RUMINATIONS FROM LUMEN FIELD

So my lawyer buddy, a big Seahawks fan, got tickets for the season opener, and we drove down last Saturday morning to also watch the UW Huskies demolish Tulsa. Nice football weekend if you don't count the Death March To Bataan walks on my 70 year old bad knees we had from the Sound Transit Stations to the two stadiums (stadia?).

Anyhoo, you guys are probably wondering why it took me a whole week to report on the Rams brilliant victory. My answer is that I had some close-up observations via my 1960 vintage Bushnell binocs, plus seeing the whole field, and getting a general feel for the game......and not 100% was positive. So I wanted to let Ramsnation's basking in the post Week One Win continue unabated, and give my report today, on the eve of a tougher game, against a much tougher opponent, SF.

Some history, my Rams remain undefeated in Seattle games I have attended....1985 Kingdome, ED runs wild,
January 2005 we beat them for the 3rd time as our backup TE Cam Cleeland (a Sedro Wooley, WA native) climbed the stepladder to haul in Marc Bulger's winning fastball in first 8-8 WC Team to win in Playoffs.

Then in December 2015 Case Keenum outduels Wussell as we win in Seattle for the first time in a decade.....I saw MLB James Lauranitis was weeping coming off the field after our gritty win.

Which brings me to my first observation....in those previous games, where I went down with the other Ram fans to the Rams' tunnel, Ram players and management signed autographs, conversed and were generally engaging with we loyal Rams fans festooned in our Rams regalia.

This year? Nadda!
Not even Cooper Kupp, who was just by himself in & out of the tunnel numerous in this track suit, would sign a young kid's Kupp Jersey on his many pass-bys. The uniformed players all came out helmets on, assembled in their units, one unit at a time, paused at the tunnel mouth, stopped & had their pep-cheers, and ran onto the field. So with zero fan interaction, it prompted one fan to yell, "Hey, when did you all take-in the Hollywood Celebrity Seminar!!!???" The only two players who responded to my cheering were Havenstein and Lake, both of whom I just yelled out their names. Havenstein's eyes looked like he was focused on him going to execute some serious bodily Seahawk damage.....with Extreme Prejudice.

In the interest of brevity I will just rattle off some observations and again, some are not so exuberant, hence my GameDay Report delay to today.....as I didn't want to be the ham sandwich at the Rams Uphoria Bar Mitzvah that was happening all week long.

GOOD NEWS
If we can keep Matthew Stafford upright all season, we can certainly score. MS was brilliantly masterful, and had Van Jeff caught that 65 yard TD and Puka hauled in that fingertip deal, we cudda hung a 40-burger on Seattle.

Alaric Jackson (born in Windsor ON, Canada!) had the facemask penalty early......BUT.... Lemme telll ya'll....
whilst AJ's 15-yarder penalty did create a minor bump in the road in our 18 play opening drive....IT WAS ESSENTIAL IN SPELLING OUT TO SEAHAWK PLAYERS THAT THIS GAME TODAY IS GOING TO BE A @#$%& STREET-FIGHT, SO STRAP-IN GIRLS!!!!

Like did you guys notice on the numerous tackles for loss by both teams, how the roughing up of the RBs on both teams went well past the Zebras' whistles???? It REALLY WAS a streetfight out there....ALL GAME LONG!

For TV fans it probably wasn't apparent until DK Metcalf's cowardly hit on Witherspoon, or when it was revealed that BOTH Seahawks OTs had been knocked outa the game. But believe me, the Rams came in with a big 30TH WORST ROSTER IN NFL CHIP-ON-THEIR-SHOULDERS, AND THEY KICKED SEAHAWKS PLAYERS' ASSES ALL DAY LONG.

Puka, Tutu, Higs, VanJeff ran wild all day long on flatfooted Seahawks DBs....some Ram drops, and MS having to do smart & necessary throw-aways (remember that stillborn flea-flicker) were the only factors that caused Stafford's QB Rating from reaching over 100, IMO.

I have some worry about our running scheme and blocking.....especially with Noteboom, who at times was doing his impersonation of when Lou Costello met Frankenstein in that 1950's B&W movie. I've admittedly never been a Noteboom fan....actually I liked him coming outa TCU, as he was a hockey player in Texas....so as a Canadian, I was hopeful. But Noteboom's balance is not good last Sunday ....especially compared to stud Steve WideStance Avila who, along with Alaric was just hammering Seahawk defenders on our Left Side all game long!!! Kyren Williams is one slippery runner, who takes whatever is there......and then wiggles for a yard or more extra. Higbee was also blocking his arse off...and running free. Higs looked open all day long.

SOME WORRISOME POINTS
Geno Smith was horrible....I mean, "just left the all-night tequilla party at 6AM horrible" all game long. Geno had alot of time to throw, especially in the First Half, and he kept dumping it off to the flats, where Rams pursuit was good, and tackling fairly crisp and effective. That TD lob to DK Metcalf, was like all his other Geno NoodleArm Lobs last Sunday, IMO a la Bryce Perkins.....and it was only a TD, because Derion Kendricks's jockstrap is still floating out in Puget Sound somewhere. Derion Kendricks does not look like Monte Jackson to these old eyes, I can tell ya. Plus he is very grabby....probably to make up for his slow afootness! He will get burned if he keeps starting for us IMO.

Not surprisingly, AD was great, but the rest of our pass rush, especially from the youthfull ERs we lined up, was pretty anemic. Sure. when both Seahawks OTs were gone in the second half, and Seattle had to abandon the run to play catch-up, we got some heat on Geno.......but make no mistake, holding Seattle at home, to only 13 points was more Geno's @#$%& Up, than Ram Defensive prowess. I lreally ike Hoecht, Byron and even Vanvalkenburg's effort and nonstop motors, but Raheem is gonna have to get creative on blitz and stunt moves, especially against good teams like SF, if he wants to hurry & rattle opposing QB's.

The other somewhat negative thing I noticed was that when Seattle ran outside on our ERs, they made big yardage....but for some reason the Seahawk Offensive Braintrust decided to have Geno's passing beat the Rams.......and that was the wrong move, because Geno competely shat the bed.

Lake the former UW HeadCoach seems to have influenced Raheem's former cushion doctorine, and Rams DBs were much more fiesty and aggressive.....Keep that stuff coming!!! I thought Fuller would be solid, and he was......but I didn't know what to expect from Yeast, as Raheem never played him that much in 2022. Solid, sure-handed tackler.....no Eddie Meador, but Yeast never looked out of place.

Finally, I am afraid that SF's Shanahan will not overlook that our Ram D was weak on defending runs to the outside, and will endeavor to exploit that weakness tomorrow. Also, as I stated above, I think Kendricks can prove to be a coverage liability going forward....I hope I am wrong, but DK on DK Metcalf was a mismatch. Hopefully DK on Deebo will turn out better for us this year than in 2022.

GO RAMS!! DRILL THE NINERS!!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/2023 03:34PM by VancouverRam.