our reactions to the Eagles game

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  • #145970
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    Well for a lot of the game they were playing the Eagles close, but, Eagles pressure took over in the 2nd half and Stafford was less effective.

    I still see them as ahead of schedule in a young team/re-tooling year

     

    #145977
    Avatar photojoemad
    Participant

    Secondary missed some huge tackles today, Durant missed some and Kendrick had 2 huge penalties…. … these are the games where you miss guys like Ramsey… folks used to cap on Rapp, but at least he could wrap his arms around people and tackle.

    Rams need to win  3 or their next 4… (Cards, Steelers, Cowboys, and GB)…..it’s doable.

     

     

     

    #145978
    JackPMiller
    Participant

    As I said in the chat, it is going to take a few years to get back.

    In alphabetical order, this team desperately needs

    1. Center. Neither Brian Allen, nor Cameron Shelton, would be a starter, on another NFL roster.

    2. Cornerback, to work opposite of Witherspoon

    3. Edge. Hoecht should be on the DLine, as a 3/4 DE

    4. Left Tackle. They can’t stay healthy there.

    5. Safety. Not really talented there.

    6. QB. Someone to replace Stafford, when he retires.

     

    We don’t have them, right now.

    If we can get those, then we may able to get back to the Super Bowl, in 3 to 4 years.

     

    #145980
    Hram
    Participant

    Giving up the points at the end of the first half the way they did hurt.

    imo, Eagles Oline was better than our Dline.  Eagles Dline was better than our Oline.

    Rams need a legit edge rusher, to strengthen the Oline and another good rookie RB, plus experience with all the younguns that are playing this year to be legit next year.

    could still make the playoffs this year if they keep playing hard.

    #145982
    Avatar photoInvaderRam
    Moderator

    well.  the eagles are supposed to have the best lines offensive and defensive in the entire league?  so the rams won’t always have to face that.  but having said that, i think that should be the focus of the rams for next offseason.  strengthening both sides of the lines.  i think matthew was fine until his protection petered out.  i think kupp got a little leggy there at the end.  but that can’t be too surprising.  nacua had his first big blunder but otherwise was solid.  i think the receiving corps will be fine.  i think the tight ends will be fine.  kyren williams ran tough.  i like him.  but he needs help.  but that shouldn’t be too difficult to find him help.  the secondary was getting gashed but hurts had forever to throw the ball.  again that comes down to the dline.  but they also need another edge rusher.  young was close but couldn’t quite close the deal.  he was also going against a helluva qb.

     

    improve the oline.  improve the dline.  add another edge rusher.  find another running back to pair with williams.  but yeah.  they’re closer than i thought they were before the season began.

    • This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by Avatar photoInvaderRam.
    #145983
    Avatar photowv
    Participant

    Sometimes, the football Gods look away, and the best team wins.

     

    w

    v

    #145986
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    they’re closer than i thought they were before the season began.

    Yeah it was a loss but still, I agree with that comment.

    #145987
    Avatar photoInvaderRam
    Moderator

    also.  rams defense really needs to wrap up when they tackle.  there were a couple of times at least they just tried to spear the ball carrier, and he would just glance off them and keep running.  wrap with your arms.  if you can’t immediately bring him down, wait for help.  like on that hurts run.  young’s gotta wrap his legs and take him down.  am i wrong on that?

    #145988
    Avatar photocanadaram
    Participant

    This was the young defense that I expected to see more this year. A young secondary combined with a missing pass rush will eventually give up big plays. The 30 second drive that the Eagles ended the first half with was an example of that.  Too many guys missing on the offensive line to move the ball in the second half. I’m still enjoying watching this team though. Lot of scrappy young guys.

    #145989
    Hram
    Participant

    also. rams defense really needs to wrap up when they tackle. there were a couple of times at least they just tried to spear the ball carrier, and he would just glance off them and keep running. wrap with your arms. if you can’t immediately bring him down, wait for help. like on that hurts run. young’s gotta wrap his legs and take him down. am i wrong on that?

    I saw the same thing.

    #145991
    Avatar photoBilly_T
    Participant

    It was good to see the entire game, “live.”

    As others have mentioned, the Rams hung in there early, but just couldn’t maintain. In my view, it really boils down to a lack of size/strength along the D-line to stop the run, and athleticism/skill at edge and defensive back to stop the pass. Hoecht, for instance, is playing out of position, and just lacks the bend, agility, and twitch to cover anyone. But he also lacks the strength to be stout along the D-line. In my view, the Rams need to push him to beef up with good weight and move back to DT. As long as their scheme calls for edges to also cover, they need quick twitch athletes out there who can. They desperately need to keep their draft picks and load up on blue-chippers on D, and the O-line, especially.

