A few thoughts:

The defense came out slow once again–but adjusted much more quickly than the Washington game and they played an outstanding game holding a great offense to 12 points. It was a good game plan and I’m very impressed. Yes–you should win if you hold that team to 12 points–unfortunately they would have had to hold onto the interceptions and probably run them back because….

There was no offense on the field today for the Rams. Oh there was offensive play–as in their play was offensive but just a terrible embarrassing display against a not so great defense. I kept thinking that our offense looked ….slow somehow. Pittsburgh’s defense seemed to be playing at twice the speed.

This team–at least some players–I’m looking at you Jared Cook, Greg Robinson…just seems to have mental lapses where it seems like they aren’t really there. No focus. Gurley wasn’t ready for the speed of the game. That’s what it looked like–despite the fact that he had no holes. Mason actually made something out of nothing on some of his runs. Gurley can’t do that yet. But he needs to play. This is his pre-season, really.

It looks like Nick Foles pre-season too, by the way. Maybe someone should tell him these games count because he hasn’t been playing like it the last two games. In all fairness though he is throwing to guys with bricks for hands.

The offense is just a mess right now.

The defense is playoff caliber.

Add it up you may get to 7-9 or 8-8.

Gurley will get better. But right now our most consistent threat is Tavon. He’s the one guy defenses have to worry about.

Arizona is next.

Not expecting a W there.

I’ll be running back and forth from the living room where the game is on to this other room off the living room where the computer is. Lol! Just happy to watch them live on the big screen.

You know that’s something I pay attention to now when I’m watching the games and I never used to notice it before. When I see head-to head contact or a guy’s head bounce on the ground I cringe a bit. That’s the first thing I think of–concussion. McNown took a horrible spinning hit against the Jets. I can’t believe he’s coming back this week already.

A guy I work with had his grandson carted off the field on Friday at a high school game. His son texted him that the grandson would miss at least two weeks. The guy I work with texted his son back that the grandson should instead maybe miss the whole season? People are much more aware of this at the lower levels now. I wonder how this will affect what we see twenty years from now–or even 10.

At some point I see some sort of change but how much can you change the game before it becomes touch football?

And would we still watch?

Hard to believe that Boehner may look like a moderate pretty soon. This is just more of the Tea Party Frankenstein monster they created devouring their own. Look at the presidential candidates. They set something loose they can no longer control.

Well, I’m 2-0 this season having correctly called that Washington debacle. I believe I may have been a yard or two short on total rushing yards Washington would have and I apologize for that. Everything else, of course was right on.

So….the Steelers, this week.

I was going to predict armageddon as a giant asteroid plunges into earth but I recalculated and that will be another 300 years from Sunday. Whew. Close one, huh?

So yes–the game will be played, and perhaps we should have taken the asteroid because unfortunately the Steelers have the NFL’s best offense(didn’t look at stats I’m going by the eyeball test) and they will be impossible to stop. They may have to punt twice this game if they stop themselves with penalties.

Too many weapons, too many things to stop.

The Rams have….hopefully Todd Gurley. That’s it.

The Rams defense can pressure the passer but Roth moves fantastic in the pocket for a big guy and his passes are a thing of beauty. The receivers? Yeah…nuff said.

Bell is back. Uh-huh.

No, the Rams will not win this game. Yes–I fear it will be a good old fashioned blowout.

Steelers: 42 Rams: 13

(I was in a text war with my son—a Steelers fan–and proclaimed the Rams would win this 35-10 but of course that was just bold talk–unless the Rams DO win 35-10 in which case it was an incredible prediction).

Of course, I hope I’m wrong for the first time this year. But my record speaks for itself.

GO RAMS!!!!!!!!!

Well, I think Quick gives them something that Givens doesn’t–and what Givens gives them, Austin or Bailey can give them(although I’m not saying Bailey is as fast as Givens) and why not give Foles another type of weapon? Fisher says it’s not an injury question he says it’s a numbers question. He doesn’t say anything about rust. He says numbers. So is Fisher not telling us everything? If it’s just a numbers thing than he has the option to sit Givens. If it is rust that’s fine–but Fisher never says that.

The Brian Quick thing is a bit odd. I’m not sure if Fisher is telling the whole story there or not. He insists it isn’t an injury thing–it’s a numbers–special teams thing. But considering how well Quick was playing last year–why not sit Givens? I don’t know. Just seems odd. How does Quick ever get back on the field.

I did think that Greg Robinson had a decent game. And really–Foles did seem to have a particularly bad game. Last week he was under pressure and made throws, seemed to think quickly under pressure(remember the basketball pass)and this week he sort of fell apart.

Someone just posted this on another board….oh–that’s right–it was me. Anyway something I looked up fwiw.

“It’s a combination of things,” Fisher said. “It was a combination of gap integrity by the players. It was a combination of the (coaching) staff putting them in some bad positions.
Farr said something about this on the radio broadcast. The Rams were attacking vertically and Washington was attacking horizontally. Williams did not correct things until the 2nd half.

I did this quickly scanning play-by-plays so if I missed anything…well, I tried not to miss anything:

First half Washington runs for 148 yards. These yards are mostly the result of 3 BIG runs. 25 yards off right tackle. 35 yards off left tackle. 39 yards off left tackle. So take away those runs and they rush for about 49 yards. Attacking the edge paid off for them with big plays. The Rams were attacking vertically and left them exposed on the edges.

11 of 16 rush plays were to the ends.

The Rams adjusted in the 2nd half.

Washington continued to attack the edge heavily and this was the result:

-2(left end)
3(left tackle)
4(left end)
-2(left tackle)
5 (left tackle)
11(left tackle)
4(left end)
2(right end)
9(left end)
2(left end)
-2(right tackle)

37 yards attacking the edges. But that’s where Washington felt the home runs were—particularly the left edge.

So the Rams certainly cleaned things up in the 2nd half against the run but the offense was too inept to take advantage of their opportunities.

The defense is not as bad as it looked. But I do think Williams has to be quicker to adjust to things.

Again, this was a quick scan of NFL.Com. If anyone wants exact numbers you’ll have to check them but the idea behind what they did won’t change.

What!

No “Human Centipede?”

This is an outrage.

I must say that the Sight and Sound list wasn’t that impressive for me. Yeah–a few: Godfather flicks, Apocalypse Now, etc. But really? “Mulholland Drive?” I don’t even think Lynch knew what he wanted that film to be. Nonsensical garbage that only the finest critics at blowing smoke up each others ass can appreciate.

Anyway–someday I will post my filmlist and everyone on the internet will nod thoughtfully and say, “You know–he’s right.”

nittany ram wrote:

So the second game (Vikes/9ers) doesn’t start until 10:20pm? Does the NFL think it’s smart to exclude the eastern time zone from its programming?

Ahhhhh….an east coast snob. I know the type.

Anyway, I like it.

This is all about 2nd shift–which I work. This lets me watch most of the second game while you east coast snobs still get to see the full Eagles/Falcons game.

It’s really all about ME. That’s what I care about. You day shifters will just have to drink a lot of coffee in the morning.

I’ll be sleeping in.

As I said in the prediction thread, the Rams would win this one in overtime 34-31. Sure, you all laughed then–thought it was a big joke. But I just knew it–something in my gut.

In any case—-I haven’t been this happy about a football victory in years.

Foles: Love him.

Cignetti: Love him.

Donald: I want to have his baby.

Tavon: Love him too.

What a great football Sunday. I have all week to enjoy it.