Perception vs. Reality – What Does Rams’ Win Over Raiders Mean?

By Anthony Stalter

http://www.101sports.com/2014/12/03/perception-vs-reality-rams-win-raiders-mean/

Derek Stanley and I weren’t 10 minutes into Sunday’s post-game show before a caller had labeled us, the Rams, and the Raiders as “losers.”

This was following a 52-0 Rams’ victory, no less.

Perception isn’t reality as much as our perception is our reality. Take that angry caller on Sunday: He was upset that Derek and I were giving the 5-7 Rams too much credit for beating the dumpster fire that is the Oakland Raiders. It didn’t matter that Tre Mason had tied the record for the second longest rush in Rams history by breaking off an 89-yard score, or that Stedman Bailey notched 100 receiving yards on five catches in the first quarter alone.

It didn’t matter that Gregg Williams’ defense pitched a shutout while forcing five turnovers and sacking Oakland quarterbacks a total of six times. It didn’t matter that the Rams’ 52-point margin of victory was the second highest margin in franchise history, or that the team’s 38 points in the first half is now tied for the second-most in franchise history.

A historic day for the Rams, reduced to, “Well, it was only the Raiders.”

The caller’s perception was that despite the 52-0 romp, the Rams, Raiders, and apparently Derek and I, are still losers. This was going to be his reality had the Rams won on a last-second field goal or had lost outright.

In a cynical way, though, the caller did foster a telling thought: What did the victory actually mean for the Rams? After all, as impressive as the win was, they’re still only 5-7 on the season. They’re not going to the playoffs and they’re still ticketed for a last-place finish in the NFC West, so what lessons can be gleaned from the victory?

In the present, it means that these games in 2014 still hold importance to the team. That’s something that shouldn’t be overlooked, especially considering the Rams aren’t going to the playoffs. The team hasn’t checked out, nobody has quit on Jeff Fisher, and the players are still plenty motivated despite not being in playoff contention. All of this is important, even if it can’t be measured.

The game also highlighted the continued ascension of the defense under Williams. In their last five games, the Rams have forced 13 turnovers, have racked up 22 sacks and have held opponents to 3.39 yards per carry. The return of Chris Long allowed us a taste of how much havoc the combination of Long, Robert Quinn, Aaron Donald and Michael Brockers can create. The secondary continues to have its fair share of breakdowns but it’s hard not to be excited about the futures of T.J. McDonald and E.J. Gaines as well.

The same can be said for Mason and Bailey, who combined for 264 of the offense’s 348 yards against the Raiders. In less than a month, Mason has shown more patience, vision and decisiveness than at any point during OTAs, training camp and preseason. Bailey continues to prove that he’s the best route runner out of any receiver on the team and possesses the most reliable hands as well. There’s no reason for these two players not to be featured in upcoming game plans in the month of December. There’s no reason that the Rams can’t exploit future opponents’ weaknesses just like they did on Sunday when they attacked the perimeter of an aging Oakland defense.

That leads us into this team’s future: Can Fisher get his coaching staff and players to be consistent on a weekly basis? People have talked about the Rams finishing at least 8-8 but the fact remains that this team hasn’t won back-to-back games all year. They’ve proven that they’re significantly better than the Raiders. They’ve proven that they’re creative and talented enough to upset Peyton Manning and the Broncos.

They’ve proven that they’re still a pain in the side of the Seahawks and 49ers and they’ve started to prove the notion that they’re a legitimate quarterback away from taking that proverbial next step.

But can this team change the perception that no matter how impressive they look from time to time, the reality is that this is still a franchise that will ultimately fall short of expectations?

A 52-0 victory in the NFL will always be impressive, no matter the opponent. For the Rams, though, a 52-0 victory becomes even more impressive, if not more important, when it’s followed by a strong finish to a season marred by adversity and inconsistency.

My perception is that the Rams are good enough to finish with a .500 record, despite not having Bradford under center all year. Time will tell if that’s only my perception and thus, just my reality.

Fixed it.

