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The St. Louis Rams ceded the Governor's Cup yet again in a one-possession loss to the Kansas City Chiefs tonight as the Rams get ready to reduce their current 75-man roster to a 53-man version in two days.
Who stood out tonight?
The only major name for positives on offense was....................................
.............................................
..............................................................................(this deserves a longer ellipsis honestly)
Isaiah Pead. He looked lively rushing for 52 yards on 12 carries, good for a 4.33 clip, with a touchdown.
Aside from iPead, the ball was spread around pretty regularly, with QB Sean Mannion looking very erratic at times. As a rookie, Mannion looked very much like a rookie tonight. Three late drops soured the last taste of things.
Defensively, the spirited motivation among players trying to stand out was obvious. The secondary was flying around and popping people while the line shut much down. Kansas City only had seven points over the final two and a half quarters.
The bigger issue was that the Rams were held scoreless in the second half, unable to marshal any kind of consistent threat either in the air or on the ground including preseason starlet Trey Watts who was held to just 11 yards on five carries.
At preseason's end, the game's scoreline doesn't matter. The calendar's eye turns toward Saturday's deadline to turn in a 53-man roster and begin preparing to face the Seattle Seahawks in the Edward Jones Dome in 10 days.
The preseason's over. Meaningful football is upon us.
Let the games begin.