Get pumped up for the divisional matchup against the defending Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks!

http://www.rams-news.com/game-trailer-rams-vs-seahawks-video/

Rams’ ‘sack city’ tries to get out of the bag
• By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/rams-sack-city-tries-to-get-out-of-the-bag/article_9d721c4b-0c1e-5a49-9bed-c586b15e58d3.html

It’s mind-boggling to think that basically one-third of the way through the 2014 campaign, defensive end Robert Quinn has not recorded a sack. And for that matter, that the entire Rams squad has only one sack.

There was a stat produced by the NFL Network a few days ago, that the Rams have the fewest sacks through five games of any NFL team since the sack became an official statistic in 1982.

Mind-boggling.

By now, we’re all familiar with the extenuating circumstances. The team has missed injured defensive end Chris Long even more than expected. Opposing teams are getting the ball out quickly, thus neutralizing the Rams’ rush.

And yes, the Rams still have had fewer passes thrown against them — 142, or 28.4 per game —than anyone in the NFL. That’s partly because until Monday night’s contest against San Francisco, opponents have had great success running the football against them.

Even Quinn, who had 19 sacks last season, concedes: “When they know they can run the ball on you, why pick up the ball and throw it?”

Still, one sack in five games as a team? The NFL average, by the way, is 12 sacks per team this season. The Rams are a l-o-n-g way from average.

Even the Seattle Seahawks, Sunday’s opponent for the Rams in a noon kickoff at the Edward Jones Dome, are surprised.

“Surprisingly, they don’t have any sacks,” Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson said. “They have only one sack this year. But I know they get to the quarterback really well usually and they cause a lot of havoc.”

“I think they still have good pressure,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. “They blitz a lot, they do a lot of stuff, and they’re getting pressure and causing problems. The fact that those numbers aren’t where they have been, I have no idea.

“Ours aren’t either. We’re not rushing the passer like we did a year ago, and we’re trying to get that better, too. So I just think it’s a couple games (into the season), and by the time this season gets rolling those guys will be back on track.”

Obviously, Carroll and Wilson don’t want anything to get rolling Sunday for the Rams. But for Quinn, for the entire Rams defense, for coach Jeff Fisher, and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, the sacks can’t come quickly enough.

“I’m sure that first one’s slowly coming,” Quinn said. “I’m not gonna stress over it. Once that first one gets out the way, hopefully the ball starts rolling. So we don’t need to stress about it. Just constantly stay focused on our playbook.”

It’s easy enough to assume that Quinn has been getting plenty of extra attention with double-, no, make that triple-team blocks from opposing offenses, especially in the absence of Long.

But as Quinn freely admits, that hasn’t really been the case.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that,” Quinn said. “You get your normal chips and blocks from tight ends. So I wouldn’t necessarily say that. I just think this has been a slow start for us but like I said we still have enough season to go to get the thing turned around.”

Quinn has faced a murderer’s row of left tackles in the past three games. Tyron Smith of Dallas, Jason Peters of Philadelphia, and Joe Staley of San Francisco have 10 Pro Bowls between them.

For the most part, Quinn hasn’t been able to get around those guys on the edge. There have been a couple of occasions where Quinn has slipped getting off the line. He hasn’t really tried many inside moves.

The Rams haven’t used him on many stunts and loops with defensive tackles. And unlike some elite pass rushers, the Rams don’t move him around.

He never lines up at left end — Long’s spot, which currently is manned by William Hayes. And over the years, he rarely has moved inside on passing downs.

Sunday’s foe, 2012 Pro Bowler Russell Okung, is no slouch either — although he has been coping with a shoulder issue this season.

“We’ve just gotta get it going,” Quinn said. “All it takes is one snowflake to cause an avalanche. So hopefully we can get that snowflake pretty soon.”

Quinn has gotten plenty of snowflakes in the past two seasons against Seattle, enough to start packing a snowball. Beginning with the 2012 season, Quinn has had six sacks in four games against the Seahawks, including at least one in each game.

In the 2013 contest against Seattle at the Dome, a hard-fought 14-9 Monday night loss, Quinn had three sacks although Okung did not play. Paul McQuistan was the starter that evening at left tackle.

