And no, you don’t have to see my mug on video spewing nonsense in tight hipster shades.
Perhaps some of you believe I was too hard on the Rams after winning against Arizona. And that’s fair; the Rams won the game, they’re 1-0, yippy. But, the Rams had opportunities to slam the door early, and bonehead penalties, a bad fumble, and poor execution kept Arizona alive — and leading for most of the game.
Winning teams find a way to get it done. The Rams found that avenue on Sunday, however this team is not good enough to dig such craters against teams like Atlanta, Dallas, San Francisco (next three opponents).
St. Louis is teetering between a good football team and a very good one. Eliminating the mental mistakes would no doubt put the Rams into the latter class.
MAKING HEADLINES
MLB umpires for all the wrong reasons. Plate umpire Brian Gorman tossed Miguel Cabrera in the 1st inning on Monday after he determined Cabrera was unable to check his swing despite taking a slider off his right knee. Cabrera continuously chirps throughout the at bat which leads to Gorman’s overreaction. Best player in the game, you don’t toss him. First of all, why not check with the 1st base umpire, who has a better view of Cabrera’s bat angle. Gorman proceeded to toss manager Jim Leyland as well and the Tigers lost 5-1 to the White Sox.
All season it seems umpires fuses are shorter than ever, and their hot-head mentality has no place at such a crucial time in baseball with postseason play on the line. Here is the video.
Da New York J-E-T-S. Talk about terrible officiating. The wild ending included a horrible 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty on a Bucs defender who allegedly pushed Geno Smith when he was out-of-bounds. The call was almost as big a joke as William Hayes’ taunting on a punt with two minutes in the game. Keep your laundry in the pocket and let the game decide itself.
Meanwhile, Jets defensive end Mo Wilkerson loves his team’s chances against New England on Thursday night.
“We’re going to go to Foxboro and get this win.”
No, you won’t.
ONE MORE BEEF
There is a recurring theme on Sunday with FOX Sports’ production. For some unknown reason, they don’t think replays are an important facet of the broadcast. 15-yard penalties are game changing infractions, and yet FOX, if not for a national audience, just proceeds with the referees call and continues to blab on about a play that happened 10 minutes earlier.
It’s poor production. Can you imagine on Sunday Night Football, a 15-yard taunting penalty with under two minutes in the game, and NOT seeing five different angles dissecting the flag?
The bigger the game, the more officials get scrutinized. And for one reason: it’s easy TV. Cris Collinsworth, Troy Aikman, Mike Mayock, Jon Gruden — all the top guys — make a habit of critically analyzing big calls/no calls.
Yet when Rams fans get stuck with Ronde Barber drawing a dick on the screen, and Dick Stockton two minutes behind on the play-by-play … the production team must say: F it, only 5% of all America can even watch this game.
Show the damn replays.
Thanks for reading.
Daily Grind Sports 