Heading into a bye week, the Rams absolutely destroyed the Indianapolis Colts 38-8. The Colts, now 6-3, were serious Super Bowl contenders after beating an undefeated Broncos team a few weeks earlier. However, the Colts definitely played down to the Rams level this week, and the Rams capitalized on the opportunity.
As 2% favorites to win this game, via ESPN, the Rams showed signs of the “greatest show on turf” again. As a part of the Rams minority in Indianapolis, I was thrilled by the second half silence. By the end of the third quarter, from what it looked like, half of the stadium had left the game with the score at 38-8.
The most obvious reason why the rams won was rookie Tavon Austin. An explosive 98-yard punt return in the second quarter, with two touchdown passes of 57 yards and 81 yards. In the end, Austin finished with 314 all-purpose yards. Austin is first player in NFL history with one punt return touchdown of 95 yards-plus and one receiving touchdown of 55 yards-plus in same game.
Back-up quarterback Kellen Clemens did exactly what he needed to do, throwing no interceptions for the 2nd week in a row. Only throwing the ball 16 times this game, he completed more than half of his passes. The lone big mistake he had, was fumbling the football on the first drive, inside the 5 yard line.
Rookie running back Zac Stacy had a good enough game to help us win, considering the special teams play this week. Averaging a small 2.4 yards a carry on 26 carries, Stacy slowed down the game plenty and set up the 57 yard touchdown throw to Tavon Austin. Although he didn’t have a big game, Stacy continues to impress he is quick, and can break tackles. He seems like he will be a very good replacement to Steven Jackson.
Something that you definitely won’t see on the highlight reel, which was a huge reason why we won, is special teams play. Not the Tavon Austin punt return, but the special teams defense came up huge against the Colts. Going back to the coin toss, the Rams won and decided to defer the toss, and kick the ball off. Their kick returner decided to kneel the ball in the end zone, giving the Colts the ball at the 20 yard line. However, there was a flag on the play for taunting, which clearly annoyed the Colts return man. This lead to the kick returner to attempt to return the ball out, but he didn’t get past the 13 yard line once, on five attempts. He averaged taking the ball out to 9 yard line, which led to plenty of 3rd downs for the Colts, in which they were 2 for 12 on converting third downs.
The Rams young defense came to play yet again, with Chris Long returning a 45 yard fumble recovery for a touchdown that Robert Quinn caused(no surprise). Quinn, along with the rest of the defensive line, had a total of 8 quarterback hits, which caused the Colts quarterback, Andrew Luck, to be very uncomfortable passing the ball. All year, Quinn has been superb in both the pass and run defense. With 53 overall quarterback pressures this season, he has 12 sacks and 16 QB hits. His season is shaping up to be a great one, and the Rams defensive line will be good for awhile if we can keep the players we have. Also, the Rams pass defense intercepted the ball 4 times in the redzone, which was key in keeping the Colts off the board.
On third downs, of which the Rams were 7 for 9, both of Tavon Austin’s touchdowns were on third down. Going into the bye week with a win, the Rams are the only 4-win team in the NFC, and are still in the hunt for a wild-card spot. We’ve proved we can fight and win with the best of the NFL (Seahwks, Colts). Now we just need to continue to show it.
