The St.
Louis Rams came out the gate fast against the reigning Super Bowl
champion Green Bay Packers.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Sam Bradford hit tight end Lance Kendricks with an underneath pass in the flats and Kendricks proceeded to rumble 45 yards down the sideline into Packers territory. Then, running back Steven Jackson burst for a 13-yard gain.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Just two plays later, the Rams are whistled for a false-start penalty, followed by an incomplete pass, a timeout. It’s now third down and 11 yards to go. A draw play was called out of the shotgun formation and Jackson took a one yard loss on the play. Then place kicker Josh Brown missed a 47-yard field goal.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>But wait! There’s more.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The Rams beat the Packers in several statistical areas. The Rams had more first downs and won the time of possession battle. Sam Bradford had more passing yards than his counterpart Aaron Rodgers. Jackson fell short by four yards of breaking the 100-yard barrier, but he did average almost six yards a carry. The Rams didn’t allow the Packers to score in the second half.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Oh, I forgot to mention that the Rams also had more penalties than the Packers. But, the Packers led in the most important area of them all on the stat sheet. That would be the score of 24-3. The Rams fought hard in the loss, but they have to stop fighting so hard against themselves.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>I mentioned Kendricks and his 45-yard catch and run. Later in the game, on a fourth and six he drops another pass. And that’s becoming a recurring problem from the Rams’ second-round draft pick.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>And it’s not just Kendricks. This is the entire team.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Eventually, head coach Steve Spagnuolo is going to run out of Sundays. Spagnuolo is doing everything he can to get this team ready to play. But, he’s not killing drives by jumping off sides. He’s not dropping catchable passes. He’s not missing field goals.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Let’s face the facts. This group of 53 players is not doing a good job of playing smart football. And the person that takes all the glory or the blame is the head coach. But, the coach isn’t always the problem. Sometimes it’s the players. Or maybe it’s the people in charge of selecting these players.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Yes, I’m beating a dead horse. I’m going to whip it. Whip it real good until week 17.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>For more St. Louis Rams talk tune into Moses “Keeping It 100”on Iwatchradio.com.
