Monday, November 30, 2009

RamView, November 29, 2009
From Row HH
(Report and opinions on and from the game.)
Game #11: Seahawks 27, Rams 17

Bland, play-it-safe, joyless, unentertaining football ruled on the Rams sideline again today as they dropped their TENTH straight to the mediocre-long-ago Seahawks. The Rams are the German food of the NFL. Ach.

* QB: Kyle Boller's numbers, (28-46-282), especially the JeMarcusian 67.5 passer rating, may look better than they were in context, the context being he was running for his life all day. He kept the Rams in it for a while. The big difference between Boller and Marc Bulger is Boller's mobility, of course. With Seattle blitzing almost every play, Bulger would have left this game in worse shape than Tiger Woods' SUV. Boller was able to escape some of the rush, and his mobility helped get the Ram offense into a good rhythm at times. He started the game hitting Randy McMichael for 12 on a rollout and the Rams rolled right into scoring position early. (And didn't score.) His TD pass to Donnie Avery was off a bootleg. Boller made some good reads, especially in finding Ruvell Martin (!) wide open a couple of times for big gains. He didn't make enough, though, and might fairly have avoided three of the four sacks he took. Jordan Babineaux and Patrick Kerney got to him to kill a drive in the 1st because he held the ball too long. Babineaux was a delayed blitzer; you can't let that guy get to you. He scrambled for no gain late in the 2nd after missing Danny Amendola open on a shallow cross, though that drive still ended in a FG. The Rams' initial drive of the 2nd half ended in a huge loss on a rollout where Boller couldn't find a man, though he could have had McMichael breaking open late with a pretty tough throw. Boller's accuracy wasn't consistent; he missed some open opportunities with high balls or one-hoppers. But the worst part of Boller's game continues to be the crushing turnovers. Seattle took a 14-7 lead late in the 1st half on Justin Wilson's 65-yard return of a pass tipped by Kelly Jennings. Boller really couldn't win on this play. He forced an outside pass for Donnie Avery into double-coverage, but what was he going to do? It was fourth down. Jennings made a fine play (as long as it wasn't a penalty) on the ball and Wilson cashed in a lucky bounce. Boller's 2nd INT seemed a lot more preventable, though just as painful, coming in the end zone with the Rams still down 14-10. He rushed and back-footed a throw for Amendola that's a TD if he leads the receiver, but the pass was woefully underthrown and almost fair-caught by (again) Babineaux. Seattle turned that into a FG and eventually surged into a 17-point lead, called off the dogs and let Boller rack up some cosmetic yards, including a 16-yard near-TD scramble late in the game. Boller's a gamer, for sure, and seems to give the offense a shot of energy when he's in there. And he had to overcome some regression from the rest of the offense in pass protection and receivers getting open. But he just can't seem to avoid those really big, negative, game-killer plays. In the end I'm not sure Kyle Boller will reach a level here any higher than just good enough to get you beat.

* RB: Steven Jackson, (23-89) about the only fire this team has, was cooled a little today by his back injury and a lot by lack of running room. He got off to a fast start, with 25 yards on his first touch, running between fine blocks by Daniel Fells and Jacob Bell. That drive broke down, though, with Jackson getting stuffed on 3rd-and-1, and though he ran hard and still ran through some tackles at times, it was a struggle for Jackson to find anywhere to go, and he averaged less than 3 yards a carry after that big run. He still scored the Rams' 2nd TD with a 1-yard dive late in the 4th, and he's still an exemplary leader on this team, calling the offense to gather around him during one break in the action and trying to ignite it with some fiery motivation. I'm not sure how much Jackson's injury actually slowed him down, probably the most in his ability to change direction and get off his first read. Too bad nobody else has got his back. Samkon Gado (1-minus 1) and Kenneth Darby (also 1-minus 1) have been almost complete jokes this season and I'd swear neither one can walk and chew gum at the same time. They run like their shoelaces are tied together. I shouldn't have been, but I was agape this morning hearing that Jackson was on a pace for over 400 carries this season. He richly deserves far better backup than the Keystone Kops he has now.

* Receivers: Donnie Avery (4-48) scored the Rams' first TD but his inability to get open consistently ultimately hindered the passing game. Boller was looking for him at least a couple of the times he was sacked. None of the Ram receivers do a particularly good job of coming back to fight for a contested ball, which we saw in spades when Jennings beat Avery to a 4th-and-4 pass in the 2nd and tipped it to Wilson for a TD. Boller tried several throws along those lines – here comes the ball, now beat your man – but Avery and Brandon Gibson (3-18) weren't winning many of those one-on-one matchups. Danny Amendola (7-55) led in receptions and his sharp cutback after a catch inside the 10 got the Rams a big first down and set up Avery's TD. Ruvell Martin (2-60) got wide open in the Seahawk secondary for a couple of big gains. You can't stop Ruvell Martin; you can only hope to contain him. Well, you at least have to cover him, which Seattle really didn't either time. They made progress the last 2-3 weeks, but we saw again today that the Rams receivers can certainly stand to gain physical and mental toughness.

* Offensive line: The injury bug continues to bite the Ram offensive line hard. They were minus three starters after Jason Brown went down with a sprained knee in the 2nd. The makeshift lineup now had Mark Setterstrom at center, John Greco at RG and Adam Goldberg at RT. And seeing this lineup, Seattle blitzed practically every play after Brown left the game and got a blitzer through to Boller untouched practically every time. Goldberg looked really outmatched outside this week. Patrick Kerney really smoked him on Boller's first sack, though Babineaux also came in untouched. Hard to blame Gado there; he did pick up the blitzing LB inside. Setterstrom got beaten badly at center by a stunt and got beaten badly at RG by Brandon Mebane on a tackle-for-loss. Some of the sacks are fair to call coverage sacks, though Boller's scrambling would have saved them the second one had Alex Barron not quit blocking Cory Redding on the back side. PLAY TO THE WHISTLE! The fourth sack was a complete cluster, um, bomb, with every Ram lineman, and Daniel Fells, and Brandon Gibson apparently motioned across as an additional blocker, beaten soundly, leaving Boller looking like an unlucky Wal-Mart clerk on Black Friday. The best blocker today was Jacob Bell, who made a solid inside block that paired with Fells' big outside block to give Jackson a big lane on his 25-yard run. It feels pretty safe to say the running game missed Brown's and Richie Incognito's presence in the middle, where there was very little running room. It's definitely safe to say that by clogging up the middle and blitzing the Rams senseless, Seattle decisively won the game at the line of scrimmage.

* Defensive line / LB: Once again the Ram defense let one of the league's worst rushing offenses look like Eric Dickerson's Rams, as the 32nd-ranked running team romped for 170 behind Justin Forsett's 22-130. The front seven has more holes than players. It's basically James Laurinaitis plus an occasional play from one of the other six. Laurinaitis led the D with nine tackles, and started the Rams off the right way by dragging Matt Hasselbeck down for a sack on the game's very first play. Guess how many sacks the Rams collected after the first play of the game. That's right, none. Leonard Little got some pressures, but I don't remember Chris Long doing much of anything despite getting a lot of work at both DE positions. That failure spread over to the run, where if Laurinaitis gets blocked, he's not getting much help. Like these plays. Forsett broke loose for 25 right after Josh Brown's missed FG after Laurinaitis was practically blocked into Seattle's bench, Cliff Ryan got wiped out at the line and Justin King stumbled trying to fill the gap. Little tried to jump into the backfield on Forsett's first TD run but instead got pushed back across center and gave Forsett the hole. Given a chance to stop Seattle on 4th-and-1 to start the 4th, the Rams instead got steamrolled by Forsett for an embarrassing 11 yards. Nobody attacked his gap; Laurinaitis attacked the next gap over. Forsett's 2nd TD, two plays later, was an equally easy run after his fullback stoned Paris Lenon in the hole. Dorsett, um, I mean Forsett, humbled the Rams one last time with a 26-yard run right to set up their last FG. Long was pushed WAY outside and Oshiomogho Atogwe missed him in the hole. You'd think one of those would be Long's, or the Rams', most humiliating play of the day, but that had to come when Matt Hasselbeck naked bootlegged left for 19 to set up a FG in the 3rd. The whole Ram defense bought the run fake right, leaving the other side of the field empty as the void of space. If Hasselbeck wasn't slower than me trying to get up from the Thanksgiving dinner table, he would have had a TD. Long was so faked out on that play that he was getting up from being knocked down to continue pursuing the play left even as Hasselbeck was running right by him the other direction. And so the Ram defense hits December an utter failure. They're getting physically dominated by bad offensive lines. Tackling is slipping. Atogwe and James Butler are getting paid a lot better than they're stopping runners. Rookie Darell Scott (!) made some nice plays in the middle of the line but the rest of the DTs look like the guys off the waiver wire and 2nd-day draft picks that they are. So do the OLBs, despite Lenon forcing a Louis Rankin fumble in the 1st. They don't pass rush very well and they're as easily fooled by misdirection as my cat. This defense won't be any good this year. I'm not sure it'll be any good in TWO years. How do they get there?

* Secondary: Hey, a rare short section, made possible by the Rams' gawdawful run defense. Not really needing to throw, Hasselbeck only threw for 102 yards. And the Rams still found ways to get beat by Nate Burleson (4-46) on third-and-long three times. One thing the defense did get right was their emphasis on Seattle's screen pass game, which they essentially took away. Atogwe was one of the Rams' more effective defensive players, batting down a pass on a blitz to end a drive and stopping Burleson short on 3rd down to force a 3-and-out in the 2nd. Atogwe also chipped in 9 tackles, which is where James Butler's become a major disappointment of this season as far as I'm concerned. I expected him to show up much more against the run than he does, and he was guilty of some bad arm tackles today, too. He's been hurt, true, but Butler's still looming as another poor Rams free agent investment.

