- Thread starter
- #1
Retroram52
Moderator
- 79,121
- 12,524
- 1,033
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2013
- Location
- Phoenix, Arizona
- Hoopla Cash
- $ 1,000.00
- Fav. Team #1
- Fav. Team #2
- Fav. Team #3
On a day when our draft picture was becoming more clear with Washington losing to the Caboys and Robert Quinn securing the Rams record of most sacks in a season with 18 (formerly held by Kevin Carter), the Rams put together a win that wasn't flashy but was dominated again by defense. We were able to get it done in the dome before we travel to Seattle to meet the Seahags next week for our last game of the 2013 season.
On offense. The positives. Beginning with an offensive line that gave up just one sack and no penalties and had to be shuffled to accommodate the loss of Jake Long with a possible ACL injury in his right knee, they blocked well all day long to give Clemens enough time to throw for 158 passing yards on 16/26 with no INTs and to get Stacy another 100+ yard game finishing with 33 carries for 104 yards.
Not since Steven Jackson has a Rams RB had a season like Stacy and Stacy was the first RB to go over 100 yards against the Tampa defense this year. In addition, Stedman Bailey has secured himself as a potential starter next year catching everything thrown at him and finishing the day high man among the WRs going 3 catches for 44 yards and scoring his first NFL TD on a beautifully executed double reverse where Clemens was out in front looking for someone to block.
Bailey has been so good at catching passes (glue for hands) that I think it has rubbed off on all the WRs and TEs as we had no dropped passes today by anyone except the running backs. Bailey, Quick, Givens, Pettis, Cook, and Harkey all caught passes and it was a great day for the passing and running games even though we overcame our negative of not scoring an offensive TD in the first quarter which historically equates to a loss for us.
The negatives. We lost two fumbles today: One by Clemens who was called on right before the half, after the defense provided a turnover, to run a sneak of sorts from our own 7 yard line that would have made it 21-7, after completing a drive. Clemens fumbled the ball on a play that had Billick in the booth confused and Tampa recovered it negating the drive; The second was by Stacy who coughed up the ball just running a play where he was hardly touched. Both cost us that score of 21-7 and we ended up with three points going the other way.
The other negative is that we lost Jake Long to a potential season-ending knee injury. No one touched the guy, he was pass blocking and just planted his right foot to change directions and the knee gave way. This may mean we go after Matthews or Kouandijo in the draft. The O-line was re-shuffled with Smith filling in at RG and Saffold moving over to LT and they played well the rest of the way. Saffold should be re-signed for his willingness to fill in where needed without a lot of bitching and he has played well despite the shuffling in all the positions he has played this year.
On defense. The positives. What can I say. Quinn has claimed the new Rams record with 3 sacks today to go for 18 on the year with the old record formerly held by Kevin Carter. Our front Elite Eight played with devastating aggressiveness creating havoc for Tampa Bay all day long. Olgetree was high man on D with 8 tackles, a 0.5 sacks, and a forced fumble, Quinn had 3 sacks, 8 hurries, and a fumble recovery, Laurinaitus had 1.5 sacks, C. Long had a sack, Williams Hayes had a fumble recovery, and T.J.McDonald had a sack for a total of 7 by the Defense. Jenkins and the DBs played quite well and the trio of LBs had a great day as well.
The negatives. Not much here. This unit is just plain badass and apt to get even better depending on how our draft goes this year.
Special Teams. The positives. One guy's name stands out. Greg Zuerlein!! 3/3 on field goals of 54, 25, and 48 yards and every KO out of the back of the endzone with 0 returns. He has quietly done this for several games now. The ST's had the presence of mind to knock a surprise onside kick by Tampa in the third quarter out of bounds to preserve the momentum that had been wrestled away from us right before the half. Jason Veltung filled in quite well for Austin and had several nice runbacks on punts except for a penalty that called back the longest of his runbacks. All-in-all, a pretty solid day.
We are beginning to come on here of late as a team and it will be a good measure next week to see how far we have come with the potential to repay that dreadful loss to the Seahags at home with a win in their house and end with an 8-8 finish. I think it will be a good game as guys are playing for next year's starting positions and contracts.
