Oh Clarice, have I ever told you the story of … The Silence of the Rams?

Nice win, but a sloppy game. The Eagles came out on top and healthy, but have plenty of issues to work on. All in all, that’s about what you want. It would be great if the team had been lights out and dominated, but that’s just not realistic with all the changes that were made and the limited offseason practice time.

The good news is that there’s no shortage of talent, even in weak spots. The Eagles are one of the best teams in the league on the field, not just on paper. Vick, Shady, and DeSean all had great moments on Sunday. The O-line was better than expected. The defense struggled at times, but was lethal at others. Only once all last year did the Eagles limit a team to one TD or less (JAX game). They’ve already matched that total. The DL came up with 5 sacks and pounded the crap out of Sam Bradford, until he left the game and old friend AJ Feeley came in for his beating.

I came away from the game feeling very encouraged. The problems we saw are largely fixable. I think the blitz pickup will improve as Vick/the skill players/the OL work together. There were some communication breakdowns on defense, but Juan Castillo and the players can work on those now that they have a full game tape to study. That makes a huge difference.

Penalties were an issue, but even then I had mixed feelings. It wasn’t a bunch of false starts and offside penalties. Trent was flagged for hitting the QB low. Asante was flagged for illegal contact. Nnamdi was flagged for PI. These calls were all about execution/aggressiveness rather than sloppy play. We need to cut down for sure. Penalties were a major problem all year in 2010 (2nd in the league). We’re not good enough to overcome them against good teams. We must show progress in this area.

COACHING / STRATEGY

The offensive plan was built around protection. Celek stayed in to block a lot. So did Shady. We attacked the Rams secondary with intermediate routes and had good success. This was actually somewhat of a vanilla attack. We didn’t mix in anything too crazy. We ran one Wildcat play and that was as tricky as it got. I think Andy and Marty were holding back for next week. They felt confident enough to beat the Rams with base plays.

We mixed in plenty of runs. All 3 tailbacks had a 1st quarter carry. When is the last time that happened? Overall, I was fine with what we did.

The defensive plan was basic, as it will be most weeks. We mixed in some blitzing. I only saw one zone blitz all game long. There wasn’t a bunch of stemming (pre-snap movement). We lined up and then attacked. Worked well.

The biggest issue from the coaching side of things was time management. We burned all 3 timeouts in the 1st half even before the final 2 minutes. There was confusion on several plays about who was supposed to be in and who was supposed to be where. That side of things was very sloppy. Most of the skill players are returning from last year so I’m not sure why we had the issues.

This was the first game for Vick to be making pre-snap adjustments to the blocking. It is possible that some of the time issues had to deal with him reading the defense and then calling out to the OL/blockers what was going to happen on certain plays. No matter what, this issue needs to improve quickly.

* I was happy to see us kick a FG with :09 left in the 1st half. We could have tried to run a play, but the chances of success vs something going wrong dictated that we just take the points and move on.

* I wasn’t keen on Reid leaving in the starters late in the game. We got the ball with 6:04 left at our 36. Why not put in Kafka and Dion Lewis? Heck, I’d settle for leaving Vick in, but just having him feed the ball to Ronnie Brown. Instead we left the starters in and had 3 called pass plays on the drive. 18 point lead = 3 possessions. Just run the ball and work the clock. Why expose Vick to extra hits? I don’t get that. The Rams were without their Bradford, Jackson, and Amendola. They weren’t exactly in comeback mode.

* Reid challenged one completion along the sideline where Brandon Gibson might have bobbled the ball. Couldn’t see clearly. Probably worth the risk at that point. Came late in the game when we had a good lead. I didn’t think there was enough evidence to overturn (nor did the refs).

OFFENSE

* The offense scored 24 points. There was a RZ turnover that cost us 3 points. There was a dropped pass earlier on that drive that cost us a likely TD. Should have had 27 or 31 offensive points. Settling for 24 wasn’t too bad.

