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12 points. That's all the high-flying Steelers offense could muster against the Rams, whose defense kept their opponents in check for most of the game.
In what was largely a clash of new-school vs. old-school, neither philosophy really beat the other. The Steelers have made waves this year after being the first team to accept a fancy new concept called math. This is a team built to pass, with Antonio Brown leading the way with a host of other receivers. On the other side, you have Todd Gurley's six rushes for nine yards.
Nine yards. If you're keeping track, that's three yards per game from the tenth overall selection so far this season. If you're thinking that something is seriously wrong with the Rams, you'd be right. It starts at the top.
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Jeff Fisher, HC The Rams, led by Jeff Fisher, have invested more draft capital into RBs than an offensive line. Through four years, it's shown. The Rams haven't had a 1,000 yard rusher since Steven Jackson in 2012, who just barely eked out 1045 yards in a full 16 game season. No, it couldn't possibly a problem that the team has jettisoned player after player (Richardson, Stacy) looking a for a great runner when the offensive line has overall been one of the worst in the NFL for the entire tenure of the coaching staff. The fact that Todd Gurley was unable to do absolutely anything behind a patch-work offensive line should come as no surprise to a team who refused to even acknowledge they had a problem until it was too late. |
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Jeff Fisher, HC It also couldn't be a problem that the team continuously rewards mediocrity. Jared Cook is one of the highest paid tight ends in the league, yet he continuously displays questionable effort in blocking as well as receiving. It couldn't be a problem that the team awarded Lance Kendricks a huge contract in the off-season, promising to include him more in the passing game when he clearly shouldn't be counted on as such, with two drops, one of which would have set the Rams up in the red-zone down by only one possession. It couldn't be a problem that Kenny Britt was awarded a large contract in the off-season, yet in his 19 games with the Rams, ten of them have featured Britt with less than 40 receiving yards. Only three have Britt over 100, one of which, today, was his first this year after only having 7 targets on the season prior to the Steelers game - a model of consistency. |
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Jeff Fisher, HC One could also point to a problem with penalties. The team has constantly had penalties that destroy drives and momentum. Just last week, Johnny Hekker nearly had to punt four times straight due to penalties on fourth down. This week, one of the few red-zone possessions by the Rams was turned into 3 points instead of 6 when the team was backed up past the twenty yard-line on second and goal by multiple penalties, one of which was a false start by Greg Robinson, the left tackle who continues to struggle picking up the pace of the NFL. They also picked up on offside call on a kickoff, which actually deserves credit - that's pretty damn hard to do. |
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Jeff Fisher, HC It couldn't be a problem that Jeff Fisher is full of it when he states the team's offensive philosophy is to run the ball. The team, down by one possession nearly the entire game, ran the ball only 16 times with their RBs, compared to 28 passes to Nick Foles. That's a 36% run rate. It also couldn't be a problem that Tavon Austin, the team's leading runner and spark plug on offense had zero run attempts and only five targets in the passing game, despite two key chain-moving catches. When the team must resort to gadget plays and sweeps to pick up yards on the ground, that's a problem. When a team then refuses to do so to pick up yards on the ground (even in the two cases they do against the Steelers, it works), that's an even bigger problem. |
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Jeff Fisher, HC This is a team with no excuses - the entire roster has been overhauled by the coaching staff and this team has had more first round picks than almost any team in the league in the last four years. It's a team that Fisher accepted to coach because he was allowed to make personnel decisions, like completely ignoring the offensive line until the 2015 draft. It's a team he joined to coach because he believed in Sam Bradford, so much so that he stuck with him as he tore his ACL twice, but then jettisoned him for Nick Foles as soon as he was healthy. It's a team he joined to coach because they had plenty of cap space, which he used to sign players like Jake Long, Cortland Finnegan, Scott Wells and Jared Cook. Only one player is left and all have had questionable careers with the team. The release of two of them directly led to the catastrophe that is the offensive line. It's an offense he's put together that has achieved one touchdown in the last two games. It takes time to put teams together, but glaciers have melted faster than the Rams progression and growth. That's on Fisher. |
The point of all this is simple; this is Jeff Fisher's team.
In 2012, they had a losing season.
In 2013, they had a losing season.
In 2014, they had a losing season.
In 2015, they currently have a losing season.
Surprised? You shouldn't be.