the press on the TAMPA game

Rams Get Road Victory over Tampa Bay

Myles Simmons

http://www.therams.com/news-and-events/article-1/Rams-Get-Road-Victory-over-Tampa-Bay/1d682680-7dab-4569-8048-8ff186313c45#

TAMPA, Fla. — The Rams beat the Buccaneers for the fifth year in a row, spoiling Tampa Bay’s home opener — which included a 75-minute weather delay — with a 37-32 victory at Raymond James Stadium.

The back-and-forth affair got started in the Rams’ favor on the opening drive with L.A. scoring its first touchdown of the season.

Quarterback Case Keenum engineered an eight play, 75-yard drive that included a pair of third-down conversions. The first went to wideout Tavon Austin on a short pass that beat the Tampa Bay blitz for eight yards and a first down. Then Keenum hit Austin on a crossing route that got Los Angeles 14 yards, again moving the chains.

The Rams got into the end zone on 3rd-and-7 from the Buccaneers’ 44. With Keenum in an empty shotgun set, wide receiver Brian Quick beat his man down the middle of the field. The quarterback hit the wideout in stride for Quick’s first touchdown reception since Week 5 of the 2014 season.

But Tampa Bay got on the board with a poor Keenum throw that was returned to the house.

Second-year linebacker Kwon Alexander picked off the pass, stepping in front of Austin as the play developed. With no one really in front of him, Alexander turned on the burners and made it to the end zone to open the scoring for the home team.

However, kicker Roberto Aguayo — a second-round pick in this year’s draft — missed the extra point to keep the Rams up, 7-6.

Los Angeles scored again when Greg Zuerlein hit a 53-yard field goal, but Tampa Bay came back with a nine-play, 75-yard scoring drive on the ensuing possession. Running back Charles Sims finished off the drive with with a one-yard touchdown run to give the Buccaneers a 13-10 lead.

The home team extended its advantage with more points off a Los Angeles turnover. Wide receiver Kenny Britt fumbled near midfield after making a reception on second down. Tampa Bay safety Chris Conte recovered the ball and returned it 10 yards to the Los Angeles 43. Nine plays later, quarterback Jameis Winston hit tight end Cameron Brate with a three-yard pass for a touchdown, increasing Tampa Bay’s lead to 20-10.

But after that, the Rams would score 14 straight points to re-take the lead. Weakside linebacker Mark Barronintercepted a pass off the team that drafted him, giving the Rams good field position to put points on the board close to halftime.

On 1st-and-10 from the Tampa Bay 27, cornerback Trumaine Johnson hit Sims just as a pass was coming into his hands. The ball went into the air and right to Barron, who returned it seven yards to the Tampa Bay 22.

Running back Todd Gurley would score his first touchdown of the season with a one-yard run, cutting the Bucs’ lead to three with just under 30 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

Then in the third, the Rams registered arguably their best offensive drive of the season, marching down the field in eight plays. After Aguayo missed a 41-yard field goal, Gurley started the ensuing possession with a nine-yard run, then added three more for a first down. Keenum completed a 19-yard pass to Britt and a 12-yard pass to wide receiver Bradley Marquez to get the Rams in the red zone.

Then Gurley got back to work with an impressive 16-yard run. The running back used his remarkable athleticism to keep himself up after breaking a pair of tackles, nearly reaching the end zone before finally going down at the one-yard line. A play later, Gurley finished the job with his second one-yard touchdown run of the game, giving Los Angeles a 24-20 lead.

With the Buccaneers threatening in the red zone, another Rams takeaway extended the visitors’ lead. On 3rd-and-6 from the L.A. 13-yard line, defensive end Robert Quinn came around the corner and knocked the ball out of Winston’s hands as he was preparing to throw. The ball squirted over to the defense’s left, and end Ethan Westbrooks was there to recover it.

That’s when Westbrooks turned on the burners, running down the sideline 77 yards to the end zone for a scoop-and-score. With the extra point, the Rams increased their lead to 31-20.

