We'll get that fixed

Yeah, that was a lackluster effort all around.

There’s nothing about this team’s performance so far that would suggest things will be any different than they were last year.

It’s a shame because there is some talent on this team.

What’s even more discouraging is the way the team leaders responded after the game. In their interviews, Long and Ogletree take a pretty nonchalant attitude to being embarrassed. They should be livid. Maybe they are presenting a different face to the media than they did in the locker room but still…

There’s no fire there.

rfl wrote:

In their interviews, Long and Ogletree take a pretty nonchalant attitude to being embarrassed.

I would say you are officially panicking.

in their interviews, Long and Ogletree take a pretty nonchalant attitude to being embarrassed. They should be livid.

I dunno. First Ogletree isn’t a leader. To me, he’s more like an orphan ward of the team. Either way, Long did not strike me personally as being nonchalant. He wasn’t livid either but then I personally wouldn’t find that consoling.

joemad wrote:

Pre-season records are meaningless.

Spags was 10-2 in preseason games…

I don’t care if they win the game. I would like them to at least look like they belong on the same field as an opponent that finished 2-14 last season.
I’m not even talking about what this portends for the season. I’m talking about having enough pride to do what it takes to not be embarrassed on national TV against a lesser opponent.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 4 months ago by nittany ram.

nittany ram wrote:

However, I am concerned about an apparent ambivalence to losing that goes back years (regular season as well as preseason).

But, see, I don’t see that in Long’s remarks.

The excuse I keep hearing is that the team was tired. I actually believe that’s possible. They traveled to Oakland and then they go to Oxnard–work out with the Cowboys–have to prepare for Tennessee somehow and travel to Tennessee for a game they weren’t prepared to play.

But why put the team through the whole Oxnard experience to begin with? Did it REALLY help to work out with the Cowboys? Doesn’t show. And forget “gameplanning”. This is about fundamentals. Washington looked lost out there. The line could not open holes for the backs(until the 2nd or 3rd stringers played against the 2nd or 3rd stringers) and the defense could not get close to Mariotta OR shut down the running game even a little bit.

Pre-season or not–there is no excuse for that type of performance and if it WAS being tired, I blame Fisher for the whole Cowboys/Oxnard fiasco. This should not be about displaying your team for L.A. fans–it should be about getting ready for the season and clearly they don’t look ready if they can’t even play on the same field as the 2-14 Titans with a rookie QB.

It was a pathetic performance.

GZ missed a FG right and Palardy misses one left. Hekker punted horribly.

SOMETHING was wrong with this team.

And I’m sorry–but that points to Fisher.

I remember reading how the Cowboys were surprised how the Rams practiced. How slow it was–no flow–how the Cowboy coaches practiced DURING drills while the Rams seemed to stop and THEN coach. That struck me as a bit weird. Maybe it isn’t but it does seem like a less efficient way of coaching.

And yes–I’d like to see the players and coaches embarrassed by that performance–pre-season or not.

Look–ultimately, maybe it’s meaningless. Maybe they start the season with four straight wins and all of the concern goes away and we look back on this and laugh at how bad they looked.

But unless that happens or until I see some professional solid play–I will remain concerned.

Fisher no longer has my confidence just because he’s Jeff Fisher. He has to earn it like every other coach. He hasn’t done that yet.

Oakland Raiders 3 13
Tennessee Titans 2 14
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2 14
Jacksonville Jaguars 3 13

I watched Fear the Walking Dead.

Or did I watch the Rams?

wv wrote:

I also remember thinking Cignetti is not even
trying to call medium passing plays. He’s not
threatening the middle, he’s not calling for 20 yard zingers.
He’s just dinking and dunking and it looked like the defense

I have one word for you. “Link.”

Link —> http://www.stlouisrams.com/videos/videos/Case-Keenum-to-Chris-Givens-for-an-80-Yard-TD/414c8370-cf3b-49d8-919b-022838565532

Ram43 reposting and bowdlerizing DCH

w
v
==================================
Ram43
Ahem, some editing was required due to language.

