The hallowed chalice may be on the line for the last time as the Rams host the Kansas City second string tonight. It's arguably the biggest thing on the line tonight, unless you're really vested in the Rams' 4th-string RB job or 10th or 11th offensive line spot.
Even though he kept all four QBs into tonight's game, Jeff Fisher is completely non-sensibly playing Nick Foles for at least a couple of series, so hold your breath.
Siciliano, Faulk and Holt call the TV action, and I'm sure Bill Vinovich has his microphone battery fully charged.
FIRST QUARTER
Sergeant Dan only out to the 13 with the opening kick from 5 deep. Tim Barnes, who I'm currently projecting as a cut, starts at center. Back to the drawing board, then. Quick out to Tavon for 7. Nice route. Isaiah Pead, also a projected cut, starts at RB and runs smack into
a LB for 2. And, so much for 3rd-and-1 -
PENALTY NUMBER ONE, false start, Demetrius Rhaney. On 3rd-and-6, worthless Jared Cook continues his preseason to forget by letting a ball clang right off his hands. He alligator-armed the throw in traffic. Yeah, 4th preseason game, lean toward self-preservation, but Cook is still worthless. Daniel Sorenson picks off the deflected pass and returns it inside the 10, where Greg Robinson strips him but falls on the ball in such a way he has no hope of winning possession at the bottom of the pile.
From the 8, somebody named Spencer Ware takes a draw all the way inside the 1. Louis Trinca-Pasat was awful here, getting moved way out of the way to open the hole, and, what do you know, James Laurinaitis doesn't fill the gap while Ware runs over Lamarcus Joyner. The D is about half-and-half starters and backups. Ware walks into the end zone the next play, with Ethan Westbrooks getting knocked two yards into the end zone at the snap. Guess where Ware ran. Not much from Trinca-Pasat there, either.
Chiefs 7-0
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| St. Louis Rams |
A worse Rams preseason is hard to remember at this point. Sgt. Dan for 31 out to the 26 this time, excellent wedge blocking by Barrett Jones and Justice Cunningham. And a bubble screen to Austin loses 5 with Kenny Britt getting no block on Tyvon Branch at all. Along with Cook, Britt has been beyond worthless this preseason, but Branch knew that was coming all the way. That's the second time the opposing D has been absolutely all over this play, and I'm pretty sure Tavon is tipping it off. Better get to work there, coaches. So, what do the Rams do? Run the same thing to the other side of the field, where the Chiefs should have shut it down for 2 yards, but Austin dances away from two LBs, swings it back across the field, gets a nice block from Pead and one by, unbelievably, Cook, and zips up the Rams' sideline for 43. Helps that Britt got his block that time, and the Chief slot DB was a mile off Austin at the snap. Pead bounces outside right for 6, with Barnes tying up his man excellently. Pead also got face-masked, so put the Rams at the KC15. Pead cuts back behind a Corey Harkey block for 3. Sorenson should have had him for a 3-yard loss the next play, but Pead bounced off and out to the left to get inside the 5. Best block on that play was Brian Quick's. Pead's down to the 1 through a hole by Harkey and Garrett Reynolds, who almost Bush Pushed him in. Pete Carroll's throwing the slant here, but Pead swings right and dives across the goal line behind Rob Havenstein's lead and an outstanding interior block by Harkey. Jared Cook even blocked well this drive. It's a Christmas miracle!
Rams 7, Chiefs 7 Pead giving Malcolm Brown some incentive when he gets in the game.
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| St. Louis Rams |
Easy 6 for Ware with Chris Long getting tied up easily and Jo-Lonn Dunbar blocked out of the gap behind him. Ogletree, though, blitzes in untouched to drop Ware for minus-4. Clean pocket for Chase Daniel on 3rd-8, but Joyner and Marcus Roberson shut down the quick out smartly for a rare preseason 3-and-out. Sgt. Dan does not fair catch with Sorenson unchecked and bearing right down on him, and muffs the punt, but the Rams recover at their 32.
Keenum on the Case now at QB. Play-action bootleg TE pass that never gains anything for the Rams doesn't here, either. Then an end-around for Givens, but LB Moses plays it well and Harkey can't budge him. 3rd-8, Greg Robinson's awesome pancake block is wasted on a pass off Britt's hand. He pulled up on his drag route before Keenum expected. And again, may have been some self-preservation going on. The QBs are throwing passes tonight that are going to get their receivers hit, and the receivers don't seem entirely keen on the idea. Johnny Hekker drills a beautiful 50-yard sideline punt, and with a United Nations' worth of flags flying, I'm not too worried about Frankie Hammond's long return across midfield.
