RamView's home high-speed Internet access has been down since yesterday and won't be up until Wednesday at the earliest. 1990's-era dial-up access is proving mostly useless and there's no way I'm going to be able to keep up a live blog throughout today's game. I'm using my cell phone right now and for vital updates. I'll do the live blog offline and put it up here later in the week. I still expect to get the weekly recap column out to the usual fan forums, likely Monday night.
It looks like I did call it correctly that Todd Gurley would get the call today. Chris Mortensen's brilliant update says to expect him to get "between 6 and 26 carries".
Remember the game will be on CBS, not Fox. Greg Gumbel and Trent Green on play-by-play.
Referee today is John Hussey. Naturally the Rams get another rookie ref.
Enjoy the game.
-$-
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Sunday, September 20, 2015
RamView live blog: Redskins 24, Rams 10
The Rams hope to follow up last week's big win over the Seahawks with another winning performance in Washington. The Rams have gotten the better of the Redskins lately, but this will probably be the biggest game they've played against Washington since they came to St. Louis. It's a big swing from 2-0 and having momentum into another home game to 1-1 and coming off a loss to a team that's recently been one of the league's worst. Will the Rams wake up sprinting again, or come out complacently and walk into a trap? Washington arguably needs this one more; they don't want to open the season with two home losses. Jeff Fisher's been hard to trust with this kind of game. Now's the time.
Inactive players include Todd Gurley, of whom Jeff Fisher teased might play during the week. Looks like Tre Mason will get the start. Brian Quick out for the second straight week. Starting to wonder why he wasn't IR'ed. We knew Eugene Sims would be out; I imagine Ethan Westbrooks will get some reps at DE as opposed to using just a 3-man rotation.
Fox broadcast team: Dick Stockton and David Diehl. Hoo boy, don't expect to be kept up to date on down, distance and play results the way Kenny Albert did last week. Side note: the year Stockton started calling NFL games for the networks, Jeff Fisher was a freshman defensive back at USC.
Referee: Ed Hochuli and his guns have been assigned to today's game. Hochuli did not work a Rams game last year. His reputation has tended to outweigh his actual performance in past Rams games.
The prediction: Rams 24-16, but they'd better take better care of the ball than last week. If the Rams lose this one, you can expect them to be predicted to lose here the rest of the season.
FIRST QUARTER
The Redskins win the coin toss, and perhaps wisely, give the Rams the ball first. Benny Cunningham is thankfully returning kicks today but this one's over his head. Play action rollout against the grain to Cook is wide open and he takes it up the sideline for 12. Full house backfield with Mason, Austin and Cook; Mason goes right for 4 behind Cook and Barnes. Mason cuts back for only 1; Cory Harkey couldn't clear the hole and Mason ran into Barnes. 3rd-and-5. Foles gets fine protection from a Greg Robinson pancake block, the line pushes almost all the Redskins past him, so he takes off and... fumbles the ball off his thigh. Foles recovers, but that was a botched opportunity. Poor and short kick by Johnny Hekker, and right to Jamison Crowder, but it's covered very well. Bradley Marquez holds Crowder to a couple. A 38-yard punt, if that.
Washington starts at their 28. Kirk Cousins unloads quickly to Jordan Reed, who's behind James Laurinaitis and Janoris Jenkins for 21. T.J. McDonald stuffs Alfred Morris for a loss of 1, though. The Rams blitz Lamarcus Joyner but Cousins dumps off to Morris for 9-10. Joyner had to come back for the tackle Laurinaitis missed. 3rd-2. With the Ram secondary picking up Washington's trips formation PERFECTLY, Cousins has nowhere to throw, and Aaron Donald beats the guard AND the center for the Rams' first sack of the day. Chris Long bulled Morgan Moses on the play and may also get a piece of that. The play is made, though, by McDonald, Joyner and Marcus Roberson's perfect coverage work. Watch the fake on the punt. Learning a lesson they didn't last year, they kick away from Austin and it's downed at the 11.
Lance Kendricks plucks a high pass in traffic over the middle for 15. Good protection by both tackles. They next try to set up a bubble screen to Mason off a fake flare pass to Austin, but Washington's all over it and Foles dumps it into the ground. Benny Cunningham DROPS a screen pass that looked good for at least 5. 3rd-10 instead. Rodger Saffold gets beaten badly by Jason Hatcher to flush Foles and force an incomplete sideline pass. Nothing doing for the Ram offense so far. Much better punt by Hekker this time, 53 I believe, is fair caught at the WSH28.
They start off with a 35-yard run by the guy I didn't start in my fantasy league. Michael Brockers moved a double-team but Laurinaitis got blocked by the RG and was not there for the fill. Missed high tackle by Rodney McLeod as well. Alec Ogletree, though, beats LG Shaun Lauvao and drops Matt Jones for a loss on a screen. The run defense embarrasses its way right into the game's first TD, though, a 39-yard sprint by Jones. About everything goes wrong on this play you can think of. Aaron Donald missed him in the backfield. Gregg Williams had the double-safety blitz going and Joyner got BURIED on that side by Lauvao on the pull. Chris Long, at RDE this play, got turned inside by the TE. Gee, that never happens. HUGE hole for Jones, and Laurinaitis couldn't get around the center to get outside on Jones. Gee, that never happens. The Rams not showing up a week after a big win. Gee. That. Never. Happens! 7-0 Redskins
VERY discouraging start after last week's high. Benny gets to the 20 from 8 deep. Why not just kneel? Unlike the Redskins all last drive, the Rams (Jamon Brown) whiff on the MLB to start out with a yard Mason loss. Austin gets 6 back on a circle route. Just fell down after the catch, no shake-and-bake. 3rd-5. Rob Havenstein (man-up on Ryan Kerrigan) and Robinson (man-up on Trent Murphy) both get beat, so does Saffold. Foles has Mason open short on a wheel right, but tries to motion him downfield, and Mason doesn't go. This is a play meant to take advantage of Washington overplaying Austin's motion into trips but a lot of execution wasn't there. A lot of the Rams don't appear to be there so far, period. Another POOR punt by Hekker; Crowder has to run up on it at the WSH34. 36 miserable yards. Somebody besides Aaron Donald freaking wake up and start freaking sprinting, huh?
Rams facing almost a crucial stop here. No such thing coming today; Jenkins bites hard on a faked quick screen and gets burned by somebody named Ryan Grant on a go out of the slot for 35. Clutch freaking defense there. Excellent run stop by Trumaine Johnson holds Jones to 1 on the edge. McDonald and, hey! there's Nick Fairley, hold Morris to 3 on a pitch left that's really not his bread and butter. 3rd-6. 4-man rush does not get there, and I think Pierre Garcon reached the ball across the line before Joyner took him down at the 22. Initial spot is at the 22, but he reached across the 21. Yep, Hochuli corrects the spot. Not a bad play by Joyner. The pass rush has gotten too quiet. McDonald does an excellent job to blow up another pitch left for Morris, who's corralled by Quinn, Laurinaitis and Ogletree for a loss. And Hochuli calls Reed for holding Jenkins downfield. 1st-20 at the 31. Plenty of time for Cousins after the center rides Donald down, but he's still rushed into a poor incompletion. Long swallows up Morris on a draw for 1. DBs are 10 yards off the line at the snap, but Jenkins makes an excellent close on Garcon on a drag route that gained a yard at most. That was much more clutch, but the D didn't rise up in time to prevent a long FG by Dustin Hopkins. 10-0 Redskins
Time for the Ram offense to show up. Austin stutter-steps up the middle for 3. A quarter of miserable defense ends with Ricky Jean-Francois beating Saffold on the backside and dropping Mason for no gain. As I scouted last week, the Redskin DBs are not playing very tight out wide. Frank Cignetti might want to try taking advantage of that. Or watching tape the week before the game.
SECOND QUARTER
3rd-7 at the Ram 23. Kerrigan jumps offside to make it 3rd-2. Boy, they're letting centers get away with big head bobs these days, though. Makes no difference. Perry Riley BLOWS UP Cook trying to lead Benny on a sweep left; Benny scrambles around but can only get back to the LOS. They were ten yards off Austin on the right flank, a slant to him is an automatic first down. Make the damn adjustment, Cignetti. The super-crisp and completely awake and prepared Rams next have to blow a timeout because they don't have the right people in on the punt unit. This like the fourth punt already, what the hell can you screw up? The Rams' goodwill from last week's win has gone down the drain faster than Nicole Arbour's career. I hope Ram-shaming isn't punished as hard as fat-shaming is these days. It looks like I'm going to be doing a lot of Ram-shaming today. I'm not alone; Diehl questioned the choice to run behind Cook on 3rd-and-short and humorously sounded really perplexed by it off-mike.
Excellent gunning by Stedman Bailey, who cracks Crowder for no gain at the WSH19. 53 yards by the ever consistent Hekker, who's probably side-footing a 28-yarder next chance he gets. Brockers whips the center to drop Jones for minus-2. The center's name is Korey Lichtensteiger. I'm not typing that name any more today. Quick hitch to Garcon for 3 leaves 3rd-8. 4-man rush doesn't get much done, but Cousins is still nervous enough for a poor throw that should have been picked off by Trumaine Johnson. Fine coverage downfield that time. God, that was right in TruJo's hands. YOU HAVE TO CATCH THAT. The Redskins now burn a TO in punt formation. What the hell is going on today? Poor kick has to roll 5 yards just to get to the 35. I feared running into the kicker but Hochuli, who seems on so far, ruled he fell down on his own.
The Rams start by failing on a play that worked so well last week. Fake end-around to Austin set up a corner route to Cook, who was behind the LBs but Foles back-footed a poor throw behind him. And I'm pretty sure Tre Mason is going to get called for tackling the blitzing DB. Yep, 1st-and-20. It's time to bench Mason in favor of Benny. Mason is giving the Rams next to nothing. At least Benny made up for missed blocks last week by breaking some tackles. Quick hitch to Cook for 7. Foles gets blitz pressure again from Trenton Robinson, who just drew the flag on Mason, and throws a wild screen past Cook, who obviously didn't get enough of a block on him before releasing. Meanwhile, the other DBs were 10 yards off the wide receivers, 5 yards off Austin in the slot. Frank Cignetti was partying all week instead of watching tape, wasn't he? THROW SOME DAMN QUICK SLANTS. Just a 4-man rush on 3rd-long, but Kerrigan beats Havenstein clean to the inside, Saffold continues to do nothing against Hatcher at all, and Foles throws a wild dumpoff to Benny for maybe 2. Somehow the Rams have managed to make the Redskin D look like what the Seahawk D should have looked like last week.
Daren Bates and Cody Davis swarm on Crowder after a 2nd-straight (!) good punt by Hekker. I believe it'll net 47. 'Skins at their 18. TruJo and Mark Barron hold a quick screen to Garcon to 3. Now the Rams bite so hard on play-action Cousins can roll out without anyone within 5 yards of him. Reed pancaked Quinn to start the play, with the cut block they were supposedly looking out for all week in practice, and gets back up to make a 1st-down catch. Contrast that to Cook's blocking today if you will. 2nd-7, Quinn gets blocked about to Bethesda on a handoff to Morris, and gue55-who isn't there for the fill as Alfred runs for another first. The Rams got a lot of laurels last week for beating Seattle. They sure as hell are resting on them. That was the rookie Brandon Scherff mauling Laurinaitis that time. Now with no pass rush AT ALL, Jones leaks out of the backfield for a 17-yard catch. Laurinaitis got completely turned around and just ran blindly deep. Meanwhile, Fairley and Long get completely stood up at the LOS and basically do nothing. This game has been unimaginably disgusting so far. By all means, keep this up, clowns. Cousins gets Donald to jump offside PENALTY NUMBER TWO to put them at the STL38. Fortunately, an obvious hold of Quinn on the edge sends them back to the 48. And that doesn't matter with the shit run defense these clowns are playing this week. Simple handoff to freaking future Hall-of-Famer Matt Jones gains 25 after Moses dominates Will Hayes on the edge and Mark Barron gets completely taken out of the play by Reed.
From enthusiastic playoff contender to disgusting pile of crap in the space of less than a week. These are Jeff Fisher's Rams.
Cousins checks to a draw against a blitz that's been shockingly rare from Williams today. Jones gets 4. 4 more for Jones as Brockers gets moved out of the hole, Long at RDE again gets stuffed by Trent Williams and Donald gets cut blocked and ends up on his knees. 3rd-2, Grant's all alone out of trips in the flat and down to the 6. If Ogletree was supposed to be blitzing there, he sure did a poor job, and he didn't cover Grant, either. Nothing about the Rams' execution or gameplans on either side of the ball is making any sense today. 1st-goal, Donald stops Morris in the backfield. McDonald takes him down at the 4 on 2nd-goal. The game is probably on the line right now.
Goodbye game. Garcon wheels away from Jenkins in the end zone for a 4-yard TD catch. There was definitely a pushoff there, but I think Jenkins played Garcon too much to continue his route to the sideline anyway and got caught on his back foot.
I think Rob Schneider said it best in the cinematic classic Waterboy:
(Is that Jeff Fisher right behind him, btw?)
17-0 Redskins
3:00 till halftime of this trainwreck. Kirk Cousins is 12-for-14 and getting about as much pressure in Washington as Hillary gets from the press corps. Jet sweep for Austin gets 10 behind an actual solid block from Cook and a good one by Bailey downfield. Off play-action, Austin is WIDE OPEN deep but Foles overthrows him MISERABLY. What the fuck was that? I didn't think Kerrigan's pressure against Havenstein and Mason interfered with Foles' throw, but Diehl says it did. Mason gets crunched after a dumpoff in the flat for 2. 2:00 warning. Somebody warn the Rams the Redskins get the ball back to start the 2nd half.
3rd-down pass is through Cook's hands. Will Blackmon had good coverage but there is little excuse not to catch that. 50-yard punt by Hekker with a nice tackle by Alexander, as if that's going to matter the way the defense is playing.
Start the Redskins at their 18. Stockton just announced they've already run for 123 yards. The Rams get extremely lucky that Jay Gruden decides to play this possession very close to the vest and run out the clock. Honestly, the Rams should have started using their timeouts, but we can't expect Jeff Fisher to be any more awake than the rest of his bitterly-disappointing team today. He finally calls one on 3rd-and-7 with 0:37 to play. Jones nearly gets it, with Quinn getting stuffed and surrendering the edge, but Ogletree's stop will get the Rams the ball back.
Tress shanks it Way out of bounds to give what I believe will be the Rams' best field position of the day. Have they even crossed midfield? They'll start this drive at the WSH45. Foles hasn't been on the same page as a downfield receiver yet today, missing Bailey badly. Bailey ran an out, Foles threw a corner. Chris Baker ragdolls Robinson to panic Foles into a wild throwaway. That was a damn 3-man rush.
Typifying the Rams' brilliant play this half, Foles goes over the middle to Cook for 14, and they can't get lined up in time to spike the ball and set up a FG attempt. To say the Rams have played like absolute shit today is an absolute insult to feces everywhere.
