Wildcard Weekend:
Seahawks (7-9) vs Saints (11-5)

Saturday, January 9, 2011

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There's a school of thought out there, and Tony Dungy is the biggest proponent of it, that you don't have to do anything special to win in the playoffs. That "raising your game" is a myth. (I have a strong suspicion that Coach Spagnuolo leans in the same direction.) But yesterday's improbable, incredible upset victory by Marshawn Lynch and the Seahawks, the nine-loss team that flat out beat the Rams to gain entry to this exclusive set of extra games, pretty much blows that theory out of the water. 

The Seahawks pulled out all the stops on offense, even with Charlie Whitehurst at quarterback, in Week 17. Even with their obvious limitations with Whitehurst, they took a big shot early and caught the Rams' flat-footed, building a lead that they never sacrificed. It fired up the sideline, the crowd, and gave the team a burst of momentum that never fully dissipated, despite the Rams' stifling effort on defense over the next three quarters.

Beating the Rams is one thing, but taking down the reigning Super Bowl champs is another, and doing it with this beat-up Seattle unit is a third thing all together. But it all boils down to the same thing -- taking your shots, finding weaknesses and attacking them, getting momentum on your side, and delivering more punches than your opponent can handle. Over and over again, regardless of your personnel, your recent history, or the expectations of the dozens of cameras and millions of fans that are watching.

The Seahawks wrung incredible performances from a hobbled Matt Hasselbeck and his banged-up offensive line. They harassed Drew Brees all game long, never letting up despite giving up 36 points, and were rewarded with a crucial 4th quarter interception. And they may have gotten the greatest playoff running play ever from Marshawn Lynch, an incredible ankle-breaking tackle-defying 67-yard marathon that signified the realization of the impossible.  

Momentum is the key in playoff football. Each team tries to push the other toward the season-ending abyss, and it takes incredible fortitude and confidence to get up and push back, once you've been knocked down. There's no such thing as "protecting a lead" in the playoffs; you're simply allowing the other team to get back up. If you aren't willing to attack for 60 minutes, to push and shove and kick the other team off the edge, then you deserve your ticket home.

And after their milquetoast gameplan on offense in Week 17, Spagnuolo and the Rams most definitely deserved their ticket home.

ottoman89
@RamsHerd @evilslash13 To me, Spagnuolo treated the Seattle game like a learning experience, rather than giving it his all. Is that crazy?

Honestly, the worst thing that could have happened to Sam Bradford and the Rams would have been to somehow pull out a win over Seattle. It would have validated their coaches' ass-backwards gameplan, and they would have gotten absolutely smoked by the Saints in front of the home crowd.

If this was to be a learning experience, hopefully Spagnuolo was watching carefully yesterday. Hopefully Pete Carroll's team just brought that lesson home with yesterday's "impossible" win.

If Sam Bradford is going to turn his obvious talent into a championship legacy, he can't be held back by a philosophy of fear. He can't be held down by a coaching staff that can't -- or won't -- raise their game when the situation demands.

The regular season built to a roar, then finished with a whimper. In less than a week, though, the myriad possibilities that the Rams of 2011 could take as they continue to rebuild have taken over our conversation as Rams fans. And in many ways, that conversation is as exciting as talking about the season itself. Some thoughts on the first week of the offseason.

The Rams’ #1 need is at wide receiver... but who will be there at #14?

The two leading receivers entering the draft are AJ Green (Georgia) and Julio Jones (Alabama). As the college season went on, they may have jostled with each other for the top spot, but both appeared to separate from the pack as the best available options. However, draft guru Mike Mayock says that there may be as many as five first-round talents in this year’s crop of wideouts. The only catch? All five are juniors.

Of course, the question is, who comes out? By this point, everyone with an eye toward the draft (or who has sat in front of ESPN in the past week) knows that Stanford QB Andrew Luck, the consensus #1 talent available, has decided to return for his senior year rather than become slightly richer than Sam Bradford.