I hope we go into to Seattle and kick their asses because they are playing quite well and they have some pretty big heads right now. They will probably win the NFC championship and have the best chance of anyone to win it all. Because of that it would be great and would obtain payback to kick their asses just to send a message for next year. We shall see.
On offense. The positives. Beginning with an offensive line that gave up just one sack and no penalties and had to be shuffled to accommodate the loss of Jake Long with a possible ACL injury in his right knee, they blocked well all day long to give Clemens enough time to throw for 158 passing yards on 16/26 with no INTs and to get Stacy another 100+ yard game finishing with 33 carries for 104 yards.
Not since Steven Jackson has a Rams RB had a season like Stacy and Stacy was the first RB to go over 100 yards against the Tampa defense this year. In addition, Stedman Bailey has secured himself as a potential starter next year catching everything thrown at him and finishing the day high man among the WRs going 3 catches for 44 yards and scoring his first NFL TD on a beautifully executed double reverse where Clemens was out in front looking for someone to block.
Bailey has been so good at catching passes (glue for hands) that I think it has rubbed off on all the WRs and TEs as we had no dropped passes today by anyone except the running backs. Bailey, Quick, Givens, Pettis, Cook, and Harkey all caught passes and it was a great day for the passing and running games even though we overcame our negative of not scoring an offensive TD in the first quarter which historically equates to a loss for us.
The negatives. We lost two fumbles today: One by Clemens who was called on right before the half, after the defense provided a turnover, to run a sneak of sorts from our own 7 yard line that would have made it 21-7, after completing a drive. Clemens fumbled the ball on a play that had Billick in the booth confused and Tampa recovered it negating the drive; The second was by Stacy who coughed up the ball just running a play where he was hardly touched. Both cost us that score of 21-7 and we ended up with three points going the other way.
The other negative is that we lost Jake Long to a potential season-ending knee injury. No one touched the guy, he was pass blocking and just planted his right foot to change directions and the knee gave way. This may mean we go after Matthews or Kouandijo in the draft. The O-line was re-shuffled with Smith filling in at RG and Saffold moving over to LT and they played well the rest of the way. Saffold should be re-signed for his willingness to fill in where needed without a lot of bitching and he has played well despite the shuffling in all the positions he has played this year.
On defense. The positives. What can I say. Quinn has claimed the new Rams record with 3 sacks today to go for 18 on the year with the old record formerly held by Kevin Carter. Our front Elite Eight played with devastating aggressiveness creating havoc for Tampa Bay all day long. Olgetree was high man on D with 8 tackles, a 0.5 sacks, and a forced fumble, Quinn had 3 sacks, 8 hurries, and a fumble recovery, Laurinaitus had 1.5 sacks, C. Long had a sack, Williams Hayes had a fumble recovery, and T.J.McDonald had a sack for a total of 7 by the Defense. Jenkins and the DBs played quite well and the trio of LBs had a great day as well.
The negatives. Not much here. This unit is just plain badass and apt to get even better depending on how our draft goes this year.
Special Teams. The positives. One guy's name stands out. Greg Zuerlein!! 3/3 on field goals of 54, 25, and 48 yards and every KO out of the back of the endzone with 0 returns. He has quietly done this for several games now. The ST's had the presence of mind to knock a surprise onside kick by Tampa in the third quarter out of bounds to preserve the momentum that had been wrestled away from us right before the half. Jason Veltung filled in quite well for Austin and had several nice runbacks on punts except for a penalty that called back the longest of his runbacks. All-in-all, a pretty solid day.
We are beginning to come on here of late as a team and it will be a good measure next week to see how far we have come with the potential to repay that dreadful loss to the Seahags at home with a win in their house and end with an 8-8 finish. I think it will be a good game as guys are playing for next year's starting positions and contracts.
I hope we go into to Seattle and kick their asses because they are playing quite well and they have some pretty big heads right now. They will probably win the NFC championship and have the best chance of anyone to win it all. Because of that it would be great and would obtain payback to kick their asses just to send a message for next year. We shall see.
)