17-0 at half
HALFTIME ADJUSTMENTS
Well, find the team that played last week and get THEIR asses on the field. This has been a typical Fisher-era performance where the team doesn't look like it watched any tape at all. Gregg Williams has GOT to get more aggressive on defense. Put blitz pressure on Cousins and make the most-frequently-intercepted QB in the league throw you the ball. His gameplan has been just stupid, all soft coverage and 4-man rushes. His players aren't helping by failing to set any edges against the run, mi55ing too many gap a55ignments and falling victim to the cut blocks they supposedly practiced avoiding all week. But Williams is treating Cousins like he's Russell Wilson. Get after his ass.
I've already suggested offensive adjustments the Rams frankly should have made by now. More Benny in the 2nd half and less Tre. Tre shows no burst and isn't breaking any tackles. He's also getting abused in pass protection. Make the correct personnel move here. The Rams also need to quit playing so much behind the line. The Redskins have been conceding short passes all day, but Cignetti's been finding a way to run even-shorter plays (screens and sweeps) against those formations. It is unconscionable not to be getting Austin the ball when they're laying as far off him as they are. Britt is big enough to take advantage of this, and Bailey is a good enough route-runner to take advantage of this. Take advantage of it. Obviously they've got to block better for Foles, who's got the pass rush in his head right now worse than Sam Bradford ever had it. But I think Benny and a nice diet of quick slants and hitches will help things out. There's still time if the Rams' players and staff alike get their damn heads back in the game.
THIRD QUARTER
Rams were outrushed in the first half 132-17. Greg Zuerlein's FIRST touch of the day results in a touchback. Jenkins shuts down a play-action pass to Grant for a couple. Donald penetrates and drops Morris for a loss on the edge. Lauvao false-starts to leave 3rd-15 at the 15. Joyner blows up a screen to Andre Roberts for the Rams' FIRST 3-and-out of the day. Wonder what happens if the Redskins open that drive on the ground like they should have. Alexander nearly blocks Way's punt, but it still goes 53 after Austin lets it roll 20 yards. He probably couldn't have done much about that with Way barely outkicking his coverage on the fly.
Rams start at their 32. Austin shows the first burst any Ram player has shown on offense all day, taking an end-around and jumping inside a Harkey block for 16. Mason proves me wrong about halftime adjustments by cutting back for 13 on a counter run. Fine down-blocking there by Havenstein and Saffold. Rams in business at the WSH39. The Rams of course foul this momentum up with a Kendricks false start. PENALTY NUMBER THREE Foles took a long time adjusting that play. Then he overthrows Britt on a quick hitch. Oh great, they're working on Tavon on the sideline. Just a cramp, I hope. A screen to Mason fools no one for no gain. 3rd-15. OK, Austin's at least back. The Skins rush only 3, giving Foles time to hit Benny, who breaks a couple of tackles and gets 9. 4th-5 at the WSH34, I'm thinking go for it. Fisher sends in the FG unit. Greg Zuerlein melted down here last year, but he drills it from 52 here to finally put the Rams on the board. Redskins 17-3
Zuerlein's clearly got the boom leg today, so another touchback will start Washington at their 20. Cousins just misses Grant, covered well enough by Jenkins, with a sideline bomb. Late pressure by Donald probably helped. Why not run, though? Out route to Crowder for 7. 3rd-3, Reed runs through McDonald's tackle for 11. NOT clutch. What looks like a big run for Jones only gets 3 because he trips over his fullback.
The pendulum swings the other way, though, when Jones gets the edge but Quinn bludgeons the ball out of his hand for a fumble recovered by McDonald. The Fox sideline reporter asked Jay Gruden if Jones would get the ball more in the 2nd half and Gruden made a prescient comment about ball security. Rams ball just inside midfield! Do something with it!
Mason takes a pitch left and breaks Dashon Goldson's tackle to gain 9. More brilliance, spoken non-ironically this time, ensues. They fake a handoff left to Mason, a jet sweep right to Austin, and with Harkey making a key block in the pocket, Foles steps up and hits Kenny Britt behind obviously sucked-in double coverage for a 39-yard TD! Britt idiotically gets himself PENALTY NUMBER FOUR a taunting penalty after the score, after which Stockton brilliantly (non-ironic again) comments about players who taunt when they're LOSING a damn football game. Shut up and go to the sideline, Britt.
Also, this penalty will be enforced on the kickoff; I wouldn't mind a rule tweak that made it enforceable on the extra point. Imagine if Britt's idiocy forced Zuerlein to hit from 48. He hits the 33-yarder without incident.
Redskins 17, Rams 10
Seems like it's about time for the Redskins to remember how well they ran the ball in the first half. This has been a pretty dumb 2nd-half gameplan so far. Zuerlein's kickoff still makes it to the 6 but Washington brings it tothe 30. Westbrooks nearly gets a hand on a screen for Morris; Jenkins still holds him to 4. Then, of all the people not to block, Quinn gets into the backfield untouched to stop Morris for a loss. 3rd-8. Williams blitzes big on not a blitz down, but Garcon slips on his out cut and Cousins' sideline throw falls harmlessly incomplete. Austin continues to coax terrible punts out of Tress Way, and the Rams will start the next drive from their 34.
Foles slightly overthrows Cook on a catchable play-action pass. Illegal hands to the face on Bashaud Breeland, though. 1st-5 at the 39. An end-around the Chris Givens (?) blows up for a loss of 4 after LB Keenan Robinson shoots the gap unblocked. AND COOK FACE MASKED. PENALTY NUMBER FIVE Much less than Bobby Wagner did to Nick Foles last week, but it's a big 15 yard loss tacked on, making it now 1st-25 at the freaking 24. Arrow route to Bailey is thrown too poorly for him to do much with it; no gain. Dog blitz rushed the throw. FALSE START SAFFOLD, who has not distinguished himself today. PENALTY NUMBER SIX. SECOND AND THIRTY. It was first and five until they went all Fisherball on us. Stockton belatedly reports that Austin has gone to the locker room. Beautiful. Givens gets about 7 back on a shallow drag. The Austin injury explains why Givens was the one running that end-around. Cook fights pretty hard for about 10 but that's way short of the marker. Hekker knocks another 50-yard punt. Hochuli holds his weekly staff meeting after the play. PENALTY NUMBER SEVEN on Benny for an illegal substitution keeps the Rams from pinning Washington inside the 10 after an illegal block in the back. Benny was apparently late getting on the field, and WHAT THE HELL is going on with the punt team today? Another good punt by Hekker, though, returned by Crowder to the 19.
Also, good sideline reporting by Kristina Pink; Austin's getting an IV for dehydration and will return.
AND WE ARE RE-KICKING BECAUSE ISAIAH PEAD WAS ILLEGALLY OUT OF BOUNDS ON PUNT COVERAGE. PENALTY NUMBER EIGHT That's four penalties in like a minute! This never ends well for the punting team. TWO MORE FLAGS after Hekker puts a nice punt out of bounds at the 20. At least those are holding flags on the Redskins, who will now start from their 10, which is where they would have been after the first punt. Good job by Hekker with all those re-punts.
Washington is determined to keep throwing - 6 to Garcon with Jenkins on him quickly. Jones punks Ogletree for 4 and a first down. Cousins throws a screen to Jones for 7 over Donald's heavy rush. Barron and McDonald get Jones about a yard short as the quarter ends.
FOURTH QUARTER
3rd-1 Redskins at their 29. Jones gets the 1, spins off his own blocker and runs through McLeod for another 9. NOT CLUTCH DEFENSE THERE. Bad fill by Ogletree, who got blocked that time. Quinn gives up the edge again as Jones sweeps for 4. Cousins sprints out of trouble from Quinn and a blitzing Ayers, but Lauvao clearly held Donald to turn Cousins loose, and Hochuli's crew saw it and called it. 2nd-16. Big and correct call there. Ogletree and Barron shut down an outside run for Morris for a couple. Not sure why they're running him outside so much. BIG 3rd-14 now. 4-man rush does not get there but Cousins settles for an underneath pass to Reed. Way continues to kick way short of Austin, starting the Rams at their 20.
Jet sweep right to Austin for 11 behind Cook's block. Next play a blitzer jumps into the neutral zone right over center without a call. I was expecting it to be blown dead there. The Rams would have got the call if they'd reacted. Kerrigan then whips Havenstein and grabs Mason behind the line. Two other Redskins jump in and the ball pops out, but Bailey saves the game by diving on the loose ball. 2nd-10. Quick out to Britt - HEY! They're finally looking for those! - gets 5. But on 3rd-and-5, Trent Murphy embarrasses Robinson with a quick rip move to flush Foles, who gets very indecisive on the run but also gets no help from his receivers and eats it for I think a minimal gain. Crowder returns the punt 10 yards to the 23 as I am amazed that Hekker's leg hasn't completely worn out today. About 10:00 left.
I'm sure the real game is over by now. No spoilers! Chris Long makes a play! Held Morris to 1. Jones is the more dynamic runner by far, but they have to trust Morris to take better care of the ball. Washington next stupidly tries to go back to the air, and Westbrooks creates a sack for Fairley by burning Lauvao and forcing Cousins to step up into trouble. Only the Rams' second sack, but it comes at an excellent time. 3rd-13. PENALTY NUMBER NINE is on Westbrooks, offside. The difference from the one they didn't call on Washington? The Redskin o-line reacted. 3rd-8. That penalty proves to be a killer when the 4-man rush doesn't get there and Cousins hits Chris Thompson for a first down, with Laurinaitis and Joyner caught too deep in coverage. At 21-for-25, Cousins is in NFL-record territory. Jones, who's over 100 yards, cuts back right into Donald for no gain. Despite that stop, you realize Le'Veon Bell's running for a country mile next week, right? Cousins hits Reed in the flat to beat a blitz, but Ogletree and McLeod hold him to 5. Critical 3rd-and-5 with 6:00 left.
And the Rams are once again NOT clutch on defense. It's another soft 4-man rush, no blitz, NO PRESSURE, Laurinaitis has to vacate the middle to pick up the back, and Reed burns Ogletree with an inside move and Cousins hits him over the middle in stride for 29 yards.
This one's over, and was over from the start. The Rams didn't come loaded for bear and Gregg Williams didn't bring his gun anyway. This defensive performance has been disgusting and pathetic and is the same old roller coaster ride this mediocre team took its fans on last year.
Make a damn big play and prove me wrong.
Jenkins is out injured.
Quinn gets PENALTY NUMBER TEN for a facemask, that while obvious, wasn't any worse than what Foles got on his TD run last week. Apparently Ogletree facemasked as well?!?!? PENALTY NUMBER ELEVEN Ogletree grabbed Morris underneath the back of his helmet, which I've seen defenses GET AWAY WITH ALL THE TIME and not get flagged.
Put the Redskins at the 15 and stick a fork in the worthless Rams. They stop Morris a couple of times but give fucking Jones the edge again and he barrels down inside the 5. Robert Quinn has just been a disgrace in run defense today, clearly sealed off by the TE here. Put the Redskins at the 4 and cancel your reservations for the Rams' playoff parade. Fisher stops the clock at 2:43 on 2nd-and-goal. THE REDSKINS HAVE HAD THE BALL FOR OVER SEVEN MINUTES. Jones sweeps left for a pretty easy and clinching 3-yard TD. Quinn was dominated on the edge by TE Derek Carrier AGAIN, which lets Lauvao pull out front untouched, and Laurinatis and Roberson can't get around that big (m)ass to get to Jones in time.
The Rams were supposed to own this game in the trenches but have been a complete disgrace there instead. Enjoy another 6-10 season, you bunch of overrated clowns.
24-10 Washington
Britt nearly makes a brilliant deep sideline catch that Foles barely got off after Kerrigan beat Havenstein again. Swing to Benny; he breaks a tackle for 5. Cook makes a fine grab on a short out for the 1st. Benny, who should have been getting the ball a lot and a lot earlier, breaks a tackle and gets 10 on a dumpoff, out to the Ram 41 with 2:00 left. Still hard to feel good about the Rams' chances unless the Redskins make a sudden trade for Jamaal Charles.
DROP by Benny, which was actually the best play; he would have had 3 at most. Now a DROP by Bailey. You guys didn't have to wait till now to prove you didn't care today; WE ALREADY KNEW. Kerrigan and Hatcher flush Foles again and he nearly gets picked off by another d-lineman, Preston Smith. 4th-10.
Send in the fat lady. Maybe she can block. Robinson gets beat by Chris Baker on a stunt and Foles THROWS THE FOURTH DOWN PASS AWAY. That's the kind of brilliance (IRONIC) we've gotten from these guys today.
If I gave a shit about Kroenke, I'd tell him not to pay for these clowns' plane fare home.
24-10 final
Inactive players include Todd Gurley, of whom Jeff Fisher teased might play during the week. Looks like Tre Mason will get the start. Brian Quick out for the second straight week. Starting to wonder why he wasn't IR'ed. We knew Eugene Sims would be out; I imagine Ethan Westbrooks will get some reps at DE as opposed to using just a 3-man rotation.
Fox broadcast team: Dick Stockton and David Diehl. Hoo boy, don't expect to be kept up to date on down, distance and play results the way Kenny Albert did last week. Side note: the year Stockton started calling NFL games for the networks, Jeff Fisher was a freshman defensive back at USC.
Referee: Ed Hochuli and his guns have been assigned to today's game. Hochuli did not work a Rams game last year. His reputation has tended to outweigh his actual performance in past Rams games.
The prediction: Rams 24-16, but they'd better take better care of the ball than last week. If the Rams lose this one, you can expect them to be predicted to lose here the rest of the season.
FIRST QUARTER
The Redskins win the coin toss, and perhaps wisely, give the Rams the ball first. Benny Cunningham is thankfully returning kicks today but this one's over his head. Play action rollout against the grain to Cook is wide open and he takes it up the sideline for 12. Full house backfield with Mason, Austin and Cook; Mason goes right for 4 behind Cook and Barnes. Mason cuts back for only 1; Cory Harkey couldn't clear the hole and Mason ran into Barnes. 3rd-and-5. Foles gets fine protection from a Greg Robinson pancake block, the line pushes almost all the Redskins past him, so he takes off and... fumbles the ball off his thigh. Foles recovers, but that was a botched opportunity. Poor and short kick by Johnny Hekker, and right to Jamison Crowder, but it's covered very well. Bradley Marquez holds Crowder to a couple. A 38-yard punt, if that.
Washington starts at their 28. Kirk Cousins unloads quickly to Jordan Reed, who's behind James Laurinaitis and Janoris Jenkins for 21. T.J. McDonald stuffs Alfred Morris for a loss of 1, though. The Rams blitz Lamarcus Joyner but Cousins dumps off to Morris for 9-10. Joyner had to come back for the tackle Laurinaitis missed. 3rd-2. With the Ram secondary picking up Washington's trips formation PERFECTLY, Cousins has nowhere to throw, and Aaron Donald beats the guard AND the center for the Rams' first sack of the day. Chris Long bulled Morgan Moses on the play and may also get a piece of that. The play is made, though, by McDonald, Joyner and Marcus Roberson's perfect coverage work. Watch the fake on the punt. Learning a lesson they didn't last year, they kick away from Austin and it's downed at the 11.