    IMO, rhey’ve had far too many years without top picks, and the late pick/UDFA route has just left them without the overall athleticism/skill sets needed to compete.

    I agree with this take from Turf Show Times:

    https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2023/10/8/23908958/rams-eagles-roster-defense-offense-sean-mcvay

    #145992
    Avatar photoBilly_T
    Participant

    Positives: It was great to see Kupp come back, and once he’s truly healthy, the Rams will have a crazy good wideout room. They don’t even need Jefferson any longer to manage that, and I hope they can trade him.

    Witherspoon is a keeper.

    I also think Turner will be good, but he needs a hogmolly nose tackle to help him out — as does Donald.

    Young, I hope, gains some good weight too. He’s among the fastest linebacker/edges in football, and appears to be a very good pick for the Rams. But, again, as others mentioned already, he needs to wrap up on tackles. In the NFL, just “hitting” the ball carrier often won’t cut it.

    Fun to watch my team again, not just the highlights.

     

    #146000
    Avatar photoEternal Ramnation
    Participant

    2nd half swoon 4 games in a row simplest explanation is conditioning

    #146002
    Avatar photoBilly_T
    Participant

    2nd half swoon 4 games in a row simplest explanation is conditioning

     

    Possible, but a huge part of it was time of possession. They were gassed yesterday in large part because they couldn’t stop long drives. The D was on the field way too much.

    Of course, it may be a chicken and egg thingy, cuz that might have been because of lack of conditioning.

    I haven’t checked time of possession for the other games. Was that a common denominator?

    #146011
    Avatar photoInvaderRam
    Moderator

    i don’t think it was conditioning.  and the defense actually played better in the second half than the first half.

     

    i can’t remember who it was in the post-game show.  but he was commenting how the eagles defense was playing man in the first half.  at the beginning of the second half they switched to zone and the pass rush then started getting to matthew a bit more.  on top of that olineman were going down to injury.  and the offense stalled.  didn’t score a single point in the second half.  so the defense held the eagles to only 6 points in the second half despite the eagles dominating the ball.  sounds like it was eagles defense making second half adjustments and the rams offense failing to counter that but also having to weather injuries.

     

    and then of course the rams defense made some critical errors.  especially before the first half ended – kendrick.  also i think the rams defense could have tackled better.  too many broken tackles for extra yardage.  but easy for me to say.  i’m not out there running and chasing guys around the field.

    #146013
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    sounds like it was eagles defense making second half adjustments and the rams offense failing to counter that but also having to weather injuries.   and then of course the rams defense made some critical errors.  especially before the first half ended – kendrick.  also i think the rams defense could have tackled better.  too many broken tackles for extra yardage. 

    I tend to agree with those points.

    Along with Stafford being off in the 2nd half.

    Here’s the thing. They’re starting a bunch of 2nd and 3rd year guys all at once, along with  a few rookies. That’s the disadvantage of re-tooling the way they decided to. But they have a top-notch qb. When Stafford can play at his best, they can compete. When he’s less than that by any degree, they struggle. But then how well Stafford plays depends on the things around him–protection, WR performance, run game performance. That’s of course true of every team except it’s all dramatically starker in the case of the Rams.

    The defense is disadvantaged by being inexperienced too. Like their pass rush. Three guys have considerable promise–Young, Turner, and Mathis. Cool. Except. As a rule, if you look back at all the great pass rushers in NFL history, they seldom if ever get multiple sacks as rookies. It’s rare if a rookie pass rusher beats those odds. So how will the pass rush look next year? Maybe one or more of those three guys will definitively break through. But till then–they stay where they are, which is 25th in the league in pressure percentage and 27th in the league in sacks.

     

    #146019
    Avatar photonittany ram
    Moderator

    Am I the only one who thought the PI call against Kendrick in the EZ at the end of the first half was bogus?  I haven’t rewatched it.  I only saw what was shown during the original broadcast, but it looked like to me the the receiver initiated the contact and then fell down.

    #146020
    Avatar photoBilly_T
    Participant

    Am I the only one who thought the PI call against Kendrick in the EZ at the end of the first half was bogus? I haven’t rewatched it. I only saw what was shown during the original broadcast, but it looked like to me the the receiver initiated the contact and then fell down.

     

    I agree. Thought so at the time. It looked more like offensive pass interference, or a no-call.

    As in, I thought it was bogus too.

    #146021
    Avatar photoBilly_T
    Participant

    ZN,

    Good point about ends or edges not generally lighting it up with sacks as rookies.