Here’s what I fixed if you missed it:

http://theramshuddle.com/topic/i-screwed-up-and-lost-posts-in-the-controversy-thread/

==

PS, there is a much more overtly political, less Rams-related thread on this here. It starts way back so probably best to read it backwards, starting with the most recent post:

http://theramshuddle.com/topic/a-cops-take-on-ferguson/

from off the net

—

Mojo Ram

with the exception of Stanton’s skewed numbers(in relief of Palmer) the Rams haven’t allowed a QB rating over 100 since the Seattle game(which we won anyway).

In the last six games….

-The Rams D has allowed only 4 TD passes.

-Rams have 7 INT’s.

-Average QB rating last six games: 84.5

-Rams have 24 sacks(4/gm avg)

..

Redskins vs. Rams preview

By John Keim, with Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/washington-redskins/post/_/id/13533/redskins-vs-rams-preview

They’re connected by one of the biggest draft trades in history. They’re also going in opposite directions, in some ways as an indirect result of the 2012 trade in which the Washington Redskins sent three No. 1 picks and a No. 2 in exchange for the St. Louis Rams’ second overall pick.

When the teams last met in Week 2 of the 2012 season, it looked like that trade would pay dividends for the Redskins. Quarterback Robert Griffin III, then a rookie, was clearly a standout. Now? The Rams haven’t exactly reaped major rewards from their haul, but the Redskins again have questions at quarterback and Griffin is no longer playing.

ESPN.com Rams reporter Nick Wagoner and Redskins reporter John Keim look ahead to Sunday’s game:

Keim: Have you been able to figure out this team yet? They have some impressive wins and lopsided losses. Why are they on such a roller coaster?

Wagoner: Well, in some sense figuring them out is a function of understanding that there isn’t a real rhyme or reason to what happens from week to week. The strange thing about this team is that it was built to win with defense and a strong running game. But it took them about eight weeks to start doing that. Early in the season, they were trying to win by outscoring teams and throwing it all over the yard. Clearly, it didn’t work. But it’s also instructive to note that they’ve played an incredibly difficult schedule. Before last Sunday’s game against Oakland, they had played nine straight games against teams with winning records. So some of those losses have been a product of that and the impressive wins are as well. And really, aside from the Kansas City game, most of those games were close, even if the final score didn’t indicate it. It’s cliché, but the Rams epitomize the importance of winning the turnover battle. When they are on the plus side, they win; when they aren’t, they lose. When they’re even, it’s a toss-up.

Let’s stay big picture. Obviously, this season hasn’t been what the Redskins hoped. Are they as far away from being a contender as they appear? If so, what are the most pressing areas that need to be addressed?

Keim: Well, quarterback must be put on the list, given what’s transpired here the past two seasons. It’s a surprising turn of events, but Griffin has a ways to go if he wants to be a good starting quarterback in the NFL. The same is true of Kirk Cousins, and I’m not sold that Colt McCoy is anything but a good backup capable of being an excellent tutor for younger quarterbacks. Also, the secondary needs fixing at multiple spots. They need to solve a couple issues on the offensive line and they could use more young players on the defensive front. If they don’t think rookie Trent Murphy will develop into a quality pass-rusher (and they let Brian Orakpo bolt via free agency), then you can add this to the list as well. They’ll also have to address whether or not they want to make changes to the defensive staff. It always sounds more daunting when you’re in the midst of a bad season, and in the NFL, hope is always right around the corner. But the Redskins have to prove they know how to solve their issues.

Where the heck did that offensive output come from last week? And what’s the deal with running back Tre Mason — what’s stood out about him?

Wagoner: There were a few factors at play. First, it was against the Raiders. While they have been decent defensively this year, they clearly aren’t all that good. The other thing is Oakland turns the ball over at a rate that other teams simply don’t. The Rams had some pretty favorable situations because of that, and the general ineptitude of the Raiders offense also set the Rams up in nice position multiple times. Nonetheless, the Rams were able to move the ball well, even when they had a lot of field to work with. Shaun Hill did a good job getting them into better plays at the line of scrimmage and he didn’t turn the ball over. He also was solid against the blitz, getting the ball out quickly and to the right spots. As for Mason, I have to admit I was wrong on that draft choice. I didn’t dislike the choice of Mason himself, but I wondered why the Rams used a third-round pick on a running back after Zac Stacy’s success last year. It’s become obvious why they did it in recent weeks. Mason gives them an explosive element that Stacy simply doesn’t offer and that was exceedingly evident on his 89-yard touchdown run last week. He still has some work to do, both in making more consistent reads and in pass protection, but he’s a pretty solid young talent with a lot of upside. If nothing else, I think the Rams can move forward confidently knowing he’s the back of the present and the future.

