by mike franke (by way of rams homer board)... nice detail & insights on offense & defense...
http://www.nflfans.com/rams/article.php?st...060918115142802
Monday, September 18 2006 @ 11:51 AM CDT
Contributed by: Shaky
RamView, September 17, 2006
From The Couch
(Report and opinions on the game.)
Game #2: 49ers 20, Rams 13
The San Francisco 49ers have won five of their last eighteen football
games. And three of those are now, intolerably, at the expense of the
St. Louis Rams. Key injuries and big, bad misplays by the Ram secondary
didn't help, but Scott Linehan has got to get the Ram passing game in
gear. Now.
Position by position:
* QB: Marc Bulger (19-34-185) is getting better in some areas, but for
the most part, the Ram passing game has become The Gratingest Show On
Earth. They've scored one TD in eight quarters, managing only 13 points
today against a defense that just gave up 34. Bulger looks tentative
and confused in the pocket, holding the ball forever while straining to
figure out where he's supposed to be going with it. For the (I stress)
moment, the Ram passing game? Has been Marmie'd. But I see a lot fewer
physical mistakes out of Marc, even as some of the numb-nut local
sports departments show legitimate throwaways from this game as
examples of hideous inaccuracy. Actually, I'd argue he was much more
successful on sideline passes than he was last week, hitting a bunch of
them. He hit Isaac Bruce for 24 early. On the Rams' first FG drive, he
hit a sliding Torry Holt for 17 and a kneeling Shaun McDonald for 8,
both completions converting third downs. The Rams' first TD drive of
the year followed, with Marc hitting Kevin Curtis for "exactly" 6 on
3rd-and-6 from the 49er 19 before hitting Holt with a seeing-eye 3-yard
TD pass off a roll right. After the 49ers went up 17-10, Bulger struck
back by hitting Bruce for 19 on a 3rd down and Holt for a very-quick 2
on 4th-and-1, but the Rams only got a missed FG out of the drive. They
did close to 17-13, thanks to a 23-yard completion on 2nd-and-20 to
Isaac and a 23-yarder to Joe Klopfenstein on 3rd-and-3 to set up the
FG. That's quite a few clutch plays, but far from enough, since Marc
had some noticeable problems. The Rams took at least four shots deep,
but none could be caught. Bulger badly overthrew Holt on one that could
have been a TD, and Holt had to play DB to save an INT on another. The
timing of the Ram offense still seems to be way off, no thanks to the
49ers blitzing a makeshift Ram offensive line. But Bulger (and/or
Linehan) have got to help them out there by getting the ball out
quicker. Blitzing, or just a solid pass rush, doesn't give a QB time to
be confused or make slow reads. The Ram passing game has got to get its
timing down, and Bulger has got to get his mental game up to snuff, for
this offense to be better than mediocre, and, gee, you would have
thought they'd have had plenty of time to practice it, no?
* RB: 39-and-1. For the first time in the St. Louis era, the Rams had a
100-yard rusher but lost the game. Despite that, Steven Jackson
(22-103) has emerged as the runner the Rams were hoping for when they
drafted him, running with power and nice elusiveness today. He started
the game with an 11-yard run right up the 49er gut. The Rams' next
drive saw nice deception by Scott Linehan as Jackson ran for 14 left
after a faked end-around right. That drew a 3rd-and-1, on which Jackson
got stuffed, thanks to poor blocking by the Rams' makeshift line.
That happened a couple of times to Jackson in the first half. Late in
the first half, Jackson took an 11-yard run down to the SF 2, but got
stuffed trying to dance around the next play. That was forgiven by a
short TD pass, though. Stephen Davis (5-16) got a surprising amount of
play in the 2nd, apparently just to keep Jackson fresh. I'm surprised
to see Davis isn't a big fumbler; he carried the ball today like a
fumble risk. The Ram offense continued to run through Jackson in the
second half, though he committed his biggest error on the half's
first play, blowing a blitz pickup that helped get Bulger sacked for a
big loss. He nearly made up for that by making a nice cutback to take a
dumpoff pass for 18 yards, but it was 3rd-and-20. Jackson continued to
run well with the Rams trailing, but a 14-yard run from midfield with
another nice cutback was wasted when he lost 3 a few plays later, as
Manny Lawson whipped Joe Klopfenstein, then Jeff Wilkins missed a long
FG. He had 7- and 11-yard runs in the 4th, the 11-yarder a nice power
run right through several defenders, but not much more, as the trailing
Rams went more to the pass. I have little problem with Jackson's play
today. He produced. He got a lot of tough yards on his own, and his
losses were more due to offensive line problems than to him dancing
(though there was some of that). He did his job, and is at a point
where he should be pushed to take the next step and become a Larry
Johnson-style dominator. Steven Jackson's got that potential.
