our own Dallas game reactions

Rams biggest weakness? Coaching. We gave up an early TD on a kickoff. Our Defense, which is supposed to be our strength, has struggled as well. If we do not finish with at least with a 9-7 record, Fisher should be fired.

Fun preseason game for me. Really liked the grass field. Can’t help but think that many of the injuries to the Rams for the past how many seasons were partly due to the EJ turf.

Coming out party for Mannion and Spruce. Along with Goff making some nice throws. That was nice to see. Now, the Rams do have some QB talent. Loved watching Malcolm Brown rumble.

Dak Prescott and Dallas offense punched what appeared to be mostly the Rams first team Defense in the face in the first half. Everything they did worked. Hopefully, it was about game planning.

It was my first ever exposure of Goff. He looked awful comfortable to me in his first game. Dallas was bringing the wood on D and the Rams appeared to be playing their second string on the o-line. Nothing preseason-like in the Dallas defensive effort. Once Goff gets a bit more settled in, he has a chance to be special. Strong and accurate arm.

Looking forward to the next game. Want to see more of the young WR’s – and Gurley.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by sdram.

Other than injuries preseason games mean next to nothing in gaging what will happen in week 1.

Pluses
Rams have 3 QBs they can win with. Goff did not look lost and made one great pass to cooper that could have been caught. With Dallas D coming after him, I bet they decided to pull him and not risk injury. Mannion commanded the pocket. Couple bad throws. More good decisions.

Several third stringers looked good. Hill (he tackled), seau, Spruce (played like he did in college.

Oline opened some holes and backup RBs looked good.

Cooper has some game and higbee gets open and can catch.

Quick got open caught the ball and can block.

Several play action first down throws.

We may have 9 defensive linemen that deserve to make this team.

Ogletree went into the hole with some speed to tackle.

Minuses
Wow, defense sucked early. Focus? Game plan? Prescott playing over his head? Don’t know and they will play better, but that was not fun to watch.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by Hram.

Mostly good stuff. I have to say, I am happy to see more people begin to appreciate Mannion.

I was at the game, and it was a really fun game to be at. Lots of electricity and excitement, and lots of friendly back and forth with a large Cowboy contingent. The fact that it was a preseason game helped lighten the mood and keep the exchanges good natured I think.

Random observations:

The PA announcer was kind of obnoxious, but I guess I understand. He was just too over the top for my taste.

On the opening kick-off, it seemed like the Rams had the player completely contained on both sides, but Reynolds was too aggressive and fell down, and the Cowboy returner is extremely fast and surprised the cover team. The Rams recently have been very good at kick-off coverage and I think this was more of an aberration than a problem area. Just unfortunate that it came at the first play back in LA. BTW, when it happened I expected a huge emotional let down from the fans, but the excitement wasn’t really dampened. I was kind of “What The F,” but the fans shook it off. Don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

The biggest difference I saw in the first half was the Cowboy receivers made catches and the Rams’s receivers dropped to many catchable balls. Cooper, Thomas, and Austin made drops on drive sustaining passes, while Dez Bryant made outstanding, highly contested catches. The Rams passing offense was actually pretty functional, and Boras is doing a nice job.

Bennie Cunningham is a really talented runner. Chase Reynolds is not. I liked what I saw from Brown and Green. The Rams’ line was opening some nice holes all night.

After Dak Prescot’s night, I knew before Goff even entered the game that it was going to be a tough act to follow, but I was surprised driving home to hear local and national commentators keep saying how Goff “struggled.” I thought he did a very nice job, and three of his incompletions hit his receivers in the hands. The long ball to Quick was really the only ball that he missed, and it is very possible he threw it away because Quick got bumped off his route. The ball that was intercepted was a sideline out that ended up popped over the middle, which tells you the extent his arm was hit. Probably the first time he has been hit since December, to come back and throw that ball down the middle to Cooper was a courageous throw. It was too bad he couldn’t come back out, but I wasn’t discouraged at all by what I saw.

I think the Rams needed the win more than the Cowboys, and I am glad they got it. It makes for a different experience when they win, even though our minds all know the guys who won the game very likely won’t be contributing much in a month or so. Plus the negatives don’t seem so negative when they win.

Higbee doesn’t remind me at all of Gronk, but more of Eiffert. Which would be outstanding if he can continue in that mold. Eiffert is a total stud and a playmaker.

I haven’t seen Spruce flash much in practice, but he sure showed up in the game. Great hands. The fourth down catch to convert the first down was such a big play in the win. Very Amendola like.

Biggest cheer of the night was for Clayton Kershaw.

That’s all for now.
Isiah 58

Pre-season is such a difficult thing to judge.

That doesn’t mean I don’t reach quick emotional conclusions about what I’m watching. So, having said that, here are some thoughts:

I wonder why the Rams didn’t give Mannion more of a chance. I get it–they loved Goff–and they see him ultimately reaching a level that Mannion will never sniff. But last year would have offered many opportunities to take a better look at him. They didn’t. He looks very good–yes–against back-ups. Still…

This kid Spruce looks like the real deal. He is what I’m looking for–someone to make the tough catches. Reliability. I like him.

Cooper showed flashes. Has moves. Gotta make that catch though.

Michael Thomas? Bit disappointing. Only one game. We’ll see.

Higbee? Love him. Could be the best tight end they’ve had in years. Exciting.

Goff? Good things, bad things. I’d like to see more of that pocket movement he’s so famous for. He didn’t have much pocket awareness. His passes looked very good though. Has a good arm.

The secondary? Worst unit on the field last night. Horrible. I hope they get that fixed or it will be a very long year.

Lots of back-ups on defense. Hard to tell anything.

I was thinking last night about distractions: the move, new stadium, Hard Knocks, new faces.

How will that play out this year? Hard to see them getting double digit victories in a year like this. I can see another 6-10 to 8-8 kind of year. And because of all the distractions–yes–Fisher will get another pass.

Loved the rookie running back…#36. Can’t recall his name right now.

Tre Mason? Bye-bye. Time to move on .

Bennie also looked great.

It was hard not to watch Mannion and think that maybe staying put at #15 and taking a WR would have been better. But the FO seems pretty confident that in three years, Goff will make me forget about that. I hope so.

Love Spruce and Green.

This team is getting better.

the rams need to move spruce up the depth charts and see what they have. only wide receiver to show consistent hands.

i like this kid. i could see him and coop as the rams’ future starting wrs.