Of course I would have loved a win, especially a blowout. But in my crazy mind I am OK with the loss because now I have the highest goal to look forward to next year. I honestly think if I was a Pats fan I would have lost my passion for winning, as it seems to be a gimme.

Well, one door closes and another opens.

The brand spankin' new AAF football league opens next weekend!

Lots of former NFL coaches and players will be in the new league, including Spruuuuuuuce! (and many other former Rams). I think I will begin following Mike Martz's new team, the San Diego FLEET. I am hoping this becomes the development league we have all been waiting for. They are smart in not competing with the NFL, and seem to be coordinating with it...

I won't copy and paste the whole article. I recommend y'all read it. It's a great look into Goff's mind after the game:
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...goff-shoulders-blame-for-offensive-ineptitude

However, this statement stuck with me:
"I'd like to play better in a moment like this," he said, his eyes glistening with distress. "And I will be better because of it. I'll try to learn from it, and process it, and get better moving forward. I understand all that.

"But it's pretty tough to think about right now, because we had a great opportunity, and we didn't capitalize on it. It's my job to lead us. I didn't get it done, and it sucks."

The NFL is in for a world of hurt moving forward. I remember Goff's words after our final game in 2016. He promised that he would be better because of the 0-7 start and terrible play. He promised that this team would take that failure and use it to drive them to success. He delivered. I fully expect Goff to deliver again. He's going to take this loss and use it to motivate himself to come back even stronger next year.

I also found this explanation to be interesting:
"Obviously, I should have thrown it away," he said. "I knew it was 'zero' -- of course I did -- but I thought I could make a play. I didn't realize Gilmore was staring at me, and I threw too early. I put it in a bad spot. It was dumb. It was stupid. I will learn from it. But it really hurts right now."

This is the difference between a 41 year old vet like Brady and a 24 year old kid like Goff. Goff wants to make the big play. Brady knows to live to play another down. That's something that experience will teach Jared. This kid isn't even close to his prime. We've got our guy moving forward.

Sorry for that game. I feel for y'all. I hope you bounce back next year.

So as i was heading out of the game last night I was encountered by another "Rams" fan. This is how our convo went...

Him: Rams!
Me: Hopefully next year.
Him: Next year will be good bc we'll get Fitzpatrick.
Me: ...what?
Him: Ryan Fitzpatrick. Goff sucks, he's sucked all year. You dont think Fitzgerald is good? Youre crazy man.
Me: :smh: No dude...
Him: seriously, just think about it.
Me: :starts walking away:
Him: BULGER!!!
ME: What???
Him: Bring back BULGER!!
Me: holy shit....

I remember my first beer.

And I'm talking all over the place, from the LA Times to internet Ramsdom. I simply cannot believe the amount of butthurt takes I have seen, and it's disappointing tbh.

We just went to the Super Bowl and played a hard-fought defensive game in which we were a couple near-miss plays away from taking control and things maybe playing out much differently. We have the youngest coach in the NFL, some of the best young players in the league at key positions, and an enormously bright future.

Chin up MFers. Nothing has changed. This is an amazing time to be a Rams fan.

But it is what it is.

Here are a few short and sweet thoughts this morning.

Belichick and his asst coaches came up with a brilliant defensive gameplan vs these Rams. They accomplished what I thought would be impossible, to hold the Rams to 3 points. I’ve gotta tip my hat to them. Amazing.

And it was no fluke, either. Ram receivers weren’t open, OL wasn’t protecting or opening holes, Goff was pressured and confused. Belichick managed to reduce a 32.9 ppg O into a train wreck. Smh.

Late in the regular season I felt confident about our O and worried about our D. Roles completely reversed in the SB, huh? Shows what I know. Lol.

Goff had a bad game but he’s taking too much of the blame, IMO. There’s PLENTY of blame to go around in a game where Rams only allowed 13 danged points. OL missing blocks and not picking up stunts, receivers not catching contested balls or even getting open very often, Gurley and CJ failing to make plays too often, etc...

Mostly it comes down to the fact that the genius Belichick outcoached the budding genius McVay on the world’s biggest stage.

But McVay will learn and adapt. So will Goff. These two are just getting warmed up in their respective NFL careers. I don’t think that this is their last SB appearance, tbh.

