RamView, 11/15/2015: Bears 37, Rams 13 (Long)

RamView, November 15, 2015
Game #9: Bears 37, Rams 13

How do the Rams do it? How do they go from where they were two weeks ago to… THIS? Is this a team built to win, or even just play well from week to week? Has Jeff Fisher ultimately built anything more than a house of cards, that sometimes looks nice but more often looks like a disorganized mess? Deal me out.

Position by position:
* QB: Nick Foles (17-36-200, PR 53.0) was hot garbage, a broken record of poorly-thrown sideline passes and even worse decision-making while under less pressure than he thought. Foles led an 80-yard opening scoring drive without being all that sharp, badly over-throwing an open Brian Quick and later rolling out near the goal line and badly overthrowing Lance Kendricks, wide open in the back of the end zone. Kendricks was open on that play from the snap, and I am sure Foles saw him, and still didn’t make that throw? Or is it can’t make that throw? What are the Rams paying him for? Next drive, he underthrew Bradley Marquez on a 3rd-and-8 out route but got the spot, then overthrew new target Wes Welker, but likely expecting Welker to break his route upfield. Next time out, 3rd-and-7 in the red zone, another poorly thrown out route forced the Rams to settle for a FG. Welker had to cut back from his correctly-run route to get to the ball. Foles opened the 2nd quarter chucking a ridiculous lob that missed a wide-open Marquez near the sideline by a mile. Yes, he was under pressure there and on some of his other throws. But half the QBs in the league, minimum, make all of those throws. Look no further than the opposing sideline. Jay Cutler put the Bears up to stay in the 2nd, throwing a short TD pass while back-pedaling and with an onrushing Ram right in his face. Foles would have chucked that same throw 12 rows deep into the stands. On this day, the Rams QB got out-gutted by Jay Cutler. Foles kept missing sideline throws heading into halftime, leading one to wonder exactly when he or the coaching staff would figure out he can’t make the throw. Out of halftime, he threw what I can only call a back-shoulder bomb for Quick that had the CBS booth basically wondering what the hell he was doing. A 36-yard Quick catch-and-run later only came because of the WR’s nifty pluck of a high fastball. The kettle of frustration boiled over in the 4th. On 4th-and-SIX, Foles, barely looking anywhere else, threw a THREE-yard out to Quick that was broken up anyway. The Rams followed last week’s 2-for-16 on 3rd down with a 4-for-14. Foles ended his day by throwing an INT right to a lineman dropping back in coverage, you know, the tactic the Rams have never fooled an opposing QB with. Case Keenum came in to mop up and entered the game two quarters too late imho. Foles melted down this week. The Lions have benched Matthew Stafford this season. The Broncos have benched Peyton Manning. The Rams sure as hell can bench Nick Foles when it’s necessary. (Ed. note: I swear on my Dick Vermeil crying towel I had this written before the Keenum news Monday evening.)

* RB: This fiasco actually opened in promising fashion because Todd Gurley (12-45, 3-44 recv) got going early. On the third play of the game, he slipped out of the backfield wide open, caught a pass, cruised about 20 yards, hurdled Antrell Rolle at the 25 and dove down to the 20 with a 31-yard gain. He bailed out Foles’ poor red zone passing with a 6-yard TD draw that his blockers made easy. Obsessed not to let Gurley beat them, the Bears left themselves wide-open to the Rams’ play-action passing game. Things slowed down big-time for the run game from there, though. Gurley got his typical no room to run, and missed a couple of opportunities to bounce outside for big plays, stopped on one only by Willie Young’s diving shoestring tackle. Tre Mason’s (6-31) first carry was a disaster; trying to gain extra yards, he fumbled inside his own 20 to give up three points. Gurley started to disappear in the 1st thanks to the usual lack of blocking, then disappeared completely in the 2nd as the Rams stumbled to a 2-TD deficit. And after light work in the 3rd that included a 9-yard run, he disappeared completely in the 4th. The Bears got what they wanted; they took Gurley away. Only they didn’t do it with defense. They did it via the Ram defense and the Ram OC.

