The St. Louis Rams will be debuting a new quarterback when they visit M&T Bank Stadium to take on the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.
Rams vs. Ravens 2015 live stream: Game time, TV schedule and how to watch online
The Rams will be counting on Case Keenum to turn their season around.
The Rams have thrown in the towel on Nick Foles after just nine games. Case Keenum is getting the start this week after Foles failed to move the ball yet again in last week’s loss to the Chicago Bears. At 4-5, the Rams are starting to fall behind in the playoff race and need some kind of spark in the passing offense.
St. Louis acquired Foles from the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for Sam Bradford and draft picks. The team was high on Foles early on, signing him to a three-year extension before the season even began. Foles never came close to living up to the hype -- through nine games, he has just seven touchdowns to six interceptions, throwing for 6.6 yards per attempt. Foles has reached 200 yards just twice this season and is completing only 56.6 percent of his passes.
In other words, this wasn’t working and something had to change. So now the Rams turn to Keenum, who had a two-year stint with the Houston Texans before being traded to St. Louis. Keenum made 10 starts for Houston, completing 55.2 percent of his passes for 2,195 yards, 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions. On paper, that doesn’t look like a big upgrade from Foles, but Keenum has a gunslinger mentality and isn’t afraid to air the ball down the field. The Rams will need that kind of approach to keep defenses somewhat honest and open things up for Todd Gurley on the ground.
Gurley has been brilliant in his rookie year, but he was sort of held in check by the Bears, managing just 45 rushing yards on 12 carries. The Rams are dead last in passing yards per game and that number needs to improve, lest Gurley be facing stacked boxes every week.
The Ravens suffered yet another heartbreaking loss last week, giving up a last-second field goal to the Jacksonville Jaguars and dropping to 2-7 on the season. This latest loss particularly stings because the field goal attempt shouldn’t have even happened.
The Ravens appeared to gift Jacksonville the win when Elvis Dumervil was flagged for a facemask on Blake Bortles with no time on the clock. Since a game can’t end on a defensive penalty, the Jaguars were awarded one more play and kicked a field goal to win on an untimed down. However, the league later determined that left tackle Luke Joeckel committed a false start, which should have killed the play before it happened and triggered a 10-second runoff to end the game.
This was yet another stroke of bad luck for the Ravens, who have lost all seven games by eight points or less. Sometimes, it just isn’t your season. Baltimore was expected to contend for the AFC North crown this year, but with unlucky bounces and crippling injuries to key players (Terrell Suggs, Steve Smith), it has been a season to forget for Ravens fans.
With the playoffs all but out of reach, John Harbaugh will attempt to rally the troops and finish out the season on a high note. That could be easier said than done if Keenum manages to move the ball against Baltimore’s 26th-ranked pass defense.
How to watch
When: 1 p.m. ET
Where: M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore
TV: FOX
Announcers: Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, Laura Okmin
Online: NFL Game Pass
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