Gurley has not been himself for about 2 months. I don’t care what he or anybody else says. The evidence has been right before us and seems undeniable. An unfortunate time to be hurt, to say the least. I hate to sound like using this as an excuse, but it’s a fact that the elite Ram O runs through Gurley. When he’s firing on all cylinders he’s the OPOY.

Sure, I’m disappointed. Who wouldn’t want to win a SB? Especially one where the Ram D only allowed 13 points? But I’m relatively serene this morning.

2018 was a helluva fun ride and our future is bright. The most important pieces are in place and will remain so for years and years. Rams will be a big factor in playoff races for years and what more can a fan ask for?

This post mortem will wrap up shortly and then we will have a shortened FA and the draft to occupy us.

This is a wonderful time to be a Ram fan, don’t you think?

4 years ago I'd have been as heartbroken as you fellas.

Hope you are all doing well.

Wow, talk about a dismal showing on offense. Our defense plays arguably their best game of the season and the offense pisses down their leg. I blame this all on McVay. True, the OL sucked but Sean's play-calling has to be questioned. He knew NE was going to run stunts. With two weeks to prepare, how do you not cover that?

During the game vs the Saints, the Rams were in shotgun 29 times and threw the ball EVERY time. The same was true last night. Not once did we have a designed run out of shotgun. I remember one play (I think it was in the third quarter) where we were in gun and there was not a LB within 12 yards of the center. Goff could have easily handed off to Gurley and he could have had a big gain.

As Ram fans, we've seen this before, games where McVay gets so infatuated with the pass that he abandons the run. But how about adding a few new wrinkles in, showing some creativity - especially with two weeks to prepare? Watching the KC-NE game I couldn't help but think that Andy Reid's offense would be way harder to prepare for than ours. All season long we heard how McVay only runs a few plays but they all start out looking the same. Well, when you have two weeks to prepare for those few plays, I guess you can figure them out. Was there anything he ran last night that we haven't seen a million times before? I can't think of any. How about a two back set with the backs in split-back formation? How about using one of the TE as a FB? In fact, where were the TE all night? Watching the Patriots run Edelman on short crossers all night long should give McVay a clue that every pass play doesn't have to feature three receivers going deep and forcing Goff to hold the ball.

I coached high school football for 18 years and after a particularly painful one-point loss in the state semifinals, I watched that film dozens of times that year. I can tell you for a fact that you learn a lot more from a loss than from a win. I'm sure there are lots of things McVay will learn from this. Then again, I said the same thing after Philly beat us last year and the Bears beat us this year. He's young, I get that, but I think he's a great coach and have hope. On the other hand, I heard Jeff Fisher say the other day that he didn't watch film of the Titans-Rams Super Bowl for ten years. That explains some things. Okay, I've ranted. Time to get back to reality.

Roger Saffold- We've all read the articles and know the story by now. He's said he wants to come back and feels he may have to take less here to do that from what he can get on the open market. IMO a must resign for 3 years.

LaMarcus Joyner- Past years franchise tag did little if anything to live up to that salary. In the past I was a big LMJ guy and loved his game. This season has brought this guy down to one word for me. Peace! Let him be overpaid by somebody else.

Ndomukong Suh- Was very lackluster during the regular season but was an absolute unit in the playoffs. While I'd like to have this guy back I just don't think we'll have the money for what he wants.

Dante Fowler Jr. - Guy enjoyed a rebirth for us and had some big moments in both the regular and post season. I for one would like to bring him back. It wouldn't break my heart if our top 3 Edge guys were him, Samson and Obo, we could always add another pick to it. Just not sure what kind of salary he's going to demand or if his time here made him love the place and he wants to come back so to me this guy could go either way.

Corey Littleton- Could get a nice payday but really hope we bring him back. Special team demon and our signal caller on D. He's a RFA so that helps a lot.

CJ Anderson - Would love the wrecking ball to be back but he may have played his way into a bigger deal than we want to give him and there could be a few teams looking for a feature or even split carries back that has much more cap space than we do so he likely walks.

Sam Shields- This guy was a monster on special teams. IMO being out as long as he was may require a couple years to get back his cover game. I'd like to bring him back and it may be cheap enough to do it.

Matt Longacre, Dominique Easley, Ethan Westbrook and Morgan Fox - All four could likely leave and we wouldn't even know it.

Malcolm Brown- Coming off the injury will likely come back on a 1 year deal.

