reactions to the GB game

They did well for playing an away game.

What? They were at home? Really? Then why all the screaming GB fans, drowning out everyone else!!

;>)

Love that they won. Love that they’re 8 and 0. Donald and special teams came through again for them, and I think they may have to find a way to get Reynolds more involved, even when Kupp comes back. He’s a keeper.

Goff seems to have returned to earth a bit after a crazy start. I was thinking, after the first few games, he was really living up to his “first pick” status, and I’ve been too hard on him. Just throwing the ball lights out back then, and he seemed to have fixed his biggest problem over the previous two seasons (IMO): not leading his receivers. But the last two games . . . he’s playing good enough to win, but not “first pick” good.

Hope he turns this around.

Some other brief observations:

Cooks is an excellent receiver, but he’s not a jump ball guy. He’s not going to win many contested throws. You have to utilize his crazy speed and quickness and throw him open. He’s not the receiver who wins with DBs draped over him.

Not sure if Peters is still hurt, but he has not impressed since the injury. Hill is a liability in coverage too. I think the Rams still have some work to do in the offseason at DB, even if all starters return healthy. But the great thing about this team is their core is really young, and free agents are going to want to come to LA. So they could get even better in 2019, which is scary for the league. DBs, edge rushers, TE . . . and I’d bring in some young depth for the o-line too — FA and draft. The future is seriously bright for the Rams.

just got back and watched the fourth quarter.

well. the bye week makes a difference. green bay looked fired up at the beginning of the game. they had time to come up with a game plan against the rams. almost worked.

rams really miss cooper kupp. he makes those 3 wr sets really work. i like reynolds. but the rams lose something with kupp out.

donald. when he wasn’t sacking rodgers, he was constantly in his face. 10 sacks at the half. wow. and that’s after a slow start.

peters. the rams should not re-sign him. at this point. maybe he’s hurt. maybe he gets healthy and turns it around for the last 8 games. we’ll see.

gurley. coulda had 2 tds and kept him on pace to break the record. but unselfishly kneels down to run out time. how cool is that? smart unselfish player.

goff. no it wasn’t the greatest game. i think we’re becoming spoiled. still had a rating of 111.0 and ypa of 8.4. and it’s important to remember he’s only 24 years old…

nittany ram wrote:

Goff outplayed Rodgers in an ‘away game’ environment.

I’ll take it.

Agreed

Herzog wrote:

Goff outplayed Rodgers in an ‘away game’ environment.

I’ll take it.

i don’t know that he exactly outplayed rodgers… but he definitely held his own. again. only goff’s second season in the same system. he’s 24 years old. and came from a college system about as raw as a qb could be entering the pros. so i think this was a good game from him. he had lots of pressure. and this is just me guessing. but he probably saw things pre-snap and post-snap that he had never seen before. he’ll continue to learn. far from a finished product. far far far. i mean look at what other qbs were doing at a similar age. patrick mahomes aside.

Billy_T wrote:

It would appear that everyone thinks Gurley did the right thing by staying out of the endzone at the end. Announcers, pundits, etc. etc. But I’m not so sure.

the chances of the packers coming back either way were very slim. but this is what would worry me the most. injuries. i don’t want to see a defensive players tweaking a muscle or snapping a ligament because they had to go back on the field. the chances of that happening on a kneel down are far less. look at what happened to will fuller when the game was completely out of reach in the texans game.

i think he did the right thing.

Not sure how Barron wasn’t concussed on that safety. He must have at least felt it in his neck. Several Peters comments in this thread already, I’ll just add that not only does he get beat fairly regularly he gets beat in multiple ways. He gets beat on straight go-routes and he gets turned the wrong way by receivers running different cuts. Hill doesn’t make me feel confident either. Marqui Christian seems to have gained the coaches confidence this season. I don’t recall seeing him on the field this much in previous seasons. Donald is great even when not getting sacks. He’s on a ridiculous sack pace for a DT. Woods continues to make clutch catches. I thought Cooks was getting grabbed a lot all game. Reynolds with a couple of big TDS was a nice surprise. I thought this surpassed the the Seattle game as the o-lines most challenging game.

8-0 is better than all the alternatives 🙂

wv wrote

The defense isnt dominant, but how many modern defenses are?

w
v

Yeah, the Rams defense certainly have room to improve but what constitutes great defense might have to be redefined based on the new rules.

No matter how talented they are defenses aren’t going to consistently dominate decent to good offenses any more. I doubt if we’ll ever see a defense completely shut down an offense like, for example, how Buddy Ryan’s Bears and Eagles defenses used to do week in and week out.

I thought GBay played an inspired game.

zn wrote:

Billy_T wrote:

The future is seriously bright for the Rams.

Good to see you posting BT. Glad you saw the game. It was a tough one, but, in the end those are more memorable.

Hope all is well with you.

….

Thanks, ZN. Rough year, to be sure. But Sundays with the Rams is a real uplift. Greatly look forward to it each week, and I’m loving rooting for an excellent team.

To be honest, I’d be happy if they were just competitive this year. I didn’t need them to be this good. Knowing they have a very young core, and a great young coach, and an organization that finally seems to know what they’re doing . . . . all of that would have sufficed.

But they’re arguably the best team in football at the half-way mark. At least Top Three. And they have a great shot at the Lombardi this season. It’s just an amazing turn-around.

Let’s see: Goff turns 25 next season, as does Gurley. Cooks and Kupp turn 26; Woods and Higbee, 27; Everett 25. A bit of age on the line, but some solid prospects waiting in the wings . . . Defense, same thing. A few smart FA signings in the offseason and they take care of most of that, and then there’s the draft. I honestly see the Rams as getting better through at least 2020. As in, they’re built for a nice run now. Potential three-peat, though the NFL is set up to make that next to impossible.

Again, their future is really bright. More than bright.

I saw only up to the safety, and then the highlights later. I am looking forward to watching Act II in its entirety.

But I will say that during Act I, I just kept thinking how much the Rams miss Kupp. I think he may be as responsible for the Rams’ extra gear on offense as much as anyone else.

zn wrote:

wv wrote:

An odd mix of strengths and weaknesses.

Quite a menagerie.

…

Isn’t that a Star Trek episode?