Luck’s decision upsets the order at the top of the draft, and moves each obvious talent one rung up (and further away from the Rams at #14). But it could also reflect severe uncertainty among underclassmen, regarding the chances to actually play a full NFL season in 2011. Why come out now, with the unknown specter of a rookie wage scale looming, and the possibility of not working with your new coaches for months?

Assuming that there is WR talent in the draft...

With an unsettled mess in the quarterback ranks, teams may shy away as they did from Jimmy Clausen and Colt McCoy last year. In that case, it’s almost a certainty that two premier edge talents in Green and Jones go early. Would it be insane to draft a third WR by the 14th pick? Well, at the very least it isn’t unprecedented, but recent history says that you’re entering a crapshoot.

Since the 1982 strike, there have been eight drafts that featured at least three WRs drafted by pick 14. And in nearly every one of those years you had a collosal bust: Troy Williamson and big Mike Williams in 2005 (though Williams may be redeeming himself now); Reggie Williams in 2004; Peter Warrick (the first WR picked) in 2000; Troy Edwards in 1999; Michael Westbrook and JJ Stokes in 1995; Alvin Harper in 1991.

1988’s receiver class was the only one of the bunch that stands out, with Tim Brown, Sterling Sharpe and Michael Irvin among the top 11 players drafted. Is this that kind of draft? And should that color the way we perceive second-tier talents like Pittsburgh’s Jonathan Baldwin, Notre Dame’s Michael Floyd or Maryland’s Torrey Smith?

Here at RamsHerd, we are officially geeking out about the draft, and with fellow writer Ottoman89 coming on board to contribute, expect a ton of content in the next few months to discuss questions like these, talk about player we love (and those we hate), and try our hand at shaping the next year’s Rams.

The Rams' season has come to an end and it's time to reflect a little bit before diving into the boiling ocean of the offseason. Or rather, since we're already getting draft fever, dreaming up strategies, scouting prospects, and reading between the lines of various coach/GM interviews, consider this a time to take a brief break to get our heads above water before diving back in again.

Our Bloguin network writers announced their NFL regular season awards, and Sam Bradford already has something shiny to put on his internet mantle.

The Rams honored four of their own this week as well. Bradford was named the team's Carroll Rosenbloom Memorial Rookie of the Year, Steven Jackson the Daniel F. Reeves Memorial Most Valuable Player, Oshiomogho Atogwe the Carl Ekern Spirit of the Game Award for "best teammate," and Bradley Fletcher was given the Ed Block Courage Award in honor of his strong comeback from a season lost to devastating knee injury.

However, it seems to me that several deserving guys need to be honored in this space as well. So here, without further ado, are the first annual RamsHerd year-end awards:

Week 17:
Seahawks (6-9) vs Rams (7-8)

Jan 2, 2011

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NFL.com: Recap | Box Score | Video

The internet wolves are howling for Pat Shurmur's blood after a brutal offensive performance against one of the league's very worst second-half defenses, and it's hard to blame them. This loss, and lonely flight home that begins the offseason, can be laid entirely at the feet of the offense.

The rhythm that Bradford was looking for, that we all were looking for, is what should form the very identity of this offense. The snap, the drop, the unfolding of the play, the hammer thrown by a lead block or the break in the route and the sudden appearance of the ball in exactly the right spot. Bradford, like any great performer, excels at playing within the rhythm of the offense, when that rhythm has been established. But Sunday, there was more noise than melody, and it resulted in dropped beats and misteps and missed blocks and dropped passes.

For one series, though, the Rams had it right. They really had it working. Digging out from their own 3 yard line, Bradford established a steady cadence revolving around the 5-step drop. (See it unfold, after the break.) 

I'm not going to try for objective analysis yet. This loss twists in my gut like I'd swallowed a rat and a rabid squirrel, and they're fighting to the death. The Rams lost the game on the football field to an amped up Seattle Seahawks team, that's one thing. But more than that, they lost a lot of face, and most of the positive momentum they had built up during the season.