* Special teams: The punting teams were the stars of the day. Donnie Jones averaged over 52 yards a try. K.C. Asiodu partially blocked a punt and gave the offense a golden opportunity to squander in the 3rd. Coverage was fine until the last punt, returned 29 by Nate Burleson. The Rams could have started off on the right foot with a 46-yard FG to finish their opening drive, but instead, Josh Brown hooks it right, Seattle immediately drives for a TD, and thanks for yet another momentum-killer, Mr. Highest Paid Kicker in the League. Radio said the snap was high, but didn't blame it for the miss, and I don't care anyway. Make the freaking field goal. I could give a crap that he hit from 55 to bring the Rams within 4 at halftime, either. The ones you don't think he'll make, he will. The makeable ones his team needs him to make sail wide right. 36-year-old Olindo Mare put nearly every kickoff deep into the end zone. His last one went through the back. He had the Rams in mediocre field position all game. Amendola didn't really have a chance to do anything significant. Touchbacks or clutch kicks from Brown, though, are few and far between. Mare's a weapon for his team. Brown, the 25th-most-accurate kicker in the league though drawing, make that stealing, the biggest paycheck at the position, is a liability to his.

* Coaching: If not now, when? The Seattle Seahawks had not won a road game all year (0-5). They came in with a 3-7 record and were playing their third straight road game. They ran for four yards the week before. Not four yards a carry. Four total yards. The schedule-maker was handing the Rams a gift here. (About time, by the way.) And while the Rams drove downfield successfully in the 1st quarter, in the stands, you could sense the Seahawks packing it in. They were ripe. All the Rams needed was some killer instinct. NOT a milquetoast FG attempt on 4th-and-1 inside the opponent 30. I begged Steve Spagnuolo last week to show he gets it, and he doesn't, not yet. We are sick of the Rams losing home games (11 straight now). We are sick of losing EVERY game we play in the division (14 straight now). And it's sure getting tiring losing EVERY TIME to a Seattle team that hasn't even been any good the last two years. But it's 10 straight to them now, with no sign it will EVER let up, because the head coach of a 1-9 team wants to play it safe in scoring territory at the start of the game. How did that work out, by the way?

I'll buy some reasons Spagnuolo didn't want to go for it on 4th-and-1. Jackson had just been stuffed on 3rd-and-1, and maybe he didn't have a read on Steven's health yet and was reluctant to slam him in there again. And you're certainly not going to rely on Frick Gado or Frack Darby on 4th-and-1. So why not sneak Boller? He's 6'3”, all he has to do is fall down. Or bootleg him. Or keep Jackson in as a decoy, play-action and throw a seam route to the TE. For Christ's sake, I don't care if you want to go Mike Martz on their ass and run the dreaded end-around, do something! I know much of anything creative scares this coaching staff, especially on offense, but show us you're mad as hell at all these pathetic losing streaks and you're not going to take it any more! I also suspect Brown missing the 4th-and-1 FG led Spagnuolo to go for it on 4th-and-4. Can't trust him to hit from 46, you're not going to trust him from 52. So that just compounded the decision to kick on 4th-and-1 when 4th-and-4 failed as miserably as it can fail, with a pick-six. Sure, I'm an irrational fan, but good luck convincing me Spagnuolo didn't cost his team 17 points today. Could have taken ten, gave up seven instead. Rams football: it's fan-tastic!

You could tell Boller was back in the lineup today, huh? Very first play Pat Shurmur calls is a rollout. I thought he was smart to use a lot of play-action, though the Rams could sell it a lot better. The Avery TD, where they sold it perfectly, could have been the Sweet Play of the Week had everything else about the Rams not sucked. Avery motioned left, and while the whole offense faked a Jackson handoff left, Avery doubled back right and was open pretty handily for the toss from Boller rolling right. Now, if he'd just started using blitz-beating plays like the Avery smoke route BEFORE getting blitzed by Seattle for three quarters. That adjustment was like the Titanic hanging a left after hitting the iceberg. Defensively, I thought the Rams had a good blitz mix working, getting pressure with it without getting burned by it. Seattle is extremely potent with screen passes and the outside players made a very successful effort to take that away from them, though you wonder how much that took away from the run defense, which simply cannot continue to be this wretchedly awful. A last question, I really don't know the answer: does this team ever run blitz? Do our DBs ever slash in and stop a back in the backfield? Does a team this bad against the run have anything to lose by gambling like that more? OK, that was three questions.

* Upon further review: Scott Green and crew were mostly on top of things. They got the call right when it briefly looked like the Rams had muffed away the blocked punt in the 3rd, but the Ram player, I believe Dominic Douglas, had been blocked into the ball. Patrick Kerney took Boller out flagrantly late on a play in the 4th and got a deserved flag for it. Jackson's late TD came about because they reviewed and reversed an apparent Boller TD scramble, which bordered on cruel and unusual punishment to Rams fans. By far the least popular call was the tripping penalty on Amendola in the end zone after Boller's 2nd INT, which looked much more incidental than intentional from the stands. How sure are we Avery wasn't interfered with on the pick-six? Jennings sure grabbed and spun him, though the ball was right there, too. B-minus for the crew assuming that call was OK.

* Cheers: It was just as well the game wasn't on TV locally. If the quality of the play on the field didn't turn St. Louisans off of watching Rams football forever, the embarrassingly sparse crowd would have. The Dome wasn't even half-filled this week, though the hardy few present generated solid noise in bursts and even got Sean Locklear to false-start in the 3rd to help force a FG. Too bad the defense was consistently quick to kibosh any momentum we could muster. People started getting up to leave after Boller's 2nd INT – that was with EIGHT minutes left. In the THIRD quarter! Needless to say, post-game traffic was pretty smooth today. Pee-wee, or youth (there were some mighty big kids out there) football got the halftime show, with the annual Punt, Pass and Kick demoted to a brief pre-game announcement. Sad to see that long-time tradition getting short shrift.

* Who’s next?: Ah, to have been a Chicagoan this summer. The city had the sports world by the tail. The White Sox and Cubs were in the middle of pennant races. With the hometown President and the mighty Oprah lobbying on the city's behalf, their 2016 Summer Olympic bid was in the bag. And Da Bears were on their way to the Super Bowl after trading for rifle-armed Broncos QB Jay Cutler. It was Chicago's world; the rest of us were just living in it.

None of it lasted long, and faster than you can say “Rio de Janeiro,” the Bears' season headed downhill with the rest. Instead of leading the Bears to the playoffs, Cutler's led them to the league lead in interceptions. The team's returned the favor in not supporting Cutler very well. Matt Forte's rookie magic appears gone this season, and the Bears – the franchise of Red Grange, Bronko Nagurski, Gale Sayers and Walter Payton – are 28th in the NFL in rushing. 28th! The Bears! The problem starts in Chicago where it starts for a lot of teams, the offensive line. Orlando Pace may not play next week due to a groin injury; just as well for his long-time Rams fans. His play this year has only proven that the Rams made the right move to let him go. Pace can throw the occasional dominating run block but has been a liability in pass pro. Any Bears game I watch, there are guys just pouring in past Olin Kreutz, who I'd have to call a shell of his former self at center, and Roberto Garza looks awful at RG. Cutler gets hit a lot, and hears even more footsteps. He's jumpier in the pocket than Jim Carrey after a Red Bull, doesn't throw accurately enough under pressure to make defenses pay for blitzing, and locks in almost exclusively on TE Greg Olson when he does. I'll just say a capable defense, capably coached, would find ways to take advantage of these tendencies.

It's a bad time for Steven Jackson to be hurting; even with head coach Lovie Smith taking over as defensive coordinator, the Bears – the franchise of Dick Butkus, Richard Dent, Mike Singletary, Brian Urlacher (not this season; he's missed all of it with a broken wrist) – are only 23rd in the league against the run. The Bears can't run or defend the run? The Bears? But their only defensive playmaker lately's been CB Charles Tillman, the only guy in their secondary who can cover anybody, and he took a blow to the head in Minnesota. Avery's in trouble if Tillman plays, because Tillman, like Atogwe for the Rams, has a sixth sense for forcing fumbles. Two hands on the ball, wideouts. Still, you can throw away from Tillman, and if Chicago doesn't toughen up against the run, the Rams can feel really free to uncork their offense against them next week. Yeah, buddy. Let's just say a capable offense, capably coached, would find ways to take advantage of their weak spots.

God I love writing previews. The Rams haven't proven week-to-week that they've got any ability, other than Jackson's guts, that makes them suited to attack any other team's weaknesses. Why note that Forte's having an off year when two of the league's worst running teams just ripped the Rams on the ground? Why imagine ways for the Ram offense to attack defenses when its goal in life is to be boring? Why preview opponents in a vacuum that excludes the Rams' injuries, inexperience and outright lack of talent?

A capable team, capably coached, would find the Chicago Bears very beatable next week, even in Soldier Field. The Rams aren't there, unless Steven Jackson carries them there, which is possible.

There's your preview.

--Mike
Game stats from nfl.com

Monday, November 23, 2009

RamView, November 22, 2009
From Row HH
(Report and opinions on and from the game.)
Game #10: Arizona 21, Rams 13

A disappointing letdown in St. Louis, as the Rams start out flat as a doormat and fall too far behind Arizona early to catch back up. And a doormat's all they'll be – 13 straight losses in the NFC West – with games like today's.

