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On a night with a national audience and the World Series going on down the street, there were many great things occurring for the Rams and the effort was pretty good for the most part. However. they simply could not overcome their mistakes and miscues on offense to finish out a very winnable game. Robert Quinn set a new Rams record in being the first Rams player to get 10 sacks in the first 8 games of the season. Quinn had three, C. Long had three, Hayes had one. The defense played its best game of the year and stifled the Seattle offense into a meager 135 total yards, 44 of which were rushing yards.
In a season where our running game has been pathetic and meager, Zac Stacey had his first 100+ yard game (134 yards before getting injured) and the Rams pounded a staunch Seattle defense and had their first 200 yard rushing night and the offense had a total of 358 yards. But all of that was not good enough as the Rams decision-making process on offense disintegrated on the four yard line with time running out and we suffered one of the toughest losses of the season. Many have suggested this team is snake bit and the evidence can certainly substantiate that claim, but the Rams did a lot of good things tonight and this may be another step in the growing pains of this very young team.
On offense. The positives. Kellen Clemons stepped into a tough situation and had a pretty decent outing by being gutsy and guiding the team to 358 total yards. He finished the night going 15/31 for 158 yards. The Rams offense found its running game racking up 200 total rushing yards among primarily two RBs: Zac Stacey with 26 carries for 134 yards and Darryl Richardson with 8 crries for 39 yards. Even Clemons had 2 carries for 11 yards and took a viscious hit in the thrid quarter. The offense had 3 times as many first downs as Seattle (23-7) and we had 12 times as many first downs rushing than Seattle (12-1). None of the receivers had a great night but did make some clutch catches that helped move the chains.
The negatives. I don't know when this offense is going to get the losing out of their heads but John Gruden mentioned that he can't understand the need for these young players to continually shoot themselves in the foot at the worst time. The two interceptions by Clemons just killed us and may have been the difference in the game even though the defense kept the Rams in it right to the very end. Even though we dominated the Seahags in nearly every category, we were 0-4 in the redzone. This has been a pattern with the offense for many years now and we simply continue to revert back to a default mentality that kills us. But what else killed us was penalties by the offensive line that were often drive killers. Harvey Dahl had three, Saffold had his usual false start after returning to the line-up, and Jake Long was caught twice being illgeally downfield. Dahl was getting killed all night long. Perhaps he may need to be sent packing at the end of the season. We also gave up 3 sacks. The wide receivers joined in the krap by dropping footballs and not getting separation as Gruden mentioned that they are just killing this offense.
On Defense. The positives. The story of this game was the defense! This defense played balls out all game long with Quinn, C. Long, and Hayes getting seven sacks. Quinn set a record mentioned above and Janoris Jenkins and Trumaine Johnson had great nights tackling and batting down balls. Even Cortland Finnegan made appearances in the nickel package and a couple of reps at safety!! The linebackers had a quiet night but either Fisher or Walton or both put a version of the old Chicago 46 defense in stacking 8 men in the box that took away Seattle's running lanes and just shut down their offense.
The negatives. Not many here except for Jenkins misjudging a sure INT and then watching Golden Tate get caught for taunting on a TD play. This baiting players started in the Panthers game and the rest of the league now knows they can bait the young Rams players and it often works. Tonight Seattle tried it and they almost got a few players but the D stayed together and kicked major ass!!
Special Teams. The STs had one holding penalty but stayed out of trouble most of the night. Tavon Austin still has yet to get a break to really take off. And of course, after three successful field goals, Zuerlein missed a 50 yarder that would have been the difference as we could have kicked a fifth one to win by 1 point at the end when the offense was fading.
As I stated before, this was a very tough loss. The playcalling at the end was a mistake and Fisher and Shottenheimer have to be held accountable. When they had a great night running the ball and ran the ball 5 times and threw it 3 times on the final drive, one or both of these guys went into pass mode and we did not get it done. Four yards and this team still has an aversion to scoring TDs and they have yet to score one runnng the ball this year. This was the chance of a season, and they laid a proverbial egg the size of the arch outside the dome. Tough loss that stings!! On we go and maybe this team will get it straight but I doubt anyone is now holding their breath!!
