Rams Gab

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

* 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.

ESPN’s NFC West blogger Mike Sando has some nice things to say about the direction of the Rams in his video podcast today.  Take a look.

The Rams improved performance has lead Mike to head to St. Louis for the Rams game against the Arizona Cardinals.

St. Louis’s favorite son, Kurt Warner returns to the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis on Sunday as an Arizona Cardinal for the 5th time.  He is still beloved in St. Louis even though he has played for a division rival for as long as he played for the St. Louis Rams.

The reason is plain and simple.  Kurt Warner won a Super Bowl.  He quarterbacked the St. Louis Rams during the time of their greatest achievements.  Not only did he lead the Rams to one Super Bowl victory, he lead them to another Super Bowl two years later, only to lose.  The Rams have not seen those heights since Warner left and so Kurt Warner is still loved in St. Louis.  It is also easy to remember the good times with Warner and gloss over the bad times, like in 2002, when he fumbled 6 times against the New York Giants because his broken finger was not fully healed.  Or when he left St. Louis and he was so battered and bruised by Mike Martz’s offense that he was a shell of his former self in New York.

Beyond the football stuff, which is easy, “He won the Super Bowl”.  Kurt Warner is a very likable guy.  He’s always up for interviews, which keeps the media happy, he’s an avout Christian, a family man, and is always conspicuous in the community helping others.

It also doesn’t help that the Rams play Warner’s Cardinals twice a year and the St. Louis TV affiliates put as many Cardinals games on TV in St. Louis as possible.

It is impossible for St. Louisans to forget the hey day of St. Louis Rams football, but the Rams will be back and eventually Kurt Warner will not be playing in St. Louis once a year.

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

* 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.

This weekend the now 1-8 Rams were defeated by the now 9-0 Saints. Two teams collided. They passed, they rushed, they blitzed and they fought. When the dirt and the sweat cleared, the Saints achieved the victory beating the Rams 28-23. My question is what is the difference between these two teams? One team is on its way to the post season and the other seeks to climb out of the bottom of the ‘NFL’ barrel.

Ok, well, the Saints out rushed the Rams by about 60 yards. Steven Jackson put up a valiant effort with 131 yards and a TD. SJ rushed about 50 more yards than Reggie Bush, but he did not out rush the entire Saints team. The Saints attacked from every angle. 30 yards came from Mike Bell, 41 yards from Robert Meachem, 37 yards from Pierre Thomas, and 83 yards from Reggie Bush. Outside of S Jackson, the entire Rams teams could only muster up an additional 10 yards.

The Rams out passed the Saints by approximately 60 yards. Both team showed a fairly disbursed passing attack. The Rams newly acquired Brandon Gibson catching a game high 93 yards, while Devery Henderson led the Saints with 72 yards. QB pass completion % was pretty even. Brees threw for 69%, while Bulger threw for about 65%. The Saints fumbled once, the Rams were sacked 2-1, and overall the Saints had 3 turnovers to the Rams 1. Usually, this stat alone would have a tremendous affect on a game. Unfortunately for the Rams, not this game.

This game came down to intangibles. The Rams were forced to settle for field goals when a TD was needed to gain a winning advantage. The Saints are 9-0 because this season they have learned how to close a game. It is encouraging that the Rams played so well. If we can continue this level of play, then maybe next year our lessons will not be only Xs and Os, but on the intangibles; on learning how to win.

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

* 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.

From the Rams official Twitter:

Bad news: DE CJ Ah You is out for the season after tearing ACL in practice Wednesday. Victor Adeyanju will get more work in his place.

Ah You had developed from a long shot in camp, to a preseason superstar, to a rotation defensive lineman, to a pass rushing DT specialist all in the matter of a few months.

He is now lost for the season.  However, Adeyanju has shown the ability to be a solid rotational lineman and run-stopping defensive end under previous regimes, but he has been inactive for a lot of games so far in 2009.  He now has a chance to reestablish himself under Coach Spagnuolo.

The Rams won’t make a roster move this week, instead will make a move likely on their usual Tuesday signing/roster shuffle day.

Three weeks ago, I took a look at the Detroit Lions offensive line and the Rams were able to pull out a victory in Detroit.  Last week, I did not cover the New Orleans Saints offensive line and the Rams loss.  Coincidence?  Absolutely, but it never hurts, right?

The Arizona Cardinals have started the same 5 players at the same positions along their offensive line in 2009.

Mike Gandy at Left Tackle, Reggie Wells at Left Guard, Kyle Sendlein at Center, Deuce Lutui at Right Guard and Levi Brown at Right Tackle.

Let’s take a look at the Pro Football Focus numbers and some Football Outsiders numbers for these guys after the jump.

Continue reading Arizona Cardinals Offensive Line

Defensive end Chris Long (knee) …  sat out practice Wednesday. Defensive ends James Hall (back) and Leonard Little (knee) were limited, as was defensive tackle Clifton Ryan (toe).
During practice, defensive end C.J. Ah You went down with an injury to his left knee. He was scheduled for an MRI exam.

From a Post-Dispatch story by Bill Coats. Are the Rams going to have any one to rush Kurt Warner on Sunday? If Warner has time in the pocket, he will torch the Rams secondary with reckless abandon.

It is quite possible all of these players will play on Sunday, but may be short of full strength.  The Rams corners will not be the only group tested by the Cardinals high octane offense, the defensive line will be tested as well.

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

* 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 1^st by lighting up Shockey as a pass arrived, with Oshiomogho Atogwe collecting the rebound for an INT. Brees’ 2^nd INT was also intended for Shockey, in the 3^rd, 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’ 4^th 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.