* Receivers: I wish it was less predictable that Wes Welker (3-32) could be signed off the street, and barely a week later, he’s: the Rams’ 2nd-most-targeted receiver, their best hands receiver, their best route-runner and their best 3rd-down receiver. But Foles didn’t do his receivers a lot of favors this week, either. Brian Quick (1-37) was open for at least three big plays but couldn’t get to wacky Foles throws. Foles overthrew Quick on his only reception, too, but Quick made an excellent full-extension pluck on the run and took off. Lance Kendricks (1-4) ought to have had the Rams’ first TD; from the 6, he was open from the snap, and Foles saw the whole thing, but could not, would not, make the throw until it was way too late. Jared Cook (2-35) got the opening drive going with a 29-yard catch, as the rollout TE pass worked for the first time in a long time. Welker got open for a couple of 3rd-down conversions in the 1st that didn’t happen. He and Foles weren’t on the same page on one. Foles’ sideline throw wasn’t good enough on the other, forcing Welker to curl back in front of the marker, and the Rams to settle for a FG. Bradley Marquez (2-19), wide open near the sideline in the 2nd, Foles throws a wild duck. To defend Foles a little bit, though, his receivers didn’t do him some favors he could have used. Kendricks, Kenny Britt (1-6), Cook and Tavon Austin (2-5) all failed to come up with passes that were low but still would have been fairly routine catches. Instead, again and again, we saw Rams receivers stoop, let the ball into their bodies and squirt through their breadbaskets. The Ram passing game has devolved into an Upper Class Twit of the Year competition.

* Offensive line: The Ram offensive line had about as good a weekend as Ronda Rousey. Youth was not served up front, with Greg Robinson and Jamon Brown playing horrible games, with Brown’s game (and season) coming to an even more horrible end. Gurley’s best runs, the few there were, came behind Brown and Rob Havenstein, who threw a nice cut block to spring Gurley for 9 on the opening TD drive. Havenstein’s been the Rams’ best o-lineman lately, but left the game late with a re-occurrence of his calf injury. The Rams lost a lot of physical battles in the run game. Brown and Havenstein got pushed backward to get Gurley stuffed in the 1st, with Kendricks unable to clear Shea McClellin out of the hole. Gurley got stuffed in the 2nd after Tim Barnes got thrown to the ground. Brown couldn’t sustain blocks; Kendricks couldn’t move people he needed to move. Robinson, he can run-block. He flattened his man on Gurley’s TD run. However, he didn’t pass-protect worth a damn. His troubles actually started on a run play, a Tavon Austin reverse TD that he got called back for holding. He got called for another hold in the 2nd, pulling a guy down by his jersey who was falling down anyway. That move that got him in trouble last year. Robinson committed his THIRD hold right after halftime, grabbing Willie Young’s jersey after the Bear BACKUP faked him out of his boots. Though he wasn’t alone, Brown blew assignments all game. He was totally unaware of a dog blitz that forced a wild Foles throw in the 2nd, and on the next play, THREE Bears beat their men to force another wild throw. Brown lost a hand fight badly, Garrett Reynolds got overrun, Robinson was beat by a delayed stunt. Foles had to hightail it in the 4th after Brown blew a stunt pickup. Havenstein was replaced by rookie free agent Darrell Williams a little later, and the Rams promptly got Foles buried again in a 3-Bear pileup. Robinson lost a hand fight to Lamarr Houston. Williams and Brown didn’t handle, guess what, a stunt, properly at all on their side, and both Bears got through. Life just got cruel to Brown late in the game; Foles threw a foolish INT to Young, and Brown broke his leg during the return, apparently so gruesomely that CBS would not show a replay of the play. His season is over, and the future doesn’t look very bright right now. We could be looking at RFA Williams at RT, 6th-round rookie Cody Wichmann at LG, and a clearly regressing Robinson at LT with no credible replacement. The Rams are going to be reduced to handing off 50 times a game and running the wishbone before long.