* WR: Where you at, 81? The Rams don't do well when Torry Holt has
low-impact games, and even with a 3-yard TD catch in the 2nd, today was
one of those, as Torry collected just 30 yards on 5 catches. I didn't
expect Torry to get blanketed by the likes of Walt Harris, but it
looked like Harris was in the 81 jersey most of the day. Torry's a
team leader and simply has to do better than that. Isaac Bruce led the
receivers with 77 yards on 5 catches and got much more open than Holt
ever did, so possibly Torry got some extra attention. Joe Klopfenstein
got active with a couple of catches, and set up a FG by holding on to a
23-yard pass after getting DRILLED by Harris, an impressive play by
both players. Kevin Curtis caught 3 for just 13, and Shaun McDonald had
one kneeling catch for 8 yards. Bulger struggled a lot to find open
receivers today, and some of that's him, but the Ram receivers have
done a bad job in all three of these recent 49er losses in getting open
consistently, despite a sizable talent advantage. Step it up, fellas.
* Offensive line: The 49er defense looked like the Ram defense was
supposed to, officially getting to Bulger six times, including twice on
the Rams' first possession. Bulger took a big loss on 2nd-and-15 when
Klop let one Chad Williams in untouched, with Alex Barron also getting
beaten woefully on the right side. Rough start again this week for
Klop. Todd Steussie turned out to be the weakest link in the o-line,
though. He false-started twice and was a liability run-blocking. He
also unfortunately became the Rams' left tackle for the 2nd half when
Orlando Pace suffered a serious concussion. Like the rest of the team,
the offense came out of halftime back on their heels. The blitz was the
key to the 49ers' success and the Rams' demise. Jackson and Madison
Hedgecock blew blitz pickups badly on the first play of the half, a
Manny Lawson sack for a big loss. Lawson was a menace, whipping Klop to
stuff Jackson for -3 on 2nd-10 two plays before Jeff Wilkins missed a
46-yarder. Down 17-10 in the 4th, the Rams drove right back into the
red zone, but Chad Williams sneaked between LT Steussie and Adam
Goldberg at LG for a huge third-down, FG-forcing sack. And Steussie
gave up the game's coup de grace, whiffing badly on Marques Douglas,
who made a beeline to Bulger for a sack and fumble that let the 49ers
go back up by 7. 900-year-old Bryant Young then bodyslammed Goldberg
like he was Gillberg and got to Bulger to kill the Rams' final
possession. Inconsistent is the best word to describe the o-line today.
The running game was acceptable, though Jackson did a lot of the work,
and Bulger got a ton of time on a lot of pass plays. The 49ers didn't
pressure well without blitzing. But, oh, those blitzes, good strategy
against a line with 60% turnover from the previous week, and something
everyone who wears a Rams uniform that blocks has to get better against
quickly.
* Defensive line/LB: Um, the 49er defense looked like the Ram defense
was supposed to, but the Rams did not sack Alex Smith even once today,
and given the injuries on the 49er line, that ranks as a big
disappointment. The Ram blitz was effective in pressuring Smith, and
Leonard Little, playing again this week like a one-man wrecking crew,
also was, but Little didn't have enough help, and no one could finish
off the big play needed to knock the 49ers backwards. Leonard was
literally everywhere, spending a lot of time early in the game at RDE.
He made a great play late in the 1st half, splitting and beating two
49ers to force Smith to throw the ball away. Little also blew up a
reverse late in the 3rd to kill a drive that ended in a missed FG. Will
Witherspoon also starred, leading the D with 8 tackles and forcing a
key fumble by Frank Gore near the goal line in the 2nd to save a likely
TD. The D got caught flat-footed right after halftime, though, as Gore
followed a long kickoff return with a 32-yard TD run. Chillar and I
believe also Witherspoon got caught blitzing from the left side, and
Gore ran right, with plenty of room to spare after Pisa Tinoisamoa got
pancaked. Pisa left the game right before Bryant's TD with a
dislocated elbow, and his absence may have taken the rest of the air
out of the defense, which gave up 90 second-half yards to Gore after
permitting only 37 in the first. Gore wouldn't be denied in the 2nd
half, especially when SF got the ball back with with 3:38 left, bowling
Rams over to the tune of two first downs that put the game away. After
last week, it was disheartening to see the Ram defense buckle in the
final minutes, and especially disappointing that they couldn't ding
the 49ers' practically-rookie QB for even one sack. Little and
Witherspoon can't do it by themselves, guys.
* Secondary: After last week's outstanding game, the secondary sprung
big leaks this week and was a big letdown. Tye Hill slipped and fell on
the game's third play to give up a 56-yard catch-and-run to Arnaz
Battle, setting up a FG. That wouldn't be the last big 49er pass play.
