Last yard is the longest yard for Rams

Source: St.mini storage Louis Post-DispatchOct. 29--The Rams knocked and knocked and knocked some more on the door. In the process they knocked the stuffing out of NFC West powerhouse Seattle.But they just couldn't find the end zone, right down to a last-ditch effort on a fourth-and-goal play from the Seattle 1. As time expired, Kellen Clemens' fade pattern to a well-covered Brian Quick fell incomplete in the left corner of the end zone.So a game the Rams probably deserved to win ended in a 14-9 loss Monday night at the Edward Jones Dome.REPORT CARD: HIGH MARKS FOR DEFENSEThe Rams reached the Seattle 15, the Seattle 10 and the Seattle 3 previously but went zero for four in the red zone."We call it the 'money zone' for a reason," Rams left guard Chris Williams said. "That's where the money's at. You've got to go down there and be effective. Those hurt."But all the Rams could get for those efforts were three Greg Zuerlein field goals and that incomplete pass to Quick. So despite outgaining Seattle 339 yards to 135, and having the ball nearly twice as long (38 minutes, 9 seconds to 21:51), the Rams lost their second straight, falling to 3-5.Seattle (7-1) has the best record in the NFC. There were 55,966 tickets distributed for a game that about 45,000 boisterous fans attended -- including a few thousand Seattle fans -- what with the Cardinals playing Game 5 of the World Series nearby."I'm proud of our guys," Rams coach Jeff Fisher said. "We explained to them what we had to do. ... We got down to the last play of the game, didn't make it happen. I feel bad for them but they'll bounce back."In a way, you could say the evening was a case of typical Rams buzzard luck. A sure interception turned into an 80-yard touchdown by Golden Tate late in the third quarter."'Jenks' just fell down," Fisher said, referring to cornerback Janoris Jenkins.On the play, Jenkins was in perfect position for an interception on an underthrown ball down the left sideline by Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson, but lost his balance. Tate made the catch and ran unhindered to the end zone, having enough time to wave "bye-bye" to pursuing Rams safety Rodney McLeod. That drew a taunting penalty that was enforced on the ensuing kickoff.And then there was Zuerlein, who had made his first 14 field- goal tries of the season when his 27-yard kick narrowed Seattle's lead to 14-9 early in the fourth quarter. He barely missed on 50-yarder -- wide right -- that would have narrowed Seattle's lead to 14-12 with 8 1/2 minutes left in the game.Had that kick been good, the Rams would have needed only a chip-shot field at the end to pull out a dramatic upset over the heavily favored Seahawks.The Rams kept the Marshawn Lynch and the vaunted Seattle running game in check all night, limiting Lynch to only 23 yards on eight carries and the Seahawks overall to 44 carries on 15 yarself storages, or 2.9 yards a carry."That was their choice," Fisher said of Lynch's limited workload. "We got off the field on third down, and as a result they didn't have a lot of opportunities, a lot of plays. There's nothing wrong with their running game, by the way. OK? They can run the football."The Seahawks entered the game ranked second in the NFL in rushing offfense, with Lynch ranked second among league rushers with 578 yards.Clemens, replacing the injured Sam Bradford, completed 15 of 31 passes for 158 yards and threw two interceptions. He battled and scrapped, and scrambled out of trouble on a couple of occasions. But in the end, the Rams fell a yard short."We needed 97 yards (on the last drive) -- we got 96," Clemens said. "In this business unfortunately, your grade scale is pass or fail. ... It's a business of wins and losses."As has been the case since their loss Sept. 26 to San Francisco, two and three tight end sets were the order of the day for the Rams' offense. The extra beef up front opened some holes against Seattle's sixth-ranked rushing defense, with Zac Stacy the primary beneficiary. He carried 26 times for 134 yards.The Rams got on the board first, thanks to a short field and the steady leg of Zuerlein, whose 33-yard field goal with 4:37 to go in the first quarter gave the Rams a 3-0 lead. The Rams took over at the Seattle 46 on the field goal drive.Clemens kept the drive alive by scrambling into the open, then firing a 26-yard pass to Austin Pettis on a third-and-9 from the Seahawks' 45.The Rams had another drive in the making late in the first quarter, but Clemens threw an interception down the left sideline on a play where it looked like tight end Jared Cook got confused and stopped running his route.Linebacker Bruce Irvin, dropping into coverage, intercepted the ball at the Seattle 21.But with the Rams' defense breathing fire, the Seahawks couldn't do much with the ball.When not stuffing the running game, the Rams were all over Wilson. He was sacked seven times, with defensive ends Robert Quinn and Chris Long getting three apiece.Even though they were outgained (131-38) and outplayed in the first half, Seattle scored the game's first touchdown. On a first-and-20 play from the Rams 44, Clemens threw high and behind Pettis down the field. Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman grabbed the errant pass and raced 38 yards, to the Rams' 26.With the aid of not one, not two, but three penalties on the same play -- all against the Rams -- the Seahawks had a first-and-goal situation from the 1. Wilson was stopped twice on keepers, but then on third down, he rifled a TD pass to Tate on a play in which the Rams' secondary didn't look like it was lined up in time.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Visit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at .stltoday.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