But the Buccaneers would not go quietly, moving down the field in just 2:44 to cut the Rams’ lead to five points. Winston hit Brate for the tight end’s second touchdown of the day, this time from only one-yard out. Tampa Bay went for two, but Winston’s pass was high and incomplete, leaving the Rams up 31-26.

Los Angeles came back with a strong response drive, scoring another touchdown to put the game out of reach. Keenum found Austin on the left side of the field for a big gain. Austin made a man miss and with no one else around him, sauntered into the end zone for the offense’s fourth touchdown of the day. The visitors’ two-point conversion try failed, which kept the Rams’ lead at 37-26.

Still, Tampa Bay would not go quietly, with Winston engineering another fast scoring drive to pull within five points. Sims converted a 4th-and-1 with a 23-yard run to the Los Angeles seven-yard line. A play later, Winston bought time by moving to his right and floated a pass to wideout Mike Evans in the end zone for a touchdown.

The Rams’ ensuing drive began at their own five-yard line after a short return by Austin. But prior to 3rd-and-11 at the two-minute warning, lightning strikes began in the Tampa area causing an hour-long weather delay. When play resumed, Keenum could not hit Britt on the right sideline as the pass fell incomplete.

Despite threatening on the ensuing drive, Winston could not engineer a fourth-quarter comeback as Quinn took the quarterback down on the last play when he couldn’t find anyone open.

With the victory, the Rams move to 2-1 on the season.

Rams’ offensive blueprint finally comes to life

VINNY BONSIGNORE

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/rams-730176-game-yard.html

TAMPA, Fla. – It figures it would take an act of higher powers for the Rams offense to cross the opposing goal line not once, not twice but four times after going touchdown-less the first two weeks of the season.

Or for a Jeff Fisher-coached Rams team to start a season 2-1 after failing to do so his first four years in charge and the Rams to … wait for it … actually be tied for first place in their division heading into Week 4 and a crucial game against the Arizona Cardinals.

With the Rams, it had to require some crazy, unforeseen event from the heavens to make all of that possible, right?

Like, say, a helping hand reaching down from the dark clouds hovering above Raymond Floyd Stadium that dropped buckets of rain and unleashed such righteous thunder and lightning that officials halted the game against the Buccaneers with two minutes remaining and ordered fans to seek coverage.

Something weird and eerie was going on, that’s for sure.

But then, it was Florida and this is the Rams.

They came to Central Florida in search of answers to unlock their offense, which has sputtered about like a Ford Pinto with a clogged fuel pump through two games. They found their answers, all right, with Case Keenum throwing for two scores and Todd Gurley carrying for two more on an unbearably humid Sunday afternoon that stretched into mid-evening.

It was the very blueprint the Rams have pointed to all offseason, the one they believe if drawn up correctly will yield wins: establishing a running game with Gurley, using that foundation to create shots down field with manageable play-action passes that Keenum is more than capable of delivering, and a stout defense making enough stops as necessary.

For the fist time this season, it was was all on display in unison.

They found answers, all right. And it helped them build a 37-26 fourth-quarter lead.

But they got so much more than that.

And in a weird, roundabout way, their ability to successfully deal with some unplanned adversity could turn out to be the springboard they use to finally leap out of the 7-9 purgatory they’ve been stuck in the last five years.

As in everything they worked so hard for getting held in suspended animation when Florida went all Florida on them and rolled in a thunderstorm the likes of which sent the locals scrambling.

The result was a 1-hour, 10-minute delay with the Rams leading by five and facing a third-and-11 at their 5-yard line with two minutes remaining.

This after the Buccaneers leaped back into the thick of things when Jameis Winston hooked up with Mike Evans on a 7-yard touchdown pass to cut the Rams lead to 37-32, then threw Keenum for a 4-yard loss to the Rams 5-yard-line to force the third and long as the game clock struck two minutes.

In rolled one of those late summer Florida storms.

And off the field went the two teams.

“Absolutely horrible,” Rams guard Rodger Saffold said. “Because you just knew they were thinking they had all the momentum.”