OJ Atogwe was late rotating over to cover on Antonio Bryant's wide,
wide open 34-yard catch late in the 1st. It was by far not OJ's best
game. He dropped an INT in the 2nd, and got burned by the game's
biggest play, a 72-yard TD to Antonio Bryant. Just like that, a Ram
10-3 halftime lead became a 17-10 deficit. On the play, both Tye Hill
(on Bryant split right) and Travis Fisher (on Brian Gilmore slot right)
released their men. OJ ran up to meet Gilmore, and Bryant ran right by
him for the backbreaking TD. OJ's getting the bulk of the blame, but I
don't believe he was the only player who erred on the play. Fisher
continues to reign as The World's Least Physical CB, getting run over
close to the goal line a couple of times. Fakhir Brown broke up an
early end zone pass, Corey Chavous recovered Frank Gore's goal line
fumble, and Alex Smith only completed 11 passes. But the 49ers averaged
over 21 yards a completion thanks to a Ram secondary that gave up much
more in big plays than it made.
* Special teams: Special teams didn't blatantly lose this game the way
they did last year in SF, but after halftime, they made the snowball
and kicked it to get it rolling down the hill. Maurice Hicks - him
again?!? - by all rights should have been engulfed around the 25-yard
line returning the opening kick of the 2nd half, but he hurdled a
suspiciously-prone Raonall Smith, eluded overpursuers Dane Looker and
Ron Bartell with a cutback and brought it back 59 yards, with only Tye
Hill's speed saving a TD. All the kicking last week must have tired
Jeff Wilkins out; his kickoffs were very inconsistent and he missed a
46-yard FG attempt. Matt Turk punted quite well again, averaging 43.2
with very good hangtime; usually no return. Turk also seems to be a
roughing penalty magnet. Shaun McDonald set up the Rams' TD drive in
the 2nd with a 30-yard punt return, getting good blocks from Jerome
Carter and Brandon Chillar, among others. JR Reed had a 40-yard kick
return late and is doing a credible job there. But giving up that big
return right after halftime turned out to be a backbreaker and became
the story for the day on special teams.
* Coaching/discipline: It seemed like a great idea at the time: hire an
offensive guy to replace Mike Martz. You can still hire a good
defensive coordinator and the offense won't take a backslide. Well,
only half of that equation is working so far, as Scott Linehan has
apparently broken the Ram passing game. Marc Bulger is a full 10% under
his career completion percentage and 13 points below his career passer
rating. The team has scored one TD in two games, and Linehan's play
calls continually get whacked by opposing coaches' blitz calls.
It's too early to say Linehan's system is at fault, but the
installation of it sure is. Two games into the regular season, and
Bulger's still very lost in the weeds. We saw so in the preseason,
but he still got pulled early out of games, and everybody sat out the
Miami game. What the hell is preseason for? It's not like Bulger
couldn't have used the reps or anything! I appreciate that Linehan
has made some big improvements. He's established the running game two
straight weeks. The Rams have just one turnover this season. But as it
turns out, on September 17, the Ram offense is still not ready for the
regular season, and it's costing them games.
The real shame is that the Rams had this game won. At halftime, the
Rams were up 10-3, Bulger got his TD and visibly had a huge weight
lifted off his shoulders, and the defense had hounded Smith into making
grass his leading receiver. Everything was going their way, then three
big plays in five minutes stood the game on its ear. Jim Haslett's
blitzing got a lot of good pressure on Smith, but with no sacks, the
risk wasn't worth the reward once Gore beat a blitz on his 32-yard
TD. And the Rams had costly breakdowns in the secondary. Everyone
seemed to be flat after halftime. Special teams had the big return,
Gore steamrolled the D, the offense gave up a big sack, then Bryant
steamed the D. Whether they got complacent, lost their edge, or got
outworked or outschemed by the 49ers, Linehan and staff would do well
to prevent it from happening again. Poor third quarters were a hallmark
of the 1998 Rams, and nobody wants to relive that. (Yes, I realize the
next year was 1999.)
* Upon further review: There appear to be several new crew leaders in
the league this year, including today's referee, Gene Steratore. The
new blood ain't necessarily an improvement, though. The Ram drive after
the Gore fumble would have died because of an obvious-yet-uncalled DPI,
had Turk not gotten roughed. They messed up the play where Battle lost
the ball after his knee was down, forcing a replay challenge. The
game's key play, the long kick return to open the 2nd half, certainly
wasn't hurt by Raonall Smith being blocked in the back and/or held. And
it's cute the 49ers had DT Anthony Adams at FB in their goal line
package, and that the Fox announcers called him the "Dorm Fridge", now
how about somebody noticing he false-started on nearly every snap?
Especially a guy in stripes? I hope the Rams won't have to break in too
many more new zebras this season.
