Steelers vs. Rams: St. Louis Grades, Notes and Quotes
The St. Louis Rams (1-2) suffered an ugly 12-6 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers (2-1). It was a frustrating game full of missed opportunities.
It initially appeared that Pittsburgh would run away with the game. Ben Roethlisberger was 7-of-8, with 71 yards on the very first drive, and the Rams appeared to have no answer for Antonio Brown. The Rams were able to overcome it with tough defensive play in the red zone, which made it difficult for Pittsburgh to finish drives.
The St. Louis defense played an outstanding game and limited the Steelers to 12 points. Unfortunately, the Rams offense is so inept, it failed to reward the defense for its performance. The Rams did not punch in a single touchdown, despite facing a Pittsburgh defense that entered the game with a minus-11.1 overall grade from Pro Football Focus—the seventh-lowest in the NFL.
This isn't the same as being shut down by Arizona or Seattle. Being held out of the end zone by a weak Pittsburgh defense is almost unthinkable. It's a level of incompetence St. Louis fans are unfortunately all too familiar with.
When the Rams finally got into scoring position late in the game, two false-start penalties—almost laughable considering it was a home game—ruined the effort. The offense was given another shot on the very next drive, but Nick Foles threw an interception on the very first play.
The Rams had every opportunity to pull off the win, but they did everything humanely possible to sabotage themselves.
St. Louis will try to get it together a week from now as they travel to Arizona to take on the Arizona Cardinals. The Steelers will head back to Pittsburgh to take on the Baltimore Ravens.
This article will recap Sunday's game, including grades, analysis and quotes.
Position Grades for the Rams
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| Position | Grade |
| QB | C |
| RB | D+ |
| WR | C |
| TE | F |
| OL | F |
| DL | A |
| LB | A |
| DB | C+ |
| Special Teams | C |
| Coaching | D+ |
We saw Foles miss a lot of open receivers last week in Washington, but for the most part that wasn't an issue in this game. He was hardly St. Louis' biggest problem on offense.
Foles finished 19-of-28 with 197 yards. On one particular play, he had an untouched James Harrison closing in on his blind side, but Foles recognized it and made a nice last-second throw to Tre Mason. On the downside, he threw a deep interception at a critical moment—his first pick of the year.
The running backs were held back, thanks to poor blocking. Even so, Mason finally showed brief flashes of his rookie form. He had nice pickups of seven and 15 yards. Benny Cunningham also had two 12-yard gains, but overall the run game was abysmal.
Kenny Britt seemingly had the best offensive performance for the Rams. He hauled in seven passes for 102 yards and even drew a critical 35-yard pass-interference penalty in the fourth quarter. Britt was one of the few bright spots. Tavon Austin also had five grabs for 38 yards, but the other receivers continue to be shut out on a weekly basis.
At tight end, Lance Kendricks had an awful drop on a pass that would have put St. Louis in scoring position. Late in the fourth quarter, Jared Cook had a false start that killed St. Louis' shot at a touchdown. On top of the penalties, the two combined for just 19 yards and three catches. The St. Louis tight ends have seen better days.
The offensive line continues to be the anchor that weighs down the Rams. The run blocking was dreadful, and Foles was under too much pressure to make things happen downfield. Also, Greg Robinson had a holding penalty that murdered a solid drive late in the game.
The line has crippled the offense in every game this season. One has to wonder if management is regretting its decision not to pursue any veteran help up front.
On defense, the Rams played an excellent game, despite Pittsburgh's success through the air.
The defensive line was a handful for the Steelers. Aaron Donald made several stops behind the line of scrimmage, including a sack. Robert Quinn had a sack and forced fumble. Michael Brockers also made his presence known with a tackle behind the line of scrimmage during a first-half red-zone stand.
The linebackers also had a nice showing. James Laurinaitis was not a total liability, as he was a week ago, and Alec Ogletree led the way with two sacks.