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| St. Louis Rams |
Yep, start the Chiefs at their 7. Quick arrow route to the TE beats Ogletree for 10. But then it's
TOUCHDOWN, RAMS, with Cody Davis scoring a 22-yard pick-six. Daniel stared down the comeback route and Davis read it perfectly, jumped the route, made a nice leaping catch, and strolled home.
Rams 14-7
Legatron is booming them tonight, so start KC at their 20 again. Westbrooks stuffs a run for no gain. Ware leaks out of the backfield and spins out of a Joyner tackle for 8. Easy first down, though, with LTP getting knocked down at the line and Westbrooks getting bowled over downfield. Rams are much too light in the middle with these two. Screen beats a blitz for 6. Ayers lands a big hit on the next catch, but Ware still gets the 1st. Bootleg pass to Hammond for 5, with Faulk pointing out Joyner's work to take away the deeper option. Bubble screen to TE Ryan Taylor, who runs through Roberson down to the Ram 43.
SECOND QUARTER
Westbrooks swallows up another handoff for no gain. Daniel, though, scrambles to the Ram 32, stepping up after Matt Longacre got drilled past him. Westbrooks got pancaked off a double-team that time. Add
PENALTY NUMBER TWO, holding, Roberson. Marshall is apparently going to call the Chief QB "Chase Daniels" all night; wonder if I should tweet him. 8-yard flare to TE James O'Shaughnessy. Lynch gets flattened as Darrin Reaves bounces outside for the 1st. Good job by Davis and Bryce Hager slowing him down. For naught, as Chris Conley scores a 15-yard TD from Daniel the next play, beating Joyner on a post route. Doesn't help that the Ram d-line is yet again putting little pressure on the opposing QB, but Daniel has consistently gotten the ball out quickly.
14-14
Sgt. Dan only to the 16 from 8 deep thanks in part to an ill-advised cutback. Pead right for 4, nice block by Cody Wichmann. Pead up the middle for an easy 6, fine interior work by Harkey and Darrell Williams. Austin Davis has finally entered the game, so of course all he's doing is handing off, but Pead darts left for 9. Nice lead block by Justice Cunningham and a pancake by Brandon Washington. Now Chase Reynolds weaves for about 8 more off another act of Justice. Garrett Reynolds has also blocked well this whole drive at RT. The Chiefs finally take back the LOS by dropping Chase for a loss; no push by Garrett on the edge that time. But here comes Pead again, using blocks by Wichmann and Harkey to gain back 9. With Davis NOT THROWING for the SEVENTH straight play, Pead is stopped short on 3rd-and-1. Demetrius Rhaney got driven back two yards at center; nothing going on the right side that time. I'm begging for play-action to the TE on 4th-and-1 just across midfield. Nope, the EIGHTH straight run is stuffed. Rhaney got driven back again, and Pead tried to cut behind him but had nowhere to go. I sincerely hope Austin Davis kicks some coach in the balls when he gets back to the sideline. Give the guy even 1% of a chance, will ya?
A Chief false start and a nice pass breakup by Roberson are wasted by no pass rush and a 15-yard completion to Conley. That's followed by another 15,
PENALTY NUMBER THREE, your weekly personal foul by Eugene Sims. He made a nice play to swat the ball right back at Daniel, who bobbled the deflection. Sims lost sight of the ball hitting the ground and gave Daniel a huge shot, right after the whistle, thinking Daniel might still have the ball. You HAVE to pay attention to that whistle, though, Eugene. Chiefs now at the Ram 26. Roberson closes well on a swing pass to Reaves but blows yet another tackle. Davis and Lynch also blow tackles on a 6-yard gain that might have been stopped by an incorrect whistle. Garner then does a sweet job jumping a quick slant, but no pass rush allows Daniel and Conley to turn that into a short out route completion instead for 7 more. 7 more for Ware. Westbrooks got ridden completely out of the hole and Lynch couldn't fill. Davis flashes in and trips Ware up a yard short of the 1st at the 4. The Chiefs get FAR too cute with a read option, but Lynch is all over that and whacks Daniel for a loss. Well done. Cairo Santos needs no work at 23-yard FGs, but gets it anyway. C'mon, Andy Reid.
