[HopHead Ram]

The Rams said that they'd be able to make up for the loss of Woods, and to a certain degree they have. But only to a certain degree. I'll take Woods or Kupp over Watkins any day. Just not seeing a consistent effort from Watkins. If Woods is at full strength, I think he could make a difference.

Absolutely. Woods is the most consistent WR we have on the team. Just having his veteran presence back on the field will elevate group as a whole ( Not to say that they haven't been balling without him, I just think they are better with him).
Still think Watkins provides a lot of value. He has to be accounted for and he is producing. He just doesn't have to be a 10+ target guy anymore and that is not necessarily a bad thing.

[ramsman34]

With Woods coming back and the Seattle secondary in the condition it is, I feel that we are going to see another performance where we will be screaming for more runs for Gurley. BUT....Keep an eye out on what is going on with Wagner. If he is out, we may actually get our wish of a 30 touch Gurley game. I want Wilson to be standing on the sideline for a majority of the game.

And lying on his back the rest of the time.

[HopHead Ram]

And lying on his back the rest of the time.

I just do not want to see missed hits and sacks on him. Nothing is more frustrating than his backyard heroics. If we touch him, I want him on the ground!

A little Bulletin board material for the Mob Squad. Saw a tweet last night that Joe Curley retweeted from Matt Calkin ( A seattle reporter) where he says "Russell Wilson just walked by Doug Baldwin and said "Doug, we're in first place next week". Hopefully not if Mister Donald and Company have anything to say about it.

[/zn/]

Um... part of the reason the D was on the field so much was that they couldn't get off the field on 3rd downs.

Anyway... there's also the bad luck factor. 3 fumbles... all three went to Eagles.

Rams normally allow 38.6% on 3rd down conversions, which ranks 14th in the league. This game it was 40%. Not real good, not awful.

This is just one of those games where the defense couldn;t get off the field and the offense couldn't stay on the field.


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[ramsman34]

The offense was on the field for 20:48. The defense was on the field for 39:12. That's 45 plays on offense v. 85 on defense. The offense was 2 of 7 on 3rd down conversions, which is below their season average of 42%. The offense got a short field on the INT and 7 points came from the blocked punt. So it's fair to argue it didn't do its share.

The defense was part of the 3rd quarter resurgence but in the end they were on the field an awful lot.

I don;t see how this loss goes on the D. Get more plays on offense just by sustaining drives and the game is different.



Not putting it all on the offense. Tru's penalty was costly. Losing Webster hurt. They had the usual issues with run defense.

But your offense is supposed to get more than 45 plays. Sometimes that happens because the defense doesn't get the ball back enough. Sometimes that happens because your offense can't sustain drives. I would say it was a bit of both this time.

And STILL they roared back in the 3rd quarter and would have won except for 2 bad plays---Tru's penalty and the strip/fumble on Goff.

Good veteran teams make the plays when it counts. Like Earl Thomas chop/stripping Gurley, v. Kupp not making the TD catch, both in the Seattle game. Eagles made the plays when they had to and the Rams made mistakes when it counted. That's the game IMO. What we need to come from this is a battle hardened team that is the one which makes the plays when it matters.

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Frankly, sometimes your takes rub me the wrong way. This is not one of those times. In fact, I think you are spot on here. This was truly a team loss. I, and many, have always said that most competitive games come down to a handful of plays. That is exactly the case here. From Tru's penalty, to managing the clock at the end of the first half, to play calling....The cliche that this is a game of inches never held more true than on the strip sack. McVay calls the right play but discounts the fact that Williams, not Havenstein is at RT. If you watch that play, Goff KNOWS he has the look he wants. Perhaps he could have let it rip earlier and with the right trajectory, made the completion. He felt he needed a split second more. He wasn't afforded that opportunity. That play would have been a 70+ yd TD had it worked out and EVERYTHING is different then. Alas, that did not happen. We can go back forensically and dissect the game and extricate all the opportunities lost. That fact remains, as you have pointed out, that both sides of the ball and even special teams did not make plays when they could have. And we lost.

The silver lining to this game and this season is that the coaching staff has myriad opportunities to TEACH. The team has myriad opportunities to LEARN AND GROW - All of which bodes well as far as future success is concerned. That future starts now. This is not about next season or new uniforms or a new stadium. This about being present. This is about understanding the opportunity at hand. Go to Seattle and lay a fucking smackdown on the shesquats. Take that momentum and beat the Titans. Finish the season by wiping the field with the whiners. End the regular season at 12-4, secure at least the #3 seed and a home playoff game.

Then see if the lessons learned payoff in playoff wins.

[dieterbrock]

Philly punted 4 times, the Rams punted 5 times.
1 defense couldnt get off the field, 1 could. At least 1 made big stops when the game was on the line. The Rams couldnt stop Nick Foles.

[snackdaddy]

Hard not to blame the defense when your team scores 35 and the opposition doesn't get any defensive or special teams scores until the meaningless one on the final play.

The offense most times is protecting leads not trying to come from behind. That is a good thing. You don't wanna make it habit of having to come from behind week after week. Sooner or later you'll be in a losing streak that way. But it would be nice if the offense did come from behind a couple times just so they have the confidence in that area.

So far, as good as this offense is, its not a clutch offense in crunch time. I'm hoping that will change. They do seem to learn from previous mistakes. Both Goff and McVay are so new to this marriage. And they've both done an admirable job. Once they start showing they can perform in the clutch, sky's the limit.

[dieterbrock]

My general feeling on why I think the D is more to blame..

Rams offense PPG... 30.5... Offense put up 28.
Rams defense PPG is now 20.4...

Rams scored about their average against the number 6 defense in scoring. In fact.. they probably scored their regular offensive point average.

Rams got walloped on defense.. giving up almost 20 points more than their previous average.

Actually, the Rams were averaging 27.1 offensive ppg and 30.1 total PPG heading into that game and scored 28 offensive and 35 total- exceeding their average, thus making your point all the more valid

[ramsman34]

The bottom line here is that the Rams D has to not get gashed in the run game - especially early in the game, contain Wilson and not let him make his miraculous off-schedule plays. Dominate the LOS on both sides of the ball. Stay unpredictable on offense and a head of the sticks, dominate on ST's. That is a TALL order. We will soon see if they are up to the task. Seattle is in double desperation mode. That can lead to them either putting it on the Rams, or crumbling under the weight of the pressure. They are a very experienced and battle tested team. We, are not. That said, this is a signature win waiting to happen. The residual effect of this game, win or lose, will carry significant weight for the rest of this season. Rams win and I see them being a force in the playoffs. Lose, and I think they might fade out of the picture. All of the NFC teams in playoff contention, except the Lions, have way more experience than our Rams. Simply must win this game.