I’m not just looking at the Dallas game, though–I’m talking about the first three games.

There has been no real pressure on Romo, McCown or Cassell. For all the exotic blitzes that Williams wants to pull out of his toolbox, the end result has been less than thrilling. In fact they did get some outside pressure on Romo but then he took one or two steps forward to a wide open space. How does that happen? It happened many times. If I’m Greg Williams I make sure it stops happening. I make sure that when he steps up he meets somebody. I have no idea what he needs to do but he should know.

Still, despite that AND game planning against them, the Rams are not getting beat because of the pass.

They have an inability to contain the run. It’s killing them.

They shut down Murray and shut down Murray and suddenly….boooom. He’s gone. 44 yards.

They hold Peterson to 75 yards and Patterson runs one for 67 yards.

Rainey had a 31 yard run for Tampa.

Teams don’t need to hit the big pass play against them–they can just be patient–feed the running back and sooner or later–booom. They’ll get the big play.

Yes–I’d love to see sacks and all that good stuff–but that isn’t what’s killing this team right now. The problem is consistent and it’s the run defense. Dallas started their comeback because Garrett adjusted to more inside runs and Murray got going.

Williams is not adjusting very well.

I believe this team is better than 1-2. They aren’t playing like it.

Whether it’s poor play one week(poor tackling) poor scheme another–whatever–the coaches have to sort this out and correct it–but it’s 3 games in. If they do improve–if they do figure it out, it’s still a coaching issue that they weren’t prepared from the start.

And by the way, his call to go for the 1 down the SECOND TIME was a massive fail. I knew it at the time. I thought, “We won’t get this a 2nd time and if we don’t we’ll lose the game.” Yep. Passing up a chance for a chip shot FG to extend a lead and slow down the team that has all but erased a 21 point lead? Ridiculous call.

I agree with that.

You can’t just make that decision by looking at the distance.

It’s more involved–like the momentum in the game. You were losing it.

I thought that was just a bad decision at the time.

I want an apology from the defense and the refs…and I want a Jerry Springer quote.

RamsHerd ‏@RamsHerd 37m
On defense, we saw the madness of Gregg Williams in full effect. Loves two things: the blitz, and the “surprise” drop DL into coverage.

In all fairness to Hill–no one has seen a lot of him. I don’t know that he couldn’t do just as well–or better. I haven’t seen enough of him.

Having said that, I would not be bothered if Davis was the starter going forward. Young guy–probably going to get even better. Like you said, he is not responsible for this loss.

And if the defense continues to play this way–the QB(whoever it is) won’t be responsible for the next one. The Rams have a major problem right now. QB ain’t it.

Williams is vastly overrated and there is little doubt that something is wrong.

I don’t know what it is–what they’re doing on defense, overblitzing, missing assignments, whatever.

This looks like a terrible defense right now–and they are better than this.

You can’t blame defensive woes on Sam Bradford not being here.

Fisher needs to come up with answers–if that’s firing Williams so be it.

Lol! Ty Burrell is great.

I don’t mean to become the board’s Alec Ogletree basher but just watching that McCown run for the T.D.—Ogletree puts very little effort into stopping him and is already pulling up by the time McCown hits the three yard line. This team needs more out of him.

Winnbrad wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Dak wrote:</div>
Is that a legal play? I don’t think I’d be sharing your tricks so readily.

Probably not. But apparently it is legal to hold Quinn, so I guess our guys can do some holding too.

But the Quinn rule is in the books:

NFL RULEBOOK Section IV Paragraph 18:

The Quinn Rule:

The umpire shall turn a blind eye toward any holding against St. Louis Rams defensive end Robert Quinn as allowing him to play the game fairly would result in the opposing team’s quarterback throwing most of his passes from his back and this is not desirable for the league and its push for more offense. Tackling of Quinn shall also be permitted if holding is not effective to slow him down. The “Once in a Blue Moon” rule shall apply for throwing a flag if and only IF the television broadcast team should decide to point out how blatant the holding on Quinn has become.

This, however, must be offset in a future call against the Rams that results in loss of score or poor field position.

I’d be happy if Dallas doesn’t blow out the Rams.

I just don’t think the Rams are very good right now. And that’s WITH all-world quarterback Austin Davis.

They were very fortunate that the Tampa game ended the way it did–because if Evans stands up and they get the spike..it wasn’t a terrible field goal to make for the Bucs and then the Rams are 0-2 and things are looking more grim.

Williams has to redirect the defense to stop the run and short stuff and the players have to make tackles–and not just in the secondary. Live by the blitz die by the blitz and if Williams isn’t more selective in how he uses it the Rams will get eaten alive.

Last week, against a substitute D-line, the Rams offense looked functional. The offensive line played better, Austin Davis did what was asked of him and he managed the game that Shotty called very well. But he isn’t Kurt Warner–yet.

