My take on what I witnessed at the game

[unclesams]

I was at the game yesterday and these are the things I witnessed yesterday, and many of them are very confusing and disturbing:

I sat in section 113 Row 1, so I was directly at the 40 yardline behind the Rams bench. So close, I could hear the coaches talking to the players.

First observation: Shula was NOT prepared nor did he have a proper game plan for the Panthers. He played (Raheem Morris) soft shell zone defense the entire game...First of all, Bryce Young is a 3 step drop back quarterback!! With our pass rush, no way in hell should you play a soft zone defense giving WR's a 5 - 7 yard cushion with a quarterback that's going to throw the ball that fast. This is why Young had so many completions. This is also why Carolina running backs had so much success in the flats.

Observation 2: Shula took Forbes out of his comfort zone yesterday basically forcing him to play zone defense when his strengths are clearly man coverage. Forbes has had success over the past 6 or 7 games because he played his style of football.

Observation 3: Whitterspoon is NOT in football shape yet!! There were several times he was on the field and missed tackles and was beat on several pass plays that Bryce Young did not see. They need to pump the brakes on Whitterspoon because he isn't ready and to be honest, he kinda messed up the chemistry the Rams secondary has had since he was out with that injury.

Observation 4: Sean McVay has NOT learned the simple basic traits of football in 9 years!! Every football game is different each week, and you have to adjust to what's working for you as each play of that particular play goes by....The Rams run game yesterday was absolutely clicking from the first carry. Kyren Williams and Blake Corrum was gashing the Panthers for 7, 8, 9 yards a carry, especially on first down, and McVay could not stand that as he just refuse to not be pass happy. Stafford should have had 0 ints yesterday if McVay would have just ran the football like it was no tomorrow. 3rd and goal at the 4 yardline should have been a run all damn day and if it fails, kick your field goal and get 3 points instead of an interception off a defenders helmet.

Observation 5: The weather yesterday was absolutely horrible. I sat there in a steady rain from mid first quarter until the end of the game. On top of that it was cold!! It was probably between 39 and 40° for the entire game. I remember hearing Avila telling the ground crew the sideline heaters aren't blowing much heat, and the grounds crew guy just shrugged his shoulders....That rain and cold alone was reason to run the crap out of the football, especially since it was working. If McVay would have run Kyren and Corrum 20 carries each, Rams win that game by 2 touchdowns!!

In closing, the Rams were humbled yesterday after bad coaching decisions from both McVay and Shula. Neither of them were prepared nor had a good game plan for the Panthers nor did they take consideration of the weather to construct a proper game plan.....on a good note, I got to meet and talk to Tory Holt yesterday as he came up to row 1 of my section (113) and talked to many fans for atleast 30 minutes and signed autographs. He signed my Rams hat and we took a picture together.

I hope the coaches learned something yesterday as we lost to a team that should have been blown out. These next 5 games need to be masterpieces starting with Arizona next week.

[malibu]

Really smart analysis. I agree with all of it. I watched some of the Wash/Denver game Peyton was super aggressive rushing Mariota we sat back and never made Toung uncomfortable when he threw which wasn't much. Shula needs to get his shit together with his game plans. They killed us in the run game with no adjustments I am scared for his soft defensive schemes going forward.

[Jacksnow]

Really smart analysis. I agree with all of it. I watched some of the Wash/Denver game Peyton was super aggressive rushing Mariota we sat back and never made Toung uncomfortable when he threw which wasn't much. Shula needs to get his shit together with his game plans. They killed us in the run game with no adjustments I am scared for his soft defensive schemes going forward.

Ditto. Good assessment!

[RAMFAN71]

Witherspoon is slow- always has been. He stinks IMO with a few good flashes out there. I would rather not break the chemistry as you said and keep him out. He's just too slow.