* Ran for 237 yards (#1 in NFL). I didn’t see that coming.

* Went 2-4 in RZ and 2 of 2 in Goal-to-Go situations.

* We were great on 3rd downs, converting 8 of 12.

* Gave up 3 sacks and had 1 turnover.

* Won the TOP battle.

* Had terrible field position. Best starting spot was our 37. 7 drives started at our 20 or inside of that.

* The timing on our stretch plays was bad. OL/RB/QB have to mesh.

Plays

* 3rd/1 – Opening drive. Shotgun set, 1 RB. Direct snap to Shady, who was on the left side. He took off around the right side. DeVan and Kelce pulled. Jason got nice cut block of LB. Celek sealed the DE and gave Shady an alley to run in. Shady made a good cut and got 6 yds on the play.

* 3rd/18 – Still opening drive. We used a bunch set on each side. Celek and Avant were supposed to chip rushers. Celek did. Avant did as well, but should have seen a blitzing DB on his side and picked that guy up. Instead, the rusher came free. Vick thought he had it blocked well and was sacked. He actually fought his way through the initial hit, but was taken down. OL was solid on the play. Assignment error.

* We ran a shotgun draw in the RZ. Shady lined up as slot and Vick handed the ball to Ronnie for short gain.

* 3rd/Goal – We lined up in shotgun. Slot right, Celek left. Ran a middle screen to Shady. OL did a great job of letting Rams get upfield, but also keeping control of them. Vick got ball to Shady quickly and all McCoy had to do was sprint 10 yds to the endzone. DeVan had great block. Put DT on the ground. Todd stayed on Long the whole play and did a very good job.

* 2nd/GL – 3WR, TE, RB set. Vick under C. Partial play fake caused Vick to turn his back. 4 DL rushed. Safeties came off both edges. Celek focused on a LB who was acting as if he’d blitz. Mikell went right by Celek and was untouched. He hit Vick, knocked the ball loose, and they recovered. Mikell didn’t show blitz prior to snap so I don’t fault Vick or Celek for not reading him on the play.

* 2nd/GL – Off I-left, with both WRs to right. Rams had Mikell cover DeSean and left other CB on the backside of the formation. Play-action pass w/ Djax running drag route. He got a step on Q and Vick was able to hit him for the score. Tough pass from Vick. Had to throw across his body with a defender in his face. Pass was accurate and had touch, but wasn’t a lob. Great throw.

* 2nd/2 from Rams 49. Ace formation, shotgun. The run action slanted to the right. Peters collapsed the DT. Celek made a real good block of the DE. The LBs followed the run action and over pursued, leaving the field wide open. Shady got the ball and just took off straight up the field. The FS was caught off guard and Shady ran by him for the TD.

VICK — Pretty good game. 14-32-187. 2 TDs. 10-98 running. Vick started real slow, but as he got comfortable in the pocket, he started to look like the guy we know. Amazing how protection can help a QB’s confidence. Threw some absolute strikes in the game. Best pass may have been a 3rd down throw to Celek late in the half. Accurate and lots of zip.

Sloppy throw on opening drive. Didn’t get his feet set and the ball was low to DeSean and incomplete. Forced the ball to DeSean on the big gainer on the 2nd drive, but I don’t necessarily see that as a bad thing. Gave his guy a chance to make a play. Forced the ball to Avant in the endzone in heavy traffic. That was dumb. Pass almost picked after it bounced off someone. Made questionable decision late in the half. STL blitzed, but we blocked it. Vick didn’t have much room to run. Should have just thrown the ball away. Instead he sprinted toward the LOS and dove for a yard or so. Those hits add up. Avoid them when you can. Vick was late on a throw on the final drive of the half. Avant was running a deep cross and wide open. Vick got the pass off, but Avant wasn’t able to get both feet in. If Mike gets that ball out 1/2 second earlier we get about 20 yds. Made poor decision on busted screen pass and threw ball to Shady, who was in the midst of multiple defenders.

