially that of Ethan Westbrooks. The second-year pro out of West Texas A&M has been rotating in at end for the injured Eugene Sims.
“We got a lot of good work out of Ethan,” Fisher said. “He played end in relief of Rob [Quinn] and got a lot of production out of him. I thought the defensive line, for the most part, applied really good pressure against an offensive line that’s very well coached, that was prepared. And we still got pressure there.”
— While wide receiver Brian Quick was inactive against the Steelers, Fisher said that situation has the potential to change against Arizona.
“There’s a chance that he’ll be up this week,” Fisher said. “We’ll see how the week goes.”
“We can’t keep them all up,” Fisher added of the wide receivers. “Bradley [Marquez] is playing really well on [special] teams. And when Chris [Givens] got his opportunities, he made his plays. So we’ll just see how things shake out during the week.”
— Todd Gurley did not have many yards in his debut, but Fisher said the team was close on a few of those runs. The running back came back very well after his first game, according to the head coach.
“Good possibility he plays this week,” Fisher said with a smile.
September 28, 2015 at 10:20 pm #31395znModeratorTen Takeaways from the Rams’ 12-6 Loss to the Steelers
Randy Karraker
http://www.101sports.com/2015/09/28/ten-takeaways-from-the-rams-12-6-loss-to-the-steelers/
Both Anthony Stalter and I thought that, with the quality of the Steeler offense and the lack of quality in their secondary, that the Rams would have a chance to score some points and play a shootout with Pittsburgh.
Lo and behold, the Ram defense stepped up, but their offense impotent for the second straight week, and they fell 12-6 Sunday at the Dome.
Lots to cover. Here are ten takeaways:
1) The game was delayed a half hour because the Rams pregame pyrotechnic display during introductions caused a small fire on the field. I’m guessing the league didn’t think it was funny, but for a franchise that has had such difficulty succeeding, it just seemed to fit. As a fellow fan in the stands said to me, “only the Rams.” I got a chuckle out of it.
2) Guess which team has the fewest offensive touchdowns after three weeks of the 2015 NFL season? Yep, it’s your St. Louis Rams. After crossing the goal line three times in their opener against Seattle, the Rams have scored just one TD…the Nick Foles-to-Kenny Britt 40-yarder in Washington…in their last two games. If you throw in Tavon Austin’s punt return in the opener, the Rams five touchdowns scored in three games leads only Chicago. In Fisher’s seasons, the Rams have finished 24th, 22nd, and 19th in touchdowns scored.
The Fisher regime has used three top-three picks on receivers, spent $35 million and $18 million, respectively, on tight ends Jared Cook and Lance Kendricks, and spent millions of dollars and numerous draft picks on offensive linemen. Yet they can’t catch up with the rest of the NFL’s two-decade scoring explosion. It makes for really unattractive football.
3) As a fan of the old Football Cardinals, I prefer a 27-20 loss to a 12-6 loss. Just my opinion. I find it more entertaining. If given the choice, I’d rather have a good offense and a bad defense rather than the alternative, which is what the Rams have.
4) Even though they still might not have been able to get the ball into the end zone, the Rams would have had a much better chance at the end of the game had Lance Kendricks made the grab on the third quarter pass from Nick Foles that he dropped at the 15 yard line with just over 12 minutes left. Foles was sacked on the next play, and rather than getting three points on the first possession of the second half, the Rams got nothing.
5) The Rams defense knocked out Steeler quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, allowed just one touchdown, and held a team averaging more than 450 yards a game to 259. It was a nice comeback after their bad day in Washington a week earlier.
todd gurley-2Gurley had six carries for nine yards in his debut with the Rams.
6) Fisher may defend the running game, but it has been abysmal so far. On Sunday the Rams ran eighteen times for 79 yards, a 3.9 average; but running backs ran sixteen times for 37, a 2.3 average. Through three games, the team has 214 yards and average 3.8 per carry, but running backs are 42-111, a 2.6 yard per carry average. This “run first” offense is 28th in rushing offense with receivers and the quarterback picking up 103 of their 214 yards. Once again, in their fourth year, should the early season absence of Todd Gurley hurt THAT much?
7) Speaking of Gurley, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for his six carry, nine yard performance.
He’s not exactly running behind the Hogs here. Heck, when the Cardinals’ Ottis Anderson ran for 193 yards against Dallas in HIS debut in 1979, he was behind a line of Hall-of-Famer Dan Dierdorf, Terry Stieve, Tom Banks, Bob Young and Keith Wortman. That group, right to left, had nine, three, eight, thirteen and seven years in the NFL.
Gurley’s Rams group, right to left, had a rookie, five years, three years (six starts), rookie and 2ndyear player. I’m not going to blame Gurley for his day.
8) Think about rooting for a team that has been to the playoffs in 27 of the last 42 years, and in that time has been to a Super Bowl about every five years, winning one every seven seasons. That’s the Steelers. Perhaps that explains why all that black and gold was in the stands on Sunday. If there’s an NFL comparison to the Cardinals, it’s the Steelers. Congratulations to them for building such a great fan base. Winning does that.
