Rams deplorable offensive effort leads to Week 3 loss

Sep 27, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers strong safety Will Allen (20) celebrates after a play during the second half against the St. Louis Rams at The Edward Jones Dome. Pittsburgh Steelers won 12-6. Mandatory Credit: Joshua Lindsey-USA TODAY Sports

The same ghosts continued to haunt the Rams in Week 3 as they did in the first two games of the regular season. Time of possession ended closer than it began with the Steelers possessing the ball for 32 minutes. However, at one point they had a 15 to 4 advantage in this category. This marks the third straight week the Rams have lost this important statistical category. St. Louis has relied too much on their defense which can be worn down by spending too much time on the field.

Penalties also came back to bite the Rams as they racked up 97 penalty yards on seven flags. St. Louis continues to been of the most penalized teams this year having now succeeded 207 yards on accepted penalties, six of which were false starts.

The running game that head coach Jeff Fisher spoke so highly of and promised would return this team to success, was once again out done in Week 3. Wide receiver Chris Givens lead all Ram rushers with 24 yards. Tre Mason tucked his tail between his legs and followed that up 16 yards on nine carries. As a team, St. Louis posted 71 rushing yards in a game that never escaped their offensive grasp. The Rams have now failed to gain at least 100 yards in a game and have not had a rusher exceed 45 yards in a game.
There where a few bright spots on the afternoon. Linebacker James Laurinaitis became the franchise leader in tackles after he posted eight tackles. He entered the game needing only two to pass Merlin Olsen for the number one spot in tackles as a Ram.

Sep 27, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Rams wide receiver Kenny Britt (18) attempts to catch a pass as Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Antwon Blake (41) defends during the second half at the Edward Jones Dome. Steelers defeated the Rams 12-6. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Wide receiver Kenny Britt returned to form in the losing effort recording over 100 receiving yards and looked good all day long. Britt lead the Rams in targets (10) and receptions (7), followed by Tavon Austin. Austin couldn’t produce much, but did catch all five passes thrown his way.

The balls that were caught seemed to be overshadowed by the ones that weren’t. A few errant passes from Foles took the air out of drives, including a potential touchdown pass to tight end Lance Kendricks, and a too-tall pass for Britt that was ruled incomplete that ended the game for St. Louis. Britt was open for a first down pass to try and extend the potential game winning drive with under two minutes in the fourth quarter. Foles found Britt, but the pass was about three feet over his head. After a nice grab by Britt, but he would have the ball knocked loose upon landing on the turf.

After all was said and done, the Rams could not produce enough offensively in a game when a touchdown and a couple of field goals would have provided the win. They failed to take advantage of a spotty Steelers secondary and could not keep an offense lead by back up quarterback Michael Vick off the scoreboard.

St. Louis moved to 1-2 with the loss and has division rival Arizona up next on the schedule. They will travel to Arizona this Sunday for a 4:25pm ET start. They follow that up with a trip to Green Bay the following week. If this team cannot find a way to produce offensively they might be staring at a 1-4 record heading into the bye week.