The Good
-I think Burwell is nuts for saying Vitt ought to be handed the HC job, but you have to appreciate the toughness and guts he's been able to instill in the team in less than a month's time. Kudos to Coach Vitt.
-Stephen Jackson. Holy hell. I always thought he'd get better if we handed the ball to him more than 20 times a game, but his second half running was ridiculous. Ridiculous I say. The 4th quarter blast was the kind of "kill off their final hopes" play that we haven't seen from the Rams nearly enough. Think this kid likes playing for Vitt more than Martz?
-Offensive line. OK, Barron had a nightmare sequence there, but other than that these guys played very well. The run blocking was spectacular and I was particularly impressed by how well they got down field for some blocks today. Think these guys like playing for Vitt more than Martz? Check out Timmerman's post-game quotes.
-Ryan Pickett. This kid has got to be a candidate for most improved player on the team. We still get killed by the run, but it doesn't seem to be because our DTs our constantly missing tackles. Pickett has shored up that part of his game and consistently makes plays. His play on Leftwhich in the second half was spectacular.
-Corey Ivy. OK, he got shredded pretty good from time to time. That said, he makes a lot of plays too. I love his aggressiveness and hitting ability.
-Kevin Curtis. Is Ike our third receiver next year? Probably not, but its going to get very hard to keep Curtis off the field. I'll be amazed if we can keep him on the team when his contract is up. Easily one of the best draft picks made in the Martz era.
-Special Teams. I guess we can all conclude that Mad Mike did make ST a priority and that Ligasheshky is a decednt coach. They've been making plays on a weekly basis and we wouldn't be 4-4 without them. Its still not a strength of the team, but its nice to see the ST unit contributing.
-I take back every bad thing I've ever said about Mike Furrey. Until he starts playing like a WR at the S position again anyway.
The Bad
-For the love of god, someone tell Alex Barron to stand still. I thought he got screwed on that third penalty and he was facing a quality DE, but yikes. We're lucky we got that FG.
-Run defense. Some of the bad run numbers probably come from our new "blitz 'em every down!" attitude. I can live with that because we weren't really doing anything before to help out our mediocre secondary.
-We overpaid to keep Brandon Manumaleuna.
-We are lucky that Leftwich is a mediocre QB because those receivers were running wild in our secondary all day. The LB and S positions made another coverage mistake for a TD yesterday too. These guys have got to get disciplined.
-I'm underwhelmed by Shaun Macdonald. I'd rather see Dane Looker get his touches.
-Jamie Martin. On the bright side, only five of his passes weren't caught. On the not so bright side, three of those catchers weren't made by Rams receivers. I'm not one of those people who irrationally want to throw an unprepared rookie out there, but fortunately we don't need to make that choice after this week. I will say this -- those who think Martin is awful should rewind one year and remember the Chris Chandler era.
The Ugly
-The Rams have pretty good luck this year. Two missed FG is an awfully close margin by which to win a game.
-Turnovers. At least we're starting to take the ball away as much as we cough it up. Hopefully, Vitt will instill the mental toughness these guys need to stop giving the other team so many chances.
-Penalties. This is like a bad date -- they keep coming back and no matter how much you don't want to see them, you just can't help but sleep with them one more time. Good god we have got to cut this out.
-When it wasn't working, the Rams blitz was pretty ugly.
-I think Burwell is nuts for saying Vitt ought to be handed the HC job, but you have to appreciate the toughness and guts he's been able to instill in the team in less than a month's time. Kudos to Coach Vitt.
-Stephen Jackson. Holy hell. I always thought he'd get better if we handed the ball to him more than 20 times a game, but his second half running was ridiculous. Ridiculous I say. The 4th quarter blast was the kind of "kill off their final hopes" play that we haven't seen from the Rams nearly enough. Think this kid likes playing for Vitt more than Martz?
-Offensive line. OK, Barron had a nightmare sequence there, but other than that these guys played very well. The run blocking was spectacular and I was particularly impressed by how well they got down field for some blocks today. Think these guys like playing for Vitt more than Martz? Check out Timmerman's post-game quotes.
-Ryan Pickett. This kid has got to be a candidate for most improved player on the team. We still get killed by the run, but it doesn't seem to be because our DTs our constantly missing tackles. Pickett has shored up that part of his game and consistently makes plays. His play on Leftwhich in the second half was spectacular.
-Corey Ivy. OK, he got shredded pretty good from time to time. That said, he makes a lot of plays too. I love his aggressiveness and hitting ability.
-Kevin Curtis. Is Ike our third receiver next year? Probably not, but its going to get very hard to keep Curtis off the field. I'll be amazed if we can keep him on the team when his contract is up. Easily one of the best draft picks made in the Martz era.
-Special Teams. I guess we can all conclude that Mad Mike did make ST a priority and that Ligasheshky is a decednt coach. They've been making plays on a weekly basis and we wouldn't be 4-4 without them. Its still not a strength of the team, but its nice to see the ST unit contributing.
-I take back every bad thing I've ever said about Mike Furrey. Until he starts playing like a WR at the S position again anyway.
The Bad
-For the love of god, someone tell Alex Barron to stand still. I thought he got screwed on that third penalty and he was facing a quality DE, but yikes. We're lucky we got that FG.
-Run defense. Some of the bad run numbers probably come from our new "blitz 'em every down!" attitude. I can live with that because we weren't really doing anything before to help out our mediocre secondary.
-We overpaid to keep Brandon Manumaleuna.
-We are lucky that Leftwich is a mediocre QB because those receivers were running wild in our secondary all day. The LB and S positions made another coverage mistake for a TD yesterday too. These guys have got to get disciplined.
-I'm underwhelmed by Shaun Macdonald. I'd rather see Dane Looker get his touches.
-Jamie Martin. On the bright side, only five of his passes weren't caught. On the not so bright side, three of those catchers weren't made by Rams receivers. I'm not one of those people who irrationally want to throw an unprepared rookie out there, but fortunately we don't need to make that choice after this week. I will say this -- those who think Martin is awful should rewind one year and remember the Chris Chandler era.
The Ugly
-The Rams have pretty good luck this year. Two missed FG is an awfully close margin by which to win a game.
-Turnovers. At least we're starting to take the ball away as much as we cough it up. Hopefully, Vitt will instill the mental toughness these guys need to stop giving the other team so many chances.
-Penalties. This is like a bad date -- they keep coming back and no matter how much you don't want to see them, you just can't help but sleep with them one more time. Good god we have got to cut this out.
-When it wasn't working, the Rams blitz was pretty ugly.
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