St. Louis Rams Whip Colts 33-10

Sure the Indianapolis Colts were without Peyton Manning but the St. Louis Rams beat them in every facet of the game Saturday night at the Edward Jones Dome. The Rams got out of the gate early as their big free agent pickup safety Quintin Mikell intercepted Curtis Painter on the third play of the game and returned it to the Colts 16 yard line. Four plays later Sam Bradford hit second round draft pick Lance Kendricks for 6 yard touchdown pass and the Rams took an early 7-0 lead. After the Colts closed within 7-3 Craig Dahl intercepted Dan Orlovsky and returned it to the Colts 16. The Rams were unable to get into the end zone but Josh Brown kicked a 30 yard field goal to go up 10-3. The Rams continued to dominate in the second quarter behind A.J. Feeley who had a nice game going 10 of 14 for 100 yards. The Rams scored 13 points in the second quarter capped by a 60 yard field goal by Josh Brown as the half ended with the Rams leading 23-3. The Rams first and second units were dominate and looked very sharp as they did not draw one penalty and held the Colts without a third down conversion.

The Rams started just as hot in the second half as they drove 73 yards in 9 plays to take a 30-3 lead after Keith Toston busted in from 5 yards out. The rest of the second half was your normal first preseason game as both teams shuffled in and out backup players. Other than a bad overplay by Tim Atchison who was beaten by Taj Smith for a 44 yard touchdown pass from Dan Orlovsky the rest of the game was pretty vanilla. The Rams were happy to just run the rock with Keith Toston & Van Stumon as the Rams ran for 169 yards on the evening. The Rams closed out the scoring with a 53 yard field goal from Josh Brown who was spectacular on the evening with 15 points. The Rams won 33-10 and will face the Tennessee Titans next Saturday night at the Edward Jones Dome.

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

St. Louis Rams Hold On Beat 49ers 25-17

The St. Louis Rams gave Rams fans everywhere an extra Christmas present when they held on to beat the San Francisco 49ers 25-17 in front of a loud crowd of 52,820 at the Edward Jones Dome on Sunday. With the win the St. Louis Rams remain in first place of the NFC West with a record of 7-8. The Rams are still forced to beat the Seattle Seahawks (6-10) next week to capture the NFC West crown. The Rams have nothing to apologize for if they make the playoffs at 8-8. After only seeing six victories over the last three years I know I do not care how they get in, just win baby!

The young St. Louis Rams still lack the killer instinct of the greatest show on turf days but Sunday they were scrappy and showed a will to win, and that was all they needed a win. The Rams came out dominating the game in the first quarter of play. The Rams opened the game with a 60 yard drive capped off by a Steven Jackson one yard plunge. The key to the drive was the aggressive play calling of Pat Shurmer. Often criticized you have to give him props for this drive. The Rams were in 4-wide most of the drive and the key play was a pass interference on a deep ball to Denario Alexander. The Rams who are reluctant to play Alexander a lot starter the game with him playing. This was a huge play and gave the Rams the early momentum.

The St. Louis Rams defense came out flying and shutdown the 49ers completely in the first quarter. In the first quarter alone the Rams defense forced two fumbles and caused a safety to put the Rams up 9-0. The 49ers were unable to move the ball and had only one first down during the quarter. For the game the Rams defense had four sacks, a safety, and two takeaways, while causing 5 fumbles. The 49ers managed 331 total yards but well over 100 of those came in the 4th quarter with the 49ers trailing.

Everything changed late in the first quarter with the Rams up 9-0. After the safety and a nice kick return by Danny Amendola, who had an outstanding game the Rams were in position to build on their lead. Sam Bradford hit a streaking Brandon Gibson to put the Rams on the 49ers 10 yard line. The Rams were in position to go up by 12 or 16 and really put their foot on the throat of the 49ers. Then came a play the Rams always seem to have, the big mistake at a bad time. Sam Bradford dropped back to pass on first down and Patrick Willis came streaking through the line and chased Bradford out of the pocket. Sam should have taken the sack or quickly thrown the ball out of bounds but he did not. Willis forced the fumble and the 49ers took over.

The St. Louis Rams defense continued to dominate and held the 49ers to two first downs in the 2nd quarter. The shocking part of this was that 49ers found themselves up 14-12 at half time! That's right after doing nothing the entire half the 49ers had the lead on two big plays. Ted Ginn Jr. returned a Donnie Jones punt 78 yards to make it 9-7. Then on the very next drive Troy Smith threw a pass through the hands of Vernon Davis that went right to Michael Crabtree who scored from 60 yards out and the 49ers were up 14-12.

