After my soccer team has a big loss, where many goals have been scored upon us, and our offense is sadly out of sync and they can’t even move the ball around the field, I have heard some say that we played a character building game. Character, strength, resolve, unity are all earned in the bad times, not in the gloriously happy winning moments. Losing is part of the game and losing badly can build character. Losing three in a row has to be building a lot of character in our Rams this year. Will the coaching staff develop character? Will the players develop character? These are good questions.
We have seen
Steven Jackson carrying the ball casually and fumbling, we have seen missed field goals by our normally dependable kicker, we have seen multiple interceptions and poorly thrown passes by
Marc Bulger who pretty much never throws the ball incorrectly, and a slew of dropped balls and mishandles on the offense by many of our elite receiving crew. The offense is stalling, stuttering, and making mistakes. The play calling is horrid. So many balls are being thrown sidewise instead of down the field. Plays are predictable and the defenses are picking them apart. The red zone is unknown territory to the Rams.
Tis sad for those that are still living in the greatest show on turf days. 3 points, just three points were scored yesterday against the Bucs.
That is truly amazing for an offense that I thought was loaded with talent. Maybe I am wrong and I believed in them when they are undeserving. Maybe Bulger has lost his touch, maybe Jackson can’t find holes or make holes anymore, maybe Holt will never recover, and Dante Hall is washed up. I thought Linehan learned his lesson last year, but it seems the coaching and play calling have slid back into an extremely conservative manner that thinks in a small way and will never win games. Yes, there is danger in speed and cracking the throttle open means risk, but to be competitive, you must open it up. The Rams need to open up the offense, get creative, and look way downfield. The dink dunk approach is costing us a lot of effort with no reward and Bulger is throwing so softly with these short passes that he is losing his accuracy. Playing conservatively has not given us any wins. It is time to throw the conservative play calling out.
I am preparing myself for a character building weekend, this weekend, since I made plans and bought tickets to fly to Dallas. I am visiting my little brother and he managed to get 12 tickets to the game. I am going to be surrounded by freaking insane Cowboy fans who are hungry and excited to watch a blowout in their stadium against a pathetic 0-3 team that has only managed to score 32 points in three games.
My hope is that the Rams move on quickly and discard the Bucs game. It is over, it is done, and I am not certain there is much to be gained from analyzing it. The defense held for most of the game and that was nice to see, special teams did their part, but the offense and play calling have to come together very quickly if this season is going to mean anything to the team.
I’ll leave you with a quote from my motorcycle message board from a cowboy fan. “That was a great win. They took it slow in the first half, then had the Bears figured out in the 2nd half. 3-0, with the Rams and Bills up next, could be 5-0 before the Patriots come to Dallas. Marion Barber is a beast!”
Let’s hope our coaching staff is up for making adjustments and the offense is ready to go. The Cowboys have scored 116 points in three games. They are 3-0. The Rams have scored 32 points in three games and they are 0-3. I am preparing for some more character building; however, I would be open to an upset game in a hostile environment.
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