* Cheers: Matt Vasgersian's bio says that when he was 7 years old, he
appeared in an episode of Streets of San Francisco. Which comes as no
surprise after having to listen to him practically root for the 49ers
("T! D! A! B!") all day long. I understand he's well-liked as the San
Diego Padres announcer, and I wish he would stick to that, or poker, or
billiards, or blackjack, or Roshambo. Just get off my screen, if you're
going to miss every spot by two or three yards. Holt had a 3-yard catch
Matt said gained "nothing". He did this all day, apparently seeing the
ball so poorly, he eventually just said most plays gained "a few"
yards. Nice XFL-quality broadcast, Matt. Not only did JC Pearson (who I
liked somewhat last year) add nothing to the broadcast, he subtracted
from it by giving incorrect analysis of plays, blaming Incognito for
plays that weren't his fault, analyzing Bryant's long TD poorly,
accusing Jackson of dancing on plays he truly had nowhere to go... a
thoroughly poor broadcast that also did a poor job of keeping Ram fans
up to date on their injured players. And no one at Fox could figure out
Chad Johnson was doing the duck dance? And who wants to bet the Ram
game makes it onto Inside The NFL *this* week?
* Who's next?: After a good twenty years of panhandling for one, Bill
Bidwill has finally gotten his indoor stadium, forever to be known in
this space as the Pink Taco Dome. In St. Louis, the very idea of
Bidwill demanding a domed stadium for his worthless, incompetent
franchise, that rarely displayed the ability or even will to improve,
was a ridiculous joke that eventually became a cruel one. Arizonans,
however, eventually chose to gamble on the Big Dead, wisely, not with
their own money, but by raising hotel and rental car taxes, and lo and
behold, for the first time in memory, the Big Dead are actually selling
out games, with their own fans at that. When the Rams take the field in
Glendale next Sunday, it won't be what visiting teams have become
accustomed to in the desert - it'll be a real, and tough, road game
environment.
Apparently, it took two decades of desert heat to finally loosen
Bidwill's purse strings a little. Besides the $100 million-plus the Big
Dead are putting into Pink Taco, they re-signed former Ram hero Kurt
Warner and added Edgerrin James, possibly the league's best all-purpose
RB. James is supposed to give Arizona a GSOE-class attack as a
complement to the big, fast, and dangerous receiving corps of Larry
Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin and Bryant Johnson. Just one problem - for
all of preseason and two regular season games now, Edge has had nowhere
to run, averaging 3.2 a rush so far this season. The offense looks like
an Escalade, but it's powered by a Chevette motor in the form of
Arizona's offensive line. After today, though, who knows how well
anything shapes up for the Ram defense next week? They've allowed two
straight 100-yard rushers, and Arizona's o-line is certainly better
than San Francisco's of today. And with all the coverage breakdowns
today, and the Rams' recent struggles with physical WRs, the secondary
is overmatched, if not overwhelmed. How do you defend a 1500-yard
rusher and two 100-catch receivers? The Rams will have to attack the
head, and by that I mean our old friend Kurt. Jim Haslett has
neutralized Warner in the past. We've seen blitzing get to Kurt over
the years, and the man is fumbling more than Tony Banks at an
eel-juggling contest - he has already put the ball on the ground
SEVEN times, though only 1 has resulted in a turnover. This game for
the Rams is going to depend completely on the pass rush, and it is
vital for Little, and company, to get to Kurt next week, and inflict
damage when they do.
The Gratingest Show on Earth looks to be extremely vulnerable next week
if Orlando can't go, which seems likely. Steussie's a veteran;
maybe a week of practice back at LT will help him, but if I am Big Dead
DC Clancy Pendergast, I'm teeing off as often as I can. Pace is out?
There's a raw rookie at center? Bulger looks lousy against the blitz?
Jackson, Klop and others are poor at picking it up? Yahtzee! Between
him and Haslett, this ought to be a game of 100 blitzes. The Rams need
to be prepared for this with draw plays, screen passes and lots of
three-step passes for Bulger. The Rams have to improve their offensive
tempo, and Bulger must run the passing game effectively. What happened
to the no-huddle, by the way? That sounds like a good idea for the Big
Dead on Sunday. The Rams are running well, yet losing or barely
surviving; Bulger, Holt and the passing game have to step up at Pink
Taco.
The Rams have lost SIX consecutive NFC West division games. Scott
Linehan was brought here to put this kind of thing to a halt. Didn't
happen this week, and he'll be hard-pressed to make it happen next
week, given Arizona's powerful offense, the Rams' injuries and the
Big Dead's newly-found home field advantage. A 1-2 start by the Rams
wouldn't put them in a daunting hole overall, but 0-2 in the
division, with two remaining games with Seattle, would, which ought to
give them the urgency they need to get things working for Arizona. Then
again, I thought there'd be more urgency to have the offense ready
for the regular season in the first place. Let's hope it's not long
before the Rams have their Eureka! moment.
