Ten Takeaways from Sunday’s 34-31 Loss to Dallas
By Randy Karraker

The Rams’ 50 penalties through three games are fifth in the NFL, and their 305 penalty yards are second. It’s really hard to win consistently when you give the opposition 100 yards per game. Sunday’s damage: eight infractions for 119 yards. And you can blame the officials, but as Brad Thompson says in “The Fast Lane,” “don’t like it? Play better.”

Um…yeah. This is why I had to take a break. FUCK this. That Defensive Holding call on Eugene Sims was some of the worst bullshit I’ve EVER seen. EVER. It’s the kind of horrible call that feeds conspiracy theories because it defies logic, fact, visual evidence and reason.

Several of those calls FOR the Cowboys came at critical junctures and as we all know, it only takes a few.

I realize Quinn has no sacks, but why is no one talking about how he’s not just held on every play, but so obviously and grossly held? It’s like Patriot SB36 level disregarding the rules…

It’s bullshit.

If the NFL wants to do this or condones this, then fine. But don’t call it a contest.

You play to win the game. But it’s not a game if the outcome is decided before hand. And that’s exactly how it feels right now… that the Rams are going to lose big this season to prepare for a move to LA…, but be stocked with talent to make a big splash in 2015 where they will get much better BOD from the league… all of a sudden!…

This all just stinks to me.

Play the games on merit.

Move the damn team if you want to make more f’n money.

All this subterfuge is why Goodell’s in this mess right now. All of what I wrote above sounds crazy… except it’s exactly the MO of the NFL league office for YEARS… SpyGate, Bountygate… how cities got franchises… How the Giants got the first game in MetLife stadium… why Goodell’s in this Ray Rice mess now… why the CTE scandal is the massive scandal that it is…

None of this changes that the Rams need to improve things. They most certainly DO.

However, if we remove the blatant tampering just from the refs in the Cowboys game, the Rams are 2-1 with momentum heading into the bye week, and 2nd in the division, tied with Seattle and ahead of SF who’s in the basement.

Seriously, looking forward, I expect we either look bad in the next 8 games OR the refs will step in and cost us games such that we do no better than 2-6 over the next 8 games.

THAT’S MY CALL. It just won’t be allowed. Watch. The reason we lose MORE than one game over the next 8 will be blatant refereeing interference…

Back after a short hiatus…

Davis and Cook worked it out during the game on the sidelines.

Davis is a leader. He went to Cook, sat him down and worked it out. The offense needs both of them.

I’m pretty sure we’re going to see Shaun Hill against Philly because… Fisher. But Davis did just about everything that could be asked of him including be a leader of veterans.

I especially liked Davis’ poise of not overreacting to Cook.

Would you be happy to be with GRITS? His helmet smells like feet?

(KIDDING!!! :D:D:D:D:D:D )

It requires QuickTime…

So, there are 29 guys from that 53 man 2011 roster still in football…now?

Cuz…that just doesn’t make sense. May be true, but doesn’t make sense.

11 of 29 runs for zero or negative yardage.

This run defense isn’t terrible. It has breakdowns.

4 runs for 91 yards.

14 of 29 for 59 yards.

Now, you can’t just IGNORE the bad runs. But… out of 29 run plays, the Rams had 4 breakdowns. Without those breakdowns, they went 25 runs for 59 yards which would have been good for 2.36 YPC. Which is outstanding. And that’s how the run game generally played out.

So, the issue isn’t, can the Rams play run defense… they DO and DID play run defense. The issue is can they play it CONSISTENTLY. Because DeMarco Murray and that Cowboy OL will really make it hard to ignore the bad runs if the LBs don’t fill those gaps. Allow them 4 bad runs and Murray will have another 200 yard day.

Here’s hoping that the Rams are prepared to stop the Run… and subsequently don’t get burned by play action…

Sweet! I thought Donald had it when I saw it…

I said before the year started that he’d be the Defensive Rookie of the Year.

So far… *knocks on wood veneer*

• This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by Mackeyser.

I’d love for Austin Davis to give Coach Fisher a MASSIVE headache by throwing for 400+ yards and 5TDs.

That way for 2 weeks, Fisher has to wonder what to do.

And we’ve got 2 weeks of living on a great victory and a great QB performance to enjoy…

QB controversies aren’t fun, but sometimes the reason you have them is because someone steps UP.

