St. Louis Rams Weekly Roundtable: Austin Davis Saves the Day

This is the weekly regular season edition of RamblinFan’s St. Louis Rams Weekly Roundtable, where co-editors Nathan Kearns (@nkearns12) and Blaine Grisak (@bxgrisak1993), and staff-writer (and co-editor at LASportsHub) Anthony Khoury (@askmeabouthelaw), gather ’round to weigh in on five of the most pressing issues to arise from the Rams’ most recent game.

This week, the Roundtable will cover the Rams’ last-minute 19-17 victory in Tampa Bay over the Buccaneers. So let’s jump right in…

1. Austin Davis stepped in for an injured Shaun Hill to make his first NFL start and filled in admirably by going 22/29 for 235 yards, no interceptions, only two sacks, and a quarterback rating of 99.1. He also led the Rams from their own 9-yard line down the field for Greg Zuerlein‘s go-ahead (and game-winning) 38-yard field goal. What grade would you give Davis for his winning performance?  

Sep 14, 2014; Tampa, FL, USA; St. Louis Rams quarterback Austin Davis (9) drops back to throw the ball during the second half against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. St. Louis Rams defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 19-17. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Anthony K.: Based solely on my low expectations heading into the game, I’d give Davis an A. That being said, it’s not like he threw for 300 yards with 3 touchdowns. So to be fair, and to give him some room to improve, I’d give him an A-. The kid did everything the Rams asked him to, and they won, so hard not to give him an A for that.

Nathan K.: Much like in academia, “grades” might be a solid measure within the context of that individual game (a singular college, in this metaphor), but not in relation to others in the league (all colleges). With that in mind, I’ll hand Austin Davis a “B+” for the game. He was smart with the football, pressed the ball down the field, and was not affected by the ‘magnitude’ of the moment later in the game. However, Davis did struggle when the field was shorter, and managed fewer than 300 passing yards and zero touchdowns against arguably the most talent-depleted defense in the NFL.

Blaine G.: For an undrafted quarterback making his first career start, and given the performance the Rams had the previous week, I have to give Davis an A. This team really rallied around Davis, and although it wasn’t perfect and the Buccaneers may not be as good as we thought they would be, Davis still led this team to win a game that many had counted them out of.