* Defensive line: Eugene Sims and Nick Fairley got the d-line off to a decent start with run stops but the Rams eventually paid for not getting enough heat on Jay Cutler (19-24-258, 151 PR). Cutler went 7-for-7 leading the Bears’ 2nd TD drive. As always, Aaron Donald’s quickness created a lot of plays inside, and Fairley was very active this week, too, to the point I probably mistook him for Donald more than once. But the Rams blitzed themselves out of two 80-plus-yard TDs, and by the time they finally sacked Cutler, they were down 24-10. That came in the 2nd when Rodney McLeod blew up a screen with a fake blitz and Donald and Will Hayes made Cutler eat the ball. They followed that up with a 3-and-out after halftime, sparked by Donald blowing up a draw with his insane quickness and then pressuring a quick throw from Cutler. Donald turned up to be about all the Ram front had going for it, though. They got totally fooled by read-option the next drive, with Cutler taking off for about 25 after Sims bit on the play action like a bear trap. Kadeem Carey then ripped off 9 more, with Michael Brockers, who was not much of a factor, and James Laurinaitis getting blocked out of the play without much of a fight. Donald stayed in the fight, beating the center and sneaking behind the LG for the Rams’ 2nd sack to end that drive. But Donald couldn’t keep the Rams from going into the tank. Rookie Jeremy Langford (182 total yards) took off around right end for 23, with Hayes dominated and sealed inside by Kyle Long, and a confused secondary out of position. The Rams got Chicago to 3rd-and-10 but then gave up 12 on a simple pitchout to Langford. ¾ of the d-line couldn’t even get past the center to pursue, and the one who did, Fairley, got knocked into next week by Vladimir Ducasse. Carey got 7 more past Sims getting dominated by a backup TE. Chicago did settle for a FG, because Fairley blew up a run and somebody wearing #94 got light pressure on Cutler on 3rd down. But Fairley and Donald both were dominated up front on a final TD run by Langford. Donald did everything else he could, including scooping a late fumble forced by McLeod and returning it across midfield. Even at his all-world best, Donald can’t carry an entire defense. The sooner that #94 guy (who can’t be close to 100%) can get healthy, the better. The Rams need him yesterday.

* Linebackers: LB play wasn’t just low-impact this week, it was actually negative. The Bears answered the Rams’ opening TD with a quick strike of their own. Somebody named Zack Miller (5-107) turned a 2-yard flare route into an 87-yard TD after Akeem Ayers was late getting there, overran Miller’s cut back inside, got on skates and turned him loose. Play in the box was just as bad on Chicago’s 2nd TD drive. T.J. McDonald got suckered by play-action on 4th-and-short and left Langford all alone for 11 on a rollout pass. Mark Barron kept the drive alive near the Rams’ goal line by roughing Cutler. Then Daren Bates – really?he’s part of the goal line package? – CHOMPS on another play-fake and gets beaten by future Hall-of-Famer Miller for a short TD. Once the offense failed on 4th-and-6 deep in its own end, the defense pretty much threw in the towel. Langford gained 8 while Laurinaitis, Ayers and others were all stoned at the line. I wish I had been stoned watching this game. Maybe next week. Langford smoked in with ease on 3rd-and-goal, with Laurinaitis unable even to fight off a ONE-armed block from Matt Slauson. 37-13, drive home safely, everybody! Barron hasn’t been much of a factor with opponents running well the last two weeks. Ayers didn’t pull his weight. Laurinaitis got blocked out of many runs and I’ll just say really appeared to lose steam at the end of the game. Hard to swallow getting beaten at your own game two weeks in a row.

* Secondary: Coverage wasn’t an issue in the secondary this week. They held Chicago’s three best receivers to 7 catches, 42 yards, including just 3-23 to an injured Alshon Jeffery. After Mason’s fumble, Janoris Jenkins and Trumaine Johnson defended end zone passes to hold the Bears to a FG. TruJo probably saved the Rams 12 points, also breaking up two passes in the 2nd half that made the Bears settle for FGs. The secondary’s problem was getting to where they needed to be on the Bears’ big plays. After Ayers slipped to start off Miller’s TD, Rodney McLeod also slipped and missed the tackle badly. Jenkins was completely blocked by Jeffery. TruJo didn’t hustle at first, had to chase Miller 40 yards, and then lost him when he cut away. At the time, it was the Rams’ single worst play of the season. It got competition for that dishonor. The Bears blew the game open with an 83-yard Langford TD off a simple screen pass. TruJo was mowed down by a cut block. Jenkins was pinned uselessly on the sideline by Jeffery. McLeod, cementing this as his worst game of the season, got blocked downfield by Marquess Wilson for 10 yards, then got thoroughly embarrassed after Langford faked him inside out and took off right down the middle for the last 50 yards. The secondary had defended these kind of plays so well all season, you’d figure they’d have the front seven’s backs when they gambled and lost. They were unthinkably bad instead. Ballgame in two plays.

* Special teams: Johnny Hekker had another Pro Bowl game with his foot (49.3 ypa) but was betrayed by his arm. Also by the Ram defense, which refused to take advantage of Hekker’s ability to tilt the field. The punting game might have been the Rams’ best weapon all game, especially when Marquez (!) crunched Marc Mariani on a dumb attempt to field a punt in the 1st and knocked the ball loose to Mo Alexander, setting up a FG. Desperate for momentum late in the game, the Rams called for a fake punt that, contrary to what many said, fooled the Bears. Marquez went into motion left, Hekker took the snap and pump-faked his direction, and all the Bears headed over there. That set up a back screen right to Cody Davis; a good throw to him and he’s probably still running. McClellin recovered but would not have been there in time. Unless Hekker one-hops the throw, that is. (smacks forehead) Never a dull week on special teams.