I’m sure you’re probably tired of the subject at this point, but fans here are curious about what’s gone wrong with Griffin? From the outside, it would seem that without his ability to run and a scheme designed around his abilities that we might have seen the best he has to offer in his rookie year. Do you believe there’s still room for growth there, and if so, how do they get it out of him?

Keim: Well, there’s a lot of room for growth, but the question is can he get there — and how long will it take? Griffin has not shown the explosiveness that he did as a rookie, but he’s still a fast quarterback. He has a good arm, too. But I’m not sure the current coaching staff has the patience to try and develop him, knowing how long they think it might take. Griffin wasn’t playing with the confidence he showed as a rookie, some of which stems from him needing to develop more as a passer. That’s not just in the pocket, either. Even as a rookie he left a lot of plays on the field by opting to run too soon or putting his eyes down too early or not being confident in what he saw. He has to dedicate himself to becoming a pocket passer, learning how to slide and maneuver, for example. Griffin has talent, but what’s coming out now is what was whispered about before (and occasionally mentioned): He needs to focus a lot more on developing as a passer than working in the weight room. Griffin is not lazy and he is a smart kid. But his pace of development was slow. I don’t know if the coaches asked him to do things he wasn’t capable of yet or if he just will never get it. Maybe Griffin needs to see how far he has fallen before he really gets his mind to how far he has to climb.

The sacks have been down for the defense, though it looks like they’re getting more pressure lately. Why is that? Also, what’s your take on Aaron Donald and what he’s meant to the defense?

Wagoner: It’s crazy to think that not too long ago the Rams had just one sack and set a league record for futility in that area. Not only because they have too much talent up front for that, but also because they now sit in a tie for 14th in the league with 28 sacks. Some of the early struggles were a major function of their early inability to stop the run. Teams simply didn’t throw against them much because they were having so much success on the ground. When they did pass, the ball was coming out fast. They also missed end Chris Long, who just returned from ankle surgery last week. Adding to the complications, the Rams seemed uncomfortable adjusting to defensive coordinator Gregg Williams’ scheme and all that they were asked to do within its confines. Now he seems to have a good idea of how his guys are best used, and they seem to know what to do from down to down, as well as what they’re seeing from the offense.

As for Donald, his addition to the starting lineup coincided with the Rams’ pass rush improvement. That’s not a coincidence. His snaps went from about 25-28 a game to now in the 50-55 range. He’s their best interior pass-rusher and one of the most mature and polished rookies I’ve seen come through St. Louis in my 11 years covering the team. Donald and Robert Quinn are two outstanding building blocks on that defensive line. Long still has plenty of gas in the tank and Michael Brockers has been a bit disappointing, but is still young with upside. They have the pieces in place to be stout up front for a long time.

While we’re on the topic of defense, Jim Haslett spent some time in St. Louis as defensive coordinator and is now handling those duties in Washington. It was a bit of a surprise here when he was retained by the new staff, but he’s still hanging on. What can you say about the job he has done and his level of job security after this season?

Keim: Oh, I think there has to be concern about his security. Fans blame Haslett for anything that goes wrong defensively. This is not just going to be fixed by changing coordinators, unless you find an elite one. Before last week, when you looked at some numbers and saw what the defense has lost this season, then you could say the defensive staff overall had done better than anticipated. They were far from a dominant unit, but entering last week they were 10th in yards and 20th in points despite losing DeAngelo Hall and Orakpo and Barry Cofield (until recently). With their talent healthy, I never viewed them as anything other than a medicore unit. This defense has not been put together well and that’s an organizational failure, so if you get rid of Haslett, there’s more work that needs to be done. That said, five years is a long time if you’re not getting results. In that stretch, the Redskins are a cumulative 27th in yards per game, 29th in yards per play and 30th in points per game. Whoever’s fault it is, it hasn’t been working. The results aren’t there.