Lance Kendricks plucks a high pass in traffic over the middle for 15. Good protection by both tackles. They next try to set up a bubble screen to Mason off a fake flare pass to Austin, but Washington's all over it and Foles dumps it into the ground. Benny Cunningham DROPS a screen pass that looked good for at least 5. 3rd-10 instead. Rodger Saffold gets beaten badly by Jason Hatcher to flush Foles and force an incomplete sideline pass. Nothing doing for the Ram offense so far. Much better punt by Hekker this time, 53 I believe, is fair caught at the WSH28.
They start off with a 35-yard run by the guy I didn't start in my fantasy league. Michael Brockers moved a double-team but Laurinaitis got blocked by the RG and was not there for the fill. Missed high tackle by Rodney McLeod as well. Alec Ogletree, though, beats LG Shaun Lauvao and drops Matt Jones for a loss on a screen. The run defense embarrasses its way right into the game's first TD, though, a 39-yard sprint by Jones. About everything goes wrong on this play you can think of. Aaron Donald missed him in the backfield. Gregg Williams had the double-safety blitz going and Joyner got BURIED on that side by Lauvao on the pull. Chris Long, at RDE this play, got turned inside by the TE. Gee, that never happens. HUGE hole for Jones, and Laurinaitis couldn't get around the center to get outside on Jones. Gee, that never happens. The Rams not showing up a week after a big win. Gee. That. Never. Happens! 7-0 Redskins
VERY discouraging start after last week's high. Benny gets to the 20 from 8 deep. Why not just kneel? Unlike the Redskins all last drive, the Rams (Jamon Brown) whiff on the MLB to start out with a yard Mason loss. Austin gets 6 back on a circle route. Just fell down after the catch, no shake-and-bake. 3rd-5. Rob Havenstein (man-up on Ryan Kerrigan) and Robinson (man-up on Trent Murphy) both get beat, so does Saffold. Foles has Mason open short on a wheel right, but tries to motion him downfield, and Mason doesn't go. This is a play meant to take advantage of Washington overplaying Austin's motion into trips but a lot of execution wasn't there. A lot of the Rams don't appear to be there so far, period. Another POOR punt by Hekker; Crowder has to run up on it at the WSH34. 36 miserable yards. Somebody besides Aaron Donald freaking wake up and start freaking sprinting, huh?
Rams facing almost a crucial stop here. No such thing coming today; Jenkins bites hard on a faked quick screen and gets burned by somebody named Ryan Grant on a go out of the slot for 35. Clutch freaking defense there. Excellent run stop by Trumaine Johnson holds Jones to 1 on the edge. McDonald and, hey! there's Nick Fairley, hold Morris to 3 on a pitch left that's really not his bread and butter. 3rd-6. 4-man rush does not get there, and I think Pierre Garcon reached the ball across the line before Joyner took him down at the 22. Initial spot is at the 22, but he reached across the 21. Yep, Hochuli corrects the spot. Not a bad play by Joyner. The pass rush has gotten too quiet. McDonald does an excellent job to blow up another pitch left for Morris, who's corralled by Quinn, Laurinaitis and Ogletree for a loss. And Hochuli calls Reed for holding Jenkins downfield. 1st-20 at the 31. Plenty of time for Cousins after the center rides Donald down, but he's still rushed into a poor incompletion. Long swallows up Morris on a draw for 1. DBs are 10 yards off the line at the snap, but Jenkins makes an excellent close on Garcon on a drag route that gained a yard at most. That was much more clutch, but the D didn't rise up in time to prevent a long FG by Dustin Hopkins. 10-0 Redskins
Time for the Ram offense to show up. Austin stutter-steps up the middle for 3. A quarter of miserable defense ends with Ricky Jean-Francois beating Saffold on the backside and dropping Mason for no gain. As I scouted last week, the Redskin DBs are not playing very tight out wide. Frank Cignetti might want to try taking advantage of that. Or watching tape the week before the game.
SECOND QUARTER
3rd-7 at the Ram 23. Kerrigan jumps offside to make it 3rd-2. Boy, they're letting centers get away with big head bobs these days, though. Makes no difference. Perry Riley BLOWS UP Cook trying to lead Benny on a sweep left; Benny scrambles around but can only get back to the LOS. They were ten yards off Austin on the right flank, a slant to him is an automatic first down. Make the damn adjustment, Cignetti. The super-crisp and completely awake and prepared Rams next have to blow a timeout because they don't have the right people in on the punt unit. This like the fourth punt already, what the hell can you screw up? The Rams' goodwill from last week's win has gone down the drain faster than Nicole Arbour's career. I hope Ram-shaming isn't punished as hard as fat-shaming is these days. It looks like I'm going to be doing a lot of Ram-shaming today. I'm not alone; Diehl questioned the choice to run behind Cook on 3rd-and-short and humorously sounded really perplexed by it off-mike.
Excellent gunning by Stedman Bailey, who cracks Crowder for no gain at the WSH19. 53 yards by the ever consistent Hekker, who's probably side-footing a 28-yarder next chance he gets. Brockers whips the center to drop Jones for minus-2. The center's name is Korey Lichtensteiger. I'm not typing that name any more today. Quick hitch to Garcon for 3 leaves 3rd-8. 4-man rush doesn't get much done, but Cousins is still nervous enough for a poor throw that should have been picked off by Trumaine Johnson. Fine coverage downfield that time. God, that was right in TruJo's hands. YOU HAVE TO CATCH THAT. The Redskins now burn a TO in punt formation. What the hell is going on today? Poor kick has to roll 5 yards just to get to the 35. I feared running into the kicker but Hochuli, who seems on so far, ruled he fell down on his own.
The Rams start by failing on a play that worked so well last week. Fake end-around to Austin set up a corner route to Cook, who was behind the LBs but Foles back-footed a poor throw behind him. And I'm pretty sure Tre Mason is going to get called for tackling the blitzing DB. Yep, 1st-and-20. It's time to bench Mason in favor of Benny. Mason is giving the Rams next to nothing. At least Benny made up for missed blocks last week by breaking some tackles. Quick hitch to Cook for 7. Foles gets blitz pressure again from Trenton Robinson, who just drew the flag on Mason, and throws a wild screen past Cook, who obviously didn't get enough of a block on him before releasing. Meanwhile, the other DBs were 10 yards off the wide receivers, 5 yards off Austin in the slot. Frank Cignetti was partying all week instead of watching tape, wasn't he? THROW SOME DAMN QUICK SLANTS. Just a 4-man rush on 3rd-long, but Kerrigan beats Havenstein clean to the inside, Saffold continues to do nothing against Hatcher at all, and Foles throws a wild dumpoff to Benny for maybe 2. Somehow the Rams have managed to make the Redskin D look like what the Seahawk D should have looked like last week.
Daren Bates and Cody Davis swarm on Crowder after a 2nd-straight (!) good punt by Hekker. I believe it'll net 47. 'Skins at their 18. TruJo and Mark Barron hold a quick screen to Garcon to 3. Now the Rams bite so hard on play-action Cousins can roll out without anyone within 5 yards of him. Reed pancaked Quinn to start the play, with the cut block they were supposedly looking out for all week in practice, and gets back up to make a 1st-down catch. Contrast that to Cook's blocking today if you will. 2nd-7, Quinn gets blocked about to Bethesda on a handoff to Morris, and gue55-who isn't there for the fill as Alfred runs for another first. The Rams got a lot of laurels last week for beating Seattle. They sure as hell are resting on them. That was the rookie Brandon Scherff mauling Laurinaitis that time. Now with no pass rush AT ALL, Jones leaks out of the backfield for a 17-yard catch. Laurinaitis got completely turned around and just ran blindly deep. Meanwhile, Fairley and Long get completely stood up at the LOS and basically do nothing. This game has been unimaginably disgusting so far. By all means, keep this up, clowns. Cousins gets Donald to jump offside PENALTY NUMBER TWO to put them at the STL38. Fortunately, an obvious hold of Quinn on the edge sends them back to the 48. And that doesn't matter with the shit run defense these clowns are playing this week. Simple handoff to freaking future Hall-of-Famer Matt Jones gains 25 after Moses dominates Will Hayes on the edge and Mark Barron gets completely taken out of the play by Reed.
From enthusiastic playoff contender to disgusting pile of crap in the space of less than a week. These are Jeff Fisher's Rams.
Cousins checks to a draw against a blitz that's been shockingly rare from Williams today. Jones gets 4. 4 more for Jones as Brockers gets moved out of the hole, Long at RDE again gets stuffed by Trent Williams and Donald gets cut blocked and ends up on his knees. 3rd-2, Grant's all alone out of trips in the flat and down to the 6. If Ogletree was supposed to be blitzing there, he sure did a poor job, and he didn't cover Grant, either. Nothing about the Rams' execution or gameplans on either side of the ball is making any sense today. 1st-goal, Donald stops Morris in the backfield. McDonald takes him down at the 4 on 2nd-goal. The game is probably on the line right now.
Goodbye game. Garcon wheels away from Jenkins in the end zone for a 4-yard TD catch. There was definitely a pushoff there, but I think Jenkins played Garcon too much to continue his route to the sideline anyway and got caught on his back foot.
I think Rob Schneider said it best in the cinematic classic Waterboy:
(Is that Jeff Fisher right behind him, btw?)
3:00 till halftime of this trainwreck. Kirk Cousins is 12-for-14 and getting about as much pressure in Washington as Hillary gets from the press corps. Jet sweep for Austin gets 10 behind an actual solid block from Cook and a good one by Bailey downfield. Off play-action, Austin is WIDE OPEN deep but Foles overthrows him MISERABLY. What the fuck was that? I didn't think Kerrigan's pressure against Havenstein and Mason interfered with Foles' throw, but Diehl says it did. Mason gets crunched after a dumpoff in the flat for 2. 2:00 warning. Somebody warn the Rams the Redskins get the ball back to start the 2nd half.
3rd-down pass is through Cook's hands. Will Blackmon had good coverage but there is little excuse not to catch that. 50-yard punt by Hekker with a nice tackle by Alexander, as if that's going to matter the way the defense is playing.
Start the Redskins at their 18. Stockton just announced they've already run for 123 yards. The Rams get extremely lucky that Jay Gruden decides to play this possession very close to the vest and run out the clock. Honestly, the Rams should have started using their timeouts, but we can't expect Jeff Fisher to be any more awake than the rest of his bitterly-disappointing team today. He finally calls one on 3rd-and-7 with 0:37 to play. Jones nearly gets it, with Quinn getting stuffed and surrendering the edge, but Ogletree's stop will get the Rams the ball back.
Tress shanks it Way out of bounds to give what I believe will be the Rams' best field position of the day. Have they even crossed midfield? They'll start this drive at the WSH45. Foles hasn't been on the same page as a downfield receiver yet today, missing Bailey badly. Bailey ran an out, Foles threw a corner. Chris Baker ragdolls Robinson to panic Foles into a wild throwaway. That was a damn 3-man rush.
Typifying the Rams' brilliant play this half, Foles goes over the middle to Cook for 14, and they can't get lined up in time to spike the ball and set up a FG attempt. To say the Rams have played like absolute shit today is an absolute insult to feces everywhere.
17-0 at half
HALFTIME ADJUSTMENTS
Well, find the team that played last week and get THEIR asses on the field. This has been a typical Fisher-era performance where the team doesn't look like it watched any tape at all. Gregg Williams has GOT to get more aggressive on defense. Put blitz pressure on Cousins and make the most-frequently-intercepted QB in the league throw you the ball. His gameplan has been just stupid, all soft coverage and 4-man rushes. His players aren't helping by failing to set any edges against the run, mi55ing too many gap a55ignments and falling victim to the cut blocks they supposedly practiced avoiding all week. But Williams is treating Cousins like he's Russell Wilson. Get after his ass.
I've already suggested offensive adjustments the Rams frankly should have made by now. More Benny in the 2nd half and less Tre. Tre shows no burst and isn't breaking any tackles. He's also getting abused in pass protection. Make the correct personnel move here. The Rams also need to quit playing so much behind the line. The Redskins have been conceding short passes all day, but Cignetti's been finding a way to run even-shorter plays (screens and sweeps) against those formations. It is unconscionable not to be getting Austin the ball when they're laying as far off him as they are. Britt is big enough to take advantage of this, and Bailey is a good enough route-runner to take advantage of this. Take advantage of it. Obviously they've got to block better for Foles, who's got the pass rush in his head right now worse than Sam Bradford ever had it. But I think Benny and a nice diet of quick slants and hitches will help things out. There's still time if the Rams' players and staff alike get their damn heads back in the game.
THIRD QUARTER
Rams were outrushed in the first half 132-17. Greg Zuerlein's FIRST touch of the day results in a touchback. Jenkins shuts down a play-action pass to Grant for a couple. Donald penetrates and drops Morris for a loss on the edge. Lauvao false-starts to leave 3rd-15 at the 15. Joyner blows up a screen to Andre Roberts for the Rams' FIRST 3-and-out of the day. Wonder what happens if the Redskins open that drive on the ground like they should have. Alexander nearly blocks Way's punt, but it still goes 53 after Austin lets it roll 20 yards. He probably couldn't have done much about that with Way barely outkicking his coverage on the fly.
Rams start at their 32. Austin shows the first burst any Ram player has shown on offense all day, taking an end-around and jumping inside a Harkey block for 16. Mason proves me wrong about halftime adjustments by cutting back for 13 on a counter run. Fine down-blocking there by Havenstein and Saffold. Rams in business at the WSH39. The Rams of course foul this momentum up with a Kendricks false start. PENALTY NUMBER THREE Foles took a long time adjusting that play. Then he overthrows Britt on a quick hitch. Oh great, they're working on Tavon on the sideline. Just a cramp, I hope. A screen to Mason fools no one for no gain. 3rd-15. OK, Austin's at least back. The Skins rush only 3, giving Foles time to hit Benny, who breaks a couple of tackles and gets 9. 4th-5 at the WSH34, I'm thinking go for it. Fisher sends in the FG unit. Greg Zuerlein melted down here last year, but he drills it from 52 here to finally put the Rams on the board. Redskins 17-3
Zuerlein's clearly got the boom leg today, so another touchback will start Washington at their 20. Cousins just misses Grant, covered well enough by Jenkins, with a sideline bomb. Late pressure by Donald probably helped. Why not run, though? Out route to Crowder for 7. 3rd-3, Reed runs through McDonald's tackle for 11. NOT clutch. What looks like a big run for Jones only gets 3 because he trips over his fullback.
The pendulum swings the other way, though, when Jones gets the edge but Quinn bludgeons the ball out of his hand for a fumble recovered by McDonald. The Fox sideline reporter asked Jay Gruden if Jones would get the ball more in the 2nd half and Gruden made a prescient comment about ball security. Rams ball just inside midfield! Do something with it!
Mason takes a pitch left and breaks Dashon Goldson's tackle to gain 9. More brilliance, spoken non-ironically this time, ensues. They fake a handoff left to Mason, a jet sweep right to Austin, and with Harkey making a key block in the pocket, Foles steps up and hits Kenny Britt behind obviously sucked-in double coverage for a 39-yard TD! Britt idiotically gets himself PENALTY NUMBER FOUR a taunting penalty after the score, after which Stockton brilliantly (non-ironic again) comments about players who taunt when they're LOSING a damn football game. Shut up and go to the sideline, Britt.
Also, this penalty will be enforced on the kickoff; I wouldn't mind a rule tweak that made it enforceable on the extra point. Imagine if Britt's idiocy forced Zuerlein to hit from 48. He hits the 33-yarder without incident.
Redskins 17, Rams 10
Seems like it's about time for the Redskins to remember how well they ran the ball in the first half. This has been a pretty dumb 2nd-half gameplan so far. Zuerlein's kickoff still makes it to the 6 but Washington brings it tothe 30. Westbrooks nearly gets a hand on a screen for Morris; Jenkins still holds him to 4. Then, of all the people not to block, Quinn gets into the backfield untouched to stop Morris for a loss. 3rd-8. Williams blitzes big on not a blitz down, but Garcon slips on his out cut and Cousins' sideline throw falls harmlessly incomplete. Austin continues to coax terrible punts out of Tress Way, and the Rams will start the next drive from their 34.
Foles slightly overthrows Cook on a catchable play-action pass. Illegal hands to the face on Bashaud Breeland, though. 1st-5 at the 39. An end-around the Chris Givens (?) blows up for a loss of 4 after LB Keenan Robinson shoots the gap unblocked. AND COOK FACE MASKED. PENALTY NUMBER FIVE Much less than Bobby Wagner did to Nick Foles last week, but it's a big 15 yard loss tacked on, making it now 1st-25 at the freaking 24. Arrow route to Bailey is thrown too poorly for him to do much with it; no gain. Dog blitz rushed the throw. FALSE START SAFFOLD, who has not distinguished himself today. PENALTY NUMBER SIX. SECOND AND THIRTY. It was first and five until they went all Fisherball on us. Stockton belatedly reports that Austin has gone to the locker room. Beautiful. Givens gets about 7 back on a shallow drag. The Austin injury explains why Givens was the one running that end-around. Cook fights pretty hard for about 10 but that's way short of the marker. Hekker knocks another 50-yard punt. Hochuli holds his weekly staff meeting after the play. PENALTY NUMBER SEVEN on Benny for an illegal substitution keeps the Rams from pinning Washington inside the 10 after an illegal block in the back. Benny was apparently late getting on the field, and WHAT THE HELL is going on with the punt team today? Another good punt by Hekker, though, returned by Crowder to the 19.
Also, good sideline reporting by Kristina Pink; Austin's getting an IV for dehydration and will return.
AND WE ARE RE-KICKING BECAUSE ISAIAH PEAD WAS ILLEGALLY OUT OF BOUNDS ON PUNT COVERAGE. PENALTY NUMBER EIGHT That's four penalties in like a minute! This never ends well for the punting team. TWO MORE FLAGS after Hekker puts a nice punt out of bounds at the 20. At least those are holding flags on the Redskins, who will now start from their 10, which is where they would have been after the first punt. Good job by Hekker with all those re-punts.
Washington is determined to keep throwing - 6 to Garcon with Jenkins on him quickly. Jones punks Ogletree for 4 and a first down. Cousins throws a screen to Jones for 7 over Donald's heavy rush. Barron and McDonald get Jones about a yard short as the quarter ends.
FOURTH QUARTER
3rd-1 Redskins at their 29. Jones gets the 1, spins off his own blocker and runs through McLeod for another 9. NOT CLUTCH DEFENSE THERE. Bad fill by Ogletree, who got blocked that time. Quinn gives up the edge again as Jones sweeps for 4. Cousins sprints out of trouble from Quinn and a blitzing Ayers, but Lauvao clearly held Donald to turn Cousins loose, and Hochuli's crew saw it and called it. 2nd-16. Big and correct call there. Ogletree and Barron shut down an outside run for Morris for a couple. Not sure why they're running him outside so much. BIG 3rd-14 now. 4-man rush does not get there but Cousins settles for an underneath pass to Reed. Way continues to kick way short of Austin, starting the Rams at their 20.
Jet sweep right to Austin for 11 behind Cook's block. Next play a blitzer jumps into the neutral zone right over center without a call. I was expecting it to be blown dead there. The Rams would have got the call if they'd reacted. Kerrigan then whips Havenstein and grabs Mason behind the line. Two other Redskins jump in and the ball pops out, but Bailey saves the game by diving on the loose ball. 2nd-10. Quick out to Britt - HEY! They're finally looking for those! - gets 5. But on 3rd-and-5, Trent Murphy embarrasses Robinson with a quick rip move to flush Foles, who gets very indecisive on the run but also gets no help from his receivers and eats it for I think a minimal gain. Crowder returns the punt 10 yards to the 23 as I am amazed that Hekker's leg hasn't completely worn out today. About 10:00 left.
I'm sure the real game is over by now. No spoilers! Chris Long makes a play! Held Morris to 1. Jones is the more dynamic runner by far, but they have to trust Morris to take better care of the ball. Washington next stupidly tries to go back to the air, and Westbrooks creates a sack for Fairley by burning Lauvao and forcing Cousins to step up into trouble. Only the Rams' second sack, but it comes at an excellent time. 3rd-13. PENALTY NUMBER NINE is on Westbrooks, offside. The difference from the one they didn't call on Washington? The Redskin o-line reacted. 3rd-8. That penalty proves to be a killer when the 4-man rush doesn't get there and Cousins hits Chris Thompson for a first down, with Laurinaitis and Joyner caught too deep in coverage. At 21-for-25, Cousins is in NFL-record territory. Jones, who's over 100 yards, cuts back right into Donald for no gain. Despite that stop, you realize Le'Veon Bell's running for a country mile next week, right? Cousins hits Reed in the flat to beat a blitz, but Ogletree and McLeod hold him to 5. Critical 3rd-and-5 with 6:00 left.
And the Rams are once again NOT clutch on defense. It's another soft 4-man rush, no blitz, NO PRESSURE, Laurinaitis has to vacate the middle to pick up the back, and Reed burns Ogletree with an inside move and Cousins hits him over the middle in stride for 29 yards.
This one's over, and was over from the start. The Rams didn't come loaded for bear and Gregg Williams didn't bring his gun anyway. This defensive performance has been disgusting and pathetic and is the same old roller coaster ride this mediocre team took its fans on last year.
Make a damn big play and prove me wrong.
Jenkins is out injured.
Quinn gets PENALTY NUMBER TEN for a facemask, that while obvious, wasn't any worse than what Foles got on his TD run last week. Apparently Ogletree facemasked as well?!?!? PENALTY NUMBER ELEVEN Ogletree grabbed Morris underneath the back of his helmet, which I've seen defenses GET AWAY WITH ALL THE TIME and not get flagged.
Put the Redskins at the 15 and stick a fork in the worthless Rams. They stop Morris a couple of times but give fucking Jones the edge again and he barrels down inside the 5. Robert Quinn has just been a disgrace in run defense today, clearly sealed off by the TE here. Put the Redskins at the 4 and cancel your reservations for the Rams' playoff parade. Fisher stops the clock at 2:43 on 2nd-and-goal. THE REDSKINS HAVE HAD THE BALL FOR OVER SEVEN MINUTES. Jones sweeps left for a pretty easy and clinching 3-yard TD. Quinn was dominated on the edge by TE Derek Carrier AGAIN, which lets Lauvao pull out front untouched, and Laurinatis and Roberson can't get around that big (m)ass to get to Jones in time.
The Rams were supposed to own this game in the trenches but have been a complete disgrace there instead. Enjoy another 6-10 season, you bunch of overrated clowns.
24-10 Washington
Britt nearly makes a brilliant deep sideline catch that Foles barely got off after Kerrigan beat Havenstein again. Swing to Benny; he breaks a tackle for 5. Cook makes a fine grab on a short out for the 1st. Benny, who should have been getting the ball a lot and a lot earlier, breaks a tackle and gets 10 on a dumpoff, out to the Ram 41 with 2:00 left. Still hard to feel good about the Rams' chances unless the Redskins make a sudden trade for Jamaal Charles.
DROP by Benny, which was actually the best play; he would have had 3 at most. Now a DROP by Bailey. You guys didn't have to wait till now to prove you didn't care today; WE ALREADY KNEW. Kerrigan and Hatcher flush Foles again and he nearly gets picked off by another d-lineman, Preston Smith. 4th-10.
Send in the fat lady. Maybe she can block. Robinson gets beat by Chris Baker on a stunt and Foles THROWS THE FOURTH DOWN PASS AWAY. That's the kind of brilliance (IRONIC) we've gotten from these guys today.
If I gave a shit about Kroenke, I'd tell him not to pay for these clowns' plane fare home.
24-10 final
Sunday, September 13, 2015
RamView live blog, 9/13/2015: Rams 34, Seahawks 31 (OT)
Well, in an hour or so we'll find out if the Rams will "wake up sprinting" or will come out doing the zombie shuffle they've done the past couple of seasons. No longer saddled with season tickets for the first time in 20 years, I'll be here all season to "live-blog" (actually, it'll take me like five hours) Rams games and turn that into my weekly RamView diatribe. Enough people with my attitude will lead to some really poor home crowds this season, but in a lose-lose situation for St. Louis fans, I'll pick the one where I get to keep my $1300 instead of shipping it to a greedy, lying snake to spend on moving vans. I'd say enough of that, but I think we all know it won't be.
Some expected starters: Tim Barnes at center, Rodger Saffold at right guard, Benny Cunningham at running back.
Rams inactives include Tre Mason, Todd Gurley and Brian Quick, and I'll bet that's a big reason Bradley Marquez made the final 53. He's active.
Fox broadcast team: Kenny Albert with Moose (Johnston) but no Goose. Siragusa's with a different crew this year. Otherwise, same crew that called the Seattle game here last year.
Referee: Oh, Jesus Christ, one week in and the Rams have already gotten stuck with Jeff Freaking Triplette. Seriously, Dean Blandino, you couldn't stick the Bengals-Raiders game with Triplette and give us Brad Allen?
The prediction: Seattle, 19-17. The fantasy player I'd want from this game is Stephen Hauschka. Great news, though: I'm awful at predictions.
FIRST QUARTER
The Rams win the coin toss and defer. Tyler Lockett a little surprisingly takes a knee at the back of the end zone. Chris Long hunts down Marshawn Lynch after a gain of a couple. Out route from Russell Wilson to Jimmy Graham for 7 with Gregg Williams bringing a couple of blitzers. And, engage Beast Mode. Lynch spins out of traffic for the first down and it takes at least five Rams at least another five yards to bring him down. 10-yard gain. Fred Jackson up the middle for 5 now, with Michael Brockers getting pancaked by J.R. Sweezy at RG. Wake up sprinting, people. Eugene Sims reacts to a big head bob by Drew Nowak at center and gets called PENALTY #1 for jumping offsides, which is declined because Jackson is all alone underneath on the sideline and James Laurinaitis takes five yards to bring him down on a 16-yard gain. Crowd has already booed hard on the Lynch run and now this penalty call. Sims next plays a read option perfectly and he and Alec Ogletree shut Wilson down for no gain. 2nd-10, STL40. Smoke route to Lockett for 7. Seattle empties the backfield and splits Lynch wide. It's an arrow route to Doug Baldwin, who breaks Lamarcus Joyner's tackle to stretch for the 1st, but a big hit by Robert Quinn keeps him about a yard short. Seattle going for it, 4th-1. No, it's not a slant to Jermaine Kearse, but Lynch doesn't get it, either; Derrick Coleman, who I thought was a basketball player, up the middle for 2. Dumb alignment here by the Rams. Seattle attacked Aaron Donald with a double team and there was a big gap to Donald's right. They overloaded the wrong side. Williams tries this all the time and it never works.
Seattle at the Ram 29. The Rams answer by getting their first sack much quicker than they did last year. Will Hayes (!) smokes Luke Willson and freezes R.Wilson in the pocket for Donald, who had manhandled Sweezy. 2nd-17 now. Seattle's running third-stringer Thomas Rawls now - Marshawn Who? Beast What? - and Hayes trips him up from behind for a couple. Good thing; a big lane was opening. Let's give the good crowd noise credit now for a delay-of-game on Seattle, as well as the Rams' weird amoeba look. Long explodes into the backfield from wide-9 to blow up the pretty-predictable shotgun handoff to Lynch, which Mark Barron stuffs for a loss. Punt time for Seattle. Fair catch, Tavon Austin at the 12, and that is a LOT of typing about one defensive stop. Make Long and Hayes co-stars of the drive.
Eight minutes possession for Seattle but no points. And, is this how this season's going to go on offense? Greg Robinson blocks Cliff Avril not at all, and Avril blows up a very quick swing pass to Austin that eventually LOSES NINE after Tavon tries doubling back. Jamon Brown then blocks Michael Bennett, well, not at all, and he nearly drops starting RB Benny Cunningham for a safety. Benny luckily slipped out at the 1. Corey Harkey also failed to get any piece of Bennett on the pull. Right now, the Rams look thoroughly befuddled by their new zone-blocking scheme. THIRD AND 21 FROM THE 1 ON THE FIRST POSSESSION OF THE SEASON. PENALTY NUMBER TWO now, false start, Brown. WAKE UP SPRINTING! After the snap, though, please. That costs the Rams, well, a foot. Nick Foles sneaks for a couple to more boos from the home crowd. Lotsa luck, Johnny Hekker.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Seattle takes a 7-0 lead on a 57-yard punt return TD by Tyler Lockett. As an amateur scout, I fucking know to kick away from the guy, but Hekker blasts a 55-yard punt right to him, way overkicking the coverage, as there is no one within 12 yards of him when he catches it. THAT BALL HAS TO BE ON THE SIDELINE. Instead, by the time Lockett gets to midfield, his teammates have already given him a beautiful return lane, and I could have scored that TD, well, if I could run. All Lockett really had to do was run 30 yards and fake out Hekker. Remember when Chris Massey used to make tackles from long snapper? Yeah, Jake McQuaide doesn't. He didn't even get downfield, but Lockett has little trouble eluding him inside the 10, and Chase Reynolds sadly seems to have come up lame at the start of the play, which couldn't have helped coverage.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
7-0 Seattle
WAKE THE FUCK UP FUCKING SPRINTING!!!!!
Ladies and gentlemen, your 2015 St. Louis Rams.
Even worse, that's Chase Reynolds (34) injured, not Pead (24). Even more worse, that was Seattle's first punt return TD in ALMOST EIGHT YEARS.
Rams start at their 20. Well, this drive can't go much worse than the last one. Hey, Jared Cook just did something against Seattle! 22-yard catch on a post route, got behind the LBs, who were frozen by play-action. PLAY-CALLING! Benny heads left for 4 inside a block by Lance Kendricks. And, Foles is SACKED, by Bennett beating Robinson badly with a simple inside move. 3rd-15. But, the line gives Foles time against a 4-man rush, he hits Benny leaking out, and Benny squirts past two Seahawks for a 1st down at the SEA46. I like the play mix here as Foles half-rolls and goes deep for Austin, WHO IS INTERFERED WITH BY RICHARD SHERMAN WITHOUT A FLAG. Sherman is blocking Austin's arms with his arm and isn't in any way turned back to look for the ball. This is textbook pass interference unless you are on Jeff Triplette's Crew of Morons. Benny, though, escapes Bobby Wagner's jersey grab on a bubble screen and gets 11. Foles audibles to a handoff to Isaiah Pead that somebody called Cassius Marsh blows up for a yard loss. Thank Kendricks for getting no backside block there. Foles answers that with a 20-yard sideline completion to Cook. He motioned right and Seattle failed to even pick him up, possibly preoccupied with Austin. The Rams will start the second quarter in the red zone.
