The Sports Xchange

EARTH CITY, Mo. — With the St. Louis Rams headed to their bye week after Sunday’s 24-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers, it is a good-news, bad-news situation.

The good news is another virtuoso performance by rookie running back Todd Gurley, who rushed for 159 yards on 30 carries against the Packers, one week after he gained 146 yards on 19 attempts in a victory over the Arizona Cardinals.

The bad news was a stunningly poor performance by the passing offense, which wasn’t able to handle the blitz-happy defense and that led to one of quarterback Nick Foles’ worst afternoons as a pro.

Foles completed just 11-of-30 passes for 141 yards, four interceptions and a passer rating of 23.8. One of the interceptions was returned 45 yards for a touchdown by rookie cornerback Quinten Rollins and two of the others came in the red zone in the fourth quarter with both plays starting at the 7-yard line.

Of his 141 yards, 68 came on a late, fourth-quarter play to wide receiver Stedman Bailey, and one for 17 yards was on a deflected pass that went high in the air and was caught by diving running back Bennie Cunningham. Without those two plays, Foles was 9-for-28 for 56 yards.

Foles has consistently accepted responsibility for bad plays and it was no different after Sunday’s game, even if he was hit 12 times, according to press-box statistics.

He said, “All of ’em, those are on me. I’ve gotta make better decisions to give my teammates an opportunity to make a play. I didn’t do that during those throws. … If it’s not there, sometimes it’s good just to (throw) it away and don’t put the ball in harm’s way.”

The Packers tried to confuse the young Rams’ line not only with blitzes, but stunts, and linebacker Clay Matthews seemed to be in the Rams’ backfield a lot.

Said tackle Greg Robinson, “It was a lot of twists. We were expecting it all week. There were a few things that we could’ve fixed, but it just happened so fast. All we could do was just take our sets and give our best effort.”

Foles added, “They were moving around quite a bit, mixing up their fronts, shifting during the cadence. We missed opportunities and that’s on me. We’ve gotta capitalize in the red zone. I had two red-zone picks that we need to come away with touchdowns. Those are drive stoppers. So if I clean those up, the game will probably end up differently.”

As he usually does, Foles credited the line for battling. “They have a really good defense,” he said. “A lot of talented players. Our line was fighting, they were opening up some holes in the run game. They were doing everything they could.”

Head coach Jeff Fisher said Monday of the interceptions, “They’re not all necessarily related to the quarterback, except he gets the blame for them. A receiver runs a wrong route, we have a protection problem, we have somebody slip, so everyone around Nick has to play better, so we can play better in the passing game.

“You can’t put them all on the quarterback. In our meeting, our message today was everybody has to help the quarterback – everybody. And we will.”

At least the run game showed promise. Included in Gurley’s 159 yards was a 55-yard run. He had one for 52 yards the week before, and of his 305 yards the last two games, 180 have come on five runs.

His 30 carries also allowed the Rams to possess the ball more than they had previously. They entered the game averaging 50.3 plays per game and just 25:40 time of possession. Against the Packers, they ran 70 plays to Green Bay’s 59, possessed the ball for 33:43 and outgained the Packers, 334-322.

Said Gurley, “These guys believe in me. We’re running the ball. We’re doing a great job. We have to put stuff together and finish.”

“Once he hits that hole, he’s hitting it,” Foles said. “That is going to open up a lot of things. A lot of good things will happen going forward. We’ll keep working to be a complete offense. Our running game, that’s the start of it. You have a great running game in the NFL because the clock keeps moving and it wears down the defense. We’ll build off that for sure.”

That is the hope. As defensive end William Hayes told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “I still feel good about our offense. I know as crazy as that sounds, I feel like when we come back from the bye, we are going to go on this run.

“At the end of the day, I see a bigger picture. I’m not just looking at the moment. I know six, seven games from now you will come back to me and say, ‘You know what, William? You were right with what you said.’ As frustrating as it is right now, I know deep in my heart things are going to turn themselves around.”

REPORT CARD VS. PACKERS

PASSING OFFENSE: F. It was almost rock bottom on an afternoon where QB Nick Foles had four interceptions, a passer rating of 23.8 and was kept out of rhythm all game by a Packers pass rush that threw off the timing. The Rams had another dismal game on third down, converting 5-of-18 attempts overall. On third-down passing, Foles completed 5-of-16 passes for 51 yards and had all four of his interceptions on third down. Four of the completions were good for first downs.

RUSHING OFFENSE: A. It was another outstanding game for RB Todd Gurley, who rushed for 159 yards on 30 carries and had a 55-yard run and three of 11 yards. WR Tavon Austin added 22 yards on three attempts and the team rushed for a total of 191 yards.

PASS DEFENSE: B. Considering the excellence of Packers QB Aaron Rodgers, the Rams did a solid job. They sacked Rodgers twice, one resulting in a lost fumble, and he had his first two interceptions of the season. However, two big plays were huge blemishes and resulted in the only two touchdowns of the game: one of 31 yards to WR Ty Montgomery and the other 65 yards to WR James Jones. WR Randall Cobb was held to three catches for 23 yards.

RUN DEFENSE: A. Packers running backs gained just 47 yards on 19 carries with a long of eight by Eddie Lacy, who had just 27 yards on 13 carries. Overall, the Packers had 86 rushing yards but 41 came on scrambles by Rodgers.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B. K Greg Zuerlein missed three of his four field-goal attempts, but a 50-yard attempt was blocked and the other two misses were from 53 and 63 yards. Coverage was good, and P Johnny Hekker completed a pass for 20 yards to Cody Davis on a fake punt for a first down.

COACHING: B-minus. It seemed the offense could have done more quick screens and other plays to combat the pass rush, but the Packers disrupted most of everything the Rams tried in the passing game. Head coach Jeff Fisher’s decision to try and 63-yard field goal was debatable, but it’s not as if the percentages were good for converting on fourth-and-7.