* RB: Steven Jackson (24-116) made franchise history by recording his fifth straight 1,000-yard season , in just 10 games this year to boot, but had very tough sledding along the way today. Arizona had the middle of the field clogged up like mall parking lots will be this Friday. Jackson got early running room from Alex Barron and Brandon Gibson (!) on an 11-yard gallop around right end in the 1st, but a lot of his day was short slams up the middle, some of which didn't go well. Near the Arizona 20 in the 2nd, Jackson couldn't eke out a yard in two tries. LB Gerald Hayes appeared to win a big collision on 3rd down and Jackson couldn't get much of a launch on a 4th-down dive attempt with Jacob Bell in his way. Karlos Dansby swallowed him up to get Arizona the ball back. Jackson's 48-yard explosion late in the 3rd appeared to get the Rams back in the game. He worked around a double-team block at right end, really turned on the jets, and was almost gone for the TD. Too bad Arizona tracked him down inside the 5, because later on 3rd-and-goal, they did it again, with Antrell Rolle denying Jackson the left corner on a screen pass that had TD written all over it. Jackson kept a TD drive alive later with a twisting, backwards 4th-and-1 dive, and scored with a plunge off left tackle, but was a limited factor down the stretch. The numbers may not quite say it but Arizona did a good job limiting Jackson. They took the middle of the field away and won some key confrontations.

* QB: It was a very tough day to be a QB in the Dome. Kurt Warner got knocked out of the game by Oshiomogho Atogwe before halftime, and Marc Bulger got knocked out by Darnell Dockett at the end of another frustrating performance (19-37-215, 57.8 rating). Like the rest of this season, there's plenty of blame to go around, but plenty of limitations on Bulger's part to ponder. Even at age 38, Warner's at least twice as mobile as Bulger, who transitions to a runner about as effectively as any Hanna-Barbera character. Bulger killed a drive in the first trying to scramble and then clanging the ball off Daniel Fells' hip. Dockett ended the next drive by smacking a Bulger sidearm pass backwards. Why is a QB's height a big deal to NFL GMs again? Bulger ended the first half on a sour note, throwing an INT right to Adrian Wilson. Fells was open, but with Dockett bearing down, Bulger rushed a just-awful throw that would have fallen two yards short if Wilson hadn't been there. So no, Bulger did not get the Rams off to a strong start, with 77 yards at halftime, only 12 in the first quarter. The offense continued to melt down after halftime, with drives ending on a Donnie Avery drop and a coverage sack. Bulger found Danny Amendola on 3rd-and-9 to prolong the next drive, which would have ended in a TD had Brandon Gibson not lost track of a perfectly good fade pass. He set up a TD in the 4th by just uncorking a throw to Amendola between 2 defenders inside the 5. The Rams finally gathered some rhythm and momentum. They got the ball back down 8 and Bulger hit Avery a couple of times for 50 yards, the second for 21 by pump-faking the crap out of Dominique Rogers-Cromartie, getting him to squat on the short route. But then from the Arizona 7, another failed connection with Gibson, despite Bulger putting the ball right in his breadbasket. The TV broadcast blamed Bulger for underthrowing the pass, not an invalid point, but that ball practically caught itself. C'mon, rook. Failure there left the Rams in desperation mode with 1:01 left, and who knows where that's left Bulger. Dockett jacked him up on first down, leaving Bulger so woozy he could barely stay on his feet. Little surprise he missed Randy McMichael by a mile on 2nd down, crossed wires with Gibson again on 3rd down and ended the game with a goofy, failed scramble. And a concussion. The surprise was that he finished the game, a testament to his toughness, though not necessarily the alertness of the Rams' sideline. Other than his tenacity there wasn't much to like about Bulger's game while he was conscious. He looked unsteady in the pocket, locked in on receivers, didn't appear to read the field well. You understand what's going on because of Marc's sack and injury history and his inexperienced group of receivers. He is a legitimately tough player. That should never be questioned. But nothing's getting better here, either.

* Receivers: Brandon Gibson's (5-61) impressive game last week kind of made us forget he's still raw as sushi, and he certainly looked it today. He was confused whether or not to be on the field a couple of times, including the first play of the game, starting the Rams off with a penalty. Gibson fought about every part of his game. He fought his timing with his QB. He must have zagged when Bulger zigged half a dozen times. He fought the ball in the air, appearing to lose the ball in the lights on an end zone fade late in the 3rd that landed harmlessly a yard in bounds. He fought the ball in his hands, with a couple of critical drops, including another pass in the end zone in the 4th that was right in his breadbasket. He fought the referees, seemingly (and immaturely) pleading for a penalty flag almost every time he didn't make a catch. All that said, the kid still made some good plays. He's an aware and strong blocker. He's a good YAC receiver and makes nice moves after the catch. The Rams have just been so desperate at WR that they've thrown too much at Gibson too soon. Donnie Avery's (4-65) resurgence, and Danny Amendola's (4-61) reckless abandon, will help there. Avery set up a chance to tie the game in the 4th with 29- and 21-yard receptions. The first was a smoke route where he took off like a Maserati after excellent blocks by Amendola and Randy McMichael (2-17). Avery couldn't out-wrestle Rogers-Cromartie in the end zone on 4th down for that tying score, though. Amendola made the 2nd FG possible by spinning out of a tackle to gain 15 on a smoke route and with a 3rd-and-9 downfield catch. He made the Rams' TD possible with an impressive catch, snagging the ball over his head with Velcro-like hands in a crowd at the 1-yard line, a 25-yard gain on 4th-and-11. Receiver mistakes were a big problem in today's loss, but this unit is still gelling despite its inexperience and injuries. There's a good future here.

* Offensive line: Offensive line mistakes really botched the ending of the game. Dockett clubbed his way around RG Mark Setterstrom like he wasn't even there on the play that concussed Bulger. Alex Barron got whipped right off the snap on the Rams' last play. Setterstrom was at RG because Jason Smith appeared to suffer a concussion and Adam Goldberg, who'd already played RG and a little LT in the game, bounced out to RT. Where he committed a critical penalty, a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct very few living humans actually saw, to throw up a big roadblock in the Rams' 4th-quarter comeback attempt. Pass protection was good enough. Arizona had a strong outside rush but the Rams kept it behind Bulger and gave him room to step up. Jackson hasn't been getting enough credit for his improvement picking up the blitz. The other two Cardinal sacks were coverage sacks; Bulger got plenty of time to unload. Run-blocking was the problem today, with Arizona controlling the middle of the field. Jackson got stuffed several times running into Jacob Bell or Jason Brown getting knocked backward. Bell ended up on the ground on the failed 4th-and-1 run in the 2nd, and I think that messed up the plant for Jackson's leap. I'm not sure Jackson had a middle run over 3 yards all game. His success was bouncing outside. Barron helped him get 11 in the 1st. Smith and McMichael's double-team was the linchpin to Jackson's 48-yard run. Bell sat on his man and Barron cleared out the left side on Jackson's TD run in the 4th. They're faring decently despite injuries and shuffling around, but the late mistakes and losing out to Arizona up the middle were critical factors this week.

* Defensive line / LB: Despite Chris Long's third sack of the season and a mind-blowing 16 tackles by James Laurinaitis, the Ram front seven was woeful and bears the brunt of the blame for today's loss. Arizona gashed them for 183 yards rushing and the Rams mounted little pressure with their 4-man rush. They started out fast, with a fumble, then a sack, to kill Arizona drives. Leonard Little whipped Levi Jones and James Hall split a double-team to drop Warner for a big early play, but they were little heard-from the rest of the day, as Arizona commenced with the ground gashing. For all his tackles, Laurinaitis got erased from a lot of plays, too. Deuce Lutui knocked him back five yards on a 12-yard Tim Hightower run. Hightower (14-110) took off for 50 the next play, as Laurinaitis tripped over the feet of LaJuan Ramsey, getting thrown around like a nobody. Arizona went on to a TD, got the ball back quickly and scored again. Beanie Wells (14-74) got 16 on a pitchout Paris Lenon never saw coming. Hightower beat a nickel package for 11 more, with the center knocking Laurinaitis back. Then TE Ben Patrick beat the rookie MLB for 27 to set up the TD. More of the same the next drive. Hightower counter left for 10. You know it's a bad day when your defense is getting blocked by Dan Kreider and Anthony Becht, who couldn't block to save their lives as Rams. The Rams burn themselves with a zone blitz a couple of plays later, leaving Little on Anquan Boldin downfield. Yeah, not a good matchup. Boldin gained 38 down to the 1, and Wells ran through Larry Grant for the Cardinals' third straight TD, and even though the Rams had unknowingly knocked Kurt Warner out of the game that drive, game over. The bashing continued for another drive in the 3rd before the Rams realized that Matt Leinart is such an awful QB they could sell out against the run. Victor Adeyanju stuffed a run to start a 3-and-out. David Vobora stripped Becht to force a turnover. Long's tenacious sack – he got knocked backwards at the start but never quit, re-collecting himself and making a beeline for Leinart – forced another 3-and-out. Only two sacks for the game, though, with Adeyanju, Hall and Long blowing golden chances. They couldn't do anything against quick passes, usually just getting stood up. Warner got enough time on some deep drops to start another charity. The Rams didn't get anything going without blitzing. Granted they're banged-up, but the tackles were useless for the second straight week. Little was a liability against the run again. OLB play was awful, with Grant blowing tackles and Lenon getting blocked out of plays. Vobora provided spark while he was in, and should have played more; the other OLBs sucked. Laurinaitis can't do it all. Think they win this game with Will Witherspoon and Chris Draft? Or if they're not playing flat for at least a half? Even Long said after the game that they came out too flat today. If the Rams are supposed to have a defensive identity right now, I can only assume it's been stolen.

