from around the net…Rams fans on the SEATTLE game

alyoshamucci

For a TD-less game it was pretty exciting … there were some good drives that we sustained but given the long field we started with it was too much to ask. Obviously we had a better idea of the gameplan and Case looked like he was settled in a bit. Thank goodness.

Also, this defense is going to make people pay. It’s gonna hurt to play us.

The Great

1) The return of Robert Quinn. The guy has been battling back (pun intended) for 3 years now. It was great to see him bending the edge at full speed.

2) Coaching adjustments … Wichmann at ORG and Hill at CB. At some point you have to say “yeah, this isn’t working regardless of what we see in practice.” Im glad they did it.

3) Case threw a deep ball!!! He actually threw about 5 really good passes, passes I didn’t expect of him.

4) This may be the first time I have seen sheer violence create a game winning turnover …. I don’t know if Michael remembers the hit, but it had to feel like being in an accident as a pedestrian when a car doing 90 T-bones a car doing 70, and you’re in the middle Lord.

The Good

5) Troy Hill’s first game … against some excellent route runners, played a solid game. I expect his upside is still breaking through., but he was smooth and got his head turned around. On the deep ball, he played the inside shoulder, but somehow Lockett grabbed it blind over his outside shoulder, just an unreal catch … either way he stayed with it and brought him down.

6) Ogletree and most of the defense playing behind the LOS.

7) Barron is quickly becoming my favorite player on the defense, maybe Im not confused about whose jersey to get … he moves like a giant safety but is always in the action from the LB spot.

8) I saw Forrest in on the goalline drive.

9) Joyner played without penalties and didn’t drop any balls, but was also a ruthless killer.

10) Kenny Britt … playing like a trusted vet … now we just need Spruce across from him.

11) The intermediate routes were open and the balls were well thrown.

12) Kendricks made a great catch, I don’t care that he was out of bounds.

13) Greg didn’t miss.

14) Cam Thomas had a couple nice rushes and stops.

The Bad

15) DROPS. Lord.

16) Keenum flat out missing badly like 4 times. Ugh.

17) Robinson’s penalties.

18) Who is supposed to block Michael Bennett?

19) Mo is LATE on all the deep throws … if I’m not mistaken he was caught by an eye fake when there was no other WR on the field.

The Ugly

20) Keenum taking the sack when we were in field goal range.

21) How furious Carroll got when the calls were a little rough on his squad … I don’t know what to tell him … as a WR you do not extend your arm at the top of a route, and as a Defender you NEVER touch a QBs head. Makes me proud of our coach for all the garbage he endured in St. Louis, where we just got penalized for fun.

22) Quick being really uncomfortable in his body on the field, tightening up like Eddie Kennison when the ball came his way. I feel sorry for him. It’s gonna be nice when Coop and Spruce are back.

It was a satisfying defensive effort and and punishment of a rival … and there was just enough offense to give me some hope. Curious to see how we show this coming week.

Zooey wrote:

2) Coaching adjustments … Wichmann at ORG and Hill at CB. At some point you have to say “yeah, this isn’t working regardless of what we see in practice.” Im glad they did it.

It was a satisfying defensive effort and and punishment of a rival … and there was just enough offense to give me some hope. Curious to see how we show this coming week.

So Brown didn’t start? I thought he was playing pretty well at the time of his injury last season. And does this mean Sensabaugh didn’t start, and that’s why my hatred of him did not get any nourishment this week?

On the last point…if the Rams had lost 27 – 9, I doubt anyone would be saying that the offense’s performance gives “some hope.” It’s relative, innit?

I think Sensabaugh got yanked from the game and replaced by Hill. It wasn’t before, it was during.

Merlin

Offense

This offense is not going to be able to spread out a defense and run against a favorable box until they get better QB play. So this offense is in “wait for our QB mode” right now. They are not going to take steps forward that they can count on, i.e. being able to score points week to week, until they get better play at the position.

But who knows, maybe Case will keep getting better too up until the point that Goff gets his first start. The Shehawks are a tough defense on a QB, so this game vs Tampa is a nice opportunity for the offense to put up some points.

Real happy for Britt, nice to see him playing so well. Dude made some clutch plays and would have had a truly great game if we had a QB who could put that ball ON him and ON time, would have been over 100 yards with a TD.

