Missed opportunities sink St. Louis Rams again in Week 5 loss to Green Bay

The St. Louis Rams wasted yet another solid outing by their defense when they failed to crack ten points in Sunday’s loss to the Green Bay Packers. An afternoon filled with missed assignments, dropped passes and poor play all-around, it’s tough to imagine a different outcome from the 24-10 beatdown St. Louis suffered. Bright spots from the defense only highlighted the inconsistency of the offense as quarterback Nick Foles handed the game to Packers by tossing four interceptions.

More from Rams News

Foles finished the day 12 of 31 for 143 yards and one touchdown plus the four interceptions. In fairness to the young quarterback, he was under heavy pressure all day long and his receivers did nothing to help move the ball down field. Dropped passes have plagued the Rams all season long and Sunday afternoon was no different. Brian Quick and Jared Cook combined for nine targets, but they caught only two of them. While Foles didn’t have the cleanest pocket, the interceptions came on poorly thrown balls that could have been avoided.

Rookie running back Todd Gurley was the lone star on offense Sunday when he followed up last week’s dominant performance with another stellar outing. Gurley posted 159 rushing yards, including a 55-yarder that he almost took to the house, on 30 carries. Gurley was bottled up in the early parts of the game, but head coach Jeff Fisher stuck with the run game and Gurley eventually found some soft spots in the Packer defense. It appears Gurley may be worthy of the number one role after all as the exciting back is still searching for his first NFL touchdown.

The wide receiver core took a hit when Kenny Britt, who the Rams hoped would be a large part of the offensive scheme this year, went out in the third quarter with a right hand injury. The loss of Britt would be an opportunity for the almost forgotten Brian Quick to emerge. Two plays later, Foles threw up a jump ball from Quick in the end zone, but the play was broken up by Green Bay’s Sam Shields. That was the last we heard from Quick on the day.

Oct 11, 2015; Green Bay, WI, USA; Green Bay Packers cornerback Sam Shields (37) breaks up the pass intended for St. Louis Rams wide receiver Brian Quick (83) during the second quarter at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

The defense played well. They limited Aaron Rodgers to 19 completions for 236 yards. Rodgers threw two touchdowns, one to James Jones on a big catch and run when LaMarcus Joyner fell over in coverage and allowed Jones to get free. More importantly, St. Louis forced Rodgers to throw two interceptions, his first in almost 600 consecutive pass attempts at Lambeau Field. Defensive end Robert Quinn also forced a fumble on a strip sack.

Running backs Eddie Lacy and James Starks combined for 44-yards rushing on 18 attempts. Lacy was a constant presence up the middle, where Starks had more attempts to the outside. Neither was able to do much.

Unfortunately the Rams suffered another injury on Sunday in addition to Britt. Defensive end Chris Long left the game, under his own power, just before halftime when he had a knee-on-knee collision at midfield. Fisher did not have an update on either Britt or Long after the game, but mention they would receive further testing this week. Offensive lineman Rodger Saffold also left the game early due to injury. St. Louis is heading into the bye week next week, so the additional time off should help these injured players.

However, when all was said and done, it was the tale of missed opportunities that doomed the Rams. Two missed field goals, an interception in the end zone and their inability to move the ball and score off of turnovers kept this team off the scoreboard in a way that has become all to familiar to fans. The game was always in reach, yet felt like it never was because of their ineptitude on offense.

With the loss St. Louis moves to 2-3 on the year. They have now posted a sub .500 record though the first five weeks of the season every year Fisher has been at the helm. They will head into the bye week with a lot of work to do if they hope to compete for a play off spot down the stretch. The Seattle Seahawks loss to the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday certainly helps things, but is not a solution to the Rams offensive issues. After the time off the Rams square off against the Cleveland Browns a the Edward Jones Dome.

Schedule