Here’s DCH…

Positives:
– We have RB depth up the “wazoo”.
– Pead and Watts both looked like they should be playing over Cunningham.
– Our backup QBs are looking better than they have in years – both Keenum and Mannion look like gamers.
– Joyner flew around the field like his hair was on fire and rather than wanting to put it out, he wanted to take some “bleeping” Titans down in flames with him
– We seem to have a legit starting LT, RG and RT, as Robinson, Brown and Havenstein all played reasonably well
– Barrett Jones (my boy!) didn’t get his name called much when he took his turn at C, and that was in a good way – dude played solid.
– Barron looked good back on the field, was relatively disruptive and got his hands on what should have been an INT
– Rhaney looked OK… inconsistent, but flashing talent.
– I don’t think they threw at Jenkins once, which I take as a testament to his threat.
– They didn’t have nearly as many penalties, and the roughing the passer calls were both total @#$%&.
– Stedman catches everything close to him and makes plays out of it.
– Givens can still take the top off of a defense.

Negatives:
– The D-line is not looking good… if swapping Brockers out for Westbrooks means we’re gashed for 5 yards per carry and can’t generate consistent pressure on the QB, then what the hell are we paying the other 3 starters so much for?
– Aaron Donald is, so far, invisible to me
– Foles… yeesh. What I see is a guy who is very good when his first read is open, and very bad afterwords. His footwork has not been good. He’s not shifted around in what little pocket he’s had. He’s forced bad throws. He doesn’t seem to check down to the safety valve effectively when his primary read is open and the pocket is collapsing. One thing NFL radio noted this morning: they said he looks slow taking his drops, like he’s getting back to step 5 when he should have already released the ball.
– Brandon Washington seems to have spent 2014 watching Davin Joseph and now thinks that’s what a starting NFL guard should look like. He’s played awful.
– JL looks a step slower and a bit weaker than he did last year. Not sure what’s up with him, but he just looks like a guy who’s made his name on a consistent motor who’s cruising through preseason. High-motor guys playing with the motor on idle don’t look good… and he doesn’t look good.
– Barron flashed hands of stone on the aforementioned dropped INT.
– Austin was invisible.
– Still no creativity on the offensive scheming. Not even vanilla… more like unflavored ice chips.
– Williams blitzing seems to leave a lot of holes for offenses to exploit. Why can’t our D-line collapse pockets without guys coming out of the secondary or from the LB corps?
– Middle of the field pass defense is… we’ll say porous.
– Austin Davis does not belong on an NFL field. Bad in the pocket, no arm strength, no vision, no idea how he had a stretch of success last year.
– There seems to be way too much “We’re missing X player from the unit, therefore the unit as a whole is failing.” Saffold on the O-line. Brockers on the D-line. Is this not a team sport? The team seems to internalize excuses, like “We’re tired from playing the Cowboys,” and “We’re missing one of our starters on this group,” and playing down to lowered expectations.

i’ll say this. it wasn’t fun watching last night’s game.

it was sloppy. rams seemed disinterested.

i just hope against hope that the coaches were keeping the goodies under wraps until the regular season and that the players will actually show some pride when the games count. but can they just flip the switch on like that?

the rams should not be holding back on offense though. they should be doing everything they can so that they are firing on all cylinders by the time the regular season roles around. and if that’s the best they’ve got, the rams are not making the playoffs. hopefully, they gameplan a little bit for the colts.

if it’s like this game 3? i will be freaking out for sure.

from off the net

===

alyoshamucci

I have Rhaney ahead.

Jones’ issue is strength … he gets pushed around. Maybe he’s going tentative or thinking too much, but Rhaney gets all up into his man and moves him. He’s also athletic enough to adjust when he’s beat.

I watched every play in slo mo to get a feel for him. One thing I learned? Washington is terrible. Blew about 5 blocks … Rhaney had one mistake. But so did Grob.

