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The St. Louis Rams Secondary Does It Again

Just a few days ago, I praised the Rams defense - specifically the secondary - and how they keep Rams’ games competitive. The defense, as a collective unit, has played extremely well in 2012. I think at this point, however, the secondary’s ability to minimize big plays through the air is outperforming the front 7’s ability to limit the ground game. Not here to point fingers, though…

By Brandon Bate
Dilip Vishwanat - Getty Images

It appears that I may have jinxed Cortland Finnegan. Cortland…I’m sorry. There are more than a few people, your immediate family included, that wanted you to get snag your fourth pick of the season…and in consecutive fashion. Man crush aside, I’m coping with the fact that other Rams defenders are going to need to get INT’s as well. You know…so that they can emerge from your shadow.

The Rams hadn’t had an easy go at unproven quarterback play through the first three weeks of regular season play. Yes, Robert Griffin III is a rookie, but he’s also 'as advertised,’ and is truly the catalyst of that offense. Don’t get me wrong… Russell Wilson is no slouch. Compared to Matthew Stafford, RG3, and Jay Cutler - however - the week four matchup looked to be the easiest test through the first quarter of the season for the Rams.

Regardless of who their offensive opponent has been - mainly in regards to the secondary - the result has been positive [if not downright successful]. In ‘Don’t Panic: The Rams Secondary Will Keep Them In Games,’ I recapped how [despite solid play from elite WR talent] the Rams secondary has impressed. Today’s game against the Seahawks was no exception. In fact, it was probably their most impressive of the year.

In the Rams second victory of this very young season [when’s the last time you heard that?] pressuring the QB proved key in once again riddling the QB’s stat line with blemishes:

2012 REGULAR SEASON GAME LOG
DATE OPP RESULT CMP ATT YDS CMP% AVG LNG TD INT QBR RAT ATT YDS AVG LNG TD
Sun 9/9 L 16-20 18 34 153 52.9 4.50 27 1 1 27.6 62.5 8 20 2.5 5 0
Sun 9/16 W 27-7 15 20 151 75.0 7.55 22 1 0 76.3 112.7 4 28 7.0 14 0
Mon 9/24 W 14-12 10 21 130 47.6 6.19 41 2 0 28.5 99.3 3 18 6.0 12 0
Sun 9/30 L 13-19 17 25 160 68.0 6.40 17 0 3 16.8 45.8 7 14 2.0 8 0
REGULAR SEASON STATS 43 75 434 57.3 5.79 41 4 1 30.4 86.2 15 66 4.4 14 0



Now to be fair, Russell's yardage has been…well… bad all season. With great defensive play, and a helping hand from replacement referees, the Seahawks have been able to win games. [How much does a replacement ref make anyway?] If we are indeed making comparisons though, and we are, there are several things that the Rams succeeded at today, and they shouldn’t go without notice. 160 yards is a season high for Russell Wilson. Awesome and unimpressive all in one!

Let’s talk about the 'meat and potatoes' of Russell’s performance. The meat was goose egg. You’ll find it under the "TD" column. If you’re not familiar with ESPN’s formatting, "TD" means touchdown. For Russell, that’s bad…for the Rams… not so much. Jay Cutler can give you more details, if necessary. The potatoes was the passer rating…45.8. This could be a result of the THREE passes that Russell successfully threw to the men wearing all blue.

I feel as though I’m beginning to pick on Russell, so I’m going to leave it at that. The Rams won, and the defense [again] gets the game ball, in my opinion. Still without a fumble forced, the Rams defense prefers not to bend over to pick up a football. If they’d prefer to snag them out of the air, I’ll continue to support their efforts to prevent back injury.

In summation, the Rams secondary is good. It’s really good. They’ll continue to keep us in games, as they have through the first four contests of 2012. I’ll continue to show them love until they prove otherwise. Oh, just so you know….the Rams lead the NFL in interceptions. Boom! Now, watch Alfonso do the ‘Carlton Finnegan'



Go Rams!





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