* Secondary: The Rams again laid back in coverage this week to limit deep damage by Arizona's stud WRs but ultimately still got damaged, 8-103 for Anquan Boldin, 8-87 for Larry Fitzgerald, a TD apiece. Boldin beat Ron Bartell with an inside move at the goal line for the first Cardinal TD. Justin King'll get blamed for Fitzgerald's TD the next drive. Let's see, Fitzgerald charges downfield ten yards with his arms up, his elbows out and gives King a big shove at the goal line to get open. Yeah, that's not offensive pass interference. The Rams' problems against the run started opening even bigger holes in the zone, and Warner (15-19-203, 146.3 rating) completed passes, mostly to the two big WRs, at will. Atogwe was one defender who kept the Rams in the game. He recovered a pitchout Wells dropped to set up the Rams' opening FG. He delivered big hits to Warner on the blitz and knocked him out of the game, keeping the Rams in the game by forcing future Draft-Bust-Hall-of-Famer Leinart off the bench. James Butler recovered a fumble to set up the Rams' TD drive in the 4th. The DBs aren't the main culprits today, but with 2 TDs allowed and a couple of big coverage breakdowns, at least one more big play would have been welcome.

* Special teams: Special teams got back on track today and will hopefully stay there. Amendola was the big story, nearly breaking a couple of kick returns big-time, setting the Rams up near the 40 a couple of times. Donnie Jones blasted three 60-yard-plus punts and averaged over 56 a kick. Josh Brown's kickoffs were strong and he hit both FG attempts, unpopular as the second one may have been. Chris Chamberlain's really making his mark on kick coverage the last couple of weeks. Even Kenneth Darby contributed a good stop on a kick return. Keep it up.

* Coaching: Little bugs me more than the Rams coming out flat for a game, which is exactly what I believe happened today. Whatever Steve Spagnuolo says Monday, the crowd, half the radio booth and at least one of your players thinks you came out flat. To the team's credit, that's the first time it's happened in a very difficult year, and they worked hard in the second half and made the game respectable. But this is a home game. This is a division opponent. It's surely your fans' most hated opponent. Throw us a bone here and make us believe you're putting urgency into divisional games instead of losing 13 in a row or losing 6 in a row to freaking Bill Bidwill and losing this game AT HOME FOR THE FIFTH STRAIGHT YEAR. I cannot think of a more unacceptable losing streak to have to live with as a St. Louis sports fan. Somebody at Rams Park show that you get that.

Sending in the FG unit on 4th-and-goal from the 2 in the 3rd quarter was EXTREMELY unpopular. Spagnuolo wanted to cut it to a 2-score game, but what's the downside of going for it? I'd happily have taken my chances with Matt Leinart backed up on his own goal line. The spot on Jackson's third-and-1 run in the 2nd should have been challenged. It's a critical play, you're trailing, you're in scoring position; it's worth the risk of losing a timeout. Speaking of risk, what the hell was Bulger doing in the game the last minute when you could see from 100 feet away that he could barely stay upright? The excuse I heard was that the clock was running so they couldn't get Kyle Boller in the game. Has anyone on this staff ever heard of the play where you spike the ball to stop the clock? It's legal, you know! They had as much a chance of a comeback with a cold, off-the-bench Boller as they did with an off-his-pins Bulger, without putting anyone's long-term well-being at risk.

Ken Flajole's X's and O's seemed fine this week; execution was the problem. Blitzing Warner up the middle was effective strategy, and the blitz knocked him out of the game. The Rams didn't blitz willy-nilly, either; Flajole generally picked the right times. The Rams got their first sack on a zone blitz – Long was dropped back in coverage – but the zone blitz also got torched; see, Little v. Boldin in the 2nd. The Rams smartly ran away from Adrian Wilson at times but could have rushed more effectively. More outside running could have unclogged the middle, though some of the smoke routes were probably meant to loosen the field. It's been noted the Rams didn't have Mike Karney on the field in many short-yardage situations, pretty dumb unless he was injured. Jackson runs well behind him, and the Rams got him because of past failures on short-yardage downs. John Lynch on Fox lobbied for some play-action in those situations, with Arizona stacking 9 in the box. If nothing else, it would have loosened up future short-yardage downs. Simple is best, but Pat Shurmur still does things too simply sometimes.

* Upon further review: Bill Leavy's crew left plenty to complain about. I've seen nothing to convince me the spot wasn't off by at least half a yard on Jackson's 3rd-and-1 run in the 2nd. It's spotted as no gain, and the Rams don't convert on 4th down, either. Fitzgerald always gets away with pass interference, but what he did to Justin King on his TD bordered on cartoonish. The crowd really, really wanted DPI on DRC on the 4th-down end zone pass to Avery, but seeing it on TiVo, it looks like a fair call. I sure hope the 15-yard penalty on Goldberg, whatever it was, was worth calling at that juncture of a close contest, though I rather doubt it. I'll levy Leavy a C-minus.

* Cheers: Even in a loss to the hated Cardinals, this game had one of my favorite Dome moments. The stadium was eerily, nervously quiet waiting for the Rams to start their potential game-tying drive in the 4th. What should happen to pop up on the video board to break the silence? John Belushi rallying the Deltas. Over? Did someone say, Over? NOTHING IS OVER UNTIL WE DECIDE IT IS! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! The crowd went nuts. When Bluto asked, “Because when the going gets tough?” we all yelled back, “The tough get going!” Avery started making plays a minute later and the crowd stayed bonkers. We had our moment, until the Rams failed to convert at the end. Still, more Bluto rallies, please. Who's with me? Let's gooooo.... Up until then, there was little mistaking the crowd's dissatisfaction. The Rams were pretty much booed off the field at halftime, and Spagnuolo's decision to kick the second FG was booed as hard as I've ever heard that booed here. The halftime show was by the stylish Willard (S.W. Mo.) High School Band. The Rams generously bought up 4,000 tickets to put the game on TV, but I doubt three poor quarters and a belated rally will spark much walk-up traffic for Seattle next week. Expect a blackout Sunday and a much-less-detailed-than-usual RamView on Monday.

* Who’s next?: When we last left the Seattle Seahawks, they had just crushed the Rams 35-0 for their NINTH straight win in that series. They looked like they were back on their way to the top of the NFC West after that resounding Opening Day victory. Well, that didn't last long. They've only won twice since, and one of those was pretty much handed to them by the Lions. Seattle's Exhibit A against judging a football team based on one week.

The injury bug's more contagious in Seattle this year than H1N1. The offensive line has struggled all year with injuries and consistency, especially at left tackle, which has been manned by four different players, now by Sean Locklear, just back from a week 2 ankle injury. So Matt Hasselbeck's been taking a real beating. He's played this year with broken ribs and played against Minnesota today despite a dirty shot to the throat from Darnell Dockett last week. Hasselbeck deserves tribute for putting up decent numbers despite that, but he was also a big part of Seattle's red zone problems in their loss to Arizona. Seattle's running game has been mostly terrible. Julius Jones only averages 3.7 a carry because he got to play the Rams once. Really. He's averaged just 3.1 since week 1. The problem for the Rams next week is more likely to be Justin Forsett, a Maurice Jones-Drew-lite averaging 7 yards a touch, hard to find as a rusher and dangerous on screen passes. Seattle's veteran receivers have kept Hasselbeck's season from looking a lot more like Marc Bulger's. T.J. Houshmandzadeh has had big games recently after a slow start. And the Rams know firsthand the damage Nate Burleson and TE John Carlson can do. Seattle is one of just three teams that throws over 40 times a game, and with their ragtag o-line, Hasselbeck should see plenty of pressure if any Ram up front wants to step up and provide some. The ultimate difference-maker, though, may be the Rams keeping coverage breakdowns to an acceptable minimum, which Seattle's deep receiving squad will make difficult.

Injuries haven't left Seattle's defense alone, either. MLB Lofa Tatupu's season ended very early. Both starting corners suffered concussions in Arizona. Marcus Trufant got his concussion in just his third week back from a back injury inflicted in July. Without their shutdown corner, Seattle's defensive stats bear the hallmark of a team playing to take away the deep ball. Their 66.1% completion rate against is one of the worst in the league. But before today, they'd allowed only one completion over 40 yards and were tied for 6th in the league for completions allowed over 20 yards. They can leave their safeties back because, unlike the Rams, they're good up front against the run: 10th in the league at 105 yards per game. Brandon Mebane is a solid anchor at DT. David Hawthorne has filled in capably for Tatupu and is flanked by a lot of LB talent in rookie Aaron Curry (42 tkl) and Ram-killer Leroy Hill. The good news for whoever's QBing next week is that Seattle hasn't been creating much pass pressure with their 4-man rush lately, either. Another Ram-killer, Darryl Tapp, has just one sack this season. If the Rams control the edge rush, they'll force Seattle to blitz, and big plays may result, as long as they execute and pick those blitzes up.

On October 10, 1999, the Ram franchise got a huge monkey off its back with a victory over the 49ers, their first win over San Francisco in nine years, ending a colossal, demoralizing losing streak. With the great weight lifted, the Rams charged ahead to the greatest season in team history. The Rams aren't going to the Super Bowl if they beat Seattle Sunday. But Seahawks are the albatross around the Rams' necks now. They can kill three birds with one stone with a win: the Seattle losing streak, the NFC West losing streak, the home stadium losing streak. Birds, albatrosses, or seahawks, Steve Spagnuolo better be sure his team knows next week is hunting season.

--Mike
Game stats from nfl.com

Monday, November 16, 2009

RamView, November 15, 2009
From Row HH
(Report and opinions from the game.)
Game #9: Saints 28, Rams 23

The winning streak may be over, but after coming within a play of pulling off the biggest upset of the season, the Rams can still hold their heads high. They're on course to winning this kind of game before too long.

