St. Louis Rams vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Jackson Makes History as Rams Fall Late

Is "hearbreaking" an accurate way to describe the St. Louis Rams' 18-17 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers?

In case you were wondering, the Rams have taken fourth quarter leads into two of their four losses.

I think I have the heartbreaking Rams somewhat figured out. They are, in essence, three different teams in one. The offense, the defense and the coaching staff. 

Problem is, it's rare that they are all on the same page for an entire game. 

Let me break it down for you.

Offense

First Half: 4 drives, 2 touchdowns, 1 field goal

189 total yards

Very Good

Second Half: 5 drives, 4 punts, game ended on their final possession

86 total yards

Very Bad

Defense

First Half: 5 drives against, 3 punts, 2 field goals 

Tampa ran 28 plays and gained only 53 yards. A whopping 1.89 yards per play.

Note: A Sam Bradford fumble on the Rams 8-yard line lead to the first Tampa field goal.

Very Good

Second Half: 4 drives, 1 touchdown, 2 field goals

*The touchdown came on a game winning 16 play-81 yard drive. 

TB gained 198 yards on 40 plays

Very Bad
 

Coaching Staff

It's fairly clear by the numbers that the coaching was very good on both sides in the first half and VERY BAD on both in the second.

Somebody please explain this to me

Tampa opens the game with an eight-play drive that burns five and a half minutes off the clock. 

What do the Rams do on their first possession? On first down, they throw a 4-yard fade to Brandon Gibson resulting in an incomplete pass. On second down, they don't fool anybody by attempting to run the ball up the gut. Then on 3rd-and-long, Bradford predictably drops back to pass, resulting in a 3-and-out.

If you call pass on first down and don't gain anything, you are left with 2nd-and-long. Ok, so then what happens on 2nd-and-10? Do what everybody anticipates you doing, and run? Or drop back to pass again?

I think you get where I am going with this. The early down play-calling is completely backwards. Sam Bradford is not accurate enough to be expected to consistently complete passes on first down. He only completes 56 percent of his attempts. 

I'm going to make one final point on this and move on. 

If the $50 million kid only completes 56 percent of his passes, that leaves you with a 56 percent chance of not gaining ANY yards on first down; and a 44 percent chance that the Rams would face 2nd-and-10.

I don't like those chances considering the Rams' all-time leading rusher currently lines up in the backfield. 

Steven Jackson passed Eric Dickerson on the Rams all-time rush list with a three-yard run early on in the second quarter. For the game, Jackson ran the ball 22 times for 110 yards.

Quick Hits on Steve Jackson:

The Rams are 31-62 in Jackson's career.

He's played under five head coaches.

Ten different quarterbacks have started games during his tenure: Marc Bulger, Chris Chandler, Jamie Martin, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Gus Frerotte, Brock Berlin, Kyle Boller, Keith Null and most recently Sam Bradford.

His first game as a pro was on September 12, 2004, and a little more than six years later Steven Jackson is the Rams' all-time leading rusher with 7,324 yards. 

I've said it before and I'm saying it again, the offensive game plan needs to be built around Steven Jackson, not Sam Bradford. 

You don't outlast nine quarterbacks without being any good.

Head back to Bleacher Report on Thursday for my Panthers-Rams game preview. 

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