-- Mike
Game stats from nfl.com
http://www.nflfans.com/rams/article.php?st...060918115142802
Monday, September 18 2006 @ 11:51 AM CDT
Contributed by: Shaky
RamView, September 17, 2006
From The Couch
(Report and opinions on the game.)
Game #2: 49ers 20, Rams 13
The San Francisco 49ers have won five of their last eighteen football
games. And three of those are now, intolerably, at the expense of the
St. Louis Rams. Key injuries and big, bad misplays by the Ram secondary
didn't help, but Scott Linehan has got to get the Ram passing game in
gear. Now.
Position by position:
* QB: Marc Bulger (19-34-185) is getting better in some areas, but for
the most part, the Ram passing game has become The Gratingest Show On
Earth. They've scored one TD in eight quarters, managing only 13 points
today against a defense that just gave up 34. Bulger looks tentative
and confused in the pocket, holding the ball forever while straining to
figure out where he's supposed to be going with it. For the (I stress)
moment, the Ram passing game? Has been Marmie'd. But I see a lot fewer
physical mistakes out of Marc, even as some of the numb-nut local
sports departments show legitimate throwaways from this game as
examples of hideous inaccuracy. Actually, I'd argue he was much more
successful on sideline passes than he was last week, hitting a bunch of
them. He hit Isaac Bruce for 24 early. On the Rams' first FG drive, he
hit a sliding Torry Holt for 17 and a kneeling Shaun McDonald for 8,
both completions converting third downs. The Rams' first TD drive of
the year followed, with Marc hitting Kevin Curtis for "exactly" 6 on
3rd-and-6 from the 49er 19 before hitting Holt with a seeing-eye 3-yard
TD pass off a roll right. After the 49ers went up 17-10, Bulger struck
back by hitting Bruce for 19 on a 3rd down and Holt for a very-quick 2
on 4th-and-1, but the Rams only got a missed FG out of the drive. They
did close to 17-13, thanks to a 23-yard completion on 2nd-and-20 to
Isaac and a 23-yarder to Joe Klopfenstein on 3rd-and-3 to set up the
FG. That's quite a few clutch plays, but far from enough, since Marc
had some noticeable problems. The Rams took at least four shots deep,
but none could be caught. Bulger badly overthrew Holt on one that could
have been a TD, and Holt had to play DB to save an INT on another. The
timing of the Ram offense still seems to be way off, no thanks to the
49ers blitzing a makeshift Ram offensive line. But Bulger (and/or
Linehan) have got to help them out there by getting the ball out
quicker. Blitzing, or just a solid pass rush, doesn't give a QB time to
be confused or make slow reads. The Ram passing game has got to get its
timing down, and Bulger has got to get his mental game up to snuff, for
this offense to be better than mediocre, and, gee, you would have
thought they'd have had plenty of time to practice it, no?
* RB: 39-and-1. For the first time in the St. Louis era, the Rams had a
100-yard rusher but lost the game. Despite that, Steven Jackson
(22-103) has emerged as the runner the Rams were hoping for when they
drafted him, running with power and nice elusiveness today. He started
the game with an 11-yard run right up the 49er gut. The Rams' next
drive saw nice deception by Scott Linehan as Jackson ran for 14 left
after a faked end-around right. That drew a 3rd-and-1, on which Jackson
got stuffed, thanks to poor blocking by the Rams' makeshift line.
That happened a couple of times to Jackson in the first half. Late in
the first half, Jackson took an 11-yard run down to the SF 2, but got
stuffed trying to dance around the next play. That was forgiven by a
short TD pass, though. Stephen Davis (5-16) got a surprising amount of
play in the 2nd, apparently just to keep Jackson fresh. I'm surprised
to see Davis isn't a big fumbler; he carried the ball today like a
fumble risk. The Ram offense continued to run through Jackson in the
second half, though he committed his biggest error on the half's
first play, blowing a blitz pickup that helped get Bulger sacked for a
big loss. He nearly made up for that by making a nice cutback to take a
dumpoff pass for 18 yards, but it was 3rd-and-20. Jackson continued to
run well with the Rams trailing, but a 14-yard run from midfield with
another nice cutback was wasted when he lost 3 a few plays later, as
Manny Lawson whipped Joe Klopfenstein, then Jeff Wilkins missed a long
FG. He had 7- and 11-yard runs in the 4th, the 11-yarder a nice power
run right through several defenders, but not much more, as the trailing
Rams went more to the pass. I have little problem with Jackson's play
today. He produced. He got a lot of tough yards on his own, and his
losses were more due to offensive line problems than to him dancing
(though there was some of that). He did his job, and is at a point
where he should be pushed to take the next step and become a Larry
Johnson-style dominator. Steven Jackson's got that potential.
