Quick Thoughts On The St. Louis Rams Loss To The New York Jets

This weekend, I had the “pleasure” of flying in from Cleveland to watch the game live in the Edward Jones Dome. As a result, I got the see the grotesque play of the Rams up-close and personal. As a matter of fact, nearly ever “big” play happened directly in front of me, from the interception inside the 20 yard line to Trumaine Johnson getting burnt by Schilens for the TD late in the second. So, this week, my quick thoughts may be a little different, although equally as frustrating…

1. Nobody likes the New York Jets. I had connecting flights  in both Charlotte and Chicago, and nearly ever person I passed in my Rams gear said something pertaining to beating the Jets. Ironically, a majority of it was aimed towards beating Tim Tebow…

2. Wayne Hunter is a huge man, although that is pretty much a given considering he is a tackle in the NFL. You have to question why Barry Richardson is still starting at right tackle, leaving Hunter’s talent to waste on the bench. Hunter’s stretch on the blind side of Sam Bradford was one of the more impressive showings at the position in a long time. For once, Rams fans had to complain about something besides the offensive line. With the return of Scott Wells, the offensive line should go: Saffold (LT), Turner (LG), Wells (C), Dahl (RG), and Hunter (RT). The Rams season is now all about gaining momentum and chemistry heading into August 2013, so put the best players on the field, right now. Barry Richardson will not be on the St. Louis Rams roster next season, mark that down somewhere.

3. Apparently, the offensive lineman sit down on the bench in the same order that they line up on the field. At first, I thought it was a coincidence, until they did it time and time again…

4. The New York Jets need to get rid of Tebow before they get him hurt, or waste all of his talent on their bench… or worse, in their offense. When Tebow entered the game, you could see all 11 defensive players spying on the backfield, all of the secondary creep up towards the line of scrimmage, and James Laurinaitis eyes start to glow with excitement. When he is in the game, you know that there is going to be some type of option run, which got completely jammed yesterday. In only three plays on the field, Tebow managed to accumulate -6 yards of total offense.

5. Did they ever show the “holding” on the Chris Givens kickoff return that was called back? I know it was “supposedly” on Danny Amendola, but the officials at the game seemed to offer little relief to the booing fans or the screaming coach. The press conference by Jeff Fisher after the game was pretty timid. That is, until he was asked about the holding call that negates a game changing return. To put it lightly, Fisher did not agree with the call…

6. The St. Louis Rams played way too much of the game in their base 3-4 defense. Rocky McIntosh and Mario Haggan were in that ballgame way too much for my liking, especially on critical downs. Until the St. Louis Rams find, or draft, a viable option to go alongside Laurinaitis and Dunbar, the St. Louis Rams should run out of a 4-2-5 base defense.

7. The Rams have shown over the last 3 or 4 games why having a “real” defensive coordinator is vital to winning football games. Time after time after time St. Louis’ opponents have made the adjustments at halftime to slow down the Rams pass rush, and done so effectively. Fisher and the committee of assistants will have to get the job done for the remainder of the season, but they need to be focusing on other aspects of the game, such as managing the clock and knowing when to appropriately use timeouts on the field *cough overtime when the play clock is running down before a game winning field goal attempt cough*

8. If Sanchez acted like every single passing attempt was happening on third down, he would be a Pro Bowl quarterback, at least if he played like he did yesterday. Sanchez did not have an amazing game, but on key third down passing plays, he was Eli Manning-esque (the good kind).

9. Outside of the early completion to Austin Pettis and some prayer throws at the end of the game, Bradford did not attempt any passes of over 20 yards. With Darrelle Revis out and Bart Scott hurt, there should have been mismatches all over the field. Maybe there were, but they sure as hell weren’t getting the ball thrown in their direction.

10. Now that Bradford is being kept upright and Steven Jackson has found his mojo running the football, the inadequacies at the wide receiver spot are becoming more and more daunting. Some observers, myself included, firmly believed that the group of receiver currently on the roster were enough to get the job done, but that is clearly not the case. Granted, “THROW THE BALL!” came out of my mouth more than any other phrase yesterday, but the truth is, Bradford cannot throw the ball if there is no one in position to catch it. The interception, the fumble, and the deficiencies on third down can nearly all be attributed to the fact that receivers were not getting visibly open down the field.

If you want to check out more pictures from the game, including Danny Amendola being very angry and Wayne Hunter sitting on a very tiny water cooler, make sure to follow me @nkearns12!