Chiefs 17-14
Sgt. Dan gets BLASTED in the head by Josh Martin at the 15, which will end his NFL run in about the worst way possible. Huge helmet-to-helmet hit finishes the night for both of them. AND NOW SEAN MANNION IS IN THE GAME. Ok, I like Sean Mannion. But Austin Davis was in the fourth preseason game for all of eight plays, AND DIDN'T GET TO THROW ON ANY OF THEM. I have never in my life seen a QB get such an unfair shot at keeping his job. Why the hell didn't the Rams cut Davis Tuesday as a courtesy so he could try to catch on with another team? What has he done to deserve such completely unfair treatment, crap on Kroenke's lawn? Well, I'd applaud that.
The Chiefs sniff out a screen to Trey Watts nicely and it gains nothing. Watts next drops a flare pass he should have caught. Mannion steps up nicely out of the rush on 3rd down but his desperation sideline throw for Chris Givens is nearly pick-sixed. So, after Davis gets NO throws in 8 plays, Mannion gets three throws in three plays. OK then.
The Chiefs take over at their 37, where, rare as a Sasquatch sighting, the Rams get a QB hit, this one by LTP, that should have forced an INT, but instead turns into a clown show with Roberson and Hager letting it hit the ground. With Torry Holt leading his fan club, LTP blows up a Reaves run. Reaves runs through several tackles with a screen on 3rd-9, but Garner strips him and pops the ball to Hager at midfield for the turnover.
Doing Mannion a courtesy they refused to do for Davis, the Rams call for a deep pass off play-action, but Mannion throws one away short instead. I doubt anything was open, KC was laying way off of Givens. Nick Williams' low contact on Mannion is the kind of friendly penalty call a home team's supposed to get. Mannion hangs Givens out to dry with a bad slant pass, but unlike some of his teammates, Givens was willing to go for it and took a shot. In vain, incomplete. At the 2:00 warning,
PENALTY NUMBER FOUR is on Quick for lining up incorrectly, which he's done before, and COME ON.
2nd-15 at the KC39, Mannion nearly gets picked off again with a poor sideline throw, then Bailey gets hung out to dry and Marcus Cooper blows him up to... send out the FG team?
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| St. Louis Rams |
And Legatron blasts it through from
57 as easily as if he were kicking from 27. That sumbitch would have been good from 70.
17-17
Tackle by Cody Davis at the 20 on the kick return. The D forces a punt with 0:08 left in the half, with Christian Bryant and Maurice Alexander laying some lumber.
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| St. Louis Rams |
HALFTIME SUMMARY
Pead made a strong case for his job, and the kickers look more than ready for the regular season. There is this rare play called a "quarterback sack" I'm eager to see anybody in a Ram uniform get someday. Oh, well, I can dream.
THIRD QUARTER
Aaron Murray takes over as Chiefs QB. Lynch and Westbrooks shut down the opening run. Longacre nearly gets a sack on 3rd-and-5 but Murray scrambles away for 12. Mo Alexander makes an excellent play to blow up a swing pass for a loss and blow up the RB head over heels. QB hit for Longacre as well. A draw gets 10 back, though. LTP got off his block but couldn't make the tackle, and Hager couldn't get to his gap. Inside handoff converts 3rd-and-2 at midfield, with Ware running through Martin Ifedi. Swing to Reaves gets another 10, but to their credit, the Rams are taking everything else away downfield. Two completions to Duron Brown put KC in the red zone. Murray's getting the ball out too quickly for the Rams to do anything about it.
PENALTY FIVE, offsides, Marcus Forston isn't the way. The Rams give Reaves a TD on another dumpoff pass the next play. And I mean give. Garner pathetically blows a no-wrap shoulder tackle, McFadden whiffs high and pitifully, Bryant makes a pitiful attempt to drag him down from behind. Hager does light him up at the goal line, and Reaves loses the ball, but apparently broke the plane with it first.
Chiefs 24-17 Yep, he dove and put the ball on the goal line. Nice play by him, lots of waiver bait on the Rams' part.
I really need to write less about this game at this point and will do my best. Givens gets lit up again but hangs on for a 1st down at the 33. Mannion guns to Bradley Marquez at the sideline for 15 more. Hey, that's the bootleg pass that usually doesn't work. Screen to Watts for 7 behind Barrett Jones' block. They go into pistol formation on 3rd-2, Jones' snap is poor, and Mannion can't hand off to Watts as a result and eats it for a loss. Viva preseason! Feel free to take that play out back and shoot it, Frank Cignetti.
