St. Louis Rams: 10 Players Who Made the Biggest Contributions in Sunday's Loss

The St. Louis Rams (1-7) came back to down to Earth after beating the Saints in a stunning upset last week, losing to the Arizona Cardinals (2-6) on Sunday in a 19-13 overtime loss. 

The overtime thriller had everyone on the edge of their seats, but oddly enough, despite the thrills, it was very inept football by both teams. It was amateur hour across the board; even the referees had an outrageously long conference towards the end of the fourth quarter that dragged on to the point of being truly ridiculous. 

The Rams failed to score a single touchdown in the game, and really, it should have been a blowout over Arizona if even just a somewhat competent offense was on the field for St. Louis, but their offense was so stale and uninspired that they never had a chance.

So let's see who we should blame and who we should praise for the Rams, regardless of their embarrassing loss in the FOX Toilet Bowl.   

Donnie Jones (Positive Impact)

Rams punter Donnie Jones had seven punts in the game and averaged 32.1 yards per kick. Four of those seven punts landed inside the 20-yard line, giving the Rams defense a field position advantage throughout most of the game. 

It's sad when a punter is a "player of the game," but there's no denying that he was a key player for the Rams. 

Steven Jackson (Positive Impact)

Steven Jackson had a terrific game on the ground, picking up 130 yards and 29 carries for his second consecutive 100 yard game. He also had a 12-yard reception, giving him 142 total yards. 

Jackson was one of the few member of the offense that had an undisputed solid effort in the game. He was a bright spot in an otherwise anemic offensive effort. 

Sam Bradford (Positive and Negative Impact)

It certainly was not a triumphant return for quarterback Sam Bradford, who was playing his first game back from a high ankle sprain that kept him sidelined for two games. 

However, it was not awful either. The only way to really sum it up is "so-so."

He had a very solid completion percentage (63.8 percent) and respectable yardage (255 passing yards). The offense had some flow to it whenever they stuck with the short and intermediate passes, but Bradford missed multiple receiver on deep balls, which really hurt the team's point production. 

However, the lack of third-down production (3-for-14) certainly killed the offense more so than Bradford's incompletions on long passes, particularly the third-and-short situations that were stuffed at the line due to poor blocking. That's not on the quarterback.  

It's hard to put the loss solely on Bradford, but he certainly deserves a part of the blame.    

Special Teams, Other Than Donnie Jones (Negative Impact)

It's not right to completely blame the special teams unit. Outside of the two obvious bad plays (the potential game-winning field-goal blocked and the punt return touchdown in overtime), the unit wasn't terrible. 

As mentioned earlier, Donnie Jones had a great game punting the football. Josh Brown made three field-goals and Dominique Curry downed a punt at the two-yard-line which set up a safety. 

They did some good things in the game, but they allowed Patrick Peterson to return a punt for a touchdown in overtime, which ended the game. They had a chance to make a last second field-goal to win the game, but they let the Cardinals block the kick. That type of play is inexcusable in situations that directly effect the outcome of the game. 

Having said that, the offense should have never allowed the game to be put on the shoulders of the special teams. They had plenty of chances to score and put the game away, but they fell short.  

Offensive Line (Negative Impact)

The offensive line gave up four sacks on the afternoon, and it would've been more if not for a game plan that purposely demanded Sam Bradford to get rid of the ball quickly. 

It might not seem like the worst pass blocking game of the year for the unit, but Bradford didn't even have enough time to progress through his reads, which has been the case for most of the season. 

The run blocking was decent at times. They allowed Steven Jackson to run for 130 yards, but Jackson's physicality played a big role in gaining those yards. However, when it came down to third-and-short situations, the line was completely humiliated. 

The slight progression within the unit is a positive, but hardly something to be proud of considering the large sums of money invested in the group. The group should be top 10 in the league considering all the resources that have been pumped into it. 

Brandon Lloyd (Positive Impact)

Brandon Lloyd quietly put together a solid outing, with five catches for 80 yards. 

He had a nice 26-yard reception that was the longest play of the game at the time, but given Sam Bradford's overall inaccuracy on deep routes throughout the game, it was hard for Lloyd to make a game-changing difference. 

Steve Spagnuolo (Negative Impact)

With 1:48 left on the clock in the fourth quarter with the game tied 13-13, the Rams were at the Arizona 33-yard-line on fourth-and-one. 

Rather than attempt to gain the lead with a long field goal, coach Steve Spagnuolo went for it on fourth down with a second consecutive shot at running off the left-tackle. They obviously came up short since it was basically the exact same play they ran on third-down. 

Miraculously, the Rams had another shot at a winning field-goal in the final seconds of the game, but it was blocked. It could have been irrelevant had he kicked the field goal to begin with on the previous drive.

Spagnuolo, once again, looked overwhelmed and outmatched. His defense had an incredible outing, but a total lack of mental toughness throughout the team lost them the game once things got tough. 

Josh Brown (Positive Impact)

Josh Brown was the leading scorer for the Rams with nine points, so how could he not be considered a positive asset in the game? 

Sure, his game winning field-goal was blocked, but the line that couldn't keep the rush at bay are the ones to blame, not the kicker.  

The Defensive Ends (Positive Impact)

James Hall, Chris Long and Robert Quinn had a sack each in the game.

Hall sacked Arizona quarterback John Skelton in the endzone, forcing a safety. Long's sack came at a crucial situation in the fourth quarter when the Cardinals were attempting to make a final game-winning drive, but the sack forced an 11-yard loss and eventually forced the Cardinals to punt. 

Skelton felt pressure all day and the run defense was phenomenal. The Rams trio of defensive ends are really starting to come around.

Quinn is really something special, he will be a major defensive force in the NFL within the next two years. His potential is that of Julius Peppers and DeMarcus Ware. 

Josh McDaniels (Negative Impact)

Just like Spagnuolo, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is obviously not a player, as the title states, but he had a negative impact on the game with his putrid play calling.

When your team is dominating the game in every aspect and can't score one touchdown, there's a problem with the system.

If touchdowns did not exist and only field goals were allowed, McDaniels would be the next Vince Lombardi. Unfortunately for him, touchdowns are very real, and his offense has scored very few.

How few? Try four in the last 16 quarters of football.  

Only 314.1 yards per game (24th), 87 total points (32nd) and 12.5 points per game (31st). That type of production gets coordinators fired.