They couldn't prevent the atrocity of a Charlie Whitehurst-led 7-win team representing the NFC West in the playoffs. They couldn't captivate the nation with a full rebirth in their debut under the bright lights of prime time. They couldn't play up to their potential -- indeed they struggled to make even routine NFL plays on offense.

Most importantly, they failed the necessary test of teams that are in the playoff hunt -- they failed to gamble, and ultimately they failed to win.

STLRamsGirl
That game was embarrassing. Not the loss but the way we played it. Mistakes, no killer instinct, vanilla play-calling, inept offense.

bednarjr
@espn_nfcwest @ramsherd I cannot say the better team won tonight, but I can say the team with the better gameplan and coaching did

ProFootbalFocus
Worst part of this game isn't that both teams suck, its that the Rams got away from what they do well, and its cost them

WR_83
@RamsHerd regardless of the outcome, the defense deserves massive credit for the way they played.

There will be plenty to sort out from this loss, from missed coaching opportunities to how this loss might affect the Rams plans this offseason. Obviously, drafting a marquee player on offense to give Sam Bradford more weapons is going to be priority #1, and the loss reportedly gives the Rams draft slot #14 to work with.

Jason_La_Canfora
Rams youth really showing up tonight but I love the upside of this team. Will add pass catchers for 2011.

If you want silver linings, that's where they begin. 2011 is a new year for the Rams, and while it hasn't started all that great, it builds on a much better foundation than 2010 did, thanks to a year of hard work and great play. While we begin the work of writing the obituary for this season, we're really just starting to appreciate the birth of a team.

Bradford escapes the pressure in Week 4 vs the Seahawks.

In this weekend’s Q&A, HawkBlogger offered this choice bit of competitive intel:

This tendency was evident in the game tape of the last two Seahawks games, particularly in the second half. Both Tampa and Atlanta found it easy to turn small leads into huge advantages by countering the desperate blitzing of Pete Carroll’s team. (It’s almost as though the relentlessly positive Carroll presses harder for some single momentum-turning play, the further behind his team falls. And the more he presses, the further behind they fall.) You can lay good money that Carroll is not going to take a passive approach against Bradford in his first visit to Qwest field, in this do-or-die game. He certainly didn’t in their first matchup, back in week 4.

Editor's Note: Thanks to Hawkblogger, one of the most thoughtful independent Seahawks blogs out there, for taking the time to answer my questions. Be sure to follow @HawkBlogger on Twitter for some gameday intelligence from the opposite sideline. You can read Part II of our Q&A, featuring my answers to the Seahawks' questions, here. 

The Seahawks had a really aggressive approach to the offseason and the draft. Which move (or non-move) has made the biggest impact on your season?

That's a great question, and far tougher to answer than you might expect. Three moves had significant impact, and are so different, they do a nice job of demonstrating why some Seahawks fans are so bullish on Pete Carrol even with the horrible play of late.

First, they picked up the team's best offensive player for nothing. Mike Williams earned his way onto the team, and has been a major difference maker when healthy. He will be a free agent after the season, but is still only 26, and will be a Pro Bowler if he can stay healthy.

Second, Red Bryant was a seldom-used defensive tackle that Carroll inherited. In order to better take advantage of the type of players he had, Carroll switched to an old 49er defense he ran that is basically a hybrid 4-3/3-4 with a big defensive end on the strong-side. Bryant was tried at the position, and at 320 lbs, dominated almost every right tackle he faced. While he was healthy, the Seahawks ranked 2nd in the NFL in rush defense at less than 75 yards/game and less than 3 YPC.

Third, Carroll watched tape of Lawyer Milloy and decided he was being underutilized. He gave him a chance to compete for the starting spot, and Milloy won going away. His leadership and toughness has been a great ingredient. He appears to be wearing down as the season winds down, but it was another example of maximizing the talent you have.