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

* 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.