Like preseason game #2, game #3 for the Rams sees need for improvement over game #1 in just about every way, a really disturbing trend. But the starting offense has looked awful in landing a whole 3 points in roughly three quarters over two games. The defense that's supposed to carry this team hasn't been any better; Slack City has barely pressured a QB yet, let alone landed a sack. Gregg Williams' blitzes continue to never get there. The kicking game has even stunk, with Johnny Hekker flubbing 20-yarders and Greg Zuerlein making 50-yard attempts look like 70-yarders.
In every phase of the game, the St. Louis Rams are a team in need of signs of life. Some teams can afford to fade preseason games; does Jeff Fisher believe his Rams are one of those? Because they decidedly are NOT.
Andrew Siciliano, Marshall Faulk and Torry Holt on the mike for the "Rams Broadcast Network". John Hussey likely to get a lot of mike work as tonight's flagmaster of ceremonies.
FIRST QUARTER
Colts kick off for a touchback to open. Barrett Jones at center, Demetrius Rhaney at RIGHT guard, so in a little-mentioned move, Jamon Brown has shifted to left guard. The dynamic Ram offense opens the game by IMMEDIATELY LOSING FIVE YARDS. An attempted Tre Mason sweep left fails miserably when neither TE on that side makes a block and Greg Robinson gets smoked. Freaking brilliant. WHY DO THE RAMS HAVE ANY OFFENSIVE PLAYS THAT RELY ON JARED COOK TO MAKE A BLOCK?!?! Great, this team has me yelling in caps after EXACTLY ONE PLAY. Brown saves Nick Foles' life after Trent Cole smoked Robinson (WAKE UP!) and Nick dumps off to Mason to re-gain the loss. Decent protection on 3rd-and-9, with Mason making a nice blitz pickup, but, of course,
PENALTY NUMBER ONE, OPI on Tavon Austin after making a nice gain. Torry Holt is exactly right, though - that was NOT A PENALTY. Third-and-a-mile, so of course it's a useless dumpoff to Cook, and the 10% capacity home crowd sounds like it might, justifiably, be booing. Lamarcus Joyner gets away with bumping Donte Moncrief attempting to fair catch a 49-yard (!) Johnny Hekker punt. So far, so bad once AGAIN for the 2015 Rams.
Andrew Luck takes over at his 35. Aaron Donald (phew, he sat out practice Thursday) beats a TRIPLE-team and gets held (no flag) and still blows up, fittingly, a "Boom" Herron run for no gain. Akeem Ayers got the tackle but Donald did the crucial work. Janoris Jenkins breaks up a slant for Moncrief. But, no rush that play, and no rush the next play, either, and Luck's got Moncrief on a deep cross through the zone for 23. Draw to Herron for 7, as, rewind the 2013-14 lowlight reels, Chris Long gets driven inside by the TE. Ogletree gets initially fooled by the cutback but recovers to make the tackle. William Hayes and Lamarcus Joyner hold Josh Robinson to a short gain. 3rd-1, no edge seal by Long at all as he gets driven inside again and Herron takes a pitch right for an easy 5. Laurinaitis got sealed easily as well, and Joyner got blocked out of the play by feared blocker T.Y. Hilton. Another 4 for Herron, as Long is stuffed yet again and Donald and Brockers get no penetration. Robert Quinn stems the tide by knocking down a play-action pass. 3rd-7, a delayed double-LB blitz gives Luck plenty of time to throw but Hilton can't get his back foot down curling around the pylon. The Rams get away with a late hit on Luck and Jenkins getting a shove on Hilton in tight coverage. He Whose Name Will Not Be Spoken puts the Colts on the board.
Colts 3, Rams 0
Sure, they held the opponent to a FG again, but the Rams for the THIRD STRAIGHT WEEK look like garbage on both sides of the ball. They have serious deficiencies (everyone wearing a number less than 99) in run defense and aren't pressuring the passer. Still tired from Oxnard, fellas?
