An ‘Austin’-Tatious Display – Rams Stats and Records

An ‘Austin’-Tatious Display – Rams Stats and Records
http://www.101sports.com/2014/09/17/austin-tatious-display-rams-stats-records/

Winning on the road is never easy in the NFL, and it has always been a challenge for the Rams to come away from a game at Tampa Bay with one in the victory column. Yet the Rams bounced back from not only last week’s loss, but an early deficit, a weather delay and four second-half lead changes to emerge with the 19-17 triumph. The team is now a very respectable 8-8-1 on the road following a season-opening loss.
austin davis

Austin Davis

Austin Davis drew the start and became the first quarterback from Southern Mississippi not named Brett Favre to win as a starting NFL quarterback. At the moment, Davis has only 71,411 passing yards to go to equal Favre’s totals. He also became the first quarterback wearing No. 9 to start in a Rams victory since Jeff Kemp led the Rams to a victory 30 years ago against the Houston Oilers.

This was the first late-afternoon start for the Rams in an Eastern Time Zone city in 10 years. The results were much better than a decade ago when the Rams turned the ball over seven times in a 20-7 loss at Carolina. But, the start was not too promising when the Bucs gained 33 yards on their first two plays and ate up 6:04 off the clock with a 10-play, 77-yard drive in the heat and humidity that culminated in the first of two Josh McCown touchdown runs.

Still, the Rams scored on the ensuing drive with a Zac Stacy two-yard run – something they did every time Tampa Bay put points on the board – also using 10 plays to go 80 yards in just under six minutes to tie the contest at 7-7.

The Bucs countered with yet another long drive that covered 11 plays, 71 yards and nearly seven minutes. But this time Rodney McLeod came up with an interception in the red zone to thwart the drive, and it was a fine time to record the team’s first takeaway of the season. The teams then exchanged punts before the game was halted for 51 minutes with the Rams facing a third-and-13 play at their own 25-yard line with 6:03 left in the half. The delay was not all that surprising given the weather reports and the fact we all know that Tampa Bay has been the home of the Lightning for many years.
T.J. McDonald

T.J. McDonald

The first play when the game resumed was one that does not show up as a big play in the box score, but had major significance. After that lengthy delay, the Rams called upon Benny Cunningham to run the ball. His 11-yard carry on the rain-soaked field bought the Rams valuable field position – a trait that continued even on unsuccessful third-down plays later in the game.

A Johnny Hekker punt was followed by a three-and-out, and then came T.J. McDonald’s block of what proved to be the last punt of the game. That was the Rams’ first blocked punt on the road since the 2003 season finale in Detroit, when Erik Flowers blocked a Nick Harris punt.

Greg Zuerlein connected from 36 yards out with 39 seconds remaining in the half to give the Rams their first lead of the season.

The second half didn’t start any better than the first half, as Stacy’s fumble on the opening drive paved the way for McCown’s second score to put the Bucs back on top, 14-10. (McCown also rushed for two touchdowns in 2004 when he played for the Cardinals.) The next Rams drive didn’t look very promising, either, after Austin Davis was sacked on the first play. The team was facing a second-and-20 predicament from the St. Louis five, but escaped with a Davis pass to Jared Cook for 22 yards. A Stacy 12-yard scamper preceded two big-time conversions on third downs on Davis’ completions to Austin Pettis and Kenny Britt, setting up Zuerlein’s second field goal to bring the Rams within a point.

A 45-yard kickoff return and a facemask penalty allowed Tampa Bay to set up shop at the St. Louis 30. The Rams’ red-zone defense held off the Bucs, and McDonald blocked Patrick Murray’s 24-yard field-goal attempt. This marked the first time since the Rams have been in St. Louis that they had both a punt block and field-goal block in the same game. The last time that happened was on Dec. 2, 1979 in Los Angeles against the Vikings. Joe Harris returned a Greg Coleman blocked punt 31 yards for a touchdown, and Rick Danmeier had a 43-yard field goal attempt blocked as well.

The Rams moved the ball on the next drive with no play going more than 12 yards. Yet, the key play might well have been another third-down play that gained valuable yardage, but not enough for a first down. Davis found Cook for nine yards that allowed Zuerlein to try a 46-yard field goal rather than one from 55 yards. The successful kick gave the Rams a tenuous two-point advantage that disappeared when a roughing-the-passer penalty and Bobby Rainey 31-yard run set up Murray for his 36-yard field goal.
Tavon Austin

Tavon Austin

Now, the Rams had to start from their own nine-yard line with only 5:15 remaining. Davis completed passes to four different receivers with none more important than the game-long 27-yard strike to Pettis on third-and-nine that put the Rams at the Tampa Bay 25. For the game, the longest run was by Austin (Tavon), the longest pass was by Austin (Davis) and the longest reception was by Austin (Pettis). Zuerlein’s fourth field goal came with 38 seconds left from 38 yards.

When McDonald’s tackle of Mike Evans led to an injury time out and a 10-second runoff to end the game, the Rams were back to .500. The Rams also broke an 11-game losing streak with Jeff Triplette as the referee, going back to a Week 2 17-12 victory over the Cardinals in 2005. Ironically, that game ended on a Leonard Davis false start penalty with seven seconds left with the ball at the St. Louis 10-yard line.

The resulting 10-second runoff ended the game before Kurt Warner could make a last-second effort to defeat his old team. Perhaps Triplette should now be called the “Runoff Ref.”

What were some of the numbers that were so different in the win? Well, for one, the Bucs only averaged 0.8 yards per first-down play through the first three quarters. They ended with only 2.1 yards per first-down play, and that was six yards better than what the defense allowed against Minnesota. Tampa Bay ran the ball 15 times on first down and averaged only 1.4 yards per play. The Bucs did gain 243 of their 332 yards on second down, averaging 12.2 yards per play. They started out succeeding on their first four third-down attempts, but the Rams’ defense halted their last four third-down plays – all the more impressive considering the Bucs had an average of only four yards-to-go on third down.

The Rams markedly cut back the plays behind the chains against Tampa Bay, having only five such plays compared to 15 against the Vikings. After having a long rush of only seven yards against Minnesota, the Rams had four different players with a long gain of at least 10 yards. That has only happened four times since the team has played in St. Louis and only for the second time in the last 15 seasons.

This Sunday, the Rams host the Cowboys for only the second time in the last 12 years. Rams fans can hope for a repeat performance of the 2008 matchup at the Edward Jones Dome, when the Rams scored 21 first-quarter points on the way to a convincing 34-14 victory.