Thank you, Defense & Special Teams

[tomahawk247]

I wouldn't call Hekker an upgrade over Donnie Jones, who was probably the best Punter if not #2 in the NFL during his time here. He averaged 50 yards per kick 1 year I believe, that is 11 more yards than Hekker has right now.

Nothing to complain about though. Both rooks doing great jobs.

We will see if Hekker is an upgrade over Jones when we see how he handles punting to (or away from) Patrick Peterson

[mcpeepants232003]

I wish Bradford would watch a tape of Drew Brees and observe how quickly he makes decisions and gets the ball out. That said, Sam has managed the games so far very well. He's been for the most part very accurate, and looked confident in the pocket. If he can develop better timing with more of his receiving weapons, he'll not need to hold on to the ball so long. Sure it's tough to watch him getting sacked, but at least he's not making dumb decisions, wild throws, and subsequently turning the ball over.

It took almost 5 years and plenty of weapons for Brees to develop into that type of quarterback. He was a far worse QB than Bradford his first 3 years. Once Sam gets a consistent offensive lineman and some more weapons I expect him to develop just like Brees did.

[gap]

Gap: Where did you meet/see the players. Im going to the game with my 11 year old son Thursday night and would love to be able to see and say Hi and Thanks to the players coaches, if we got an autograph that would be gravy. Thanks, Im coming from NC too.

South Endzone enterance. It is to the left as you look at the dome. The walkway is between the Dome and the Drury Inn. When leaving the dome, head towards the 20s-30s (First level was about 125).


gap

[Nick]

I agree that the O-line is a major issue but both The Bears and Hags have excellent defenses. Just the fact that they held Clemons & Irvin to zero sacks on the outside is remarkable.

Watch the game again & see the key difference between this year & last is Sam & his motley crew of flyboys.Opponents can't just shut SJ down & wait for the defense to break under relentless pressure & eroding field position any more.

In each quarter vs The Hags, Bradford converted 3rd and long to keep drives alive: 3&13; 14yds to Gibson, 3rd &14; 17yds to Pettis, 3rd &10; 19yds to Quick, 3rd & 13; 26yds to Kendricks. Iirc, all those drives led to points, 4 different receivers, no dinks with mega-YAC.And that doesn't even include the bomb to Givens that was hit finally or the near miss that helped keep the defense honest.

Bradford is turning into a difference maker right before our eyes & the rest of the offense is giving him enough chances for the support from STs to matter. How many games have the Rams lost over the last few years because a golden chance to sustain a drive into scoring position was missed ? Or an opponent ruined a determined defensive effort with a splash play on STs of their own ?

Of course, you want TDs, but the RZ is always going to be the last place to improve, esp vs strong defensive fronts like CHI and SEA. Let's not forget how new this system is & how young this group is. For right now, under the injury circumstances, I think winning the field position battle is a huge leap forward.

Those are some very good points, well said.

[sosa39rams]

We will see if Hekker is an upgrade over Jones when we see how he handles punting to (or away from) Patrick Peterson

Looked pretty damn good punting away from Hester!

[Rambos]

I agree that the O-line is a major issue but both The Bears and Hags have excellent defenses. Just the fact that they held Clemons & Irvin to zero sacks on the outside is remarkable.

Watch the game again & see the key difference between this year & last is Sam & his motley crew of flyboys.Opponents can't just shut SJ down & wait for the defense to break under relentless pressure & eroding field position any more.

In each quarter vs The Hags, Bradford converted 3rd and long to keep drives alive: 3&13; 14yds to Gibson, 3rd &14; 17yds to Pettis, 3rd &10; 19yds to Quick, 3rd & 13; 26yds to Kendricks. Iirc, all those drives led to points, 4 different receivers, no dinks with mega-YAC.And that doesn't even include the bomb to Givens that was hit finally or the near miss that helped keep the defense honest.

Bradford is turning into a difference maker right before our eyes & the rest of the offense is giving him enough chances for the support from STs to matter. How many games have the Rams lost over the last few years because a golden chance to sustain a drive into scoring position was missed ? Or an opponent ruined a determined defensive effort with a splash play on STs of their own ?

Of course, you want TDs, but the RZ is always going to be the last place to improve, esp vs strong defensive fronts like CHI and SEA. Let's not forget how new this system is & how young this group is. For right now, under the injury circumstances, I think winning the field position battle is a huge leap forward.

Spot on very good stuff!

I watched the game again and listen to Martz critic Sam. Of course he was hard on him with some missed easy passes. He was on him for holding the ball too long at times. But he was coming out of his chair on the pass to Kindricks. He said he told Sam in a pre game interview that, he is looking off the safety something he was not doing before. Martz said he asked Sam do you know what you are doing better then in the past and Sam said no and then he told him. Sam on the deep pass to Givens that his missed, he looks to his right, pumps and the firers the beep ball without hesitation that was sweet!

I think Givens is a huge factor, teams have to respect his speed. He got open twice against two of the best safety's in the game Sunday. This is opening up the middle of the field for the 15 yard passes he's hitting. In 2010 we all talked about the dink and dunk, not hearing that complaint these days.

[rams8821]

South Endzone enterance. It is to the left as you look at the dome. The walkway is between the Dome and the Drury Inn. When leaving the dome, head towards the 20s-30s (First level was about 125).


gap

Thanks. How long did you have to wait around until the players/coaches came out? Could be late on a Thursday night be we have no where to be.

[gap]

Thanks. How long did you have to wait around until the players/coaches came out? Could be late on a Thursday night be we have no where to be.

I wasn't paying attention to the time, but it was probably about an hour after the game before they strarted coming out. We were probably out there for another hour or so.


gap

[tomahawk247]

Yeah... I'm going to go ahead an say Hekker is better than Jones. Some of those punts last night were just plain ridiculous. 50+ yard out of bounds and inside the 5? Damn!

[sosa39rams]

Yeah... I'm going to go ahead an say Hekker is better than Jones. Some of those punts last night were just plain ridiculous. 50+ yard out of bounds and inside the 5? Damn!

Can you say that again? I officially have changed my mind, to yes, Hekker is ALSO a top 3 P as well as Zuerlein a top 2 K. What a frickin ST unit!

[Ramone]

Last night, I caught myself to secretly cheer for '3 & out' of our offense, just to see his punts! Highlights, pure highlights.

[JustSayin]

Last night, I caught myself to secretly cheer for '3 & out' of our offense, just to see his punts! Highlights, pure highlights.

Now that is an honest man

[RealRam]

Last night, I caught myself to secretly cheer for '3 & out' of our offense, just to see his punts! Highlights, pure highlights.

LOL!

Hekker has also learned how NOT to block! That push on a Cards defender was as ugly as his punts are terrific.

Can't remember ever seeing such a superb P and an awesome K with the Rams at the same time!

[RebelRam]

And did you see after that he went in to try to lay the wood on Peterson?

[laram0]

Why oh why did we keep punting to Peterson? Heart attack stress everytime that guy has an opportunity to return a punt!