* WR: Where you at, 81? The Rams don't do well when Torry Holt has
low-impact games, and even with a 3-yard TD catch in the 2nd, today was
one of those, as Torry collected just 30 yards on 5 catches. I didn't
expect Torry to get blanketed by the likes of Walt Harris, but it
looked like Harris was in the 81 jersey most of the day. Torry's a
team leader and simply has to do better than that. Isaac Bruce led the
receivers with 77 yards on 5 catches and got much more open than Holt
ever did, so possibly Torry got some extra attention. Joe Klopfenstein
got active with a couple of catches, and set up a FG by holding on to a
23-yard pass after getting DRILLED by Harris, an impressive play by
both players. Kevin Curtis caught 3 for just 13, and Shaun McDonald had
one kneeling catch for 8 yards. Bulger struggled a lot to find open
receivers today, and some of that's him, but the Ram receivers have
done a bad job in all three of these recent 49er losses in getting open
consistently, despite a sizable talent advantage. Step it up, fellas.
* Offensive line: The 49er defense looked like the Ram defense was
supposed to, officially getting to Bulger six times, including twice on
the Rams' first possession. Bulger took a big loss on 2nd-and-15 when
Klop let one Chad Williams in untouched, with Alex Barron also getting
beaten woefully on the right side. Rough start again this week for
Klop. Todd Steussie turned out to be the weakest link in the o-line,
though. He false-started twice and was a liability run-blocking. He
also unfortunately became the Rams' left tackle for the 2nd half when
Orlando Pace suffered a serious concussion. Like the rest of the team,
the offense came out of halftime back on their heels. The blitz was the
key to the 49ers' success and the Rams' demise. Jackson and Madison
Hedgecock blew blitz pickups badly on the first play of the half, a
Manny Lawson sack for a big loss. Lawson was a menace, whipping Klop to
stuff Jackson for -3 on 2nd-10 two plays before Jeff Wilkins missed a
46-yarder. Down 17-10 in the 4th, the Rams drove right back into the
red zone, but Chad Williams sneaked between LT Steussie and Adam
Goldberg at LG for a huge third-down, FG-forcing sack. And Steussie
gave up the game's coup de grace, whiffing badly on Marques Douglas,
who made a beeline to Bulger for a sack and fumble that let the 49ers
go back up by 7. 900-year-old Bryant Young then bodyslammed Goldberg
like he was Gillberg and got to Bulger to kill the Rams' final
possession. Inconsistent is the best word to describe the o-line today.
The running game was acceptable, though Jackson did a lot of the work,
and Bulger got a ton of time on a lot of pass plays. The 49ers didn't
pressure well without blitzing. But, oh, those blitzes, good strategy
against a line with 60% turnover from the previous week, and something
everyone who wears a Rams uniform that blocks has to get better against
quickly.
* Defensive line/LB: Um, the 49er defense looked like the Ram defense
was supposed to, but the Rams did not sack Alex Smith even once today,
and given the injuries on the 49er line, that ranks as a big
disappointment. The Ram blitz was effective in pressuring Smith, and
Leonard Little, playing again this week like a one-man wrecking crew,
also was, but Little didn't have enough help, and no one could finish
off the big play needed to knock the 49ers backwards. Leonard was
literally everywhere, spending a lot of time early in the game at RDE.
He made a great play late in the 1st half, splitting and beating two
49ers to force Smith to throw the ball away. Little also blew up a
reverse late in the 3rd to kill a drive that ended in a missed FG. Will
Witherspoon also starred, leading the D with 8 tackles and forcing a
key fumble by Frank Gore near the goal line in the 2nd to save a likely
TD. The D got caught flat-footed right after halftime, though, as Gore
followed a long kickoff return with a 32-yard TD run. Chillar and I
believe also Witherspoon got caught blitzing from the left side, and
Gore ran right, with plenty of room to spare after Pisa Tinoisamoa got
pancaked. Pisa left the game right before Bryant's TD with a
dislocated elbow, and his absence may have taken the rest of the air
out of the defense, which gave up 90 second-half yards to Gore after
permitting only 37 in the first. Gore wouldn't be denied in the 2nd
half, especially when SF got the ball back with with 3:38 left, bowling
Rams over to the tune of two first downs that put the game away. After
last week, it was disheartening to see the Ram defense buckle in the
final minutes, and especially disappointing that they couldn't ding
the 49ers' practically-rookie QB for even one sack. Little and
Witherspoon can't do it by themselves, guys.
* Secondary: After last week's outstanding game, the secondary sprung
big leaks this week and was a big letdown. Tye Hill slipped and fell on
the game's third play to give up a 56-yard catch-and-run to Arnaz
Battle, setting up a FG. That wouldn't be the last big 49er pass play.
