Murphy’s law of anything that can go wrong will go wrong was in effect on Sunday in Arizona when the Rams played the Cardinals. The Rams were eliminated from playoff contention this past week, and are essentially working to develop the youngest team in the NFL that they have put together. This loss makes it a nine season drought from the post-season. The way they were eliminated from the playoffs was very ugly..
A large part of the disappointment from Sunday’s game was definitely the lack of the running game.. Since becoming the starter, rookie Zac Stacy averaged 4.3 yards for every carry entering the game. The mostly healthy offensive line made very few holes for Stacy to run through, as he averaged under two yards a carry.
After Sam Bradford went down with a torn ACL, Kellen Clemens stepped in at quarterback, and did a decent job for a back-up player. However, it didn’t take long for other defenses to figure him out, because in the last two games he hasn’t been nearly as proficient. The past two games, he has completed a below average 53% of his passes and under 400 yards combined.
Watching the game this Sunday, one of the things that jumped out at me was the calls the referees made. There were some absolutely absurd calls throughout the game, particularly in the first half. Robert Quinn was held at least ten times in the first half, and there were zero holding calls called against the Cardinals. Not to mention the amount of penalties on the Rams secondary that allowed when the Cardinals faced a third down situation.
The play that irritated me the most was when the Rams were down 7-3 and the Cardinals were about to score. The Rams clearly forced a fumble at the goal line, and cornerback Janoris Jenkins was returning it for a touchdown, but the play was called dead because it was believed to be a touchdown for the Cardinals.
Since all touchdowns are reviewed, the play was then ruled a fumble but since Jenkins picked the ball up in the endzone, they called it a touchback and cancelled the extra yardage they picked up. To make it even worse, there was a personal foul penalty on the Rams for blocking after the play was dead. So the referees took away a likely touchdown for the Rams, and gave them the ball 95 yards away from the endzone. This was the turning point of the game.
As for developing our young players, first round pick linebacker Alec Ogletree led the team in tackles last game. Also on defense, seven of the starters only have two years of experience or less. On the offensive side of the ball, young wide-receivers Tavon Austin, Stedman Bailey, Brian Quick, and Chris Givens all received plenty of playing time and targets. The youngest team in the league seems to have a bright future, and as a dedicated Rams fan, I’m excited to see how it will turn out.