To the locker room they went, where they passed time staying hydrated and feeding their bodies and talking about situational football and planning for every possible scenario they might encounter upon being summoned back to the field.

“Crossing our t’s and dotting out i’s,” is how Rams defensive tackle Michael Brockers put it.

When play finally resumed, the Rams held on for dear life as the Buccaneers forced a punt, and then Winston marched them all the way to the Rams 15 yard-line.

There, with four seconds left, Winston scrambled around looking for an open receiver as time expired, then took off running. Down to the 5-yard line he went, but with nothing but green grass separating him and the end zone he inexplicably paused for a second and cocked his arm back as if to throw. It was all a deke, Winston was trying to trick the Rams defense into backing up to defend a possible pass in the end zone. But it backfired as Rams defensive end Robert Quinn came diving at Winston from behind to tackle him.

Game over.

Answers found.

Adversity met.

Disaster averted.

And onto Arizona the first-place Rams go next week.

Go figure.

An offense that missing in action the first two weeks of the season rolled up a just enough 320 yards. A non-existent running game produced 137 yards, with Gurley getting untracked for 85.

More importantly, it helped put 38 points on the board.

“When we’re rolling and we’re running the ball and using play-action to make plays down the field, it’s a good mix,” Keenum said.

It’s not “The Greatest Show on Turf” numbers, but after getting ridiculed for two weeks now it was salvation.

“Huge,” is how Saffold described it. “Getting in the end zone is huge. Being able to score 30 points is huge.”

And being in first place is, well, huge.

“But we can do a million times better,” Saffold said. “We can’t become complacent, not even for a minute. The next thing to do is come out and play another big game on the road.”

PA Ram wrote:

Make no mistake–the Rams are fortunate to be 2-1. They sure tried to give this game away.

Tales from the dark side.

They’re not a flawless machine yet, agreed.

But they fought and came back from their own mistakes were scrappy and persistent and made plays. On the road.

Thomas: Rams couldn’t have won without help from inept Bucs

Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/thomas-rams-couldn-t-have-won-without-help-from-inept/article_e4880a3d-607a-523e-b3ae-609da055d250.html

Give the Rams credit for resiliency in Tampa Bay, hanging tough for a 37-32 victory on a day when a lot of things went wrong.

They had the patience under offensive coordinator Rob Boras to stick with the running game, finally getting Todd Gurley going — to a degree — with 85 yards rushing on 27 carries and two touchdowns.

At quarterback, Case Keenum made just enough good throws to get the job done and hold onto the starting job for at least another week or two.

Tavon Austin reached the end zone for the first time, finally flashing his big-play ability this season.

Overall, the defensive line was quiet, playing undermanned at the end position because of William Hayes’ ankle injury and Eugene Sims’ early ejection. But defensive ends Robert Quinn and Ethan Westbrooks combined on one of the game’s biggest plays when Quinn knocked the ball loose from Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston early in the fourth quarter.

Westbrooks scooped up the football, scoring his first NFL touchdown on a 77-yard return for a 31-20 Los Angeles lead early in the fourth quarter. The forced fumble by Quinn was his league-leading 18th since the start of the 2012 season.

And not to be overlooked was Greg Zuerlein’s 17th career field goal of 50 yards-plus, a 53-yarder that gave the Rams a 10-6 lead late in the first quarter. Those three points came in handy in a five-point game.

More noteworthy is that Zuerlein is four-for-four this season kicking on grass surfaces. Entering this season he was just a 65-percent kicker on grass (26 of 40), compared to 87.3 percent accuracy (69 of 79) on artificial surfaces.

But when all was said and done, the Rams couldn’t have done it Sunday without a lot of help from Tampa Bay, some of which defied the imagination. Let us count the ways.

1. The Rams’ first touchdown, a 44-yard pass from Keenum to Brian Quick on the opening drive of the day, came on a busted coverage by Tampa Bay. Cornerback Alterraun Verner lined up outside of Quick on the play, in essence giving Quick the inside of the field if he wanted it.

