Rams Roll Past Browns 13-12

For the second straight week the Rams game came down to special teams late. Last week the Rams suffered a 19-13 OT loss to the Arizona Cardinals as Josh Brown's 42 yard FG was blocked as time expired and then Patrick Peterson returned a punt for a 99 yard game winning TD. The Rams were on the other side of luck today as Phil Dawson missed a 22 yard field goal with 2:10 to play and the Rams held on for a 13-12 victory.

Nobody thought that Phil Dawson who holds the Browns record for field goals and had made 16 of 18 attempts in 2011 could possibly miss a 22 yard field goal. Long snapper Ryan Pontbriand double clutched the snap and by the time the ball traveled back it hit guard Alex Mack's ankle on the way back to holder Brad Maynard. Maynard got the ball down late and the timing was off and Dawson pushed the ball off to the left and the Rams had their second victory of the season.

This was another ugly game for the Rams but they were able to pull out the victory. This was one of the rare games that the Rams were a negative on turnover differential (-1) but were able to win the game. Steven Jackson was again the star of the game for the Rams running 27 times for 128 yards including two carries for 11 yards on the last drive to run out the clock. The Rams did manage to score a TD their 10th of the season on a 7 yard TD pass from Sam Bradford to Brandon Lloyd.

The Rams continue to play very conservative football and lets face it after 2 1/2 seasons it is obvious that coach Steve Spagnuolo likes it that way. The Rams were only able to manage 281 yards of offense and 13 points. Sam Bradford continues to look for open receivers and continues to not play very well. Sam once again put up his normal stat line 15 of 26 for 155 yards with 1 TD and 1 pick. With Jacksonville scoring 17 points today the Rams are once again dead last in points scored per game at 12.6.

The Rams defense again made stars of players that are not known to be great. The Rams allowed former Rams running back Chris Ogbonnaya to rush for 90 yards on 19 carries and Colt McCoy completed almost 75 percent of his passes and had a QB rating of 97.5. Pat Shurmer who could be the only coach more conservative than Steve Spagnuolo continually settled for field goals and that was the difference.

With every team in the NFC West winning on Sunday the Rams remain in last place and will now play four straight division games. The Rams will play the Seattle Seahawks (3-6) at home at the Edward Jones Dome next Sunday.

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