Tavon Austin and the Rams blow out the Colt 38-8

For the passed 9 games leading into the Colts game, Tavon Austin, the Rams 8th overall pick has not been a significant factor in the offense and in the punt return game due to drop passes and penalties. 

Today was Austin's time to shine as he scored 3 touchdowns (two as a touchdown pass from Kellen Clemens) and a spectacular 98 punt return for a touchdown.

Aside from Austin breakout performance, the defense also got involve in the scoring salvo as Chris Long scoop up a Robert Quinn force fumble for a quick score early in the game. The defense limited the Coltsground gain to about 18 yards on 1.3 yards per rush and intercepted Andrew Luck 3 times.

Zac Stacy continue to poind the rock on 26 carries for 62 yards and a score while fellow rookie Benny Cunningham contributed 7 carries for 72 yard and 1 screen pass reception for 18 yards.

The win help keep them stay in contention as they enter the bye week before facing the Chicago Bears at home on November 24,2013 

Keys on How the Rams can beat The Colts

The St. Louis Rams will get their hands full as they will be on the road to battle Andrew Luck and the AFC South division leader Indianapolis Colts. Personally I believe the Rams can beat the Colts as they have a weak offensive line and injuries has plagued their skills position players.


Run the ball with Zac Stacy and control the time of possession.
If I'm Coach Fisher, I'd watch some of the Chargers vs. Colts tapes on which the Chargers ran the ball more against a porous Colts run defense. With Zac Stacy running the ball, the Rams can keep Andrew Luck on the sidelines for a long time and keep the defense well rested.

Pressure Andrew Luck and Play Better Pass Defense: 
With Reggie Wayne injured, There's a bigger chance of Andrew Luck will rely on T.Y. Hilton and on Coby Fleener. And with a subpar offensive line, I won't be surprise if the Rams D-Line will have a good day similar to the Seahawks game. The Rams might have a much better day on stopping the run this week as Trent Richardson has yet to breakout as the Colt's best running but still the Rams will need treat Richardson like they treat Marshawn Lynch and not be complaicent (They should have learned from the CJ2k/Shonn Greene incident last week).

Avoid Turnovers and minimize play-killing penalties: 
Rams should, at all cost, avoid committing turnovers in order for them to win the game. The Rams so far were able to minimize penalties that negates good plays and hope they can continues to do so.

Keys to Victory: Titans vs. Rams

In a short week, the Rams will be facing a well rested Tennessee Titans who Jeff Fisher coached for over 10 seasons before coming to the Rams. This game will be the first time for Cortland Finnegan, William Hayes, Will Witherspoon and Jared Cook to face their former team and I'm sure they will "play hard for coach Fisher".

1.) Continue to Stop the Run: The Rams where very dominant last week when they hold Marshawn Lynch to only 2+ yards a carry. This time they will be facing a much swiftier opponent in Chris Johnson who is currently struggling to gain some ground yards. If they contain Chris Johnson the Rams chances of winning are very high.

2.) Play much better pass defense: Rams got burned twice by Russell Wilson twice despite sacking him 7 times. They will need to continue pressuring the quarterback using the front four.

3.) Feed the Juggernaut: Zac Stacy has been the consistent factor in the Rams offense averaging 5+ yards per carry. Continue to run the ball effective will keep the defense honest and help open up the pass.

4.) Just catch the ball: The Rams receivers MUST catch the balls pass to them as much as possible if they want to win.

5.) Limit penalties: The Rams will also need minimize penalties inorder to win.

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.

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.

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.

  

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.

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.

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. 

49ers trampled the Rams 35-11

As if the Week 3 beat down by the Cowboys was not enough, the Rams got their butt kicked by a 49ers squad that has no Patrick Willis and Aldon Smith on defense and Vernon Davis at 85% at best.

As usual the reasons the Rams list is the same: failure to establish the running game, the defense can stop the run and pass, penalties on key plays, etc.

The good side after the loss is that they will have at 10 days before they face the next opponent which are the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars. 

the 10 days off should give the Rams time to view the tapes of the last two games. It's also a good time for the Rams to add help at the secondary because of the injuries to TJ McDonald and Cortland Finnegan. 

Keys on How the Rams can beat the 49ers on their Week 4 match

Week 4 match is the is big one for the St. Louis Rams as they battle a division rival in San Francisco 49ers at the Edward Jones Dome. Both team are coming of a similar blow out losses and this match is considered a turning point for both teams. Here are some keys on how the Rams can beat the 49ers:

Score early and fast: 
For the last three games, the Rams have not scored in the first quarter and the win against Arizona was come from behind victory. If the Rams can score early and fast that would help them control the clock more in the later part of the game.

Establish the running game:
Regardless of not having an establish/talented runningback in the roster, the Rams should always establish the running game to keep it balanced. If they are to run a "running back by committee" approach then it's high time they do so by giving Daryl Richardson, Isaiah Pead and Zac Stacy some reps. That way they can exploit mismatches. They can even include Tavon Austin on this if needed.

Offensive line should step up
The offensive line has been good in pass protection but they have problems opening running lanes for the runningbacks. Giving the Richardson and Stacy some good running lanes would help the play action plays.

Go Vertical:
The Rams have three of the fastest receivers in the roster in Wide receivers Chris Givens, Tavon Austin and Tight End Jared Cook. Sam Bradford should take advantage of his weapons and not always to resort in check down passes.

Reduce Penalties: 
As always one factor that the Rams lost in the last three games is penalties. If the Rams can plays smart football for 60 minutes the chances of winning are high.

Rams killed themselves (again) lose to the Cowboys 31-7

After a near win against the Atlanta Falcons on Week 2, the St. Louis Rams got blown out by the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in Dallas Texas. Inconsistency, porous defense and penalties are the usual culprit why the Rams fall to 1-2 on a short week as they will face an NFC West division rival in San Francisco 49er who also got blown out by the Indianapolis Colts. 

Keys On How to the Rams can beat the Cowboys

I apologize for my lack of update on this blog due to my hectic workload and family obligation but this doesn't prevent me in watching my favorite NFL team, the St. Louis Rams. As the season goes on the Rams were able to win a game against a division rival (Arizona Cardinals) but fell short on their first game on the road (Atlanta Falcons). This week the Rams are to face the Dallas Cowboys at Dallas, Texas. And here are the keys for the Rams to win the game:

Rams lost to the Cardinals 17-13

Even though the Rams lost, the whole team showed some poise especially the Rams defense. DE Chris Long and DT Fred Robbins showed some early presence to the game.  Sam Bradford performed nicely despite the 3 interceptions which is not a common outing for a rookie quarterback. New Ram WR Mark Clayton played like he has played with the Rams for a long time as he has a career high 10 catches in the game.

On the other hand, Rams should keep SS James Butler on the bench as he got burned on the winning touchdown pass from Anderson to Larry Fitzgerald for the win which only show his weakness for the pass. Craig Dahl should cement his position as the Rams starting strong safety.

Overall the Rams did well on their first outing and I expect some