As expected, Vick was a magician when he ran. So elusive, so explosive. Had one slide and it was ugly.

MCCOY — Terrific game. Didn’t have major success early on, going 11-27. Piled up 95 yards on final 4 carries to finish 15-122, with 1 TD. Caught 2 passes for 15 yds, including a TD. Made something out of nothing on opening drive when we tried stretch run to left. It was bottled up so Shady ran back to the right side. Turned that into a short gain. Caught screen late in the half. Had defender all over him and should have lost 5 yds on the play. Shook the guy off and then got upfield for gain of 8. Shady was as elusive as I’ve ever seen him. Showed good speed on the plays when he did get into space. His long TD run in the 4th Qtr was a thing of beauty. No hesitation. Just killed the FS.

Shady had a very good game in terms of pass protection. There were a couple of plays where there was confusion between him and other blockers, but that will get worked out. Shady took on blitzers when needed. He chipped sometimes. He helped out with pass rusher son some plays. He was tough and aggressive.

BROWN — Okay game. 4 carries, 7 yds. Had a sloppy block in pass pro on 2nd drive. Didn’t let his guy get to Vick, but the defender was able to hit Vick’s arm as he threw and the pass fell incomplete. Ronnie just needed to be more aggressive on the block. We tried a Wildcat play with Ronnie at QB. At least 3 Rams got big hits on him. Ronnie was hurtin’ for certain as he went to the sideline. Got a carry on a series in the early 4th. Ran in the I and went left for 8. Good blocking, power running by Ronnie.

D. LEWIS — Got 2 carries, one in the 1st Qtr and another in the 4th. Gained 10 yds. Didn’t look overwhelmed at all. Followed his blocks and fought for yards. Made a real nice catch late in the game, but unfortunately it was for -3 yds.

SCHMITT — Quiet game. Mostly ran from shotgun. Had a big hit on CB Ron Bartell on 4th Qtr run. Owen popped him hard and Bartell had to leave the game. Has some kind of neck injury. Schmitt did have 2 passes thrown his way. Both times Vick was under duress and unable to be the ball out accurately. They also weren’t gimme throws.

DJAX — Very good game. 6-102-1. Made a huge catch to jump start the offense. Came on the 2nd drive. Vick underthrew deep ball. DeSean was between 2 DBs, but somehow got his hands cleanly on the ball and held on despite the contact. That got us 41 yds. Huge drop in the mid-2nd Qtr. Djax came free down the left sideline. 2 DBs were trailing him. Vick had time and made a pretty good throw. DeSean extended for the ball, but couldn’t make the grab. Wasn’t a gimme, but he should have caught it. Ball was overthrown by less than a foot. Caught a pass on crossing route in the 3rd Qtr and turned that into a gain of 26. I was very happy to see him catch a Red Zone TD pass. That’s the one big hole in DeSean’s game. Almost had another TD before the half. Vick threw the ball where only DJax could get it and DeSean made a valiant effort. Very encouraging game.

MACLIN — Returned to the lineup and to his hometown. Sorta quiet day. Only caught 1 pass. That came on a crossing route in the mid-2nd. Got us 20 yards on 3rd down and moved the chains. Had a pass come his way in the RZ, but he CB was all over him and Mac couldn’t make a good play on it. Did draw the flag.

COOPER — No passes went his way. I can’t confirm he was on the field as a WR.

AVANT — Good game. Really worked the middle of the field. Caught 3 passes for 40 yards. Just missed on a couple of other plays. Made tough grab on 3rd/1. Started in the backfield and then motioned out wide. Vick hit him with a quick throw and 2 Rams hit him less than 1/2 a second later. Refs gave us a solid spot.

SMITH — Didn’t play much. Looked okay on the one play where I know he was on the field.

CELEK — Tough game. Asked to block a lot. Had 3 passes come his way. Only caught 1. Caught a pass for gain of 14 on 3rd/10 play. That came late in the half and set up a FG. Had terrific down block on Shady run in early 4th. DE started inside and Brent drove him in. Helped to bottle up LB as well and gave Shady big cutback lane. Celek had a good game in terms of pass protection. Seems like his blocking has improved.

