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
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