Rams at Redskins: Stats of the Week

27

How many sacks the Rams have since Week 7, after starting the season with just one in the first six weeks. That ranks second in the league to Buffalo in that span.

15

Points off turnovers scored by Washington this season, which ranks 31st in the NFL. The Redskins have caused 15 turnovers this season and are actually plus-4 in turnover margin in the past two games. But in those games, the opposition scored more points off turnovers (7) than the Redskins (6).

Eric Garner grand jury probe shows similarities to Michael Brown case

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2014/1203/Eric-Garner-grand-jury-probe-shows-similarities-to-Michael-Brown-case-video

New York — Just a week after a Missouri grand jury declined to bring charges against former Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson, New York City is bracing for another long-awaited and controversial grand jury decision.

A Staten Island grand jury, which has been hearing evidence since Sept. 29, has heard from its final witnesses and could hand down a decision about whether to indict New York Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the chokehold death of Eric Garner as early as Wednesday, according to reports.

Like its Missouri counterpart, the Staten Island grand jury has been unusual, both in the duration of the proceedings and the amount of evidence presented. Meeting for months, the secret panel of 16 or as many as 23 jurors has been hearing a full array of evidence, including the testimony of the potential defendant, New York Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo.
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District Attorney Daniel Donovan has said little during the past two months about the secret grand jury proceedings, which must decide whether to bring charges against Officer Pantaleo, a white officer eight years on the force, who wrestled Mr. Garner to the ground with a headlock maneuver on the afternoon of July 17, even as the 6-foot, 3-inch, 350-pound father of six cried out, “I can’t breathe” numerous times.

The incident, dramatically captured on video by multiple bystanders with smartphones on the Staten Island sidewalk, provided the early backdrop to the often violent protests to the shooting of Mr. Brown in Ferguson, Mo., just a few weeks later. Both became symbols of the deep, decades-long divisions between police departments and black communities in a year marked by angry protests and civil unrest.

And just as St. Louis Prosecutor Robert McCulloch did with Officer Wilson, District Attorney Donovan brought in Officer Pantaleo to testify in his own defense, without being subject to adversarial cross examination.

In most cases, legal experts say, a prosecutor presents a grand jury only with select evidence to simply establish “probable cause” for an indictment, and the potential defendant is by definition the prosecutor’s legal adversary.

“But it’s very challenging for a local prosecutor, who oftentimes wins elections with the support of local police officers, and works very closely with local police officers each and every day, to bring a case against a cop,” says Jason Leventhal, a former Staten Island assistant district attorney who now represents clients bringing civil rights cases against the NYPD.

“The internal pressures that a local prosecutor receives from their brothers in law enforcement – these are their partners working together everyday, so it creates a very challenging environment for a prosecutor to seek and indictment, let alone a conviction, of a police officer.”

Pantaleo, an officer who lives in Staten Island, told his side of the incident to the grand jury for two hours on Nov. 21.

“He was gratified to tell his story, he was relieved,” said Stuart London, Pantaleo’s attorney, to CNN on Saturday. “He was anxious and anxiety-filled prior to that,” Mr. London said. “He is cautiously optimistic, and knows that his fate is in their hands now.”

In Missouri, Mr. McCulloch was criticized for taking the unusual step of presenting the entirety of his evidence to the grand jury, including the four-hour testimony of Wilson. None of the evidence was subjected to cross examination or hostile scrutiny, however, critics say.

And it is not difficult for a prosecutor to get an indictment. In 2010, federal prosecutors sought indictments in about 162,000 cases, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Grand jurors declined to return an indictment in 11 of these.

“[When] the prosecutor handled the Wilson case in a radically different manner, this signaled to the grand jurors that they were not expected to indict. And they did not,” wrote Marjorie Cohn, a criminal defense attorney and professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, in an essay in The Huffington Post last week.

