St. Louis Rams vs. Cincinnati Bengals Grades

Quarterbacks (C+)
Kellen Clemens who had only been with the Rams for nine days made the start for the injured Sam Bradford. Clemens played a solid game going 25 of 36 for 229 yards and a TD to Danario Alexander. Don't lose sight that Clemens was 10 of 14 for 115 yards during garbage soft zone time.

Running backs (C)
The Rams were 2 of 13 on 3rd down conversions so they really could not get any flow going. Steven Jackson had 71 yards on 18 carries but the yards did not seem to come when needed. Jackson also 9 catches for 72 yards when the Bengals switched to soft zone in the 4th quarter. The Rams continue to fail to get a yard on the ground when needed so although they rushed for 95 yards those yards were pretty meaningless.

Wide Receivers (C-)
Rams wideouts caught 12 passes for 132 yards including the 25 yard TD by Alexander. The Rams receivers continue to get no yardage after the catch and are having a hard time getting separation. Same story week in and week out here. Still not sure why Alexander is not on the field more.

Offensive Line (C-)
Well the O-line held up pretty good in this one. The issues this week were penalties and poor run blocking. The Rams failed on every short yardage situation and they also allowed 3 sacks. This unit seems unable to improve.

Special Teams (D)
With the Rams up 6-3 in the 3rd Quarter the Rams allowed a 56 yard punt return by Brandon Tate to turn all the momentum in this one. In addition Josh Brown missed a early FG that could have helped momentum as well. The Rams had no punt return yardage and only a 20.8 yard average on kickoff returns from Norwood. In addition Josh Brown again failed to give the Rams a chance to recover an onsides kick.

Defense (B)
The defense played well and kept the Rams in the game. However as bad as the offense is the defense needs to force more than one turnover and one sack to have any chance to win. The defense also failed to recover any of the Bengals three fumbles. Holding the Bengal under 300 yards was a nice effort by the depleted crew.

Coaching (D)
Nothing seems to improve with coach Spagnuolo or Josh McDaniels. The Rams continue to get outscored and outplayed in the second half. The Rams continue to be very conservative and the 3rd and short play calling is just terrible. If you can't cover kicks put more starters on coverage or kick the ball out of bounds we are getting burned weekly.

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

St. Louis Rams vs. San Francisco 49ers Grades

Quarterbacks (D)
A.J. Feeley started for the injured Sam Bradford and he did not look sharp. Feeley finished 12 of 22 for 156 yards and 1 interception. If it were not for 2 amazing catches from Brandon Lloyd and Austin Pettis Feeley would have barely cracked 100 yards. Feeley was sacked four times and hurried throughout. As we have seen previously it is hard to tell if players are holding the offense back or the coaches are holding it back, either way the effort from Feeley was not pretty.

Running backs (D)
Steven Jackson had one of his lowest rushing totals ever as he was only able to gain 19 yards on 10 carries. The Rams went to Jerious Norwood after the game started to get away from them and we was even less successful gaining 19 yards on 11 carries. Overall the Rams rushed for 31 yards on 23 carries for a 1.3 yard average. There were no holes but someone must take the blame and some will fall here.

Wide Receivers (C)
With only 12 completions you can't expect too much out of your receivers. Brandon Lloyd was hardly looked too in this one and only had 1 circus catch for 34 yards. In a 26 point loss I would expect Lloyd to at least catch several balls. Brandon Gibson led the Rams in catches (4) and yardage (42). Rams wide receivers caught 9 passes for 119 yards. They did what they could with what they had.

Offensive Line (F)
The patchwork line played even worse than they did the previous week allowing Feeley to get pounded throughout and there was absolutely no room for Jackson to run. Everyone saw Goldberg run over my a linebacker and there were many other players bowled over in this one. Get it together guys!

Special Teams (C)
Josh Brown stole a check in this one as a was asked to kick the ball just one time on the opening kickoff! Donnie Jones who is not 100% managed 40 yards per punt on 8 attempts. Nick Miller was for some reason replaced by Quinn Porter on one kickoff return why would that be? Have we not seen enough of Quinn Porter. Kick coverage ok. Overall not much to talk about here.

Defense (D)
Overall the defense played very hard and managed 4 sacks and play tough in the red zone. We must realize that the defense also needs to create takeaways and get off the field. The Rams defense did allow 6 scores, failed to create any turnovers and the 49ers were able to play keep away with 36+ minutes of time of possession. In addition Alex Smith completed 74% of his passes for 274 yards and two touchdowns. Hard yes, good enough no.

Coaching (F)
Sorry I have to give out yet another F to Steve Spagnuolo and his coaching staff. You have 10 wins in 3 years and you once again lost a game by double digits. You get a high powered OC and the team still can't move the ball. It is embarrassing to only gain 157 yards in an NFL football game I don't care who you are playing. Stan you can barrow my phone to call someone or $49 to fly Spagnuolo out of town on Southwest Airlines but lets start cleaning house.

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