Photo by Edward Jones.
Well, as far as season openers go, I don’t think it would’ve been possible to script a more interesting game than that.
The Rams’ 34-31 overtime win over the division rival Seahawks came with pretty much every hallmark we’ve come to expect from the team over the past year — bend-but-don’t-break defensive stops, timely and costly errors when there shouldn’t have been any, a resilience that has been typical of this squad.
Oh, and a win. Those have been a bit more rare.
For the most part, this was a pretty complete game by most parties. Major credit has to go to the defensive line, of course. Six sacks in one game? I think that’s what we all had in mind last season after the organization tried to make “Sack City” a thing. DT Aaron Donald continues to impress, of course; most football people seem to be in agreement that Donald is already one of, if not the best DT in the league already. DEs Robert Quinn and Chris Long continued their solid and impressive play.
Even DE Eugene Sims got in on the sack action, but unfortunately left the game with what looked like a pretty serious injury. Hope for the best for him, because while there’s never a good time to go down to injury, the season opener has got to rank pretty high up on the list of games you don’t want to miss out on.
Injuries took their toll in the secondary early too, as CB Trumaine Johnson left the game due to a concussion. Best wishes go out to him too, of course. In Johnson and E.J. Gaines’ absence though, credit to CB Marcus Roberson for filling in admirably. He kept the Seahawks’ receivers in check when he needed to, and that’s all you can ask.
On the offensive side of the ball, one important aspect that I hope isn’t overlooked in this win (hey, guys! we won! just a reminder… I still don’t fully believe it myself.) is RB Benny Cunningham’s strong play at tailback. He was very effective in grinding out short yardage, making a few explosive runs and generally wreaking havoc in the Seahawks’ front seven.
That forced the defence to stay honest and not cheat toward receivers. And that’s where the offence really shone — the clutch catches by TE Jared Cook and WRs Kenny Britt and Stedman Bailey wouldn’t have been possible without some heads-up play and good vision from new starting QB Nick Foles. He didn’t always have the time to get set and make smart plays — to be expected with such a raw and untested O-line — but he kept his head when the pressure was on, minus one ill-advised shovel pass to Cunningham.
As with most people, I was very impressed by WR/PR Tavon Austin. The knock on him has always been that he runs a lot without getting much yardage, and we still saw some of that guy in this afternoon’s game. But we also saw the game-breaking, tightrope-walking speed demon we were promised when he was drafted. Austin’s punt return was pretty damn electrifying, sparked the offence, shocked viewers… um, insert your own electricity-related pun here. You get the picture.
Overall, a very gutsy win that I bet most of us gave up on after the fumble-touchdown in the fourth quarter. It seemed like such a Rams thing to happen, didn’t it? An easy way for the team to lose a game they deserved to win. And in season after season of catching bad breaks at the most inopportune time, a fumble by RB Isaiah Pead in the red zone followed by a fumble deep in Rams territory seemed all but assured to sink us.
Credit to the team for gutting it out, not saying die, and finding an answer. Maybe this team is different, after all.
Highlight of the game — they should’ve passed it!
It has to be the stop at the end of the game, doesn’t it? Plenty of important plays; Austin’s sideline sprint, Johnson’s incredible Superman-esque interception early in the game, Bailey’s catch in double-coverage to extend the Rams’ final drive in regulation… but my vote goes to the play that sealed the game. Just a really clutch effort to stop a drive that had been marching down the field up until that point.
Haiku recap
Smart, heads-up football
Fumbles threaten the outcome
Donald saves the day
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