* RB: Steven Jackson (26-131 rushing, 9-45 receiving) is that friend you'd call if you get your car stuck in a ditch, except I think Steven would just pick the car up with his bare hands and carry it back up to the road on his back. What a dominating performance today. 30 yards on his first official touch, knifing through the hole, faking out Tracy Porter, spinning off Usama Young's shoulder tackle. Steven had some moves today. He took a play-action pass for 13 after faking Scott Fujita out of his jock. Steven also had some POWER today. It took eight Saints to bring him down at the end of that play. Jackson was everywhere on the Rams' first TD drive: left for 14, up the middle for 8, right for 8... and then he had to save the drive single-handedly. Will Smith's sack of an indecisive Marc Bulger left the ball on the Saint 29 for the whole world to grab, but Jackson swooped in from ten yards away to secure it for the Rams, and Bulger threw a pretty TD pass the next play. Jackson ground out 26 yards up the middle on 3 carries before scoring his 2nd TD of the year from the 2 late in the half. An 8-yard run in the 3rd where he ran over poor teammate Brandon Gibson helped set up a FG, but the Saints successfully limited Jackson most of the 2nd half, holding him to 55 total yards. Bulger tried him a couple of times in the Rams' last attempt to win the game, but Jackson was drawing crowds and was held to short gains. We're seeing the height of what Steven Jackson can do. He can beat a bad team (Detroit) practically by himself. He can keep the Rams in the game with one of the league's best teams for at least a half. 39 is a rock-solid foundation. The Rams need to get enough good pieces around him.

* QB: Marc Bulger (26-40-298, 93.5 rating) had a blockbuster movie type of a game. Very good numbers, a few thrills, but you're left just a little wanting at the end. No doubt some were thinking of disaster movies after Usama Young, making it sound like the terrorists won, picked Bulger off in the end zone in the first. Keenan Burton (who blew out a knee on the play) was open for a split second, but Young played it perfectly and ultimately, Bulger tried to force a throw there he shouldn't have. The Rams drive into scoring position again in the 2nd, and aagh, it looks like another disaster when Bulger fails about three times to unload to Steven Jackson, gets sacked and fumbles. But after Jackson bails him out, Bulger steps up with a dead-perfect 29-yard pass to Donnie Avery, running a corner route to the left pylon, for a game-tying TD. Bulger scrambled around forever in the 3rd before finding Daniel Fells in the middle for 19 to set up a FG. No thanks to dropped passes, the offense stalled several times after that. But with 4:25 left to play, Bulger drove the Rams 80 yards in 1:41 to pull them close. He hit Brandon Gibson (!) and Daniel Fells for 23 apiece before hitting Avery, this time at the right pylon, for a 19-yard TD. Again, it's a pretty pass only Avery could catch, thrown to his back shoulder so he could come back for it. With about 2:00 left, Bulger got a rare-lately chance to win the Rams a game. He made up for his infamous lapse of judgment in Detroit by scrambling for a first down on 2nd-and-4, heading out-of-bounds upright. That and a clutch 4th-down catch by Gibson looked like rallying points. But lacking timeouts, the Rams didn't manage the clock well. They followed an 11-yard pass to Randy McMichael over the middle not with a spike, but with a screen to Jackson for 4 yards, expending a costly 20 seconds. And on third down with 19 seconds left, another middle dumpoff to Jackson comes up short. The Rams rush a Hail Mary play with time expiring, and with Gibson STANDING ALL ALONE on the far sideline, Bulger's bomb into the opposite corner of the end zone is barely even in bounds, and the Rams settle for close-but-no-cigar. Bulger did a lot of good today. He threw well, did a pretty good job of avoiding pressure, and the passing game had good rhythm even after the loss of another receiver. At the same time, the Young INT's on him. The late passes to Jackson, though maybe not all on him, were still questionable. And it really stood out today that Bulger didn't put Jackson in good position to run after the catch. Bulger did put up better numbers today than certain Pro Bowler Drew Brees did. But there were still enough mistakes to keep him from leading the team to a win.

* Receivers: Billy Devaney can find receivers, huh? Brandon Gibson (7-93) stepped off the bench and into the spotlight with an impressive game. The Saints became afraid to line up within even ten yards of him most of the 4th. He juked the safety to turn a short catch into 20 yards in the 3rd. A little later on 3rd-and-9, he twisted out of a tackle and lunged for the first, a veteran-like play. Gibson started the Rams' late TD drive by slipping a tackle and sprinting upfield for 23. Then there was the impressive falling catch he made on 4th-and-4 on the final drive. Good hands, great ability after the catch; quite the coming-out party, though unfortunately, it had to come at the cost of losing Keenan Burton for the season with a knee injury. Donnie Avery (4-67) may have broken out today, pwning Randall Gay on 29- and 19-yard TDs. Good routes by Avery, with impressive footwork and hands on the 2nd one. But hands would be a big problem for the receivers today. The Rams settled for a FG in the 3rd after drops by Avery and Randy McMichael (2-30), his millionth this season. Danny Amendola had a soul-crushing drop on 3rd-and-1 in the 4th. He was open on a shallow cross, and the field opened up for him like the Red Sea for Moses, and then, doink! Daniel Fells (3-51) had big catches on each of the 2nd-half scoring drives but dropped the 2-point attempt after the Rams' last TD. It's true the Saints had three starters out much of the game, but Ram receivers are (finally) getting open and playing with some confidence. Positive steps, but they'd better get a lot closer to Six Sigma certification handswise.

* Offensive line: Even with the starting RG out injured and a rookie manning RT, the Ram offensive line is jelling into a capable unit. Bulger was sacked just twice and Jackson had running room on almost every handoff. Both sacks came in the 2nd quarter. Will Smith stripped Bulger for a fumble early in the quarter after eluding Alex Barron, but Bulger had a couple of chances that play to unload to Jackson. The other sack came late in the half with the pocket breaking down after Jacob Bell appeared to miss his assignment. Not to worry, both drives where Bulger was sacked ended in Ram TDs. Protection was good enough most of the game; the time it needed to be better was the Rams' very last drive, where Bulger was flushed once and hit as he threw a couple of times. That wasn't the line's only difficulty down the stretch, as a series of 3-and-outs threatened to drop the Rams out of contention. Barron false started to kill a late 3rd-quarter drive. Charles Grant punked Jason Smith a couple of times to stuff Jackson and slow up drives. Though timely for New Orleans, those were anomalies. Jackson started the game busting off for 30 off blocks by Karney, Avery and Barron, on the right side in a “heavy” alignment. (That drive ended when Kenneth Darby couldn't handle a Jonathan Vilma blitz.) A big block by Barron got Jackson 14 to start the 2nd. More strong blocking by Barron, and McMichael, helped Jackson convert a 3rd-and-9 late in the half. Jason Brown had a strong game. Anthony Hargrove was not a factor, and Brown threw some good blocks on the Rams' 2nd TD drive. His and Adam Goldberg's surge was key to Jackson's TD plunge. The Ram linemen all blocked well. Bell and Smith had some good moments. Brown and Goldberg impressed in the middle. And Barron is starting to scare me, because his run-blocking has been so eye-opening lately, chances are improving that he'll be back in a Ram uniform next year. Let's also not overlook very solid supporting efforts by McMichael, Karney and Fells. The Ram offensive line is improving to the point now where they can dictate the tempo of the game, and that can only lead to good things.

* Defensive line / LB: You may have noticed the Ram defensive line on Chris Long's MANLY sack of Drew Brees in the 4th quarter. Long drove LT Jermon Bushrod backward right into Brees and took both Saints down in what might have been his most impressive play so far as a pro. If you didn't notice the d-line any other play today, I can't blame you. That was the only sack, Brees was rarely pressured otherwise, and the Saints gouged the Rams for 201 on the ground. Reggie Bush took a 90-flip for 16 on the Saints' first play, as they caught Leonard Little stunting inside. The Saints converted four straight third downs on their first TD drive. The rare times Little even made Brees step up, the QB still had a very solid pocket to step up into, as the Ram DTs were anonymous and invisible today. Saint misdirection killed the Rams again in the 2nd as Robert Meacham took an end-around for 41. Chris Long didn't stay home and Chris Chamberlain ate an inside handoff fake. NO-body out there for the Rams. Bush exploded for 55 off the left side late in the 3rd. Little got blocked, and the RG went right through the gap in the Rams' over formation and picked off James Laurinaitis. That run was right at C.J. Ah You, a big liability against the run when they line him up inside as a pass rusher. Laurinaitis looked good in coverage but only had 4 tackles. The Saints went up 28-17 in the 4th on Brees' TD pass to Meacham where there was no Ram WITHIN FIVE YARDS of Brees when he threw. Brees is a tougher sack target because he throws a lot off half-rolls, but this was ridiculous. The Rams weren't even getting close enough to Brees to violate a restraining order. Except for Long's sack, the best they could do was make him step up, sometimes. Pressure from Little did help force Brees' 2nd INT, and the D did turn up the dial late in the game. After Little batted down a pass in the 4th, a special teams penalty on Dahl emboldened the Saints to go for it on 4th-and-2. But LaJuan (WHO?) Ramsey and Paris Lenon stuffed a fullback handoff that had worked for 8 earlier in the game. Long's sack got the Rams the ball back for a TD drive. And after an onside kick failed, Cliff Ryan's run stuff on 2nd down helped get the Rams the ball back one last time. The Rams didn't seem to commit extra people to the box; you almost want to cut them some slack for the 201 rushing yards, a decent chunk of which didn't lead to scores. But the front four has to be far more solid than they looked today. When the Saints do lose a game, Brees will be sacked more than once and pressured more than a handful of times.

