The Rams' starters used a couple of big plays to take a surprising 20-10 halftime lead in Denver, but the subs coughed it up in the 2nd half and just failed to win the game when Brian Quick couldn't quite bring down a 2-point conversion. The 27-26 loss drops the Rams to 0-3 for the preseason.
* Positives: The big plays: Tavon Austin returned a punt 81 yards to set up a TD and Alec Ogletree stripped a fumble and returned it 16 yards for a TD. Ogletree also picked off Peyton Manning during a spectacular second quarter. Jared Cook scored the opening TD and was a big part of the offense. Pass protection was textbook most of the first half. Kicking game was excellent, with Legatron bombing in a 58-yard FG and Johnny Hekker had a 53-yard net average. Tackling and tight end coverage improved by leaps and bounds over last week.
* Negatives: Running game got nowhere behind weak blocking. Pass rush was worse than weak. It barely even looked like the starting front four was on the field. Denver held the ball for 20 minutes in the first half, 30 PLAYS IN THE FIRST QUARTER, and Peyton Manning had 234 yards passing. AT HALFTIME. Rams continue to commit way too many penalties (11).
* Out due to injury:
Joe Barksdale, infection
Jermelle Cudjo, foot
Sammy Brown, calf
Matt Giordano, calf
Lance Kendricks, knee
Darian Stewart AGAIN, hamstring
Jabara Williams, hamstring
Cudjo should return for Thursday night's final preseason game against the Ravens. Kendricks is probably questionable at best but bears watching.
Corey Harkey and Ryan Lee were shaken up during the game. Their status is TBD.
* Road to 53:
RamView predicted these cuts for the cutdown to 75, with the deadline on Tuesday:
Tim Jenkins
Eric Stevens
Demetrius Fields
Emory Blake
Colby Prince
Sean Hooey (IR)
Graham Pocic
Garrett Goebel
Joseph LeBeau
Andre Martin
Drew Thomas
Brett Baer
Jorgen Hus
Sammy Brown and Jabara Williams figure to be on the bubble as well; they've been hurt all of camp and haven't really distinguished themselves as Rams. Thomas was the toughest one for me to pick. A lot of DBs have made plays, including him, but there's an awful lot of them on the roster. Robert Steeples could be just as vulnerable. I'd hate to cut a guy like R.J. Washington after his strong outing last night. Raymond Radway hasn't done much in two weeks, but I'm keeping him. I dropped Goebel rather than Al Lapuaho and his stupid taunting penalty because I thought I saw Lapuaho getting shifts with the twos last night. To me, that means he's ahead. I kept D.J. Young just to keep the other tackles from having to work a lot against Baltimore.
Hey, if I go 7 for 13 on these I'm having a good year. I just hope not to cut a player here who actually makes the 53-man roster.
This may be the Billy Devaney in me talking, but there's a couple of spots on the roster I feel the Rams are going to have to add a veteran. If Darian Stewart and Matt Giordano are going to stay sidelined at safety, I really think they're going to need another veteran back there. Quintin Mikell knows this system; I'd be giving him a call. I think they need another veteran to back up Witherspoon at OLB. He wouldn't cost the Rams a roster spot the first four weeks since he'd in effect be using Jo-Lonn Dunbar's. It's a move the Rams really should have made by now. We'll have to see what veterans get cut by other teams who would fit here. I also can't believe the Rams are going to go into the season with Isaiah Pead returning kickoffs. He may be the worst kick returner of the St. Louis era. There should be plenty else, and plenty better, available; for instance, Josh Cribbs, who's being cut by Oakland. Yeah, I know, Dante Hall 2.0, but Joe Cribbs would be a better return option than Pead, and he's 55.
The Rams host probably Baltimore's backups Thursday night at 7 p.m.
-$-
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