By:  StlouisramsX

OAKLAND – For the second week in a row, the Rams found themselves in a cage match that resulted in a split decision;  because at the end, again, they didn’t possess the knock-out punch that puts their opponent on the canvas.

While not necessarily favored going into these past two games against Arizona and Oakland, the Rams were certainly evenly matched at most skill positions.  Unfortunately, evenly matched doesn’t equate to evenly disciplined.

“It’s not to take anything away from the way they played,” coach Steve Spagnuolo said. “But as I told the football team, you can’t win in the NFL when you beat yourself. I preface that by saying that I think Oakland did do a nice job in the second half. They win the football game and we lose.”

For the second week in a row, the Rams gift-wrapped a win and had their opponent willingly accept.

Whether or not the penalties the Rams incurred against the Raiders were warranted; they still occurred. The Rams were flagged a total of 8 times for 92 yards in reverse. Of those 8 flags, 5 carried the maximum of 15 yards. 4 of those were personal fouls while one was a chop block.

“The disappointing thing is that I have not seen or felt that this was an undisciplined football team,” Spagnuolo said. “But how can you not think that after a game like that? I think we have just got to learn that you can play tough and physical football and be smart doing it. I did think we played tough and physical and I think Oakland played tough and physical. That’s the kind of game it was. But it’s too hard to win when you are giving up free 15 yard plays. It’s too tough.”

The Raiders were able to capitalize on those penalties and had three scoring drives kept alive by personal fouls. The result – 9 points. Take away just one of those penalties committed by the Rams, and maybe the outcome is different. That, however, is only part of a disturbing trend. The Rams are their own worst enemy so far this season. And, as Steven Jackson would attest, that’s a trend that will have to change for the Rams to get the results to match the effort.

“You have to be able to find a way to kick, crawl, scratch, whatever it is to find a way to win the game,” Jackson said. “This goes back to what I feel like we did last week. We are not taking advantage of teams when we have them down. These two games, our last drive we’ve had a chance to come out victorious but this is where penalties are killing us. This is where we don’t know yet how to put a game away. Some kind of way we have to find it. And you have to do it on Sunday. You can’t do it on Wednesday and Thursday. You have to do it on Sunday.”

For the second week in a row the Rams came out swinging and took a score into halftime that had them in front of the 8-ball, but ultimately, it was the Rams who scratched in the end. If the Rams are to have any hope of posting a respectable record, they’ll have to dig deeper than their opponents for an entire 60 minutes. 45 minutes and almost 100 yards in penalties isn’t enough to defeat even the worst of teams. It is, however, enough to defeat yourself.