Quick Thoughts On The St. Louis Rams Win Over The San Francisco 49ers

Dec 2, 2012; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Rams defensive end Chris Long (91) pumps up his teammates before the game against the San Francisco 49ers at the Edward Jones Dome. The Rams defeated the 49ers 16-13 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports

If you didn’t get to see the game on Sunday, you truly missed out on what is likely the first signature win of the Jeff Fisher era in St. Louis. This was a tough divisional game against a team with superior, veteran talent, and yet, the Rams came out on top. There is plenty to talk about, so we will jump right into it. Here are Ramblin’ Fans quick thoughts on Sunday’s win.

1. Who did we trade with to pick up Chris Givens this summer? What, he is a rookie taken in the 4th round of the draft? Clearly, whatever communication problems Givens and Bradford had towards the beginning of the season are gone, because they have been lighting it up for the last couple of games. With Danny Amendola out, the rookie stepped up his game, hauling in 11 receptions for 92 yards.

2. That offense looked real sloppy out there, but, at the end of the day, a win is a win. However, not every team that the Rams play are going to be as inept on the offensive side of the ball as the 49ers were with Colin Kaepernick as the starter. Then again, the Rams won’t be playing against a defense like theirs either. Still, great teams control the game with all three units on the field…

3. Speaking of units, the rookie special teamers sure did look like rookies out there, at least until about 0:30 left in the 4th quarter. The two monster field goals by Greg Zuerlein will likely completely overshadow the horrible game that Johnny Hekker had punting the ball. Aside from the coffin corner punt that set up the safety play, Hekker was shanking punts left and right, with one nearly costing the Rams in overtime. Gaining only a handful of yards on the drive, the San Francisco 49ers took that amazing field position and were a 51 yard field goal away from the win in overtime. Luckily, Akers missed from long range, again, giving the Rams good enough position for a couple of Steven Jackson runs and the 54 yarder by Zuerlein to seal the deal.

4. Austin Pettis needs to watch some tape on, well, anyone in the NFL that returns punts. Plant your feet at the 10 yard line, and if that ball sails over your head, let is bounce into the end zone. The offense was struggling enough without having to start inside of the 20 yard line. In fact, the St. Louis Rams started drives at or behind the 20 on 9 out of 13 drives, including overtime.

5. If you haven’t already sent a fruit basket to Colin Kaepernick for helping the Rams win, go ahead and do so now. Take nothing away from the St. Louis Rams’ defensive performance, but the Kaepernick was truly made to look like a rookie out there on the field. His mistakes led directly to 8 out of the 10 points before the Zuerlein field goal at the end of the game.

6. Trivia Questions: An NFL team has scored 10 points, without scoring an offensive touchdown, or kicking a field goal or extra point. How did they amass that total? Toss that question out there at the next party and watch your friends’ minds explode.

7. The Rams were 3 of 17 on 3rd/4th down conversion attempts in the game. That is the lowest mark of the season for the Rams, and probably right up there for one of the worst conversion percentages of the season overall for any team. Seeing 17.6% in the category and still coming away with a win is impressive…

8. Frank Gore seemed to run for way more than 2.5 yards per attempt, but the box score does not lie. Taking away the San Francisco 49ers running game, if possible, is the true way to a win against the likely NFC West champions. Seattle and the rest of the teams on the 49ers schedule will undoubtedly be looking at the tape from the two 49ers/Rams games to see how St. Louis was able to successfully stall out their offense. They also might look at the Buffalo game to see what NOT to do…

9. Janoris Jenkins got the biggest break of the game, scooping and rolling his way into the endzone on the ill-fired toss attempt from Kaepernick to Ginn Jr. Jenkins was getting lit up all day, giving a noticeably large, 10-15 yard cushion on the wide receiver, which led to reception after reception for the wide out on that side of the field. Intuition tells me that it was not solely Jenkins’ decision to line up that far off the line of scrimmage. Regardless, this soft zone coverage needs to go away, and fast…

10. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! After each of those negative thoughts, that was our true feeling about the game. Even with all of the bad individual performances, the absence of Danny Amendola and, for most of the game, Robert Quinn, and the ghost penalties on both Quinn for “roughing” and Saffold for “offsides,” the St. Louis Rams won the game and are still technically “in the hunt” for that last Wild Card spot in the NFC. We promise to be more positive in the “silver linings” of the game that will get posted later in the day!