In a season where our running game has been pathetic and meager, Zac Stacey had his first 100+ yard game (134 yards before getting injured) and the Rams pounded a staunch Seattle defense and had their first 200 yard rushing night and the offense had a total of 358 yards. But all of that was not good enough as the Rams decision-making process on offense disintegrated on the four yard line with time running out and we suffered one of the toughest losses of the season. Many have suggested this team is snake bit and the evidence can certainly substantiate that claim, but the Rams did a lot of good things tonight and this may be another step in the growing pains of this very young team.
On offense. The positives. Kellen Clemons stepped into a tough situation and had a pretty decent outing by being gutsy and guiding the team to 358 total yards. He finished the night going 15/31 for 158 yards. The Rams offense found its running game racking up 200 total rushing yards among primarily two RBs: Zac Stacey with 26 carries for 134 yards and Darryl Richardson with 8 crries for 39 yards. Even Clemons had 2 carries for 11 yards and took a viscious hit in the thrid quarter. The offense had 3 times as many first downs as Seattle (23-7) and we had 12 times as many first downs rushing than Seattle (12-1). None of the receivers had a great night but did make some clutch catches that helped move the chains.
The negatives. I don't know when this offense is going to get the losing out of their heads but John Gruden mentioned that he can't understand the need for these young players to continually shoot themselves in the foot at the worst time. The two interceptions by Clemons just killed us and may have been the difference in the game even though the defense kept the Rams in it right to the very end. Even though we dominated the Seahags in nearly every category, we were 0-4 in the redzone. This has been a pattern with the offense for many years now and we simply continue to revert back to a default mentality that kills us. But what else killed us was penalties by the offensive line that were often drive killers. Harvey Dahl had three, Saffold had his usual false start after returning to the line-up, and Jake Long was caught twice being illgeally downfield. Dahl was getting killed all night long. Perhaps he may need to be sent packing at the end of the season. We also gave up 3 sacks. The wide receivers joined in the krap by dropping footballs and not getting separation as Gruden mentioned that they are just killing this offense.
On Defense. The positives. The story of this game was the defense! This defense played balls out all game long with Quinn, C. Long, and Hayes getting seven sacks. Quinn set a record mentioned above and Janoris Jenkins and Trumaine Johnson had great nights tackling and batting down balls. Even Cortland Finnegan made appearances in the nickel package and a couple of reps at safety!! The linebackers had a quiet night but either Fisher or Walton or both put a version of the old Chicago 46 defense in stacking 8 men in the box that took away Seattle's running lanes and just shut down their offense.
The negatives. Not many here except for Jenkins misjudging a sure INT and then watching Golden Tate get caught for taunting on a TD play. This baiting players started in the Panthers game and the rest of the league now knows they can bait the young Rams players and it often works. Tonight Seattle tried it and they almost got a few players but the D stayed together and kicked major ass!!
Special Teams. The STs had one holding penalty but stayed out of trouble most of the night. Tavon Austin still has yet to get a break to really take off. And of course, after three successful field goals, Zuerlein missed a 50 yarder that would have been the difference as we could have kicked a fifth one to win by 1 point at the end when the offense was fading.
As I stated before, this was a very tough loss. The playcalling at the end was a mistake and Fisher and Shottenheimer have to be held accountable. When they had a great night running the ball and ran the ball 5 times and threw it 3 times on the final drive, one or both of these guys went into pass mode and we did not get it done. Four yards and this team still has an aversion to scoring TDs and they have yet to score one runnng the ball this year. This was the chance of a season, and they laid a proverbial egg the size of the arch outside the dome. Tough loss that stings!! On we go and maybe this team will get it straight but I doubt anyone is now holding their breath!!