* Secondary: I wouldn't have picked Jeremy Shockey as the focal point of the Saint passing game, but the Rams appeared determined to keep him in check today, and succeeded. He was just 3-42, and with Marques Colston just a shocking 2-17, the Rams were able to limit Drew Brees to just 223 yards despite the lack of pass pressure. David Vobora set the tone at LB in the 1st by lighting up Shockey as a pass arrived, with Oshiomogho Atogwe collecting the rebound for an INT. Brees' 2nd INT was also intended for Shockey, in the 3rd, but James Laurinaitis had the TE blanketed and James Butler fielded the overthrow, returned to the Ram 40 and humorously went into the fetal position he should have stayed in in the Ford Field end zone two weeks ago. Atogwe saved a TD the next possession by headbutting the ball out of Colston's hands at the goal line; it rolled out of bounds in the end zone for a Rams touchback. For all that, the Rams hurt themselves by forgetting about H-back David Thomas (5-45). Despite getting drilled by Atogwe for a near fumble, he converted two of the four third downs on the Saints' first TD drive, helped by terrible tackling by Justin King. He came out of the backfield completely uncovered (again) for 16 during the Saints' 4th TD drive, capped by a perfect Brees throw to Robert Meacham, beating both James and Quincy Butler. Playing the role of goal-line hurdle, Atogwe got flattened by Colston on Bush's TD run. Craig Dahl got burned by Bush on his TD catch. Bush faked right then ran a drag left, and Dahl was never, ever, ever going to catch him. I'd say the Rams achieved a lot of their goals against New Orleans. They limited Shockey and Colston and kept Brees' yardage down. But this game was a matter of the Saints having just too many weapons.

* Special teams: Just when you think special teams have turned a corner – bang! they played a pivotal negative role today. The turning point of the game was the start of the second half, when Courtney Roby – seriously, Courtney Roby? - returned the kickoff 97 yards to put the Saints up 21-14. He got a run at the ball falling short of the goal line, good Saint blocking negated two Rams rightside defenders to give him a lane, K.C. Asiodu got decleated, opening the lane wider, Josh Brown ain't Jeff Wilkins in the tackling department, and Roby's gone and the Saints are back in charge. Brown's next kickoff was deep into the end zone for a touchback, and thanks for thinking of doing that a touchdown late, geniuses. The week off appeared to hurt Donnie Jones more than it helped. None of his punts had anything on them and he averaged just 36 yards per boot. His first punt, from just across midfield, came down at the Saints' 25. Yay, you pinned them inside their 30! Big advantage to the Saints today on special teams.

* Coaching: End-of-game time management looms large today. The Rams expended a timeout at the 2:50 mark after a 23-yard pass to Fells. My guess is Steve Spagnuolo was concerned about the offense getting lined back up for the next play in time. The timeout was followed immediately by a TD, so it was successful, if costly, because they spent only two timeouts getting the ball back from the Saints. And with no TO's left the last 2:00, they did almost nothing but throw over the middle. After the completion to McMichael with 0:42 left, the best move is a spike. But you can't spike out of shotgun formation, which is where they kept Bulger, and a screen pass will NEVER be worth TWENTY seconds in this situation, but away it goes, for four whole yards. Bulger didn't get out of shotgun the entire drive. There was no way he was going to improvise a spike play. Pat Shurmur's supposed to watch the clock, too; he needed to order up a spike, but I guess he got too caught up getting Bulger multiple play calls and/or trying to bleed time off the clock so the Saints couldn't have any if the Rams scored. Bulger probably should have thrown it away instead of hitting Jackson the second time. Either way, the Rams tried to cut the endgame way too fine, and they're much too wet behind the ears to try that. Hell, look at how big an idiot Belichick made out of himself in Indianapolis last night trying it. Right now the Rams need to worry about scoring, period, in late-game situations before they move on to more advanced material. Another problem for Shurmur today was the offense again failing to get back out of the blocks after halftime. Both Jackson after the game and D'Marco Farr during the game mentioned alignment and stunting changes the Saints made after halftime. A rookie coordinator's going to get outschemed by Gregg Williams, and there was a lot right with today's offense, in balance, distribution and catching the Saints in defenses they wanted to catch them in. But the halftime letdown is still a Shurmur trend.

I believe Ken Flajole's strategy today was to keep men back in coverage and blitz very little. It's an understandable strategy against that passing attack, and the Rams held the Saints to a season “low” 28 points, and Brees to a very modest 223 yards. But they got gashed on the ground for 201, put very little pressure on the QB, and still lost. Spagnuolo and Flajole have to realize by now that their front four guys aren't going to get it done without help. The conservatism of the Ram offense has chafed at a lot of Rams Nation this year, but I'm not sure that the conservatism on defense hasn't been worse. Was this the defense you expected? Bailing out at the snap? Playing pass prevent on 1st-and-goal at the 3? Maybe I'm just too impatient to wait out a talent upgrade, but the best this defensive approach was going to achieve today was to slow the Saints down. It was never going to beat them.

* Upon further review: The home crowd wanted a lot of calls today we didn't get. Unfortunately for us, Gene Steratore and crew got the calls right. We wanted a fumble when David Thomas got flipped and lost the ball. His arm hit the ground first, though. Wanted DPI on that weird cross-field throw to McMichael that Roman Harper broke up. Well, Harper was playing the ball. Wanted roughing when Tracy Porter fell on a prone Jackson after a good run. Nope, Jason Brown blocked him into Jackson. I don't know why the call on Jackson's TD run took so long, but they got it right, and they also called Gibson's 4th-down scoop on the final drive correctly without replay. Probably the best-officiated Rams game of the season. They sure out-reffed the crowd, at least. A-minus.

* Cheers: It took an extra day extension from the league and an infusion of, um, shall we say exuberant Saints fans, but the game did sell out, and the crowd was very good. St. Louis has got nothing to be embarrassed about when they've got 50,000-plus showing up for a 1-7 team. The crowd was great, too, at least until special teams killed the mood right after halftime. From my sampling, Saint fans can pride themselves on making today's the drunkest, fightingest crowd of the year. Who dat, indeed. Military was the theme of the day, from the dog tag giveaway to Navy officer / gospel singer Generald Wilson nailing the National Anthem, to the traditional parade pass at halftime. Guess I can't complain about that, though it sure couldn't have cost the Rams much to put on.

* Who’s next?: Of all the streaks in all the football joints in all the towns in all the world, this one has to come back into mine. The bane of my football existence, Bill Bidwill's Big Dead, return to St. Louis next week not only having beaten the Rams five times in a row, they've won four straight in the Dome. So worthless Bidwill has more success with his franchise as the visitors in St. Louis than he ever did in 28 incompetent years here as the home team!

One trend in this series the Rams have to break is their proclivity to give up touchdowns to the Big Dead defense. Arizona has scored 6 defensive TDs in the last five games against the Rams, 5 of them on INT returns. But instead of arguing that the Rams' receivers and offensive linemen need to become better tacklers, let's take the tack that facing Arizona puts extra emphasis on the Rams to try to win with their usual offensive M.O. There's just one problem. Arizona's pretty much shut Steven Jackson down the last three meetings, and they entered this past week with the #3 run defense in the league, and their now 3-4 D under new coordinator Bill Davis has gone from the bottom of the league to the top in points allowed and third down conversions. And they lead the league in runs stuffed (per Football Outsiders), led by super safety Adrian Wilson. Carolina, though, gashed them for about 250 by lining a slot receiver up on one side, to take a defender out of the box, and running behind the tight end to the other side. NFL.com sure makes it sound easy, anyway, and seeing Billy Bajema or Mike Karney picking off Wilson all day would be a sight for sore eyes as far as this rivalry goes. Jackson should be a dangerous receiver next week either way. Arizona's aggression makes them vulnerable to screens and short passes, and a great way to defuse Wilson and Arizona's aggressive LB corps is to make them cover people downfield. The Rams'll enter this showdown at least with some outs; will they hit one this time or get flushed down the river they way they have been?

Speaking of things the Rams need to hit, another crushing trend of this series has been their inability to pressure Kurt Warner. They've sacked Kurt three times in the last four meetings and given Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin more time than they'll ever need to get open. Opponents have slowed Arizona down a little by dropping their safeties back to take away the Warner-to-Fitzgerald deep game and daring the Big Dead, with their typically bottom-of-the-league rushing game, to run on them. For the Rams to make that work, they'd better defend the run a LOT better than the last time Arizona was here, when Tim Hightower and J.J. Arrington rolled them for 170 yards. The Rams did hold that same pair to 54 yards in Arizona last December, so there's reason for hope, though rookie Beanie Wells is emerging as a big upgrade to the out-of-the-league Arrington. But that won't be enough reason for hope if the Rams don't put serious pressure on Warner for a change. More than even Jackson this week, the Rams have to get a winning effort from their defensive front. Not a very promising prospect after today.

I've said before the Rams would be improved over last year just because they changed coaches. Jim Haslett's defenses failed for three years to put much pressure on Warner. Steve Spagnuolo's here because of past brilliance pressuring the QB. Unleash the hounds, coach. This is the perfect week for an underdog playing with more intensity to knock off a talented, yet inconsistent, favorite. If Spagnuolo combines a good defensive game plan with 53 players rockin' right out of the locker room next Sunday, he can certainly catch Arizona by surprise. It's time to draw a line in the sand in this rivalry. The Rams need to let Bidwill's boys know that when they step off the plane in St. Louis, they're not stepping on a doormat any more – they're stepping into a snakepit.

--Mike
Game stats from nfl.com

Monday, November 2, 2009

RamView, November 1, 2009
From The Couch
(Report and opinions on the game.)
Game #8: RAMS 17, Lions 10

On the occasion of the Rams' first win in 378 days, here's some George Frideric Handel:

Rams Nation, our long, long national nightmare is over. Riding their superstar RB, the Rams won, yes, I said WON, a battle of bad football attrition over the dreadful Detroit Lions. The 2008 Lions' 0-16 is safe. The expansion Bucs' 0-26 is safe. Steve Spagnuolo's Rams have slain their first dragon. Savor the bye week, Rams Nation. Savor it well.

