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Random Ramsdom: November 16: St. Louis Rams - Too Tough To Bear

It was one of those weekends where you could do nothing more than shake your head. The Rams put up a stinker (on both sides of the ball) in a 37-13 loss to the Chicago Bears. The loss at the EJD though truly pales in comparison to the tragic losses in Paris over the weekend. Kind of puts it all into perspective.

By Frank "Dubs" Dobozy

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Twitter Talk

Sometimes it's about more than just football:

I sat on the edge of my seat watching NFL football yesterday...praying that NFL stadiums weren't possible targets:

The Rams are lucky to have him!:

A classy gesture by the NFL. Puts it all into perspective:

Todd Gurley reminding us he was once a world-class hurdler:

Oh so true...

NFL increases security inside and outside of stadiums after Paris attack: Yahoo Sports - Shutdown Corner

In the wake of Friday's terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday, the NFL acted quickly in beefing up security in and around its stadiums for Sunday's games.

The Late Show: Sports Illustrated - MMQB

Peter King takes us through the week that was in the NFL.

Sunday is 1-year anniversary of Todd Gurley's ACL tear and he knows it: CBS Sports

A very quick recovery and a humble young man:

"I feel like it's normal. I just looked at it as I'm not the first person to tear their ACL and I'm not going to be the last," Gurley said. "There's people who came back before I did. With mine it was a clean ACL so it kind of helped me out."

Rams Uniform History: St. Louis Rams Official Website

A nostalgic look back at Rams uniforms throughout their history (1937-present). The blue and white's are still my favorite.

2016 NFL Mock Draft: Walter Football

Charlie Campbell updates his three round mock draft. The Rams select DL Robert Nkemdiche in the first round, C Max Tuerk and WR Josh Doctson in the second round and OLB Eric Striker in the third round. This is the type of draft I could see happening under Jeff Fisher.

2016 NFL Mock Draft: St. Louis Rams - 6 Rounds: Rams In Perspective

The Rams currently have 6 selections in the upcoming draft. I believe one of those selections should be WR Laquon Treadwell in the first round if at all possible.

Draft Prospect Highlight Reel: CB - Vernon Hargreaves III - Florida

Why Bruce Arians' Ideas Have The Cardinals' Offense Rolling: Sports Illustrated

Could the Rams' coaches/play-callers learn a thing or two from one of the best? What makes Bruce Arians so good at getting offenses to fire on all cylinders?

NFL in LA: Owners welcome Disney CEO, timetable could be pushed: CBS Sports

Jason La Canfora takes an in-depth look at the implications of Disney CEO Bob Iger becoming chairman of the Chargers'/Raiders' project to build a stadium in Carson, California.

A Valuable Draft Lesson Everyone Must Learn: NFL Mocks - Fansided - S.I.

The mock drafts will be coming at us full-bore before the end of the NFL regular season. The vast majority of them will address a teams' needs. The reality? For a team like the Rams, selecting an Aaron Donald took precedence over any type of need.

Peyton Manning is all-time passing yards leader: NFL.com

Manning is the new all-time passing yards leader. He passed Brett Favre's record (71,838) during the first quarter of Sunday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Rams Game Takes Moment Of Silence: St. Louis Rams Official Website

A  moment of silence was observed to honor the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris, before the game between the Chicago Bears and St. Louis Rams.

Stat Facts Of The Week: Toxic Differential

Toxic Differential Leaders
Team Turnover Differential Big Play Differential Toxic Differential
1 Carolina Panthers 6 22 28
2 Buffalo Bills 5 19 24
3 Cincinnati Bengals 4 17 21
4 Pittsburgh Steelers 4 13 17
5 Seattle Seahawks -1 17 16
6 Arizona Cardinals 3 13 16
7 St. Louis Rams 4 12 16
8 New England Patriots 7 9 16
9 Philadelphia Eagles 5 7 12
10 Minnesota Vikings 0 11 11
11 Green Bay Packers 6 2 8
12 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1 5 6
13 Atlanta Falcons 0 6 6
14 Kansas City Chiefs 3 0 3
15 New York Jets 3 0 3
16 Jacksonville Jaguars -7 7 0
17 Denver Broncos 3 -3 0
18 San Francisco 49ers -1 -1 -2
19 New York Giants 12 -16 -4
20 Baltimore Ravens -7 1 -6
21 Chicago Bears -1 -5 -6
22 Oakland Raiders 1 -8 -7
23 Dallas Cowboys -9 -1 -10
24 New Orleans Saints -2 -9 -11
25 Houston Texans -2 -11 -13
26 Tennessee Titans -6 -10 -16
27 Miami Dolphins -4 -12 -16
28 Indianapolis Colts -7 -11 -18
29 San Diego Chargers -5 -15 -20
30 Cleveland Browns -4 -16 -20
31 Detroit Lions -9 -17 -26
32 Washington Redskins -2 -26 -28

Through Week 9, the Rams were tied for 5th in the league in Toxic Differential (+16). The other 9 teams in the top ten had a combined 54-20 record heading into Week 10. In the win against Chicago...