HARBOR — Limited playing time. Had a good block on TE trap we like to run. Went from right to left and walled off defender and let Lewis get upfield for a gain of 6. No passes came his way.

* There were a couple of plays in the early 2nd Qtr when the Rams had blitzers coming free. They were well designed. Hard to say where the breakdown was without knowing the specifics of each play. They were attacking our left side, as if to force Vick to his right.

* On the next drive the Rams brought 7 and we picked it up. That left the field wide open and Vick ran for 19. He had a clean pocket, but saw all that open real estate and took off.

* Slot CB blitzed in early 4th and got a sack. There was confusion between Todd and Shady. Todd was blocking DL initially. He saw the blitz coming and went to get blitzer. Rams sent 2 guys from same side. Shady didn’t see Todd so he took on the inside guy. As Shady engaged the defender, Todd joined in. We had 2 guys blocking same blitzer. Other DB was free and got the sack. That’s the kind of communication breakdown that can be fixed in the classroom, but the players have to get on the same page.

PETERS — Good game. DE James Hall was largely a non-factor. Peters had a terrible play on opening drive. Let DE jump to the inside and get upfield. He then tackled Shady for a loss. Jason was called for holding on the play as well. Too bad. Mathis and Kelce had good blocks. Play had a chance for nice gain. Got beaten by inside move late in the 1st half, but Vick got the ball out cleanly. Had real good run block to open 3rd Qtr. Moved Hall off the ball and gave Shady plenty of space. Peters generally moved Hall off the ball in the run game. Jason had a good day in pass pro and on run blocks.

MATHIS — LG. Solid game. Had good block on cutback run by Lewis. Helped give him running lane. Didn’t have good block on run play to his side and that caused Shady to cutback. Still able to get a couple of yards. Very good block on Ronnie Brown run in 4th. Doubled DT initially, then peeled off and got Laurinaitis. Threw him to the ground. Literally, threw him to the ground. Solid game in pass pro.

KELCE — Good game. Moved well laterally on his reach blocks. Pulled on several run plays and was effective. Wasn’t getting pushed around, but to be fair…Rams don’t have monster DTs. Made a good block in early 3rd. Had to reach for DT and then was able to turn him so Shady had room up the middle. Picked up stunting DE on 3rd Qtr pass play and that gave Vick enough time to take off and run for 18 yds. Billick blamed Jason for some offensive delays early on, but I think those were on Vick and/or the coaches. All the shotgun snaps seemed on the money.

DeVAN — Gave up some pressure on early pass play. NT drove him back, tossed Kyle aside and hurried Vick. Drew penalty for being upfield on pass play. Not used to mobile QB. Beaten by DT up the middle on pass play and that pressure forced Vick to scramble. Called for holding in early 3rd. Grabbed the arm of a blitzing LB. Kyle is pretty much what I thought. He’s a grinder that will hold his own most of the time, but will get beat here and there.

HERREMANS — Good game. Generally did well in pass pro. Got beaten by hard inside move late in the half and that forced a hurried throw. Long used an inside move to get by Todd in the early 3rd and flush Vick out. Todd looked comfortable at RT. He moved his feet. He was able to re-set on plays where he gave some ground. DE Chris Long had a sack, but it had nothing to do with him beating Todd. A blitzing DB caused problems for Vick and then Long was free on the inside to finish the play.

Kyle DeVan is the weakest link up front simply because he’s just not that talented. I was encouraged. The Rams got little pressure when they rushed 3 or 4. They did have success with the blitz, but now that the guys have gone live against those situations, teaching them how to handle the blitzes should be easier.

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DEFENSE

* Limited the Rams to one TD and that was their opening play.