That’s fine if you have safety help inside. But there was no safety help — both Bucs safeties were lined up fairly close to the line of scrimmage, guarding against the run. As a result, Quick’s first touchdown since Oct. 5, 2014 was ridiculously easy.

2. Tampa Bay was in control, up 20-10 and with the ball late in the first half, when running back Charles Sims bobbled a short pass from Winston. He was then hit by Rams cornerback Trumaine Johnson, with the ball squirting in the air and picked off by Mark Barron for his first interception in 28 games with the Rams.

The Rams took over at the Tampa Bay 22 with 2 minutes 23 seconds to play in the half. It took seven plays to reach the end zone, but the Rams got there on a one-yard run by Gurley. The Rams might have had to settle for a field goal, but two Tampa Bay penalties at the six-yard line helped the Rams along.

3. With the Rams clinging to a 31-26 lead midway through the fourth quarter, their offense faced a third-and-17 dilemma backed up at their own 18. Verner, despite playing off-coverage, being in good position on wide receiver Kenny Britt and having safety help nearby, grabbed Britt and was flagged for pass interference.

Even if Verner’s technique was perfect, the Rams would have had a first down anyway because rookie cornerback Vernon Hargreaves was whistled for defensive holding away from the ball on the same play.

Four plays later the Rams caught Tampa Bay in a badly-designed blitz by Buccaneers defensive coordinator Mike Smith, the former Atlanta Falcons head coach. Veteran corner Brent Grimes was lined up over Austin in the slot, and blitzed.

Grimes never made it to Keenum. But Keenum made it to Austin, who because of the blitz was left with only lumbering safety Keith Tandy to beat in coverage. Tandy compounded the problem by missing a tackle at the 23, allowing Austin to complete a 43-yard TD pass for a 37-26 Rams lead.

4. All of the above may not have mattered if the Bucs had handled the end-of-game sequence following a 70-minute weather delay with any degree of confidence.

Taking over at its 44, Tampa Bay had 1 minute 42 seconds on the clock and two timeouts. The Bucs never used the timeouts — at least not in any useful way.

On completions to Adam Humphries, Sims, and then Sims again in which the receiver was tackled in-bounds — meaning the clock kept running — 20, 22, and 23 seconds, respectively, ticked off the clock without calling a timeout.

If Bucs coach Dirk Koetter had used just one of the two remaining timeouts on any one of those three plays, he buys time for at least three more plays. Instead, he used one of the two remaining timeouts after an incomplete pass — meaning the clock was stopped already — with four seconds left. And he never used the last timeout.

As it was, Winston was tackled from behind by Quinn just five yards short of the game-winning touchdown as time expired. Winston was wandering aimlessly down the field on the play apparently looking for a receiver. But he was already 10 yards past the line of scrimmage when tackled, so any pass thrown would have been illegal anyway.

5. And then there was the missed extra point and missed 41-yard field goal by rookie Roberto Aguayo, both wide left. The Bucs drafted Aguayo in the second round because they thought he could be a difference-maker. He was on Sunday — just for the other team.

nittany ram wrote:

More sour grapes from JT. He makes it sound as if the Rams had no say in the outcome of the game. Both teams made mistakes that kept the other team in it. Both teams had and relinquished control at various points of the game.

This wasn’t the Bucs’ game to lose. It was a close game played by two evenly matched teams. It could have gone either way. The Rams did just enough to win. Pardon all the cliches but they fit here nicely.

I agree with your take. JT does not get hall of fame points for that one.

Los Angeles Rams able to catch lightning, finally

Vincent Bonsignore, Los Angeles Daily News

http://www.dailynews.com/sports/20160925/los-angeles-rams-able-to-catch-lightning-finally

TAMPA BAY >> It figures it would take an act of higher powers for the Rams to cross the opposing goal line not once, not twice but four times in their 37-32 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after going touchdown-less the first two weeks of the season.