* Strategery: Gregg Williams likely spared Rousey’s coach the honor of worst coach of the week. The world’s most amateur scouting service could tell you, and did last week, that the Bears were going to rely heavily on inside handoffs and screen passes. Williams didn’t stop any of that. Instead he let Adam Gase play him like a fiddle. Gase caught him blitzing on the Miller TD, a simple flare route turned into an 87-yard play, and blitzing even heavier, bringing six, on the Langford TD, a simple screen pass turned into an 83-yard TD. Maybe, just maybe, it would have been sounder strategery not to run yourself out of the other team’s favorite plays? Cutler’s read-option run play fooled the Rams as badly as they’ve been fooled all year. Play-action killed them repeatedly. Williams didn’t help with this nonsense, either: 3rd-4 during the 2nd TD drive and the Rams don’t line up a LDE. Hayes gets double-teamed inside, guess where Kadeem Carey ran for the first down. Witnessing the Bears D stunting the Rams to death just served as another reminder of Williams getting decisively outschemed and preparing as poorly for a game as he has all season.

Frank Cignetti’s start to the game was pretty brilliant. Anticipating the Bears would over-commit to Gurley, he buried them in a flurry of play-action passes for the opening TD. Cignetti emptied the playbook on them; a reverse to Austin would have been a 2nd TD but for Robinson. He had good plays drawn up for Welker, though it’s puzzling no other Ram receiver can run those. The offense obviously had flaws. Cignetti took far too long to recognize Foles would accomplish little throwing sideline routes. The approach on 3rd-down was still too timid. Can we maybe start running routes a couple of yards past the 1st down marker? And was Quick’s 3-yard route on 4th-and-6 really the primary route it appeared to be? And where did Gurley go? Two touches in the 2nd while the Rams fell behind by 2 TDs. Gurley needs to be in to make play-action credible, the only way Cignetti’s going to get a receiver (besides Welker) open downfield. If he hasn’t figured that out by now, or figured out that the Rams are Gurley’s team, not Foles’, we’re in trouble.

Jeff Fisher’s Rams took finding a way to lose to a new level this week. Ridiculous gaffes and overaggressive playcalling on defense. A blown fake punt. Dropped passes. Turnovers. Penalty after penalty after penalty that Fisher has done NOTHING to fix in 3 ½ years here. The Rams shot themselves in the foot so many times they’d have no leg left below their knees. Against a 3-5 road team, on a short week, missing its starting RB and its best pass rusher, and with its best WR hobbling around. No, Fisher’s teams aren’t hopeless like Spagnuolo’s or Linehan’s. His staff may be the best the Rams have had in St. Louis at developing talent. But the problems of game 1 of the Fisher Era are still problems in game 57. Fisher hasn’t, and I finally believe can’t, elevate this team. His record’s kind of said that all along, hasn’t it.

* Upon further review: What the hell does the NFL have against the Rams? For the second time in nine games, they were saddled with the worst referee in the league, Jeff Triplette. Triplette’s eagle eyes sure came in handy calling holding against Robinson. If Robinson grabbed a guy for as much as a millisecond, that flag was flying. Meanwhile, the very next series, Eagle Eyes Triplette doesn’t see Aaron Donald getting held worse than anything Robinson did all day on a 5-yard run, Langford false starting RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM or Miller pushing off McDonald to get open two plays after that. They didn’t call a block in the back against Marcus Roberson trying to cover a 2nd-quarter punt, but Jamon Brown can’t block a guy from the side on a run play. Barron made late helmet-first contact to Cutler in the 2nd; that was a correct call. Later that same quarter, though, it’s OK for Young to lead with his helmet hitting Foles. Chicago false-started again to open the 3rd and did not get called for it; meanwhile, their d-line can leap at our o-line and induce false starts. Last week the Vikings could react to those seconds AFTER they happened and the Rams D were the ones getting the flag. Robinson needs to quit holding people, but calling him so tight on it, in a game-changing way, and letting so much else go, is B.S. officiating from this crew. Again. Grade: F

* Cheers: The crowd sounded about half-St. Louis and half-Chicago, which was actually a good thing for the Rams, because Foles’ follies, Robinson’s repeat offenses and the defense’s disgraceful play could have been booed a lot harder than they were. CBS’ call of the game wasn’t bad. Bonus points to Andrew Catalon for dropping some Steamers trivia and to Steve Tasker for being the one of the three to analyze the fake punt correctly. The Bears were in fact fooled. Steve Beuerlein offered unflinching critique of Foles and more details of what was going on downfield than I’ve heard in any Rams broadcast all season.