Sam Bradford who set a rookie record for completions with 335 passing Peyton Manning who had 326 in 1998 would not allow the Rams to lose on this day. Bradford was 28 of 37 passes for 292 yards and a TD, no interceptions and a passer rating of 107. Bradford engineered a nice second half comeback completing 16 of 20 passes for 168 yards and a touchdown. The Rams got a FG to go up 15-14 early in the 3rd quarter to go up 15-14 and they would never look back. Denario Alexander was again the star in the 4th quarter. On a 4 play drive of 71 yards Alexander caught 3 straight from Bradford including a bomb to put the Rams at the 49ers 3 yards line. On the next play Bradford threw a nice roll out pass to Laurent Robinson for a TD to put the Rams up 22-14. The Rams defense finished off the 49ers for a huge 25-17 victory setting up the brawl for it all next week in Seattle.

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

As Vinnie Sees it- Week 5 Vince Vitale

In Week 4 I scored 81 points after 89 in week 3 and I am now 10th out of 36 in the Blogger/Celebrity/Expert League. Last week I made the right decision to use Antonio Gates who came up with 26 big points. Well I really hate doing this but I am going to use Peyton Manning this week against the Kansas City Chiefs. While I would like to use Flacco I can't pass up this matchup. The Colts are 2-2 and Peyton is going to really want to win this one. He has been nearly perfect with 11 TD passes and 1 interception which was a dropped pass by his receiver. I look for Manning to put up 300+ yards with 3 TD. On the ground I am again going with the matchups and those point to Frank Gore against the Eagles. The Eagles continue to struggle against the run. The 49ers are 0-4, at home, and on national TV and I look for them to pull out all the stops. The Eagles linebackers will have a hard time staying with Gore out of the backfield. My other choice is Maurice Jones-Drew against the Buffalo Bills who are the worst team in football and have the 32nd ranked rushing defense in the league. This seems like a no brainer so MJD will not get hurt and will put up 100+ and a TD for me. At receiver I am going to use up Reggie Wayne coming off a 15 catch week. With Garcon and Collie less than 100% who do you think they Peyton will throw the ball to? My other selection is Calvin Johnson who will go up against the St. Louis Rams. I feel like I should have a Rams or Lions player out there for sure and I am going to go with Johnson. The Rams have no answer for Megatron, who should have a nice game against the Rams. At TE I am also going to pick on the Rams and take the Lions Brandon Pettigrew. Pettigrew has 30 targets in just 4 games. If the Lions throw 7+ balls his way this week he should make some plays. Kicker as always is a crap shoot. I look for a kicker on a team that should score some points but does not have a great offense. This week that ads up to Josh Scobee of the jaguars against the Buffalo Bills. Check in next week to see if my selections paid off.

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

Indianapolis Colts Doomed By Four Plays

The New Orleans Saints may have won Super Bowl XLIV 31-17 Sunday in Miami Florida but the game was much closer than the score would indicate. Most NFL games come down to turnovers and execution and this game was no different. I have broken down this Super Bowl game into just four plays. These four plays alone were the doom of the Indianapolis Colts on this day.

In the 2nd Quarter with the Colts up 10-3 they completed a 1st down pass to Joesph Addai for 9 yards, I believe Addai made a first down on the play but it was marked just shy. On 2nd down the Colts lost 3 yards. This set up the first of our crucial plays, a pass down the middle to Pierre Garcon was dropped. Garcon was wide open on a crossing pattern and Peyton Manning hit him right in the hands while at full speed. Garcon had the first down and would have been well into Saints territory. If the Colts go up 13-3 or 17-3 on this drive I believe the Saints are in big trouble.

Late in the 2nd Quarter with the Colts still up 10-3. The Colts have 3rd and 1 with 51 seconds to play in the first half. A first down here and the Colts go into the locker room up 10-3. After the Saints call timeout the Colts handoff to Mike Hart for no gain and the Colts are forced to punt. The Saints get a field goal to end the first half of play with the score 10-6. Mike Hart had a total of 26 carries for 70 yards the ENTIRE season! This was a very conservative and surprising play call by the Colts and it cost them.

