St. Louis Rams At Green Bay Packers: Pre-Bye Perspective After 10-24 Loss

The St. Louis Rams fell to the Green Bay Packers in Wisconsin yesterday, 10-24. Despite another stellar performance from rookie RB Just Todd Gurley, the Rams struggled to put together any consistent offensive push. Now headed into their bye week, the Rams get an extra week to prepare for the Cleveland Browns and to heal up. They need it.

Injuries

The Rams got bit by the injury bug yesterday with DE Chris Long, G Rodger Saffold and WR Kenny Britt picking up injuries, though Britt was able to finish the game. And with some notable names on the injury report and among the inactives, the Rams are perhaps fortunate to hit the bye week this week.

Performance Issues

Well, the offense certainly has plenty. The run blocking was slow to develop, though by the second quarter it was at least sufficient to help JTG get going. The ultimate problem was that the Rams struggled to get anything else out of the offense. The pass blocking was poor, and that's perhaps being nice. It wasn't helped by playcalling that often left too few Rams blockers for Packers rushers. The wideouts struggled to create space when QB Nick Foles did have time. And as the game wore on and he struggled to find his targets in space on time, bad decisions and pressured throws added up to four interceptions. It was a comprehensive failure between the QB, his targets, his line and the coaching staff that's been all too familiar with an all too familiar result to boot.

Standings

Things are starting to shape up now that we're in the second quarter of the season. The Rams are now 2-3 in a somewhat underperforming NFC West. The Arizona Cardinals lead the way at 4-1 after a comfortable win over the Detroit Lions. The Seattle Seahawks are at 2-3 along with the Rams and coming off of a disheartening 27-24 loss in which the Cincinnati Bengals scored 17 fourth quarter points to force and eventually win in overtime. And the San Francisco 49ers have dropped to 1-4 with their fourth-straight loss, a tough 30-27 job against the New York Giants that saw a last second TD from QB Eli Manning to TE Larry Donnell do in the Niners.

Of course, there's a huge glut of seven 2-3 teams in the NFC West, so playoffs are still well too far down the road. You do, though, have a top tier of front runners with two 5-0 teams and two four-win teams out in front.

Schedule

Obviously, the bye stretches things out. The Rams get a very friendly four-game run thereafter with home games against the Browns and 49ers leading to a visit to Minnesota before coming home to take on the Bears. So while the loss to the Packers is disappointing, the opportunity ahead is a much bigger offer.

So now it's a week of a rest leading to a week of preparation against Cleveland for what the Rams have on tap. Time to rest up.