St. Louis Rams trail Washington 17-0 at the half

By Michael Condon | Sep 20, 2015

The St. Louis Rams need a serious wake up call as the Washington Redskins have taken it to them during the first half of today’s game and now lead to the tune of 17-0. The last ten teams to play the Seattle Seahawks and win, have lost the following week. The Rams are well on their way to making that 11.

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This is clearly not the same Rams team we saw last week against Seattle. The defense has looked very shaky, even confused at times, and have allowed the Redskins to gain serious chinks of yards. The offense has looked plain and weak. In a turn of events, the Redskins defensive front has looked better than the Rams defensive front and turned that into a very comfortable lead.

It’s been the tale of two quarterbacks so far. Nick Foles has come out swinging, but has yet to connect on much of anything. Foles is 7/16 for 59 yards with not touchdowns, or interceptions, though the first half. On the other side, Kirk Cousins is 12/14 for 115 yards and a touchdown. Cousins was nearly picked off by cornerback Trumaine Johnson, but the ball slipped thorough his hands forcing the Redskins to punt.

The Redskins defensive front has outplayed the Rams front four and it isn’t even close. Don’t let Aaron Donald’s early sack confuse you. The Rams have been unable to get anything going the ground, even with the return of starter Tre Mason, and Foles has been forced out of the pocket on almost every other drop back. He looks shaky and unsettled. St. Louis has yet to convert a third down situation and punted on all of their possessions. This was not the start they had envisioned.

The rushing game has also been night and day in this one. Alfred Morris and rookie Matt Jones have split carries and provided plenty of production for Washington. Morris is over 50 yards eight carries and Jones is over 80 yards and a touchdown on just nine carries. On the other side, Tre Mason, Tavon Austin and Benny Cunningham have combined for 17 rushing yards and no touchdowns.

Once again, the passing game is being led by the tight ends of St. Louis. Jared Cook and Lance Kendricks have been the beneficiaries of the few accurate throws from Foles. Cook and Kendricks have combined for 48 receiving yards on four catches.

Part of the reason why the Rams defense has showed so poorly to start this game is the serious advantage in time of possession that Washington holds. The Redskins have possessed the ball for over 19 minutes. While the Rams have had the ball for less than 11. St. Louis has only run three plays on the Washington side of the field, and averages three yards per play.

St. Louis will need to make some serious adjustments if they hope to claw their way back into this one. This is certainly not the same Redskins team the Rams shutout in 2014.