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The Good
-Ladies and gentlemen, we have real, honest-to-god defensive tackles. They tackle, they play hard, they have a little nasty in them, and they're no longer the worst in the league. Pickett is having a stellar season and Kennedy ain't so bad either. These two guys have been playing extremely well for the last three weeks. Kudos to them for stepping it up (though, I'm pretty sure its a contract year for Pickett).
-Tory Holt ... simply the best route runner in the business. Week after week Rams fans get to seem him embarass corner backs in route. Pacman Jones looked like he belonged yesterday, but Tory made him his bitch. Easily one of the best WRs in the league.
-Run defense. Despite getting gashed early, the Rams really played very good run defense. They eventually held Brown and Henry to around four yards a carry, which is probably good enough against a team as determined as the Titans to run the ball and with such a quality offensive line.
-The safeties have played like horse droppings...until yesterday. Hawthorne had an outstanding game and Arch did too. They still can't guard a tight end, but what's new? If they're jarring the ball loose with hits and getting interceptions, I can live with 7 catches (or whatever) by the tight end.
-Bulger played a gritty game yesterday. Other than the two fumbles -- one of which was not his fault, IMO -- he looked better yesterday than he has all season. I'm afraid we're starting to see a little Warner in him, by which I mean he gets hit so much that he's becoming fumble-prone. But after an abysmal first quarter, he played at a high level yesterday.
-Holy hell, who knew Marshall could still play. Now I'm really wondering why we don't run the ball more. 30 or so runs a game between SJack and Marshall would absolutely devastate defenses and help us a ton.
-Where did all those turnovers come from? [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img] Its nice to see our defense making plays again. They get mad love for getting the Rams back into the game and to keep me from throwing the TV out of my second story window after the first quarter.
-Barron looked OK for a rookie who has "no clue" what he is doing. Learn the offense already kid, we need a talented RT.
The Bad
-The offensive line, save the RT slot. Why isn't this under "the ugly", you ask? Well, because they played really well...some of the time. Its fairly clear to me at this point -- as it was the last five years -- that the offensive line is the key to our team. As they play, so the team goes. Its too bad that this hasn't been a bigger draft priority in recent years.
-Orlando Pace. He's the best on the line, but this guy is no longer a Pro Bowler. He's getting beat badly at least once a game. He needs to step it up. Timmerman falls into this category as well, but he's injured so I'm cutting him some slack.
-Brandon Manumalenuna. This guy is a huge waste of cap space. For every good play he makes -- and he does make some good plays -- he completely blows one. The INT was his fault; he's got to make that catch.
-Corner backs. Our corners are still susceptible to getting beat and beat badly every now and then. While Groce looked decent yesterday, Fischer played a poor first half. Sadly, our draft picks don't look like they're going to provide help.
-The refs. That lateral play was BS. Yeah, I'm a homer.
-The return game. At least Johnson has speed, but what is Cason still doing on the roster?
The Ugly
-Penalties. How many penalties are we going to keep making before Martz instills some discipline in these guys? This drives me nuts. Nuts.
-LB pass coverage. Non-existent.
-Pass rush...we don't finish. We've been putting pressure on (which is good), but we need to actually finish it off. Our defense is like night-and-day when we get a good pass rush.
-Martz actually adjusted at halftime, but this team was NOT ready to play in the first half. We are lucky we got it together (thanks to the D).
-Ladies and gentlemen, we have real, honest-to-god defensive tackles. They tackle, they play hard, they have a little nasty in them, and they're no longer the worst in the league. Pickett is having a stellar season and Kennedy ain't so bad either. These two guys have been playing extremely well for the last three weeks. Kudos to them for stepping it up (though, I'm pretty sure its a contract year for Pickett).
-Tory Holt ... simply the best route runner in the business. Week after week Rams fans get to seem him embarass corner backs in route. Pacman Jones looked like he belonged yesterday, but Tory made him his bitch. Easily one of the best WRs in the league.
-Run defense. Despite getting gashed early, the Rams really played very good run defense. They eventually held Brown and Henry to around four yards a carry, which is probably good enough against a team as determined as the Titans to run the ball and with such a quality offensive line.
-The safeties have played like horse droppings...until yesterday. Hawthorne had an outstanding game and Arch did too. They still can't guard a tight end, but what's new? If they're jarring the ball loose with hits and getting interceptions, I can live with 7 catches (or whatever) by the tight end.
-Bulger played a gritty game yesterday. Other than the two fumbles -- one of which was not his fault, IMO -- he looked better yesterday than he has all season. I'm afraid we're starting to see a little Warner in him, by which I mean he gets hit so much that he's becoming fumble-prone. But after an abysmal first quarter, he played at a high level yesterday.
-Holy hell, who knew Marshall could still play. Now I'm really wondering why we don't run the ball more. 30 or so runs a game between SJack and Marshall would absolutely devastate defenses and help us a ton.
-Where did all those turnovers come from? [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img] Its nice to see our defense making plays again. They get mad love for getting the Rams back into the game and to keep me from throwing the TV out of my second story window after the first quarter.
-Barron looked OK for a rookie who has "no clue" what he is doing. Learn the offense already kid, we need a talented RT.
The Bad
-The offensive line, save the RT slot. Why isn't this under "the ugly", you ask? Well, because they played really well...some of the time. Its fairly clear to me at this point -- as it was the last five years -- that the offensive line is the key to our team. As they play, so the team goes. Its too bad that this hasn't been a bigger draft priority in recent years.
-Orlando Pace. He's the best on the line, but this guy is no longer a Pro Bowler. He's getting beat badly at least once a game. He needs to step it up. Timmerman falls into this category as well, but he's injured so I'm cutting him some slack.
-Brandon Manumalenuna. This guy is a huge waste of cap space. For every good play he makes -- and he does make some good plays -- he completely blows one. The INT was his fault; he's got to make that catch.
-Corner backs. Our corners are still susceptible to getting beat and beat badly every now and then. While Groce looked decent yesterday, Fischer played a poor first half. Sadly, our draft picks don't look like they're going to provide help.
-The refs. That lateral play was BS. Yeah, I'm a homer.
-The return game. At least Johnson has speed, but what is Cason still doing on the roster?
The Ugly
-Penalties. How many penalties are we going to keep making before Martz instills some discipline in these guys? This drives me nuts. Nuts.
-LB pass coverage. Non-existent.
-Pass rush...we don't finish. We've been putting pressure on (which is good), but we need to actually finish it off. Our defense is like night-and-day when we get a good pass rush.
-Martz actually adjusted at halftime, but this team was NOT ready to play in the first half. We are lucky we got it together (thanks to the D).
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