This week that defense faces a good O-line–a Rams-killer running back, a very good receiver and tight end and a step up in quarterback class from the first two weeks.

I’m not a believer yet–that the Rams are a very good team. Don’t get me wrong–they have loads of talent–but they have to put it together. They certainly played better in game #2 and they’ll have too play even better this week to beat Dallas.

But until I can scrub the memories of Murray running wild on the Rams, I just can’t stop seeing more of the same.

I hope I’m wrong–but I expect the Rams will lose this game.

On the bright side–Tony Romo can implode in any game at any time.

Peterson really has not disputed that he hit the child. The only question of “guilt” is if his actions are considered “child abuse”.

That is a legal AND moral question.

People will disagree on that.

But the court of public opinion is what the Vikings fear. They have the right to treat that as they see fit.

Some teams avoided Michael Sam because they feared the distraction. If that is now an issue with Peterson the team will cede to those pressures. It doesn’t matter what the court says.

Rams Rookie Review: Wagner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/11718/rams-rookie-review-week-2

EARTH CITY, Mo. — A look at playing time and production of each of the St. Louis Rams’ drafted rookies and a quick glimpse at the undrafted rookie class in Sunday’s 19-17 win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Robinson
OL Greg Robinson, first round, No. 2 overall: After filling in for Rodger Saffold near the end of the opener, Robinson couldn’t even get on the field with the offense when the Rams brought in an additional lineman near the goal line against the Bucs. He played five snaps, all on special teams. Though it’s way too early to render judgment on what Robinson’s career will become, it doesn’t matter how you slice it, the fact that the No. 2 overall pick isn’t contributing more is a disappointment.

DT Aaron Donald, first round, No. 13 overall: Though the sack totals aren’t there yet for Donald (or any Rams, really), his presence has been felt from snap to snap. He played 25 snaps against the Bucs and was consistently disruptive. He was only credited with a tackle for loss in the unofficial statistics, but his work was better appreciated with a closer watch of the game. He is coming along nicely and is probably deserving of more playing time.

DB Lamarcus Joyner, second round, No. 41 overall: A back injury kept Joyner out of practice late last week and ultimately rendered him inactive against the Bucs.

RB Tre Mason, third round, No. 75 overall: Mason struggled in the preseason and doesn’t provide help on special teams which rendered him inactive for the second consecutive week.

S Maurice Alexander, fourth round, No. 110 overall: Alexander was inactive in week 1, but he was able to chip in on special teams in his NFL debut against Tampa Bay. He played 10 snaps, all on special teams and did not register any statistics in the unofficial stats.

CB E.J. Gaines, sixth round, No. 188 overall: Gaines continues to be a pleasant surprise, getting his second consecutive start on the outside and providing mostly solid coverage and even better tackling. His six tackles tied him for the team lead, and he added half a sack, a tackle for loss and a quarterback hit. He was also credited with a blocked field goal, but we’re saying no sale on that one because replays clearly showed it was safety T.J. McDonald who made the play. Regardless, Gaines has been solid in his first two games, and the Rams should feel good about what they have in him moving forward.

C Demetrius Rhaney, seventh round, No. 250 overall: Rhaney is on injured reserve for the season with a knee injury.

Undrafted rookie roundup: The Rams continue to get help from their undrafted rookies, including the debut of defensive lineman Ethan Westbrooks. He was active for the first time in a regular-season game, playing 17 snaps on defense, though he did not register any statistics. … Cornerback Marcus Roberson chipped in on special teams again with a tackle on his 10 snaps. … Running back Trey Watts and tight end Alex Bayer were inactive.

I don’t know what all of the problems are but a few jump out at me.

The first thing, and zn touched on this–is that offenses are game planning around the strength of this defense. The fact that the offense can barely score doesn’t help. Despite some stats on having some of the leading tacklers I don’t think the linebackers are playing particularly well–especially Ogeltree. I kept watching him whiff on tackles yesterday that would have made a world of difference–and that was when he was able to get off the block–something he struggles with.

Also–and again, I agree with zn about this point–the blitzing isn’t particularly helping. They seem to overdue it rather than trusting the front four to get it done. I think it leaves them exposed more to the short stuff with wide open real estate. Some of it may be gap stuff too.

I believe there is a lot of talent on this defense now but Williams has to be smart about what the offense is doing and plan against that–don’t be stubborn. He wants to blow plays up. Great. But it’s not working. Just let Aaron Donald take care of that. He’s pretty good at it.

And for whatever reason–the league has decided to allow holding on Quinn because he’s THAT good. He’d be on the QB almost every play and they don’t want that.

They’d better fix the run issues this week or we know what it’ll look like–we’ve seen it before.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 3 months ago by PA Ram.

EEEEK—my nemesis Zooey jumps to the lead.

That’s okay—I have the other two games figured out.