    I haven’t looked at other players, but had to check on Deacon. In just 14 games, 6 starts, he had 9.5 his first year (or more). They weren’t doing “official” tallies at the time, so they may have missed some.

    https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/J/JoneDe00.htm

    #145993
    JackPMiller
    Participant

    It was good to see the entire game, “live.” As others have mentioned, the Rams hung in there early, but just couldn’t maintain. In my view, it really boils down to a lack of size/strength along the D-line to stop the run, and athleticism/skill at edge and defensive back to stop the pass. Hoecht, for instance, is playing out of position, and just lacks the bend, agility, and twitch to cover anyone. But he also lacks the strength to be stout along the D-line. In my view, the Rams need to push him to beef up with good weight and move back to DT. As long as their scheme calls for edges to also cover, they need quick twitch athletes out there who can. They desperately need to keep their draft picks and load up on blue-chippers on D, and the O-line, especially. IMO, rhey’ve had far too many years without top picks, and the late pick/UDFA route has just left them without the overall athleticism/skill sets needed to compete. I agree with this take from Turf Show Times: https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2023/10/8/23908958/rams-eagles-roster-defense-offense-sean-mcvay

     

    Good thing, when you look at free agency next year, it looks like the DLine, and Edge positions are strong, the draft looks weak, at those two positions like RB, & TE. But, we could be seeing potentially, of being the  greatest talent in history, for the CB & Safety positions, in the 2024 draft. I do say, we desperately need a LT, because none can stay healthy, and the Center position. I know, neither Brian Allen, nor Cameron Shelton, would start for any other team in the NFL. They are not that good.

    #146031
    Avatar photoZooey
    Moderator

    Am I the only one who thought the PI call against Kendrick in the EZ at the end of the first half was bogus? I haven’t rewatched it. I only saw what was shown during the original broadcast, but it looked like to me the the receiver initiated the contact and then fell down.

    I agree. Thought so at the time. It looked more like offensive pass interference, or a no-call. As in, I thought it was bogus too.

    Yeah, I only saw the play live, and the replays they showed live, but it appeared to me that the WR initiated contact, and that a play like that is usually a non-call, but…there ya go. In every game, there are blown calls (usually non-calls, like holding), and sometimes they matter.

    It was strange the way this game paralleled the SF game, and I’ve seen others say the same thing. Take away those 7 points at the end of the 1st half in each of those games, and the 2nd half is a different ballgame. The Rams folded twice against the two best teams in the NFC in that situation, but that’s how close they are. A play here or there.

    I’m still happier than I expected to be at this point. The Rams are definitely ahead of schedule in returning to competitiveness (aided by the best draft in years), and their growth may continue upward significantly through this season, as long as everyone stays healthy. So many young guys getting their first real experience in the NFL. I think the Rams have to be a contender for that one team that nobody really wants to draw in the playoffs, everyone hoping they don’t get in.

    I haven’t had a chance to look at the game box score, stats, etc., but the Rams allowed long drives all day long. Philly made very few unforced errors. The Rams had no answer for their TE, seemed like. And Philly just ground them down. Philly is better.

    But…hey…we’ve talked about Nacua, Turner, Young, Avila…how about that Ethan Evans? Good lord. That man can punt. What a job he did yesterday.

    #146033
    JackPMiller
    Participant

    Am I the only one who thought the PI call against Kendrick in the EZ at the end of the first half was bogus? I haven’t rewatched it. I only saw what was shown during the original broadcast, but it looked like to me the the receiver initiated the contact and then fell down.

     

    I thought both the Horse Collar call, and the PI were bogus calls. AJ Brown was taken down by the side of the shoulder pad, not the back.

    #146034
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    ZN, Good point about ends or edges not generally lighting it up with sacks as rookies. I haven’t looked at other players, but had to check on Deacon. In just 14 games, 6 starts, he had 9.5 his first year (or more). They weren’t doing “official” tallies at the time, so they may have missed some. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/J/JoneDe00.htm

    On Jones, that’s one of the rare great starts. As you would expect. (BTW the “unofficial sack list” you refer to is universally taken as valid. It came from watching film. It will never end up as official stats but is taken as a strong and solid indicator.)

    But then look at other 1st years by other Rams edge rushers:

    Jack Youngblood, in his 2nd year, had 6 sacks.

    Kevin Greene, in his 2nd year, had 7 sacks.

    Kevin Carter, in his 1st year, 6 sacks.

    Grant Wistrom, in his first year, 2 sacks.

    Chris Long, in his 1st year, had 4 sacks.

    James Hall, in his 1st year, had 1 sack.

    Robert Quinn, in his  1st year, had 5 sacks.

    Dante Fowler, in his 1st year, had 4 sacks.

    I didn’t count Leonard Little because it was off the field stuff that kept him from starting his first couple of years.

    Then there are the great exceptions, usually high draft picks, who start fast. In his 1st year, Lawrence Taylor had 9.5 sacks. In his 1st year, Von Miller had 11.5.

     

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