As I watched the game stretched out in a bed, my leg elevated, I came to believe what I was watching was a Vicodin induced nightmare. I asked if one of my "nurses" would slap me back to reality, which they all volunteered to do far too quickly if you ask me. I didn't help, so I reached for my laptop, and decided to write a "Quick Five".
If anyone is looking for an "up arrow" for any of the Rams, you may want to stop reading right here. There wasn't a moment after the Rams first offensive possession that wasn't, well... Offensive? Yes, that's the word I'm looking for, because "icky" just doesn't cover how badly the Rams played today.
The St. Louis defense was appalling, terrible, awful...Even Bayless-like! They failed at every facet of the game, and Tom Brady and Co. should be arrested for the NFL version of "date rape". The defensive line was a non-entity at best, and their failing against the rushing game re-ignited memories of last season. I take my hat off to young Nate Solder of the Patriots, who thoroughly manhandled the Rams defensive ends. The secondary was abysmal, and warning lights have to be going off at the play of Janoris Jenkins, let alone Bradley "penalty flag" Fletcher. Both Rams safeties were... Excuse me a second, just thinking about them made me want to throw up. Jame Laurinaitis had probably his worst game of his career; constantly out of place and ineffective. Anyway, you get the idea. This once highly touted defense was shamed in London, and it will be a terribly long plane trip back to St. Louis for this group.
While I understand the Rams offensive line is a mish-mash of players, their efforts over the past few weeks had me believing they were coming together into a viable unit. Surely, the match up against one of the worst pass rushing defenses in the NFL would be the easiest this unit has had all season, right? Wrong-'o-wrong, they played so badly that Sam Bradford was not only rushed on ever down, but allowed him to be ground into the Wembley turf. This offensive line can't be counted on week to week, pure and simple.
The Rams receiver corps is lacking in different areas. One of those areas is field awareness. One of the reason's why the Patriots' offense works so well, is that every one of their receivers knows how to alter their routes just enough by watching the other receivers in the pass patterns. Whether it's a simple stutter step to allow another route to develop, or positioning themselves in just such a way to provide an emergency outlet for Brady, they work TOGETHER. The Rams receiver are a group of kids who take their pattern, run it, and wonder why things aren't working out? They don't seem to realize that after a few seconds, they may want to look back so they can offer Bradford an option. How they play is easily game planned by opposing teams - cover the three or four second check down, and the defense wins. Hats off to Chris Givens for the one flash of brilliance the Rams would see all day.
The Rams special teams... Special, as in "blue parking spaces" special. I'm not buying into the "Legatron" thing any more. Today he was "Duckatron", lofting his first kickoff that didn't even make the endzone. Hekker was "blah", and he may want to lay off the idea he can get away with throwing a pass on a botched fake field goal. (I'm still not all that sure that play was planned???)
Jeff Fisher was out-coached for the second week in a row. His entire staff failed. Brian Schottenheimer showed little creativity against a scoring machine like New England. The un-named defensive coordinator proved to not be up to the task of challenging a first class offense. This loss was a failure of the team top to bottom, and Jeff Fisher needs to stop believing all his great press. The NFL game evolves each week, and he needs to embrace the fact he's been flat out embarrassed the last two weeks.