For now, Quinn insists he’s not frustrated about his slow start.

“Nothing I can do to change (what’s past), so why beat myself up about it?” Quinn said. “Just continue to work my technique like the whole D-line is.”

He does not think all the preseason hype about the Rams’ pass-rush, including the catchy #SackCity nickname, has put undue pressure on himself or the line as a whole.

“I think you should set high expectations for yourself regardless,” Quinn said. “You don’t ever want to sell yourself short. We raised the bar for ourselves. We set our bar so high, and of course we haven’t started out the season where we wanted to. But I don’t think (the hype) affected us.”

For his part, defensive coordinator Williams is trying to keep it positive for Quinn and for the line as a whole.

“We always would like to have more negative plays,” Williams said. “…. For the most part our guys are doing a really good job on pushing the pocket back. We’ve got to continue to do that.”

As for Quinn, Williams says: “He’s a prideful man. … He would love to have probably more statistics in that area, and he wants to put those things on him because he knows he can make a difference making plays here and there.”

No time like the present.

Robert Quinn hopes the sacks are back vs. Seattle
By Terry Blount

http://espn.go.com/blog/seattle-seahawks/post/_/id/9314/robert-quinn-hopes-the-sacks-are-back-vs-seattle

RENTON, Wash. — No team in the NFL was better than the St. Louis Rams at getting to Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson last season.

The Rams sacked Wilson 11 times in the two NFC West matchups. The Seahawks managed to win both games, but the St. Louis defensive line made for some painful moments for Wilson.

If the Rams are going to keep up the pace against Wilson, they will need to do a lot better job at rushing the passer than they have in the first six games this season.

St. Louis was third in the league last season in sacks with 53, but the Rams have only one sack this season. Defensive end Robert Quinn, who had a league-leading 19 sacks last season, doesn’t have a sack in the first six games this year.

“The ball’s coming out pretty fast,” Quinn said Wednesday on a conference call with Seahawks reporters. “But what can you do? Our back seven are covering their tails off and making plays. One of these days, hopefully, we can have another big sack day.”

And it could be Sunday, based on what the Rams did against the Seattle offensive line last year. Quinn might line up a few times against rookie offensive tackle Justin Britt on Sunday.

“He’s a young guy, and I’m sure he’s still trying to learn and really getting the feel for it,” Quinn said. “But they believe in him, and there’s a reason why he’s out there. He must be doing something right.”

The Rams did a lot of things right in pressuring Wilson last year, but one of the key components to that pass rush won’t play this weekend. Defensive end Chris Long is out after undergoing ankle surgery last month. Long had a big night in the 14-9 loss to the Seahawks last year in the Monday night game at St. Louis.

“I had three sacks, and Chris had three that night,” Quinn said. “We held them to 135 yards [total offense]. We played a heck of a ballgame overall. Of course, they came out with the W, but we went toe-to-toe with the world champs.

“That’s the same kind of team we have now. We just have to put it all together and catch fire. We just have to get momentum swinging our way.”

Quinn revealed a little bit on how the Rams were able to get to Wilson last season.

“He’s a shorter quarterback, but trying to take anything away from him,” Quinn said. “But if you keep him in the pocket with linemen who are 6-4 and 6-5 and make it hard for him to see his receivers, that’s the best thing.

“It kind of changes the way you rush a guy. You can’t do a speed rush every single down or Russell will get out and make a play downfield. It can be a little frustrating, but if you collapse the pocket, sometimes you can fall into a couple of sacks. If we have to do that to win a game, we’ll do whatever it takes.”

Pete Prisco and Pat Kirwan preview the NFL Week 7 matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams. The Rams have given up 99 points in the last 3 weeks. The Rams have Davis throwing 40+ times a game and Davis completion percentage has gone down 4 weeks in a row. Both Prisco and Kirwan pick Seattle by about a TD. (3:07)

http://www.rams-news.com/cbs-sports-priscokirwans-seahawks-at-rams-preview-video/

Greg Robinson settling in to starting role
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/12725/greg-robinson-settling-in-to-starting-role

EARTH CITY, Mo. — An early morning wake-up call from St. Louis Rams offensive line coach Paul Boudreau early last week left offensive lineman Greg Robinson wondering what, exactly, he had done wrong.