14-yard draw by Ware to start the drive from the KC7. Longacre overran it and Ware ran through Hager, who has missed a ton of tackles this preseason. Alexander BLOWS UP Ryan Taylor to break up a 2nd-and-8 pass. No pass rush on 3rd down, though, and Murray's dumpoff to Ware gets 12. On a deep sideline pass, Vinovich correctly overrules a bad call on Bryant's legal hit on the receiver. The lack of defensive holding calls tonight, though, has been a joke. The Rams have blatantly grabbed someone almost every play. Longacre nearly gets there on 3rd down, but Murray steps up and hits Brown at midfield for 13.
Longacre tracks a draw down from behind for a loss, nice play. Alexander nails Reaves again on the wing to set up another 3rd down the Rams will probably blow.
FOURTH QUARTER
Hager makes me a liar by stopping a pass to the TE short in fine form. Chase Reynolds has been returning, um, fair-catching punts in Sgt. Dan's absence. Rams take over at their 11.
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| St. Louis Rams |
Malcolm Brown gets 9 on his first carry, a wrap run left with Zach Laskey making a fine seal block. He gets the 1st but then gets stuffed when Washington can't land his backside block. Mannion gets a pass deflected, but the DE swatted it over to Marquez for 5. Marquez breaks a couple of tackles on a bubble screen for another 1st. Washington blows another block but Brown turns a 3-yard loss into a gain of a couple. Good play action by Mannion but his deep throw for Marquez hung up a little too much and was broken up. No matter, penalty on KC that we heard nothing about in favor of a sideline interview. Mannion bootlegs again but fires too high for Givens. He dumps off to Bayer short of the sticks on 3rd down. The Rams also get
PENALTY NUMBER SIX, some personal foul we never heard about because the referees have picked now to have a man-down drill. Yes, the head referee for the game is now intentionally sitting out. How can a league be so successful while simultaneously doing so many STUPID things? Hekker gets a fair catch at the KC15 after all that. Viva preseason!
Martin Ifedi gets a QB hit that forces a bad pass by Murray. Garner stops Murray's 1,000,000th swing pass to Reaves to get the 3-and-out.
Rams at their 24. Holding on Wichmann,
PENALTY NUMBER SEVEN, puts the Rams in a hole, but Emory Blake gets most of it back breaking tackles on a quick hitch. Brown then gets the Rams across midfield with a screen behind an excellent lead block by Jones. Mannion tries to go up top again and underthrows Givens by a couple of yards. What's been with his deep ball tonight? Givens does a mirror image of Austin's quick screen in the first and gets 22 to put the Rams just outside the red zone. Watts squirts through the right side for 5 behind a Washington block. Justice is served
PENALTY NUMBER EIGHT for a false start. Watts, who hasn't showed the greatest hands this summer, drops a swing pass. Mannion guns for Alex Bayer at the 10 and HE drops it. The Rams go for it on 4th-10 but Watts falls down over the middle. Would have been too short anyway, and Mannion missed Bayer running all alone into the end zone. Definitely a learning experience for Mannion tonight.
I know, the game ended an hour ago; I should put quotes around the live in live blog. Another run stuff for Longacre at the KC22. Ifedi's penetration on 3rd-5 helps force a bad throw from Murray on 3rd-and-5, which will give Mannion one last chance to win the Governor's Cup. They'll start at their 26 with 2:11 to go.
Make it their 21,
PENALTY NINE, false start, Darrell Williams. DROP by Marquez on a slant; throw looked good. COME ON. Givens can't catch the 2nd-down pass while taking a hit in traffic, and make it THREE STRAIGHT DROPS when Brown drops the 3rd-down screen. Four drops in the last five passes, in fact. Viva freaking preseason. The Rams didn't even keep the ball past the 2:00 warning, which comes as Holt yells "Sit down" at Brown or possibly the whole scrub offense.
The Rams continue to let Ware pound out yards. He gets a first down on a six-yard run with Ifedi and LTP getting buried, and Jeff Fisher throws in the towel, putting the Chiefs in victory formation to end a winless preseason.
And St. Louis may never see the Governor's Cup again. (sniff)
-$-
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.)
