It’s a good thing the St. Louis Rams have a short work week, because it might help them forget about the clunker of a football performance in their 31-7 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
Cowboys running back Demarco Murray came into the game with 111 rushing yards in just the first two contests of the season. He did slightly better against this perplexing-looking defense. Murray didn’t just do better; he had his second-highest performance ever in an NFL game. Guess which team he had his career game against? Why, it just might be against the St. Louis Rams.
The Rams came into this came looking so uninspired to play football. Where was the team that fought back on the road when trailing the Atlanta Falcons by 21 points last week? The team that showed up to play against the Dallas Cowboys played with no intensity, a lack of focus, and poor preparation.
The one area on the team that many of us felt would be a strength and could carry this young team is the defense. But for some reason this defense with pretty much the same personnel as last season – when they flirted with Top 10 status and tied for first place with sacks (52) – has looked feeble and unimposing. It always looks like the Rams are a step slow in getting to the ball or player.
I don’t know what new defensive coordinator Tim Walton plans on doing to rectify this situation. This shouldn’t be happening. The Rams’ secondary is not playing physical enough. The coverage and the types of cushion displayed by the cornerbacks and the linebackers are way too soft.
What is the deal with Chris Long dropping off in coverage? The Rams had only one sack against the Cowboys and had trouble getting pressure even when they blitzed. So then why drop one of your better pass rushers into coverage?
This was such a total team loss. Not only do the players need to execute, the coaches need to formulate a game plan.
In all three phases of the game, the Rams came up shorter than short. Penalties on the special teams unit wiped out a score – as if it’s not enough of a chore for the offense to score, let alone sustain a few drives and keep the quarterback from getting flattened. The defense was just bad. No pressure up front, no turnovers, bad tackling and no legitimate game plan. The offense is still vanilla. This was the third straight game they come out slow and unimaginative, only to again quicken the pace after they fell behind.
The Rams have the San Francisco 49ers in town this week, so they get to quickly forget about the 1 for 13 conversion ratio on third downs and all the dropped passes in the loss to the Cowboys. But, should they not make changes following what took place in Dallas, the 49ers will have a field day and their own lopsided win against the Rams.
