2009 Ram Analysis Part 1: Close Games

           No one has ever went into detail on why we had such a horrible season so I decided I would do my part and make a series talking about it.(hopefully it I get some feedback so I can continue doing this.) Since some of you have been spoiled by some losing season shame on you :(. This series should help shed some light on how close we were to winning some games. My opnion is that we were young and didn't have talent, espically when key members went down.  The first telling tale is that we had 7 Winnable games were we lost by 10 or less mostly because of our offense I wonder how our offence would have been like if we had an establish QB but thats another issue. Let's get to the good stuff quick summarys on the games and key stats.

           Week 2- Rams 7 vs Redskins 9:   After getting whooped 28-0 Ram's play the Skins both teams looking for their first win The Redskins was out coached in this game  getting only 3 fieldgoals but they were in the redzone 5 times, but we got our first touchdown after SJ ran 61 yards and 8 whole plays later Robinson makes a great catch for a touchdown. Second half it all went bad we were driving then donnie avery fumbles then after we go four and out at our 2 what a morale killer. 

*Key stat for Ram's allowed 1 sack*                     *Key stat for Redskins in the red zone 5 times*

~Game was over when Donnie Avery fumbled in the redzone in the beginning of the 4th quarter.

          Week 6- Jaguars 23 vs. Rams 20 : The first time in a long time that the Ram's scored an early touchdown hell it was even a pass (poor attempt for a pass that Donnie Avery had to make a great adjustment to) to give us a 6 point lead. Their offence was just to much to handle though as Jones Drew ran for 133 yards and 3 touchdowns Torry had 100 yards in his "revenge game", SJ caught a screen which gave us a spark and led us to get field goal to send to overtime. A slow and methodical drive led us to lose this game. After this it became clear that the Ram's defence didn't have enough talent to live up to big moments.

*Key stat for the Ram's SJ had the most receptions.*          *Key stat for the Jags 492 total yards and Time of Possession 42 minutes.*

~Game was over when Jags kicked a field goal to win in OT.

          Week 10 Saints 28 vs Rams 23: Everyone remembers this game whenever a Ram fan remembers 2009-2010 season this is the game we remember. Right after we beat the Lions we had a bye week which helpped us prepare for this game against the Saints. Our offence finally clicked Brandon Gibson showed flashes of greatness with his 93 yards and even Donnie Avery ended up with 2 touchdowns, King Marc Bulger outdueled  Drew Brees say what you want that game was ours to win, but our defence couldn't stop reggie bush and generate alot of pass rushing to get to Dree Brees.

*Rams key stat Won almost every important statistic.*   *Saints key stat the win.*

~The Game was over when Marc bulger kept checking down to SJ the last drive.~

            Week 11  Cardinals 21 vs Rams 13: After this lost the Ram's were ready to play another former Ram from the Greatest Show On Turf days,but this game ended just like the Jaguars game. The passing game for the Cardinals was on point just like always Kurt Warner went 15/19 203 yards and 2 touchdowns until attogwe took him out with a hard hit. Too bad Matt Lineart came in and went 10/14 and the running game took off for the cardinals. Just a horrible game for everyone on the defence except James Laurinaitis who had a season high 16 tackles.

Key stat for Rams: 3 wideouts with at least 60 yards.    Key stat for Cardinals 184 rushing yards.

~Game was over when Kurt Warner first said hut~ 

          Week 12 Seahawks 27 vs Rams 17: This was a horrible game that we had a chance to win. In fact this game shows why I think that if Sam Bradford is as good as advertise we will surprise next year. Kyle Boller was the QB for the game he had an ok game but he was sacked 4 times and never looked comfortable in the pocket. We stopped the passing game Hasselbeck didn't even throw for 110 yards but Justin Forsett attacked our defence gaining 130 yards and 2 touchdowns.

*Rams key stat 102 yards allowed in the air.*                     *Seahawks key stat turned 2 interceptions into 10 points.*

~Game was over when Kyle Boller threw for a first down on 4th down before half and it was took back for a touchdown.~

          Week 13 Rams 9 vs Bears 17: From the gates they had us on our heels a long pass to Devin Hester and a quick run put us down 7-0 in the first quarter they quickly put us down 10-0 at half but even with Kyle Boller as our QB we we didn't give up. My favorite receiver Brandon Gibson coughed up the ball on a fumble thats how they got 10. We slowly put together drives but their hard nose defence made us turn over the ball on a fourth quarter interception  to make us give up our comeback hopes.       

 *Key Ram stat 6 penalties 85 yards*                           *Bears Key stats  fumbled six times but lost it once*

~Game was over when Kyle Boller threw another costly fourth quarter interception.~

           Week 15 Texans 16  vs Rams13: This game was the begining of the Keith Null era the bad thing is everyone was excited hell even me we all had our hopes that a 6th round pick could help led us to some victories. He really had a decent game with what he had towards the end of the season which was basically nothing he went 18/27 173 yards a touchdown and an interception. Our defence just didn't have an answer for Andre Johnson who ended up with 193 yards but our redzone defence held up only giving up 1 touchdown on 4 red zone tries.

*Key Ram stat 48 yards allowed on the ground*     *Key Texan stat Matt Schab passed for 367 yards.

~The Game was over when they got an 3 and 1 and kneed after the two minute warning~

         So there you have it a quick run down of our closest games last year when we had a fighting chance for wins, but the main question is what really cost these losses was it coaching, us not having an established quarterback, our defence, or was it the fact that injuries just killed us. I'm interested in your opinions.