Ramik Wilson, Bryce Hager, Garrett Sickels, Carlos Thompson- Like the DLine guys above could all go away and we wouldn't blink. Hager and Wilson were good special teamers but that's about it.

Dominique Hatfield, Blake Countess and Troy Hill - Countess may be the only one I'd like to bring back. He's an RFA and was pretty solid depth in the secondary and good on special teams. The rest could vanish and we'd be ok with that.

JoJo Natson- The guy everybody loved for a few weeks was just an average returner the rest of the year and offers nothing on coverage teams or offense. We can draft a guy in the 6th or 7th rounds to provide that. Bring him back on the cheap otherwise.

Sean Mannion- Last but not least our QB2. In very very limited time he's shown nothing really worthwhile. There isn't a whole lot of other likely options in free agency so either a mid round pick and/or bring Sean back. Will be interesting to see how McVay and Snead handle this one.

Cuts

Mark Barron- We all anticipate and might even celebrate this guy being cut. It's ok to have one undersized ILB in todays NFL. To have 2 and the second being Barron was just a travesty. He'll save enough money to sign Saffold and not dip into the rest of the free agent money.

Michael Brockers- This one pains me as Brock has long been one of my favorite players. Is he out of position as an end in the 3-4? Could be. But the bottom line is he wasn't worth his cap hit at any point in the season and may have to go. He's due a roster bonus mid March so if cut before then add's $10 million to the cap. As much as it hurts me he may be gone.

Marcus Peters- I know some are going to be calling for this but his 5th year option is only $9 million. He may be dealt but that elevates the need at CB significantly. I wouldn't be shocked if we trade him but I don't see a cut. Unlike the previous 2 cuts I listed he could get a big pay day in free agency earning us a comp pick of significance which doesn't jive with Sneads MO. It's either trade a guy or let them walk in free agency to earn that comp so I think he stays but gets no extension.

IMO there's nobody else worth any kind of cap hit that is worth mentioning on the cuts. There could be others but the cap hits/savings are insignificant so not mentioning them.

FYI prior to any changes/cuts we are sitting at just over $32 million in cap space with an estimated of $189.5 million.

Any thoughts?

We can blame McVay and Goff all we want about yesterday about not being ready for the big moment, but the Oline had much to do with our loss as anything.

Austin Blythe made me wish for Jamon Brown again. He looked small and overwhelmed. I saw two different times where he was brushed aside like a child and Goff was sacked. Havenstein also got beat like a rented mule a few times. Sure Goff looked rattled, but having pressure right up the gut, if you are step in the pocket QB, you will never look good. Brady looked like crap yesterday because our defense did the same to him.

Kromer and Snead need to get together to discuss replacements, especially for Blythe. Technique will only get you so far when you are a small guy, IMO...

Bonsignore: Loss must be the fuel Jared Goff takes into the offseason



By Vincent Bonsignore 7h ago 25
ATLANTA — Jared Goff will eventually fall asleep come the wee hours of Monday morning. It will be difficult, of course. And not likely to be steady. That would have been the case regardless of how the Rams’ 24-year-old quarterback played in Super Bowl LIII. Whether it’s coming down from an incredible high or trying to cope with a devastating loss, the adenosine gets blocked and the beta receptors are activated and sleep becomes virtually impossible.

The battle he wages against himself as he tosses and turns will be a brutal tug of war between wanting to forget yet understanding the value of retention. The pain of being the primary culprit in the Rams’ devastating 13-3 loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday is guilt he’d desperately like to banish.

“It kills,” he said, afterward, softly. “It kills.”

But this loss is one he promises to learn from and be better off for it.

He’ll convince himself of that because he has to. It’s the only way he can process what happened and how he played and how he failed the Rams in a way that will turn the experience from the career-defining blemish it could certainly turn out to be into the sword he uses to slay future challenges.

But he has some major work ahead of him after completing just 19 of 38 passes for 229 yards and an interception while accumulating a pitiful 13.4 total quarterback rating and coming up short time after time after time when the Rams needed him to make a big play.

“I think we can take away so many different things as far as the experience and different situations and different approaches,” Goff said. “There are so many different things.”

But only one solution: Goff needs to grow from this loss and the role he played in it.

It needs to be the fuel he takes into the offseason and the motivation he taps into during OTAs and the inspiration he calls upon through training camp and beyond.