I agree with the run the ball- since it was working. Keeps the ball out of their hands. What I saw missing was more of the TE focus. Seemed to be more of the 11 man? I don't know- just highlights/ . But that pick 6 was a forced ball to Puka- something Stafford I thought has overcome. Cannot force the throws when we have all these weapons. Defense looked asleep al lot. Just didn't play like they are capable of. shula needs to fire em up.

[Rams fan since 1973]

Excellent assessment. I’m not surprised by what you said regarding our coaching staff. Shula is garbage and McVay will never learn. I think our lack of size/physicality on defense will catch up to us eventually.

[SoCalRam78]

Lot of teams quick pass us because they don’t want to drop back against our pass rush like last year. Too many easy competitions.

[Holding]

We can.learn from this.

Staff was off

[bigklein]

Thank you for the insightful observations! That must have been so frustrating to watch in person.

And why mess with the great chemistry that’s been building with the secondary? As with Tutu, Witherspoon didn’t have to be active.

It seems that Higbee’s absence could be impacting the 12 and 13 options in big ways.

[unclesams]

Thank you for the insightful observations! That must have been so frustrating to watch in person.

And why mess with the great chemistry that’s been building with the secondary? As with Tutu, Witherspoon didn’t have to be active.

It seems that Higbee’s absence could be impacting the 12 and 13 options in big ways.

I didn't even know TuTu Atwell was even active yesterday. I know for a fact he didn't see not one play!!....But I agree with everyone on Witherspoon...he's just too slow and his presence on the field disrupted the chemistry the secondary did have.

[bigklein]

Tutu was inactive. My point was that just because he came off of IR, Witherspoon also could have been inactive. He didn’t have to be active.

[bigklein]

Uncle, any observations of Verse worth sharing?

[Truth]

Forbes was definitely playing man to man on the two TDs he gave up. In fact I think the coaching probably told him to overplay the underneath stuff on those 4th downs because they didn’t think Young would even attempt throws over the top of the defense. Give Young credit he made those plays

[NorCal RF]

Forbes was definitely playing man to man on the two TDs he gave up. In fact I think the coaching probably told him to overplay the underneath stuff on those 4th downs because they didn’t think Young would even attempt throws over the top of the defense. Give Young credit he made those plays

This^ other than who knows what the coaches told him…………..

Forbes was awful yesterday. Everyone saw it. He cant repeat yesterday. But hey yes sometimes you have to give the other team some credit. If I’m not mistaken we do that all the time with our players even when it may be more the other team than us at times…………

[UtahRam]

The O-Line is doing a good job run-blocking this year.

[Claremontram]

Nice overview.

I want to see immediate improvement in or Run Defense; that's why we brought P. Ford into the DT mx.

[bigklein]

Ford was pretty strong yesterday, and I think that Fiske should be kept in more. He’s looking more like last year’s Fiske. Overall, though, the front guys weren’t strong enough, and Landman wasn’t great, for a change.

[GoldenRam]

Look .. we were due for clunker. Staff has been ridiculous up to that game and even with a sucky game, still we put 28 on the board. It SHOULD have been enough the way the D had BEEN playing. The suck factor was, apparently contagious or in the water and the D caught it as well. I'd rather get it out of our system before we play the tougher games.

IF they were going to throw there it should have been a quick hitter to Puka, Parkinson or Ferguson (his speed against LB) or they could have brought Corum, line both backs up to give the Panthers something to wonder about and run the ball again.

I'd like to know where the hell our pass rush went. We were neck and neck with Denver and it's like someone just turned the faucet off. Young had his first in what, 4 games? We suddenly have nobody really making life difficult for opposing QB's

[Ants]

Good analysis.
My take from watching on tv is similar to yours - I'm not saying our players weren't prepared, but I don't think they were prepared for the Panthers specific style of play.
It's like Shula couldn't figure out that the Panthers are a run 1st team. We gave up large chunks rushing. But then they would surprise the Rams by passing on certain occasions...and the Rams were almost always surprised and out of position.
In other words, it was like the Rams were playing some basic vanilla shell of a defense, neither committing to stopping the run or pass - just hoping for the best.

