Pride?

After two weeks of playing "real" games, the Rams are 0-2.
They look awful.

Against Philadelphia (excuse me for digressing, I was on vacation),
the Rams defense, if you could call it that, gave up 522 total yards.
In this day and age of the NFL that is unheard of.

The Eagles with an aging McNabb, schooled the Rams in every facet
of the game. The biggest one sided stat(besides the yardage and the
SCORE) was the time of possession. The Eagles had it for 35:10 to
the Rams 24:50. Ten minutes in the NFL is a lifetime.

Good teams can score 2-3 times in that period of time. Bad defensive
teams will let them. Yesterday the Rams took on the Superbowl
Champion N.Y. Giants. Repeat week 1. The Rams were blown
out again.

The defense gave up 441 total yards for the game. This is
unacceptable.

The Giants rushed for 200 yards against them. When are the
Rams going to learn that you have to stop the run?!

In the first two games the Rams have been outscored 79-16.
Sickening.

I think the Rams defense needs to look themselves in the mirror
and question why they are playing the game. The Rams have a
long and distinguished history, and have had loads of Pro bowl
players. It's time for the Rams as a whole (I'm actually including
the offense) to suck it up and try to play with some pride.

"See you on the hit side" #21

Solid Defense?

As I have stated before, I try not to put too much stock into preseason
games. The Rams won a preseason game Saturday night 24-10 over the
Baltimore Ravens. I admit I did not get to see this game, but there are
some things that stand out for the Rams defense.

First of all let me preface this by noting that the Ravens are not an
offensive powerhouse. The Rams held Baltimore to only 3 points in the
first half.  Even if it was first and second string players, this is a
good sign.

Joe Flacco was running the offense for Baltimore all game. He is not
Joe Montana, but the Rams got two sacks on him and limited him to 152
yards passing. I'll take that any game of the season.

Baltimore had only 70 yards rushing for the game. The 3.9 yards per
carry concerns me a little, but anything under 100 yards for a game
is a strong statement.

If the Rams can hold their opponents to 209 total yards throughout the
season, we have a good chance to make the play-offs.

The most glaring stat for the Rams defense was holding Baltimore to
1 out of 13 on third down conversions. That is huge. Keeping your offense
on the field enables the defense to rest and of course better opportunities
for the offense to score.

All in all the Rams played solid defense, let's see what happens in the
final preseason game.

"See you on the hit side" #21

Scratching Heads

The preseason officially opened up for all teams this weekend.
The Rams opened with the Tennessee Titans and it wasn't pretty.

I try to convince myself every year, that it's not the regular season
starters and that once the regular season starts, all will be OK. 

Looking at the stats it's hard for me to keep trying to convince
myself that this is the case with the Rams.

Here is the most glaring stat of the game. The Titans rushed for
340 yards, the Rams had 76 for the game. This is pitiful and
it brings two things to mind.

First of all, regardless if it is first, second or third stringers
playing, the scheme against the run failed. I would have
hoped that the Rams coaching staff would have made some
adjustments during the offseason, to address the problems
against the run, but obviously not.

The Rams only rushing for a measly 76 yards doesn't help
the defense either. Ball control helps rest the defensive
players.

How about this for an idea: Sign Steven Jackson! 

Signing him will help improve both sides for the ball. If the
Rams organization doesn't start using their heads soon, by
December we will all be scratching our heads.


"See you on the hit side" #21