SECOND QUARTER
Rams at the SEA17, and it's TOUCHDOWN TAVON AUSTIN. Pistol formation, Cook to Foles' right, Austin behind Foles, Bailey reverse-motioning and settling outside LT. With Bailey getting a chip, then COOK getting a SPLENDID block to tie up Bruce Irvin at RDE (with the o-line downblocking right), Austin fakes inside, getting Wagner to bite up and bounces outside almost unopposed for the TD run. So. For three years, Brian Schottenheimer couldn't think of this play?
Rams 7, Seahawks 7
Backside pancake block by Jamon Brown didn't hurt on the Austin TD, either. New ball game after a quarter and five seconds.
Rams D should be well-rested; they've been off the field for 7 game minutes. Lockett returns a SHORT kick from his goal line, but Bradley Marquez (!) stops him short of the 20. Aaron Donald explodes through Sweezy and center Drew Nowak to drop Lynch for -3. Lynch then gets squat on a screen pass (even though Triplette let Russell Okung false start) thanks to a great reaction and ground-covering by Rodney McLeod. Okung false-starts again the next play, a blown-up screen that gets nowhere, but instead of calling that, useless fucking crapjob Triplette calls Robert Quinn PENALTY NUMBER THREE for hitting Wilson in the head, WHEN HE DIDN'T. He wrapped him up around THE CHEST AND UPPER ARM. This is a FUCKING BRUTAL call that turned a 3-and-out into an extended possession, and we need Earl Hebner to run in from the locker room and take over. Lynch up the middle for 4 to the 35, getting away with a fumble. Ethan Westbrooks got turned and burned. False start, Sweezy makes it 2nd-11. Wilson somehow avoids Hayes' charging train of a pass rush and scrambles out of bounds for 7.
The 3rd-and-4 play is really weird but works out great for the Rams. Seattle lets the d-line through like it's a screen pass, but Wilson tries to throw a quick hitch to Lynch way out in the flat, and Trumaine Johnson jumps it for an acrobatic INT!!!! Moose chides Wilson for even throwing the pass, rushed as it was by the Ram d-line. Moose also notes that Donald had dropped back in coverage on the play and was step-for-step with Jimmy Graham, and I cannot begin to describe how awesome that is.
TruJo's big play sets the Rams up at the SEA26. Triplette gets a call right for once, flagging Bennett for lining up offside. Benny up the middle for 4, with great physical downblocks by Tim Barnes and Rob Havenstein. The whole line, really. Benny next cuts inside Garrett Reynolds' block and dives down to the 14. Reynolds appears to have replaced Jamon Brown; no word on it. Benny cuts inside for another 3. The Rams continue their strong down-blocking; I'm ready for a big cutback. It's there if Benny will find it. Benny's down to the 7 off a play-action pass, but PENALTY NUMBER FOUR is a hold on Robinson, called by Eagle Eyes Triplette. No replay to help me here. 2nd-18 from the SEA22. Ridiculously dangerous screen to Benny in traffic is incomplete. Um, throw that at his feet next time. Foles steps up on 3rd-and-long and hits Stedman Bailey crossing at the 15. Greg Zuerlein's 34-yard FG gives the Rams the lead. 10-7 Rams
Lockett returns another much-too-short kickoff out to the 30. Marquez gets blasted in the helmet with a forearm at the start of the return, WITH NO CALL. Barron also gets held with no call. Brockers, Donald-like, nearly beats Lynch to the handoff and the Rams blow up the run for a gain of 1. Quick out to the guy from Foot Locker picks up 8, as TruJo knocks himself loopy making the tackle, which may mean we're about to see a lot of Marcus Roberson. It's a slant to Kearse! No, it's a handoff to Lynch for a couple. Ogletree actually came out of the pile with the ball, though, inspiring a challenge from Jeff Fisher. And, with the millions of dollars in technology devoted to this and every NFL game, there's no angle they can see in New York to make a ruling on the play. Fox can't give us a good look at home, either. Awesome. Lockett beats Akeem Ayers for 7 on a bootleg right pass. 4-man rush contains Wilson nicely, but he throws a slop shovel pass to Lynch down to the Ram 43. 4 for Rawls off left tackle; Ayers overshot it. A bad fastball by Wilson has to be knocked away by Kearse to prevent a Janoris Jenkins INT. First time Wilson's gone at Jenkins, and he nearly paid for it. On 3rd-6 (yes! a blitz down!), Williams brings the house, the car, the family dog and the kitchen sink, and Joyner and Barron meet Wilson at the end of his dropback for a HUGE sack. Joyner gets the sack to knock Seattle well out of FG range. Seattle can't pin the Rams deep but do line up illegally; Rams will start at their 25.
Saffold and others get no push as Benny gets stuffed. Cook gets 4 on a dangerous play-action screen at the 2:00 warning. On 3rd-and-5, Seattle blitzes and Foles throws behind Kenny Britt, who slipped anyway. PUT THE PUNT OUT OF BOUNDS, HEKKER.
Yeah, this one's about 20 feet out of bounds, netting Hekker 36. Seattle at their 35 with 1:49 till halftime. And with a blitz doing nothing and the Rams clearly confused in coverage, Kearse burns through them for 28. Great start. Jenkins is all over a quick hitch to Kearse for 2, though. Baldwin, uncovered before the snap, meanders downfield for about 7.5. Fred Jackson cuts back down to the Ram 25 as Quinn overshoots him and Ogletree can't grab him. The clock's all the way down to 0:32 even though Seattle has all three timeouts. Wilson tries to scramble but Quinn comes off of Okung's block and tracks him down for what should be his first sack of the season. SEA TO at 0:26. Another quick out to Lockett gets the 1st down at 0:22. That's been there all day. Dumpoff to Kearse at the 10 and another TO with 0:15 left. Rams only rush 3 here, but it works: Wilson can't find anyone and Ayers runs him out of bounds at the 7 with 8 seconds to go. Needless to say we have a big play coming up next. Williams calls basically the same thing on 3rd-and-2 and it works again. All Wilson can do is fire a sideline pass for Lynch and he's not even in bounds. Send in the FG unit. 10-10 at halftime
HALFTIME ANALYSIS
Hee, I thought regular season live blogs wouldn't be as long as preseason games. No, they're going to be twice as long. I hope the Rams don't have to change a thing. On defense, they're keeping Wilson bottled up, Lynch in Siesta Mode, and I think Jimmy Graham has one catch on one measly target. You would expect Seattle to work more to get Graham the ball, but will the Ram d-line let them? No adjustment's going to work for them with the Rams winning up front. The big x-factor is TruJo's injury, how it affects coverage, and what Seattle can do to exploit it.
After early trouble, the Rams were also winning up front on offense. They were really pushing Seattle around in the run game at the end of the half. Jimmy Johnson's on Fox wanting the Rams to open it up, but I don't see that they have to. Play action seems to be keeping some of that Seattle defensive speed in check, though, so let's see if the Rams don't go for something big off of that. Otherwise, pound on them until they stop you.
Competent refereeing would also be nice.
Ultimately, this is anybody's game at this point, something I did not see coming after the Rams' extremely rough start.
THIRD QUARTER
Pead only makes the 16 with the opening kick return; kneel with it that deep, buddy. Frank Cignetti bails him out with a pretty play; a fake end-around to Austin setting up a wide-open corner route to Bailey for 29. The first run play is a mess, though; Brandon Mebane mauls Barnes backwards 3 yards, which is what Benny loses. Barnes continues the less-than-awesomeness by snapping the next play before Foles is ready; it clangs off his chest and over to Seattle for a CRITICAL turnover. More third-quarter magic by the Ram offense. Foles even drew an illegal motion penalty on the play. Remember those with Wilson, Triplette. PENALTY NUMBER FIVE
Seattle at the STL39. Lynch actually pulls up to throw here, but Long and Donald set up too good an edge for him to see over, so he cuts back, Roberson weakly lets Wilson block him and Lynch gains 5. Inside handoff to Lynch for 4 more, as he continues to flirt with a turnover. Slant to - no, another inside handoff to Lynch, who gets a GAPING hole for 11 down to the Ram 18. Brockers and Donald got plowed by downblocks. Wilson steps up and hits Kearse wide open for 9. Hayes does a manly job of standing up Lynch for a loss. 3rd-2 at the Ram 10. Graham looks wide open making a catch in the flat, but T.J. McDonald FLIES in and SUBMARINES him a yard short of the 1st. Tom Landry and I would always take the free points and kick here, but I'm sure Pete Carroll will go for it. WHA? Carroll takes the three. McDonald saved the Rams 4 points. 13-10 Seattle
Bailey has to tell Pead to not idiotically try to return the kick from the back line. Pead stepped out the back anyway. Off play-action, Foles hits Britt, making a nice overhead grab, for 16. Austin gets only two off a pistol handoff; Ahtyba Rubin made a nice play to get off of Brown's block. Rubin gets a roughing penalty for kicking Austin on the ground after the play. Go Triplette! Rams at the SEA48. After a key blitz pickup by Benny, Foles scrambles with ostrich-like awkwardness for 9. Benny then sweeps left for another 7 behind Robinson and Corey Harkey. Bobby Wagner looks really tentative right now on running plays and I think all the play-action and cutback runs are in his head. It takes a pretty damn good game plan to get Wagner playing like this. And now, off play-action that froze Wagner, it's Cook wide open behind the LBs and down inside the 5. Foles stands tall and hits the pass a beat before getting drilled by Mebane (beating Barnes). Seattle offside bails out a screwy stretch handoff and sets the Rams up at the 2. With Reynolds lined up left at the 4th TE, Cunningham fakes the goal line dive, Harkey and Foles roll out of the backfield, and with no one but Wagner in the area, Foles makes the safest choice and keeps it for a 2-yard TD.
AND GETS BLATANTLY FACEMASKED BY WAGNER. WITH NO CALL!
17-13 Rams
Finally another deep kickoff to start Seattle from their 20. Wilson has to make a wild throwaway with Long brilliantly shutting down his escape route. You're not blocking Chris with a TE today. Long and Donald hold Lynch to 3 on an inside handoff, with James Laurinaitis knifing in nicely. Fake blitz on 3rd down, and Donald whips Justin Britt off the snap and sacks Wilson almost before he can look downfield. An emphatic 3-and-out sends out the punt team.
AND TAVON AUSTIN MAKES THEM PAY. Jon Ryan outpunted his coverage by probably 15 yards here, and kicked it right to Austin. SMART. Austin's unmolested to midfield, and fakes inside, but uses the a wall, made by superb hustling efforts by Jenkins and Marquez, to get outside. Marquez then swings back for a big block, Austin tightropes the sideline while running through a diving tackle attempt, and IT'S A 74-YARD TD. A flag on the play puts a scare in Rams Nation, but it's illegal man downfield on Seattle. Phew and WOO-HOO.
24-13 Rams
Punt return TDs by each team in the same game has to be rare, right? Also, I assume the actual game is over by this point, right? NO SPOILERS.
Lockett takes a knee. Barron, who's having a game, slows Lynch up for a couple. Laurinaitis and McLeod are all over a quick screen to Kearse for 5. 3rd-3. Wilson manages to throw through Ogletree on a blitz, but Roberson makes a sweet play in the flat to break up a pass for Baldwin. Ryan atones for his last punt by drilling a 73-yard missile that Tavon muffs at the 12, scoops up at the 2, runs around dangerously not protecting the ball while attempting 2,000 Jackie Chan moves, all to end up at... the 11. Price of admission, I guess. Let's see if the Rams can shorten up the game clock with some ball-control offense here. 3:00 left, 3rd quarter.
Benny works off a Saffold block and spins for 8. The pistol handoff to Tavon that got the first TD is a run up the middle this time, and that ain't happening, Shotty. Er, Cigs. Saffold and Cook both missed blocks. 3rd-4. Bah, Foles air-mails the pass to Dogtown under pressure with no one open. Hekker's 44-yard punt, STUPIDLY, IS DIRECTLY TO LOCKETT, and Pead whiffs a chance to destroy him at the catch, but the Rams limit the damage to an 8-yard return.
Holding on Lockett on a quick screen moves Seattle back to their 31. And we're doin' the Bernie on 1st-and-17, as Quinn literally leaps around Okung and hunts Wilson down for the Rams' fifth, and his second, sack already, thankfully, a LOT quicker than it took him to get two sacks in 2014. But on 2nd-21, they leave Graham too open and Wilson hits him for 20 near midfield. 3rd-and-1 to start the final stanza.
FOURTH QUARTER
It's a slant to, NO, it's Lynch blowing through a BIG hole for 23. That wasn't very clutch D. Sims got stood up at RDE and the pulling TE turned Brockers. Neither Quinn nor Long on the field for that play, really? Here comes the Beast Train, 5 more for Lynch, similar hole, running through a Joyner tackle. Joyner's down hurt; they're checking his right leg. The Rams are quickly running out of DBs. They may have to move McLeod to nickel and press Cody Davis into service. Looks like it's Barron, not Davis. Graham makes an insane grab of a Wilson fastball for a 1st down at the Ram 19. Lynch looks wide open out of the backfield but Roberson (!) flies in and shuts him down for 3 with a perfect open-field tackle. Joyner returns on 2nd-7. Wilson gets plenty of time from a 4-man rush but overthrows Graham. He had Baldwin wide open in the end zone, too. GAH, Wilson gets flushed on 3rd-7, but the middle of the field is wide open, he jukes Ogletree and scrambles down to the 7. The ball comes out, but I believe he's correctly called down first. First and goal. Wilson throws for Luke Willson, incomplete, when it looked like he could have ran it in himself after getting flushed. I'm ready for some Gregg Williams Blitz Magic here. Seattle uses their first TO, I think in reaction to a blitz look. Roberson plays a fade route for Graham perfectly, and that's incomplete. 3rd-and-goal. Here comes that blitz, and Graham beats McDonald to bring down a perfectly-placed throw by Wilson at the pylon for the TD. And Lynch plows through Ayers on a wrap right for the deuce. Rams 24, Seahawks 21
The Rams are going to need a far better possession on offense than their last one. The D has been on the field a lot of the second half. Pead fields a tough line drive and runs into Reynolds at the 19. Starting things off in style, Benny jets off with a screen pass off a Barnes lead block for 41. Barnes blocked the struggling Wagner out of the play and Seattle whiffed a couple of ankle tackles. Tavon up the middle for 2, mmm-kay. The outside seemed open there. Benny turns a sweep that would have lost 2 into a 1-yard gain. Bennett beat Robinson again there, but notice Bennett hasn't gotten his name called a lot since the 1st quarter. 3rd-6, Seattle blitzes big, the pocket collapses all over Foles, and he throws a garbage shot put to Benny leaking out, and he runs through Richard Sherman and Dion Bailey for the first down at the SEA28. Quite the call, the blitz left Benny wide open.