Perhaps the biggest play of the game was the onsides kickoff by the New Orleans Saints to start the 3rd quarter with the Colts up 10-6. First I would like to point out the balls it took Sean Payton to plan for and actually call for this kick to start the 2nd half. According to the NFL this marked the first time a team attempted an offside kick before the fourth quarter of a Super Bowl. Even with the balls this play was all about execution or lack there of in this case. Everyone credits Thomas Morstead with a great kick but it actually went to almost the 45 before touched so the Colts should have recovered. The lack of execution was all Hank Baskett who let the ball bounce twice before attempting to dive on it. Not only did he miss the ball he knocked it forward into a pile of awaiting Saints players and also failed to dig the ball out when it was laying right next to Chris Reis. I bet Hank holds on to Kendra Wilkinson better than that.

The Colts still had a chance in the 4th quarter with the Saints up 24-17. The Colts faced a 3rd and 5 from the Saints 31 yard line with 3:29 left to play. Coming out of a time out Manning gets picked off by Tracy Porter who returns it for six. On the play instead of running a slant or a crossing pattern which is almost unstoppable with Peyton's accuracy the Colts had Reggie Wayne basically run a 5 yard stop. Wayne who did not have one of his better games was slow to the ball and made no effort to wall off Porter. I am still not sure if Wayne was supposed to settle or drift over on that play, either way it was the final dagger through the Colts heart.

For those of you that have chosen to label Peyton Manning a choke artist you have no idea what you are talking about. Peyton is 9-9 in the playoffs and has won a Super Bowl. You must be the same people that believe Dan Marino is not a top QB because he never won a Super Bowl. In closing I would also like to point out that Peyton is know for calling about 90% of their plays. Two of the worst plays in the game for the Colts happened after timeouts when out of character they ran the ball with Mike Hart and the short stationary pass to Wayne. Did Peyton call those plays, we may never know.

St. Louis Rams Sellout Game Against Cardinals

For the second week in a row the St. Louis Rams asked for an extension to sellout their game. This week the Rams were forced to purchase over 4,000 tickets to the Arizona Cardinals game to avoid a TV blackout. The Rams state they will give the tickets to local charities and youth groups. Even the NFC West leading 6-3 Arizona Cardinals and Kurt Warner were not enough to sellout this game. This will be the 5th straight home sellout of the year for the Rams which is a little surprising since they are 6-33 in their last 39 games. Tickets sales have been bolstered by having some great QBs come to town. This season the fans have gotten to see Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, and now Kurt Warner with the division rival Arizona Cardinals. By the way those five teams have a combined record of 37 and 8!!! That may be lucky for tickets sales but as not been good for the Rams as they are 1-8 for the season and 0-4 at home.

Colts & Manning Dump The Rams 42-6

Well it was another early exit for the St. Louis Rams on Sunday as they were dumped 42-6 by the Indianapolis Colts at the very quiet Edward Jones Dome. The Colts won the opening coin flip, received the kickoff and went 90 yards, in 10 plays, in 6 minutes and 4 seconds to take an early 7-0 nothing lead on a 6 yard TD pass from Peyton Manning to Reggie Wayne. On a day when the Rams would only score 6 points the Colts had 7 before we even touched the ball. Game over.

I expect the usual puff pieces from the St. Louis media and the Rams tomorrow. The Rams tried hard, it was close for three quarters, if only we could have executed on a couple more plays. Well guess what the Rams did not and now have lost 17 straight games which is a disgrace in the salary cap era. In addition they have been outscored at home 116-33. They have not turned any corner, they have only managed to replace some older players for younger players.

I expected more from a Steve Spagnuolo led defense, I know he wasn't given much to work with but I was expecting something. The Rams were again lifeless on defense. The Colts had 3 drives of 78+ yards. The Rams allowed the Colts to convert 8 of 12 third down attempts. The Rams had no sacks and forced no turnovers. I know Manning is good and your secondary is thin but you have to play with a little risk.

The Rams offense was not much better. The Rams had only 121 yards of offense at halftime and trailed the Colts 21-3 going into the second half. On the Rams 4th offensive play they completed on a 50 yard flea flicker from Marc Bulger to Donnie Avery. In usual Rams fashion they only managed a field goal on the drive, and Donnie Avery was banged up again and was unable to play much after his catch. The Rams who had 63 yards passing only four plays into the game ended the game with 117 net yards passing and two awful interceptions by Marc Bulger.

I don't know how much worse it could get but we will find out this week as the Rams travel to Detroit to take on the Lions. The Rams have replaced the Lions as the laughing stock of the NFL, and if the Lions can hand the Rams another loss next week we will be down about as far as a franchise can fall.

Until next week....