“I thought I was in trouble or there was something wrong,” Robinson said, laughing.

In retrospect, Robinson can laugh at his reaction because Boudreau had invited the draft’s No. 2 overall pick to his office with nothing but good news to offer. After a five-week wait, Robinson was getting the promotion he’d been waiting for in time for Monday night’s game against the San Francisco 49ers.

Boudreau’s message to Robinson was simple, instructing the young lineman to keep the pending move to himself and begin preparing for the challenge that Niners defensive lineman Justin Smith represented.

“He said, ‘We’re going to start you,’ so just continue to prepare and keep it to yourself,” Robinson said. “I didn’t want to get too high so I was just preparing and working hard throughout the week like I’d been doing.”

Robinson took the overwhelming majority of the snaps with the first-team offense throughout the week, a sure indication to those paying attention to practice that he was about to start. Sure enough, Robinson stepped in at left guard against the Niners with Rodger Saffold shifting to right guard and veteran Davin Joseph heading to the bench.

As you’d expect, Robinson had his share of ups and downs in his debut, but considering he was matched up against Smith, his debut effort was mostly impressive. He was particularly solid when on the move pulling in the run game, but also had a few hiccups along the way.

The Niners blitzed a little more than expected and targeted many of those blitzes on the inside. Robinson failed to slide to the right in time to help on an overload blitz early in the game which helped lead to the Niners’ fourth sack but it wasn’t all that egregious. And Smith shocked him a couple of times with his strength, including on one play that resulted in a gain of just 2 yards (though it went for a first down) by Tavon Austin.

But overall, Robinson played at a level that was about what was expected and certainly didn’t make any mistakes that were particularly damaging.

“He was physical and athletic,” coach Jeff Fisher said. “He was in the right place more times than we thought. I thought he played pretty well. He matched up. You have to ask Justin what it’s like to play against him, because it was a pretty good matchup there.”

Because we don’t have access to Smith, we can go on Smith’s comments to Robinson after the game as relayed by Robinson himself. Robinson said Smith told him “good game” and instructed him to keep working hard.

“He caught me off guard a few times,” Robinson said. “It’s just something I wasn’t ready for. Early in the game he did hit me a few times and I was like, ‘Whoa, I’ve got to catch up.’ But I adjusted well.”

For what it’s worth, Pro Football Focus graded Robinson as the Rams’ best offensive lineman in the game with a grade of plus-1.5, and a plus-1.3 in the run game. Of course, Robinson’s solid first outing was enough to make many wonder why he played just 10 snaps in the first four games.

Now that he’s in the lineup, Robinson doesn’t look at his first quarter of the season apprenticeship as a frustrating time so much as a valuable learning experience.

“Honestly, Week 1, even though I wanted to play as bad as I wanted to, I really wasn’t ready,” Robinson said. “So I think this whole process was set up to be what it is now, and I think it has paid off.”

Robinson has plenty of work to do and says he’s prepared to play tackle should the need arise. But for now, he’s happy to be settled in with a full game’s worth of snaps under his belt.

“I think it’s actually helped me with learning the offense, playing the guard position because there’s more you’ve got to know and it’s not just you out there on an island by yourself at tackle,” Robinson said. “So I think it helped me a lot with the offense and each day I’m trying to learn and get better.”

Morning Ram-blings: Prediction time
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/12728/morning-ram-blings-prediction-time-3

EARTH CITY, Mo. — It’s that time of the week again where we take a spin around our many ESPN NFL experts and offer up predictions for this week’s St. Louis Rams game against the Seattle Seahawks, as well as the bonus of some experts picks on the rest of this week’s games.

As usual, Rams fans probably won’t like (but most likely will agree with) the picks on the Rams game.

We’ll start with the NFL Live crew offering its picks courtesy of Brian Dawkins and Mark Schlereth.

Mike Sando takes his usual numbers-driven look at this week’s game with a little help from NumberFire.

And here’s the breakdown of picks from all of our experts.

My pick for this week will be posted a little later Friday. Spoiler alert: My pick will follow the same trend it’s followed since the second game of the season.

I.C.Y.M.I.

