FarNorth with a fair and balanced take on our O and D woes…

Here’s FarNorth…

Of course turnovers, especially pick sixes, are terrible and a recipe for losing. We're giving them up and not getting them. But it's more than that.

Rams are built to play downhill on both sides of the ball to win. Downfield passing attack on O, rushing the passer on D. Right now we can't do either. We have an offense and defense which are mismatched and making each other worse.

The offense is not generating the early leads the Rams need to force the other team to play catch up and throw the ball into our strength which is the pass rush. We can score on big plays, but not well enough to "dictate" to defenses schemed up to stop the downfield passing attack. The offense also isn't scoring either consistently or often enough to come from behind. It can't reliably hold on to the ball, can't sustain drives, can't or won't consistently run the ball, doesn't have a coherent short passing game, and has had plenty of three and outs.

The defense is not terrible. It is not giving up massive amounts of points. However it is consistently giving up clock eating sustained drives which are terrible when you're behind. It isn't making stops when we really need them--- such as at the beginning of the third quarter against the Packers. It isn't forcing many turnovers and even fewer when we really need them. It isn't empowering the strength of the team, which is the pass rush. It is enabling opposing offenses to play keep away from our offense and pick on weak spots in our own scheme. It is making our offense even more desperate and disjointed.

Rams have lost control not just of time of possession but of any semblance of an effective overall game strategy. They need changes in approach on both sides of the ball to regain their mojo.