Sundays From the Cellar: So Close…

Record: 0-6

Sunday’s Inevitable Outcome: Jacksonville 23, Rams 20 (OT)

Week 6 Viewing Strategy: Positive energy
After one of the most horrific stretches of sports watching in recent St. Louis history – the Cardinals NLDS sweep, another Rams blowout and two Mizzou frustrating football losses over the span of 10 days – it’s about damn time we get ourselves a victory to enjoy.  And looking at the Rams schedule, there aren’t a whole lot more opportunties for wins with this team. 

On the road at Jacksonville, who has no home field advantage to speak of, taking on a Jags team that just got steamrolled 41-0 by the Seahawks a week ago represented a legit chance at winning for the Rams. 

For the first and possibly the last time this season, I came into a Rams game thinking they may win. 

Of course, that type of thinking makes the inevitable loss – the team’s 16th in a row – more difficult to swallow.  I should know better.

Coach Spag’s prediction
How many points you see your offense putting up today, Coach…

By the Numbers…
Number of quarters the Jaguars had gone without scoring a TD coming into the game : 4
Number of plays for the Jaguars to score their first touchdown: 5
Number of touchdowns by Maurice Jones-Drew on Sunday: 3
Number of touchdowns by Steven Jackson in 2009: 0
Amount of times the lack of crowd noise in Jacksonville allowed me to hear David Garrard scream some variation of “Green 90″: 3,876  ###MORE###

Offensive “Rams” of the week – Wide receivers
#1 wide receiver Laurent Robinson is out for the season; #2 wide receiver Donnie Avery went down in the first half with a bruised hip; #5 wide receiver Tim Carter injured early in the third quarter.  Midway through the game, the Rams receiving corp was essentially a two man rotation featuring Keenan Burton (306 career receiving yards) and Danny Amendola (51 career receiving yards).  Not surprisingly, running back Steven Jackson led the team in receiving on Sunday.

This fact was all the more depressing watching Torry Holt, who will likely go into the Hall of Fame wearing a Rams uniform, gain over 100 yards for the Jags…even with a mangled finger.

The Moment of “Holy Shit this team might actually win this game”
Likely sick and tired of waiting for a Marc Bulger-led offense to do anything, Leonard Little steps in front of a David Garrard swing pass and rumbles 36 yards (in full flight for the final five) for a touchdown  to give the Rams a 17-13 with 4:36.

The Moment of “Holy Shit this team might actually win this game” Part 2
After following up Little’s score by allowing Jacksonville to go 75 yards in 9 plays to score a touchdown and take a 20-17 lead, the Rams offense inexplicably drives 70 yards down the field in under two minutes and have the ball at the Jags 10-yard line with 7 seconds and one timeout…

The Moment of “Holy Shit this team has no testicles”
Down 20-17, seven seconds on the clock, ball on the 10-yard line, one timeout in hand and instead of taking a final shot at the endzone and the win, Steve Spagnoulo elects to kick the field goal to send it to overtime.  In a development that I would have bet my first child on, the Rams lost the coin toss and never saw the ball again en route to their 16th consecutive loss.

I suppose I can understand the decision not to go for the win considering an INT in that spot might have really done some damage to the team’s playoff chances.    

Competition for #32
#27 Kansas City – Won me a nice chunk of money by not only covering the spread but outright beating the Redskins for their first win

#28 Oakland – Beat Philly 13-9.  Considering Jamarcus Russell played the entire game at QB, I have no idea how.

#29 Washington – Officially enter the discussion of worst team after losing to KC

#30 Tennessee – Have largely stayed out of the discussion for league’s worst but after their absolute thrashing at the hands of the Patriots, they have also entered the picture.

#31 Tampa Bay – Took Carolina to the wire but came up short losing 28-21 to the Panthers to fall to 0-6.

#32 St. Louis – Still dead last

What the hippy UPS guy thinks of the Rams season…

Up Next: vs Indianapolis (5-0)

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