Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
ZooeyModeratorI’m not surprised that today was spent crying about that call. It was a mistake, and it happened at a crucial moment.
But my guess is that Phase Two of this conversation is going to belong to the Cooler Heads. I think we will hear more of the Colin Cowherd kind of perspective tomorrow.
A football team has 60 minutes to put away the other team. That’s the task. Put the other team away…so that no Variable can come into play, and change the outcome.
A Variable is one of those plays that can turn the tide that is not under control of the team. Things like a gust of wind, a fluke bounce, an injury, a bad call, a blown assignment, a drop, a time mismanagement, a deserved penalty…. Every team strives to put themselves in a position that they are far enough ahead that a Variable can’t affect the outcome.
Here’s the deal: The Saints had the advantage in the beginning of the game, and they failed to put a lock on the game. They had two red zone opportunities in the first quarter, and came away with 2 FG. They failed to score TDs. In any game, there are several Opportunity plays. Several situations in which a team has an Opportunity to force its will on the other team. The Saints came out on the short end of those Opportunity plays.
The Saints got out to a 13-0 lead. The Rams failed to get a first down in the first quarter. But after that point, the Rams won the game statistically. They kept Bashing On, Regardless.
The non-PI call was not the last play of the game. It did not determine the winner. On the very next play, in fact, the Saints kicked a field goal and took a 3-point lead with 1:40 to go. They were winning AFTER that play. They did not lose because of that play. They lost because of what happened AFTER that play.
The Rams took the kickoff, and drove down the field to get close enough for GZ to kick a 48-yard FG – with the season on the line, on the road – and he drilled it. Tie game.
THEN. The Saints won the toss and got the ball. Suh and Fowler collapsed the pocket, and Fowler got a hand on Brees, and his pass went up for grabs (a Variable), and JJ made the play.
THEN. The Rams got close enough for GZ to try an NFC record 57-yard FG on the road, with the season on the line – and he drilled it.
There were several Opportunities in this game, and the Rams won most of them. They won statistically. And they scored more points.
The Saints lost this game because – over 60 minutes – they came up short. Not on one play. The Rams won. The Saints lost. And I think intelligent sports fans will see that. To say that play cost the Saints the game is Cherry-Picking. It ignores the entire story.
I absolutely do not believe that the Rams were unworthy of that victory, or given a Gift. No asterisk.
As for the people who see it otherwise…enh…don’t care. Yeah, for some people, this will be the Blown PI game.
I don’t care. They are wrong, and I don’t care.
ZooeyModeratorHappy birthday, and thanks again for the forum.
ZooeyModerator16 Crucial Plays from the Championship Games
-
This reply was modified 7 years, 8 months ago by
Zooey.
January 21, 2019 at 12:33 pm in reply to: Refs also missed several calls that really hurt Rams #97030ZooeyModeratorThat’s football.
It will always have an element of chance, an element of human error, an element of weird bounces, and weird weather, and whatever.
And if you watch football, sometimes you get the bitter taste of ashes in your mouth.
So it goes.
And, yeah, if it happened to the Rams that would be another mouthful of ashes. But I accept the possibility of that every time I sit down to watch the Rams play. That’s what’s at stake. I accept those terms.
Two weeks from now, I may have ashes in my mouth.
Or champagne.
I’m hoping for champagne.
ZooeyModerator
ZooeyModeratorThis has to be terribly bitter for Saints fans, especially after their miraculous loss last year. Two consecutive gut-wrenching defeats in the playoffs. And I have no sympathy whatsoever for them. Not even a tiny bit. After the Tom Mack penalty, and many other bitter defeats throughout the 70s, I just can’t say that winning a game with an assist like that bothers me in the least. I’m not experiencing my typical schadenfreude either, however, because I don’t care about the Saints. If this had happened to the Vikings, I would not be able to get enough of their fans’ tears. But I’m just without any sympathy for Saints fans.
