Rams@Buccaneers Post-Game Anaysis: Rams Win 17-16

[Retroram52]

In a game where we look disjointed and out of sync early on, especially on defense, and things were close all game long, we found a new offense leader and maybe a team leader in an undrafted second year QB out of Southern Mississippi.

In a time when this franchise desparately needs an infusion of spirit, heart, energy, grit, determination, and hunger as SJ76 described it, Austin Davis is the guy. He stepped into a sputtering offense and made plays. He didn't get down and sulk when WRs dropped passes or we had Stacy fumble. Nope, Davis just kept pounding away and Zuerlein's leg filled in the pieces.

This guy infuses energy into this team and his mobility, arm strength, and quick downfield reads and decisions got this offense and this team going. Dare I say it but this guy just might be our next Kurt Warner if only his head coach would admit he made a mistake and get behind the kid!!!

On Offense. The Positives. We had a total offense production of 339 yards to Tampa's 332 yards. Austin Davis was 22-29 for 235 yards and no TD's or INTs to McGown's 16-21 for 179 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT. Stacy went 19 carries for 71 yards to Rainey's whopping 22 carries for 145 yards. Quick was the high man for the WRs with 7 catches for 74 yards and Cook was the high man for the TEs. Austin Pettis stepped up big time today making some huge catches on the closing fourth quarter drive that got us the winning FG.

On Offense. The negatives. The O-line had a couple of penalties and gave up 2 sacks for 15 yards and they need to be better run blockers and pass blockers overall. Davin Joseph had some costly penalties today. Quick needs to catch the deep balls that hit him on the hands and the offense needs to get Kenny Britt involved. He is too big of a receiver to not have the deep ball thrown to him. Tavon Austin is just too small to be running him at tailback or on deep seam routes where he got killed on both accounts. Now he is hurt so that settles that.

On Defense. The positives. Not much here except for an interception and some pretty darn good play by E.J. Gaines and the beast, Laurinaitus. Both of these guys led todays tackles. E.J. Gaines and Sims had a half sack each. Our seconday especially TJ McDonald and JJ were bringing the wood. They were nailing people and so was E.J. Gaines. Overall, our secondary played pretty well.

On Defense. The negatives. This defense has bought an image of awesomeness conjured up by the press in the preseason that is nowhere near reality. We routinely gave up the big play and we made Rainey look like a world beater by letting him rush for 145 yards by himself. This crap has to stop or we are going to get killed against the tougher teams.

Eugene Sims needs to understand that the horse collar tackle is illegal because he got flagged today twice on it. Jo-Lunn Dunbar needs to use his head because he cost the defense remaining on the field when they had Tampa nearly at a three and out. Both Quinn and Olgetree took the day off. Since Quinn signed the big contract, he basically never showed up. These guys really do miss C. Long's fire.

STs. The positives. Two guys. Greg Zuerlein. He went 4 for 4 and got us the win. T.J. McDonald blocked a second half field goal that was the difference in the game.

STs. The Negatives. We are still giving up way too much yardage on KO coverage and Givens needs to understand that you go north and south before you go east and west on KO returns.

Next up are the Caboys. This ought to be another winnable game and a chance for us to start putting togther a total team effort. The mental mistakes will continue to kill us against a team like Dallas because they have a tendency to capitalize on mistakes. We will have the historical precedent of a good Dallas running game that can kill us especially in the EJD. See you all next week.

 

[Chilipepper]

I only saw bits and pieces of the game on the Red Zone. But that drop by Quick on the deep pass that couldn't of been a better pass right into Quick's hands for a drop was devastating to me at the time. Really needed that in crunch time to win the game. But when the Red Zone went back the Rams had it again. Rams D bent but didn't break as far as I could see from watching bits and pieces. I was really happy to see how Jacked up happy A. Davis was after the game. The kid is gonna give his all for the RAMS and it looks like he's getting better with the playing time. Winning on the road with a 3rd string QB is huge. Now Davis should be called N0.1 starter I'm guessing. So Seahawks lost, that is very good. I liked the way the RAMS got better from last week. Now with this win hopefully A.DAVIS teammates will believe in A Davis and give 100%, lay it on the line each week to win. GO RAMS

 

[Jermaine133]

As SJ would say, Sammy Watkins would have made that catch lol. Sadly i'm a realist and will go on a limb and say we will lose next week 35-10. This team is not built mentally to over come simple mistakes and I blame that on the buffoons running the team. Expect another 200 yd rushing game from Demarco and maybe 150 yds from Dez, in addition we may get some garbage time stats but i'm still not expecting much from this team. If they surprise, well i'd be more than happy to fire up the grill and barbeque some crow.