A roundup of Thursday’s Rams stories appearing on ESPN.com. … We began the day with the Rams-Seahawks game preview from Seahawks reporter Terry Blount and I. … In the Ram-blings, we began the day with a look at the Redskins-Rams trade. … Rams coach Jeff Fisher is standing by cornerback Janoris Jenkins after he allowed another big play last week. … Speaking of cornerbacks, Trumaine Johnson is edging closer to a return from his knee injury. … We wrapped up the day with Thursday’s injury report.

Elsewhere:

Want to read about a coach doing more with less in the NFC West division? Here’s a great look at the job being done by Arizona’s Bruce Arians.

On ESPN Insider, Ron Jaworski ranks the NFL quarterbacks and renders early judgment on Rams quarterback Austin Davis.

101sports.com has the video from this week’s Jeff Fisher show with general manager Les Snead filling in for Fisher.

Some great photos from Monday night’s Greatest Show on Turf reunion can be found here.

At stltoday.com. Jim Thomas provides his look at Jenkins’ struggles.

Joe Lyons chronicles the debut start for defensive tackle Aaron Donald.

ESPN NFL Insider Mike Sando delivers stats to help you make a pick for Seattle at St. Louis. numberFIRE has the Seahawks winning by 7.5 points. Seattle has held the Rams to 20 or fewer points 14 times in a row. The record is 15 times.

http://www.rams-news.com/espns-mike-sandos-inside-edge-seahawks-rams-video/

Three Plays That Defined Rams’ Loss to 49ers
By Anthony Stalter

http://www.101sports.com/2014/10/15/three-plays-defined-rams-31-17-loss-49ers/

While providing the opening statement for his press conference on Monday night, it didn’t take Jeff Fisher long to cite the tipping point in the Rams’ 31-17 loss to the 49ers.

“We got up and got some points, and then obviously the chain of events that happened before half were pretty much hard for us to overcome,” Fisher said. “One was the offensive pass interference call on (tight end) Jared (Cook). That’s a points swing. We’re in field-goal range, we have a pretty good kicker, might even be seven (points).”

Play 1: The Momentum Shift

With just under three minutes to play in the first half and the Rams in possession of the ball and a 14-3 lead, St. Louis moved into San Francisco territory at the 49ers’ 46-yard line, where they faced a third-and-9. Although it was third-and-long, the Rams put the 49ers’ defense on its heels for most of the first half and were looking to strike again.
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Rams TE Jared Cook makes his way past 49ers CB Perrish Cox

At the snap of the ball, Jared Cook ran a crossing pattern from the right side of the line of scrimmage and engaged with San Francisco defensive back Perrish Cox roughly five yards into the route. There was some minor hand fighting between the two players but nothing excessive, as replays would later verify.

When Cook disengages from Cox, he successfully creates separation from the San Francisco defensive back and catches a pass from Austin Davis while heading toward the left sideline. Cook then fights through a failed Cox tackle and rumbles for 21 yards to the 49er 25-yard line.

The problem is that Cook was flagged for offensive pass interference and instead of increasing their lead (as Fisher noted in his press conference), the Rams were moved all the way back to their own 44-yard line due to the penalty. They would then run Benny Cunningham up the middle for five yards before punting the ball on fourth down and pinning the 49ers at their own 5-yard line.

The fallout from the play proved critical, which is why Fisher felt the need to mention the penalty while unprovoked in his press conference. Momentum is a fragile thing in sports and once it shifts, there’s no guarantee that it’ll return to the team that once possessed it. The Rams once again found that out on Monday night.

Then again, while the bogus penalty on Cook was a momentum shift, it wasn’t the momentum shift, in my eyes.

Play 2: Here we go again.

The Cook penalty was bad – atrocious, actually. Cook barely pushed Cox in effort to create separation and make a great play to pick up not only a first down, but also put the Rams in scoring range right before half. There’s no way of knowing if the Rams would have scored had the flag not been thrown, but their odds certainly increased significantly once Cook set them up deep into San Francisco territory.
AC1W7362

Janoris Jenkins on field in the first half of Monday’s game

But the penalty on Cook didn’t make me think, “Same old Rams” or even, “Here we go again.” No, that moment came just a few minutes later.

