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Week 6 Game Recap: St. Louis Rams 3, Baltimore Ravens 22
What you need to know
| St. Louis Rams |
The Rams had several opportunities to compete in this game, but one chance after another, they failed to capitalize: dropped passes in the end zone, a missed mid-range field goal, letting the clock run out before halftime. If any of these plays had gone the other way, they might have made it a game, but they proved inept when it counted most.
Gus Frerotte probably can't wait to give the ball back to Bulger. The Baltimore pass rush had their way with him, and hit him hard on nearly every pass play. The best thing to be said about his performance is that he is gutsy. Hit after hit, he would get up and take the pounding again and again.
The running game was anemic; the WR corps lost yet another. Perhaps the lone bright spot on offense was the emergence of WR Marques Hagans, who replaced Drew Bennett in the first half.
Bottom line? Too many key players were missing for the Rams to compete. QB1 Marc Bulger, RB1 Steven Jackson, OT Orlando Pace, WR Isaac Bruce, WR Drew Bennett (left in first half) all were absent in this game. Top WR Torry Holt was clearly less than 100%, but managed to play the full game. The defense was good and kept them in it, but it didn't matter in the end, because the offense simply could not get it done.
| Baltimore Ravens |
Kyle Boller was the starter at QB, as the Ravens elected to dress but sit Steve McNair so that he could rest his back injury. Boller was merely efficient, and did enough to win, but did not look particularly good in doing so.
Willis McGahee was held in check (25-61-1), but still was able to reach the end zone, and a second TD run was called back due to a penalty (that did not impact whether or not McGahee made it past the goal line).
Derrick Mason was the Ravens' biggest threat on offense, turning several short catches into longer gains. He appears to be the favorite target regardless of who the starting QB is.
The Ravens defense was the story of the game. They absolutely controlled the game from start to finish. They may not be as formidable as they have been in the past, however, against a Rams offense that was missing no less than five impact starters, they appeared every bit as good as the Ravens defense of old.
What you ought to know
| QB Gus Frerotte, Pass: 19 - 36 - 208 - 0 TD / 5 INT, Rush: 1 - 2 - 0 |
Frerotte was rocked all day long. He was sacked only four times but was hit hard on virtually every single passing play. It was reminiscent of, well, of the beating Bulger took before bowing out due to injury. Frerotte flirted with success in the second half, when the Rams began throwing quick passes, but in the end turnovers killed them -- five of which were interceptions. Here's the thing: Frerotte is hardly at fault; he just never had time to throw. His offensive line was depleted, and he was already missing WR Isaac Bruce, when Drew Bennett left with an apparent hamstring injury. When he was able to get the ball off, his luck was just awful. Between dropped passes, tips becoming interceptions, along with a few bad throws, he just could not get his team into the end zone. He was knocked out of the game for good with about a minute left.
| QB Marc Bulger |
Bulger was active, and dressed as the backup QB. He did not play a snap.
| RB Brian Leonard, Rush: 12 - 18 - 0, Rec: 3 - 23 - 0 (4 targets) |
Leonard had nowhere to run. On the day, his longest rush was for four yards, and converted only one first down, on an 11 yard reception. The Rams stuck with him for the most part, only rotating in Minor and Pittman after Leonard was hurt and temporarily sidelined.
| RB Travis Minor, Rush: 7 - 40 - 0, Rec: 1 - 5 - 0 (2 targets) |
Minor subbed in for Brian Leonard in the third quarter, and surprisingly gave the Rams a glimmer of hope. He showed a burst through the holes that Leonard had not, and sparked the drive that led to the team's only score. Two of his six rushes were enough for long first downs (11 and 13 yards).
| RB Antonio Pittman, Rush: 5 - 11 - 0 |
Pittman's yardage came strictly from garbage time carries.
| RB Steven Jackson |
Jackson remained inactive due to injury (groin).
| WR Marques Hagans, Rush: 2 - -4 - 0, Rec: 5 - 74 - 0 (10 targets) |
Hagans stepped in once Bennett went down, and ended up the most targeted Rams receiver on the day. He had a good showing overall and proved he could get open, but was inconsistent catching the ball.
| WR Torry Holt, Rec: 4 - 33 - 0 (7 targets) |
Holt was unable to make an impact this game. With the next two receivers on the depth chart nursing injuries, the Ravens were able to shift all of their attention onto Holt instead, who himself was clearly not playing at full speed due to his continued recovery from knee surgery. He made a few clutch catches for first downs, but they were of the shorter variety, with his longest going for only 17 yards. Though Holt is normally relied on as a deep threat, the Rams offensive line was unable to protect Frerotte long enough for the wideout to get deep. He was targeted once in the end zone, and almost pulled in a near impossible grab in the back corner.
| WR Drew Bennett (3 targets) |
Bennett left the game after tweaking his hamstring. He had no catches, but should have caught one hard throw from Frerotte, that deflected off his hands and turned into an interception.