AND WHY IS ISAIAH PEAD IN THE GAME?!?!? AND GUESS WHAT HE DOES? What was this, Pead's second carry of the game and you're giving it to him here? Fuck Rams Nation's life. It's a fumble after Earl Thomas knocks it out after a 5-yard gain. Irvin falls on it at the 25. God damnit, Pead. Don't let the rent run out on your place in St. Louis this month, Trey Watts.
8:56 to go. Jenkins trips Baldwin up for 7; Hayes nearly got Wilson again. Hayes flushes Wilson yet again on 2nd down, leaping over a missed cut block; Donald holds his scramble to 1. 3rd-and-2, it's a slant NO it's a handoff to Lynch and he gets it. Wilson gets too much time and scrambles for 10 more. Let's go, d-line, the secondary is getting you all the time you need today. 11 to Graham despite blanket coverage by McDonald. And now with Roberson a full 10 yards off Kearse, Wilson burns that with a fastball for 21. Seattle's already at the Ram 23. A dink to Kearse and inside handoff to Jackson set up 3rd-and-3. Roberson has Kearse blanketed on a fade route and really denied him a route to the ball. Wilson missed Graham open there. 4:50 to go and Pete is playing for the tie? Hauschka makes it so. 24-24 Can the Rams set up Legatron for the win? Or better?
Foles starts from the 20. AND BLOWS UP ON THE LAUNCHING PAD. Cary Williams comes in on a corner blitz, whales on Foles from the blindside completely unblocked, and not only that, scoops and scores. Oh, and Foles is hurt. WELCOME BACK TO EVERY RAMS SEASON SINCE 2004.
I'm trying to figure out what St. Louis ever did to piss off the football gods like this EVERY GOD DAMN YEAR. What, we like baseball too much? It's not like they're playing worth a darn right now, either. It's not enough the piece-of-shit owner intends to move the team without giving the city a single chance at a *realistic* stadium deal? Sam Bradford's knees weren't enough? Steve Spagnuolo and Scott Linehan weren't enough? 200,000 Jeff Fisher penalties haven't been enough? Screw you, football gods.
31-24 Seattle. Put that down as a missed blitz pickup by Harkey, who never saw Williams coming andchipped the DE.
Pead barely makes the 15 on the return. FREAKING TAKE A FREAKING KNEE. Foles is apparently still intact; he's behind center, at least. Benny jukes left for 9. Nice blocking by Robinson and Brown getting to the 2nd level. They fake the pistol handoff to Austin and Foles throws wildly for Bailey, who was open on a short sideline route. Benny eludes a couple of tackles to move the chains, a very clutch play, he looked doomed at the start. Seattle bringing only 4, tough catch by Cook in traffic for 8. Bennett buries Benny on an inside handoff. When's it going to be air-the-ball-out-time? Seattle calls a pretty stupid-looking TO at 2:03. Thanks for the extra play! The Rams were just moseying to the 2:00 warning. Nice play gets them the first. Austin motions into a trips set, and Foles hits him on a comeback out of that for 7. Rams at their 42 at the warning.
Havenstein gets whipped, which I don't think has happened a lot today, and Avril forces Foles to send more airmail. FALSE START SAFFOLD, PENALTY NUMBER... 7, I think, it's actually been a while. 2nd-15 at the 37. Drop by Benny out of the backfield, but fine coverage by K.J. Wright. The fat lady is clearing her throat. Sit down, fat lady. Foles scrambles again after Robinson gets beat and Britt beats DeShawn Snead, not exactly Seattle's shutdown guy, for 21! Rams at the SEA42, but now Triplette calls a review. OK, they may need to change the spot. Britt looked down by contact. Nope, no change. Snead only got Britt's towel. Foles dumps off to Kendricks for 5 and the Rams call timeout at 1:04. Austin can't come down with a deep out pass, leaving 3rd-and-5.
AND OH MY FOOTBALL GOD, IT'S A TD BOMB TO LANCE KENDRICKS. Frank Cignetti and Nick Foles have balls of steel. Kendricks split wide for a go route, Dion Bailey (Kam Chancellor's replacement) slipped and fell, leaving Lance tantalizingly all alone downfield to field Foles' throw at the 5 and trot in. Unbelievable! 31-31
Frank Cignetti has already out-called every game of the Brian Schottenheimer Era. Probably of the Brian Schottenheimer Career. Cigna-mania is runnin wild!
BUT. Russell Wilson, the master of clutch, has 53 seconds to get probably 45 yards. Quick slant to Baldwin for 8 eats up a lot of time. 0:33. Wilson hits Kearse at the sideline at the 35. 0:24. He somehow did not stop the clock, eating Seattle's last TO. Super work there, I believe by Roberson and Ogletree. Donald nearly blows up the next play; Wilson wheels away and hits Lynch for a harmless 2. 0:18. A SACK by Eugene Sims will seemingly send us to overtime. He lined up at RDE and stunted around Quinn tying up both linemen on his side. Naturally, Sims appears to have injured his knee on the play. He needs help, though not the dreaded cart, to get off the field. You still have to really worry about knee injuries, though. The injury stopped the clock with 1 second left, and Seattle kneels on it. Not even trying Big Ben? OK, let's go to overtime, then.
OVERTIME
What a start to the freaking season. The Rams win the toss and receive.
SEATTLE TRIES AN ONSIDE KICK BUT THE RAMS RECOVER. Not only did that not fool ANY of the Rams on that side, it's undrafted rookie free agent Bradley Marquez, whose presence on the roster I freely questioned last week, making a nifty sliding catch for one of the game's most crucial plays. Sign me up for the Bradley Marquez Fan Club.
Hey, I appreciate the boldness of Seattle's call there. I sure didn't see it coming. Full credit to the Rams for not falling for it.
Triplette then raises my blood pressure 100 points by trying to call Marquez for an invalid fair catch signal, but that is overridden because the ball wasn't kicked off the ground. Well, at least they got the rather bizarre call right.
Rams at the SEA49. Benny up the middle for a couple. That onside kick seemed a tacit admission by Seattle that they don't want this game to go on much longer. Foles obliges them with a rainbow throw to Bailey, who beats Sherman on a corner route and withstands a huge hit from Earl Thomas. Brilliant, brilliant play for 24. Benny gets a very tough six yards on two carries to leave 3rd-and-4. Pressure from Havenstein's side forces another Foles throwaway. He sure has prevented a lot of sacks today. Zuerlein is true from 37 to put the Rams ahead, though not for the win. 34-31 Rams
If the Rams keep the Seahawks off the scoreboard this possession, they win the game. A TD loses, FG and we keep going. They'll start at their 20 after Zuerlein kicks off to Soulard. Here comes the crowd again, and great job today, people. Lynch gets away for 19 on a screen, though, after Jenkins whiffs on him. Hoo boy. Lockett beats soft coverage at the sideline for 8, and Lynch dances for a 1st down at midfield. Well, that didn't take long. Baldwin's open in the flat for 4 more. Quick screen to Baldwin to the other side will leave 3rd-and-3 and the play of the game. Long nearly gets Wilson and was arguably held, but Wilson steps up, except Donald and Brockers pull him down a yard short. And now the play of the game: 4th-and-1. Slant to Kearse?
NO, OF COURSE IT'S A HANDOFF TO LYNCH, AND BROCKERS AND DONALD MAKE THE PLAY OF THE GAME to start the Rams' season with a win. Brockers trucked RT Garry Gilliam to close the door on Lynch, and Donald fought through Sweezy and Nowak to slam it shut.
RAMS WIN! 34-31
Sure as hell feels good to WIN one of these instant classics for a change.
-$-
Photos: St. Louis Rams
Some expected starters: Tim Barnes at center, Rodger Saffold at right guard, Benny Cunningham at running back.
Rams inactives include Tre Mason, Todd Gurley and Brian Quick, and I'll bet that's a big reason Bradley Marquez made the final 53. He's active.
Fox broadcast team: Kenny Albert with Moose (Johnston) but no Goose. Siragusa's with a different crew this year. Otherwise, same crew that called the Seattle game here last year.
Referee: Oh, Jesus Christ, one week in and the Rams have already gotten stuck with Jeff Freaking Triplette. Seriously, Dean Blandino, you couldn't stick the Bengals-Raiders game with Triplette and give us Brad Allen?
The prediction: Seattle, 19-17. The fantasy player I'd want from this game is Stephen Hauschka. Great news, though: I'm awful at predictions.
FIRST QUARTER
The Rams win the coin toss and defer. Tyler Lockett a little surprisingly takes a knee at the back of the end zone. Chris Long hunts down Marshawn Lynch after a gain of a couple. Out route from Russell Wilson to Jimmy Graham for 7 with Gregg Williams bringing a couple of blitzers. And, engage Beast Mode. Lynch spins out of traffic for the first down and it takes at least five Rams at least another five yards to bring him down. 10-yard gain. Fred Jackson up the middle for 5 now, with Michael Brockers getting pancaked by J.R. Sweezy at RG. Wake up sprinting, people. Eugene Sims reacts to a big head bob by Drew Nowak at center and gets called PENALTY #1 for jumping offsides, which is declined because Jackson is all alone underneath on the sideline and James Laurinaitis takes five yards to bring him down on a 16-yard gain. Crowd has already booed hard on the Lynch run and now this penalty call. Sims next plays a read option perfectly and he and Alec Ogletree shut Wilson down for no gain. 2nd-10, STL40. Smoke route to Lockett for 7. Seattle empties the backfield and splits Lynch wide. It's an arrow route to Doug Baldwin, who breaks Lamarcus Joyner's tackle to stretch for the 1st, but a big hit by Robert Quinn keeps him about a yard short. Seattle going for it, 4th-1. No, it's not a slant to Jermaine Kearse, but Lynch doesn't get it, either; Derrick Coleman, who I thought was a basketball player, up the middle for 2. Dumb alignment here by the Rams. Seattle attacked Aaron Donald with a double team and there was a big gap to Donald's right. They overloaded the wrong side. Williams tries this all the time and it never works.
Eight minutes possession for Seattle but no points. And, is this how this season's going to go on offense? Greg Robinson blocks Cliff Avril not at all, and Avril blows up a very quick swing pass to Austin that eventually LOSES NINE after Tavon tries doubling back. Jamon Brown then blocks Michael Bennett, well, not at all, and he nearly drops starting RB Benny Cunningham for a safety. Benny luckily slipped out at the 1. Corey Harkey also failed to get any piece of Bennett on the pull. Right now, the Rams look thoroughly befuddled by their new zone-blocking scheme. THIRD AND 21 FROM THE 1 ON THE FIRST POSSESSION OF THE SEASON. PENALTY NUMBER TWO now, false start, Brown. WAKE UP SPRINTING! After the snap, though, please. That costs the Rams, well, a foot. Nick Foles sneaks for a couple to more boos from the home crowd. Lotsa luck, Johnny Hekker.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Seattle takes a 7-0 lead on a 57-yard punt return TD by Tyler Lockett. As an amateur scout, I fucking know to kick away from the guy, but Hekker blasts a 55-yard punt right to him, way overkicking the coverage, as there is no one within 12 yards of him when he catches it. THAT BALL HAS TO BE ON THE SIDELINE. Instead, by the time Lockett gets to midfield, his teammates have already given him a beautiful return lane, and I could have scored that TD, well, if I could run. All Lockett really had to do was run 30 yards and fake out Hekker. Remember when Chris Massey used to make tackles from long snapper? Yeah, Jake McQuaide doesn't. He didn't even get downfield, but Lockett has little trouble eluding him inside the 10, and Chase Reynolds sadly seems to have come up lame at the start of the play, which couldn't have helped coverage.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
7-0 Seattle
WAKE THE FUCK UP FUCKING SPRINTING!!!!!
Ladies and gentlemen, your 2015 St. Louis Rams.
Even worse, that's Chase Reynolds (34) injured, not Pead (24). Even more worse, that was Seattle's first punt return TD in ALMOST EIGHT YEARS.
Rams start at their 20. Well, this drive can't go much worse than the last one. Hey, Jared Cook just did something against Seattle! 22-yard catch on a post route, got behind the LBs, who were frozen by play-action. PLAY-CALLING! Benny heads left for 4 inside a block by Lance Kendricks. And, Foles is SACKED, by Bennett beating Robinson badly with a simple inside move. 3rd-15. But, the line gives Foles time against a 4-man rush, he hits Benny leaking out, and Benny squirts past two Seahawks for a 1st down at the SEA46. I like the play mix here as Foles half-rolls and goes deep for Austin, WHO IS INTERFERED WITH BY RICHARD SHERMAN WITHOUT A FLAG. Sherman is blocking Austin's arms with his arm and isn't in any way turned back to look for the ball. This is textbook pass interference unless you are on Jeff Triplette's Crew of Morons. Benny, though, escapes Bobby Wagner's jersey grab on a bubble screen and gets 11. Foles audibles to a handoff to Isaiah Pead that somebody called Cassius Marsh blows up for a yard loss. Thank Kendricks for getting no backside block there. Foles answers that with a 20-yard sideline completion to Cook. He motioned right and Seattle failed to even pick him up, possibly preoccupied with Austin. The Rams will start the second quarter in the red zone.
Rams at the SEA17, and it's TOUCHDOWN TAVON AUSTIN. Pistol formation, Cook to Foles' right, Austin behind Foles, Bailey reverse-motioning and settling outside LT. With Bailey getting a chip, then COOK getting a SPLENDID block to tie up Bruce Irvin at RDE (with the o-line downblocking right), Austin fakes inside, getting Wagner to bite up and bounces outside almost unopposed for the TD run. So. For three years, Brian Schottenheimer couldn't think of this play?
Rams 7, Seahawks 7
Backside pancake block by Jamon Brown didn't hurt on the Austin TD, either. New ball game after a quarter and five seconds.
Rams D should be well-rested; they've been off the field for 7 game minutes. Lockett returns a SHORT kick from his goal line, but Bradley Marquez (!) stops him short of the 20. Aaron Donald explodes through Sweezy and center Drew Nowak to drop Lynch for -3. Lynch then gets squat on a screen pass (even though Triplette let Russell Okung false start) thanks to a great reaction and ground-covering by Rodney McLeod. Okung false-starts again the next play, a blown-up screen that gets nowhere, but instead of calling that, useless fucking crapjob Triplette calls Robert Quinn PENALTY NUMBER THREE for hitting Wilson in the head, WHEN HE DIDN'T. He wrapped him up around THE CHEST AND UPPER ARM. This is a FUCKING BRUTAL call that turned a 3-and-out into an extended possession, and we need Earl Hebner to run in from the locker room and take over. Lynch up the middle for 4 to the 35, getting away with a fumble. Ethan Westbrooks got turned and burned. False start, Sweezy makes it 2nd-11. Wilson somehow avoids Hayes' charging train of a pass rush and scrambles out of bounds for 7.
The 3rd-and-4 play is really weird but works out great for the Rams. Seattle lets the d-line through like it's a screen pass, but Wilson tries to throw a quick hitch to Lynch way out in the flat, and Trumaine Johnson jumps it for an acrobatic INT!!!! Moose chides Wilson for even throwing the pass, rushed as it was by the Ram d-line. Moose also notes that Donald had dropped back in coverage on the play and was step-for-step with Jimmy Graham, and I cannot begin to describe how awesome that is.