OH FOR CRIPES SAKE THE COLTS RECOVER AN ONSIDE KICK. Cody Davis, in classic bad infielder form, lets the bouncing ball play him instead of the other way around, Zurlon Tipton beats him to it, and Indy recovers at midfield. To Cody's credit, he was not fooled by the play. To Cody's detriment, he did not make the play, as the Rams prove again that they are not sharp in ANY of the three aspects of the game. Marshall Faulk protests the Colts touched the ball first, but they did so more than ten yards downfield.
Search me why the Colts found it necessary to try the onside kick. Luck doesn't need the work. We already knew the Rams are sleep-walking through the whole preseason. There was nothing to prove here. Maybe they're pissed off about getting whipped by the Rams a couple of years ago. In any event, more lack of preparation by Jeff Fisher for a more motivated team. Nothing about that is acceptable.
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| St. Louis Rams |
And,
PENALTY NUMBER TWO, the super sharp Rams jump offside on Luck's hard count to open the drive. Quinn and Mr. Offside, Ethan Westbrooks. T.J. McDonald at least breaks up the deep corner pass for Andre Johnson. The secondary came to play tonight; the REST OF THE TEAM is welcome to join them at any time. 1st-and-5 Colts at the Ram 42. BIG HOLE FOR HERRON FOR 11. Has a coaching staff ever been fired during the preseason? I'm ready for it. Quinn and Westbrooks got turned and were rendered useless, Ogletree got blocked and could not fill, and Trumaine Johnson got steamrolled ten yards by Hilton. I hate typing so much about this, especially when my effort in doing so is twice what the Rams' is in playing tonight. What business on Vince Lombardi's green earth do these 6-10 clowns have in playing so non-chalantly? Then again, Louis Trinca-Pasat is already in the game. He's in on the tackle when Luck and Boom blow a handoff and Luck loses a yard eating the ball. Light rush at best on 2nd-11, but T.J. breaks up a pass that Dwayne Allen apparently didn't catch.
FUCKING PATHETIC. 4-man rush on 3rd-and-11, a reasonable call by Williams, but in a coverage he has already blown many times, Joyner turns out to cover a receiver he probably should have left to Jenkins, allowing Andre Johnson a completely free run out of the slot for a 32-yard TD. Jenkins scrambles over to try to make a play which is unfortunately a laughable whiff at a no-wrap shoulder tackle. Those tackles are stupid enough, Janoris, and they look especially stupid when you completely miss.
Colts 10-0
If this team is trying to drive St. Louis fans away, they're doing a hell of a job. This game has been a complete farce so far.
Upon further review by Faulk, no, Joyner was fine on that play, but a LB was supposed to rotate over and pick up Johnson and didn't. Williams was rotating the coverage. Williams has done many times so far as Rams' DC, and the only people he's fooled ARE HIS OWN PLAYERS. STOP IT. JUST STOP IT. Who wants a LB covering Andre Johnson anyway, unless you are a simpleton?
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| St. Louis Rams |
Rams at their own 20 and on pace to lose 80-0. AND WOW, A FREAKING FIRST DOWN. Nice play by Foles, nothing open deep, so he pulled it down, rolled left and hit Kenny Britt for 13. Robinson continues to get abused by Cole but shoved him down from behind to give Foles an escape hatch. Mason up the middle for 5, strong drive block by Barrett Jones and good job by Rob Havenstein collapsing down the line. Only 1 for Mason the next play, cutting back and into former Ram Kendall Langford, whom Torry Holt points out Cook barely blocked at all on the backside. Fortunately, Frank Cignetti fools 'em on 3rd-3 with a shotgun handoff that Mason takes around the right corner for 10 to midfield. Alert the media! Cook with a fine lead block that time. Decent-looking protection but nothing open downfield has Foles scrambling and dumping off to Corey Harkey. And, forget it.
PENALTY NUMBER THREE, facemask, Barrett Jones. So much for field position. Now Bennie Cunningham gets stuffed in the hole, with Freeman making the fill the Rams LBs appear incapable of making this month. Rhaney whiffed on him. 2nd-25! (It's been Trent Cole beating Robinson at RDE, not Freeman. The 58 on Cole's jersey looks exactly like a 50.) Foles beats a bizarre Colt formation, though, with a screen to Benny for 14 back to midfield. Indy had three guys lined up over center and no DEs. Yeah, the screen was a little open. Nice block by Rhaney out front. Cole burns Robinson YET AGAIN on 3rd down, but Foles hits Mason, who no one picked up out of the back field, with a little dump pass for 17. And of course, Mason's injured on the play. Isaiah Pead's first carry is into a wall of Colts for no gain. Jones was the only Ram who made a block on that play. Quick swing pass to Pead for 3. 3rd-8, Foles goes immediately to Britt on the left sideline to counter a blitz from his right, but Kenny's shoved out of bounds a little short. Torry criticizes Britt for not "netting the sticks," but there wasn't time for it because of the hot read. The Rams go on 4th-and-inches and unadvisedly run wide, but Benny appears to get the 1st after a late lunging block by Rhaney. Rhaney's one of the few Rams who had a good first quarter, but they do end it in scoring range.
SECOND QUARTER
Another maybe not silver, but tinfoil lining is that Foles has been fine so far. He's making the most of what he's got. 3 for Benny with Barrett driving a guy about 10 yards out of the play. Benny for a couple more, safety came in untouched. On 3rd-5,
PENALTY NUMBER FOUR, facemask, Rhaney, beaten soundly inside by the feared Kendall Langford. Goodbye, FG range! Humorously, Benny put such a hard chip block on Erik Walden that he knocked him out of Havenstein's path and gave him a free run to flush Foles. Walden needs no such help on 3rd-22, speeding past Havenstein easily for the first sack of the game. Rams got into FG range and then promptly lost 20.
Held the ball a long time but didn't score a point. Nothing is changing. Nothing!
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| St. Louis Rams |
Pead at least does a good job downing Hekker's punt at the 5. Donald buries the Boom for 1, then he and Michael Brockers blow up a draw to Boom for minus-3. Donald finishes the trifecta by blowing up Todd Herremans and nearly dropping the Boom for a safety. Finally some clutch defense this preseason! Damian Williams is apparently doing all the returning tonight, stumbles to the IND44 with the punt. The Ram D has set up the offense nicely; do something with it now.
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| St. Louis Rams |
AND, TOUCHDOWN! Double-play fake, including a fake end-around to Tavon Austin, and Foles uncorks a perfect ball to Chris Givens (!) on a deep cross for the 44-yard TD. The play-action sucked in the LBs; a safety jumped up to cover up for them, but gave Givens all the room he needed while burning the other safety badly. Turned him inside out. I saw the Rams run this play in camp, but they only ever dumped off to Austin in the flat off of it. Love love love.
But of course, Jamon Brown is down after the play clutching his leg. I am getting really sick of Rams luck. He does limp off the field under his own power after the commercial break.
Colts 10, Rams 7 The Rams are back in the game after a disaster of a first quarter on the strength of a couple of their leaders, Donald and Foles.
Moncrief to the 16 from nine deep, tackle by Marshall McFadden. Quick middle pass to Allen for 11 beats a three-man blitz. Ogletree whiffs on Robinson at the line, and he gains 3. Screen to Robinson for 4, good hit by Ogletree. Clutch
PENALTY NUMBER FIVE on 3rd-and-3, though, as TruJo held Moncrief while denying a quick slant. Somehow this penalty was charged to McDonald. With Jenkins ten yards off Hilton, Luck's quick hitch to him logically gets 5. Trinca-Pasat and Akeem Ayers both get into the backfield untouched to blow up the 2nd-down run.
Third-and-7, and there are signs of life in the Dome. The crowd is getting loud. Chris Long makes his first play of the preseason, whizzing past the RT with great handwork and hitting Luck as he throws, airmailing the ball right to Jenkins, who returns it down to the Colt 15! There is life in Rams Nation! Life!
PENALTY NUMBER SIX, defensive holding. Hussey doesn't have the courtesy to say who it was on. Faulk believes it was on Ogletree covering Allen, whom he'd been jawing with the play before. Holy freaking cats. Second third-down penalty of the drive.
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| St. Louis Rams |
The Rams are on pace for 15 penalties tonight, if JEFF FISHER WOULD EVER WANT TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT. James Laurinaitis shoots the gap to stuff Robinson. Westbrooks shoots through to stuff the next run in the backfield, with McDonald cruising in for a big finishing hit. 3rd-9, double-LB blitz, Hilton beats Jenkins on a square out but can't control it in bounds. Faulk credits the Ram blitz for rushing the throw. At least the D has finally shown up. Nice deke by Williams earns a touchback on the punt.
Foles is 8-8-108 right now. Nothing for Benny on a sweep left. They were "power" on that side with both TEs, but Cook did nothing on his block and Robinson got knocked backward at the snap. The middle line, with Garrett Reynolds in for Brown, gets overrun on 2nd down, though Benny cut it back (!) for 6. And never mind.
PENALTY NUMBER SEVEN, illegal formation. Rams only had 6 men on the LOS; either Cook or the slot receiver was lined up wrong. Well set-up screen to Benny gets 16 and the first down! Another great lead block by Rhaney. Now Pead pops off the left side for 13! Good block by Robinson and another by Harkey in the hole. Kiss the momentum goodbye, though, with the Colts' 2nd sack. Walden rushed from Sam LB position and bulled Havenstein into Foles, with D'Qwell Jackson dogging through untouched. Faulk blames Pead for not recognizing the blitz, but it was timed perfectly and you also have to believe some of the non-recognition is on Foles. 2nd-19, 2:20 to go, the Rams have to burn a timeout because they don't have the right personnel. Foles overthrows a deep slant to Britt as Holt continues to accuse Britt of running crappy routes. Was that Foles' first miss? Darius Butler blows Lance Kendricks up after about three yards on a leakout route, and the Rams will punt after the 2:00 warning. Well, the starters are up to 10 points in three games.
Super 48-yard punt by Hekker, not returnable at the Colt 14. Ogletree mauls Allen to break up a short pass. Corner blitz induces a quick screen to Moncrief that gets only 5. Marcus Roberson nearly batted it down. Humorous false start on Herron, who flinches eagerly because he's got Ogletree 1-on-1 out wide. But Moncrief's open in front of Trovon Reed on the sideline for a 20-yard bullet from Luck. Allen finds a soft spot behind Ogletree for 14 more. Luck's arm is a damn cannon. Colts at their 48 in barely 30 seconds, still 1:29 left. Hilton WIDE open in another Gregg Williams bizarro zone for 16, with Joyner bailing off him to deep centerfield at the snap. The hell?
PENALTY EIGHT, Ogletree laughably offside, is declined because Cris Carter's kid beats Reed on another square out for 14. From the Ram 22, Herron runs smack into William Hayes for a couple. Luck and Hilton cross wires on 2nd down and miss a TD opportunity. 3rd-8, Luck has to blow a TO with the crowd firing up for the second time tonight. On the following play, Allen false starts WITH NO CALL. Luck fires quickly to Boom, Ogletree blows the tackle, first down at the 10. Typical Rams, get the crowd fired up with no payoff. 3-man rush, but -Trinca-Pasat- had blanketed Allen in coverage. Williams got what he wanted as DC and Ogletree didn't execute. 1st-and-goal, Luck overthrows Allen in triple-coverage. Another 3-man rush, with Westbrooks dropping. 2nd-goal, Carter gets down to the 2 on a drag route. The broadcast has done a terrible job keeping us up-to-date on timeouts, we've just found out the Colts have none, and Luck overthrows a fade route for Carter with 0:09 left and the clock running. Roberson shut him off. He Whose Name Shall Not Be Spoken chips the Colts ahead 13-7.
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| St. Louis Rams |
HALFTIME SUMMARY
Ultimately an improvement over the swill the Rams gave us the first two games, but they've only improved to the typical Rams of last year, the team that excels most at finding ways to lose. Eight penalties, key penalties on 3rd downs, bad pass pro by the tackles, soft, sloppy and possibly lazy play by the receivers. We're now ten quarters into the preseason without a Rams sack, with pressure on Luck light at best. The secondary made big plays for both teams. Foles and Donald have been highlights, but the Rams still have a lot of work to do.
THIRD QUARTER
LOL, it took me two hours fifty to watch the first half, again, unlike Jeff Fisher, I'll again try to tighten things up some.
Foles deservedly has the baseball cap on. He was 10-11-128 for a passer rating of 145.5. Though Luck had 161 yards passing in the 1st half, he's back in. But Robinson completely bungles a handoff and Bryce Hager falls on it to land the Rams a turnover!
Rams 14, Colts 13
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| St. Louis Rams |
Nice starting field position for Case Keenum, the Indy 18. Trey Watts rumbles for 6 off a Harkey block. Harkey then gets down to the 3 off the misdirection backside pass they've gotten enamored with this year, and Watts walks in from the 3 for the TD. Nice surge by Garrett Reynolds, nice move block by Justice Cunningham, and a good block at the LOS by Alex Bayer, who hasn't been known for that.
500-year-old Matt Hasselbeck now at QB. Tipton right up the gut for 8. LTP overran it; Marcus Forston couldn't budge anybody, Jo-Lonn Dunbar got blocked. 4 more for Tipton as Forston gets run over. Dunbar flies through and trips Tipton in the backfield, but
PENALTY NUMBER NINE, offsides, I think on Martin Ifedi but Hussey doesn't have the courtesy to even announce this one over the PA, for crying out loud. 3 more for Tipton; Forston continues to stuff nothing. Holding, Colts to erase a 10-yard Tyler Varga run. Dunbar defends back-to-back passes in the flat on either side of the field to force the punting team in. Dunbar wins MVP for that possession.
Like every rookie, Sergeant Dan thinks he can make 20 ninja moves and return every punt for a TD, and like every rookie, gains maybe one yard trying it. And,
TWO HOLDING PENALTIES BY THE RAMS ON THE RETURN, by Bayer and Watts.
And now that the field position's terrible, the Ram 8, let's put Austin Davis in the game! He has gotten about as unfair a shot as I've ever seen a returning QB get this summer. Pead breaks a tackle and drives for 8, with Reynolds throwing a couple of good blocks. Pead tries the left side but gets nothing, with Bayer and Darrell Williams getting no push. But Davis stands tall on 3rd down and hits Givens on a drag for 20. End-around to Givens for 6, good block by Justice outside but that was about all Givens got. Pead left for a couple, and then gets stuffed on 3rd-2. Tim Barnes is at center now and got tossed aside by Josh Chapman.
Penalty on the punt starts the Colts at their 6. Screen to Jack Doyle, played well by Hager for 4. Quick out to Vincent Brown beats Roberson's soft coverage for 11. Imoan Claiborne blows up a TE arrow route for 1. A penalty puts them back inside their 15, but Hasselbeck gets them back out with a completion to Griff Whalen and a garbage back hand throw to Varga, with Hager blowing a 1st-down-saving tackle badly. Matt Longacre stuffs a run for 3. Hasselbeck throws behind TE Sean McGrath incomplete. 3rd-7, Roberson breaks up an out route to Carter. Williams was pretty vanilla here, not that it hurt.
Sean Mannion enters the game for the Rams with about 2:00 left in the 3rd. Yes, Davis got one possession, on which he got to throw one pass. While agreeing Keenum has beaten him out, how can you give a guy who started half your games last season so little chance to defend his spot on the roster? Davis deserves a lot better than he's gotten this year.
Mannion hits Damian Williams for 12 on a comeback, showing off arm strength I didn't see in his Senior Bowl workouts, but then throws behind Williams on a slant. Blitz may have rushed his throw. He goes for Williams a third time, but it sure looked like he stared him down and Jalil Brown jumped the route for an INT. Faulk blames Williams for running a poor route, but I didn't detect Mannion looking anywhere else. Mannion's first setback this preseason.
FOURTH QUARTER
Brown's return set the Colts up at the Ram 14. Hager stuffs Varga on the left edge for 1. Jay Hughes flounders at Varga's feet on a 3rd-down circle route, which lets him power down to the 1. Hussey overrides an injustly thrown flag on Reed, who perfectly blanketed Carter on another fade route attempt. So the Colts keep it simple on 2nd-goal, with Varga running through McFadden in the hole for the TD. The Colts go for two and Whalen beats Claiborne to the pylon on the quick out.
Colts 21, Rams 14
The o-line's gotten very little push in the running game since Mannion's come in, but he beats a heavy rush with a screen to Malcolm Brown for 11. Brown gets 7 on two tough carries, and Mannion hits Tyler Slavin on a quick slant for another 1st at the 46. Brown sweeps left for another 4, and his runs have been all him so far. Watts comes back in and hits a brilliant spin move on Matt Overton to get another first down. The Rams rerun the Givens TD play, but Mannion's throw is nowhere near where Emory Blake is running. Mannion also missed Justice all alone 25 yards downfield. Mannion hangs in well against a 3rd-and-10 blitz but only hits Sergeant Dan for 8 on the quick out. Indy calls timeout with the Rams going for it on 4th-and-3 at the Colt 37. They blitz big, and Mannion's quick out for Slavin is off target. Indy ball.
Hasselbeck stays in with about 6:00 left to play. The Rams continue not tackling Varga, who breaks a couple for 3. But Hasselbeck hard-counts his own guys into false-starting, and Carter breaks the wrong way on the 3rd-down throw to give the Rams one of their rare three-and-outs so far this summer.
A short run for Brown is followed by his bad one-handed drop, and then Bradley Marquez dropping a ball over his head. Viva preseason!
Somebody named Quan Bray brings the punt back 28 yards to the Ram 40, with Sergeant Dan and Brown missing tackles after flags are NOT thrown for Watts getting blatantly shoved in the back and Marquez getting obviously held for about 15 yards. You want to bet the Rams get this Hussey crew at least twice this regular season, too?
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| St. Louis Rams |
A nice hit by McFadden and a nice deep pass breakup by Claiborne stop the Colts in their tracks, but for no particularly good reason, Chuck Pagano sends in He Whose Name Shall Not Be Spoken, and he continues to haunt the Rams by drilling a 55-yard FG. Nearly kicked his age there.
Colts 24, Rams 14 Special teams cost the Rams those points, and it would be nice if Greg Zuerlein would have looked anywhere near as good kicking from that distance last week as a guy twice his age did here tonight.
Sgt. Dan splits the defense and gets to the 25 from 9 deep on the return. Screen to Brown for nothing, nobody blocked the nose tackle, who chased him down. Bayer makes a nice overhead grab for a 1st down, but, after a long time without one for this team, here's
PENALTY NUMBER TWELVE, holding on Isaiah Battle. That pretty much kills the night for the Rams. Slavin drops a quick slant on 3rd down, and going for it on 4th and 10, Mannion gets plenty of time to throw but eats a sack from blitzing CB Chance Casey.
I'll open the RamView recap with my close here: the Rams look readier than they did the first two dreadful weeks, but they still don't look ready for prime time.
-$-
Let the speculation end, here is the full cut list:
