Rams vs. Dolphins 2012: St. Louis ran, stopped the run against Miami

Even though the St. Louis Rams lost on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins, it was a hard fought game and one that showed some positives for the team. During the 17-14 loss, they put up good offensive numbers and minimized the damage from the Dolphins even though they couldn't pull out the victory in the end. It was two missed field goals that doomed them in the end more than most anything else they did on the field.

Rams blog Turf Show Times was impressed at the running prowess on both sides of the ball. Not only did the Rams put up solid numbers in the running game against a stout Miami defense, but their own defense kept the strong Miami running attack dead all game long:

While the Rams defense didn't get to Ryan Tannehill all thet often (2 sacks - Long and Dunbar), they did show an amazing performance against the run. Holding one of the NFL's leading rushers (R. Bush) to only 17 yards on 12 attempts.

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The Rams running game pummeled a Miami defense that was ranked #1 in the NFL against the rush. Steven Jackson (12 rushes, 52 yards - 4.3 Average) and Daryl Richardson (11 rushes, 76 yards - 6.9 average) helped the Rams win the time of possession battle 33:23 minutes to 26:37.

St. Louis will need to keep up the strong run and run defense up when they face the suddenly-hot Green Bay Packers next weekend.