OJ Atogwe was late rotating over to cover on Antonio Bryant's wide,
wide open 34-yard catch late in the 1st. It was by far not OJ's best
game. He dropped an INT in the 2nd, and got burned by the game's
biggest play, a 72-yard TD to Antonio Bryant. Just like that, a Ram
10-3 halftime lead became a 17-10 deficit. On the play, both Tye Hill
(on Bryant split right) and Travis Fisher (on Brian Gilmore slot right)
released their men. OJ ran up to meet Gilmore, and Bryant ran right by
him for the backbreaking TD. OJ's getting the bulk of the blame, but I
don't believe he was the only player who erred on the play. Fisher
continues to reign as The World's Least Physical CB, getting run over
close to the goal line a couple of times. Fakhir Brown broke up an
early end zone pass, Corey Chavous recovered Frank Gore's goal line
fumble, and Alex Smith only completed 11 passes. But the 49ers averaged
over 21 yards a completion thanks to a Ram secondary that gave up much
more in big plays than it made.
* Special teams: Special teams didn't blatantly lose this game the way
they did last year in SF, but after halftime, they made the snowball
and kicked it to get it rolling down the hill. Maurice Hicks - him
again?!? - by all rights should have been engulfed around the 25-yard
line returning the opening kick of the 2nd half, but he hurdled a
suspiciously-prone Raonall Smith, eluded overpursuers Dane Looker and
Ron Bartell with a cutback and brought it back 59 yards, with only Tye
Hill's speed saving a TD. All the kicking last week must have tired
Jeff Wilkins out; his kickoffs were very inconsistent and he missed a
46-yard FG attempt. Matt Turk punted quite well again, averaging 43.2
with very good hangtime; usually no return. Turk also seems to be a
roughing penalty magnet. Shaun McDonald set up the Rams' TD drive in
the 2nd with a 30-yard punt return, getting good blocks from Jerome
Carter and Brandon Chillar, among others. JR Reed had a 40-yard kick
return late and is doing a credible job there. But giving up that big
return right after halftime turned out to be a backbreaker and became
the story for the day on special teams.
* Coaching/discipline: It seemed like a great idea at the time: hire an
offensive guy to replace Mike Martz. You can still hire a good
defensive coordinator and the offense won't take a backslide. Well,
only half of that equation is working so far, as Scott Linehan has
apparently broken the Ram passing game. Marc Bulger is a full 10% under
his career completion percentage and 13 points below his career passer
rating. The team has scored one TD in two games, and Linehan's play
calls continually get whacked by opposing coaches' blitz calls.
It's too early to say Linehan's system is at fault, but the
installation of it sure is. Two games into the regular season, and
Bulger's still very lost in the weeds. We saw so in the preseason,
but he still got pulled early out of games, and everybody sat out the
Miami game. What the hell is preseason for? It's not like Bulger
couldn't have used the reps or anything! I appreciate that Linehan
has made some big improvements. He's established the running game two
straight weeks. The Rams have just one turnover this season. But as it
turns out, on September 17, the Ram offense is still not ready for the
regular season, and it's costing them games.
The real shame is that the Rams had this game won. At halftime, the
Rams were up 10-3, Bulger got his TD and visibly had a huge weight
lifted off his shoulders, and the defense had hounded Smith into making
grass his leading receiver. Everything was going their way, then three
big plays in five minutes stood the game on its ear. Jim Haslett's
blitzing got a lot of good pressure on Smith, but with no sacks, the
risk wasn't worth the reward once Gore beat a blitz on his 32-yard
TD. And the Rams had costly breakdowns in the secondary. Everyone
seemed to be flat after halftime. Special teams had the big return,
Gore steamrolled the D, the offense gave up a big sack, then Bryant
steamed the D. Whether they got complacent, lost their edge, or got
outworked or outschemed by the 49ers, Linehan and staff would do well
to prevent it from happening again. Poor third quarters were a hallmark
of the 1998 Rams, and nobody wants to relive that. (Yes, I realize the
next year was 1999.)
* Upon further review: There appear to be several new crew leaders in
the league this year, including today's referee, Gene Steratore. The
new blood ain't necessarily an improvement, though. The Ram drive after
the Gore fumble would have died because of an obvious-yet-uncalled DPI,
had Turk not gotten roughed. They messed up the play where Battle lost
the ball after his knee was down, forcing a replay challenge. The
game's key play, the long kick return to open the 2nd half, certainly
wasn't hurt by Raonall Smith being blocked in the back and/or held. And
it's cute the 49ers had DT Anthony Adams at FB in their goal line
package, and that the Fox announcers called him the "Dorm Fridge", now
how about somebody noticing he false-started on nearly every snap?
Especially a guy in stripes? I hope the Rams won't have to break in too
many more new zebras this season.
