Thursday, October 31, 2013

Rams fell short despite good running game and defense

The St. Louis Rams defense has shown up and limit Marshawn Lynch to about 30 yards while sacking Russell Wilson 7 times but was able to score enough to win 14-9 on a final defensive stop. 

The rookie Running back Zac Stacy rack up over 130 yards but several drop passes and penalties have prevented the Rams from scoring touchdowns.


Friday, October 25, 2013

Keys On How The Rams can beat the the Seahawks on Monday Night

With Sam Bradford gone for the season, the Rams will be lead by backup quarterback Kellen Clemens but I don't expect Clemens to duplicate what Sam does but rather play smart football. Based on the last three games,  Jeff Fisher and Brian Schottenheimer's  offensive philosophy right now is to run the football to open up the passing game AND play tough defense. Here are the keys on the Rams can beat the Seahawks.

1.) Force Turn Overs and Play Smart Defense: The Rams real strength are their defensive line with Robert Quinn leading the league with 4 forced fumbles and has 6 sacks. Since the Seahawks offensive line right now is subpar at best because of injuries to key players, I'd expect the D-Line to have a great day going after Russell Wilson and hopefully the front seven can slow down Marshawn Lynch like they did with DeAngelo Williams last week. We only hope the Rams secondary can hold off the Seahawks receivers.

2.) Zac Stacy leads the offense. The Rams for several weeks has reverted to the smash-mouth type of play by running the ball between the tackles and open up the passing game. So far it has been effective and Stacy has been racking up the ground yards consistently.  

3.) And Finally.. Cut Down Stupid Penalties: The Rams Achilles Heel for sometime now is their penchant for committing penalties that negate good plays. Once they can eliminate these stupid penalties Rams have a chance to win the game.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Rams Lose to Panthers and Bradford got injured

Since the game was not broadcasted in our local cable provider, I resorted to follow the game via Twitter. It's rather unfortunate that the Rams lost this game to the following factors: drop passes, bad play calls or bad coaching, and the ugliest factor: bad officiating (and no I'm not crediting the Panthers for the win). Things turned to for the worse when QB Sam Bradford was injured late in the game to a apparent knee injury.

My take: This is another game that got away because of over-all inconsistencies and I expect that the Rams would do some careful planning ahead since they will be facing the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night. Rams will surely sign a free agent QB to act as a backup to Kellen Clemons or possibly a stop-gap game manager. one article has mentioned that they might consider Vince Young, who has played with Jeff Fisher in Tennessee.



  

Friday, October 18, 2013

Keys on How to Beat the Carolina Panthers

The St. Louis Rams are now at 3-3 after impressive wins against Jacksonville Jaguars and the Houston Texans. This upcoming weekend, the Rams are gonna face on of the leagues top defensive team and an offensive that features Cam Newton and DeAngelo Williams. 

Stop the Run: 

the Rams have been burn by feature backs like Maurice Jones-Drew and Arian Foster because of their inability to stop the run. the Panthers will feature a zone read offense with Cam Newton running the show and DeAngelo leading the way so it's a MUST that the Rams should be able to "slow down" the run to force Cam to pass the ball on which he is inconsistent.

Continue to Run the ball and Challenge the Panthers defense:

The formula is very simple: running the ball with Zac Stacy would open up the passing game. 

Surprise the opponents, Use your other tools:

The Rams won against the Texans by running the ball AND using the other Tight Ends which surprises the Texans (and everyone). If I'm Schotty, I'd explore the idea of using other tools in the roster: like handing the ball to Tavon Austin OR getting Stedman Bailey involve.

The Good the Bad and the Ugly: Rams vs. Texans

After several days I was able to watch the Rams vs. Texans game in full and I was able to
understand some of the critic's comments and praises about the game.


The Good:

  • Rams where able to establish the run game with Zac Stacy leading the charge (no pun intended). 
  • The Rams were able to produce defensive stops on key situation particulary in the red zone and force turnovers on defense and special teams
  • There are almost no stupid penalties particularly in special teams.