Many observers in New York see a similar strategy at play in the Garner grand jury.

“The length of the grand jury proceedings has given me pause, and there’s always the possibility that the district attorney is using the grand jury process to insulate him from the public scorn and criticism that would follow if he chose not to bring a case that the public believes should be brought,” says Mr. Leventhal of the law firm Leventhal & Klein.

“Presenting evidence this way insulates the DA from the decision,” he continues. “Even if he was seeking an indictment – an indictment that would be unpopular, and he might be concerned with the fallout from fellow law enforcement partners – it also serves that purpose to be able to say, ‘It wasn’t my decision, I put all the evidence in, and it was the grand jury’s decision.’ ”

On Monday, NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton met with local clergy, community leaders, and elected officials in Staten Island to discuss the possible fallout of the impending grand jury decision, including the possibility of Ferguson-like violence.

“Here on Staten Island, Eric Garner had a lot of friends, especially in that area, and he’s very, very well missed by a lot of people who’s anxiously waiting the decision,” said Cynthia Davis, a leader with the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, to NY1. “So I even think maybe some agitators may try to worm their way in and try to cause problems, but we’re just praying and hoping that that doesn’t happen.”

Driving While Black in Ferguson

http://www.newsweek.com/ferguson-profiling-police-courts-shooting-264744

“You go to all of these damn courts, and there’s no white people,” one defendant, slated to appear before a municipal court in St. Louis County, recently said.

Another complained that North St. Louis County municipalities such as Ferguson, which attracted national attention after a police officer fatally shot Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old African-American high school graduate, on Saturday, prompting days of protests, profile minorities when it comes to traffic tickets.

“In Dellwood, Ferguson, basically, in North County, if you’re black, they’re going to stop you,” the resident said according to a new report on policing in the area.

For residents of Ferguson, Missouri, and surrounding municipalities in St. Louis County, it’s not surprising that racial tensions have boiled over. In a town of 21,000, two-thirds of the residents are African-American, and many reports have highlighted a fraught relationship between Ferguson’s residents and its mostly white police force. Only three people in the 53-member police department are black, according to the Washington Post, and the Ferguson Police Department disproportionately stops and arrests black drivers.

“Everybody in this city has been a victim of DWB, [driving while black],” Anthony Ross, 26, explained to the Post.

A paper published Thursday by the ArchCity Defenders, a legal aid organization representing indigent defendants in the St. Louis metropolitan area, offers another insight into why residents’ resentment of law enforcement officials run so deep: They don’t just feel that they are getting stopped because of the color of their skin. Rather, they feel like they are getting stopped because of the color of their skin so that the city of Ferguson can profit off of them—for traffic tickets.

ArchCity Defenders, which has tracked ticketing of St. Louis area residents for five years and focused primarily on vehicle violations, started a court-watching program because so many of its clients complained of traffic prosecution wreaking havoc on their lives. Defendants routinely alleged that a racially-motivated traffic stop led to their being jailed due to inability to pay traffic fines, which in turn prompted people to “los[e] jobs and housing as a result of the incarceration.” In other words, defendants alleged that racial profiling, for traffic tickets, propelled them deeper and deeper into the cycle of poverty. The ArchCity report does not allege racial profiling; however, it is clear that many of the people stopped for traffic violations feel that they were targeted for their race.

Of the 60 courts St. Louis County municipal courts observed by ArchCity, 30 were accused of engaging in illegal or harmful practices. “Three courts, Bel-Ridge, Florissant, and Ferguson, were chronic offenders and serve as prime examples of how these practices violate fundamental rights of the poor, undermine public confidence in the judicial system, and create inefficiencies,” according to the report.

The paper points out that in Ferguson, 86 percent of vehicle stops “involved a black motorist, although blacks make up just 67 percent of the population.” In addition, blacks stopped in Ferguson “are almost twice as likely as whites to be searched (12.1 percent versus 6.9 percent) and twice as likely to be arrested (10.4 percent versus 5.2 percent)”. Searches of blacks only results in discovery of contraband 21.7 percent of the time, whereas contraband is recovered from their less frequently stopped white counterparts 34.0 percent of the time.

