Nick Foles: actually worse than Sam Bradford

During the Sam Bradford era, there was a saying: any quarterback but Bradford. Nine games into the 2015 season, St. Louis Rams QB Nick Foles looks worse than Bradford.

Since the first game of the season, Foles has gone eight straight games with 200 passing yards or less. He’s played four games this season without throwing a touchdown pass. The stat from the 37-13 loss to the Chicago Bears that was most disturbing came from @Ramsaddiction on Twitter: Foles attempted 14 passes for over 10 yards, but connected on none of the throws.

I know the Rams won’t admit to buyer’s remorse, but their anxiousness in signing Foles to an extension, without watching him and the talent he’s surrounded with, may be the biggest blunder of the Jeff Fisher and Les Snead regime. 

As much as I’ve criticized the inexperienced offensive line, they’ve actually haven’t given up nearly as many sacks as it may seem. Going into the game against the Bears, the Rams offensive line had only surrendered 12 sacks.

Foles has had time to throw the football, but he just can’t connect. And the few times when Rams receivers get open, he either underthrows the ball or chucks another one of those lollipop Tecmo Bowl passes that flies out of the range of television cameras. 

This can’t be what the Rams had in mind when they traded Sam Bradford. For the record, Bradford and Foles share the same record of 4-5, but at least Bradford has passed for over 200 yards in 8 of his last 9 games. 

Jeff Fisher is not going to bench Foles. And for who, Case Keenum? Since Kurt Warner and Marc Bulger retired, the Rams have been in desperate need of help at QB.

The league knows who are the Rams’ primary guys who need to be stopped. That’s rookie RB Todd Gurley and WR Tavon Austin. Playmakers are always lacking. The Rams have tried some no-huddle plays, which helped them get to fourth down even faster than normal.

This organization is so flawed. There is talent and plenty of it on the defensive side of the ball. It’s not remotely close on the offense. Again another season under Jeff Fisher where the offense labors just to get ten yards. The Rams have to rely on trickery on special teams just to get a first down. I think that’s just pathetic. At some point you have to line up and knock other teams on their backside. 

Coming into the game, the Rams had converted just 4 of 37 on third downs. They improved by going 4 of 14 in the loss to the Bears, who by the way came into the game with the worst third-down defense in the NFL and that was the best that the Rams could muster. This is some of the worst offensive football ever witnessed. And the defense played horrible too, with poor tackling and over-running gaps and just looking totally unprepared.

After the game Jeff Fisher said, “We got outplayed and outcoached.” Man, I didn’t even notice. Especially when your prized left tackle Greg Robinson, who was selected with the second pick overall in the 2014 draft, had his name called by the referee so much that the CBS camera crew zeroed in on him for every flag thrown on the turf – even with the Rams on defense.

Anyway, we know the Rams got outplayed and outcoached, that’s nothing new. Also not new for the Rams since Fisher has taken over: undisciplined play, inept execution, poor player evaluation, low-impact free agent signings and, most important, weak quarterbacks.

Rams travel on the road to face the Baltimore Ravens. The Rams can help their cause and get back to .500 – or they can travel a familiar path that has led to no playoffs.

For more Rams Roundup, subscribe to youtube.com/stlamericanvideo. You can hear me on the weekly podcast @NTheZone with Arlington Lane II.