St. Louis Rams Vs. Dallas Cowboys: 3 Players Who Will Shine in Week 3

After a tough 31-24 loss last week to the Atlanta Falcons, the St. Louis Rams will get another chance on the road as they travel to “Jerry’s Palace” in Dallas to face the Cowboys.

The Rams played with resilience last week after being down 24-3 at halftime and were just one drive away from tying it in the 4th quarter. This young team showed that they can play with one of the top teams in the NFC, but if they start the game like they did against the Falcons they will be on the other side of many victories this season.

The Rams had a terrible first half only recording a field goal from Greg Zuerlein on offense while the defense couldn’t stop the Matt Ryan to Julio Jones duo. Also, all the penalties on special teams resulted in bad field position. Penalties have been an issue so far in the season as they had seven penalties for 53 yards on Sunday afternoon. Five of those penalties occurred on kickoff, however Jeff Fisher disagreed with most of the officiating on Sunday. The Rams rank 11th in the league with 14 penalties combined in two weeks, however most of these penalties happened in crucial situations.

Time goes by so quick during the NFL season as we are already approaching week 3. The St. Louis Rams will travel down south to face the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys are coming off a one point loss to the up and coming Kansas City Chiefs who are surprisingly, 3-0 to start the season. The Cowboys are very beatable this year as through two games, they have showed many flaws. The St. Louis Rams must get out of Dallas with a victory and attain some momentum for their prime time match up versus the 49ers’ next Thursday. With all of that said, here are three individuals that will shine brightly come Sunday afternoon:

Jared Cook
After a promising week one performance, Jared Cook came back to earth in week two. Cook had only one catch for 10 yards against the Falcons after totaling seven catches for 141 yards and two touchdowns in week one. There was constant double teams put on Cook versus the Falcons with a linebacker bumping him on the line and a safety right over top of him. With his potential, it’s pleasing to see the Falcons’ defense respect Jared Cook enough to double team him. Furthermore, in order to become a dominant receiving threat in this league you will need to play through constant double teams week in and week out. With Sam Bradford equally spreading the ball around and solid performances by Tavon Austin(6rec 47yds 2TD’s), Austin Pettis(8rec 78yds 1TD), and Chris Givens(5rec 105 yds) the Dallas defense might not have enough men to double team Jared Cook. Cook offers a huge mismatch to any defense with his size and athleticism. With that expect Cook to be a huge receiving threat come game time on Sunday.

Alec Ogletree
In the first two weeks of his rookie campaign the rookie linebacker out of Georgia, Alec Ogletree has been nothing, but solid. Give credit to Jeff Fisher and Les Snead for finding a talent like Ogletree in the late first round. He has exceeded some of Ramblin’ Fans’ expectations and Ogletree finds himself leading the team in tackles with 15 and has been exceptional in coverage. His coverage skills can still use some work as he looked lost in a couple of plays vs. Arizona, but looked confident last week in guarding future Hall of Famer TE Tony Gonzalez. His next assignment will be guarding Dallas Cowboy’s most consistent weapon Jason Witten and stopping DeMarco Murray on the ground. Alec Ogletree is starting to become a solid piece on this defense and with his productivity on the field, it takes some pressure off the two young safeties along with fellow linebacker James Laurinaitis. Don’t be suprised if you see Alec Ogletree leading the team in tackles again this week as it seems like it will be a common theme week after week.

Sam Bradford
Sam Bradford is well on his way to putting up career numbers this season. With his offensive line that hasn’t given up a sack in four games dating back to last year to his many different weapons the Rams have provided him. This is the year that we all expect Bradford to finally live up to his status of being the number one overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. Its been so far so good for Bradford this season completing 59/93 passing attempts, 651 passing yards, 5 TD, and two interceptions that you can arguably say wasn’t his fault. Bradford has done an excellent job spreading the ball around and looks comfortable in the pocket. Last week, when the game looked all but over by halftime with the score 3-24, Sam Bradford made adjustments, however his comeback fell short by just one touchdown with the final score of 24-31. The magnificent thing about the Rams’ offense is that they provide opposing defenses with difficult match ups. From the size of Jared Cook to the quickness to Tavon Austin and to the speed of Chris Givens. Bradford will go out there Sunday to have another consistent week and out play Tony Romo as what looks to be a shootout in the making.

Other Players To Watch:

Chris Long
Chris Long is off to another excellent start to the season. His constant pressure and hits on the the opposing quarterback have gone a little bit unnoticed because he has yet to record a sack. Long will be lined up against Doug Free who is the Cowboys’ most consistent pass blocker on their offensive line so far this season. Chris Long is ready for his breakout game and Ramblin’ Fan believes it will come today versus the Dallas Cowboys.

Cortland Finnegan
The big 50 million dollar man, Cortland Finnegan finds himself on a slow start to this 2013 season. Finnegan has noticeably been playing soft coverage these past two weeks and its been really frustrating to watch. Finnegan will be most likely lined up on Miles Austin and we feel like he will start to become more of an asset to this defense. Don’t be surprised to see Finnegan bat a couple balls down and finally become an aggressive force in the secondary.

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