 

[Retroram52]

Nah, just fire up the BBQ and get out a nice Sirloin, Jermaine.

 

[SJ76]

A QB screaming on the sideline? This is new and I like it. Look for Austin Davis to improve even more during the game next week. He made good throws today and over 12 yards! lol only made a few bad throws and didn't turn it over. Hopefully Tavon can comeback and we can get going on offense against Dallas.


If we can get to Romo, we should force bad passes. Dez is a beast, but we did a darn good job on Tampa's 6'5 WRs. And D Murray ran pretty good in Tennessee. But the Dallas defense isn't all that.


Now you Bradford lovers want to tell me that Schotty was making Bradford throw 6-7 yard passes?? Austin Davis went right at those All Pro stud safeties in Tampa.


this could get interesting if we can give Davis time, because sooner or later he is going to get more confident and run out of the pocket. IF Schotty uses him correctly.

 

[SJ76]

Sammy Watkins is a baller. He would have seen the field today in Tampa, I can tell you that much. He's going to make EJ Manual look really good.


I wonder how many plays Tavon played and G Robinson played today?

 

[Retroram52]

Robinson was on the bench the whole game and Tavon Austin left the game in the second quarter. This is rapidly becoming a joke.

 

[UnrealTerm04]

Hey Retro, SJ76, Jermaine and Chilli,

Thanks for your post game analysis and sharing your thoughts. I had to work a short shift so I had to take off. I believe Davis is good short term QB. We will see what his long term plans will be with us. Would you say Austin Davis is our Kirk Cousins?

As for Dallas, I hope the defense gets some Romo pick's! And has Fisher said he will continue with Austin Davis? I hope so.

 

[jacobarch]

Hey Retro, SJ76, Jermaine and Chilli,

Thanks for your post game analysis and sharing your thoughts. I had to work a short shift so I had to take off. I believe Davis is good short term QB. We will see what his long term plans will be with us. Would you say Austin Davis is our Kirk Cousins?

As for Dallas, I hope the defense gets some Romo pick's! And has Fisher said he will continue with Austin Davis? I hope so.

Well I'll say this and some might disagree. Davis is still very raw. Tampa was starting to get his timing and throwing down at the end of the first half and that became apparent when they almost starting picking off passes and layout a couple of our WR's. We actually did a good job in the 2nd half changing up the play calling.

At this moment Davis looks pretty good. You could tell he started to get comfortable towards the end of the game he really started to shine.

My concern is when teams start to scheme against davis what then will we see? It's always easy to look like a solid starter when defenses have nothing to game plan against. So we'll see in the coming weeks how he fairs. If he starts lighting it up then maybe we found something. It wouldn't be the first time an undrafted player came off the bench and played his ass off. Lets just hope he's that guy, but don't be disappointed when he's not. Trying to keep perspective.

 

[Battlelyon]

Well I'll say this and some might disagree. Davis is still very raw. Tampa was starting to get his timing and throwing down at the end of the first half and that became apparent when they almost starting picking off passes and layout a couple of our WR's. We actually did a good job in the 2nd half changing up the play calling.

At this moment Davis looks pretty good. You could tell he started to get comfortable towards the end of the game he really started to shine.

My concern is when teams start to scheme against davis what then will we see? It's always easy to look like a solid starter when defenses have nothing to game plan against. So we'll see in the coming weeks how he fairs. If he starts lighting it up then maybe we found something. It wouldn't be the first time an undrafted player came off the bench and played his ass off. Lets just hope he's that guy, but don't be disappointed when he's not. Trying to keep perspective.

Good points, but he won't progress any sitting on the bench.

 

[ANGELAKERAMS]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^THIS

 

[Red_Chaos]

is it bad to say that Kirk Cousins had more TD's today than davis even tho he has 1 more year exp?

 

[jacobarch]

I don't blame the lack of TD's on Davis. He did his job he had some drops, penalties, and fumbles that weren't his doing. I'm still shaking my head over the drop by Quick. The guy is really turning the corner but still seems to whiff at critical times.

 

[Red_Chaos]

Stole this off my FL thing because i had him as my flex back

Austin has an MRI on his knee scheduled, Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
Spin: The report notes that Austin was hoping to return to Sunday's game against the Bucs, but his knee stiffened up before he could. More on the wideout's status once the results of his MRI are revealed.