After being backed up to their own goal line, the 49ers successfully moved the ball to their own 20-yard line before facing a third-and-6 with 29 seconds remaining in the half. Fisher admitted that he considered calling a timeout to preserve time in case he wanted his offense to try to get into scoring range again before halftime. But he didn’t, and disaster struck.

The 49ers came out in a 3×1 formation with three receivers to Colin Kaepernick’s (who is in shotgun with a single back aligned to his right) right and one receiver, Brandon Lloyd, to his left. The Rams are in basic zone coverage with two safeties 15 yards off the ball and middle linebacker James Laurinaitis aligned roughly 10 yards off the ball. With only 29 seconds left on the clock, the Rams would happily concede a short pass over the middle that would force the Niners to either burn one of their remaining timeouts or let the clock run out the half.

But the Niners didn’t have to settle for something short because Lloyd burned Janoris Jenkins on a double move down the sidelines. It’s fair to ask why the Rams didn’t provide safety help over the top, but it was inexcusable for Jenkins to be caught looking into the backfield given the situation. Had he stayed over top of Lloyd, there would have been no need for safety help because Jenkins would have been in the right situation. (Speaking of fair, it’s also worth noting that Robert Quinn was mugged by Joe Staley on the play, but alas, no flag was thrown.)

Given the coverage that was called and the situation the Rams were in, the only reason Jenkins would fixate on Kaepernick and play underneath Lloyd would be because he wanted an interception. Jenkins could have explained his reasoning for taking the approach that he did on that play, but as Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com pointed out after the game, Jenkins refused to talk to the media.

In my eyes, that play sums up the game and, on a macro level, the Rams’ season up to this point. Do the Rams have talent? Unquestionably, as does Jenkins. Is he or are they disciplined, technically sound and/or focused enough to overcome self-inflicted wounds? The answer to that question lies in the team’s current record.

The 49ers went on to score 21 points in the second half, so pinning the loss solely on that play or on Jenkins is unfair. He simply played a role in the Rams’ demise, which featured a disappearing offense, a coaching staff that once again lost the chess match with its opponent and yet another night where the pass rush failed to get to the quarterback.

Play Three: Welcome to last week. And the week prior.

Holding on to a 17-14 lead with 19 seconds remaining in the third quarter, the 49ers face a second-and-8 from the Rams’ 32-yard-line. San Francisco comes out in an offset I formation with two receivers to the left of the formation and Michael Crabtree lined up as the lone receiver wide to the right. Before the snap, Vernon Davis goes in motion as the outside receiver to the left and winds up in the slot. Safety Rodney McLeod follows him, indicating that the Rams are in man-to-man coverage.
AC1W8054

49ers WR Crabtree makes his way into the end zone during Monday’s game

Jon Gruden provided great insight on the route the Crabtree used to beat rookie E.J. Gaines for a 32-yard touchdown, indicating that Crabtree ran a post-corner-post (or “dino” according to Gruden). Gaines, who has done a terrific job filling in as the starter for Trumaine Johnson this year, bit on Crabtree’s corner fake, and Kaepernick hit Crabtree in stride for an easy touchdown (which has become a common occurrence over the last three games for the Rams).

Crabtree is a veteran receiver, so one would think that he could execute that type of route on a corner playing in just his fifth professional game. But I chose to highlight this play because once again, the Rams failed to get to the quarterback despite sending extra rushers.

Credit must be given to San Francisco’s offensive line, which picked up a pair of blitzing linebackers in Laurinaitis and Jo-Lonn Dunbar. Still, despite sending six defenders to crash the pocket and disrupt the timing between the quarterback and his receivers, Kapernick still had functional space to throw a perfect spiral to Crabtree as the receiver finished his move on Gaines.

It’s not as if Gregg Williams is trying to hold the Rams to just one sack this year, which is now a record for the lowest total for a team through five games in a NFL season. He’s rushing extra defenders in attempt to get to the quarterback, and his blitzes simply aren’t landing. Yes, the three-step drops employed by teams like the Vikings and Bucs early in the season have had an impact on the Rams’ low sack total to this point. But the Crabtree touchdown provides evidence that this team isn’t getting pressure when quarterbacks are taking deeper drops, either. Granted, William Hayes provided outstanding pressure throughout Monday night’s game, but the results remain the same: one sack.