I don’t really care who it is, but we need a QB to step up. I aspire for our team to have more than a Trent Dilfer at QB.

We seem to be able to focus enough on AP with these new pieces to limit him to 85 yards after he just GASHED us last time.

Murray hurt us bad, but that was before Langford had gotten straightened out. If you guys will recall, he wasn’t playing the Run D the way Fisher wanted. Once they got him situated, he was ranked 2nd among DTs in the league over the last 8 games of 2013 in Run D.

And the BIG game Murray had against us was in 2011… The end of the Spags era.

That team was SO devoid of talent that within just TWO years (and we thought the Linehan teams were bereft of talent…which they were…) that of the 53 on the active roster in 2011, not including the injury subs, more than 40 weren’t just off the Rams roster by 2013…they were out of the entire NFL.

So THIS Rams team is substantially different and substantially and qualitatively better than that 2011 team. We have greater depth and a much better team at every position (other than maybe Hayes subbing for C. Long).

If the D can get to their gaps, which mostly at this point isn’t on the DL, but the LBs… if the LBs can GET to their run gaps… this game isn’t just winnable, it’s big time winnable.

Every one of the 4 big runs in Tampa was on one or more of the LBs. They simply HAVE to get off of their blocks and make the plays that they’re in position to make.

Rarely has this defense been out of position. I mean, other than that last play of the game at Tampa, but that was on Fisher and he acknowledged that was due to a miscommunication.

NO! Not McGee! Not yet!

Holy Jeebus… Near the end of the game, I saw McGee on our side be on the outside, man up on Evans and I started screaming, McGee’s on Evans, McGee’s on Evans!!! As in “he’s drowning, help him!!!”

Sure enough, Evans takes two or three strides, breaks off a nice In route and were it not for McLeod almost breaking his hip, he’d have been gone. McGee got straight BURNED.

We need Tru back in a bad way. I don’t care how they parse out the jobs, but that starting trio of JJ, Tru and Gaines is the business. Once Joyner is good, we’re going to really be solid…

Piece of crap is a tad strong…

And we don’t really know what we have in Davis. I hope we have a young QB in the making. However, one game isn’t the be all and end all.

Let’s not forget that Hill makes throws that Davis doesn’t. That was apparent live. Davis can hit certain routes, but they didn’t even ASK him to throw certain balls that they feel comfortable asking Hill to throw.

I’ll believe in Fisher until he gives me a reason to believe otherwise…

Well, thankfully, Finnegan’s in the Miami metroplex and safely away from blowing nickel coverages in our defense.

This game could go so many different ways…

Rams could win big, win close, lose close, or lose big.

And, ya know….none of those would surprise me.

Well, Austin will have more than enough weapons at his disposal, that’s for sure.

If the Rams can keep the ball away from Dallas, then we will be okay.

I think this game will be tough for this squad. And for some reason, I think that Dallas Defense will outperform themselves for this game…

Oh, and I remember when folks thought Bailey was a throw away pick and I called him a “Reggie Wayne” type player.

Just watch. This year, he shows it. Been saying that since before he got here. I think with Quick showing up and ensuring that Bailey won’t get the #1 on every play, we’ll see him light things up.

Wow…just wow. Quick, Britt, Bailey, and Pettis? Austin when he’s ready and Givens who’s also coming along… we may just have the best WR corps since the GSOT. Certainly not better, but best since…

Which only makes the loss of Bradford that much more salty…

If the Rams can contain DeMarco Murray, then things look really good for them.

I think they really didn’t want anything deep by the Bucs and they succeeded. Other than one 20yd pass to Vincent Jackson, there was nothing and there wasn’t even an attempt at a 30+ yard pass. So, if the Rams wanted to keep the Bucs on the ground and essentially take Jackson and Evans out of the game… they did.

Now, I’m sure the Rams will probably focus on Murray more than they focus on Dez Bryant because Murray can not only take over a game, but also the clock. When the Rams focused on AP, they held him to 85 yards on 17 carries and he gashed the Rams ugly, too. So, we’ll see.

I like the Rams in this game.

Plus, I won’t be wearing my Warner jersey which I’m clear now is ONLY for wearing to the stadium… so no jinxing the team…