So the St. Louis Rams’ other personality showed up in the 23-13 loss to the San Francisco 49ers last Sunday.
You know who and what I’m referring to. The other personality of the St. Louis Rams that plays undisciplined football. The Rams got flagged for 11 penalties for 105 yards. Then, you have the dropped passes that killed drives. And no, I was not surprised that tight end Jared Cook dropped two passes.
What’s going on with Chris Givens? I’m really surprised with him having a case of the drops. One thing for sure, I bet that ink pen used to sign those generous contracts was not dropped.
This shouldn’t be happening. There is no excuse for it. The calendar is now on the month on December, and this is the seventh loss of the season. The Rams should be 8-4.
Nevertheless, in this game against the 49ers, the Rams got behind and were forced to throw the football. And Kellen Clemens threw the ball a lot. Where the ball landed, nobody knows.
He got great protection up front from a makeshift offensive line. But, the great touch he showed off against the Indianapolis Colts eluded him like a politician running from Elliot Davis on Fox 2. In his defense, the Rams dropped a total of six passes. Again, you have to do better than that. This game was still one to be won.
The Rams still ran the ball well, gaining a respectable 4.4 yards per carry. It didn’t really look impressive, and the 49ers weren’t budging at all at the line of scrimmage.
The defense gave up a couple of third and long conversions and ended up spending a lot of time on the football field.
The Rams secondary is up and down. Trumaine Johnson let 49ers wideout Michael Crabtree get past him for a 60 yard gain. But I think Johnson is coming along well and is going to be a solid player for years to come.
Janoris Jenkins hasn’t made as many big plays this year as he did his rookie season. He got hurdled by Vernon Davis as he put the icing on the cake for a 49ers victory. It’s hard to imagine him not leading the leagues in interceptions. Why? That Rams pass rush is the real deal.
The Rams sacked Colin Kaepernick four times, hit him hard and blitzed the dual-threat quarterback. Rookie Alec Ogletree led the team in tackles and forced a fumble on Frank Gore with the 49ers knocking on the doorstep for a score.
The front four allows the Rams to rush four and drop seven in coverage. It shows the faith that Jeff Fisher has in them to get to the quarterback. However, the drawback is if there is no pressure on the opposing quarterback, you leave yourself vulnerable to giving up a crucial third down or touchdown.
I like the fake punt idea. I would rather see it on fourth down and 1 instead of fourth and eight. It probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway.
The Rams hit them up for two trick plays last year. They were ready for anything the Rams may have tried. As Al Sharpton says on his show, “Nice try, but I got ya!”
So which Rams personality will we see this weekend? Your guess is as good as mine.