Municipalities’ seeming willigness to profit off of minorities has undoubtedly fueled the flames ignited by Brown’s shooting. One resident quoted in the study said, “It’s ridiculous how these small municipalities make their lifeline off the blood of the people who drive through the area.”

Twenty-two percent of Ferguson residents live below the poverty line, and 21.7 percent receive food stamps. The unemployment rate in the town is 14.3 percent, or more than double that of St. Louis County and Missouri as a whole.

“Despite Ferguson’s relative poverty, fines and court fees comprise the second largest source of revenue for the city, a total of 2,635,400,” according to the ArchCity Defenders report. And in 2013, the Ferguson Municipal Court issued 24,532 arrest warrants and 12,018 cases, “or about 3 warrants and 1.5 cases per household.”

Exacerbating the problem, the report says, are “a number of operational procedures that make it even more difficult for defendants to navigate the courts.” A Ferguson court employee reported, for example, that “the bench routinely starts hearing cases 30 minutes before the appointed time and then locks the doors to the building as early as five minutes after the official hour, a practice that could easily lead a defendant arriving even slightly late to receive an additional charge for failure to appear.”

Thomas Harvey, co-founder and executive director of ArchCity Defenders and one of the paper’s authors, says that residents’ perception that the system is unfairly stacked against them gives important context for the depth of the present outrage.

“There are 90 municipalities in St. Louis County that range from 12 people to 50,000 people. Eighty-six of them have their own courts. They have their own police forces,” he explains. “What ends up being the product of all that is just a low-level sense of harassment on a daily basis. The clients that we represent feel that. It’s palpable for them.”

“They resent it because it’s not about public safety,” he adds. “These aren’t violent criminals. These are poor people.”

from off the net

—

aeneas1

Mike Person

this guy has played some good football at lg, both in pass pro and run blocking, when he filled in against the chiefs and raiders. i say bench joseph, move rodger to rg and start person at lg, i think it would make for a better oline in the remaining 4 four games.

Jared Cook talks to the media following Wednesday’s practice.

http://www.stlouisrams.com/videos/videos/Jared-Cook-Press-Conference/e6268bc1-ee52-4d2b-b184-d8244a0c08a6

Ram Bytes: The Gregg Williams defense is rolling

Bernie Miklasz

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bernie-miklasz/ram-bytes-the-gregg-williams-defense-is-rolling/article_956e67f5-5675-51ae-9ef2-11c1f90a6f16.html

Good afternoon.

Here are some notes on my Rams’ flip card:

1. Over their last five games, the Rams defense has played at the level we envisioned when coach Jeff Fisher hired Gregg Williams to as the defensive coordinator. It took the players a while to adjust to the Williams system, but it looks like the fellows have gotten comfortable.

Here’s a list of where the Rams rank among NFL defenses in some key categories since Nov. 2 (five games):

– No. 1 in most takeaways, 13.

– No. 2 in sacks, 22.

– Tied for No. 2 in fewest touchdowns allowed from scrimmage, with six.

– No. 2 in rushing defense, 65 yards per game.

– No. 3 in allowing opponents a third-down conversion rate of 30.4 pct.

– No. 5 in average yards per rushing attempt, 3.39.

The Rams defense still has some problems in pass coverage. The most glaring example of that was San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers, who made it look easy in picking apart the Rams soft coverage from late in the second quarter through the rest of the game.

Because of Rivers’ easy carving, I was disappointed by the play of the defense in that 27-24 loss to the Chargers. (And the Chargers also averaged 5.8 yards per rush in that one.) But looking at it in retrospect, the Rams limited the San Diego to two touchdowns from scrimmage. And the Rams’ defense scored a TD on the pick-six INT by Janoris Jenkins. So the actual damage wasn’t as bad as the numbers on the stat sheet.

Moreover, the Rams’ average yield of 6.98 yards per passing attempt ranks 14th in the NFL since Nov. 2. So we’re still talking about a slightly above-average rate there. Moreover, the Rams’ harassment of quarterbacks — exemplified by those 22 sacks — is a factor in their total of seven interceptions over the last five games. Only four teams have more INTs over that time.

