Rams lose to Redskins, again falling after facing Seattle

“We came out, showed some life, got a turnover, and moved the ball a little bit”, Fisher said.

“Can’t explain it man, you know I wish I had an answer for that”, Laurinaitis said.

NOTES: When St. Louis beat Washington 24-0 last season, Fisher tweaked the Redskins during the pregame coin toss, sending out six players acquired via the trade that allowed Washington to pick Robert Griffin III second overall in the 2012 draft.

Jay Gruden submitted and kept the ball on the ground this game.

“Today, we just controlled the clock and were able to get the running game going and get both [Morris and Jones] some good touches”, Gruden said. “We didn’t do a good job of that today”. Cornerback Trumaine Johnson dropped an nearly sure interception in the first half.

Aaron Donald is paying dividends as the Rams’ second first-round selection in the 2014 draft. St. Louis then went three-and-out before Cousins found Ryan Grant – starting in place of injured receiver DeSean Jackson – for 35 to jump-start Washington’s ensuing possession. The rookie consistently gashed the Rams’ barely-there run defense for chunk gains, including a 39-yard touchdown run in the first half before a three-yard scamper iced the game in the fourth quarter. Let’s hope the Rams defense puts down their own Kool-Aid and re-focuses because they will need to play almost flawless if they expect to compete with the Steelers. Cousins was 5-for-5 for 41 yards, including a 4-yard scoring pass to wide receiver Pierre Garcon. “My mindset was all “go” mode”, he said. “I feel like I could give you five reasons for us playing so well – and it’d be those five guys”.

Jones, who only had six carries and 28 yards in Week 1, more than tripled his usage in Week 2.

Matt Jones bulled his way around the left side of the offensive line and pushed his way into the end zone for a three yard touchdown run. I’d be lying if I said we didn’t. “Our strength – rushing the passer – we never got to do it”. Nick Foles executed a great play-action pass deep down field to Kenny Britt for a 40-yard touchdown. Tavon Austin on the other hand rushed for 40 yards on four carries.

Last Week, the Rams garnered 276.0 yards in passing and 76 yards in rushing. That came on a third-and-2 play in the second quarter. A week ago, Foles completed eight passes of 20 yards-plus, which according to Rams radio statistician and spotter Richard Winer was the most for a Rams quarterback since Marc Bulger had 11 such passes in a 2003 victory over Pittsburgh.

The disastrous half continued for St. Louis as Cousins marked the Redskins back down the field. He finished 17 for 32 for 150 yards and said he was OK after a defender rolled up on his lower left leg on the Rams’ final drive. On Thursday night, they meet the NFC East rival New York Giants (0-2), whose defense ranked fourth entering Monday by allowing 68 yards per game. You look at all of the successful teams in the history of this league and very few of them are throwing it 70 times a game – there’s a strong running game there. His big-play pace is simply not sustainable, and you may be looking at a boom or bust WR4 type the rest of the way, especially as opposing defenses begin to treat the Benjamin bomb possibility with more respect. It ended seven plays later with Dustin Hopkins’ 48-yard field goal.

This time, true to his word, Fisher didn’t send the same kind of message, instead going with Foles, punter Johnny Hekker and others.