St. Louis Rams end 2015 preseason with loss to Chiefs

By Michael Condon | Sep 3, 2015

The St. Louis Rams wrapped up their preseason Thursday night the same way it began, with a loss. The Kansas City Chiefs scored in every quarter except the fourth and edged the Rams 24-17. With both teams sitting many of their starters including Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith and many of the defensive starters on the St. Louis side, this was more of an audition for the final few roster spots. The league mandates teams must have their rosters trimmed to 53 players by Saturday.

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Nick Foles started the game but didn’t last long. Throwing a whopping three passes, completing two, for 49 yards and an interception. The story Thursday in regards to quarterbacks was the lack of Austin Davis. Davis did not participate in the game and all signs point to his release with the surge in play of Case Keenum. Rookie Sean Mannion played quite a bit Thursday completing 11 of 24 passes for 107 yards.

With starting running back Tre Mason injured, Isaiah Pead was given an opportunity to prove his worthiness of a roster spot. Being the featured back of the night, Pead carried the ball 12 times for 52 yards and one touchdown. He averaged just over four yards per carry against a normally stingy Kansas City defense.

Tavon Austin caught both passes thrown his way totaling 49 yards on the night. Most of that came on a 43 yard completion. Chris Givens was targeted a team high seven times, but was only able to reel in two of those. Givens has been a deep ball threat all preseason for the Rams and continued that trend hauling in a 21 yard pass. Despite the solid play on offense, St. Louis only managed 15 first downs and was a paltry 3-12 on third down.

Sep 3, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Rams inside linebacker Bryce Hager (54) catches a fumble from Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Jamell Fleming (30) during the first half at the Edward Jones Dome. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

The penalty flags continued to fly as the Rams gave up 70-yards on nine penalties. In all four preseason games St. Louis has given up at least 70-yards in penalties. Unfortunately, this has become all to normal for the Jeff Fisher era and looks to continue into the regular season. Cleaning up the penalty flags should be a top priority in the coming weeks.

The St. Louis defense was void of some starters, but they put forth a solid effort. Both Chiefs quarterbacks enjoyed high completion percentages, but did not have high passing yard totals. They also limited the big plays through the air. The longest passing play on the night, just 16 yards. The Rams totaled four QB hits and five passes defended, but failed to record a sack. The unit also won the turnover battle by forcing a fumble and intercepting an errant Chase Daniel pass.

The winless preseason was the Rams first since 2002, and the team is now 2-10 in preseason play in the last three years. The Edward Jones Dome was at about half capacity for the game totaling 37,616 tickets distributed for the game.