Week 15 Game Recap: St. Louis Rams 20, Oakland Raiders 0

What you need to know

St. Louis Rams

Steven Jackson took advantage of the Raiders’ turnovers, converting them for a pair of touchdowns in the second half from four and nineteen yards out. Jackson finished the game with 127 yards on 31 carries, but despite entering the game with 82 receptions, was not targeted in the passing game all afternoon. Stephen Davis saw limited action in this game, carrying once for two yards, and catching a short one yard pass. From the fullback position, Madison Hedgecock had one reception for nine yards.

When Marc Bulger wasn’t handing the ball off, he was looking to throw the ball deep into the Raiders’ secondary, and picked up a number of first downs on interference calls, but was not especially successful in completing the long pass to Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce. Holt had four catches for 59 yards while Bruce pulled in three balls for 58 yards. Amongst other Rams receivers, neither Kevin Curtis nor Shaun McDonald pulled in any balls on the afternoon. At the tight end position, Aaron Walker grabbed one pass for nine yards, while Joel Klopfenstein caught one pass for a four yard reception.

Oakland Raiders

Aaron Brooks opened the game and played the first three quarters, but was unable to generate any offense, and was pulled entering the fourth quarter while trailing 13-0 in favor of Andrew Walter. Brooks departed after he completed 11 of 19 passes for 98 yards with one interception on a tipped pass. Upon entering, Andrew Walter completed 14 of 20 passes for 131 yards, but also failed to generate any points, and threw two interceptions.

Wide receiver Ronald Curry saw the bulk of the targets, and caught nine passes for 87 yards. Alvis Whitted lined up opposite Ronald Curry in the starting lineup, but failed to catch a pass. Johnnie Morant caught two balls for thirteen yards as the third receiver in this game, while the newly acquired Doug Gabriel entered late in this game to catch two passes on the final drive for 31 yards. Randy Moss was out of the lineup, with some reports speculating that his season may be done. The Raiders got a number of tight ends involved in this game, including Courtney Andersen, Randal Williams and John Madsen. Anderson caught four passes for 52 yards, while Williams and Madsen each caught one pass for eight and seven yards respectively.

As the score never grew past 6-0 in the first half, the Raiders remained committed to the rushing attack in the first half, when Justin Fargas saw the majority of his action. Fargas compiled 43 yards on 12 carries, and caught one ball for ten yards. In the second half, ReShard Lee saw plenty of action as the receiving back, and caught five passes for 21 yards in addition to two carries for three yards. Zack Crockett carried the ball twice, gaining just one yard, and losing a fumble deep in St Louis territory.

What you ought to know

QB Marc Bulger, Pass: 11 - 22 - 137 - 0 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 1 - 0 - 0

Bulger completed just 50 percent of his passes for an average of 6.2 yards per passing attempt to finish with a passer rating of 69.7 against a talented Oakland secondary. Though he didn’t throw any touchdown passes, Bulger also did not turn the ball over and moved the Rams to 6-8 to extend the season and prevent being mathematically eliminated with closing games against Washington and Minnesota.

RB Steven Jackson, Rush: 31 - 127 - 2

Though he was not targeted out of the backfield in this game, the Rams utilized him extensively in the rushing game against the Raiders, where averaged 4.1 yards per attempt and had a long run of 19 yards, which went for a touchdown.

WR Torry Holt, Rec: 4 - 59 - 0 (10 targets)

Holt caught nearly everything thrown short, was targeted deep a number of times in this game without success. Holt faced tough coverage against Nnamdi Asomugha all game long and wasn’t able to get much going. On separate drives, Holt was targeted twice in the end zone, and caught a thirteen yard pass on yet another drive to help set up Steven Jackson’s four yard touchdown run.

WR Isaac Bruce, Rec: 3 - 58 - 0 (8 targets)

Working opposite of Torry Holt, Bruce was also targeted deep often in this game, but did come up with one catch for 41 yards against a tough Raiders’ secondary.

