UPDATED on Wednesday, November 12 at 10am: Rams coach Jeff Fisher told reporters on Wednesday morning that he has changed his mind & Shaun Hill will replace Austin Davis as starting quarterback for Sunday’s game against Denver.
By Cedric Williams
In his first three starts after taking over for the injured Shaun Hill, who had taken over for the injured Sam Bradford, Rams QB Austin Davis played remarkably well — especially considering he came to training camp this year not sure he’d have a spot on the team once it ended.
St. Louis had a clear No. 1 QB in the former No. 1 overall pick Bradford, a clear No. 2 in Hill, and the club had just drafted a quarterback with a big arm (SMU’s Garrett Gilbert) in the spring with the plan of giving him a chance to develop under Bradford and Hill.
Gilbert didn’t work out and was cut at the end of training camp. Bradford got hurt in the third preseason game and was done for the season. And Hill only made it through the first half of the first regular season game before he got hurt too.
That left the Rams no choice but to turn to Davis, who did provide some spark and energy in those first three starts by passing for 937 yards, six touchdowns, only two interceptions, and an average passer rating of 100.3.
In the five starts since then though, when opposing coaches have had a chance to develop a book on how to best to defend Davis, the third-year player out of Southern Miss has not played nearly as well.
Davis has just 872 yards, six touchdowns, six interceptions, and an average passer rating of 76.02.
Fans and even some media have begun to call for head coach Jeff Fisher to replace Davis with Hill or even new third-string QB Case Keenum. But Fisher was adamant at his weekly Monday press conference that he intends to stick with Davis.
“He didn’t have his best half,” Fisher said. “He missed some opportunities. He made a couple bad decisions and he had trouble seeing at times. The last couple of weeks, he’s thrown four interceptions, but we’re going to hang in there. He’s working real hard, so we’ll see where it goes.”
On the sidelines, and even on the field following certain plays, Davis appeared to be frustrated with the mistakes he was making — specifically the two fourth-quarter interceptions and lost fumble — which led to Arizona scoring 21 straight points to overcome a 14-10 Rams advantage in what eventually became a 31-14 win for the home club.
“The position’s hard to play,” Fisher said. “This defense has done this to a lot of quarterbacks, good quarterbacks. He’s disappointed, but that’s part of playing the position. You’re going to…sometimes you’re going to have a hard Sunday as a quarterback. He’s disappointed in what happened, but he’ll bounce back.”
Another possible reason for the decline in Davis’ play could be the fact that the Rams have played against better defenses the last five weeks.
In those first three Davis starts, St. Louis faced Tampa Bay, Dallas, and Philadelphia — teams that all ranked in the bottom third of the league in points and yards allowed at the time the Rams played them.
In the last five games, St. Louis has faced San Francisco twice, Seattle, Kansas City, and Arizona, who rank second, third, seventh, and 15th in total defense this season.
And though Arizona has actually slipped to one slot below where Dallas is ranked in total defense now, the Cardinals still boast the best record in the league at 9-1, thanks in large part to the number of big hits and turnovers that club forces every week.
So despite the angst and consternation over Davis’ play recently, could it be that his troubles are simply the product of playing against better defenses?
The Rams coach thinks so.
“It is,“ Fisher said. “It’s all about that in our opinion. We talked about it as a staff. We had in the last six games, four of them have been on the road, each team’s playing good defense.
“We’ve just got to become more consistent running the football, protecting. I think the big thing right now is our third-down. We converted one third-down yesterday and that doesn’t give you a chance to accumulate the touches that you want.”
This Sunday, the Rams will face another top defense in the fifth-ranked Denver Broncos, a club that will come to the Edward Jones Dome this weekend with the No. 1 ranked run defense in the league.
“We’ve got a huge challenge this week,” Fisher said. “Players know exactly what happened yesterday, and they’ve got a perspective, so we’re moving forward.”
Kickoff at the Dome on Sunday is at noon.
For more Rams news and updates, visit Rams Central.
Cedric Williams, a lifelong St. Louisan and proud UMSL alum, has been a freelance reporter/photographer covering St. Louis area sports for nearly two decades. Most recently, he has been working as a credentialed beat writer covering the Rams and small-school college sports for Examiner.com and other outlets from around the area. Please share any comments, questions, or feedback with Cedric at cedricwilliams510@gmail.com. His work can be found on Examiner.com.
