Click on the photo above to see more. Read below for my take on another sadly predictable outcome.
Well, this is disappointing...to say the least. It looks like another long season for St. Louis Rams, another season where the draft, in April, is a bigger event than any game they'll play this season. The biggest question remaining is whether or not the Rams will pick first or second. Looking at the rest of the schedule, it looks like we're on the clock already.
These games...the writers strike in Hollywood ended and the scabs they got to throw together reality shows have started scripting our games. Each one starts out like a compressed version of a sports genre flick: team struggles, but the defense tightens up and keeps the Rams in the game. Missing their cue - and here's where the ink stained pages start go horribly awry and break the genre rule - the offense still comes out and stinks it up. End of game. Only this time, the weak spots on the defense were exposed.
Being a fan means you have to put up with the tough time too. It is, after all, just a game. You try to be rational when you see game after game turn into season after season of this.
"Hey, they're making progress."
"The defense looks great."
"Most of these players are young and still climbing toward their prime."
And all of that is true. You scratch below the surface of another losing season, and even the novice can see this is a much better Rams team than what we've seen in recent years. It's obvious we're more than a piece or two away, but there really is a good group of young talent here that will bring competitive football back to St. Louis...or LA...or London...or wherever the team ends up.
That said, you get tired of watching the same bad film week after week. No, the Rams don't have the talent to beat most of the teams on their schedule, but that doesn't excuse the poor execution leaving each offensive drive wheezing and gasping before it finally dies in a completed 4-yard pass to the middle on 3rd-and-long. Had the Rams lost this game 23-17, we'd be writing a different post here. They lost 36-17. The Rams have changed the scripted ending we keep waiting for, and the third act they're using instead is getting old fast.