But as I was saying, a lifetime (this, I realized, is my 50th anniversary of being a Rams fan)…a lifetime of mostly losing has taught me not to cry about referees, or bad bounces, or dropped passes (Cromwell), or loud crowds. They are each and every one a part of the game, and there is no use crying about it. At the end, when the final gun sounds, your team either has more points, or it doesn’t. And complaining about This or That, or What If is just a waste.
So this past week I made the case over at the Herd, and also on this pretty bad FB page, that the petition to the NFL to change the ref in this game was nonsense, and if you don’t want a ref to screw you over…SCORE MORE POINTS. Score more points, and take the possibility of a bad call out of the equation. Don’t cry to me about a bad call. There were other bad non-calls in that game (as others have mentioned), and that’s the way it goes. The Rams…in the end…out-dueled them. They limited the Saints to FGs in the beginning, and harassed them all day long. Donald made plays, Fowler, Suh, Littleton.
And GOFF! Goff showed me something really, really big today. His numbers weren’t great (they were pretty good, though), but he held that team together through hurricane force crowd noise that lasted the entire game, but was especially fierce in the first quarter. I don’t think last year’s Goff would have made it. That was F-ing magnificent. He kept that team going, right into the teeth of that noise, and a very stiff New Orleans defense that played very well.
And Zuerlein, baby. Two clutch kicks. And no gimme chip shots, either. Those were manly kicks. That was championship football we saw today.
This is now officially a bad-ass team.
January 20, 2019 at 10:10 am in reply to: Rams rank 6th for number of hall of famers in franchise history #96918ZooeyModeratorI noticed in going through that slideshow that they listed Dickerson as one of Atlanta’s HOF players, too. Officially, players don’t go in with a team, I don’t think. They do in baseball, I believe. So that list is “unofficial,” and there can’t be an official list.
I know a few years ago there was quite a backlog of great WRs, and I’m guessing there still is. Don’t know if/when Bruce gets in.
ZooeyModeratorI agree with all that, and would just add that the trajectory I see in Goff’s “recovery” falls short of what I think is Likely to produce performances like “pre-bye” Goff. Which is why I answered C). It IS in him. It is. We have seen it.
So…would I be completely blown away if it shows up tomorrow?
No.
But I would say I don’t expect to see that Goff again until next year.
ZooeyModeratorI don’t know…it could be anything. (Yeah I know, real helpful.) I don’t know if I expect pre-bye level Goff back until next year. If I;m the Saints I sell out against the run and dare Goff to win it.
I will say this about that.
Somewhere in the Cowboys’ autopsy report, I saw that they played 8 in the box on less than 10% of the snaps, iirc.
I can’t see the Saints looking at that, and deciding to emulate that strategy.
ZooeyModerator
ZooeyModeratorTher’s before the bye Goff.
There’s slump Goff.
There’s since the slump Goff.
What will we see?
This thread has less traction than I was expecting.
Chip in here. Tell us what you think.
ZooeyModeratorC) Since slump Goff
Okay. Do you personally think that’s good enough to win on the road against the Saints?
Sure. If they get what they’ve been getting out of the running game, defense, and special teams, then…yeah.
And he’s going to need those things anyway, even if he plays like A), although if he plays like A), then the other units have some wiggle room.
But, yes, basically, I think the way the Rams have been playing post-Philadelphia is enough to win in New Orleans given the way New Orleans has been playing, and their injury-compromised lines. Yes, I do. I don’t think it rests upon Goff playing like an MVP candidate.
ZooeyModeratorC) Since slump Goff
ZooeyModeratorHow the Rams Win the Super Bowl
ZooeyModeratorHe doesn’t really know the Rams. Does He?
I’m surprised he knows as much as he does, actually.
He is wrong about the number of draft picks. He is wrong about the cap situation. And he doesn’t understand what the Rams DID with those draft picks.
And I don’t think losing Fleury is going to spell the end.
But he knows more than 90% of the people who are saying things about the Rams.
ZooeyModerator
ZooeyModeratorSkip Bayless is running smack about the regular season game the Rams play in Dallas next season? Boy, he’s really pissed the Cowboys lost.