Here’s the bottom line: the Rams have allowed an average of only 10.8 points from scrimmage over the past five games. And while it’s always possible to improve, you can’t ask for much more than that.

After a 1-4 start the Rams have gone 4-3, and the defensive turnaround is a prime factor in the better results.

After a slow start to the season, the Rams’ defense is aggressive, disruptive and a pain in the neck, back and arse to face. And that’s exactly what we anticipated with Williams in charge.

2. The reemergence of defensive end Robert Quinn has been a significant development for the defense. I don’t pay attention to the pass-rush stats that come from the Rams’ offices; I believe they’re inflated. So I turn to Pro Football Focus for a more objective measure. And according to PFF, Quinn has nine sacks, five QB hits, and 17 QB hurries over his last seven games. That’s 31 total pressures for Quinn in those seven contests.

3. We’ve talked about rookie defensive tackle Aaron Donald a lot in this corner, and excuse me while I do it again. Donald is now 12 games into his first NFL seasons, and right now Pro Football Focus has him rated No. 1 among all NFL defensive tackles. Donald is ranked No. 2 in run stops, has six sacks and 28 QB pressures, and grades out better overall than Ndamukong Suh, Gerald McCoy or any DT that you’d care to mention. And this young tiger is still learning the league … imagine how Donald will play after he gains more experience. GM Les Snead and Coach Fisher hit it big when choosing Donald 13th overall in May’s draft.

4. It’s time to talk about (again) another of our favorite players on the 2014 Rams. That would be rookie cornerback E.J. Gaines, from Mizzou. And yes, we’d like Gaines, anyway — just because of the Mizzou connection. But his performance has gone way beyond the scope of the obligatory local rooting interest. Gaines is getting better … and better … and better. According to Pro Football Focus, when opposing teams have targeted Gaines this season they have a passer rating of 77.6. And the quarterbacks have averaged 6.7 yards per passing attempt when going after Gaines. He’s been beaten for one TD pass, and has two INTs. Based on the PFF rankings of pass coverage, Gaines is No. 20 among NFL cornerbacks. And check this out: PFF rates Gaines at No. 8 among NFL corners in run stops.

5. Look, I’m not suggesting that E.J. Gaines is the next Roger Wehrli, a great CB at Mizzou who was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame after a fabulous career with the NFL team in St. Louis. But what Gaines is doing here is awfully impressive. And we’d say that if Gaines was the 18th overall pick in the draft. But he was the 188th overall selection, chosen in the 6th round. And that only adds to the admiration we have for Gaines — the player and the person.

6. The Rams apparently have found their slot receiver in Stedman Bailey. This is a small sample from PFF, but when Bailey runs a route from the slot, he’s been targeted 10 times, and he’s caught all 10 passes for 117 yards and a touchdown. That means the Rams’ QB has a passer rating of 148.7 when they go to Bailey as a slot receiver. Overall, Bailey has been targeted 28 times this season and has 20 receptions. That 71.4 percent catch rate is very good.

7. A couple of weeks ago, we talked about the breakaway capability of rookie Rams running back Tre Mason. And after Mason’s big game in the 52-0 win over Oakland, I can update update a statistic from Pro Football Focus. Mason has 569 yards rushing so far, and 257 of the 569 have come on runs that have gained 15+ yards. Among NFL backs that have played at least 25 percent of the snaps this season, Mason’s breakaway percentage of 45.2 percent is the best in the league.

(Explanation: 45.2 percent of Mason’s total yards have been accumulated on 15+ runs. That 89-yarder against Oakland certainly inflated Mason’s percentage … but even before that Mason had one of the top breakaway percentages in the NFL.)

8. I guess it’s fair to say that the Rams won the RG III trade. We may write more on this later in the week; obviously the Rams have benefited from the draft-pick bonanza they received in exchange for the rights to select QB Robert Griffin III. Injuries have badly diminished the benched Griffin, who is 4-14 as a starter since the start of the 2013 season. But one aspect of the trade I didn’t expect: neither Washington or St. Louis has an established franchise quarterback in place.