Rams vs. Ravens Game Preview

Rams vs. Ravens Game Preview

After two mistake filled double digit losses to the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants the St. Louis Rams face a near must win game against the Baltimore Ravens (1-1) Sunday at the Edward Jones Dome. It appears the Rams will possibly go into the game without the services of Steven Jackson and Cadillac Williams who have injury concerns. If that is indeed true the Rams will be trying to run the rock against the Ravens defense with Jerious Norwood and Quinn Porter. Norwood was only given 3 carries against the Giants last week and Porter has no lifetime carries in the NFL, so all I can say is I hope Cadillac Williams can find the magic water before game
time.

The Rams appear to already be digging their own hole and returning to their losing ways. The Rams have started 0-2 six straight seasons. The Rams have not had a winning record since 2003 almost a decade ago. The Rams are in the bottom five in scoring and scoring defense. Sure we have Sam Bradford but we need some wins and some excitement to jump start this franchise. Even though we are only two weeks into the season it appears obvious the Rams failed to surround Sam with any play makers. We are lucky that Danario Alexander is local and never gave up and the Rams finally gave him a chance.

On the bright side the Baltimore Ravens are not very explosive and win many games on the strength of their defense. The Ravens will look to bound the ball inside with Ray Rice possibly the best all around runningback in the NFL. Once they establish Rice Joe Flacco will use play action and try to go deep to Anquan Boldin and Lee Evans. Luckily for the Rams Evans is out with an ankle injury. The Ravens had a great home win against their rival the Pittsburgh Steelers and then laid an egg on the road at Tennessee. Which Ravens squad will show up this week?

On defense the Ravens are going to cause the Rams offensive line a lot of problems. Haloti Ngata, Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs are going to attack the Rams line with the absence of Steven Jackson. The Rams will be forced to throw the ball and to date nobody has really stepped up to make the Rams effective through the air.

The Rams have only seven first downs running the ball and they are under 25% on 3rd down conversions, this simply is not good enough with the lack of talent on this team. The Rams have only allowed seven sacks but their has been constant pressure and hits put on Sam Bradford. In order for the Rams to beat the Baltimore Ravens they are going to need to give Sam time to throw in the pocket.

The St. Louis Rams are coming off a short week and will be without starters Steven Jackson and Danny Amendola again. The Baltimore Ravens will be in a foul mood after getting picked apart by the Tennessee Titans. The Ravens are going to stack the box and bring pressure throughout the game and they have just the personnel to do it.

Prediction Baltimore Ravens 20 - St. Louis Rams 13

By Stlvinnie - http://www.stlouisramfan.com/