The expression "toxic differential" was coined by former NFL coach Brian Billick. Billick was head coach of the Baltimore Ravens for 9 seasons, and led them to a Super Bowl victory in the 2000 season.

From an article by Brian Billick for NFL.com in November, 2011:

"People are constantly looking for the right combination of stats to indicate the probable success of a team. What are the key factors to winning? Is it sacks, third-down conversions, first-down efficiency, the ability to run the ball and stop the run, total passing yards? All are important, but none are a precise indicator of success."

"Beginning in 1998, when I was the Vikings' offensive coordinator, I used a formula that I called the "toxic differential" as the best barometer for our team's success. Simply stated, the toxic differential is the correlation between turnovers and explosive plays."


Foles under fire after Rams lose 37-13 to Bears: USA Today

Foles is putting up some fairly pedestrian numbers this season. How much of that is on him? The offensive line? The wide receivers? The Coaches? The answer is likely a little bit of all of them combined.

"Foles was 17 for 36 for 200 yards with no TDs and an interception Sunday. On the year, he has completed 52.7 percent of his passes for seven touchdowns with six interceptions."

Rams Fall To Bears 37-13: St. Louis Rams Official Website

Rams Insider Myles Simmons recaps the Rams' loss to the Bears.

Bears vs. Rams: St. Louis Grades, Note And Quotes: Bleacher Report

Steven Gerwel recaps and grades the game between the Bears and Rams.

Agressive Bears defense stifles Rams: Chicago Bears Official Website

Stifling the Rams' offense as a whole is not that impressive a feat. Holding Todd Gurley to 45 yards rushing and negating explosive plays from Tavon Austin is much more impressive.

Sam Bradford had trouble remembering the first half: Fox Sports

Two injuries in this game to Sam Bradford (concussion and non-throwing shoulder). I can't help but feel for the guy. A snake-bitten career.

On This Day In Sports History

1969 - U.S. President Richard Nixon becomes the first President to attend an NFL regular season game while in office. The Dallas Cowboys defeated the Washington Redskins 41-28.

1907 - The 12th Iron Bowl: Auburn and Alabama tie 6-6 in Birmingham.

Aaron Donald up, Nick Foles, Greg Robinson down for Rams in loss: ESPN NFL Nation

Nick Wagoner goes through the ups and downs of Sunday's game against the Bears. Seems to me there were a lot more ups than downs in this one.

Bench Foles? Sure, But That Won't Solve The Problem: 101 Sports ESPN

Bernie Miklasz believes the problems with the Rams' offense run far deeper than just Nick Foles:

"We can make Foles the fall guy, but that doesn’t address the real problem. Jeff Fisher’s offense has been dragging for years. Pick a quarterback; any will do. That quarterback will be working for the same coach, functioning under the same philosophy, and operating the same system. That’s the reality."

Nick Foles again unable to do enough as Rams fall to Bears: ESPN NFL Nation

Nick Wagoner shares his thoughts on Foles and the Rams loss to the Bears.

Rams- Bears Highlights: NFL.com
Rams' Accountability Begins And Ends With Kroenke: 101 Sports ESPN

Bernie Miklasz believes the Rams' problems all start at the top...with owner Stan Kroenke:

"Winning the Super Bowl should be the source of every NFL owner’s hunger. But based on Kroenke’s actions, I’d have to say his top goal is beating the Chargers-Raiders in the Los Angeles Bowl — a victory that undeniably will bring him a massive financial payoff."

Bears tight end Martellus Bennett calls Rams "Seattle's little brother": ESPN

Apparently Mr. Bennett isn't too particularly fond of the Rams:

"I consider St. Louis to be Seattle's little brother," Bennett said on Comcast SportsNet Chicago's postgame show. "So it's a bunch of front-runners. No. 97 [right defensive end Eugene Sims] is a little b----. So overall, I was happy just to go out there and kick their ass."

The Pressers

Jeff Fisher Post-Game Press Conference: St. Louis Rams Official Website
Nick Foles Post-Game Press Conference: St. Louis Rams Official Website
James Laurinaitis Post-Game Press Conference: St. Louis Rams Official Website
Aaron Donald Post-Game Press Conference: St. Louis Rams Official Website
Wes Welker Post-Game Press Conference: St. Louis Rams Official Website
Rams coach Jeff Fisher says his offense’s poor third down conversion and failure to continue drives killed his team in a loss to the Bears at home.

FOX 2's Charlie Marlow catches up with Head Coach Jeff Fisher.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Post-Game Coverage

Rams Report Card vs. Chicago Bears: Foles, Coaches Flunk

Jeff Gordon hands out his weekly grades. QB Nick Foles and the coaches both merit poor grades for their lackluster performances.

Rams disappear in blowout loss to Bears

Todd Gurley had the right words for this mess of a game:

"It was just one of those (butt)-kicking losses that happen sometimes."

Rams struggle in loss to Bears

Jim Thomas reports on the game from the Edward Jones Dome.

Rams Notebook: Brown could be done for season

As Jim Thomas notes, injuries to Jamon Brown and Rob Havenstein have put the Rams' offensive line in "shambles".

Missed tackles cost the Rams

It wasn't a great game for the Rams defense. I'll give them a pass due to their exploits in the previous 8 games.

Rams give fans horrible flashbacks

Jeff Gordon reminds us of bleaker times since 2012:

"This loss offered nightmarish flashbacks to Fisher’s previous seasons here. Errant passes, dropped passes, drive-killing offensive penalties and massive defensive breakdowns led the Rams down a familiar trail."

St. Louis Rams Weekly Salary "Re-Cap"

The Rams have $2,982,385 in available salary cap space as of 11:00 pm, Sunday, November 15 (the 9th lowest total in the league). Please check here and here for my regular salary cap updates throughout the year.

CBS Sports Game Grades

A The secret is out on Jeremy Langford. With Matt Forte injured, the Bears backup running back saw some extensive action in St. Louis and the Rams couldn't stop him. Langford totaled 182 yards and two touchdowns in the game, a total that includes an 83-yard TD catch that put the Bears up 24-10 and effectively iced the game.
F The best way to beat the Rams? Jump out to a big lead so they can't keep giving the ball to Todd Gurley. The 37-13 loss marked the fourth time this year that Nick Foles has thrown 30 or more passes in a game and it's probably not a coincidence that the Rams are 0-4 in those games. Not only did the Rams blow a home game, but they blew a home game to a banged up Chicago team that was coming off of a short week after playing on Monday night in Week 9.

St. Louis Rams Current Roster & Depth Chart

The big news of the week was the signing of WR Wes Welker to replace WR Stedman Bailey on the roster. Bailey is under suspension (4 games) for violating the leagues substance abuse policy. In addition, the Rams signed LB Matthew Wells to fill the 10th spot on the Practice Squad. Welker was active for the Rams' game against the Bears.

C Tim Barnes Demetrius Rhaney
RG Jamon Brown
LG Garrett Reynolds Cody Wichmann
RT Rob Havenstein Andrew Donnal
LT Greg Robinson Darrell Williams
TE Lance Kendricks Cory Harkey
TE Jared Cook Justice Cunningham
WR Tavon Austin Wes Welker Bradley Marquez
WR Kenny Britt Brian Quick
RB Tre Mason Benny Cunningham
RB Todd Gurley Chase Reynolds
QB Nick Foles Case Keenum Sean Mannion
PK Greg Zuerlein
P John Hekker
LS Jake McQuaide
DT Aaron Donald Nick Fairley Doug Worthington
DT Michael Brockers Ethan Westbrooks
DE Chris Long William Hayes
DE Robert Quinn Eugene Sims Matt Longacre
MLB James Laurinaitis Bryce Hager
OLB Mark Barron Daren Bates
OLB Akeem Ayers Cameron Lynch
CB Janoris Jenkins Marcus Roberson
CB Trumaine Johnson Lamarcus Joyner
SS Tim McDonald Jr. Maurice Alexander
FS Rodney McLeod Cody Davis Christian Bryant
Practice Squad Injured Reserve IR-Designated To Return
DE  Gerald Rivers CB  E.J. Gaines OLB Alec Ogletree
DT  Louis Trinca-Pasat OG  Rodger Saffold
LB  Zack Hodges WR  Isiah Ferguson
LB  Matthew Wells Reserve/Suspended
CB  Melvin White
CB  Eric Patterson RB  Trey Watts
RB  Malcolm Brown WR Stedman Bailey
FB  Zach Laskey
WR Nick Toon
OT  Isaiah Battle

Blast From The Past: Classic Rock Monday: Led Zeppelin - How Many More Times

Please have a great Monday and a Ramtastic week!!

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