“I’m a guy who believes in adversity and what it can do to you,” said Rams left tackle Andrew Whitworth, a 37-year-old veteran and in many ways the conscience and soul of the Rams. “It’s just how you respond to it. For him, I think it would be important to respond in the right way, which knowing the kid, I know that he will. This will make him stronger.”

It has to, otherwise Sunday might end up being an albatross Goff carries around for the rest of his career instead of a necessary learning experience from which he can emerge even stronger.

Rams coach Sean McVay tried to shoulder the blame for what happened Sunday as much as possible — “I’m pretty numb right now, but definitely, I got outcoached,” he said — and clearly the Rams offensive line didn’t play especially well and Todd Gurley again pulled a disappearing act. All of those factors contributed to what happened Sunday.

But this loss falls squarely on the shoulders of Goff, who had chance after chance after chance to make the one big play the Rams needed to push them ahead of the Patriots.

He failed each time, either by missing wide open receivers, as he did on a regrettable throw to Brandin Cooks standing alone in the end zone that sailed too long and too high, or missing open targets streaking across the field by getting locked in too long on someone else or holding the ball too long to force a sack.

Or, the most damaging error of all, rushing a throw off his back foot in spite of having time to stand tall and deliver a throw to Cooks as he broke up the sideline. By throwing off balance and in a hurry rather than setting his feet and taking his time, he underthrew Cooks so badly that the ball fell into the waiting arms of Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore for a devastating fourth-quarter interception.

“That’s my fault. I can’t put us in that situation,” Goff said. “I knew they were bringing cover-zero blitz there, and I tried to hit Brandin on a go-ball, and Gilmore was too far off for me to make that decision. It was a bad decision by me, and I have to be better.”

The Rams were on the move at the time of the interception and trailing by just seven points. A touchdown makes it a tie game with just 4:17 left. The way the Rams defense was jamming Tom Brady and the Patriots it wasn’t out of the question they would have gotten Goff and the offense the ball back one more time with the chance to finally end a Patriots dynasty that’s nagged and tormented the NFL for two decades now.

Goff had that power in his hands Sunday, on that play and many others in an incredibly tight defensive battle that merely required him to deliver one or two big plays to tilt the game in the Rams’ direction.

He didn’t deliver, though. In fact, he did the complete opposite. In a game the Rams needed Goff to just be OK, he couldn’t even be adequate. And that is a bitterly disappointing pill for the Rams to swallow given this was a game that remained within reach until the final minutes.

Had you told the Rams before Sunday they would hold the Patriots to 13 points, they would have already announced plans for a parade in downtown Los Angeles to celebrate their Super Bowl championship. It would have been a dream scenario for a Rams offense capable of hanging 20 points midway through some quarters, let alone complete games.

But then, who could have foreseen the kind of game their Pro Bowl quarterback would endure?

The Patriots took up residence in Goff’s head Sunday in a way their coach, Bill Belichick, can often do to young quarterbacks. In Goff’s case, it just so happened to be on the biggest stage in American sports in front of a worldwide audience that has always been skeptical of the true value he brings to the Rams.

Belichick doesn’t do it devilishly or delightfully, which only adds to the anguish. There is nothing personal in the way he goes about destroying the confidence of young quarterbacks with switching up coverages and flipping the script on tendencies and forcing them into mental chess matches they are neither prepared for nor able to win.

It’s just business for Belichick, who had Goff and the Rams chasing ghosts almost from the get-go Sunday by playing more zone coverage than they have for weeks and then continually changing things up through the course of the game to the point Goff was thinking one thing was going on only to find out by the time the ball was snapped something completely different was happening.

Sometimes the pressure was coming from the inside. On other plays, he was being attacked from the outside. And when he did have time to throw he’d look ahead to zone coverages that blanketed the field horizontally and vertically, rather than the man defenses he’d seen on film the last two weeks.

“They’re able to mix it up well and keep us guessing,” Goff said. “Especially early on, they were able to (keep us) completely guessing.”

There were answers on the field for him to seize and take advantage of. But the harder he looked, the more blurry it all got. And maybe that was the most painful part of it all. There was a path available for him to carry the Rams to a win. But they were hidden and disguised and covered up so well, he wasn’t capable of locating them.

“You think at some point you’re going to come out of it, as we have all year, and we almost did,” Goff said. “We were moving the ball there well at times in the game, and just one play, just one play. We couldn’t get one play.”

They couldn’t, though. Mostly because Goff, on this night, simply wasn’t capable of it.