* Who’s next?: The Rams’ AFC North World Tour 2015 starts next week in Baltimore, and the most recent games against the Ravens have been grisly tales worthy of Poe. The Rams were so badly beaten there eight years ago there they knelt on the ball to end the game while losing. In 2011 in St. Louis, Steve Spagnuolo got a 37-7 score run up on him by “best” “friend” John Harbaugh. So, yeah, the Rams owe them a couple.

Baltimore’s current 2-7 record makes the Ravens look ripe for Ram revenge, though after this week, the Rams have to be considered a less sure thing than Fortunato making it out of the catacomb. The Ravens’ offensive productivity has dropped across the board from last season. Justin Forsett is a tough little inside runner who has always been dangerous on screens, but his average has dropped over a yard per carry and the Ravens don’t have the depth they had at RB last season. The run dropoff is odd, because the Raven interior line of Marshall Yanda, Jeremy Zuttah and Kelechi Osemele is probably as good as the Rams will face all year. Tackle is a weaker area. RT Ricky Wagner can handle a bull rush but still struggles with quickness. Eugene Monroe should be at LT for this game but has been hurt a lot and has not been effective since getting a big contract. Some of Baltimore’s missteps on the interior come from the guards trying to cover up for the tackles. Another problem has been injuries at receiver. Steve Smith’s season is over due to a torn Achilles. Rookie Breshad Perriman’s been down all year because of a knee injury. Joe Flacco’s missing a lot of targets, especially that Torrey Smith-like deep threat that has been a big part of the Raven passing game. In fact, now starting in that role for the Ravens… remember?… Chris Givens. Little surprise then that Flacco’s TD:INT ratio after 8 weeks this year was much closer to 1:1 than 2014’s 2:1. It’s asking a lot for Flacco to put up points without his key possession receiver or a threat to take the top off defenses. The Ravens’ key stat: minus-7, the league’s second-worst turnover differential, some of which is due to their struggles to protect Flacco from blitzes. You’re not going to have to ask Gregg Williams twice to bring a little something extra next week. Just watch out for the god damn screen pass.

The pendulum has swung on the Ravens defense. Not only do they not dominate with defense the way they used to, they’re near the bottom of the league (29th) against the pass. Terrell Suggs’ early-season torn Achilles cost them a lot of their pass rush. Likely that, and a groin injury, slowed Elvis Dumervil down to 2.5 sacks at the halfway point. Baltimore blitzed a lot early in the season, and the Rams do not have the receiving threat or mobile QB like Pittsburgh did to discourage that. Nick Foles should see plenty of pressure, and Dumervil’s edge speed will give the o-line another handful. If they’re not blitzing, though, Dumervil’s their only pass rusher to worry about. The Ravens are stronger against the run, but the Rams should be able to establish it if Frank Cignetti takes the proper approach. They have some good penetrators on their d-line, including up-and-coming DT Brandon Williams, but those linemen also show a lot of difficulty getting off blocks, and fundamentals behind them are lacking. The LBs don’t gap-fill well and tackling in the back could be better. Basically, you want to sumo wrestle with the Ravens, not get into a kung-fu brawl. Pittsburgh established a very effective middle running game but had little luck with the sweeps and screens the Rams are likely to try. If you let Baltimore use their excellent speed on defense, they’ll get you with it. So run at them. That should set up play-action and expose that secondary to a downfield shot or two. The Rams’ best move on offense will be not to get too complicated.

My conclusion after this game is the Rams haven’t been built to be any better than 8-8. Never were, never will be. Not under this group. I’d like to say the Rams will be motivated to atone for this stinkbomb by whipping up on the Ravens, but do I trust them to beat anybody? Nevermore. On the good side, they really can’t be trusted to lose to most teams, either. Unpredictability can be fun, but when inconsistency is the only consistent thing your team has, you’ve really got nothing. And that’s what we have to show for three and a half years of the Jeff Fisher Era. Fisher lost me this week. This was one inexcusable loss too far.

— Mike
Game stats from espn.com