* Cheers: Matt Vasgersian's bio says that when he was 7 years old, he
appeared in an episode of Streets of San Francisco. Which comes as no
surprise after having to listen to him practically root for the 49ers
("T! D! A! B!") all day long. I understand he's well-liked as the San
Diego Padres announcer, and I wish he would stick to that, or poker, or
billiards, or blackjack, or Roshambo. Just get off my screen, if you're
going to miss every spot by two or three yards. Holt had a 3-yard catch
Matt said gained "nothing". He did this all day, apparently seeing the
ball so poorly, he eventually just said most plays gained "a few"
yards. Nice XFL-quality broadcast, Matt. Not only did JC Pearson (who I
liked somewhat last year) add nothing to the broadcast, he subtracted
from it by giving incorrect analysis of plays, blaming Incognito for
plays that weren't his fault, analyzing Bryant's long TD poorly,
accusing Jackson of dancing on plays he truly had nowhere to go... a
thoroughly poor broadcast that also did a poor job of keeping Ram fans
up to date on their injured players. And no one at Fox could figure out
Chad Johnson was doing the duck dance? And who wants to bet the Ram
game makes it onto Inside The NFL *this* week?
* Who's next?: After a good twenty years of panhandling for one, Bill
Bidwill has finally gotten his indoor stadium, forever to be known in
this space as the Pink Taco Dome. In St. Louis, the very idea of
Bidwill demanding a domed stadium for his worthless, incompetent
franchise, that rarely displayed the ability or even will to improve,
was a ridiculous joke that eventually became a cruel one. Arizonans,
however, eventually chose to gamble on the Big Dead, wisely, not with
their own money, but by raising hotel and rental car taxes, and lo and
behold, for the first time in memory, the Big Dead are actually selling
out games, with their own fans at that. When the Rams take the field in
Glendale next Sunday, it won't be what visiting teams have become
accustomed to in the desert - it'll be a real, and tough, road game
environment.
Apparently, it took two decades of desert heat to finally loosen
Bidwill's purse strings a little. Besides the $100 million-plus the Big
Dead are putting into Pink Taco, they re-signed former Ram hero Kurt
Warner and added Edgerrin James, possibly the league's best all-purpose
RB. James is supposed to give Arizona a GSOE-class attack as a
complement to the big, fast, and dangerous receiving corps of Larry
Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin and Bryant Johnson. Just one problem - for
all of preseason and two regular season games now, Edge has had nowhere
to run, averaging 3.2 a rush so far this season. The offense looks like
an Escalade, but it's powered by a Chevette motor in the form of
Arizona's offensive line. After today, though, who knows how well
anything shapes up for the Ram defense next week? They've allowed two
straight 100-yard rushers, and Arizona's o-line is certainly better
than San Francisco's of today. And with all the coverage breakdowns
today, and the Rams' recent struggles with physical WRs, the secondary
is overmatched, if not overwhelmed. How do you defend a 1500-yard
rusher and two 100-catch receivers? The Rams will have to attack the
head, and by that I mean our old friend Kurt. Jim Haslett has
neutralized Warner in the past. We've seen blitzing get to Kurt over
the years, and the man is fumbling more than Tony Banks at an
eel-juggling contest - he has already put the ball on the ground
SEVEN times, though only 1 has resulted in a turnover. This game for
the Rams is going to depend completely on the pass rush, and it is
vital for Little, and company, to get to Kurt next week, and inflict
damage when they do.
The Gratingest Show on Earth looks to be extremely vulnerable next week
if Orlando can't go, which seems likely. Steussie's a veteran;
maybe a week of practice back at LT will help him, but if I am Big Dead
DC Clancy Pendergast, I'm teeing off as often as I can. Pace is out?
There's a raw rookie at center? Bulger looks lousy against the blitz?
Jackson, Klop and others are poor at picking it up? Yahtzee! Between
him and Haslett, this ought to be a game of 100 blitzes. The Rams need
to be prepared for this with draw plays, screen passes and lots of
three-step passes for Bulger. The Rams have to improve their offensive
tempo, and Bulger must run the passing game effectively. What happened
to the no-huddle, by the way? That sounds like a good idea for the Big
Dead on Sunday. The Rams are running well, yet losing or barely
surviving; Bulger, Holt and the passing game have to step up at Pink
Taco.
The Rams have lost SIX consecutive NFC West division games. Scott
Linehan was brought here to put this kind of thing to a halt. Didn't
happen this week, and he'll be hard-pressed to make it happen next
week, given Arizona's powerful offense, the Rams' injuries and the
Big Dead's newly-found home field advantage. A 1-2 start by the Rams
wouldn't put them in a daunting hole overall, but 0-2 in the
division, with two remaining games with Seattle, would, which ought to
give them the urgency they need to get things working for Arizona. Then
again, I thought there'd be more urgency to have the offense ready
for the regular season in the first place. Let's hope it's not long
before the Rams have their Eureka! moment.
-- Mike
Game stats from nfl.com
Last edited by a moderator:
