St. Louis Rams
Three to Focus on: Bengals @ Rams, Week 15
When you look at the Bengals and Rams as of late, you won’t see a whole lot of winning. Cincinnati has lost four of their last five with their only win coming against the Browns, while St. Louis has lost five of their last six with their only win also coming against Cleveland.
The only difference is Cincinnati’s losses came against teams that are tied for the best record in the AFC, while the Rams have lost to their division opponents which aren’t exactly the class of the league. Also the Bengals are fighting for their playoff lives while the Rams need to find some other motivation to play.
It might not be the sexiest matchup you’ll find this week, but there are a number of mismatches that should make this game interesting. Oddly enough, we find that the mismatches mirror each other for both teams. Read the rest of this entry »
Re-Focused: Rams @ Seahawks, Week 14
When the schedule makers put this game on Monday Night football, they thought it had a chance to be meaningful. It was between the two best teams in the NFC West last year, but even then that wasn’t saying much. Now the Seahawks are a long shot for the playoffs, while the Rams have been out of contention for practically the entire season.
It wasn’t the most interesting first half of football you’ll watch. Neither offense could do much with the ball and the only thing that separated these teams was a punt blocked by Seattle returned for a touchdown. In the second half Seattle got its act together. Good play by the defense as well as special teams led to good field position for the Seahawks. The offense in turn made some big plays of its own, as well as not making any big mistakes.
It wasn’t a pretty victory, but that is how most of Seattle’s wins have gone. In the end we didn’t learn much more about these teams. The Seahawks win with running and defense, while the Rams just don’t win.
Three to Focus on: Rams @ Seahawks, Week 14
It’s safe to say that this is not the matchup that ESPN envisioned when carving out their schedule prior to the season. They likely assumed the Rams and Seahawks would be battling it out for the division title at this point. It was a gamble to bank on two teams with such an underwhelming recent history, but it was a calculated one. Heck, somebody had to win this division and who could have imagined it would be the 49ers.
Several months, injuries, and defeats later, we’re stuck considering whether 2 Broke Girls or the Charlie Brown Christmas special might be a more entertaining Monday night viewing choice. Not to fear, there are enough intriguing storylines and matchups in this affair to warrant a look.
Re-Focused: Rams @ 49ers, Week 13
The 49ers took it upon themselves to clinch the NFC West for the first time since 2002 and made another positive step in hopes of gaining home field advantage. Alex Smith statistically had the best game of his career and the 49ers smothered the Rams’ offense to no one’s surprise.
For St. Louis, it was yet another loss in what has been a terribly disappointing season. They showed little sign of life on either side of the ball as, while they smartly opted to rest Sam Bradford, A.J. Feeley hurt the thumb on his throwing hand in the game. San Francisco held the Rams to a measly 157 yards of total offense a week after themselves being held to 170 yards against the Ravens. No one expected the Rams to win this game, but to get shutout is flat-out embarrassing. They never came close to sniffing the end zone and as an offense they only managed 3.2 yards per play.
Three to Focus on: Rams @ 49ers, Week 13
Even with the loss on Thanksgiving to the Baltimore Ravens, the San Francisco 49ers are still in a great position in the NFC playoff picture. Despite being held to under 200 yards of offense in that game, the NFC West is now simply a matter of when, not if. As we head towards the playoffs, that defense will continue to show just how good it is.
In St. Louis the argument about how tough their early season schedule was has worn thin. They have been battered by injuries to the offensive line with only left guard Jacob Bell starting every game at the same spot. The secondary hasn’t fared much better with 10 cornerbacks on injured reserve so far this year. Two losses to the Arizona Cardinals have simply compounded an already bad situation. To top it all off, Sam Bradford’s ankle injury has reared its ugly head again this week and it’s now up in the air whether or not he’ll be able to go on Sunday. Read the rest of this entry »
Re-Focused: Cardinals @ Rams, Week 12
There were a few audible sighs of relief around the office when I asked for this game last week. Many of the analysts can’t bear the thought of negatively grading yet another game chock full of John Skelton over throws, but I knew better and so it proved. It’s not that Skelton suddenly morphed into Peyton Manning – there were plenty of those passes for his critics to savor. Here was a close game, with an all-time Cardinals record (rushing yards in a game), two punt returns for touchdowns, lead changes, a close finish and most importantly some really good and bad performances on both sides. Throw in Chad Pennington making a good, if understated, showing in the commentary box and it was fun for the entire family. Here’s a few of those more noteworthy performances:
Three to Focus on: Cardinals @ Rams, Week 12
Before the season began, both these teams would have hoped this game would have had serious playoff implications. Sadly, their struggles, coupled with the dominance of the 49ers this year, have wiped away to those hopes and dreams. Instead, this is a divisional matchup with little more than pride on the line.
After being pipped to the division crown at the last hurdle last year and Sam Bradford’s impressive rookie year, the Rams looked primed to win a weak NFC West but poor offensive line play, the lack of a playmaker for Bradford, and he himself not being at the same level, left the Rams out of it very quickly. Read the rest of this entry »
Re-Focused: Seahawks @ Rams, Week 11
This game started with a spark on an end-around pass by Sidney Rice to Mike Williams for 55 yards. For a game that promised to be a dismal display of offensive ineptitude and occasional defensive brilliance, that play gave us hope. False hope it proved to be, as that play was the high-water mark for both sides in terms of offensive inventiveness and big plays.
The Seattle Seahawks followed that pass with interceptions on their next two snaps and, after turning one of those interceptions into a touchdown, the St. Louis Rams proceeded to do nothing of any great merit, offensively, for the next three quarters.
With the sudden emergence of the 49ers, who have put their foot down and never let off this season, stumbling around to seven wins is no longer good enough to win the NFC West. Read the rest of this entry »
Three to Focus on: Seahawks @ Rams, Week 11
Just a year ago, the Seahawks and the Rams were the top two teams in the NFC West, and the last time they played it was to decide who would make the playoffs. The two of them have combined to win five games this year. While that doesn’t sound too impressive, three of those victories did come against the Saints, Ravens and Giants. Each of these teams is capable of winning this one, and whoever pulls it out will be on a two-game winning streak for the first time this season.
These two teams rank in the Bottom 5 in terms of offense and the they’ve scored more than 20 points only four times so far this year. So, we can expect a low scoring game, but some one has to end up on top. Here are the three matchups that will help decide which will walk away with a victory.
Re-Focused – Rams @ Browns, Week 10
I heard some moaning in the CBS studios about how dull this game was, particularly from Shannon Sharpe, as I was watching the Broncos beat the Chiefs. I mention this for two reasons; firstly it allows me to remark (simply in passing) I was the only one on the team to pick the Broncos this week and secondly because I quite enjoyed the game. Rest assured, after watching the Colts last week, this was an epic nail-biter that will take many hours to forget.
A lot of the commentators talk during the game centered on how the poor Cleveland rush defense (on the back of one poor showing against Houston last week) would cope with Steven Jackson. Obviously this neglected the fact that the Rams offensive line is not living in the same time zone as the Texans or that the Browns actually have a fairly stout group of run defenders. Read the rest of this entry »
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