Saffold and others get no push as Benny gets stuffed. Cook gets 4 on a dangerous play-action screen at the 2:00 warning. On 3rd-and-5, Seattle blitzes and Foles throws behind Kenny Britt, who slipped anyway. PUT THE PUNT OUT OF BOUNDS, HEKKER.
Yeah, this one's about 20 feet out of bounds, netting Hekker 36. Seattle at their 35 with 1:49 till halftime. And with a blitz doing nothing and the Rams clearly confused in coverage, Kearse burns through them for 28. Great start. Jenkins is all over a quick hitch to Kearse for 2, though. Baldwin, uncovered before the snap, meanders downfield for about 7.5. Fred Jackson cuts back down to the Ram 25 as Quinn overshoots him and Ogletree can't grab him. The clock's all the way down to 0:32 even though Seattle has all three timeouts. Wilson tries to scramble but Quinn comes off of Okung's block and tracks him down for what should be his first sack of the season. SEA TO at 0:26. Another quick out to Lockett gets the 1st down at 0:22. That's been there all day. Dumpoff to Kearse at the 10 and another TO with 0:15 left. Rams only rush 3 here, but it works: Wilson can't find anyone and Ayers runs him out of bounds at the 7 with 8 seconds to go. Needless to say we have a big play coming up next. Williams calls basically the same thing on 3rd-and-2 and it works again. All Wilson can do is fire a sideline pass for Lynch and he's not even in bounds. Send in the FG unit. 10-10 at halftime
HALFTIME ANALYSIS
Hee, I thought regular season live blogs wouldn't be as long as preseason games. No, they're going to be twice as long. I hope the Rams don't have to change a thing. On defense, they're keeping Wilson bottled up, Lynch in Siesta Mode, and I think Jimmy Graham has one catch on one measly target. You would expect Seattle to work more to get Graham the ball, but will the Ram d-line let them? No adjustment's going to work for them with the Rams winning up front. The big x-factor is TruJo's injury, how it affects coverage, and what Seattle can do to exploit it.
After early trouble, the Rams were also winning up front on offense. They were really pushing Seattle around in the run game at the end of the half. Jimmy Johnson's on Fox wanting the Rams to open it up, but I don't see that they have to. Play action seems to be keeping some of that Seattle defensive speed in check, though, so let's see if the Rams don't go for something big off of that. Otherwise, pound on them until they stop you.
Competent refereeing would also be nice.
Ultimately, this is anybody's game at this point, something I did not see coming after the Rams' extremely rough start.
THIRD QUARTER
Pead only makes the 16 with the opening kick return; kneel with it that deep, buddy. Frank Cignetti bails him out with a pretty play; a fake end-around to Austin setting up a wide-open corner route to Bailey for 29. The first run play is a mess, though; Brandon Mebane mauls Barnes backwards 3 yards, which is what Benny loses. Barnes continues the less-than-awesomeness by snapping the next play before Foles is ready; it clangs off his chest and over to Seattle for a CRITICAL turnover. More third-quarter magic by the Ram offense. Foles even drew an illegal motion penalty on the play. Remember those with Wilson, Triplette. PENALTY NUMBER FIVE
Seattle at the STL39. Lynch actually pulls up to throw here, but Long and Donald set up too good an edge for him to see over, so he cuts back, Roberson weakly lets Wilson block him and Lynch gains 5. Inside handoff to Lynch for 4 more, as he continues to flirt with a turnover. Slant to - no, another inside handoff to Lynch, who gets a GAPING hole for 11 down to the Ram 18. Brockers and Donald got plowed by downblocks. Wilson steps up and hits Kearse wide open for 9. Hayes does a manly job of standing up Lynch for a loss. 3rd-2 at the Ram 10. Graham looks wide open making a catch in the flat, but T.J. McDonald FLIES in and SUBMARINES him a yard short of the 1st. Tom Landry and I would always take the free points and kick here, but I'm sure Pete Carroll will go for it. WHA? Carroll takes the three. McDonald saved the Rams 4 points. 13-10 Seattle
AND GETS BLATANTLY FACEMASKED BY WAGNER. WITH NO CALL!
17-13 Rams
Finally another deep kickoff to start Seattle from their 20. Wilson has to make a wild throwaway with Long brilliantly shutting down his escape route. You're not blocking Chris with a TE today. Long and Donald hold Lynch to 3 on an inside handoff, with James Laurinaitis knifing in nicely. Fake blitz on 3rd down, and Donald whips Justin Britt off the snap and sacks Wilson almost before he can look downfield. An emphatic 3-and-out sends out the punt team.
24-13 Rams
Punt return TDs by each team in the same game has to be rare, right? Also, I assume the actual game is over by this point, right? NO SPOILERS.
Lockett takes a knee. Barron, who's having a game, slows Lynch up for a couple. Laurinaitis and McLeod are all over a quick screen to Kearse for 5. 3rd-3. Wilson manages to throw through Ogletree on a blitz, but Roberson makes a sweet play in the flat to break up a pass for Baldwin. Ryan atones for his last punt by drilling a 73-yard missile that Tavon muffs at the 12, scoops up at the 2, runs around dangerously not protecting the ball while attempting 2,000 Jackie Chan moves, all to end up at... the 11. Price of admission, I guess. Let's see if the Rams can shorten up the game clock with some ball-control offense here. 3:00 left, 3rd quarter.
Benny works off a Saffold block and spins for 8. The pistol handoff to Tavon that got the first TD is a run up the middle this time, and that ain't happening, Shotty. Er, Cigs. Saffold and Cook both missed blocks. 3rd-4. Bah, Foles air-mails the pass to Dogtown under pressure with no one open. Hekker's 44-yard punt, STUPIDLY, IS DIRECTLY TO LOCKETT, and Pead whiffs a chance to destroy him at the catch, but the Rams limit the damage to an 8-yard return.
FOURTH QUARTER
It's a slant to, NO, it's Lynch blowing through a BIG hole for 23. That wasn't very clutch D. Sims got stood up at RDE and the pulling TE turned Brockers. Neither Quinn nor Long on the field for that play, really? Here comes the Beast Train, 5 more for Lynch, similar hole, running through a Joyner tackle. Joyner's down hurt; they're checking his right leg. The Rams are quickly running out of DBs. They may have to move McLeod to nickel and press Cody Davis into service. Looks like it's Barron, not Davis. Graham makes an insane grab of a Wilson fastball for a 1st down at the Ram 19. Lynch looks wide open out of the backfield but Roberson (!) flies in and shuts him down for 3 with a perfect open-field tackle. Joyner returns on 2nd-7. Wilson gets plenty of time from a 4-man rush but overthrows Graham. He had Baldwin wide open in the end zone, too. GAH, Wilson gets flushed on 3rd-7, but the middle of the field is wide open, he jukes Ogletree and scrambles down to the 7. The ball comes out, but I believe he's correctly called down first. First and goal. Wilson throws for Luke Willson, incomplete, when it looked like he could have ran it in himself after getting flushed. I'm ready for some Gregg Williams Blitz Magic here. Seattle uses their first TO, I think in reaction to a blitz look. Roberson plays a fade route for Graham perfectly, and that's incomplete. 3rd-and-goal. Here comes that blitz, and Graham beats McDonald to bring down a perfectly-placed throw by Wilson at the pylon for the TD. And Lynch plows through Ayers on a wrap right for the deuce. Rams 24, Seahawks 21
The Rams are going to need a far better possession on offense than their last one. The D has been on the field a lot of the second half. Pead fields a tough line drive and runs into Reynolds at the 19. Starting things off in style, Benny jets off with a screen pass off a Barnes lead block for 41. Barnes blocked the struggling Wagner out of the play and Seattle whiffed a couple of ankle tackles. Tavon up the middle for 2, mmm-kay. The outside seemed open there. Benny turns a sweep that would have lost 2 into a 1-yard gain. Bennett beat Robinson again there, but notice Bennett hasn't gotten his name called a lot since the 1st quarter. 3rd-6, Seattle blitzes big, the pocket collapses all over Foles, and he throws a garbage shot put to Benny leaking out, and he runs through Richard Sherman and Dion Bailey for the first down at the SEA28. Quite the call, the blitz left Benny wide open.
AND WHY IS ISAIAH PEAD IN THE GAME?!?!? AND GUESS WHAT HE DOES? What was this, Pead's second carry of the game and you're giving it to him here? Fuck Rams Nation's life. It's a fumble after Earl Thomas knocks it out after a 5-yard gain. Irvin falls on it at the 25. God damnit, Pead. Don't let the rent run out on your place in St. Louis this month, Trey Watts.
8:56 to go. Jenkins trips Baldwin up for 7; Hayes nearly got Wilson again. Hayes flushes Wilson yet again on 2nd down, leaping over a missed cut block; Donald holds his scramble to 1. 3rd-and-2, it's a slant NO it's a handoff to Lynch and he gets it. Wilson gets too much time and scrambles for 10 more. Let's go, d-line, the secondary is getting you all the time you need today. 11 to Graham despite blanket coverage by McDonald. And now with Roberson a full 10 yards off Kearse, Wilson burns that with a fastball for 21. Seattle's already at the Ram 23. A dink to Kearse and inside handoff to Jackson set up 3rd-and-3. Roberson has Kearse blanketed on a fade route and really denied him a route to the ball. Wilson missed Graham open there. 4:50 to go and Pete is playing for the tie? Hauschka makes it so. 24-24 Can the Rams set up Legatron for the win? Or better?
Foles starts from the 20. AND BLOWS UP ON THE LAUNCHING PAD. Cary Williams comes in on a corner blitz, whales on Foles from the blindside completely unblocked, and not only that, scoops and scores. Oh, and Foles is hurt. WELCOME BACK TO EVERY RAMS SEASON SINCE 2004.
I'm trying to figure out what St. Louis ever did to piss off the football gods like this EVERY GOD DAMN YEAR. What, we like baseball too much? It's not like they're playing worth a darn right now, either. It's not enough the piece-of-shit owner intends to move the team without giving the city a single chance at a *realistic* stadium deal? Sam Bradford's knees weren't enough? Steve Spagnuolo and Scott Linehan weren't enough? 200,000 Jeff Fisher penalties haven't been enough? Screw you, football gods.
31-24 Seattle. Put that down as a missed blitz pickup by Harkey, who never saw Williams coming andchipped the DE.
Pead barely makes the 15 on the return. FREAKING TAKE A FREAKING KNEE. Foles is apparently still intact; he's behind center, at least. Benny jukes left for 9. Nice blocking by Robinson and Brown getting to the 2nd level. They fake the pistol handoff to Austin and Foles throws wildly for Bailey, who was open on a short sideline route. Benny eludes a couple of tackles to move the chains, a very clutch play, he looked doomed at the start. Seattle bringing only 4, tough catch by Cook in traffic for 8. Bennett buries Benny on an inside handoff. When's it going to be air-the-ball-out-time? Seattle calls a pretty stupid-looking TO at 2:03. Thanks for the extra play! The Rams were just moseying to the 2:00 warning. Nice play gets them the first. Austin motions into a trips set, and Foles hits him on a comeback out of that for 7. Rams at their 42 at the warning.
Havenstein gets whipped, which I don't think has happened a lot today, and Avril forces Foles to send more airmail. FALSE START SAFFOLD, PENALTY NUMBER... 7, I think, it's actually been a while. 2nd-15 at the 37. Drop by Benny out of the backfield, but fine coverage by K.J. Wright. The fat lady is clearing her throat. Sit down, fat lady. Foles scrambles again after Robinson gets beat and Britt beats DeShawn Snead, not exactly Seattle's shutdown guy, for 21! Rams at the SEA42, but now Triplette calls a review. OK, they may need to change the spot. Britt looked down by contact. Nope, no change. Snead only got Britt's towel. Foles dumps off to Kendricks for 5 and the Rams call timeout at 1:04. Austin can't come down with a deep out pass, leaving 3rd-and-5.
AND OH MY FOOTBALL GOD, IT'S A TD BOMB TO LANCE KENDRICKS. Frank Cignetti and Nick Foles have balls of steel. Kendricks split wide for a go route, Dion Bailey (Kam Chancellor's replacement) slipped and fell, leaving Lance tantalizingly all alone downfield to field Foles' throw at the 5 and trot in. Unbelievable! 31-31Frank Cignetti has already out-called every game of the Brian Schottenheimer Era. Probably of the Brian Schottenheimer Career. Cigna-mania is runnin wild!
OVERTIME
What a start to the freaking season. The Rams win the toss and receive.
Hey, I appreciate the boldness of Seattle's call there. I sure didn't see it coming. Full credit to the Rams for not falling for it.
Triplette then raises my blood pressure 100 points by trying to call Marquez for an invalid fair catch signal, but that is overridden because the ball wasn't kicked off the ground. Well, at least they got the rather bizarre call right.
If the Rams keep the Seahawks off the scoreboard this possession, they win the game. A TD loses, FG and we keep going. They'll start at their 20 after Zuerlein kicks off to Soulard. Here comes the crowd again, and great job today, people. Lynch gets away for 19 on a screen, though, after Jenkins whiffs on him. Hoo boy. Lockett beats soft coverage at the sideline for 8, and Lynch dances for a 1st down at midfield. Well, that didn't take long. Baldwin's open in the flat for 4 more. Quick screen to Baldwin to the other side will leave 3rd-and-3 and the play of the game. Long nearly gets Wilson and was arguably held, but Wilson steps up, except Donald and Brockers pull him down a yard short. And now the play of the game: 4th-and-1. Slant to Kearse?
RAMS WIN! 34-31
Sure as hell feels good to WIN one of these instant classics for a change.
-$-
Photos: St. Louis Rams
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Ex-Rams on the move
Various ex-Rams, some of them newly-minted, have already caught on with new teams since Saturday's final cutdown:Recent departures:
Austin Davis - signed by Cleveland, who must read this blog
Alex Bayer - signed to San Diego's practice squad
Imoan Claiborne - signed to Tampa Bay's practice squad
Barrett Jones - signed to Pittsburgh's practice squad
Other ex-Rams and family:
Ray Agnew III - signed to Washington's practice squad
Kourtnei Brown - signed by Tampa Bay
Jermelle Cudjo - signed by Detroit
Craig Dahl - signed with the Giants thanks to Steve Spagnuolo's undying love
Garrett Gilbert - signed to Oakland's practice squad
Kevin Reddick - signed to Buffalo's practice squad
Not as lucky:
Matt Daniels - waived by Jacksonville. He had a shoulder injury but they reached a settlement instead of placing him on injured reserve.
Mitchell Van Dyk - assigned to Pittsburgh's injured reserve. He broke his leg at the end of the final preseason game.
-$-
11-5?