Or for a Jeff Fisher-coached Rams team to start a season 2-1 after failing to do so his first four years in charge and the Rams to … wait for it … actually be in first place in their division heading into Week 4 and a crucial game against the Arizona Cardinals.

With the Rams, it had to require some crazy, unforeseen event from the heavens to make all of that possible, right?

Like, say, a helping hand reaching down from the dark clouds hovering above Raymond James Stadium that dropped buckets of rain and unleashed such righteous thunder and lightning that officials halted the Rams game against the Buccaneers with two minutes remaining and ordered fans to seek coverage.

Which really happened, by the way.

Something weird and eerie was going on, that’s for sure.

But then, it was Florida and this is the Rams.

They came to Central Florida in search of answers to unlock their offense, which has sputtered about like a Ford Pinto with a clogged fuel pump through two games. They found their answers, alright, with Case Keenum throwing for two scores and Todd Gurley carrying for two more on an unbearably humid Sunday afternoon that stretched into mid evening.

The very blueprint the Rams have pointed to all offseason, the one they believe if drawn up correctly will yield wins: Establishing a running game with Gurley, then using that foundation to create shots down field with manageable play-action passes that Keenum is more than capable of delivering, and a stout defense making enough stops necessary.

For the first time all year, it was all on display in unison.

They found answers, all right. And it helped them build a 37-26 fourth-quarter lead.

But they got so much more than that.

And in a weird, roundabout way, their ability to successfully deal with some unplanned adversity could turn out to be the springboard they use to finally leap out of the 7-9 purgatory they’ve been stuck in the last five years.

As in everything they worked so hard for getting held in suspended animation when Florida went all Florida on them and rolled in a thunder storm the likes of which sent the locals scrambling.

The result was an hour and ten minute delay with the Rams leading by five and facing a third-and-11 at their 5-yard line with exactly two minutes remaining.

This after the Buccaneers leaped back into the thick of things when Jameis Winston hooked up with Mike Evans on a 7-yard touchdown pass to cut the Rams lead to 37-32 with just over two minutes remaining, then threw Keenum for a 4-yard loss to the Rams five-yard-line to force the third-and-long as the game clock struck two minutes.

In rolled one of those late summer Florida storms.

And off the field went the two teams.

“Absolutely horrible,” Rams guard Rodger Saffold said. “Because you just knew they were thinking they had all the momentum.”

To the locker room they went, where the passed time staying hydrated and feeding their bodies and talking about situational football and planning for every possible scenario they might encounter upon being summoned back to the field.

“Crossing our T’s and dotting out I’s,” is how Rams defensive tackle Michael Brockers put it.

When play finally resumed, the Rams held on for dear life as the Buccaneers forced a punt, and then Winston marched them all the way to the Rams 15 yard-line.

There, with four seconds left, Winston scrambled around looking for an open receiver as time expired then took off running. Down to the 5-yard line he went, but with nothing but green grass separating him and the end zone he inexplicably paused for a second and cocked his arm back as if to throw it. It was all a deke, Winston was trying to trick the Rams defense into backing up to defend a possible pass in the end zone. But it backfired as Rams defensive end Robert Quinn came diving at Winston from behind to tackle him to the ground.

Game over.

Answers found.

Adversity met.

Disaster averted.

And onto Arizona the first-place Rams go next week.

Go figure.

An offense that went missing in action the first two weeks of the season rolled up a just enough 320 yards. A non-existent running game produced 137 yards, with Gurley getting untracked for 85.

More importantly, it helped put 31 points on the board.

“When we’re rolling and we’re running the ball and using play action to make plays down the field, it’s a good mix,” Keenum said.

It’s not The Greatest Show on Turf numbers, but after getting ridiculed for two weeks now it was salvation.

“Huge,” is how Saffold described it. “Getting in the end zone is huge. Being able to score 30 points is huge.”

And being in first place is, well, huge.

“But we can do a million times better,” Saffold said. “We can’t become complacent, not even for a minute. The next thing to do is come out and play another big game on the road.”