St. Louis Rams: Quick Five

What's up with playing the AFC East for the Rams? After two weeks of winning, the Rams came out flat against the Buffalo Bills. In the first half, it looked like a repeat of the Jets game. After a few half time adjustments, the Rams started the second half better, and all but fizzled. Hats off to an on the rise Buffalo defense. They played tough against the run, and put pressure on Sam Bradford on every passing down. There's lots not to like about how the Rams won an ugly game. Let's have a look...

The Rams offensive line had been playing really well the last couple weeks. Against the Bills they not only couldn't get on track, but were quite literally smacked around. No running lanes, and Bradford spent the day running for his life. The Bills defensive tackles dominated the middle of the line, and Mario Williams picked up another sack. The Rams have serious issues on offense.

The Rams secondary had a terrible day all the way up to the last few minutes of the game.. Cortland Finnegan is a great corner back... Normally. The Bills' Stevie Johnson owned Finnegan at times during this game. To make matters worse, Finnegan showed his frustration with a face-mask penalty. It honestly looked like Cortland was ill; not playing with the fire we've seen all season long. Janoris Jenkins continues to play so far off the ball it has me wondering what's going on? The Rams gave the quick-drop short throws to the outside receiver away the whole game. The edge here was the game plan Chan Gailey's staff came up with to take advantage a hot 'n cold Rams secondary. While they didn't give up any big plays, they kept the Bills rolling.

Steven Jackson is as healthy as I've ever seen him at this stage of the season. It didn't show in this game though. He and Daryl Richardson missed opportunities to bounce plays outside all game long. It looked like they had tunnel vision? Yes, they had very few holes to hit due to a flailing offensive line, but great running backs can turn the bad into something special on occasion. Today wasn't their day. Jackson did provide some key runs that helped the Rams win.

The Rams coaching staff has been out-coached a few times this season, and today was another one of those days. They displayed little creativity, using base offensive and defensive game plans. Road games are tough to coach when the team is filled with rookies. The Rams looked mono-dimensional at times, especially on offense. I give Jeff Fisher and Co. a big "C-" today. This was a VERY winnable game made to look far tougher than it should have. But a win's a win, right? A second road win of the year is nice, but this game should be put in a drawer and locked away.

The Rams wide receivers had a tough day, but as far as I'm concerned it was due to a very underrated Bills secondary. Limiting penalties that had plagued them all year, the Bills held sway of the game until late in the 4th quarter. Brandon Gibson had a terrible day until the last few minutes of the game. Chris Givens had a decent day once again. These two receivers were really the only bright spots. Pettis, Quick and Kendricks were non-factors for the most part.

Yes, the Rams won...Huzzah! Playoff dreams live! Hurrah! But when it comes right down to it, if the Rams continue to play this way, a trip to the post season will be the fault of other team imploding more than it will be this team impressing. I've never felt this indifferent to a Rams win in all my years as a fan...