As always, Fisher and the Rams will look to turn the page this weekend against a new opponent. Unfortunately for them, that opponent is a pissed-off Seattle team fresh off a loss at home to the Cowboys. The schedule won’t provide this team with any favors, so it simply needs to get better or watch as the rest of the season unravels.

Rams notes: Team may go with running back by committee
• By Joe Lyons

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/rams-notes-team-may-go-with-running-back-by-committee/article_cab56fd7-f62b-55ca-aa6a-05655a05b7da.html

Thanks to a strong showing from rookie Tre Mason in his NFL debut, the Rams’ backfield seems to be getting a little crowded.

And coach Jeff Fisher is fine with that.

“I have no problem with that. Nope,’’ the coach said when asked about a running back by committee situation. “We were rolling all three of them.’’

Mason, the team’s third-round draft choice in May, was inactive until Monday night, when he made the most of his NFL debut by accounting for 52 yards on just nine plays from scrimmage in the 31-17 loss to the visiting 49ers.

Mason ran five times for 40 yards, including a 24-yarder on a burst up the middle. It was the Rams’ first run of 20 or more yards this season and helped set up a 22-yard touchdown pass from Austin Davis to Lance Kendricks in the first quarter.

Earlier in the quarter, the 5-foot-8, 207-pound Mason caught a Davis swing pass in the right flat, lowered his head and took on two 49ers defenders for a 12-yard gain to the San Francisco 5. Five plays later, Benny Cunningham took a handoff to the left for a 1-yard touchdown.

“I liked the way (Mason) handled his first opportunity and made some explosive plays,’’ Fisher said, noting that Mason got his chance after running back and special teams standout Chase Reynolds was hurt in practice. Mason’s “doing a really good job on the practice field. … There was some question whether Chase would be available, so we planned ahead … and got Tre into the offense. We got him involved in a couple of things. He’s earned the opportunity. He did a nice job. As you can see, he was very explosive.’’

At Auburn last year, Mason was a Heisman Trophy contender after breaking the Tigers’ single-season rushing record set by Bo Jackson.

“It was good to be out there and get my feet wet,’’ Mason said. “I’m just going to keep working hard and try to do whatever the coaches ask of me.’’

Cunningham, who took more snaps (38) than starter Zac Stacy (25), picked up his second touchdown of the season, finishing with 21 yards on seven carries to go along with two catches for 12 yards. Stacy finished with 17 rushing yards on eight carries and two pass receptions for 17 yards.

A week earlier, Stacy left the loss in Philadelphia with a strained calf.

“There was no physical issue,’’ Fisher said. “He had a full week of practice.’’

BARNES IS HURTING

The Rams came out of a physical battle with the 49ers in relative good health. The exception: reserve center Tim Barnes (Missouri) hurt his shoulder and rib cage.

On the plus side, Barrett Jones, a fourth-round draft pick in 2013, has been making steady progress after undergoing back surgery early in training camp.

“We may be fortunate — it may time up — if (Barnes) does miss time … Barrett Jones could potentially be back this week,’’ Fisher said.

LOOKING AHEAD

Next up for the Rams is a noon showdown Sunday at the Edward Jones Dome against the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.

Seattle is 3-2 and coming off a 30-23 loss at home to the Dallas Cowboys. Since drafting and installing Russell Wilson at quarterback in 2012, the Seahawks have won 19 of 21 home games.

“We were not right, really, in any phase of our game,’’ Seattle head coach Pete Carroll said in a brief post-game interview session. “We didn’t run the ball the way we want to, we didn’t protect as well as we like, we didn’t throw the ball very well and our defense didn’t stop the run.’’

In addition, the Seahawks came out out of the Dallas game with some injury concerns. Middle linebacker Bobby Wagner suffered a turf toe injury in the second quarter and played through it. But Carroll said Monday that it’s an injury that could linger.

Cornerback Byron Maxwell left Sunday’s game with a calf injury. Center Max Unger (foot) is day to day while tight end Zach Miller (ankle) is not expected to play Sunday.

