Green Bay Packers 19 St. Louis Rams 7: Instant Reaction

Preseason football is so preseason. The Rams lost to the Packers in a very slow and sluggish game. The Rams looked flat, especially on offense, the whole night. It wasn't vanilla. It was bad.

General thoughts from the game.

• Aaron Rodgers made the Rams first team defense look very mediocre. The Packers hurry up obviously disturbed the Rams, and the Rams linebackers were biting hard on play action.
• Eddie Lacy looked good for the Packers. He was breaking tackles and even made a play in the passing game.
• Darian Stewart played horribly for the second week in a row. It's the preseason, but his tackling is terrible. It's no surprise he lead the league in that category in 2011. Rodney McLeod (who had reps with the first team) and Cody Davis both were much more impressive for the Rams. If Darian doesn't improve, he may lose his starting job.
• Ray Ray Armstrong played great. He got pressure on the QB a few times, and also had a huge hit late in the 4th quarter. I don't see a way he doesn't make the roster, especially with Jo-Lonn Dunbar's suspension.
• Sam Bradford looked good. The only blemishes were a bad throw to Tavon Austin that should have been an easy TD, and a fumbled snap on 4th and goal. Other than that, Bradford looks solid. He hit Chris Givens for another perfect deep ball this week.
• It was great to see Jared Cook make a play. He may take over Danny Amendola's role as Sam Bradford's security blanket.
• Kellen Clemens is horrible. No this isn't Bernie Kosar speaking. It's just a fact. Kellen Clemens is not a good backup. Austin Davis isn't much better either. Backup QB is a huge need for the Rams.
• Isaiah Pead got the start, and he played better than last week. The run blocking didn't do him any favors, so his stats weren't impressive, but he carried the ball with more confidence. He also did very well in pass protection. He may end up as the Rams 3rd down RB.
• Daryl Richardson runs with more juice than Pead. It looks like it may be Richardson on 1st and 2nd downs, and Pead on 3rd with a nice sprinkling of Zac Stacy and possibly Benny Cunningham.
• Gerald Rivers, an UDFA out of Auburn, played very well. He got extended playing time this week with Eugene Sims out. He saw time with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd team units. He made a few plays that were Robert Quinn like, and I had to double take on Rivers' 99. Great game for him.
• Chris Williams and Shelley Smith were both working with the 2nd team offensive line after Smith got the start at left guard. Williams played right tackle while Smith remained at guard. This battle is very close, but I think Shelley Smith has looked better. We'll see how this ends.
• Penalties. The Rams had way to many. Fix this guys.
• Tackling was bad. I think this will be a constant theme for the rest of the pre-season.
• Mason Brodine jumping over the Packers' line to almost block a field goal was a wow moment. Guys that large aren't supposed to be that athletic. I hope there's a place for him on the team.
• Thank God the Rams scored. I couldn't take all the articles about how the Rams were shutout.

To end, I'll leave you with a reminder that this is pre-season and also with this tweet.

Just a thought - I can't remember a single takeaway I had from preseason last year

— Joe McAtee (@3k_) August 18, 2013