And Stafford?...wow, he wouldn't throw to guys who were wide open, and then try to cram the ball into spots where the WR was NOT open. Just a bad game.

Still, I didn't think the Rams sucked. They battled. I thought it was more of a coaching failure than player failure.

[brasilrams]

I was at the game yesterday and these are the things I witnessed yesterday, and many of them are very confusing and disturbing:

I sat in section 113 Row 1, so I was directly at the 40 yardline behind the Rams bench. So close, I could hear the coaches talking to the players.

First observation: Shula was NOT prepared nor did he have a proper game plan for the Panthers. He played (Raheem Morris) soft shell zone defense the entire game...First of all, Bryce Young is a 3 step drop back quarterback!! With our pass rush, no way in hell should you play a soft zone defense giving WR's a 5 - 7 yard cushion with a quarterback that's going to throw the ball that fast. This is why Young had so many completions. This is also why Carolina running backs had so much success in the flats.

Observation 2: Shula took Forbes out of his comfort zone yesterday basically forcing him to play zone defense when his strengths are clearly man coverage. Forbes has had success over the past 6 or 7 games because he played his style of football.

Observation 3: Whitterspoon is NOT in football shape yet!! There were several times he was on the field and missed tackles and was beat on several pass plays that Bryce Young did not see. They need to pump the brakes on Whitterspoon because he isn't ready and to be honest, he kinda messed up the chemistry the Rams secondary has had since he was out with that injury.

Observation 4: Sean McVay has NOT learned the simple basic traits of football in 9 years!! Every football game is different each week, and you have to adjust to what's working for you as each play of that particular play goes by....The Rams run game yesterday was absolutely clicking from the first carry. Kyren Williams and Blake Corrum was gashing the Panthers for 7, 8, 9 yards a carry, especially on first down, and McVay could not stand that as he just refuse to not be pass happy. Stafford should have had 0 ints yesterday if McVay would have just ran the football like it was no tomorrow. 3rd and goal at the 4 yardline should have been a run all damn day and if it fails, kick your field goal and get 3 points instead of an interception off a defenders helmet.

Observation 5: The weather yesterday was absolutely horrible. I sat there in a steady rain from mid first quarter until the end of the game. On top of that it was cold!! It was probably between 39 and 40° for the entire game. I remember hearing Avila telling the ground crew the sideline heaters aren't blowing much heat, and the grounds crew guy just shrugged his shoulders....That rain and cold alone was reason to run the crap out of the football, especially since it was working. If McVay would have run Kyren and Corrum 20 carries each, Rams win that game by 2 touchdowns!!

In closing, the Rams were humbled yesterday after bad coaching decisions from both McVay and Shula. Neither of them were prepared nor had a good game plan for the Panthers nor did they take consideration of the weather to construct a proper game plan.....on a good note, I got to meet and talk to Tory Holt yesterday as he came up to row 1 of my section (113) and talked to many fans for atleast 30 minutes and signed autographs. He signed my Rams hat and we took a picture together.

I hope the coaches learned something yesterday as we lost to a team that should have been blown out. These next 5 games need to be masterpieces starting with Arizona next week.

Great input bro . I couldn't agree more.

[brasilrams]

The O-Line is doing a good job run-blocking this year.

VERY good actually

[brasilrams]

Look .. we were due for clunker. Staff has been ridiculous up to that game and even with a sucky game, still we put 28 on the board. It SHOULD have been enough the way the D had BEEN playing. The suck factor was, apparently contagious or in the water and the D caught it as well. I'd rather get it out of our system before we play the tougher games.

IF they were going to throw there it should have been a quick hitter to Puka, Parkinson or Ferguson (his speed against LB) or they could have brought Corum, line both backs up to give the Panthers something to wonder about and run the ball again.

