Week 10 Recap – St. Louis Rams @ Cleveland Browns
ST. LOUIS – On November 13, the Rams and Browns had their ninth regular season game of the year because they had a bye already. The Rams are coming off a disappointing loss away one week ago against the Arizona Cardinals, in which the Cardinals blocked the field goal at the end of regulation, then took a punt return for a touchdown in overtime, and the Browns are coming off a blowout loss away against the Houston Texans, in which two Texans halfbacks each ran for over 100 yards. The last time these two teams played the Rams won in Cleveland with a close victory; look for today’s game to also be close with both teams being ranked near each other in the power rankings.
Pre-game notes: Rams QB Sam Bradford (high ankle sprain) will once again start and will wear a protective boot. Rams RB Steven Jackson (foot) will start as expected. Rams TE Lance Kendricks will be inactive today. Rams DT Darell Scott and TE Steven Spach are active this week after last week’s inactive status. Here is a list of the Rams inactives: WR Danario Alexander, DB Roderick Hood, LB Josh Hull, OLB Brian Kehl, RB Jerious Norwood and OT Jason Smith. Browns K Phil Dawson and P Brad Maynard are active today. Browns RBs Peyton Hillis (hamstring) and Montario Hardesty (calf) are inactive again, as well as WR Mohammed Massaquoi (head) and SS T. J. Ward. Chris Ogbonnaya will get the start at halfback for Cleveland. The last place teams in their divisions will face off in just a few minutes.
1st quarter:
On 4th-and-1 at the CLE 29, Maynard punted the ball 40 yards and it was returned to the STL 34.
On 4th-and-8 at the CLE 34, Rams P Donnie Jones punted the ball 34 yards into the end zone for a touchback.
On 4th-and-4 at the STL 26, Dawson successfully kicked a 44-yard field goal. Rams 0 Browns 3
2nd quarter:
On 3rd-and-3 at the CLE 7, Bradford threw a short right pass to WR Brandon Lloyd, which resulted in a touchdown and extra point by K Josh Brown. Rams 7 Browns 3
On 4th-and-8 at the CLE 33, Maynard punted the ball 44 yards and it was returned to the STL 29.
On 1st-and-10 at the STL 48, Bradford threw a pass intended for TE Michael Hoomanawanui and the ball was tipped at the line and intercepted by LB Scott Fujita who returned it to the CLE 49.
On 4th-and-6 at the STL 14, Dawson successfully kicked a 32-yard field goal. Rams 7 Browns 6
On 4th-and-2 at the STL 18, Jones punted the ball 57 yards and it was returned to the CLE 35.
On 4th-and-8 at the CLE 27, Maynard punted the ball 36 yards and it was returned to the CLE 47.
On 4th-and-6 at the CLE 11, Brown successfully kicked a 29-yard field goal. Rams 10 Browns 6
On 2nd-and-goal at the STL 25, Dawson successfully kicked a 43-yard field goal. Rams 10 Browns 9
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3rd quarter:
On 2nd-and-6 at the CLE 35, Bradford threw a short pass for Jackson and he fumbled the ball, which was recovered by OLB Chris Gocong at the CLE 29.
On 4th-and-5 at the STL 49, Maynard punted the ball 44 yards out of bounds at the STL 5.
On 4th-and-2 at the STL 13, Jones punted the ball 64 yards and it was downed at the CLE 23.
On 4th-and-4 at the STL 9, Dawson successfully kicked a 27-yard field goal. Rams 10 Browns 12
4th quarter:
On 4th-and-13 at the STL 38, Jones punted the ball 36 yards out of bounds at the CLE 26.
On 4th-and-15 at the CLE 21, Maynard punted the ball 44 yards and it was fair caught at the STL 35.
On 4th-and-7 at the STL 38, Jones punted the ball 45 yards and it was returned to the CLE 23. There, WR Josh Cribbs fumbled the ball and it was recovered by Rams LB Ben Leber at the CLE 27.
On 4th-and-10 at the CLE 16, Brown successfully kicked a 34-yard field goal. Rams 13 Browns 12
On 4th-and-goal at the STL 4, Dawson unsuccessfully kicked a 22-yard field goal wide left.
On 3rd-and-12 at the STL 29, Bradford knelt to the STL 28. End game
Post-game notes: The Rams lost five players throughout the game for the rest of the game. TE Hoomanawanui and CB Al Harris will have MRIs Monday to check on their knee injuries. Backup running back Cadillac Williams had a calf strain just from running onto the field. OT Rodger Saffold hurt his head and for S Darian Stewart, his neck. The Browns really had no injures whatsoever. The game was a reunion for Ogbonnaya, who used to play on the Rams, and for Cleveland’s head coach, Pat Shurmur, who was the Rams’ offensive coordinator the past two seasons.
Jackson rushed for 128 yards, marking his third 100+ rushing game of the season, all coming in the past three weeks. However, Jackson did cough up a crucial fumble, as did Cribbs. Dawson was Cleveland’s player of the game, converting on his first four semi-long field goals in windy conditions, accounting for all of their points, though blew the game with his last short attempt. Ogbonnaya, career-high 90 rushing yards, and Browns WR Greg Little played well, as did McCoy.
In a win that could have gone either way, the Rams kept the Cleveland “Dog Pound” Browns out of the end zone and squeaked away with a 13-12 victory. The Rams have won two of their last three and the Browns have lost five of their last six. Unlike last week, the Rams special teams did not blow the game; Cleveland’s special teams blew the game when the field goal just outside two minutes was botched because of the bad snap and ugly kick, which would have put Cleveland up by two points. Cleveland is the only NFL team that has not scored a touchdown in the first or third quarters this year.
The big factors of the game were turnovers, field goals, and efficiency. The Browns’ interception led to a field goal. The missed field goal practically decided the outcome of the game. Neither team was good in the red zone nor goal to go with the Rams going one for three and zero for zero, respectively, and the Browns going zero for four and zero for two. The Browns did win the turnover battle by one, though they did recover one of their own fumbles.
The season is looking better for the Rams, now that they are 2-7 in the regular season; however, they are still six games behind the San Francisco 49ers. I am still declaring that the season is over for the Rams and they will not win this year’s division for the first time since 2003 or make the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
By Trevor Roe
ProFootball-fans.com St. Louis Rams Correspondent