The Silver Lining In The St. Louis Rams Week 8 Loss

Oct 28,2012; London, UNITED KINGDOM; St. Louis Rams cheerleaders perform during the 2012 NFL International Series game against the New England Patriots at Wembley Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

There is always a silver lining in every game, sometime they are just more difficult to find. For all of the bad, there was some good things to take away from the St. Louis Rams loss to the New England Patriots. Even without a victory there can be progression, and there was at least a little of that on Sunday. Here are Ramblin’ Fans silver linings of the game…

1. Daryl Richardson has essentially split the carries down the middle with Steven Jackson for the last three games. In those games, he has rushed 26 times for 165 yards, good for 6.3 yards per carry.

2. The Rams previously non-existent running game has put up four consecutive 100+ yard performances on the ground.

3. Chris Givens, in the last five games, has caught 11 passes for 324 yards and 2 touchdowns. That is an astonishing 29.4 yards per receptions, which easily leads to the league for all players with 10+ catches. He also set a rookie record with five consecutive games with a 50+ yard catch, and tied a 1966 record all-time record for consecutive games.

4. Prior to the 4th quarter, Sam Bradford was 22 for 27 passing for 205 yards, 1 touchdown, no interceptions, and had also not taken a sack the entire game. Until desperation time, Bradford was completely solid in the backfield, stepping up the pocket under pressure and delivering the ball to the “receivers” on the field.

5. The St. Louis offense has not lost a fumble since the Week 2 matchup against the Washington Redskins. The fumble against the Miami Dolphins came on a kickoff return.

6. The Rams at least got to spend some time in London?

7. It is finally the bye week, meaning that the players can rest and get healthy. It also means that the defense can work on whatever is malfunctioning in the secondary, although we would hope that it shouldn’t be a problem against Alex Smith in Week 10.

8. Sam Bradford and Chris Givens both came back from the injuries they sustained during the game and played for a significant amount of time without any noticeable effect on their performance.

9. We learned that Jeff Fisher is not willing to risk his star player on the field in order to get some garbage points at the end of the game. Rams fans have seen Bradford on the field at the end of too many hopeless game…

10. Danny Amendola, Wayne Hunter, Rodger Saffold, and Scott Wells should all be back from injury to hopefully spark the St. Louis offense. With the progression of Chris Givens on the outside, the Amendola/Given duo cold make Sam Bradford a very happy quarterback.

11. The Rams 2013 Draft board likely has become a little more clear. The safety position is the biggest hole on the St. Louis Rams roster, and that is saying a lot given the “talent” on the depth chart in some other key areas. St. Louis will need a safety that is competent enough to play a basic Cover-2 zone and an outside linebacker that has, at least, moderate pass coverage skills.

12. If you are a fan of Bradley Fletcher, you will not have to worry about him being on the block as bait before the NFL trade deadline. His three pass interference penalties in the first half have likely diminished any trade value he may have had for the St. Louis front office.

13. The Rams will not lose in Week 9!