* How was the run defense? Final stats show 26-154. Let’s take away the Jackson run (47) and the Bradford loss (-15). The rest of the game was 24 carries for 122 yards. That’s not good. Can’t have the other team averaging 5 yards a carry. The reason I pulled the Jackson run out was that it was a simple blown assignment. The Bradford play was a fluke. The other 24 runs give you a more accurate representation of how we did. Not good enough.

* Rams were only 2 of 12 on 3rd downs. They were 2 of 3 on 4th downs.

* We had a Red Zone stop. That was a huge weak spot last year. Good to see some improvement.

* We sacked Rams QBs 5 times. Numbers aside, there were multiple plays where you could see the discomfort in the faces of Bradford and Feeley. They didn’t just go down. They got pounded. I’m struggling to remember a time last year when we beat up an opposing QB. Anyone remember such a game? Maybe Garrard in the JAX win. Did we knock any QBs out?

Plays

* 1st/10 – Rams first play. Basic set, play. Brian Billick called it a counter play, but it looked like a basic run where Jackson just cut back and burned our back seven, who had gotten out of position. The 2 culprits were LB Moise Fokou and S Kurt Coleman. They needed to play outside-in. Instead they both got pinned inside and left an interstate to the endzone.

* Rams ran a simple pass play on 2nd drive. We didn’t hit Bradford, but it was beautiful to watch the pocket shrink. Tapp/Parker drove OTs back. Dixon, Laws drove the G/C/G back. Sam was essentially in a phone booth when he got the pass off. We just didn’t see that last year.

* 2nd/7 from our 29. Tapp flew off the right side and into the backfield. Bradford was going to hand the ball to the RB, but tripped on the foot of one of his blockers. He used the ball to keep himself off the ground. As he was about to get going again, Tapp knocked the ball loose. Juqua Parker stormed in from LDE, scooped it up, and headed for the endzone. Fokou ran up beside him and Parker used a stiff arm to keep Fokou away. Funny moment.

* We blew up a 2nd Qtr run. Easier to talk here than individually. Dixon shoved the LG backward. Laws got upfield and grabbed the RB as he tried to go by. Fokou shot up the field and wrapped up the RB. He and Laws should split the TFL, with an assist to Dixon.

* 3rd/GL. We rushed LBs and all the DL. STL blocked it well, but the pressure or perception of pressure forced Bradford to throw the ball early and off target.

COLE — Good game. Had 3 tackles, 1 sack. Rams tried to block him with TE on their opening pass. Trent drove the guy back into Bradford. Sam got pass off and gained 3 yds on the play. Drove LT back and hit Sam as he threw in the late 2nd Qtr. Called for roughing the passer on 3rd Qtr play. Was on the ground and hit the QB low. Legit call. Dislike the rule if you want, but it was the right call. Got his first sack of the year in the 3rd Qtr. Just blew by the LT, grabbed Sam and put him down. Helped that Jenkins had inside pressure.

PARKER — Only scored 1 TD in the game. No wonder we had him take a pay cut. Solid game overall. It’s funny, watching live I didn’t think Juqua did that much. Tape proved me wrong. Drove the RT back on 2nd Qtr pass and forced Bradford to dump the ball off quickly. Drove RT back into Sam’s face on pass play in late 2nd Qtr and helped to force errant throw. Got pressure on next play as well and Sam had to rush throw. Pass was short of the sticks, led to punt. Lost his helmet while stuffing run play on 1st / GL. Didn’t seem to care. Wrapped up Cadillac and put him down. Got some pressure on 4th Qtr pass and it looked like Bradford’s hand hit Parker’s arm and that is what caused Sam’s injury. No sack for Juqua, but regular pressure. And a TD.

PATTERSON — Good game. I think Mike enjoyed the new system. Had 2 tackles (no sacks), but he was in the backfield and being disruptive on multiple plays. He’ll make some plays. Hustled in pursuit and tackled RB after gain of 11. Looped around the DE to get upfield and rush Bradford into a poor throw on 3rd down. Penalty on DB kept drive alive. Helped to blow up run play by flowing down the line and getting to the RB. Cole and Jenkins got penetration and the RB was boxed in. No gain on the play.