 

[Vitamike]

A QB screaming on the sideline? This is new and I like it. Look for Austin Davis to improve even more during the game next week. He made good throws today and over 12 yards! lol only made a few bad throws and didn't turn it over. Hopefully Tavon can comeback and we can get going on offense against Dallas.


If we can get to Romo, we should force bad passes. Dez is a beast, but we did a darn good job on Tampa's 6'5 WRs. And D Murray ran pretty good in Tennessee. But the Dallas defense isn't all that.


Now you Bradford lovers want to tell me that Schotty was making Bradford throw 6-7 yard passes?? Austin Davis went right at those All Pro stud safeties in Tampa.


this could get interesting if we can give Davis time, because sooner or later he is going to get more confident and run out of the pocket. IF Schotty uses him correctly.

You know SJ, he really reminded me of a sure fire HOF QB we once had on our roster at the turn of the millennia.

 

[SJ76]

Kirk Cousins has a few more starts than Davis. This was Davis' first start so just because Cousins has been in the league 1 less year, doesn't mean Davis has more experience..

Also remember the safeties that Tampa has. I thought Davis did good throwing balls over 12 yards yesterday. TDs will come.

Davis isn't going to be Warner, because Warner had a stud RB and a vet WR, along with a 1st round WR that was pretty good and also had a pretty darn good O-line.

 

[Red_Chaos]

Kirk Cousins has a few more starts than Davis. This was Davis' first start so just because Cousins has been in the league 1 less year, doesn't mean Davis has more experience..

Also remember the safeties that Tampa has. I thought Davis did good throwing balls over 12 yards yesterday. TDs will come.

Davis isn't going to be Warner, because Warner had a stud RB and a vet WR, along with a 1st round WR that was pretty good and also had a pretty darn good O-line.

i ment the other way around cousins has 3 years davis has 2

 

[Vitamike]

Kirk Cousins has a few more starts than Davis. This was Davis' first start so just because Cousins has been in the league 1 less year, doesn't mean Davis has more experience..

Also remember the safeties that Tampa has. I thought Davis did good throwing balls over 12 yards yesterday. TDs will come.

Davis isn't going to be Warner, because Warner had a stud RB and a vet WR, along with a 1st round WR that was pretty good and also had a pretty darn good O-line.

This probably wasn't for me however I was talking about the fire he poured out on on the sidelines on a couple of occasions being similar to Warner's sideline fire!

Once, late in the 4th quarter when Pettis dropped the pass on the 3rd down blitz he delivered and he was pissed because he had to settle for three when we needed a TD.

And the other when he drove the team into field goal position after Easy GZ hit the game winning field goal!

 

[Caynine29]

I know I'm gonna get crucified for this one. Lol. But, here goes...

Are we really on the "here comes Kurt Warner" wagon with Austin Davis? I mean, yeah... he had a good game, but he's still the 3rd string QB. It kinda reminds me of Browns fans over the years here in NE Ohio, where whoever is under center for the most recent win is "savior-for-a-day" (well... a week, at least).

Eh... who knows? Maybe I'm all wrong on this one. I guess I'm just not as sold on him as everybody else.

 

[Vitamike]

I know I'm gonna get crucified for this one. Lol. But, here goes...

Are we really on the "here comes Kurt Warner" wagon with Austin Davis? I mean, yeah... he had a good game, but he's still the 3rd string QB. It kinda reminds me of Browns fans over the years here in NE Ohio, where whoever is under center for the most recent win is "savior-for-a-day" (well... a week, at least).

Eh... who knows? Maybe I'm all wrong on this one. I guess I'm just not as sold on him as everybody else.

Caynine, I don't think anyone here is intimating Davis is the next Kurt Warner. The point here, much like Seattle and San Fran, we don't need a QB to WIN us games. We need a QB who can put us in position to win games with a good running game, a defense who wont give up too many points and a kicking game that can win us field position and kick the timely field goal.

Why spend the cap on a QB at this point when in fact we could have the young gun sitting on our bench much in the same way as Warner. A guy with fire in his belly who can rally the team. A guy who knows our system well and can develop over the years?

This is what I think most are saying about Davis...

Buck those points and maybe you'll catch some slack but we all know that Warner was a once in a lifetime type QB and the only one who should be crucified regarding Kurt is Martz and the FO that let him go...