* RB: One player can't win a football game by himself, can he? One man can't beat eleven, can he? Are you sure? Steven Jackson (22-149) was like Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon today. No matter how many henchmen (in blue and silver) you threw at him, he was going to kick their asses. We probably could have taken our cue from the way Jackson shoved the DT out of the way on his first rush of the game, but until 3:00 before halftime, it looked like he might have a slow day. But right then, from the Rams 9, he cut inside Alex Barron's block, slipped a DB at the 14, crashed into Jason Brown trying to drive a LB out of his way, and pushed him forward. Louis Delmas slid off him at the 19, and by the time Julian Peterson came and Jackson dragged him 6 yards, Steven had a 26-yard gain and lit the fuse to an unusual TD drive. He began building a head of steam late in the 3rd, with 9- and 7-yard runs to kick off a drive that Marc Bulger killed with an INT. Still, Jackson looked ready to take over the game at any time. He took a slant near midfield and ran through Delmas and Ernie Sims for half of a 12-yard gain the next drive, but that also died at Bulger's hand. Jackson saved the Rams a safety in the 4th. He broke a tackle at the goal line, broke another with help from Billy Bajema, punked Ko Simpson to the ground with a stiffarm and got the Rams breathing room out to the 13. Detroit stopped that drive, but Jackson had saved his best work for last. Game tied at 10, 2:00 left, Rams at the Lions' 42. Jackson thunders up the middle behind Mike Karney, runs over the poor umpire, and drags defenders five yards down to the 25. If Jackson had charged fare for all the Lions who took rides on him today, he could have retired wealthy on Monday. His next carry, though, was express all the way. He runs right, around Daniel Fells' dominating block, Delmas whiffs on him in the hole, and Steven is gone. A couple of Lions offered chase, but once Jackson hit the 10, Usain Bolt wasn't catching him on this run. Jackson FTW!

* QB: Jackson saved Marc Bulger's bacon after a frustratingly poor game, 17-35-176, passer rating 51.6. Bulger's had problems this year with protection and subpar receivers, but those issues were minimal today and he still almost blew the game, against one of the league's worst defenses. His decision-making looked strong early, as he hit Keenan Burton for 22 and Donnie Avery for 15 to spark a game-opening FG drive. After settling for that, the offense settled for useless short passes on 3rd-and-long until special teams lightning struck for a TD right before halftime to give the Rams a 10-2 lead. No coffee for Bulger at the team meeting tomorrow, though. Coffee is for closers. Bulger blew many opportunities to put the Lions away. Overthrowing an open Avery on a bomb in the 3rd. Scrambling in the open field on 3rd-and-6 later and sliding a yard short of the first down. After Randy McMichael dropped a red zone TD pass the next drive, Bulger stuck a fork in it. He threw a flat pass for Jackson, possibly thinking DE Dewayne White fell out of the play, but White bounced up instead and picked it off. Just sloppy. After Detroit tied the game, Bulger answered by getting a pass blocked at the line for the second time to end a drive at midfield. The Rams got the ball back with about 2:00 left, and Bulger started that drive by getting a pass batted down before Jackson took over. Are you 6'3” or 5'3”? Some good defense by Delmas broke up several passes, and receivers dropped a couple. But they were also more open today than they've been all year. Pass protection was the best it's been all year. The running game was powerful. And Bulger still blew ample opportunities. He hung McMichael out to dry a couple of times. His accuracy on shorter passes looked really shoddy. In short, the Rams won today despite Marc Bulger. There are other offensive issues, but the starting QB's game is not in a good place.

* Receivers: Tight ends were targeted a lot, with mixed results. Randy McMichael (2-16) could have had two TDs. Louis Delmas knocked him into next week at the goal line to break up one; McMichael dropped the other, a catch an NFL TE has to make, at the front right pylon in the 4th. McMichael did draw a DPI critical to the Rams' decisive TD drive. Daniel Fells (1-36) was all alone downfield for the Rams' first TD, making the easy catch and stiffarming Cliff Avril to the ground to stun Detroit right before halftime. Well, the stunner was that Josh Brown, not Bulger, threw Fells the pass, on a fake FG attempt. Billy Bajema (2-43), of all people, made a nice grab of a ball thrown behind him and beat the safety downfield for 27 in the 4th. Keenan Burton (5-54) was the leading receiver, but in a familiar pattern, the Rams went to him a lot early, he made nice catches and showed the best YAC ability on the team, and the offense then forgot about him most of the rest of the game. His sliding, spinning, Curly-Howard-style 8-yard catch kept the Rams' game-winning drive moving forward. Danny Amendola (1-13) wasn't a factor and missed the 4th quarter after getting injured on a kick return. Also a non-factor: Donnie Avery (1-15), who dropped as many as he caught. Hopefully Avery will pull it together during the bye week; this sure has been a lost season so far.

* Offensive line: Jackson didn't really win the game by himself, of course. The offensive line played its best game in perhaps three years. They paved the way for Jackson's 147 yards. Bulger not only wasn't sacked; he was rarely even touched and got forever to throw at times. Alex Barron may have had his best game as a Ram. Julian Peterson beat him a couple of times early, but Alex was solid otherwise. I can't remember a game where so many successful runs came off of Barron blocks. Jason Smith played well, delivering some punishing run blocks and keeping speed rushes directed behind Bulger for the most part. There were plays where the Lions just quit rushing because the Rams had them stymied, with Barron and Smith looking around for guys to hit. It's been a long time since the Ram offensive line so resembled a wall. Jackson got blocks from Barron, Jason Brown and all three WRs on his 26-yard run before halftime. Most of the tight end blocking was terrific. Fells dumped a Lion on his butt to give Bulger time on the 15-yard completion to Avery in the 1st, and he sealed the right edge but good on Jackson's winning TD run. Right before that run, Jackson got good blocks from Brown, Adam Goldberg (RG for injured Richie Incognito) and Mark Setterstrom (LG for injured Jacob Bell) on a 17-yard blast up the middle. Bajema blocked two Lions to help Jackson get out of the end zone on the near-safety in the 4th. Setterstrom got beat on that play, but line breakdowns were few and far between. Larry Foote blitzed between Fells and Bell to drop Jackson for a 4-yard loss in the 2nd. But that was about it. The Lion d-line may not present the highest level of difficulty, but the Ram offensive line dominated the trenches today and have earned themselves at least a couple of nice steaks during their week off.

* Defensive line / LB: A win for the Ram defense today despite an ugly start. They didn't really stop the run; Detroit ran for 127, and killed Ram blitzes with screen passes for at least another 68 yards. They put very little pressure on Matthew Stafford until late in the game despite Detroit's bad offensive line. They couldn't stop a cutback run to save their lives. The Lions ran through them like crap through a goose in the first half but killed every drive themselves with brutal dropped passes or penalties. Leger Douzable (!) may have been the star of the first half, with a couple of tackles for loss, but his linemates didn't make them stand up. Aaron Brown ran around Chris Long for 11 late in the 1st as TE Will Heller dominated Long at the point of attack. Kevin Smith and Maurice Morris gashed Ram blitzes off screen passes, with NO ONE covering Morris on a 3rd-and-11 screen that gained 19. But that drive ended (sort of) in a Stafford interception, and Detroit's ensuing drive was promising until ending in another dropped pass. The Rams forced their first 3-and-out late in the 2nd, with James Hall's pressure forcing Stafford's high, and dropped, pass. They got another in the 3rd, thanks to LaJuan (WHO?) Ramsey coming through unblocked to stuff Smith for a 4-yard loss. They followed with another 3-and-out. Stafford back-body-dropped Cliff Ryan to briefly avoid trouble, but Long cleaned up to get his first sack of the season and end an Andy-Stitzer-like streak of not getting some. The 4th quarter did not start well, though, as Detroit tied the game. Stafford beat them with a bomb, then a 4-yard TD run made possible by Leonard Little's massive overpursuit. They tied the game with a 2-pointer that saw James Laurinaitis bite HARD on play-action and leave Morris wide open in the end zone. The Lions got the ball back with the game still tied and appeared to have unstoppable momentum. Morris took a pitch right for 13, with Little getting blocked by the TE and Ryan getting knocked down. Morris then cut back for 15 more, as Ramsey and Little got pancaked and David Vobora ran himself out of the play. At midfield, though, Ryan made the play of the day, defeating his man soundly and blowing up Morris' attempted outside run. Morris tried to cut back, but right into Little for a 7-yard loss. Now the Rams had momentum, and kept it. With the Lions pinned at their 6 with 4:00 left, Ramsey stuffed a Morris run, then Little beat Gosder Cherilus with a sweet spin move for the Rams' second sack, helped by pressure alongside from VICTOR ADEYANJU. The Rams got good field position after the punt and turned it into a TD lead, and the D-line got to pin its ears back with 1:30 to play. Hall nearly got Stafford a couple of times; I believe he was the one drawing the two holding penalties on Jon Jansen. Long got up in the rookie's face. Little finished it off with good late pressure to force a wild pass on 3rd-and-20. Yep, it's not how you start, it's how you finish. The Lions had every opportunity to run the Rams right off the field early, but didn't take advantage, and paid for it. It's not how you'd script the defense's performance for the first win of the season, but I'll by-God take it.