I'd like to know where the hell our pass rush went. We were neck and neck with Denver and it's like someone just turned the faucet off. Young had his first in what, 4 games? We suddenly have nobody really making life difficult for opposing QB's

Denver has 51 sacks and we have 33. They rank #1 , we rank #9 . At one point we were #2 . The SACK RATE has gone DOWN A LOT . Oh well , some of these guys are in contract year , I guess it will be cheaper for the rams to re-sign some of them .

[unclesams]

Uncle, any observations of Verse worth sharing?

I watched Verse closely yesterday and he was virtually double teamed or chipped on every snap. He was hustling on every play, but was not a threat to the QB because once again, Bryce Young is a 3 step drop back QB...you just don't have time to get to him before he throws the football....Shula should have played tight man or bump and run coverage on a 3 step drop back QB

[RAMFAN71]

Ford was pretty strong yesterday, and I think that Fiske should be kept in more. He’s looking more like last year’s Fiske. Overall, though, the front guys weren’t strong enough, and Landman wasn’t great, for a change.

Do we think maybe Lake missing has an impact? This is the 1st game he's been out? Or was he out vs Tampa? Anyways, he's a leader there in the middle along with Landman. Great tackling ability. So my take is our d takes a pretty big hit having lake out. Others need to step up- Landman had a mediocre game for a change. The 2 ILB need to stop the run along with the interior. If we start complaining about Forbes/Durant missing tackles on a run play, that points to a bigger issue. Back to work Shula- get these guys in line.

[Jacksnow]

Look .. we were due for clunker. Staff has been ridiculous up to that game and even with a sucky game, still we put 28 on the board. It SHOULD have been enough the way the D had BEEN playing. The suck factor was, apparently contagious or in the water and the D caught it as well. I'd rather get it out of our system before we play the tougher games.

IF they were going to throw there it should have been a quick hitter to Puka, Parkinson or Ferguson (his speed against LB) or they could have brought Corum, line both backs up to give the Panthers something to wonder about and run the ball again.

I'd like to know where the hell our pass rush went. We were neck and neck with Denver and it's like someone just turned the faucet off. Young had his first in what, 4 games? We suddenly have nobody really making life difficult for opposing QB's

This! Just a down game.

[bigklein]

Ford was pretty strong yesterday, and I think that Fiske should be kept in more. He’s looking more like last year’s Fiske. Overall, though, the front guys weren’t strong enough, and Landman wasn’t great, for a change.

Do we think maybe Lake missing has an impact? This is the 1st game he's been out? Or was he out vs Tampa? Anyways, he's a leader there in the middle along with Landman. Great tackling ability. So my take is our d takes a pretty big hit having lake out. Others need to step up- Landman had a mediocre game for a change. The 2 ILB need to stop the run along with the interior. If we start complaining about Forbes/Durant missing tackles on a run play, that points to a bigger issue. Back to work Shula- get these guys in line.

Lake hurt his elbow in the Seattle game, so it’s been a while. He’s definitely been missed, but Wallace and McCullough had done a pretty good job. They need his leadership, his ability to call out what’s happening. That’s a big deal. As for Sunday, Shula did not prepare the Rams properly for the Carolina matchup and didn’t adjust properly. Players’ strengths weren’t being capitalized, and some clearly had a bad day.

[bigklein]

No Lake till playoff time…

[Jack85Youngblood]

Great post. I love McVay, but I think he is too quick to abandon the run game. Carolina is #4 against play-action. Yeah, they were down 2 starting DBs, but Stafford was having an off day. Williams tweaked his ankle, but Corum had the hot hand anyway. His TD run impressed the hell out of me. Should have rode Corum more, especially given the weather, and especially on that last drive. Run the ball. Run the clock. Score and leave Carolina with no time. Instead Rams fumble. Run the ball. It was working.

[Utah Rams Fan]

This was a poorly coached game on both sides of the ball. The soft defense and not running the ball enough is what caused this. Stafford was not good, but still good enough for 28 points. Running the ball, probably means a 40 burger for the offense.

McVay does not adjust his game plan, no matter what is happening. The soft D sucks and always has. This has been a problem for years.