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The Good
-We actually gave our running backs 20+ carries. Imagine what would happen if we'd run some good running plays and blocked for them too! It warms the heart.
-Major props to Kevin Curtis. He still dropped a couple of balls he should've caught yesterday, but this guy is a solid WR. He's high in the league in yards, catches, YPC, etc. He played well yesterday and probably should get the reverse over McDonald all the time.
-Archuletta had a great game yesterday. It seems to me that he's our highest impact defensive player but that his ability to make plays is seriously restricted by 1) the coaching staff's positioning of him and 2) the opposing team's game plan. He's still not great at pass coverage (it would seem Hawthorne was the safety making all the mistakes), but he really does an excellent job at everything else when he's healthy. Anyway, I thought he was the player of the game yesterday.
-Play calling, part I. OMG we stuck with the run! We adjusted our passing scheme to get a little more aggressive; just aggressive enough to catch the Saints off-guard. Holy crap, we adjusted. I'm still stunned.
-Play calling, Part II. For just the second game this year, we blitzed a ton. And we did it well. This defense actually plays OK when they blitz a lot because it helps cover up some of our holes on defense. It would never work against the Colts, but against teams like the 49ers, Cards, and so on, it probably is a good idea to do it more rather than less. Sadly, I have no faith that we'll continue to be aggressive on defense, leaving our best linebackers off the field and watching helplessly as our shitty zone gets picked apart by mediocre QBs.
-The OL was not bad yesterday. Their run blocking leaves a little something to be desired, but it wasn't a bad overall effort yesterday. Its nice to see the youth in there, because in a year or two we're going to have to run the ball a lot more to be a decent team. Those young linemen are the key to being able to do that next year and beyond. Barron looks like the real deal.
-Hargrove had another good game yesterday. You can see some signs of the talent we've heard about. He doesn't put it together consistently and doesn't look like he's always disciplined, but he does seem to be improving.
-Special Teams. Well done today. Didn't give up anything major, had a decent run back or two on kick returns, blocked a FG, and even stopped a fake. Best Rams ST play since our SB season. I even saw *sniff* open field tackles.
-Finally, I think our DTs have been playing pretty well this year and yesterday was no exception (well, other than Damione Lewis). They get manhandleed when we don't have Claiborne and Coakley on the field, but they do well in one-on-one situations and actually are capable of rushing the passer.
The Bad
-Jamie Martin: ugh. I'm still not ready to throw the rookie into a wasted season, but some of the throws yesterday were hideous.
-Shaun MacDonald. Where the hell were you yesterday? He hasn't progressed like Curtis and hasn't even reached Az Hakim status yet. How many more opportunities does he get to earn touches with Curtis ahead of him and Looker productive?
-Brandon Manumaleuna. I really can't stand the way he plays, it makes me wanna puke. He drops too many balls. At least he isn't getting beat when he blocks this year like he did last year. But really man, hold on to the flipping ball, would ya?
-Cornerbacks. How many holding penalties away from the play did these guys have yesterday? For a while, Donte' Stallworth (!) was looking like a world beater and shades of Seattle were cast over the game. How can we go on making merely decent receivers look great before someone really thumps us (much like Washington did today)?
-The challenge. OMFG. I just knew when the announcers said "clearly a TD catch" that we would challenge and lose.
-For some reason, we still tend to start off real slow. If the Rams would actually play hard in all four quarters, they might be looking at 4-3 instead.
The Ugly
-Penalties...again and again and again. We lost a pretty good turnover (Ivy has a nose for the ball, eh?) and two third-and-long stops because of dumbass penalties, including an offsides. When are we going to see this addressed? At least the offense didn't commit a whole lot of stupid penalties yesterday.
-Let's face it, the Rams still didn't play great yesterday. Now that's understandable to some degree given the injuries/absences. But if Hasslet wasn't a bad coach, Brooks a terrible QB, and karma wasn't on our side because of N.O.'s pending move to LA, then we wouldn't have won. (RE: karma. We had at least two plays go our way that shouldn't have. The irony of Furrey's interception was that a ref was in perfect position on that play too!)
-Two very average running backs still looked very above average against us. If Hasslett had given the ball to Smith 25 times, I bet we lose that game going away.
-Even though we ran the ball more yesterday, we didn't run it nearly enough. Jackson is either going to get one yard or 30 yards. He needs to run the ball 25-30 times to be effective. I also think we could use Faulk more out of the backfield.
Thoughts?