“It is the toughest loss I have ever had. It kills. It is terrible,” he said. “There are some good things you can take from it, but right now, there is nothing. I wish I would have played better. I wish we would have been better on offense and offensively as a whole. I wish I could have had a million plays back, but there is nothing you can do about it. You just have to learn and move forward.”

It’s imperative that happens.

Otherwise what happened on Sunday will be in vain.

(Photo: Angela Weiss / AFP/Getty Images)

https://theathletic.com/799207/2019...the-fuel-jared-goff-takes-into-the-offseason/

I'm on record several times predicting the Rams would win the SB.

You all have seen my posts..

The better team won and the Saints would have probably represented the NFC much better than the Rams did.

This was the most boring SB I've ever watched and it's sad that our Rams were on the losing side of it.

Life is still good and I woke up this morning with the pie in my face. McVay and Goff were not ready for this moment and I was wrong to doubt Bill Belichick.

The better team won and their is no debate.

I will not be posting again until the start of training camp.

God bless you all and thanks for making the 2018 season one of my all time favorites regardless of the sad outcome.


Football life is at another all time low but the truth is...............

Talk to you all..............

I find music to be soul soothing, we should all comfort each other with great songs itt.

Gurley VS Patriots Super Bowl Loma loss: 10 Carries

Gurley VS Falcons 2017 Playoff loss: 10 carries

I don’t think Gurley was injured last year in playoffs

Why does this keep happening? If you have the Best Running Back in the game, you better have a scheme to give him his touches.

I think Sean gets baited into going away from Gurley....a bad mistake.

Sony Michel has 18 carries. He didn’t get much for 3 1/2 quarters, but Patriots gave him enough chances to finally hit a few.

In the games we struggled with our offense...third down conversions were very bad. It’s just weird that with such a good offensive mind that we would fail so much trying to convert third downs. 2 yards shouldn’t be such a black hole. It’s difficult to get your offense spread around when you punt 8 or nine times.

we got beaten by a dynastic team who beat:

the Chiefs, who beat the Colts, who beat the Texans
and the Chargers, who beat the Ravens.

Those are some good fucking teams. Great football teams.

How did we get to this humiliating Super Bowl? By beating:

The Aints, who beat the Eagles, who beat the Bears,
And the Cowpies, who beat the Shitbirds

Again, good fucking football teams.

Of all those teams, we were one of the two who fought it out at the top of the NFL mountain.

At the beginning of this season, two seasons removed from a 4-12 season, who among us would have been stoked if we knew we’d make the Super Bowl? Despite losing key players on both sides of the ball for extended periods.

Who would have been stoked to learn we’d make it to SB LIII?

I would have, along with my 14 & 16 year-old boys, and their 83 year-old grandpa—my Pop.

What about you all?

He became a sieve up the middle of late.I think Noteboom is the better player & might have replaced him if Midseason !!

He has played well at times , but he won’t help The Rams get to the SuperBowl next season if not replaced.

No, I'm not overreacting, just that Super Bowl losers, unless you are the Patriots, have a tendency to take a step back the next year. It probably has something to do with loss and the extra weeks of playing?

Anyway, the Hawks really improved during the year and looked pretty good. If the Rams don't reload and get their minds straight, the Hawks might catch us.....

It seems like our biggest defensive problem.

We still need some bigger thumpers in there.

Any future studs available around the 31st first pick?

Like the Saints did.. that holding call on Sullivan was a game changer.


That's how fucking dumb saints fans are and all the media stroking that shit.... there are so many bad game changing calls or non-calls.... entire dialogue was such trash.

I usually have to rewatch games to catch the subtleties but for the most part it seemed to be fairly called. Or did I miss something?

The only call that I really thought hurt was holding on Sullivan. It was a drive killer. It did look like much of a hold from what I could see. And if you can call a hold on every play, that was very ill timed.

The ref missed Pass Interference against Cooks near the End Zone but it would have been hard for them to see and call with certainty.


Side note: Vegas probably made a buttload on people picking the over.

This was a close game.

That's a foolish pass to run ratio unless you are down by 2-3 scores in the second half.

More "standard" football usually helps a defense that is playing lights out and shutting down the opponent. The D was stellar

Passing like this was reckless. Especially when the pressure was nonstop, or the Patriots were in nickel and dime with the middle of the field unprotected many times.

McVay called a vanity game.

Wrong platform to do that.