Wow. I’m a little surprised by the responses. I was expecting to get cheered up by you guys.

Okay. Here goes. First off, I didn’t enjoy watching that game. Not just because they lost. I would have come here saying I didn’t enjoy it even if the Rams had won, even if Kupp made that catch at the end. It was not enjoyable.

I think, though, that the Rams are better than the Seahawks right now, and I think they should have won that game. So…there’s that.

That was a close to a complete team collapse on the Rams’ part, and they still almost won the game.

The Rams’ defense played well enough to win. The DL was all over it. Donald and Quinn had big games, and the Hawks rushed for nothing. They contained Wilson, and shut down everything. The Seahawks got one really good drive…a 75-yard drive resulting in a TD. Then they had two FG drives, 43 yards, and 51 yards, and a gift FG after a turnover. That’s it. That’s what Seattle mustered all day long in spite of 5 turnovers. I believe three of those were inside Rams’ territory. The muffed punt for sure, and the Goff fumble. And I think the deflected pachinko pass that ended up intercepted was also in Rams’ territory.

The Rams drove right down their throat on the first possession. That was an absolute fluke play at the end, and it was the difference in the game, imo. I don’t blame Gurley. He was reaching for the goal line, and whozit hit his arm and dislodged the ball momentarily BEFORE Gurley’s foot touched out of bounds (so I disagree with those of you who thought the fumble was later. I think the replay clearly showed they made the right call on review…as much as I hate it). And the ball happened to hit the pylon. If it hadn’t hit the pylon, they would have ruled it out 1 foot short, and the Rams would have scored a TD, gone up by 7 points, and who knows how that would have affected things psychologically from that point. But we do know it would have added 7 points to the Rams’ total, and they would have won that game.

Nothing went right for the Rams. Bad throws by Goff, muffed punt, bad bounces, 5 turnovers, missed FG, penalties. And they still almost won that game.

It’s not worth anything in the standings, but the Rams – in spite of everything – still played better overall than the Seahawks. I am very unhappy about the outcome. But that showed me a turning tide in the NFC West. The Rams will beat them in Seattle.

Sounds like a good day.

Can you drop off some sandwiches at the chat room before you go?

Ozoneranger wrote:

However, I’d rather be gunned down by an armed intruder than have one of my grandchildren hurt by a weapon I may own

That’s me.

And statistically, a grandchild is more likely to be hurt or killed with your gun than an intruder is.

I dunno. I used to be FOR getting rid of guns. Now…I dunno. I get where some people are coming from.

But I do NOT understand the resistance to gun training, licensing, and screening. And these automatic weapons…I mean…stop it. I don’t know how they are even debatable.

You want protection? Get a handgun, and pass safety training and a marksmanship test. Wanna hunt? Same thing.

Protect yourself from the government? There’s no such thing, and you aren’t using that as an excuse to buy battlefield weaponry. Get rid of internet sales, gun shows, and so on.

You can have a gun – I guess – but it’s going to be within reason, and you are going to demonstrate competency.

But I give up. That’s not happening.

Well, at least they aren’t as bad as these uniforms:

They ARE fun. For the first time in a decade, they are fun.

Real?

I hope so. I think so.

This Seattle game, man…

It’s a difference-maker.

If the Rams lose, they have the same record as the Seahawks who would be in first place by the head-to-head tiebreaker advantage. Rams in second place, basically…a game behind for practical purposes.

If the Rams win, they have a two game lead over the Seahawks AND the head-to-head tiebreaker…a three game lead, basically.

That’s quite a swing.

InvaderRam wrote:

this was probably obvious to everyone but me. but the whole time i kept thinking mcvay in washington centered his offense around reed. then they draft everett. and i was thinking he was going to try and run the same offense he did at washington.

but it should have been obvious to me that he was going to base his offense around the most talented player on his new team, todd gurley. and todd has taken that role and really flourished. he’s just a complete back now. all three downs. running, catching, blocking. whatever. and i’m sure mcvay will keep giving gurley more and more responsibility, and gurley seems ready to accept more responsibility. it’s fun to watch. mcvay must be licking his chops trying to find more ways to get gurley the ball.

Seems to me that McVay is smart enough to see what he has, and use it.

I think he drafted Everett to give him that weapon, but Everett is a rookie. Wait and see how he uses him later this season, or next season.

In the mean time, he has other weapons that are effective. He will get around to the TE when the TE is ready.

I don’t quite understand VB’s argument for how this game made the Rams LA’s team, but okay. In any event, there ought to be more people in the stands next week for Seattle.

And if the Rams beat Seattle…they have a two-game lead with an advantage in head-to-head.

That would be huge.

zn wrote:

linebacker Alex Oglethorpe blitzed untouched and drilled Prescott as he was throwing, causing an incompletion.

Maybe when the ‘Tree back, the tackling will be better.

Any Rams team in the past 10 years would have lost that game by giving Dallas the ball with 2 minutes left. Especially after the way they hot-knifed down for the TD on the previous drive.

This is a big win, I think, because it was a good team, on the road, and because it sets the Rams up now for the next big step. Dallas looks pretty good to me, although they have some issues at LB with Lee out today, and that may have been the difference in the game. The offense looks real. Gurley looks to be back. There are receivers, and Goff passed another test by eating 5 minutes in the last drive. Shoulda been a TD to put it away, but they did enough without making a big mistake, or playing matador on the final drive.

I was pretty happy with the 2nd half performance of the defense. (I missed most of the 3rd quarter, but they made the Cowboys punt twice while my back was turned – I actually walked back in the house and sat down just as the Rams lined up for the long Gurley TD). It was a different defense in the second half. So…again…all the signs point upward in spite of some green play here and there.

Should the Rams beat Seattle next week, they will be in first place WITH A CUSHION after only 5 games. Imagine that.

Sounds like a young team with discipline problems.

Or…to put it another way…like every Rams teams in the past decade.

So if Phillips can get the D to tighten up and not make those big mistakes half dozen times a game, we have a legit D on our hands.

Dunno what to say about the offense. They need to increase their effectiveness on the average play because living on Big Plays is a dangerous thing. These offensive stats seem to be reflected in the Todd Gurley story. 2 yards, 2 yards, 2 yards, 2 yards, 2 yards, 20 yards. There ya go. A 5 ypc average. But he isn’t averaging 5 yards a carry. He’s averaging 2 yards a carry with an occasional pop. That, I think, was especially pronounced his rookie year. This year…I dunno. 3 games. Hard to tell. Last year, of course, there was never a pop.

Okay, then. Let’s go crush the hell out of Dallas.

zn wrote:

The problem is not how blacks raise their complaints about American society; it’s that they raise them.

And there is a great illustration of that in the Dallas Cowboys move last Sunday when they knelt BEFORE the anthem, and then stood DURING the anthem. And Trump criticized them for kneeling.

Which – of course – had nothing to do with the flag, or any of these other false images the right is claiming are being violated.