JENKINS — Good game. Only credited with 2 tackles. One was TFL, the other was a sack. Beat the RG to the inside and got RB for a TFL in the late 1st Qtr. On the next play, used a hard slap and swim move to get by the C and hit Bradford just after releasing the ball. Good closing speed. Got a bit shot on Bradford out in space on trick play in the early 3rd. Sam completed the pass, but paid the price. Got upfield very quickly in mid-3rd. That pressure helped Cole sack Bradford. Beat the LG in the mid-4th and sacked Feeley, just before Babin got there. Cullen is the best disruptive interior presence we’ve had since Corey Simon in 2000-02. Fun to watch.

BABIN — Good game overall. Had 2 sacks and played well. Made a critical mistake early on. Called for hands to the face on 3rd down. Eliminated a stop and extended a drive for STL. Good call, too. Drove RT backward on run play, but RB got up the field anyway. STL tried a sucker play and left Babin unblocked. He flew in and hit Bradford just as Sam got ride of the ball. First sack came to open the 2nd Qtr. TV guys talked about TE missing the block. Nope. RT lost track of the snap count. He stayed frozen when the ball was snapped and Jason flew by him to crush Bradford. On replay you could see Sam at the last minute bracing for impact. That’s the not so glamorous side of playing QB. Tackled RB as he tried to go up the middle. Jason got off his block and grabbed the guy. Really flies around in pursuit. He’s the first guy to hit Amendola on the play where Danny messed up his elbow. Babin will start some fights and probably draw a flag or two. Other teams won’t be so fond of his jumping onto players or piles late. Got a 2nd sack in the 4th Qtr. Played RDE. Got by LT. Pressure up middle boxed in QB and Jason was able to grab him from behind, make the tackle.

D TAPP — Good game. Very active. 3 tackles, sack, FF. Disrupted a screen pass by sticking right with the RB. Bradford had to throw the ball away. Got a free run at the QB when LB blitzed and LT took him. Darryl got in a big hit on Sam. Helped to stuff Williams on 3rd Qtr run. Stood up the TE, shed him, and grabbed the RB. Only gave up a couple of yds. Got a sack in the early 3rd when he beat the TE and closed quickly on Bradford. That may have been the play where Tapp hurt his pec muscle.

DIXON — Backup RDT. Flashed at times. Drove back blockers on numerous plays. Drove C back on early run and that disrupted the play. Limited it to minimal gain. Made good tackle of RB in the early 3rd. Flowed down the LOS and got to the RB. Play went for 3. Needs to work on shedding blockers when he drives them back. Moving them back throws off the timing, but Dixon needs to start making plays and that means getting off the blocks.

LAWS — Backup LDT. Stuffed a 1st Qtr run. Got upfield, fought off block, and grabbed RB as he tried to go by. That’s his only tackle. Got penetration on a few plays. Drove blockers backward a few times. I was a bit disappointed with his pass rushing.

CHANEY — Pretty good game. Read a draw play quickly and tackled the RB right at the LOS. No gain. Slow getting out wide on pass play to Williams. Wasn’t able to make the tackle and Williams got upfield for the 1st down. The next play was another pass to the RB. This time Chaney flew up and broke up the pass. Looked speedy on that one. Had tight coverage on a play where Bradford was hoping to get the ball out there. Had tight coverage of TE on complex play to open the 2nd half. Gave up 2-yard completion. Made solid stop of RB on run up the middle in the early 3rd. Forced Cadillac out of bounds after 3 yd catch on 4th/3. Got there quick, but not quick enough. Made solid tackle of Cadillac on 4th Qtr run. Play was to other side. Jamar flowed to ball and helped put him down. Tied for the team lead with 6 solo tackles.

