Same Story, Same Ending

I actually had high hopes of the Rams winning a game this weekend.

The Seattle Seahawks came to St. Louis on Sunday. The Seahawks were a little banged up, and had lost 5 straight road games.

The Rams gave another one away and lost 27-17.

I try to understand the philosophy of the Rams new coaching staff, and I have patience with them. Marc Bulger was hurt and the start went to Kyle Boller. Boller threw a touchdown pass, but was intercepted twice, with one of the picks going 65 yards for a Seattle touchdown. Again it was a big play like the pick six that ruins the Rams chances to win.

Here's a novel idea, give the third stringer and rookie Keith Null a shot at quarterback. How do you really know what you have unless you play him? Who knows, you could have another Kurt Warner waiting in the wings. It's not like the Rams have a shot at the playoffs, so go ahead and play him.

As for the Rams defense, same old thing, they can make anyone look good against them. Justin Forsett ran for a career high 130 yards and had two touchdowns. The Rams defense made him look like an all pro.

Leonard Little had the best quote of the day describing the Rams defensive effort. He said "Yeah, that was a step backward." I agree with you Leonard.

Some interesting facts from Sunday's game. The Seattle Seahawks have beaten the Rams 10 times in a row. The loss was the Rams 11th straight at home. Yesterday's attendance was 47,475, the worst attendance ever in the 15 years since the Rams moved to St. Louis. Even the 47,475 fans that were there knew they were going to be watching the same story with the same ending.

"See you on the hit side" #21

Close Again

As I said last week, I hate when the Rams lose. I know it sounds like a broken record, but again the Rams lost another close game. On the scoreboard anyway.

Yesterday Kurt Warner and the Arizona Cardinals came to St. Louis and beat the Rams 21-13. It looks like it was a close game. The NFL is funny that way.

Kurt Warner went out with a shot to the head and the Cardinals were up 21-3 at that point. All they did from there was kick back, put their offense on cruise control, and coast to victory. The Cardinals ended up rushing for 183 yards and Tim Hightower was the first Cardinal to end up with over a hundred yards rushing in a game this season.

If Warner had been in the game it would have been much worse. Between Warner and his replacement Matt Leinart, they finished 25-33 passing for 261 yards 2 touchdowns and no interceptions.

The Rams defense played a mediocre game. Nothing to write home about on this one. The Rams defense did get two fumbles and did turn one of those into points. No interceptions and no pressure on the Qb's. The Rams only had two sacks, and with Arizona's receiving corps you need to get more pressure on them than that.

Arizona also had the ball more, which keeps the Rams defense on the field and (as inept as it is) the Rams offense HAS to be able to find chances to score points.

Steven Jackson did his best again on Sunday and had over 100 yards for the fourth straight game. Here is an interesting stat I read, he is the first Ram to have 5 straight 1000+ yard seasons in a row. Even with him doing a great job the Rams fell short trying for a fourth and four to end the game.

Next week I'll try not to say that the game was close again. I think we can take the Seahawks.

"See you on the hit side" #21

"Respectable Loss"

I hate when the Rams lose. I hate writing about how terrible they played. I try to keep being optimistic, reminding myself that this is a young team with a new coaching staff.

Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints high powered offense came to St. Louis on Sunday. I was very nervous about this game. The Saints offense can put up points and I was expecting a game similar to the Colts 42-6 pounding of the Rams earlier this year. This was (pleasantly surprised) not the case. The Rams played well on both sides of the ball.

Yes, the special teams hurt us again. The Saints took the second half kickoff back 97 yards for a touchdown. But I'm trying to be positive about this. The Rams actually had more total yards for the game 434-420. The Rams had the ball longer than the Saints in minutes 32:02-27:58. That will keep your defense fresh, and it showed.

I always talk about stopping the run, but in the Saints case, you have to stop Drew Brees and their aerial assault. The Rams picked Drew Brees off twice and also recovered a fumble. The Rams only gave them one turnover. Even though the Rams gave up 203 yards rushing, it was the pass defense that kept them in the game. When you can hold Brees to just 223 yards passing with only two touchdowns and two picks, you've done your job.

Even though I hate when the Rams lose, this loss wasn't as hard to take as most of them have been this year. For a young team and new coaching staff, it was a respectable loss.

"see you on the hit side" #21

A Win

It's been a long time since I have been able to say that about the St. Louis Rams. The St. Louis Rams beat the Detroit Lions Sunday 17-10. The last Rams win was 17 games ago when the Rams beat the Cowboys in St. Louis on Oct. 8th of last year. I was at that game and was shocked we were able to beat them. I have to admit, I never thought I would have to wait 17 more games to say it again.

Steven Jackson had an interesting quote. He once said he got chewed out as a rookie by saying (about a Rams win), "that was an ugly win". In the NFL and especially the Rams, you take any win you can, ugly or not.

The Rams defense played a solid game. The Rams only allowed 289 total yards. Before I start to proclaim we have turned the corner, I have to take a step back and realize the win was against Detroit. Never the less, they did play well. No big plays against the defense, not a lot of penalties either. The Rams only allowed 127 yards rushing on 33 carries. The Rams didn't take the ball away except for one interception by James Butler. Even that took a turn for the worse, when he picked off Stafford in the end zone and decided to bring the ball out. He avoided a tackle, but ran back into the end zone and was tackled for a safety. He admits it was a dumb mistake, but I'll give them 2 points instead of six anytime. That was the biggest mistake the Rams made all day. They didn't shoot themselves in the foot, and finally gave coach Spagnuolo his first head coaching win.

The Rams have a bye week this week, so I can't start thinking about another win just yet. The next week after the bye, the Rams play New Orleans in St. Louis. I can't see the Rams winning that game, New Orleans is on fire right now. I guess I'll look back on this game for awhile and be happy it was a win.

"See you on the hit side" #21