The Bad:

  • The Rams receivers need to catch the ball better specially play action plays. The one play with Sam Bradford passes to Chris Givens on a deep pass should have been a catch. 


The Ugly:  

Arian Foster still racks up 100+ yard running the ball on 7.1 yards per carry which mean the run defense still needs fixing with the Rams facing a Carolina Panthers teams that likes to run the ball more with DeAngelo Williams and Cam Newton.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Keys on how the Rams can beat the Texans

After an unimpressive win against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Rams are gonna face one of the league's top defense lead by the league's top sacker last season in the person of J.J. Watt. On the otherside of the ball, the Rams will also face one of the leagues best running back in Arian Foster. Basically this is the real test for the Rams.

Here are several keys so that the Rams can beat the Texans:

Establish the run to open up the pass:
The Rams are slowly establishing their running game by starting Zac Stacy for the 2nd straight week. The Texans got gashed by 49ers last week by running the ball effectively.

Stop the Texans running game:
With Matt Schaub struggling in the passing game, the Texans will have to run the ball using the one-two punch of Arian Foster and Ben Tate. Rams will have to be disciplined in their gap assignments and force the Texans to become one dimensional and force them to pass the ball more.

Avoid penalties at all cost:
For five straight weeks the Rams' Achilles heal is the penalties particularly in the special teams. The Rams should be disciplined enough to avoid these penalties in order for them to win the field position.


Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Rams Win Over the Jaguars: The Breakdown

Even though this post is a day late, I had watch the video again so that I can make a much better review of the game as I break down the game on each phase of the game. Bottom line is: "a win is a win is a win" and as critics will use the excuse that this win came off "the Jaguars", it's still a win.

Offense: 
The Rams where able to establish the running game as the Rams started Zac Stacy instead of Daryl Richardson. The offensive line where able to create running lanes and it evident on Stacy's stats (14 rushes on 78 yards). The passing game was average at best as Sam Bradford misses some of his passes to some of the open receivers and some of those incompletions are drops.

Defense:
Overall, I would rate the defense as average as the same problems are present as with the last game. Pass defense is still spotty (as seen on the Justin Blackmon Touchdown) and the defensive line only produced 2 sacks against a Jaguars "sub-standard" offensive line. Rams however where able to limit Maurice Jones-Drew to a total 70 yards.

Special Teams:
The only problem that I see on this unit is the persistent and recurring "stupid" penalties that kills the punt return plays by Tavon Austin. And the violators are the same people who commit the penalties for the past weeks. Personally if I'm Jeff Fisher, I'd start cutting players and put John Fassel's job on the line. I think Alan Lowry (of the Music City Miracle fame) is available, Les Snead should keep that in mind.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Keys on how the St. Louis Rams will win over the Jacksonville Jaguars

With extra days off, the St. Louis Rams are gonna face the Jacksonville Jaguars who are considered the "worst team" in the National Football League right now. But with the Rams' recent performance, there a bit of a doubt. Personally as long as Jeff Fisher is the coach, I believe the Rams can win this game as long as the following happens:

Establish the Running game - This has been Jeff Fisher's mantra for weeks right. Establishing the running game can keep the offense balance and keep the defense honest. With the Jaguars having the the worst defense in the league, the Rams should give the other running backs a chance to play. Personally I wanna see  Zac Stacy run against this "porous" defense.

Better defense: The Jaguars will exploit the notion they the Rams too has a porous defense based on the last two matches but with the recently signing of Jo-Lonn Dunbar, the Rams should get some boost on their run defense. Injuries to the secondary are a concern too as there's a possibility that Cortland Finnegan will not play this game and will relegate Rodney McLeod to the nickel corner and have Darian Stewart and Matt Giordano play the safeties (which is a scary proposition).  As long as the Rams cover Justin Blackmon and stop Maurice Jones-Drew, the win is assured.

Play Smart Football and get better field position:  As always, penalties has been the bane for the Rams in past weeks specially on special teams. I also expect Tavon Austin would have a break out game here.