Some thoughts on ‘the morning after’…

[Rams43]

Don’t look now, but Rams have elevated scrappy and entertaining to a whole new level, haven’t they?

This team is growing by leaps and bounds and is now far ahead of where I thought they’d be by mid-December. They can now play with anybody.

If we want to know why Rams lost this game we needn’t look too far. THREE blown coverages gifted the Ravens 21 points in a game eventually won by 6 points. Even one less blown coverage and Rams win.

Also, Rams seemed to go ‘bend, not break’ in that crucial late 4th quarter drive where Ravens stole their soul with a back breaking score. Why get away from what was working for 55 minutes?

Havenstein was missed.

Headset problems weren’t helpful (kinda suspicious), but the refs completely ignoring blatant holding by Ravens right in front of them? Not just on AD, either. Like the ‘fix’ was in? Shakes my faith in the integrity of today’s NFL. I’m serious. I don’t recall ever seeing anything like it.

But there was plenty of good news for Ram fans yesterday, too.

Stafford is playing well.

KW is a beast.

Rams OL handled a potent Ravens D quite well for the most part.

Kupp looked healthy once again.

Davis Allen might be our future starter at TE. He’s certainly earned more quality snaps at the very least. He should have been getting more snaps weeks sooner.

Honestly, I prefer Allen Robinson playing ahead of Atwell. There. I said it.

Our secondary had 3 catastrophic blown coverages. And against a team like the Ravens? Just too much to overcome. Rams have some work to do in that secondary. Might be some new faces back there next season.

McVay was right about playing Havrisik over Crosby and I was wrong. The kid had a fine game and certainly did his job.

What’s with the yips from Trammel? Where did that come from?

It is my hope that Morris impresses an owner enough to be hired as HC elsewhere. I’d love the 2 comp 3rds plus the opportunity to see McVay hire a more aggressive DC for this emerging D.

Those were the highlights (and lowlights) for me. All the rest was window dressing.

Thoughts?

 

[Ramstien]

Havrisik seemed to be kicking the ball straight without that fade at the end of his kicks. Also, I was impressed how well the Rams shut down the Ravens ground game.

 

[fanotodd]

Excellent assessment.
Havs was missed, but as far as backups go, that’s exactly where Noteboom has been his best. He’s not an every week starter but he can come in occasionally without too detrimental of a drop off. All in all, the OL played a very good game despite some glitches vs a very good defense.

The headset thing was beyond suspicious. It didn’t happen midway through the 2nd Qtr. It never happens to the home team, either.

What a draft! Yes, we’ve been waiting to see Allen get some meaty playing time. He’s gonna be good. Love his attitude and even though he had a drop, he’s got some good hands. So, is that 5 potential starters and a punter in one draft?
Allen
The Conductor
Young
Avila
Nacua
Evans (P)

Secondary:
Yeah, we all knew this was gonna be a weak unit, dependent on a good pass rush. They’ve played better than expected but there’s work to be done.

Robinson over Atwell? Robinson can’t block worth shit either, so I suppose it depends on the playcalling as to which player should be out there.

It’s pretty obvious Kupp hasn’t been 100% this season. Yesterday showed just how good he is when his wheels are working.

Thankfully, this game wasn’t lost because of a kicker! This forum would have gone nuts.

I keep forgetting about the comp picks the Rams would receive if Morris leaves. Holy smokes! Those are some prime picks.
Hmmm.

 

[RamFanWA]

All that... And 31 points, 400+ yards on one of best defenses. Ya baby!

 

[Loyal]

"Our secondary had 3 catastrophic blown coverages. And against a team like the Ravens? Just too much to overcome..."

But we did overcome. We lost on a fluke PR TD, aided by illegal blocks

 

[TXRams86]

I don't know what to think of Morris at this point. He has a young core of players that would benefit from the continuity at DC. But in a season where we're supposed to be doing a lot of talent evaluating AND self scouting, he hasn't changed much of anything. This is the year to be experimenting with a bunch of different things including blitz packages and overall more aggressive defense. The way we've let games slip on defense is all too familiar.