9) With five sacks, the Rams have thirteen on the season, on pace for 69. The NFL record is 72, held by the 1984 Chicago Bears, of which Fisher was a member.
10) The way things are going, it’s hard to imagine the Rams going in to Arizona and Green Bay the next two weeks and coming out with a win. But then after their bye they get six-of-nine at home. Eight of those will be games the Rams could conceivably have a chance in, once they get their offensive line working together and Gurley entrenched.
If they can stay healthy, they could get on a hot streak. Would I predict it? No way, but Cleveland, Minnesota, Chicago, Baltimore, Arizona at the Edward Jones Dome, Detroit and Tampa Bay are far from world beaters. You never know.
September 28, 2015 at 10:41 pm #31397znModeratorBernie Miklasz
http://www.101sports.com/2015/09/28/daily-bits-mizzou-offense-needs-playmakers/
Some notes on the Rams’ 12-6 loss to the Steelers from our friends at ProFootballFocus.com: Rams’ rookie left guard Jamon Brown played very well, with his best NFL game so far, earning the highest overall grade among NFL guards in Week Three. Brown did now allow a QB pressure … the Rams’ run-blocking was bad in Sunday’s game, but the O-line deserves credit for providing quality pass protection. Rams QB Nick Foles was pressured on only 8 of his 31 drop backs. Although he was sacked twice Foles had an 80% accuracy percentage under pressure (dropped passes and intentional throwaways are excluded in the accuracy rating, which makes it, well, more accurate.) … The Rams O-line had the third highest Pass Blocking Efficiency rating in the NFL this week (pending tonight’s Kansas City vs. Green Bay game.) … Rams’ tight ends accounted for all three of the team’s dropped passes Sunday. Lance Kendricks had two drops on five targets, and Jared Cook had one drop on three targets … Foles completed seven of 10 passes thrown to wide receiver Kenny Britt and had a 102.9 passer rating when targeting Britt … PFF gave Rams’ defensive tackle Aaron Donald a strong grade for his run defense against the Steelers. But even though Donald had a sack in the game, it was his only QB pressure in 28 pass rushes. … Rams OLB Alec Ogletree was targeted by the Steelers on five passing attempts; they completed all five on him. … defensive end Robert Quinn was given a top-five NFL grade for his pass rush against the Steelers; he had a sack, a hurry and batted down a pass.
September 28, 2015 at 11:53 pm #31399
canadaramParticipantOf those five completions that Ogletree gave up, how many were vs Antonio Brown? I think that I remember two.
September 29, 2015 at 9:14 pm #31438znModeratorFailure to keep pace cost Rams against Steelers
Nick Wagoner
EARTH CITY, Mo. — Looking back at three things to watch from the St. Louis Rams’ 12-6 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
1. Wrangling Roethlisberger: First and foremost, the Rams knew that to have a chance, they wouldn’t be able to allow Ben Roethlisberger to get in a groove and dictate the tempo of the game.
A shoddy start looked like it would translate into a long day for the Rams defense but after it settled in and made some adjustments to Pittsburgh’s quick-hit passing game, Roethlisberger didn’t have much success in the second and third quarter. The Rams got to him for three sacks before he suffered the left knee injury that cost him the final 20 or so minutes of the game.
Roethlisberger finished with 192 yards on 20-of-24 passing with no touchdowns and an interception but it’s worth noting that he was 11-of-12 for 127 yards in the first quarter. The Rams would like to get off to a better start but they did a good enough job against Roethlisberger to be in position to win the game.
2. Keeping pace: The Rams fared pretty well in two of the three areas to watch but this is the one that they weren’t able to earn a mostly positive mark in. After struggling to sustain drives and move the ball consistently, the Rams hoped to fare better against Pittsburgh’s defense. They couldn’t.
The run game was poor again, posting 71 yards on 18 carries. Receiver Chris Givens was the team’s leading rusher, taking an end-around 24 yards late in the game. But Rams running backs combined for just 37 yards on 16 carries, 12 of those coming on one carry by Benjamin Cunningham. All told, the Rams finished with just 258 yards of offense. They had 12 first downs and were 2-of-10 on third down and 0-for-2on fourth down. Time of possession was closer this week as the Rams had the ball for 27:41 but it wasn’t enough to get the Rams into the winner’s circle.
3. Going for two: In an interesting “what if” scenario, the Steelers’ aggressive approach to going for the two-point conversion very nearly came back to bite them against the Rams. The Steelers set the tone in the first two weeks by going 3-for-3 on two-point tries. Sure enough, when they scored their lone touchdown in the first half, coach Mike Tomlin went for two.
The Rams defense was ready for it, though, and managed to stop the Steelers short. That made it 9-0. After the Rams trimmed it the deficit to 9-3, they had a chance to take the lead with a touchdown and an extra point for most of the rest of the game. As it turned out, it didn’t matter but it could have turned some scrutiny on Tomlin if the Rams stole a 10-9 victory.
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