| WR Isaac Bruce |
Bruce was inactive for the second week in a row (hamstring).
| TE Dominique Byrd, Rec: 4 - 44 - 0 (5 targets) |
Byrd did nothing special, but was consistent, catching four of the five balls thrown his way, all for a good amount of yardage (11, ten, nine). His inexperience showed on the catch that ended the first half. With about ten seconds left and no timeouts, he tried to get another yard when he should have gone out of bounds. It cost the Rams a long field goal attempt that could have at least put them on the board before half time.
| TE Randy McMichael, Rec: 2 - 29 - 0 (3 targets) |
McMichael did not get many looks, considering the state of the WR corps. The other TE, Dominique Byrd, actually had more. The time share between them did not help either one's final numbers. McMichael got one red zone look, he dropped the ball in the end zone.
| PK Jeff Wilkins 1 - 2 FG, 0 - 0 XP, 3 points |
He missed a 35 yard field goal, normally a chip shot for him. He later kicked a 32 yarder for the Rams only points in the game.
| STL Rush Defense |
McGahee was never a factor due to the Rams rush defense. The defense got better as the game went along, in part because once the Ravens were ahead, they were predictable and ran the ball more. No matter, the Rams stopped them and continued to give the offense the opportunity to come back.
| STL Pass Defense |
Good enough to keep the Rams in the game, but the secondary looked suspect on more than one occasion. They were able to pressure the quarterback, and their coverage was good; where they ran into trouble was in tackling receivers after the catch.
| QB Kyle Boller, Pass: 18 - 30 - 184 - 0 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 2 - 6 - 0 |
Boller started in place of the injured (but active) Steve McNair. He was efficient for the most part, but did nothing to scare a pedestrian Rams pass defense. The big surprise was the amount of longer passes thrown. He was able to spread the ball around to his three receivers, with Mason getting the most looks and receptions. He completed one medium-long pass (34 yards) to Demetrius Williams, but his other longer passes were due to after the catch yards.
| QB Steve McNair |
McNair suited up, but did not play. No official word was given on the status of his back injury, but the Ravens were clearly playing it safe against a weak opponent and letting him heal.
| RB Willis McGahee, Rush: 25 - 61 - 1, Rec: 4 - 9 - 0 (5 targets) |
McGahee had a better time running the ball in the first half, when the Rams were still in the game, and weren't keying solely on him. He ran for one touchdown, and had a second one called back due to a penalty, so he was as involved as can be in the red zone offense. As a pass catcher, McGahee is fine, but is only a dump off option for the Ravens, hence the low reception to yards total.
| RB Musa Smith, Rush: 2 - 5 - 0, Rec: 2 - 18 - 0 (3 targets) |
Smith was used on occasion as a pass catching back, once gaining a first down. He had two carries for five yards.
| RB Mike Anderson, Rush: 1 - 2 - 0 |
As the third string RB, Anderson was not a factor, but did manage to get on the field late in the game for a single rush attempt.
| RB LeRon McClain, Rush: 1 - 3 - 0 |
McClain carried once for two yards, but as the fullback, it was a rare treat.
| WR Derrick Mason, Rec: 5 - 79 - 0 (7 targets) |
Mason was a pivotal part of the Ravens success on offense. He was especially impressive running after the catch, as his three first down catches were all in the twenty yard range (23, 28, 19), though in each case he caught the ball for around a ten yard gain. He was Boller's favorite target early on, and probably would have continued to be so, had the Ravens needed to pass more in the second half.
| WR Mark Clayton, Rec: 3 - 23 - 0 (5 targets) |
Clayton looked fine on his catches, but Boller was not able to put the ball on the money the other times he was targeted. In addition, he is now losing important looks to Demetrius Williams (6:5, but 3:0 in the second half).
| WR Demetrius Williams, Rec: 2 - 45 - 0 (6 targets) |
Williams worked mainly as a deep threat, and seemed to be WR 2-a to Mark Clayton's 2-b.
| TE Quinn Sypniewski, Rec: 2 - 10 - 0 (5 targets) |
Sypniewski was sharp catching the ball, but did not get nearly the workload that a healthy Todd Heap would have had.
| TE Todd Heap (1 targets) |
Heap left the game in the first quarter with a strained hamstring.
| PK Matt Stover 5 - 5 FG, 1 - 1 XP, 16 points |
Stover tied his career high, with five field goals. The Baltimore offense repeatedly had trouble converting in the red zone, and Stover was the prime beneficiary (in fantasy terms, that is).
| BAL Rush Defense |
Depleted line or not, the run defense simply dominated. They looked mortal for a brief time in the third quarter, but playing with a lead gave them all the advantage they needed.
| BAL Pass Defense |
The pass rush was downright scary. They were in Frerotte's face from the get go, and hit him hard every chance they got. The result was a secondary that simply had to capitalize on the QBs mistake, and they did, to the tune of 5 INTs.