In the secondary, we saw a lot of weak pass defense, but that appeared to be mostly by design. The Rams gave up the quick passes to avoid back-breaking plays. Even so, Janoris Jenkins had a pick, and the other defenders had some hard hits. Overall, holding Brown out of the end zone was a major victory.
On special teams, punter Johnny Hekker threw a terrible pass on a fake punt. The intended receiver was Stedman Bailey, but Hekker's pass was weak and well short of the wide-open Bailey.
As for coaching, it's easy to get frustrated and call for heads after such a tough loss. Even so, Jeff Fisher deserves credit for having a reliable game play that shut down the high-powered Steelers offense. Unfortunately, the offensive game-planning was quite a disaster.
Youth Movement on Offensive Line Not Working
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Rather than re-signing Joe Barksdale and pursuing a veteran or two in free agency, the Rams elected to fix the offensive line through the draft.
The team grabbed Rob Havenstein in the second round and Jamon Brown in the third. The picks were seen as reaches at the time and appear even worse in hindsight. Not to mention, the Rams grabbed Robinson with the No. 2 pick in 2014, and he has been nothing more than a penalty-prone disappointment who can't pass block.
Also, instead of finding a new center, the Rams promoted from within. Tim Barnes—a former undrafted rookie with four career starts before this season—now has the job and has been just as overwhelmed as his teammates.
The Rams wanted youth, and the end result is a green left tackle, two helpless rookies and an outmatched center. In other words, this is the worst offensive line Rams fans have witnessed in quite some time.
Before this year, the Rams were dependent on veterans. Jake Long, Scott Wells, Chris Williams, Shelley Smith and Wayne Hunter have all started games under Fisher. That was far from ideal, but that group is starting to look like the 2014 Dallas Cowboys compared to this current lineup.
It's understandable the Rams wanted to move on from injury-prone veterans, but at what cost? Did management not foresee the potential downside to an all-youth line? It seems that constructing a line with no veteran help was practically asking for a disaster.
There has been nothing redeeming about the Rams' line this season.
Tre Mason led the backs in this game with 16 yards on nine carries. Austin led the way against Washington with 40 yards and Cunningham was the Week 1 leader with a mere 45 yards on 16 carries. The Rams backs do not have a single carry for 20 or more yards this season.
At this point, a 50-yard rushing performance behind this line is a call for celebration. A 100-yard performance just seems flat-out unrealistic.
It's unclear if it's a lack of coaching or talent. In reality, it's probably a bit of both. Either way, this offense is doomed until the Rams wake up and realize there's a serious problem.
The answer could be something simple, such as moving Rodger Saffold—the only competent member of the unit—to left tackle. That would leave Robinson at guard, where his pass-blocking deficiencies will be masked, and provide Foles with better blind-side protection.
Maybe the answer involves testing out some of the backup linemen, such as Andrew Donnal or Garrett Reynolds, and giving them a shot. Or, maybe it's time to look for outside help and raid a practice squad.
Either way, something has to be done. The offensive line is costing this team wins.
The Defense Continues to Impress
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Despite the horrible state of the offense, it's hard to be displeased with what we've seen from the St. Louis defense. The unit is truly living up to the hype.
The St. Louis defense allowed just 16 points to Seattle in Week 1. The group had a relatively poor outing against Washington but still allowed only 24 points. This latest 12-point performance is easily the defense's best showing of the year, especially when you consider the opponent.
Brown picked up his yards through the air, as expected, but he was held out of the end zone. Le'Veon Bell's return was thought to be a major boost for Pittsburgh, but the Rams held him to just 62 yards on the ground.
St. Louis also tallied five sacks, a forced fumble and a pick. Donald is at 3.5 sacks on the year and is on pace for about 20 this season. Quinn is on pace for 16.
This is beginning to look like the best defensive team we've seen under Fisher. It's just a shame that the offense is weighing everything down, or else this defense could achieve something special.
What's frightening is that the Rams are notoriously late starters. As good as the defense has been, it could get much better as the season progresses.
