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/

St. Louis Rams vs. Ravens Preview

The St. Louis Rams will play their final preseason game tonight at 7PM at the Edward Jones Dome against the Baltimore Ravens. This will be the Rams fourth and final dress rehearsal before the start of the NFL regular season next Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals. The Baltimore Ravens are 3-0 in the preseason coming off of their 24-10 victory last week against the New York Giants. The St. Louis Rams enter the contest 2-1 after a very impressive showing, winning 36-35 over the New England patriots last week.

The fourth preseason game of the year is often as exciting as watching your grass grow and is one of the reason NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wants to expand the NFL season from 16 to 18 games. However, with both teams needing to trim their rosters from 75 to 53 players by Saturday night this game holds huge consequences for over 40 players that hope to make their teams or at least their practice squads. Don't look for many starters in this one, the Ravens have already stated they will not be playing any of their starters. Even our chance to serenade Marc Bulger will most likely not happen as the Ravens plan to play QB Troy Smith the entire game. On the Rams side it is unlikely that Steven Jackson will play however Sam Bradford may start and play a series or two before giving way to the Keith Null / Thaaddeus Lewis battle for the third QB spot on the roster.

Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post Dispatch has the following St. Louis Rams on the bubble: Kevin Dockery, Justin King, Thaaddeus Lewis, Keith Null, Marquis Johnson, Victor Adeyanju, C.J. Ah You, Kenneth Darby, Chris Ogbonnaya, Keith Tosten, Daniel Fells, John Greco, Bobby Carpenter, Chris Chamberlain, Josh Hull and David Vobora. Many of these players will make the St. Louis Rams but none are a lock at this point. Tonight’s game will hold the future for many.

I plan to watch many of the same things I have been focused on throughout the preseason and those are: How well will Sam Bradford play. With very little experience at receiver will anyone like Brandon Gibson or Jordan Kent step up to claim a roster spot. Can the Rams backups on the O-Line like John Greco, Hank Frayley, and Renardo Foster get the job done. Can anyone produce enough to be Steven Jackson’s backup, or will the Rams have to wait until roster cuts to pick up someone better from the waiver wire? This game may not be pretty or watched by many (game is blacked out in St. Louis area) but some important decisions will be made based off of it.

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