Week 4 Recap – Washington Redskins vs. St. Louis Rams
ST. LOUIS – On October 2, the Redskins and Rams had their fourth regular season game of the year. The Rams are coming off a blowout loss at home this past Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens and the Redskins are coming off a close loss in an away game last Monday against the Dallas Cowboys.
Pre-game notes: Both teams have a bye next week. The Redskins’ head coach, Mike Shanahan, has never beaten the Rams on the road. The Redskins’ WR Anthony Armstrong is inactive because of his hamstring. Redskins TE Chris Cooley, SS LaRon Landry and CB Josh Wilson are active. Rams WR Danny Amendola is inactive again because of his shoulder injury. Rams DB Roderick Hood, newly signed free agent, is inactive as well. The Rams’ DE C. J. Ah You, RB Jerious Norwood and WR Greg Salas (ribs) are inactive. Rams TE Michael Hoomanawanui, RB Cadillac Williams and RB Steven Jackson are active.
1st quarter:
On 4th-and-17 at the STL 26, Rams P Donnie Jones punted the ball 37 yards and it was returned to the WAS 42.
On 4th-and-9 at the STL 44, Redskins P Sav Rocca punted the ball 33 yards and it was returned for no gain to the STL 11.
On 4th-and-5 at the STL 16, Jones punted the ball 54 yards and it was returned to the WAS 31.
On 3rd-and-4 at the STL 6, Redskins QB Rex Grossman threw a short left pass to WR Santana Moss, which resulted in a touchdown and extra point by K Graham Gano. Redskins 7 Rams 0
2nd quarter:
On 4th-and-7 at the WAS 40, Jones punted the ball 30 yards and it was downed at the WAS 10.
On 4th-and-5 at the WAS 15, Rocca punted the ball 56 yards and it was downed at the STL 29.
On 4th-and-7 at the STL 32, Jones punted the ball 46 yards and it was returned to the WAS 26.
On 4th-and-19 at the WAS 28, Rocca punted the ball 39 yards and it was recovered by the Rams at the STL 41.
On 3rd-and-22 at the WAS 43, Rams QB Sam Bradford was strip sacked at the 50 by LB Ryan Kerrigan and the ball was recovered by DT Barry Cofield, who returned it to the STL 44.
On 2nd-and-3 at the STL 20, Redskins RB Ryan Torain rushed left, which resulted in a touchdown and extra point by Gano. Redskins 14 Rams 0
On 4th-and-16 at the STL 35, Jones punted the ball 65 yards into the end zone for a touchback.
On 4th-and-1 at the WAS 29, Rocca punted the ball 56 yards and it was recovered by the Rams at the STL 3.
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3rd quarter:
On 4th-and-3 at the STL 20, Gano successfully kicked a 38-yard field goal. Redskins 17 Rams 0
On 4th-and-10 at the STL 20, Jones punted the ball 49 yards and it was returned to the WAS 26.
On 4th-and-17 at the STL 46, Rocca punted the ball 29 yards and it was fair caught at the STL 17.
On 4th-and-19 at the STL 18, Jones punted the ball 42 yards and it was fair caught at the WAS 40.
4th quarter:
On 3rd-and-11 at the STL 26, Grossman threw a pass intended for Moss and was intercepted by CB Justin King, who returned it to the WAS 31.
On 4th-and-goal at the STL 14, Rams K Josh Brown successfully kicked a 32-yard field goal. Redskins 17 Rams 3
On 4th-and-3 at the WAS 21, Rocca punted the ball 40 yards and it was returned to the STL 40.
On 3rd-and-goal at the STL 15, Bradford threw a short left pass to Jackson, which resulted in a touchdown and extra point by Brown. Redskins 17 Rams 10
On 1st-and-10 at the WAS 20, Grossman threw a pass intended for Moss and was intercepted by LB James Laurinaitis, who returned it to the WAS 19.
On 4th-and-30 at the WAS 39, Jones punted the ball 37 yards and it was downed at the WAS 2.
On 4th-and-3 at the WAS 9, Rocca punted the ball 40 yards and it was returned to the STL 40.
On 4th-and-10 at the STL 49, Koch punted the ball 63 yards and it was downed at the STL 28.
On 4th-and-13 at the STL 39, Bradford threw an incomplete deep right pass intended for WR Austin Pettis.
On 2nd-and-11 at the STL 28, Grossman knelt to the STL 29. End game
Post-game notes: Torain was inactive the first two games and had no rushes in his third game, but today he ended up with 135 rushing yards on the day for his fourth career 100-yard game. Redskins DE Brian Orakpo had 2.5 sacks. Rams TE Lance Kendricks dropped a pass in the end zone, which ultimately resulted in a field goal. Bradford has already been sacked 18 times this year. Rams opponents have outscored the Rams considerably in the first half with 41-0 in the past two games and 79-16 for the season. The Redskins held the Rams to less than 100 total yards before the fourth quarter. The Rams lost G Jacob Bell in the first half because of a hamstring injury. Rams DT Gary Gibson injured his hip, but did not miss the rest of the game. Rams TE Michael Hoomanawanui may have another concussion. The Redskins’ CB DeAngelo Hall was injured, but did not miss hardly any of the game.
In a loss that was deserved, the Rams got beat by the surprising division-leading Redskins 17-10. The big stat of the game was red zone efficiency. The Redskins were one for one and the Rams were one for three; the Rams’ goal to go efficiency was one for two. The Rams only had one rushing first down. The Redskins destroyed the Rams on sacks, with seven sacks to zero; they also controlled the ball for ten more minutes than the Rams. The Rams did manage to pick off two passes, while having none of their own picked off. The Redskins killed the Rams on total net yards, with 339 to 172. The Redskins also killed the Rams on net yards rushing, with 196 to 45, though they had 40 rushing plays, as opposed to the Rams’ 17. Both teams were really bad on penalties, with ten for the Redskins and nine for the Rams. Fumbles occurred too often as well with each team fumbling three times, though only one of the six was lost by the Rams.
The season is looking even worse for the Rams, now that they are 0-4 in the regular season and San Francisco is 3-1; however, the Rams have not played any division games yet, and won’t until November. I would be very shocked if the Rams win this year’s division for the first time since 2003 and make the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
By Trevor Roe
ProFootball-fans.com St. Louis Rams Correspondent