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No More Excuses for Team's Performance
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Rams fans are perfectly familiar with excuses.
Injuries at the quarterback position, poor play-calling by ex-offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, a tough NFC West division, poor drafting by previous regimes. The annual excuses seem to outnumber the team's win total every year.
Not any more. The tolerance for excuses has evaporated.
Schottenheimer is gone, the team has a legitimate starting quarterback, the NFC West has softened up and the Rams have had six first-round picks in the last four drafts.
All the previous regime's fingerprints have been wiped away. This is a 100 percent Fisher team, and the early results have been horrendous.
Fisher's vision of a top-notch defense and an old-fashion offense that runs the football is not panning out. The defense is getting it done, but Fisher's old-school offensive philosophy seems more and more inadequate every week.
This is the year for Fisher to prove his blueprint works. If it fails, Fisher will lose every bit of faith from the fanbase, and St. Louis will be calling for his job. With no one left to blame, it all falls on his shoulders.
For such a critical season in Fisher's career, the team appears awfully flat and uninspiring. If that doesn't change soon, the Rams will undergo another leadership change in the near future.
Trent Green on Nick Foles' Interception
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"I really don't know what Nick Foles was seeing."—Trent Green on Foles' interception, per the CBS broadcast.
We all know the offensive line was the major culprit, but it doesn't deserve 100 percent of the blame.
Foles' late-game interception was a nail in the St. Louis coffin. The Rams were given a chance to follow up the previous drive's field goal with a game-tying or game-winning drive. Instead, Foles coughed up a horrendous interception on the very first play.
It's just another example of how St. Louis did everything in its power to throw the game away.
Trent Green's confusion was warranted. Foles fired the ball to Kendricks downfield between two visible defenders. The receiver did not appear to be even remotely open.
It's one thing to be a tad overzealous, but to make such a horrible throw at a critical moment can only be described as foolish.
It was Foles' first pick of the year, but it came at the absolute worst time.
Jim Thomas on Home-Field Disadvantage
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"Rams had to use silent count at times in the red zone today because of crowd noise."—Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch via Twitter.
The Rams are dealing with a very sad and unfortunate disadvantage this season, and it played a partial role in this game.
Despite playing host to the Steelers, the Rams had to endure crowd noise from Pittsburgh fans who poured into the dome. According to Jim Thomas, St. Louis' hometown offense had to resort to a silent count to help overcome it.
With relocation rumors hanging in the air, the St. Louis fans are understandably reluctant to show up in force. That's fine, as the fans have every right not to spend money on tickets, but it's putting the Rams at a disadvantage.
Steelers fans travel well regardless, but still, it must be difficult for Rams players to face such hurdles on their home turf.
Unfortunately, as long as the rumors are alive and the team is losing, this is a problem St. Louis will continue to face every week.
Bernie Miklasz on St. Louis' Offense
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"Rams have only 23 first downs in last two games; lowest total over consecutive games in 51 games under Fisher."—Bernie Miklasz of 101 ESPN via Twitter.
As Bernie Miklasz points out, the problems are almost exclusively offense-related. The unit can't get anything going, and this game was its worst showing of the year.
Fisher wants to spark the run game, but that's not possible with constant three-and-outs. The offense isn't on the field enough to pound at the defense and develop a rhythm on the ground. Until the Rams learn to extend drives, we'll see the same issue every week.
The opportunities have been so limited, the Rams can't even attempt to be a run-first team. Only once this season has a St. Louis back exceeded 10 carries in a game. With so many three-and-outs and constant deficits, there's never a good time to run the football. The unit doesn't stand a chance.
The passing game has looked in sync at times, but it's not enough to bail out the offense. The St. Louis receivers have been terrible at running routes past the first-down marker, which makes it even more difficult to extend drives.
Entering this season, everyone knew the offense would not be St. Louis' strength. Even so, it was hard to envision the unit being this outmatched and helpless.
Until the Rams learn to extend drives, the run game will suffer. If the run game suffers, the Rams lose their identity and lose football games.
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