If the Rams don’t get good coverage in the national press in 2015, it won’t be because Sports Illustrated
doesn’t like them. The defensive line got a feature article and a
Robert Quinn regional cover a couple of weeks ago, and in the 2015 NFL
Preview, SI’s picking the Rams to go 11-5. Alas, even
that is good for only the #6 seed in the NFC, and SI has the Rams losing
at Seattle in the first round of the playoffs. (Seattle goes on to make
their third straight Super Bowl, losing to Baltimore.)It’s a flawed prediction in several ways. The prediction’s apparently by writer Greg Bedard. He also wrote many of the scouting reports, but not the Rams’, written by Joan Niesen, who says “predicting a playoff berth this season is a stretch”. The Rams’ game-by-game predictions don’t make a lot of sense. The Rams will go 11-5 but lose at Washington, which SI predicts will go 3-13? In fact, SI says the Rams will start 11-3 and lose their last two division games on the road. Seattle? For sure. But if the Rams are going to go 11-5, they’re not losing at San Francisco with a playoff berth on the line. It’s about as weird a way to get to 11-5 as you could draw up. (The other two losses make sense: @ GB, @ Baltimore.)
As a Rams fan, heck yes, I would take this prediction, but it’s way beyond my expectations. I do feel the Rams have a strong shot at the playoffs IF they’re .500 or better at the time Todd Gurley becomes the starter. That’s my official prediction for the year.
-$-
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Practice squad signings
OT Isaiah Battle
RB Malcolm Brown
S Christian Bryant
TE Justice Cunningham
S Jacob Hagen
FB Zach Laskey
DE Matt Longacre
CB Trovon Reed
DT Louis Trinca-Pasat
DT Doug Worthington
So, no Barrett Jones, and no huge surprises, really. I thought 7th-round pick Martin Ifedi would be on the squad, but he wasn't one of their 63 best players, either. Jones may be done with football for all I know. The guy has an IQ of about a million; he doesn't really need football.
-$-
Where are they now?
A look at the former Rams who dropped off of this year's list (see previous post):
 |
| Sports Illustrated |
Jake Long has had
free agent visits with the Giants, Broncos and Falcons, and rumors
are flying that Atlanta cut down to 52 today instead of 53 to keep a
roster spot open for him. Long is 30, and it has to be noted that the
last time he tried to come back off an ACL tear after ten months
didn't go well.
Scott Wells had a
free agent visit with the Titans in June but doesn't appear to have
drawn any other interest. At 34, St. Louis was probably Wells' final
NFL stop. 11 seasons, a Pro Bowl and a Super Bowl ring... not a bad
career.
 |
| USA Today |
Steven Jackson
said he had no plans to retire after Atlanta released him in
February, but he's gotten no interest around the league, despite his
best efforts to get Dallas to sign him with his famous Bat Signal tweet. 11,388 yards and three Pro Bowls in 11 seasons for the
32-year-old Jackson if this proves to be it for him. He traveled
through Central America this summer and appeared on ESPN's
SportsNation and HBO's
Ballers.
John Ramsdell
retired in January after a 38-year career coaching in college and the
NFL. His last job was as Carolina's senior offensive assistant. He
was the QB coach of the Rams' Super Bowl XXXIV championship team.
 |
| AP |
Jim Haslett had
planned to take the year off, but is consulting the coaching staff at
Penn State instead. It's not a high-paying position; he's actually
making less than graduate assistants. The rumor mill believes DC Bob
Shoop will be on the short list for head coaching jobs after this
season and that HC James Franklin brought Haslett in to take over
that role. Haslett's not part of the gameday staff by NCAA rule, so
he can watch his son Chase QB at Indiana (Pa.) University on
Saturdays and still work his way up to a promotion next year at the
same time. Heck of a gig.
Fendi Onobun
missed the 2014 season due to a torn quad and was not tendered as a
restricted free agent by the Jagwires in March. It looks like he got
married in Houston in July, so congratulations.
31-year-old Donnie
Avery was a cap victim in Kansas City in February after a sports
hernia limited him to 6 games and just 15 catches last season. I
don't see that he got any interest around the league after that. He
had 218 receptions and 14 TDs in 6 NFL seasons.
 | |
| USA Today |
Brady Quinn
briefly attempted an NFL comeback in March and participated in the
veteran combine. He'll stay in the broadcast booth for Fox's college
football (he worked Saturday's UCLA-Virginia game) and NFL coverage
(he'll work some games with Sam Rosen). He also writes columns for
Football By Football and is heavily involved in his 3rd and Goal Foundation, which helps homeless veterans. So I'll make this
the last time I make fun of him for signing with the Rams during the
2013 season and never playing a down here after hurting his back the
first week of practice. Probably.
Cortland Finnegan
retired in March but unretired last week, retaining Drew Rosenhaus as
his agent. He's trying to make a comeback as a cornerback or a
safety, which is where he'd likely play given his dropoff in speed
over two years (2012-13) in St. Louis and last year in Miami.
 |
| ESPN |
Wide receivers
coach Henry Ellard and the Saints “parted ways” right after the
2014 season ended. I don't see that he's been picked up anywhere. He
has won the triple jump the past two years competing in the
50-year-old group (he's 54) in the USATF Outdoor Masters Track & Field Championships, held this year at the University of North
Florida. He also finished third in the long jump and fifth in the
high jump. Ellard qualified for the Olympic trials while still with
the Rams in 1992 but didn't make the Olympic team.
Peter Giunta was
fired by the Giants after last season; I can't find anything for him
since. He's been an NFL coach since 1991 and was a co-defensive
coordinator for the Rams' Super Bowl XXXIV championship team.
 |
| Mlive.com |
Todd Lyght is now
the defensive backs coach at his alma mater, Notre Dame. He's also on
the College Football Hall of Fame ballot for 2016. Lyght spent last
season on Philadelphia's coaching staff.
When the Raiders
hired a new coaching staff after last season, Al Saunders was offered
a job in the front office, but he retired instead. Well, “retired”.
He worked with the Dolphins' coaching staff during OTAs and has said
he would come out of retirement if it was the right situation.
Saunders, now 69, was the wide receivers coach for the Super Bowl
XXXIV champions.
 |
| Denver Post |
Brandon Lloyd was
not re-signed by the 49ers after last season and hasn't been picked
up, though he comes up in online speculation whenever a team (Green
Bay, New England, Carolina) finds out it needs a receiver. For all I
can tell, he may have gone back into aerospace sales, which is what
he did when he retired briefly in 2013. Or he may have appeared in
another zombie movie. If he does retire again, he'll have a hard time
topping his first retirement, I expect.
The Rams did not
re-sign guard Davin Joseph after last season, and he didn't draw
interest from any other team. He recently helped provide 300 pairs of shoes to needy kids in his hometown, Hallandale Beach, Florida.
 |
| AL.com |
Will Herring
played pretty well on special teams for the Rams last season, but
wasn't re-signed here or anywhere else. He did make an appearance on
Southern Chaos, which is a
reality show on the Sportsman Channel hosted by now-injured kicker
Garrett Hartley and professional outdoorsman Josh Galt. Judging from
his Twitter feed, he's staying very active with his family, with
hunting and with his Auburn alma mater, which has me wondering how
Les Snead could ever bear to let him go.
-$-
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Waiver wire-pa-looza 2015
Time for the annual roundup of where
former Rams and family have ended up after the final round of cuts.
Former Rams can just be former camp guys; they don't have to have
made the Rams roster to make this list. It's based on my recall,
ESPN.com's transactions page and blogs and NFL team website roster pages, so
errors and omissions are highly likely.
“interesting players” are players I
didn't expect to be cut or players I wouldn't mind seeing the Rams
take a run at. Let's give it a go:
ex-Rams cut: none
interesting player cut: QB Logan
Thomas
ex-Rams on roster: none
ex-Rams on coaching staff: none
ex-Rams cut: none
interesting player cut: (TCU
CB) Kevin White
ex-Rams on roster: OL Mike
Person (!)
ex-Rams on coaching staff: none
ex-Rams cut: CB Quinton
Pointer
interesting player cut: OL Jah
Reid
ex-Rams on roster: none
ex-Rams on coaching staff: TEs
coach Richard Angulo
ex-Rams cut: LB Kevin
Reddick
interesting player cut: DT Red
Bryant
ex-Rams on roster: G Richie
Incognito, TE Matthew Mulligan
ex-Rams on coaching staff: LBs
coach Bobby April III
Rams parents on coaching staff: DBs
coach Tim McDonald
ex-Rams cut: none
interesting player cut: RB Jordan
Todman
ex-Rams on roster: none
ex-Rams on coaching staff: offensive
line coach John Matsko, WRs coach Rickey Proehl
ex-Rams cut: none
interesting player cut: LB Mason
Foster
ex-Rams on roster: none
Rams relatives on roster: G Kyle
Long
ex-Rams on coaching staff: special
teams assistant Derius Swinton
ex-Rams cut: none
interesting player cut: DT Devon
Still
ex-Rams on roster: none
ex-Rams on coaching staff: QBs
coach Ken Zampese
ex-Rams cut: QB “Thad”
Lewis
interesting player cut:
DT Phil Taylor
ex-Rams on roster: G John
Greco, WR Andrew Hawkins
ex-Rams on coaching staff: RBs
coach Wilbert Montgomery
ex-Rams cut: T R.J.
Dill and CB Robert Steeples (cutdown to 75)
ex-Rams relatives cut: FB Ray
Agnew III
interesting player cut: QB Dustin
Vaughan
ex-Rams on roster: none
ex-Rams on coaching staff: offensive
coordinator Scott Linehan, assistant offensive line coach Steve Loney
ex-Rams cut: DE Gerald
Rivers
interesting player cut: LB Steven
Johnson
ex-Rams on roster:
G Shelley Smith, S Darian Stewart
ex-Rams on coaching staff: defensive
line coach Bill Kollar
ex-Rams cut: DT Jermelle
Cudjo, QB Garrett Gilbert (cutdown to 75), S Nate Ness
interesting player cut: TE Joseph
Fauria
ex-Rams on roster: none
ex-Rams on injured reserve: WR Greg
Salas (knee)
ex-Rams on coaching staff: none
ex-Rams cut: none
interesting player cut: 2014
3rd-round pick DT Khyri Thornton
ex-Rams on roster: none
ex-Rams on coaching staff: none
ex-Rams cut: LB Kourtnei
Brown
interesting player cut: DT Louis
Nix III
ex-Rams on roster: none
ex-Rams on coaching staff: special
teams coach Bob Ligashesky
ex-Rams cut: none
interesting player cut: OL David
Arkin
ex-Rams on roster: DT Kendall
Langford
ex-Rams on coaching staff: special
teams coach Tom McMahon
ex-Rams cut: none
interesting player cut: QB Stephen
Morris
ex-Rams on roster: none
ex-Rams on coaching staff: offensive
coordinator Greg Olson, defensive coordinator Bob Babich
ex-Rams cut: none
interesting players cut: RBs Spencer
Ware and Darrin Reaves
ex-Rams on roster: none
ex-Rams on coaching staff: assistant
secondary coach Al Harris
ex-Rams cut: none
interesting player cut: LB Jeff
Luc
ex-Rams on roster: none
ex-Rams on coaching staff: none
favorite bit of roster trivia: the
Dolphins roster has three McCains.
ex-Rams cut: none
interesting player cut: G David
Yankey
ex-Rams on roster: QB Shaun
Hill
ex-Rams on coaching staff: defensive
backs coach Jerry Gray
ex-Rams cut: DT/TE? Mason
Brodine and OL Kevin Hughes both released in training camp
interesting player cut: WR Reggie
Wayne (mutual decision)
ex-Rams on roster: WR Danny
Amendola, CB Bradley Fletcher, TE Michael Hoomanawanui
Rams Hall-of-Famer relatives on
roster: WR Matthew Slater
ex-Rams on injured reserve: WR Brandon
Gibson (knee)
ex-Rams on coaching staff: offensive
coordinator Josh McDaniels, defensive line coach Brendan Daly
ex-Rams cut: none
interesting player cut: QB Ryan
Griffin, who they'd promoted to their main roster in 2013 to keep the
Rams from claiming him off their practice squad
ex-Rams on roster: none
ex-Rams on coaching staff: assistant
head coach Joe Vitt, defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, outside
linebackers coach Brian Young
ex-Rams cut: none
interesting player cut: FB Henry
Hynoski
ex-Rams on roster: K Josh Brown, TE Daniel
Fells, DE George Selvie
ex-Rams on injured reserve: CB Josh
Gordy (hip)
ex-Rams on coaching staff: defensive
coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, cornerbacks coach Tim Walton (THROW ON
THE GIANTS!)
ex-Rams cut: RB Daryl
Richardson
ex-Rams relatives cut: WR
Saalim Hakim, Az-Zahir's brother
interesting player cut: LB Joe
Mays
ex-Rams on roster: DT Leger
(DOOZER) Douzable, RB Zac (Yikes) Stacy and QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, the
longest-tenured Ram in the league
ex-Rams on coaching staff: special
teams coach Bobby April
ex-Ram relatives on coaching staff:
assistant defensive backs coach
Daylon McCutcheon
ex-Rams cut: TE/FB Brian
Leonard, WR Devon Wylie (signed 8/18)
interesting player cut: DT Rickey
F. Lumpkin, who may have helped get Barrett Jones get cut
ex-Rams on roster: LB Ray-Ray
Armstrong
Rams relatives on injured reserve:
LB Chase Williams (son of Gregg)
ex-Rams on coaching staff: none
ex-Rams cut: none
interesting player cut: 2014
4th-round pick CB Jaylen Watkins
ex-Rams on roster: QB Sam
Bradford, P Donnie Jones
ex-Rams on coaching staff: offensive
coordinator Pat Shurmur
interesting player cut: C Doug
Legursky
ex-Rams on roster: none
ex-Rams on injured reserve: QB Bruce
Gradkowski (finger), K Shane Suisham (knee)
ex-Rams on coaching staff: none
ex-Rams cut: WR Austin
Pettis
interesting player cut: WR Titus
Davis
ex-Rams on roster: OT Joe
Barksdale, QB Kellen Clemens
ex-Rams on coaching staff: secondary
coach Ron Milus
ex-Rams cut: S Craig
Dahl
interesting player cut: DL Darnell
Dockett
ex-Rams on roster: none
ex-Rams relatives on injured
reserve: WR Dres Anderson (son of
Flipper)
ex-Rams on coaching staff: none
proof RamView can scout talent: they
traded for Nick Easton, the Harvard center I called the MVP of the
NFLPA Collegiate Bowl
ex-Rams cut: none
interesting player cut: CB Will
Blackmon
ex-Rams on roster: none
ex-Rams on coaching staff: safeties
coach Andre Curtis, special teams assistant Nick Sorensen
ex-Rams cut: none
interesting player cut: RB Dominique
Brown
ex-Rams on roster: none
ex-Rams on coaching staff: head
coach Lovie Smith, cornerbacks coach Gill Byrd, and, yes, senior
defensive assistant Larry Freaking Marmie STILL has a job in the NFL
ex-Rams cut: CB Jemea Thomas
interesting player cut: WR Hakeem
Nicks
ex-Rams on roster: none
ex-Rams on coaching staff: running
backs coach Sylvester Croom
ex-Rams cut: none
interesting player cut: TE Devin
Mahina
ex-Rams on roster: OT Ty
Nsekhe
ex-Rams on coaching staff: defensive
backs coach Perry Fewell, offensive quality control coach Dave Ragone
I've got a list of former players and coaches lined up for a where-are-they-now? post, but this is more than enough for today.
-$-
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