I went back and re-watched parts of the Rams game to see if I missed anything and also to answer some other questions. There are times when I get so caught up in individuals that I overlook scheme and strategy.

* Biggest thing that I missed was not giving Antonio Dixon credit for creating the defensive TD. On that play he drove the C backward. The C then stepped on Bradford’s foot. That caused Same to slip to the ground. That’s when Tapp knocked the ball away and Juqua turned into Gayle Sayers. Dixon gets no stat for the play, but it was him winning the battle with the C that created the whole mess. Well done, big fella.

* The Rams did some interesting things to try and hurt us. They stacked their WRs to one side. We didn’t flop the CBs to that side. Generally they did this to our right. That meant Nnamdi was on the outside receiver. We had Kurt Coleman go down and cover the slot guy. We then did something interesting on the backside. We had Jarrad Page walk down like a 4th LB. Asante Samuel then lined up deep, like the centerfielder Safety.

They burned us with this a couple of times. Coleman was blocked too easily by the slot receiver on some plays. If the RB did make it into the 2nd level, Asante was slow to come up in support. He actually had a solid day as a tackler, but he’s not meant to be a run stopper in the deep middle. I’ll be interested to see if we make some changes to this or stick with the alignment.

* The Rams used wham blocks effectively vs our DTs. This is when a TE or FB or H-back lines up in the backfield, but right up behind the OL. The player then goes to the opposite side of the line (right to left or left to right). The premise of the play is the same as a trap block. Invite the DT up the field and then hit him from the side. That gives the RB a clear lane. It also is a blocking victory for the offense. When a TE/FB can take out a DT that lets OL go beat up on LBs. Moise Fokou can attest to that. He took some big shots from Rams blockers on the 2nd level.

The Rams left our DTs unblocked a couple of times and tried to burn them with influence plays. Dixon got burned at least once, maybe twice. Trevor Laws was able to disrupt a play by grabbing the RB as he tried to go by him. DL are taught early on that when no one blocks you, be on the look out. Someone is coming from your blindside or you’re being suckered. Dixon and Laws won’t be fooled as quickly the next time someone tries this.

* I paid a lot of attention to our LBs. The biggest culprit in the run game early on was definitely Moise Fokou. Dude gets so amped up that he’s ready to run through a wall. That intensity is great, unless you get out of covering your gap and leave gigantic running lanes. He was at fault on the Jackson TD. There was another play in the 1st half when Casey Matthews read the play and started to his right, only to get creamed by Fokou. Moise started hard to the inside and got leveled by LT Rodger Saffold. That block took out Fokou and Matthews and left a big running lane.

Fokou did really impress me with his closing speed. When the Rams tried to throw short stuff over the middle, Moise flew up in a hurry and put guys down. Looked really fast.

* We did have some coverage issues. The biggest problem was communication. There was especially a problem with Nnamdi and the LBs. The Rams would run the TE over the middle. Matthews took him (and covered well most of the night). There would be a WR to that side. Then a RB would release to the area. A couple of times Nnamdi and the LB both covered the WR in the flat and left the RB open. I would think Nnamdi was definitely supposed to be on the WR, but a couple of different LBs made the mistake. That made me wonder who was in the wrong.

The good news in all of this is that our players looked good in coverage. The speed and cover skills are there. Now they need to clean up the issues about who has who. This should be a pretty simple fix.

* I want to address the notion that we got luck vs the Rams. They dropped 8 passes (per a Rams guy on Twitter). They made some bonehead mistakes. They missed a FG. They lost Jackson, Amendola, and Bradford at various stages of the game. And so on.

B.S. What about our patchwork OL? Or the fact we had a backup starting at SS? Or the fact Jeremy Maclin was in his first game since January? How about the fact they ran a couple of trick plays? How about the highly questionable penalty on Asante that kept a drive alive for them? How about us turning the ball over inside the Red Zone? How about us having poor field position for the whole game? How about DeSean dropping a likely 80-yd TD? How about Vick being off target on some wide open receivers?

Both teams were sloppy. Both teams had tough circumstances to deal with. We were the better team and it showed.

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I’ll start writing about the Falcons this evening. I like to do research so I’m not just going off headlines or guessing. I do know this. It is only Wednesday and I’m already tired of the angle that Vick is returning home.