Rams rally, but fall short against the Packers

The St. Louis Rams lost to the Green Bay Packers, an outcome that was not unexpected given the way these two teams matched up on paper heading into the game. The defense held up its end of the bargain, and had the offense been more able to execute, the Rams might have had a fighting chance.

Third quarter - St. Louis went into the locker room at the half down by just four points. It was a remarkable development, but when you look back at the game, it was the third quarter where the hole just got too deep to dig out of for the Rams offense.

The Packers had the ball for 11:39 in the third quarter. Amazingly enough they only got a single touchdown to show for it. The had six offensive plays in that frame. Six. The second drive ended with Sam Bradford's interception, a play he could have avoided.

St. Louis did a fine job of battling back in the fourth quarter, but the damage was done at that point.

Third downs - More evidence of the Rams inability to execute consistently, they converted just four-of-11 downs. A couple of big plays come to mind too, big missed opportunities.

More observations:

• I don't know how they do it, but the offensive line again defied expectations. It wasn't great by any means, but the starting five played a capable game of football.
• This was an education for Janoris Jenkins. The Rams haven't really seen a team like the Packers, one so loaded with talented wide receivers.
• Brandon Gibson shows flashed of real potential, but when he disappears he goes all out. The Packers don't do stuff like this.

Fisher says Brandon Gibson has to catch that ball on 4th-and-2. Says Janoris Jenkins was watching the flag while allowing deep ball.

— Mike Sando, ESPN.com (@espn_nfcwest) October 21, 2012

• Greg the Leg got back on track, kicking a 50-yarder.
• Chris Givens is easily the best receiver from the 2012 draft class, and pretty good overall to boot. This was the fourth game that he has a play exceeding 50 yards.
• This was nice to see:

via assets.sbnation.com

We'll pick apart the game later on, for now, this was a reminder of why the brass is more interested in trading players than trading picks: the Rams have a long way to go before they're contending for titles.