MATTHEWS — Up and down game. Some plays he looked good. Read the play quickly and got into proper position. Other times he was slow to read the play or got stuck on a block. Credited with 4 solo tackles. He was around the ball more than that. I think that’s important in a MLB. If someone misses the tackle, you want the MLB there to help finish the play off. Casey showed promise. Needs to get to the ball more next week. Must cut down on the mistakes.

Chased down Williams on outside run for his first NFL tackle. Rams got 10 yds on the play. Came up with a good stop on Rams 2nd drive. Casey came upfield, shed block of the LG and tackled the RB for only a gain of 2. Penetration by Dixon helped the play. Flew upfield on draw play where Jenkins got his TFL. Casey got in on the play. Looked quick, decisive. STL ran a run to his area late in the 1st Qtr. Casey read it and got to the spot, but couldn’t get off the block. RB got 11 on the play. Got in on tackle of RB late in 1st Qtr. Laws had RB and Casey got in on pile. Tackled FB on dive play, but only after the guy ran for 12 yds. Hustled outside on run play and forced Williams out of bounds after just 2 yds. Got out of position on 3rd Qtr run up the middle that went for 9. Looked like he went around the block. Got in on tackle of RB started by Tapp in the 3rd Qtr. Read a screen pass perfectly and flew over to blow it up. Got shoved in back by OL and that let the RB get going up the field for small gain. Missed tackle of Salas on WR screen. Should have been easy tackle.

FOKOU — Good game, but started real slow. Fokou was major weak spot vs early runs. We all know that he’s a guy that can get overly excited and that’s exactly what happened. He was the main culprit on Jackson’s long TD run. Got out of position early on and that hurt us. Settled down and played really well at times. Had 5 solo tackles, TFL, PD.

Got cut on early outside run play and that allowed Cadillac to get free to the edge. Has to keep his feet and funnel that back to the middle. Made an outstanding tackle of Amendola on short crossing route. Got there just after the ball and Danny had no chance for RAC yards. Only gave up 2 yds on the play. Got pinned inside on another run up the middle and Cadillac got 15 on the play. Got over to the left side and made solid tackle of RB and held him to 3 yds. Made real good play vs pass in the early 3rd. Read crossing pass immediately and flew up to hit WR as ball got there. Incomplete. Smart read, quick burst. Made a good open field tackle of Williams after short catch and run. Made a quick, strong tackle of Cadillac after short catch in flat in the early 4th Qtr.

K CLAYTON — Played some in the GL defense.

JORDAN — Got hurt in the game. Must have been on STs.

ROLLE — Solid debut. Played in the Nickel. Had one awesome play. Rams tried to run vs our Nickel just inside 10 min. mark of 3rd Qtr. Rolle ran up and hit their C. Knocked the dude on his butt. Brian then grabbed the RB and put him on the ground. That forced long FG attempt, which was no good. Rolle might be undersized, but doesn’t play like it. Almost made a great play on 4th/1. Got RB down for just 1 yd. Had a chance to get him down in the backfield, but couldn’t make the play. Failed to make a play on inside run late in the game. To be fair, Rolle was blocked by 2 different OL.

COLEMAN — Disappointing game. I’m a big Kurt Coleman fan, but he started slow. Struggled with getting off blocks early on. STL had a couple of good runs where Coleman should have been up quickly in support, but some WR was blocking him. Can’t have that. Made good tackle of Amendola after catching pass on trick play in the early 3rd. Took out the FB on an outside run play, but didn’t do it well enough to slow down the RB. Kurt has to get the FB out wide to box in the RB. Good effort. Tackled Kendricks after a gain of 18 on TE screen. Finished with 4 tackles, but didn’t play with the kind of attacking, confident style that we’re used to.