Kendricks is really emerging as a weapon. Case tends to be late to him for some reason, if they can get that fixed he’s going to be a weekly productive player because he just looks like he’s got it figured out. This year there is a significant difference in his pass catching. He is smoother and his hands are way better, the guy has made a big stride in terms of how good he is, and now he looks like the guy they paid him to be.

I think Lilly’s impact as TE coach is partly to thank for that. Boras is wrapped in the OC duties, and meanwhile our TEs as a group have really progressed. Even to the point where the rookie Higbee might be able to add a little to the mix. With Higbee just stick him in the slot and run him on slants and sluggos. Looking at last game they had him inside too much, trying to make the guy an inline blocker. Use the dude for what he’s good at: catching the ball in the pattern.

On Quick. Not gonna bag on him and go on about how awkward the dude looks. Still. He’s just not good enough, and we have some guys coming back. And good luck to whatever team decides the Rams are stupid on offense, and signs him in the hopes to catch lightning in a bottle. That’s gonna work about as good as the Cook signing by GB. Sayonara soon my 6’4″ ridiculously talented friend.

Defense

AO is settling in very nicely in the middle, and he was layin it the F down during the game too. Noted him barking at the other players. But it shouldn’t be a surprise; Greg Williams knows what he’s doing. We’re in good hands on the defensive side.

Joyner really impressed with how well he played. If they can get Gaines back and healthy this year’s secondary will be the best we have had in a long time. With the secondary I tend to assume the Rams will be right in their decision making, so them wanting Joyner so bad in that draft I have felt all along he would be the guy we’re seeing now. Not gonna lie, though, I had my doubts in preseason this year.

They’re gonna get tested this weekend by Winston and Evans. Looking forward to seeing if they can shut ‘er down and serve notice that this year’s Rams defense is gonna be different.

RockRam (note: re-posted because expanded)

After rewatching the game, Keenum missed several open WRs. Keenum made some good passes. But he also BADLY missed seeing some very open WRs. The more I watched the more upset I got with Keenum’s play. He missed so many open guys I can’t believe it. Sometimes he apparently just didn’t see them. Other times just flat out poor throws that were not hard throws to make. And BTW I have been a Keenum advocate. He played much better than this at the end of last year. Goff better keep his helmet nearby. The Rams aren’t gonna beat Tampa by kicking 3 FGs.

And, of course, some WRs mishandled the ball; a couple of times when the pass was routine, a couple of times when the catch would have been difficult, but the top NFL WRs probably would have come away with a catch.

Keenum, for the most part, had good protection. Seattle was very aggressive with their pass rush and blitzes and they have very good players to do that. So it’s not like the Rams oline were playing the sisters of mercy.

What bothered me most was a couple of sacks he took that were simply not necessary; in fact, they were quite detrimental and he absolutely should have, and could have, thrown the ball away…….bad judgment.

GRob had a good game. One of the holding calls went beyond ticky tack; it was simply a bad call. But it happens.

Our interior oline did OK. Barnes got smoked once, but clearly the guy anticipated the snap and got a little lucky. I think some of that was on Keenum for getting the snap count too consistent.

I have hope for our oline, and Havenstein is clearly rounding back into form. Havenstein gets off the ball quicker than any other of our oline. He has a great kick step and stays in balance and does a consistently good job.

I love it that we have real competition at the Guard position.

If you have a means to watch in slo mo, go back and watch Forrest, Havenstein, and Ogletree. Joyner was a beast.

I can see why they let Ayers go. Forrest is a player. He seemed to be where he was supposed to be; did well fending off the big linemen he had to deal with. Made plays.

Ogletree simply gets to places most MLBs can’t. He made plays that JL could not hope to make at his prime. He is really fast and reacts quickly as well. Lot of swagger.That was a good move to put him at MLB.

Barron I didn’t mention because he is just a consistent stud. I’m not sure he knows how to have a bad game.

Another guy that played well was Tru J. Yes, they didn’t throw his way a lot instead they went after Hill. But TruJ had his man covered.

I thought it was interesting to watch Higbee. They mainly used him to block, and he did OK. He’s pretty agile so he gets to his blocks pretty well. You can see he is thinking and not reacting. Hope they involve him a bit more in the receiving end of things.