NFL 2014 St. Louis Rams Final Report Card

The St. Louis Rams are a good team.  A good team in a great division.  The Rams finished fourth in the NFC West with a 6-10 record.  They were better.  But unfortunately I don't grade on a curve.  There are no medals given for participation. 

So let's go from good to bad and see how the Rams did for the season.

Defense B

So lets see, back-to-back shutouts.  Three straight games without giving up a touchdown.  And first in the NFL in third-and-1 and fourth-and-one. 

After a very slow start, the defense rebounded.  They finished 17th in points allowed and yards allowed.  They completed the season 19th in passing yards allowed, allowing an average of 241.3 passing yards a game.  As far as the rushing yards allowed, they ranked 14th allowing an average of 110.3 rushing yards a game. 

Rookie Aaron Donald finished the season with nine sacks.  That led all rookies.  Donald led all rookies in sacks even though he did not began starting until week six. 

All pro defensive end Robert Quinn also had a rocky start to the season.  The injury to his partner in crime Chris Long did not help.  Adjusting to a new system did not help.  But playing on, helped.  Quinn finished the season with 10.5 sacks.  Once again proving he is one of the most dominant rushers in the league. 

Offense C-

The offense was the soft spot of the team.  It finished the season in the bottom third.  The result was thte offense ended the season 21st in points scored per game, scoring an average of 20.2.  They finished the season 23rd in passing yards per game.  The offense averaged 212.5 passing yards.  It was slightly better on rushing yards.  They averaged 102.2 rushing yards per game.  That was good enough to be the 20th best NFL team in rushing yards. 

The bottom third is not good. Losing first round "franchise" quarterback Sam Bradford at the beginning of the season not so good either.  The offense played with make shift quarterbacks all season.  The running backs helped.  Just not enough. 

Coaches B-

Head coach Jeff Fisher has a team and a track record wallowing in mediocrity.  The defensive coordinator is Gregg Williams, spoiler alert, he is pretty good.  And then there is  the ex-offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.  

All had to deal with injuries.  But so did every team.  The defense struggled early and regrouped.  The offense struggled early, middle and late.  

The defense took awhile to acclimate itself to Williams defensive scheme.  But when they did?  The defense clicked in really good ways.

The offense played through multiple quarterbacks and could never quite find its way.

The result? Shottenheimer is gone.  Williams is giddy about the possibilities of next season.  And Fisher is still the head coach. 

It evens the grade out. 

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