ZooeyModeratorFun Fact: This year’s Championship games will have the number one age differential in starting QBs (Brady/Mahomes), and the number two age differential (Brees/Goff) of all time. In the Top Five age differentials prior to this year, all five were won by the older QB.
Hmmm, but were the older QBs this old? Over 40? I hope the Rams can get push up the middle and swallow up Brees, keep the ball away from Thomas and take your chances with the other guys.
Earl Morrall. John Elway. Uh…Fran Tarkenton. Brady a couple years ago. And…uh…whoever started against Kordell Stewart….
ZooeyModeratorI got to thinking…you know, the Rams haven’t lost a NFC Championship game in almost 30 years. That’s a pretty good run when you think about it. I see no reason why that shouldn’t continue this weekend.
ZooeyModeratorHow important is this DL who tore his ACL?
ZooeyModeratorFun Fact: This year’s Championship games will have the number one age differential in starting QBs (Brady/Mahomes), and the number two age differential (Brees/Goff) of all time. In the Top Five age differentials prior to this year, all five were won by the older QB.
ZooeyModeratorLooks like the casinos think the matchup is even. Saints -3.5 at home is basically saying the Saints will win because of home field advantage.
Working for the Rams – as billy points out – is the fact that they have been playing better after their slump. I would like to say that the Rams have a coaching advantage since McVay makes great adjustments, but Payton is very good, too, so that’s probably a push.
The Saints have been more consistent all season, have a veteran QB, and the dome. I think the line is right, and I bet it doesn’t move much.
ZooeyModeratorHow the Cowboys Defense Tipped Its Hand and Let the Rams Run All Over Them
ZooeyModeratorThe Talib play was weird. I dunno what he was doing.
But THE weirdest play was the bad-call that went against Dallas. The phantom sack. That was the worst ‘in the grasp’ call I’ve ever seen.
w
vIf I understand you right, what you are saying there is that you hate the Rams.
Noted.
ZooeyModerator<strong class=”d4pbbc-bold”><span class=”d4pbbc-font-color” style=”color: #FF0000″>alyoshamucci</span>
<strong class=”d4pbbc-bold”>The Ugly
17) Joyner doesn’t need to pack, we can do it for him. He had to have lost 10 million dollars in just that game.
I would like an expansion of that idea.
Joyner has been largely invisible this year, but this is strong.
ZooeyModeratorThat was a singularly ‘satisfying’ game. They just flat-out beat the shit out of the rough tough boyz.
Byes help. Man, do byes help.
w
vI like the word “manhandled” to describe the game.
The Rams manhandled the Cowboys. It wasn’t glitzy. It wasn’t a blow out. But from start to finish, the Rams won the game. Even when Dallas was up 7-3, I liked what I was seeing. Even at 7-6, I felt like the game was in hand.
They beat them inch-by-inch all game long.
ZooeyModeratorAnd sometimes, ya walk away from a game for an hour to stack wood, and when you come back, it’s still 14-10.
ZooeyModeratorI just put this on my idiot brother’s FB page:
ZooeyModeratorIf you had told me Goff would end with 186 yards passing, I would have watched that game like a punishment. I was expecting 350 yards from him.
That was not the game I expected to watch at all. Nobody saw that coming. Elliot with 47 yards?
We haven’t seen that team all year. I don’t recognize that team.
That game made me very, very happy. I am content now. We are at the break even point for me on the season now, and from here on, we are playing with house money the way I see it. The Rams HAD to win a playoff game this year, especially after a 13-3 season, and they did. Convincingly, too. That was the most solid rush defense we’ve seen all year, and I don’t understand it, but I am happy about it. And we are now going to see more experts pick the Rams over the Saints than picked the Rams over the Cowboys.
I would have liked to see Prescott planted a few times, and I’m a fan of turnovers (Ebukam!), but I guess the DL decided to focus on the run instead of the pass rush.
Must have been fun in the stadium with all those Dallas fans there. They just got served a big helping of STFU.
ZooeyModeratorSo much for a close, competitive game.
-
This reply was modified 7 years, 8 months ago by
-
AuthorPosts