-We actually gave our running backs 20+ carries. Imagine what would happen if we'd run some good running plays and blocked for them too! It warms the heart.
-Major props to Kevin Curtis. He still dropped a couple of balls he should've caught yesterday, but this guy is a solid WR. He's high in the league in yards, catches, YPC, etc. He played well yesterday and probably should get the reverse over McDonald all the time.
-Archuletta had a great game yesterday. It seems to me that he's our highest impact defensive player but that his ability to make plays is seriously restricted by 1) the coaching staff's positioning of him and 2) the opposing team's game plan. He's still not great at pass coverage (it would seem Hawthorne was the safety making all the mistakes), but he really does an excellent job at everything else when he's healthy. Anyway, I thought he was the player of the game yesterday.
-Play calling, part I. OMG we stuck with the run! We adjusted our passing scheme to get a little more aggressive; just aggressive enough to catch the Saints off-guard. Holy crap, we adjusted. I'm still stunned.
-Play calling, Part II. For just the second game this year, we blitzed a ton. And we did it well. This defense actually plays OK when they blitz a lot because it helps cover up some of our holes on defense. It would never work against the Colts, but against teams like the 49ers, Cards, and so on, it probably is a good idea to do it more rather than less. Sadly, I have no faith that we'll continue to be aggressive on defense, leaving our best linebackers off the field and watching helplessly as our shitty zone gets picked apart by mediocre QBs.
-The OL was not bad yesterday. Their run blocking leaves a little something to be desired, but it wasn't a bad overall effort yesterday. Its nice to see the youth in there, because in a year or two we're going to have to run the ball a lot more to be a decent team. Those young linemen are the key to being able to do that next year and beyond. Barron looks like the real deal.
-Hargrove had another good game yesterday. You can see some signs of the talent we've heard about. He doesn't put it together consistently and doesn't look like he's always disciplined, but he does seem to be improving.
-Special Teams. Well done today. Didn't give up anything major, had a decent run back or two on kick returns, blocked a FG, and even stopped a fake. Best Rams ST play since our SB season. I even saw *sniff* open field tackles.
-Finally, I think our DTs have been playing pretty well this year and yesterday was no exception (well, other than Damione Lewis). They get manhandleed when we don't have Claiborne and Coakley on the field, but they do well in one-on-one situations and actually are capable of rushing the passer.
The Bad
-Jamie Martin: ugh. I'm still not ready to throw the rookie into a wasted season, but some of the throws yesterday were hideous.
-Shaun MacDonald. Where the hell were you yesterday? He hasn't progressed like Curtis and hasn't even reached Az Hakim status yet. How many more opportunities does he get to earn touches with Curtis ahead of him and Looker productive?
-Brandon Manumaleuna. I really can't stand the way he plays, it makes me wanna puke. He drops too many balls. At least he isn't getting beat when he blocks this year like he did last year. But really man, hold on to the flipping ball, would ya?
-Cornerbacks. How many holding penalties away from the play did these guys have yesterday? For a while, Donte' Stallworth (!) was looking like a world beater and shades of Seattle were cast over the game. How can we go on making merely decent receivers look great before someone really thumps us (much like Washington did today)?
-The challenge. OMFG. I just knew when the announcers said "clearly a TD catch" that we would challenge and lose.
-For some reason, we still tend to start off real slow. If the Rams would actually play hard in all four quarters, they might be looking at 4-3 instead.
The Ugly
-Penalties...again and again and again. We lost a pretty good turnover (Ivy has a nose for the ball, eh?) and two third-and-long stops because of dumbass penalties, including an offsides. When are we going to see this addressed? At least the offense didn't commit a whole lot of stupid penalties yesterday.
-Let's face it, the Rams still didn't play great yesterday. Now that's understandable to some degree given the injuries/absences. But if Hasslet wasn't a bad coach, Brooks a terrible QB, and karma wasn't on our side because of N.O.'s pending move to LA, then we wouldn't have won. (RE: karma. We had at least two plays go our way that shouldn't have. The irony of Furrey's interception was that a ref was in perfect position on that play too!)
-Two very average running backs still looked very above average against us. If Hasslett had given the ball to Smith 25 times, I bet we lose that game going away.
-Even though we ran the ball more yesterday, we didn't run it nearly enough. Jackson is either going to get one yard or 30 yards. He needs to run the ball 25-30 times to be effective. I also think we could use Faulk more out of the backfield.
Thoughts?
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