The Seahawks hold a 20-12 edge in the series. Seattle swept last year’s games, winning 14-9 here in a Monday Night thriller and 27-9 in the regular-season finale there. The Seahawks have won three in a row, six of seven and 16 of the teams’ last 18 meetings.

RAM-BLINGS

Quarterback Davis was joined by tackles Jake Long and Joe Barksdale, guard Greg Robinson and center Scott Wells in taking part in all 74 offensive plays for the Rams. On defense, safety T.J. McDonald and linebackers James Laurinaitis and Alec Ogletree were on the field for all 66 snaps.

• Brian Quick, who entered Monday as the Rams’ leader in catches (21) and receiving yards (322), was targeted four times and had one 10-yard reception.

The 49ers “didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. Sometimes that happens,’’ Fisher explained. “They do a lot of rotation to the weak side; it’s a staple in their defense. So, they force you to go other places with it. It wasn’t something that they game-planned to take him away.’’

Tight end Jared Cook paced the Rams with four catches for 74 yards as Davis completed passes to nine receivers.

• Two players with local ties were cut from practice squads Tuesday. Linebacker Jonathan Brown (Illinois) was released by Arizona. Wide receiver Marvin McNutt (Hazelwood Central) had his contract with Washington terminated.

Turning point play: Jared Cook called for pass interference
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/12648/turning-point-play-jared-cook-called-for-pass-interference

EARTH CITY, Mo. — Here’s a look back at the turning point play from the St. Louis Rams’ 31-17 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night:

The situation: With two minutes and 53 seconds to go in the first half, the Rams faced a third-and-9 from the Niners’ 46. At the time, they were still in control of things with a 14-3 lead and had an opportunity to extend the lead going into the locker room. The Rams were mostly rolling in the first half and another score, even just a field goal, would have put even more pressure on the Niners in the second half.

The play: At the snap, tight end Jared Cook ran an intermediate crossing route from his spot just off the right side of the line of scrimmage. As Cook crossed into the middle of the field, Niners defensive back Perrish Cox engaged him about 6 yards into the route. Cox and Cook appear to grab each other but nothing much beyond that. As Cook disengaged from Cox, he created enough space to continue his route toward the left sideline. Quarterback Austin Davis, meanwhile, was able to evade pressure enough to get the ball out to Cook. Cook made an excellent contested catch with Cox near but managed to fight him off and run for an apparent gain of 21 yards to San Francisco’s 25. Alas, a flag came out, one that most presumed at the time would be for illegal contact against Cox. But it wasn’t. The officials flagged Cook for offensive pass interference and turned first-and-10 at the Niners’ 25 into third-and-19 at the Rams’ 44.

The fallout: Cook and the Rams were left incredulous after the call and, after looking at the play a few times, you can’t blame them. The contact is very minimal and looked like a prime example of a play that should go uncalled in either direction. The Rams settled for a handoff to Benny Cunningham on the next play and then punted it away. Of course, as the dominoes continued to fall, the penalty would spin into Niners receiver Brandon Lloyd’s 80-yard touchdown catch just before halftime. That was really the biggest play of the game but we already detailed that last night. It’s reasonable to deduce that the 80-yard touchdown probably never would have happened had Cook’s catch stood and the Rams’ drive continued. It would have put the Rams in field goal range and they likely would have entered the locker room at no worse than a 17-3 lead. Instead, they went in ahead 14-10 as the Niners surged to the win.

“That’s a points swing,” coach Jeff Fisher said. “We’re in field goal range, we have a pretty good kicker, might even be seven (points). And then we come back and give up the long touchdown pass, so it’s a big swing there. But it started with the OPI call.”

Fisher said he didn’t get much of an explanation on the call.

“I saw it on the tape and a receiver has the right to run his route, disappointed in that,” Fisher said. “If anything it was a defensive foul, if anything.”

Austin Davis: “We’ve got to go win games at the end”

Watch quarterback Austin Davis’ postgame press conference after the Monday Night loss to San Francisco. (2:29)

http://www.rams-news.com/austin-davis-weve-got-to-go-win-games-at-the-end-video/

Watch head coach Jeff Fisher’s postgame press conference after the Monday Night loss to San Francisco. (3:53)

http://www.rams-news.com/fisher-davis-is-our-guy-and-he-will-learn-from-this-video/