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The game between the Broncos and Rams was insignificant in the eyes of so many even before it was played. After all, the third best offense in the league with Peyton Manning in control reinforced with the fifth best defense was playing a perennial loser who the league and the NFL Nation believe is a complete screw-up and a joke of a franchise. There was little evidence to indicate that the St. Louis Rams had a snowball’s chance in Hades of even staying with Denver for any conceivable length of time. Blow-out was the moniker uttered by many even before the game began.
Anyone with half a brain would know that thinking the Rams could compete with such a dominant team as the Broncos after seeing the Rams change quarterbacks early in the week in a struggling offense and a defense that had a propensity to play tough but then make horrible mental errors was beyond fantasy. It was downright stupid. No one gave the Rams a chance except for maybe a few experienced and diehard fans that frequent our boards and perhaps Howie Long who believes the Rams are closer to being a young team that is to be reckoned with in the near future.
Apparently Howie knows something the masses don’t and that future arrived today. Chris Long made an appearance on defense today in the first quarter and wasn’t seen much thereafter but I firmly believe that his return turned the intensity wick up on the Rams and it definitely translated into the entire team playing its second full game from start to finish. Inspired by the defense that hit people hard an often and harassed Manning all day long frustrating him into committing mistakes, the Rams played consistent and inspired football for 60 minutes.
People were incredulous about what they perceived as another boneheaded move by a franchise notorious for such things, when early in the week, Fisher benched fan favorite Austin Davis for the journeyman Shaun Hill. Fisher stated that Davis was making way too many mistakes in turnovers that were costing the team wins and that Hill was brought back to calm the offense down into something more productive. Many thought Jeff Fisher should be fired. Many now know they might have rushed to judgment on Fisher’s decision.
On Offense. The Positives. The offense came out calm and purposeful and the O-line began blocking very well giving Hill so much time that Rams fans were shocked. They continued that for the majority of the game. Greg Robinson looked like the player we have all envisioned when the Rams drafted in the first round and perhaps he has made Jake Long’s days as a starting left tackle expendable. Hill finished the day 20 of 29 passes for 220 yards with one TD and no turnovers and he routinely made sound decisions and confident executions of Shottenheimer’s offense. Manning had his usual 34-54 passes for 389 yards type of day but got frustrated early and often by Williams’ defense and he threw two INTs.
Hill was having such a good day that he routinely led the offense down the field into scoring position in the red zone. Hill even caught one of his own passes and had a sure fumble on a sack bounce right back to him saving a TD from the Denver D. A little bit of luck helps a team that has witnessed nothing but for so long that many cannot remember when we last saw it on the field. The O-line blocked well enough for Tre Mason to have a career day going 29 carries for 113 yards against a defense that was number one against the run allowing a miniscule 67 yards per game. Kenny Britt had a huge day going 4 catches for a whopping 128 yards and a TD. Britt’s career is seeing a renaissance of sorts in St Louis. Kudos also goes to the offense for overcoming our horrific third quarters jinx. We held the Denver offense scoreless and Hill engineered a consistent drive that lead to a FG. We overcame that hurdle and after six games finally scored in the third by the OFFENSE.
On Offense. The Negatives. Not much here except the O-line gave up three sacks all day. They had no penalties. Hill was a bit rusty early on throwing several throws behind receivers one of which could have been a TD if it was thrown correctly to Kenny Britt, but Hill rapidly overcame his rust with several excellently thrown balls that kept drives alive the rest of the way. We still have an aversion to scoring in the red zone by the offense. We only scored one TD and had many opportunities to score five more times but failed. Those became Zuerlein FGs. This is definitely something we still need to fix on the offense.
On Defense. The Positives. Kudos goes to this group from the get-go. Williams masterminded another hard hitting, confusing defense and although we only had two sacks, Williams confused and harassed Manning all day frustrating him into passes that were tipped, batted down, thrown too quickly, and intercepted. Denver receivers began dropping pass after pass. Even though they only had two sacks, one by Laurinaitus and one by Donald, they held the Denver running game to a paltry 29 yards. We also held this high-powered offense scoreless in the first, third, and fourth quarters. Pretty impressive to say the least. The entire group hit people with such ferocity that the refs had to get into the act and call a personal foul on McCleod on the receiver Samuel in the third period even though the hit was legal. A couple of series later, T.J. MacDonald walloped another receiver in the same fashion but no foul was called because the refs knew the first call was bogus.
Alex Ogletree quietly had another outstanding game being high man on tackles and getting an INT. Trumaine Johnson had the second INT by Manning. Also, we are rapidly advancing to having one of the most dominating defensive backfields in the league with MacDonald, Barron, McCleod, Gaines, Roberson, Trumaine Johnson, and even Janoris Jenkins even though Janoris has a tendency to get beat, screw-up, and pull some unbelievable crap.
On Defense. The Negatives. One guys stands out. Janoris Jenkins. Right before the half, he screwed-up and thought he had Safety help from McCleod when he didn’t and the receiver was wide open for the only score Denver could muster for the day. He also tried a stunt in the second half by moving the spot on the ball to slow down Manning’s no-huddle offense and got called for delay-of-game. Jenkins doesn’t like to tackle big TEs either and he missed several tackle during the game that turned into big gains.
On Special Teams. The Positives. The Special Teams played great all day long with Zuerlein hitting five straight field goals, many over 50 yards. Greg the Leg came back in a big way and piled up the points. Hekker punted six times booming several of them over 50 yards. The next big Safety to eventually emerge on Defense was huge on STs. Maurice Alexander, the forgotten big hitter that is still learning the NFL game, had two huge hits that kept Denver pinned inside the 20 yard line most of the day.
On Special Teams. The Negatives. Nothing to report here. They played that well.
