GOING 0-2 INTO THE SAN DIEGO GAME, BY PA RAM (Aug 26)Add yourself to The HERD's Official Roster (guestbook), if you think you are man enough!
The HERD's ULTIMATE link page-add your favorite here!
* They have outpassed their opponents 549 yards to 450 yards.
* They have outrushed their opponents 118.5 to 75.5 yards per game. *
They have controlled the time of possession 33:52 to 26:08.
They are outgaining opponents in virtually every statistical category. Why are they 0-2? Well, because they are also outgaining them on some other key stats too...although on these, it would be better to be on the lower end:
* Giveaways: 9 Takeaways: 5
Too many turnovers...and the big killer for any NFL team. They aren't good enough to win yet when they still come in on the short end of the turnovers.
* Penalties: 17/162 yards. Opponents: 14/92
* Sacks: 7/43 Opponents: 4/31
Mistakes and miscues. Despite the tremendous talent on this team, it means nothing if they continue to make mistakes. Vermeil must clean this up and now. Although most of the sloppy play has come from reserves it is still a reflection of poor coaching. Eliminating the mistakes should be the highest priority.
And special teams have been a disaster. If Gansz is not up to the job he should be replaced. It will be interesting to see what happens this week when more of the regulars play.
PART II: The San Diego Game
This should be an interesting matchup. Both teams have not yet won a game in the pre-season. The Chargers have played 3 pre-season games while the Rams have played only 2. San Diego led at the end of the first half against Denver and Miami (in fact had Denver blanked 14-0). They did trail the Niners but Chargers were playing their 2nd game in 5 days. Overall the San Diego D should be a good challenge for this Rams offense. I would think both teams want to win this one pretty bad, even though it is a pre-season game. It will also be interesting to see how the Rams D does against Natron Means, although I am not sure how much he will play---Means has been a little banged up and has a current 3.9 avg per carry.
* Chargers Losses: Denver, San Francisco, Miami
* Rams Losses: Oakland, Chicago
Both teams have been heavily penalized:
* Chargers: 26/219(3 games)
* Rams:17/163(2 games)
Chargers are holding onto the football a little better:
* Chargers: 5 turnovers
* Rams: 11 turnovers
The Rams have racked up more offensive yards:
* Rams 786(2 games)
* Chargers: 732(3 games)
* Rams Avg. Per rush: 118.5
* Chargers: 70.3
Sacks:
* Chargers O-line has given up 7 sacks in 3 games.
* Rams O-line has given up 7 sacks in 2 games.
I would love to see the first team offense just put another team away when they are down. I would also like to see the Rams D-line get to the QB. Despite projections for a great year for Kevin Carter he has no sacks yet, and neither does Wistrom. Farr is still gimpy and Vermeil seems concerned. The D-line had better perform well this year or the offense will be under constant pressure to score.
After this week we should have a fair idea of where this team is headed--mistake-prone SOSAR path or a new and improved exciting team.