Ok, so first off, a Win is a Win. This was one of the ugliest wins I've ever seen, but Atlanta got to the NFC championship last year with some ugly wins. If we could've won some more ugly wins last year, with the momentum we built at the end of the season, we probably would've gotten to the SB. Hell, ONE more ugly win would've gotten it done.
The NFL is a game of individual matchups. The funny thing about the NFC West is that there are certain teams that matchup well against other teams. We matchup well against the Niners. The Rams similarly have our number. Arizona seems to always be in flux the last 2 years and it's hard to gain traction on any teams when you're always in a state of change.
That said, this was probably one of the worst performances by an OL I've ever seen. You would think Wilson was holding the ball too long, then watch the replay and realize he got waxed in under 3 seconds. In all fairness, the blocking scheme was the absolute shittiest I think I've ever seen in the NFL. It's like Bevell got together with Fisher, and went ahead and played the game plan according to how Fisher wet dreamed it.
McQuistan, who is a guard, and Bowie, who was a 7th round Tackle, mostly solo all game long with arguably the best 4-3 DE tandem in the NFL (yes, I mentioned this in a post a few days ago...they probably are the best pure pass rushing tandem). Then, someone thought it was a great idea to put Miller alone against Long, in space, with Miller in a 2 point stance and Long in a 3 point stance, thus giving Long the advantage on leverage immediately. Miller actually clearly won a good half of those battles, but lost badly on some too.
Wilson was as good as could be envisioned in this scenario. If you gave me the game stats, I would've thought Wilson had 2 picks as well, but he did what he could. There was a few throws he should've made, but good god I don't know anyone that can shrug off all of that punishment and keep a clear head.
My biggest disappointment this game was our inability to run. The Rams were near the bottom of the NFL in run defense and we blatantly ran into 8 and 9 man fronts. It's like we're allergic to 1 on 1 matchups on the outside or something.
Tate was winning a lot of those matchups, and Jenkins was getting some flags because he couldn't keep up without holding or mugging. The refs were going to throw the flag tonight.
Speaking of refs....they surely decided to take the game over in the 4th quarter. Pretty piss poor job overall. At one point, they whistled the ball dead while Marshawn was still clearly moving forward in the grasp of 2 defenders. That whistle cost us 2-3 yards, and guess what? We punted 2 plays later. It also seemed Stacy was getting the benefit of a yard here and there on his spots. Then, ridiculously bad calls for holding when there was no way it could've effected the play, and personal fouls just killed us.
Funny, on that last drive, we went into a 3 deep zone and just let the Rams march right down the field on us. Overall, the secondary played a damn good game, so I guess the last drive was the right time to stop doing everything we had done right on the back end of the defense to that point. All in all, a great job by the D though, with all the time they played this game.
Disappointed with our run game, specifically backside containment. Stacy gashed us for about 40 yards of his 140 on back side cuts that were wide open.
Bruce Irvin will be the best LBer on this team in 2 years. Book it, archive this post, whatever. Damn, he's good. That interception was one that maybe 3 LBers in the entire league makes. He had insane run fills this game, and then brought great pressure on the QB. The only beef I had this game was that he neglected backside containment on 2 plays that cost us about 30 yards. The first time, he run right upfield and let Stacy get to the outside. If he stayed home, it's a 2 yard loss.
I thought Browner played a great game overall. His blowup on that screen is vintage Browner; you're not going to block that guy on the outside with a WR. Both the penalties I saw in the 2nd half were entirely BS. yea, he was close to the guy's head on the personal foul penalty, but honestly he was going for the ball and pulled up on the WR. You can't play good defense on that play without some contact unless you're out of position and just surrender the catch.
I'm happy with the win, and I'm not. Funny, but we're probably going to be pissed off about this win, and completely steamroll the Bucs at home next week. I really want Pete and co. to go for the kill shot; we need to know we can blow teams out.
The NFL is a game of individual matchups. The funny thing about the NFC West is that there are certain teams that matchup well against other teams. We matchup well against the Niners. The Rams similarly have our number. Arizona seems to always be in flux the last 2 years and it's hard to gain traction on any teams when you're always in a state of change.
That said, this was probably one of the worst performances by an OL I've ever seen. You would think Wilson was holding the ball too long, then watch the replay and realize he got waxed in under 3 seconds. In all fairness, the blocking scheme was the absolute shittiest I think I've ever seen in the NFL. It's like Bevell got together with Fisher, and went ahead and played the game plan according to how Fisher wet dreamed it.
McQuistan, who is a guard, and Bowie, who was a 7th round Tackle, mostly solo all game long with arguably the best 4-3 DE tandem in the NFL (yes, I mentioned this in a post a few days ago...they probably are the best pure pass rushing tandem). Then, someone thought it was a great idea to put Miller alone against Long, in space, with Miller in a 2 point stance and Long in a 3 point stance, thus giving Long the advantage on leverage immediately. Miller actually clearly won a good half of those battles, but lost badly on some too.
Wilson was as good as could be envisioned in this scenario. If you gave me the game stats, I would've thought Wilson had 2 picks as well, but he did what he could. There was a few throws he should've made, but good god I don't know anyone that can shrug off all of that punishment and keep a clear head.
My biggest disappointment this game was our inability to run. The Rams were near the bottom of the NFL in run defense and we blatantly ran into 8 and 9 man fronts. It's like we're allergic to 1 on 1 matchups on the outside or something.
Tate was winning a lot of those matchups, and Jenkins was getting some flags because he couldn't keep up without holding or mugging. The refs were going to throw the flag tonight.
Speaking of refs....they surely decided to take the game over in the 4th quarter. Pretty piss poor job overall. At one point, they whistled the ball dead while Marshawn was still clearly moving forward in the grasp of 2 defenders. That whistle cost us 2-3 yards, and guess what? We punted 2 plays later. It also seemed Stacy was getting the benefit of a yard here and there on his spots. Then, ridiculously bad calls for holding when there was no way it could've effected the play, and personal fouls just killed us.
Funny, on that last drive, we went into a 3 deep zone and just let the Rams march right down the field on us. Overall, the secondary played a damn good game, so I guess the last drive was the right time to stop doing everything we had done right on the back end of the defense to that point. All in all, a great job by the D though, with all the time they played this game.
Disappointed with our run game, specifically backside containment. Stacy gashed us for about 40 yards of his 140 on back side cuts that were wide open.
Bruce Irvin will be the best LBer on this team in 2 years. Book it, archive this post, whatever. Damn, he's good. That interception was one that maybe 3 LBers in the entire league makes. He had insane run fills this game, and then brought great pressure on the QB. The only beef I had this game was that he neglected backside containment on 2 plays that cost us about 30 yards. The first time, he run right upfield and let Stacy get to the outside. If he stayed home, it's a 2 yard loss.
I thought Browner played a great game overall. His blowup on that screen is vintage Browner; you're not going to block that guy on the outside with a WR. Both the penalties I saw in the 2nd half were entirely BS. yea, he was close to the guy's head on the personal foul penalty, but honestly he was going for the ball and pulled up on the WR. You can't play good defense on that play without some contact unless you're out of position and just surrender the catch.
I'm happy with the win, and I'm not. Funny, but we're probably going to be pissed off about this win, and completely steamroll the Bucs at home next week. I really want Pete and co. to go for the kill shot; we need to know we can blow teams out.