You know who was solid? Both Brown and Hav. The rookies are the bright spot on the line. lol

If there’s a mental aspect he’s not getting that’s one thing, but he is physically the best player at the position in my view.

Also, the fullbacks blew block after block .. blew my mind, no one could seal the back side.

from off the net

===

LMU93

Random thoughts…

QB- I’m just not worried about Foles unless the OL really is terrible. With their regular starting five and with game planning etc. is Foles behind? I don’t know.. I don’t think he is. Yes, he’s only thrown 12 passes in preseason so far but he’s had all the first team work in OTAs, camp and vs. Dallas last week. I expect he’ll play the whole first half this Saturday vs. IND. And he should. That was an ugly, ugly play on the INT Sunday night regardless of who was at fault. But it just doesn’t change my opinion of him as a solid starter and a guy that if he stays healthy could and should help them win 9-10 games this season. I think he’s going to be fine. Keenum is the #2 QB unless an injury occurs. Mannion the #3.

RB- I don’t see how they keep Watts off this team.. He’s an impressive runner, albeit their 4th RB. I wonder if they try and feature Pead this week in hopes of a desperate team possibly dangling a 7th round pick for him. I also don’t know what happens with Watts given the suspension. Does he not count toward the 53 the first four games? Ideal if so… They could activate him in week 5 and IR someone who’s hurt by then. My guess is Gurley gets a handful of carries in week 3, then they very slowly increase his workload from there.

WR- The offense will be better when Quick starts playing. As much as I really would rather it be someone else, it’s hard to give the 5th WR spot to anyone but Givens right now. I still say $1.54M is a lot to pay a 5th WR that doesn’t cover or return kickoffs and punts.

OL- Washington stinks- that was a factor Sunday night… Brown looks like a player and in my opinion could show up on All-Rookie teams by season’s end if his progress continues. Havenstein is going to have pass blocking issues for a while but also looks like he belongs. I’m not sure what to make of the competition at center. No one stands out to me. Jones gets overpowered way too much. Rhaney didn’t excite me Sunday. I think right now Barnes may be the best option but this 3rd preseason game probably is the deciding factor. One thing I think about is how quickly the ‘winner’ can improve. If Rhaney’s issue is just needing more experience to make the right line calls and handle the mental part, but he has the strength and athleticism, well that can be improved upon quite a bit in 3, 6, 8 weeks. Jones’ issue with just core strength can’t. For this season, he is what he is.. So to me that’s what may have Rhaney ahead of him.I’m curious to see how the 6th-9th OL spots shake out. Reynolds and the 2nd place finisher at center will be the other game day actives. I suppose Donnal is one of the 9. Who takes that last spot?.. I would play the starting OL the entire first half in preseason game #4..

DL- I think they will have to decide between carrying a 9th DL and 5th RB. I would call Westbrooks their 7th DL and Fairley 8th right now. Do Trinca-Passat, Ifedi or Forston make a late case for a 9th DL? Could 2 or all 3 make the PS?

LB- Seems like their 6 LBs are set now. Laurinaitis hasn’t had a great preseason so far but JL is JL. I still say consistency from Ogletree and McDonald are the keys to this truly being a top 5 defense. Ayers has never been a good OLB covering TEs. He’s a pass rusher and has the size to play the run. Ogletree is the guy that has to handle TEs upfield.

DB- That awful angle on Sunday aside, I like Roberson as the 4th CB. I think the top 3 of Jenkins, Johnson and Joyner are sufficient, especially if McLeod and McDonald play well.

Odds and ends…

Being outscored 29-3 in the first halves of the first two games isn’t what we’re looking for, but like it or not this team just plays it pretty close to the vest in preseason. For example, running on first down three consecutive times to open the TEN game. That was a clunker Sunday night and they absolutely should have played better, but I do think them being on the road for basically 10 days was an issue. They now don’t leave St. Louis for the next 4 weeks. Most starters need to play a lot this Saturday vs. IND.