On we go 4-6. Our next test is a road game in San Diego. We shall see if we can now sustain the consistency and all-out effort for another full game on all facets that we displayed today. This game is definitely winnable and I think we may see yet another good game by these young and up and coming Rams. Stay Tuned.
Anyone with half a brain would know that thinking the Rams could compete with such a dominant team as the Broncos after seeing the Rams change quarterbacks early in the week in a struggling offense and a defense that had a propensity to play tough but then make horrible mental errors was beyond fantasy. It was downright stupid. No one gave the Rams a chance except for maybe a few experienced and diehard fans that frequent our boards and perhaps Howie Long who believes the Rams are closer to being a young team that is to be reckoned with in the near future.
Apparently Howie knows something the masses don’t and that future arrived today. Chris Long made an appearance on defense today in the first quarter and wasn’t seen much thereafter but I firmly believe that his return turned the intensity wick up on the Rams and it definitely translated into the entire team playing its second full game from start to finish. Inspired by the defense that hit people hard an often and harassed Manning all day long frustrating him into committing mistakes, the Rams played consistent and inspired football for 60 minutes.
People were incredulous about what they perceived as another boneheaded move by a franchise notorious for such things, when early in the week, Fisher benched fan favorite Austin Davis for the journeyman Shaun Hill. Fisher stated that Davis was making way too many mistakes in turnovers that were costing the team wins and that Hill was brought back to calm the offense down into something more productive. Many thought Jeff Fisher should be fired. Many now know they might have rushed to judgment on Fisher’s decision.
On Offense. The Positives. The offense came out calm and purposeful and the O-line began blocking very well giving Hill so much time that Rams fans were shocked. They continued that for the majority of the game. Greg Robinson looked like the player we have all envisioned when the Rams drafted in the first round and perhaps he has made Jake Long’s days as a starting left tackle expendable. Hill finished the day 20 of 29 passes for 220 yards with one TD and no turnovers and he routinely made sound decisions and confident executions of Shottenheimer’s offense. Manning had his usual 34-54 passes for 389 yards type of day but got frustrated early and often by Williams’ defense and he threw two INTs.
Hill was having such a good day that he routinely led the offense down the field into scoring position in the red zone. Hill even caught one of his own passes and had a sure fumble on a sack bounce right back to him saving a TD from the Denver D. A little bit of luck helps a team that has witnessed nothing but for so long that many cannot remember when we last saw it on the field. The O-line blocked well enough for Tre Mason to have a career day going 29 carries for 113 yards against a defense that was number one against the run allowing a miniscule 67 yards per game. Kenny Britt had a huge day going 4 catches for a whopping 128 yards and a TD. Britt’s career is seeing a renaissance of sorts in St Louis. Kudos also goes to the offense for overcoming our horrific third quarters jinx. We held the Denver offense scoreless and Hill engineered a consistent drive that lead to a FG. We overcame that hurdle and after six games finally scored in the third by the OFFENSE.
On Offense. The Negatives. Not much here except the O-line gave up three sacks all day. They had no penalties. Hill was a bit rusty early on throwing several throws behind receivers one of which could have been a TD if it was thrown correctly to Kenny Britt, but Hill rapidly overcame his rust with several excellently thrown balls that kept drives alive the rest of the way. We still have an aversion to scoring in the red zone by the offense. We only scored one TD and had many opportunities to score five more times but failed. Those became Zuerlein FGs. This is definitely something we still need to fix on the offense.
On Defense. The Positives. Kudos goes to this group from the get-go. Williams masterminded another hard hitting, confusing defense and although we only had two sacks, Williams confused and harassed Manning all day frustrating him into passes that were tipped, batted down, thrown too quickly, and intercepted. Denver receivers began dropping pass after pass. Even though they only had two sacks, one by Laurinaitus and one by Donald, they held the Denver running game to a paltry 29 yards. We also held this high-powered offense scoreless in the first, third, and fourth quarters. Pretty impressive to say the least. The entire group hit people with such ferocity that the refs had to get into the act and call a personal foul on McCleod on the receiver Samuel in the third period even though the hit was legal. A couple of series later, T.J. MacDonald walloped another receiver in the same fashion but no foul was called because the refs knew the first call was bogus.
Alex Ogletree quietly had another outstanding game being high man on tackles and getting an INT. Trumaine Johnson had the second INT by Manning. Also, we are rapidly advancing to having one of the most dominating defensive backfields in the league with MacDonald, Barron, McCleod, Gaines, Roberson, Trumaine Johnson, and even Janoris Jenkins even though Janoris has a tendency to get beat, screw-up, and pull some unbelievable crap.
On Defense. The Negatives. One guys stands out. Janoris Jenkins. Right before the half, he screwed-up and thought he had Safety help from McCleod when he didn’t and the receiver was wide open for the only score Denver could muster for the day. He also tried a stunt in the second half by moving the spot on the ball to slow down Manning’s no-huddle offense and got called for delay-of-game. Jenkins doesn’t like to tackle big TEs either and he missed several tackle during the game that turned into big gains.
On Special Teams. The Positives. The Special Teams played great all day long with Zuerlein hitting five straight field goals, many over 50 yards. Greg the Leg came back in a big way and piled up the points. Hekker punted six times booming several of them over 50 yards. The next big Safety to eventually emerge on Defense was huge on STs. Maurice Alexander, the forgotten big hitter that is still learning the NFL game, had two huge hits that kept Denver pinned inside the 20 yard line most of the day.
On Special Teams. The Negatives. Nothing to report here. They played that well.
On we go 4-6. Our next test is a road game in San Diego. We shall see if we can now sustain the consistency and all-out effort for another full game on all facets that we displayed today. This game is definitely winnable and I think we may see yet another good game by these young and up and coming Rams. Stay Tuned.