TE Joe Klopfenstein, Rec: 1 - 4 - 0 (2 targets)

Klopfenstein caught one pass before taking a solid hit and being driven backwards.

PK Jeff Wilkins 2 - 2 FG, 2 - 2 XP, 8 points

Wilkins connected on field goals of 24 and 34 yards, and made both extra points attempted. Late in the game, he lined up to attempt a 50 yard field goal, but instead successfully pooched the ball inside the opponents ten yard line.

STL Rush Defense

The Rams shut down the combination of Justin Fargas, ReShard Lee and Zack Crockett, giving up just 57 yards on the ground on the afternoon, in addition to forcing a key Crockett fumble to help in posting the shutout.

STL Pass Defense

With three interceptions, four sacks and a shutout, the Rams’ pass defense had a pretty good afternoon despite giving up 229 yards through the air.

QB Aaron Brooks, Pass: 11 - 19 - 98 - 0 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 2 - 10 - 0

Brooks completed 58 percent of his passes, with an average gain of 5.2 yards per passing attempt, though a deflected pass leading to an interception allowed him to finish with just a 49.9 passer rating before being pulled after three quarters due to inefficiency. Brooks did not play all that poorly, but was hurt by repeated mental mistakes and penalties by his teammates.

QB Andrew Walter, Pass: 14 - 20 - 131 - 0 TD / 2 INT

In hopes of providing a spark, Andrew Walter entered the fourth quarter down 13-0, but after throwing two interceptions, saw his team finish worse than what had been given to him. Walter was plenty active in the fourth quarter, and completed 70 percent of his passes for a 6.6 yards per attempt average, but was hurt by the interceptions and finished with a lower passer rating than Brooks at 48.1.

RB Justin Fargas, Rush: 12 - 43 - 0, Rec: 1 - 10 - 0 (1 targets)

Fargas opened the game with four touches on the opening drive for 21 yards, and then saw four more touches on the next drive for 20 yards, but was pretty much blanked the rest of the afternoon. Justin carried the ball just twice in the second half, and was removed in obvious passing situations for ReShard Lee.

RB ReShard Lee, Rush: 2 - 3 - 0, Rec: 5 - 21 - 0 (6 targets)

Lee played a significant portion of the fourth quarter in an effort to take advantage of the short pass being given to the Raiders, and had a long reception of eight yards.

WR Ronald Curry, Rec: 9 - 87 - 0 (14 targets)

Curry was especially active with Brooks on the field, who targeted him ten times, accounting for more than half of his passes, while Walter only through his way four times, or twenty percent of the time, though it should be noted that the defenses each faced were somewhat different.

WR Doug Gabriel, Rec: 2 - 31 - 0 (2 targets)

Gabriel entered in four wide receiver sets on the final drive to catch both passes thrown his way.

WR Alvis Whitted (4 targets)

Whitted was utilized on the deep pass in this game, but half of the passes intended for him were picked off by the Rams’ secondary, and he despite starting, he was unable to come up with a catch on the afternoon.

TE Courtney Anderson, Rec: 4 - 52 - 0 (5 targets)

Starting the game in a two tight end set opposite Randal Williams, Anderson had the bigger day against the Rams, and caught almost everything thrown his way.

PK Sebastian Janikowski 0 - 0 FG, 0 - 0 XP, 0 points

Janikowski never got to attempt a kick in this game, having lost a fumble inside the red zone, and watching from the sidelines in a 13-0 game as the Raiders went for it on fourth and five from the 34 yard line in the third quarter. The Raiders entered Rams’ territory on their final two drives, but were seeking to come back from twenty points down at that point.

OAK Rush Defense

The Raiders were unable to stop Steven Jackson, especially when given a short field and little time to rest due to an offensive turnover. In all, they gave up 148 yards and two touchdowns on the afternoon.

OAK Pass Defense

The secondary help up well against the Rams’ passing attack, giving up just 122 yards through the air, of which 41 of that came on one play by Isaac Bruce, though the Rams were not forced to put up the ball often in this game. The Raiders’ rushing attack picked up four sacks on the afternoon.