J PAGE — Very good game. Tackled well. Had a solid day in coverage. Came up to quickly tackle Cadillac on run play on 2nd drive. Good tackle. Helped stuff FB after he’d gotten loose for 12 yds. Forced RB out of bounds on pass play where he got by Chaney. Best play was when he flew up and made sure, physical tackle of WR on 3rd down. Kept the receiver from getting the extra yard he needed to move the chains. Page wrapped up and drove him to the ground. Looked comfortable playing in the box when he needed to. Got in on tackle of RB right by the LOS in the early 3rd. Almost made a great play while covering TE in the flat on 2nd/GL. Read the route and jumped it. Got his hands on the pass, but could not secure it. Page was good Red Zone defender in a couple of preseason games. Great to see him getting the job done in a real game as well. Tied for the team lead with 6 solo stops and broke up the one pass.

ALLEN — Didn’t see him on defense.

C ANDERSON — Only on STs.

ASOMUGHA — Didn’t have a strong debut. He and Coleman had some confusion about who was covering the TE on a certain play. Looked like Nnamdi might have been at fault. That catch was good for 19 yds. There was a play in the 2nd Qtr where we blitzed. Rolle and Nnamdi both went for player in the flat and left WR over the middle wide open. Guy dropped the pass, but once again there was a missed assignment or poor communication. Hard to say who at fault on this one. Blitzed on 3rd down in the early 3rd, but Sam got the pass away. Had a deep ball thrown his way in the late 3rd. Gibson went deep on trick play. Nnamdi was in decent position, but had a hand on Gibson and drew the flag for PI. Since that was in the endzone, gave them the ball at the 1. Got beaten by Gibson for gain of 31 down the sideline in the mid-4th. Andy challenged the play, but it was upheld.

SAMUEL — Good game. Covered well and had a solid day as a tackler. Gave up 3 yd completion early on. Tackled Amendola right after he caught it. Broke up a 3rd down pass to TE Kendricks…by hitting him as the ball got there. Asante Lott? Ronnie Samuel? What the heck? Bradford fired a short pass to his side in the late 1st. Ball was off target due to pressure by Babin. Better throw might have been picked by Sammie. Had tight coverage on 3rd down pass to TE. Ball was incomplete. Asante had a chance to tackle FB on inside run where he got loose. Asante “made a business decision” and was more spectator than participant on that play. Called for illegal contact in early 2nd Qtr. Actually looked like Asante missed the receiver. Made solid tackle of Mike Sims-Walker (6’2, 215) after giving up short completion in the early 3rd Qtr. Broke up 3rd/3 short pass to Gibson in the early 4th. Asante went low and helped to tackle Cadillac on a run play coming right at him. Rambo Samuel? Almost picked off deflected pass in the mid-4th. Looked like easy catch, but Sammie couldn’t get hold of it.

RODGERS-CROMARTIE — Gave up a 2nd Qtr completion to Amendola on 3rd/10. DRC was in the slot. You could see he’s not 100% comfortable in there. Amendola used quickness to get open and gain 18 on the play. Lost Amendola in coverage on trick play in the early 3rd. We gave up 16 yds on the play. Had tight coverage of Amendola on 3rd down in 3rd Qtr. Pass was incomplete, but penalty on DL moved chains. Had okay coverage of Amendola on 3rd/GL pass that was off target.

SPECIAL TEAMS

CHAS HENRY — Rough day. Averaged just 36.3 per punt. Must have been those trick winds in the dome. Long punt was 39. The good news is that the punts were so short they weren’t returned. Must improve.

ALEX HENERY — 1 of 1 on FGs. KOs were okay.

PR — 1 fair catch, 1 downed.

KOR — Dion Lewis was desperate to make something happened. So he returned a deep KO and only got us to the 12. Ugh. To make matters worse, did the same thing later on and only got us to the 13. Needless to say, Dion didn’t bring out any other KOs.

MISC —

* Up-man on punts is Kurt Coleman. Gunners are Anderson and Hughes.

* Colt Anderson was terrific in punt coverage. Part of that is due to the short punts.

* Schmitt got held on Rams KOR to open 2nd half. Billick said “I don’t see a hold”. Ugh. Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder saw the guys hand holding Schmitt’s arm to his body.

GAMEBOOK