SB Nation St. Louis Rams Schedule
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Sam Bradford was sacked seven times—and it only got worse from there.
Steven Jackson's injury might finally be in the rear-view: He looks ready to take a full slate of carries for the St. Louis Rams Sunday against the Washington Redskins after having practiced all week in the lead-up to their Week 4 contest. Turf Show Times thinks he could both serve as an interesting offensive weapon and increase the Rams' pass-protection in front of Sam Bradford, who's been chased by defenders on a regular basis in the first three weeks of the Rams' unproductive 2011 season.
Jackson suffered his quad injury after just two carries in Week 1, and played on a limited basis in Week 3. Altogether he's carried the ball six times for 79 yards—five times for 32 after his season-opening 47-yard touchdown run. In his absence Cadillac Williams has run the ball 50 times for 202 yards and 4.0 yards per carry, which would be his best average since 2005 if it were carried over a full season.
In the meantime, here's a possible cause of the Rams' intermittent offensive struggles—since that season-opening rushing touchdown, nobody on the Rams has scored a touchdown on the ground.
If there's been one silver lining to the St. Louis Rams' 0-3 start to the 2011 season it's been this: Sam Bradford really has, under the Josh McDaniels administration, been allowed to air the ball out. After a season of dinking and dunking Bradford is averaging 12.5 yards per completion, a 2.6 yard increase from last season. That kind of number would have put him fifth in the league in 2010, and it's a sign of what's to come in a Josh McDaniels offense; it's exactly what Kyle Orton did for the Broncos last year. Unfortunately, that passing attack is a work in progress; Bradford's completion percentage is down 10 points, so that his yards per attempt is up only 0.3 yards from last season.
All things considered Rams fans will probably take the new, less "accurate" Sam Bradford—it promises a real passing attack, instead of the rushing auxiliary that Bradford-to-Danny Amendola became by the end of 2010. But it means Bradford—not to mention his drop-happy wide receivers—will need to adjust to the new style if the Rams are to make a playoff run in 2011.
The St. Louis Rams' injury-plagued offense will get a boost Sunday when Steven Jackson plays a full game for the first time all season, but Danny Amendola's injury woes continue—the wide receiver, who led the Rams in receptions in 2010 but dislocated his elbow in especially ugly fashion in Week 1, has been upgraded from doubtful to questionable but is still unlikely to play in the Rams' Week 4 contest against the Washington Redskins.
With a bye week coming up after, the Rams might have their starting slot receiver back in time for their next game—still an impressive result after an injury that some thought might be season-ending immediately after it happened. Always the scrapper, Amendola insisted he'd try to get back as soon as Week 2 when it happened.
In 2010 Amendola caught the ball 85 times for 689 yards and three touchdowns, serving as Sam Bradford's primary pressure-release valve and Pat Shurmur's countless-short-passes enabler. Without Amendola the Rams have turned, unsuccessfully so far, to rookie wide receiver Greg Salas.
The Washington Redskins remain the oddsmakers' favorites ahead of their Week 4 contest with the St. Louis Rams—this week's NFL Odds have them one-point favorites on the road in the latest line, a slight comedown from their 1-1/2 point start but still a reflection of the Rams' disappointing season to date. Who knew Sam Bradford's coming-out party would be spoiled by a team that's starting Rex Grossman?
The NFC West-leading San Francisco 49ers are seven point underdogs against the Eagles, and the Seahawks and Cardinals are also picked to lose, so the Rams could somehow manage to fall to 0-4 and not lose any ground. Of course, that's what happens in a division you can win at 7-9.
The Rams' need, then, is less about the division than their own identity. With an even tougher schedule coming up after their Week 5 bye the Rams need to pull out an underdog victory to give ticket-buying fans—and coach-firing owners—a little faith in the new braintrust and its complex new offense. A win against the Washington Redskins, perhaps the weakest team they'll meet in the first half of the season, could accomplish that.
Steven Jackson owners have been trawling the fantasy football waiver wire for nearly the entire season—first with Cadillac Williams, then with any old available running back after Williams briefly seemed as questionable as Jackson. But after Jackson's limited play in the St. Louis Rams' loss to the Baltimore Ravens it looks like Week 4 might be the Sunday where their search is finally over.
The Rams still gave Williams the bulk of their carries, but Jackson looked uninhibited by the quad injury that's dogged him all year when he was on the field, and given the Rams' many and varied problems through three weeks of the 2011 season I can't imagine Jackson allowing the Rams to ease him in for another week.
Cadillac Williams has been adequate in Jackson's absence—fellow backup Jerious Norwood has just been invisible—but Jackson has the potential to give this offense another dimension, one that might keep the Washington Redskins from just waiting for Sam Bradford to throw bullets downfield at Brandon Gibson, Danario Alexander, and Mike Sims-Walker. They can't afford to not give him a shot.