* Secondary: It is very difficult to grade the Ram defense today, with Lions receivers dropping passes as if Matthew Stafford was throwing them live cacti. Bryant Johnson burned Ron Bartell deep on the opening drive but flubbed the catch. That wasn't the first time Johnson would burn Bartell with just a simple move at the line. He did it again on a 36-yard catch down to the Ram 5 to start the 4th, as the Ram defense was completely unalert to a team trying a big play to start off a quarter. But the Lion receivers were the Rams' best weapons. Will Heller dropped a pass to kill a drive. Brandon Pettigrew killed a drive by dropping one right into James Butler's hands late in the 2nd. And in classic Ram DB form, Butler didn't catch the ball that was right in his hands. And oh, hell no, that wasn't even his worst play of the day. Early in the 2nd, he made a nice diving catch of another Lions muffed catch (think they didn't miss Calvin Johnson today??) and assumed the fetal position just inside the goal line. Major threat averted, right? No, the dumbass gets up and runs the ball out of the end zone! Then the even dumber dumbass runs BACK INTO the end zone and gets tripped up there by Kevin Smith for a safety! James needs to knock off the rust and play a lot more like a veteran the 2nd half of the season. Quincy Butler became the latest DB to leapfrog Jonathan Wade on the depth chart. He broke up a couple of deep passes (including one where James Butler really jacked up Pettigrew) and was all right in run support, though not a very physical tackler. Late pass rush brought a lot of wild throws from Stafford, so we're left hanging wondering how the Rams would have fared today against a competent passing game.

* Special teams: Tom McMahon wins today's coaching game ball for dialing up the play that changed the game late in the first half, running a fake instead of trying a 54-yard FG. The play was executed almost perfectly. New long snapper Ryan Neill fed Donnie Jones a perfect snap for the play. Jones and Josh Brown sold it beautifully. None of the Lions paid attention to Daniel Fells heading downfield off the end of the line. Brown rolled left and threw Fells a little hook shot of a pass, and the TE took care of the rest with a 36-yard TD rumble. Special teams winning games for the Rams: who'da thunk it? Jones had a fine day punting, averaging 44.4 and pinning Detroit inside the 15 three times. Brown was responsible for 11 of the Rams' points and has a perfect career passer rating of 158.3. The only downer was Amendola getting CLOBBERED on a kick return in the 4th. Quincy Butler replaced him and is clearly from the Shaun McDonald school of punt returns. He's not qualified to do it.

* Coaching: Congratulations to Steve Spagnuolo on his first NFL coaching victory. Let's not wait so long for the next one. The key decision of today's game was obviously the decision to fake the FG. I sure wasn't expecting it as a fan; when the Rams lined up to go for it on 4th-and-8, I grumbled that they're sure paying Josh Brown a lot to not try 54-yard FGs indoors. Obviously, they're paying him for his passing skills. I do hope we all would have liked the call even if it had failed, after the many what-did-you-have-to-lose? questions for Spagnuolo after the Jagwire game.

The rumor is false that I paid David Roach to run into Pat Shurmur on the sideline while covering a punt in the 2nd and knock some sense into him. That collision followed this sequence: Lion blitz blows up Jackson handoff for a loss; screen to Jackson on 2nd-and-14 (incomplete); 4-YARD QUICK OUT to Amendola on 3rd-and-14 (also incomplete). The Lions had just held the ball for the better part of 11 minutes; the Rams needed a lot better than that right then. They didn't get it the next drive, either, with a pass SHORT OF THE MARKER for Avery on 3rd-and-8, but that was followed by the fake FG TD, and after that, maybe Shurmur stopped gripping his playcard quite so tightly. The Rams stayed balanced in the 2nd half, and a couple of long passes would have worked with better execution: the 2nd-and-15 bomb for Avery and the end zone pass to McMichael. I liked the expanded use of the TEs, which reminds me: the Rams need some decent TEs. In the end, sometimes football strategy really is as easy as letting your best players do what they do the best. As simple as a give-it-to-Jackson! game plan may be, I credit Shurmur for sticking with it. One thing that puzzled me: as much as the Lions like to, and did blitz, the Rams didn't try a lot of screen passes or draws, and the ones they tried didn't work well.

Meanwhile, Scott Linehan drove yours truly absolutely nuts with the same thing. Any time the Rams tried to blitz in the first half, here comes the screen pass to the tailback for ten yards or more, AND I CANNOT BELIEVE THE RAM COACHING STAFF IS GETTING SCHOOLED BY SCOTT FREAKING LINEHAN. Linehan also remembered how vulnerable his old defensive players were to cutback runs, fed the Rams plenty, the Rams rarely stopped it, and OH MY GOD I CANNOT FREAKING BELIEVE THE RAMS ARE GOING TO LOSE TO SCOTT FREAKING LINEHAN. The Rams stopped all that in the second half, though, I think simply by turning the blitzing dial down. Linehan certainly missed Calvin Johnson, but unlike most of his 2.25 seasons here, today it was the Rams making the necessary halftime adjustments and turning them into a win.

* Upon further review: Penalty calls were key to two of the Rams' scoring drives, and I believe Ron Winter and crew got both calls right. Julian Peterson did grab Bulger's helmet on the way by on 3rd-and-9 to extend the FG drive in the 1st. That's an insta-call that the refs should, and did, make. Barron should have been called for illegal hands to the face blocking Peterson on the play, though. The game-winning drive was extended on 3rd-and-2 by a DPI on Delmas defending McMichael, also a proper call, I believe. Delmas cut off McMichael's route without playing the ball. Full disclosure, though: my signal cut out during the live play so I only saw the replays. Hall got away with catching Kevin Smith in the head at the end of a long screen in the 2nd. It didn't look like the usual grab-and-twist 15-yard facemask penalty to me, but it was still contact with the head and Smith was injured on the play. Hall deserved some kind of 15-yard penalty there but got away scot-free. I thought the Winter crew got the key calls right but I can't give a crew a good grade when they fail to protect players in that fashion. C-minus.

* Cheers: First of all, do not get mad at me, male tennis players. I respect your athletic skills and do not question your manliness. However, as an NFL head coach, Steve Spagnuolo simply CANNOT wear girly tennis socks on the sideline. Football is a crew sock sport, coach; you can't wear socks that are just girl's socks minus the little puff ball on the heel. Fox again gave us the official TV crew of the Rams – Ron Pitts and John Lynch. Pitts sounds more and more a mess by the week. He missed spots by as many as five yards and frequently missed by a couple. He called a Jones punt as “angled toward the sideline”; Dennis Northcutt fielded it smack in the middle of the field. The broadcast didn't pay attention to Winter's announcements a bunch of times, including a 5-yard Lion penalty in the 4th that gave the Rams a first down. Pitts had little clue. And I don't remember either announcer saying anything about Chris Long finally getting a sack; you'd think they've done enough Rams games to know that's been an issue. They made up for some shortcomings by showing Jackson a ton of respect, and Lynch almost always agrees with me on replays of officials' calls, which has to be a good thing, right? But this crew is starting to coast a little bit.

* Who’s next?: It will look like throwback week in St. Louis in two weeks, not because the Rams will be in their old blue and yellow, but because it's going to look like the Greatest Show on Earth is back in the form of the New Orleans Saints. It's going to take more than one bye week for the Rams to figure out how to keep up with the Saints, who have already hung 48 on the Giants, for crying out loud, and just hung 46 on a Miami team that also got an extra week to prepare. The Saints average – average! - 40 points a game! The Rams scored their 40th point of the 2009 season in week SIX! And that's probably all you need to know about the looming matchup on November 15th.

The undefeated Saints bring the NFL's #1 offense and the league's hottest QB in Drew Brees, who nearly broke Dan Marino's single-season yardage record last year, and a scary receiving lineup – Marques Colston, Lance Moore, Devery Henderson, Robert Meacham, even Jeremy Shockey. Yet their rushing offense rates higher than their passing offense: 3rd in the league vs. 6th. Once their aerial circus puts them out in front, Pierre Thomas and Mike Bell wear out the defense and keep them there. No one's had an answer for the Saint offense this season. Spagnuolo will need to repeat his Super Bowl XLII game plan success just to slow this juggernaut down. The Dolphins had the best chance to beat the Saints so far in 2009 last week, taking (and blowing) a 24-3 lead. New Orleans struggled early with Miami's 3-4, and the Fins really mixed up their blitzes and coverages. They brought blitzes from everywhere but underground and had Brees confused and throwing awful, stupid passes for a half. And they still nearly gave up 50 points ! If the Saints have a weak link, it's LT Jermon Bushrod, who's there because Jammal Brown's lost for the season. To disrupt the Saints at all, James Hall and Chris Long HAVE to come up big in that matchup.

Their offense takes all the headlines, but the Saints' dominance this season is also defensively-infused. The rest of the NFL has long dreaded the day the Saints got an even-decent secondary. Well, that day is here. Jabari Greer is a terrific young playmaker and cover man; his signing was the overlooked free agent move of the offseason. Tracy Porter has made a huge leap in his second season. Strong safety Roman Harper is having a Pro Bowl season, and Darren Sharper is having a Defensive Player of the Year season, having already picked off a ridiculous six passes and returned three of them for TDs. Preventing defensive TDs is not something the Ram offense has exactly excelled at. The Saints are top-10 against the run, too, behind Harper, Jonathan Vilma and former Ram Scott Shanle. The Saint pass rush is tied with the Rams at just 23rd in the league. Jason Smith will have a big assignment against Charles Grant, though the Rams can partially slow the Saint pass rush by comping Anthony Hargrove a suite at Harrah's. The Ram offense is going to have to be themselves to stay close with the Saints. Lots of power running with Jackson and very little risk-taking in the passing game against the Saints' big-play secondary.

Will that be enough? It doesn't seem likely; this Saints game is shaping up as a redux of the Colts game, as the Rams continue to get pummeled by a brutal schedule. My advice? Don't think about the Saints until they get here, and just enjoy watching them play. You only get to see offensive greatness like theirs every ten years or so. Meanwhile, we've got two weeks to bask in a Rams victory, and we should use them well. Prosit, Rams Nation!

--Mike
Game stats from nfl.com