I would live with a 3rd and 17 conversion if we showed more aggressive play calling. This soft zone is infuriating.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Don’t look now, but Rams have elevated scrappy and entertaining to a whole new level, haven’t they?

This team is growing by leaps and bounds and is now far ahead of where I thought they’d be by mid-December. They can now play with anybody.

If we want to know why Rams lost this game we needn’t look too far. THREE blown coverages gifted the Ravens 21 points in a game eventually won by 6 points. Even one less blown coverage and Rams win.

Also, Rams seemed to go ‘bend, not break’ in that crucial late 4th quarter drive where Ravens stole their soul with a back breaking score. Why get away from what was working for 55 minutes?

Havenstein was missed.

Headset problems weren’t helpful (kinda suspicious), but the refs completely ignoring blatant holding by Ravens right in front of them? Not just on AD, either. Like the ‘fix’ was in? Shakes my faith in the integrity of today’s NFL. I’m serious. I don’t recall ever seeing anything like it.

But there was plenty of good news for Ram fans yesterday, too.

Stafford is playing well.

KW is a beast.

Rams OL handled a potent Ravens D quite well for the most part.

Kupp looked healthy once again.

Davis Allen might be our future starter at TE. He’s certainly earned more quality snaps at the very least. He should have been getting more snaps weeks sooner.

Honestly, I prefer Allen Robinson playing ahead of Atwell. There. I said it.

Our secondary had 3 catastrophic blown coverages. And against a team like the Ravens? Just too much to overcome. Rams have some work to do in that secondary. Might be some new faces back there next season.

McVay was right about playing Havrisik over Crosby and I was wrong. The kid had a fine game and certainly did his job.

What’s with the yips from Trammel? Where did that come from?

It is my hope that Morris impresses an owner enough to be hired as HC elsewhere. I’d love the 2 comp 3rds plus the opportunity to see McVay hire a more aggressive DC for this emerging D.

Those were the highlights (and lowlights) for me. All the rest was window dressing.

Thoughts?

Im pretty sure the bend but don’t break was because they were afraid the secondary would give up another explosive play

 

[shovelpass]

Im pretty sure the bend but don’t break was because they were afraid the secondary would give up another explosive play

The secondary was completely outmatched.

 

[Ellard80]

I don't know what to think of Morris at this point. He has a young core of players that would benefit from the continuity at DC. But in a season where we're supposed to be doing a lot of talent evaluating AND self scouting, he hasn't changed much of anything. This is the year to be experimenting with a bunch of different things including blitz packages and overall more aggressive defense. The way we've let games slip on defense is all too familiar.

I would live with a 3rd and 17 conversion if we showed more aggressive play calling. This soft zone is infuriating.

yeah, soft zone in that situation - i understand the reasoning and its common.

But so, you play soft, and they gain 10 yards over the middle.... it's still letting them off the hook.

Once you get them backed up like that - sometimes the better play is to blitz. make them get rid of the ball.

I prefer 2 man in those situations as well to cover 3 or 4.

 

[JimY53]

"Our secondary had 3 catastrophic blown coverages. And against a team like the Ravens? Just too much to overcome..."

But we did overcome. We lost on a fluke PR TD, aided by illegal blocks

And it wasn't 3 blown coverages. Sometimes the call is not executed.

There was 1 blown coverage but who's to blame? Fuller probably, but we don't know. The wheel route was not accounted for
same as last week. But last week may have been Johnson and this week, too. Or one bay have been Fuller and one Johnson...without knowing their rules. But in both cases the safeties screwed up. They have to communicate better or read the motion better

something.

Fuller misplayed the Pogo route by OBJ. He should know better,
The last TD Ravens ran triple cross triple posts ... and Fuller got frozen and beat. It happens in the NFL.

Not going to kill Fuller as a bad player, but he may have been the culprit on all three ... just at least.

Only thing I disagree with on your post is the blocks from EZ view were not illegal.
Evans outkicked the coverage and missed tackles --- and that cost them that TD

 

[Loyal]

And it wasn't 3 blown coverages. Sometimes the call is not executed.

There was 1 blown coverage but who's to blame? Fuller probably, but we don't know. The wheel route was not accounted for
same as last week. But last week may have been Johnson and this week, too. Or one bay have been Fuller and one Johnson...without knowing their rules. But in both cases the safeties screwed up. They have to communicate better or read the motion better

something.

Fuller misplayed the Pogo route by OBJ. He should know better,
The last TD Ravens ran triple cross triple posts ... and Fuller got frozen and beat. It happens in the NFL.

Not going to kill Fuller as a bad player, but he may have been the culprit on all three ... just at least.

Only thing I disagree with on your post is the blocks from EZ view were not illegal.
Evans outkicked the coverage and missed tackles --- and that cost them that TD

I simply quoted the OP of this thread and responded to him. I didn't say anything about blown coverages.

 

[snackdaddy]

We're no longer one of the preferred teams. We're not gonna get any love from the refs when we play one of them. But the next 3 games our opponents are not among the preferred either. So it should be called fairly even for the most part.

There's a log jam of teams on the bubble sitting at 6-7. We're at the top of that log jam. We may or may not make the playoffs. Whatever happens I'm not dissatisfied with the team today. To me its always been about next year and beyond. And things are looking promising for that.

 

[Da-Rock]

I don't think we have enough to win a playoff game, but it would "look" nice to make the playoffs. I wouldn't mind the Rams showing the NFL world that they are not chumps and still get a 1st round pick in the teens.

 

[Rams43]

I think it’s fair to say that these Rams are now close. Not completely there yet, but very close.

Next off-season could well put us over the top, talent wise. Can’t wait.

 

[Allen2McVay]

Tough Loss.

 

[JimY53]

I simply quoted the OP of this thread and responded to him. I didn't say anything about blown coverages.

I was responding to the errant information in the OP and agreeing with you that Rams did overcome, the offense was excellent
only disagreement was the lack of illegal blocks.

 

[JimY53]

What do you consider to be the difference?

People can have own definitions, but a blown coverage is when someone fails to play the coverage, the blow it, they leave someone unguarded.

Lack of execution is when you play the coverage but get beat. So, I could have been clearer -- lack of execution is when Fuller bit on a double move and let someone get behind him. He took a chance -- and didn't execute/

On the first TD someone let the motion guy run free----that's blown.

I can see my verbiage was confusing ... because if someone blows a coverage, it is also lack of execution.

So maybe, blown vs gotten beat would have been better.

Bottom line, there was one blown coverage and two where someone got beat for TDs
that's the difference

 

[Londoner]

a 1st round pick in the teens.

Playoff teams start picking at 19, so we would have to be the last wild card qualifier and lose straight away.

 

[RamWoodie]

Indeed the secondary cost this game...BUT...was it because the defense was on alert of Jackson's running? I tend to think not. On the first two Raven TDs...it was because safeties didn't play safe. They bit up instead of staying back, not allowing the WRs behind them.

What surprised me was JJ III, he was the hero last week, but he's the scapegoat today! Yesterday was not one of his better days...PERIOD!!!

My other question is...since the Rams were having headset problems, why weren't the Ravens told to shut off their headsets???

It's gonna be tough getting in the playoffs because the Vikes won...and if the Pack wins tonight, the Rans are really on the outside looking in!!!

 

[JimY53]

Indeed the secondary cost this game...BUT...was it because the defense was on alert of Jackson's running? I tend to think not. On the first two Raven TDs...it was because safeties didn't play safe. They bit up instead of staying back, not allowing the WRs behind them.

What surprised me was JJ III, he was the hero last week, but he's the scapegoat today! Yesterday was not one of his better days...PERIOD!!!

Fuller was too aggressive on one TD. Last one he got froze and got beat. That happens... I won't hate on him for that. A WR runs at you gives you a fake and you are on defense it's hard to make a play like that when QB is on the money.

The blown coverage? Not sure who it was---Johnson or Fuller. One of the two had that route ... same as last week.

Not knowing the their rules ... hard to know for sure. I have my suspicions but without asking them cannot be sure.

this is first one..the motion guy becomes the 3rd vertical, someone has that 3rd vertical ... cannot be the CB he's locked to #1.
so there is confusion as who has #2 and #3 (motion guy)



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