The St. Louis Rams and the Kansas City Chiefs have reenacted the infamous I-70 Series in a less-than-exciting way in time for ESPN's Week 4 NFL Power Rankings—they're ranked 31 and 32, behind even the Peyton Manning-less Indianapolis Colts, on ESPN's latest list. Both teams have been blown out repeatedly and shown strangely inconsistent play on offense, so it's only Jamaal Charles's blown-out ACL that serves as tiebreaker for Missouri's two wayward franchises.
Last week the Chiefs were still near the bottom—31, ahead of the NFC West's own Seattle Seahawks—but after a Seahawks win and yet more losing the Chiefs have taken up residence at the bottom. As for the Rams—well, after a vaguely optimistic loss to the New York Giants Monday night, they were as high as 22nd, but there wasn't much good to take from Week 3's drubbing at the hands of the Ravens. The Rams have a bye-week coming up after their Week 4 homestand with the Washington Redskins, and given their tough schedule afterward this is their last chance to get up off the mat—to make the leap in the power rankings they'll need to show the offense they flashed at New York combined with a newfound ability to not make high-school-level mistakes over and over and over on special teams.
If they don't do it, this could be the most exciting thing happening on I-70 all year.
The St. Louis Rams have managed to avoid the bottom of the NFL's Week 4 Power Rankings barrel thanks to, in order, Peyton Manning's absence, the Kansas City Chiefs' astounding start, the Miami Dolphins, and the Minnesota Vikings, but they get closer to the bottom with every ugly loss. Now, following Torrey Smith and the Baltimore Ravens' vicious dismantling of the Rams' dinged-up secondary and the offense's continued inconsistence, they've fallen to 28th on SB Nation's list, just behind the Seattle Seahawks at the bottom of even the NFC West.
Given their company at the bottom of the power rankings, things could be worse for the Rams going into Week 4—for instance, Sam Bradford could have had multiple neck surgeries, or Steven Jackson could be done for the season, or they could be the Minnesota Vikings. The Rams haven't yet had a Peyton Manning or Jamaal Charles-style catastrophe, and given the division in which they play that's all it takes to still be in the playoff chase.
Of course, if they go into their bye week at 0-4 it'll be hard to even offer that consolation.
The St. Louis Rams brought Mike Sims-Walker in to be the veteran focal point of Sam Bradford's revamped receiving corps, but ever since the Philadelphia Eagles blanketed him with their top cornerbacks he's become the forgotten man of the offense. Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens Sims-Walker was targeted six times, fewer than both Danario Alexander, who barely made the team, and Brandon Gibson, who looked like an afterthought until the preseason. If it weren't for Danny Amendola's injury Sims-Walker, who's seen most of his targets in the short-to-midrange game, might be the fourth option in a Rams passing game increasingly focused on the big play.
Of course, Gibson and Alexander didn't exactly reward Bradford's confidence in them in Week 3. Gibson missed a bomb that would have been a sure touchdown by tripping in his route and then letting the ball slip out of his hands after he had to dive for it, while Alexander fell down on a route of his own, leaving the Ravens wide open for an interception on what might have been a drive-breaking sideline catch.
Mike Sims-Walker hasn't exactly dominated the Rams' receiving game like some thought he might, but his six-reception, 92 yard performance Week 2 is what might be expected of him if Sam Bradford finds some consistency and his only veteran receiver—nothing as dramatic as Danario Alexander might provide, but consistent chain-movement. In that sense, Brandon Gibson, who did make an outstanding catch for the Rams' only touchdown of Week 3, is his primary competition.
St. Louis Rams Can't Come Back, Lose Ugly Vs. Washington Redskins
The St. Louis Rams had two chances to rally in the fourth quarter, but the offensive line couldn't protect Sam Bradford and Sam Bradford had no magic left in the Rams' Week 4 loss to the Washington Redskins. With the loss the Rams fall to 0-4 ahead of their bye week, and aside from flashes in Week 2 they've looked every bit the 0-4 part. Ryan Torain ran for 135 yards and two late interceptions from Rex Grossman weren't enough to keep the Rams from falling by a score of 17-10.
Sam Bradford just doesn't appear to have the personnel to carry out Josh McDaniels's complex offense; he was 20-for-43 for just 164 yards and a touchdown, one of the worst performances of his young career. Of course, he was also sacked seven times. Steven Jackson was ineffectual in his return to starting, carrying the ball 17 times for 45 yards, although he did catch the Rams' lone touchdown.
With a bye week next Sunday, the Rams will have to come into the second half of their remarkably tough early schedule looking different somehow—I can only imagine Steve Spagnuolo and Josh McDaniels will be trying a number of looks ahead of their return to action on the road in Week 6.
Oct 03 8:01a by Dan Moore