Archive for September, 2007
Friday, September 28th, 2007
By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Just last week, Brian Leonard was talking about getting acclimated to the
fullback position in the NFL.
“I obviously hope I don’t have to play the running back spot this year because
we’ve got Steven Jackson,” Leonard said at the time. “If I’m playing, that
means he’s down.”
Oops!
Just as Leonard was getting comfortable at fullback, Jackson suffered a
partially torn groin muscle against Tampa Bay and is expected to miss at least
a couple of games. That puts Leonard in the starting lineup at running back.
(more…)
Posted in Rams News | No Comments »
Friday, September 28th, 2007
By Bill Coats
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
As the Rams’ backup quarterback, Gus Frerotte asks only this of starter Marc
Bulger: “I tell him all the time, ‘If you don’t think you can go, just lie down
and give me some time to get loose.’”
Understandably, Frerotte needs a few extra throws on the sideline these days to
get his 36-year-old right arm warmed up. And with Bulger playing with a couple
of broken ribs and a banged-up knee, Frerotte is keeping a close eye on his
colleague. “I know if he’s hurt or not,” Frerotte said.
Coach Scott Linehan is giving Frerotte extra snaps with the first team in
practice this week, just in case. “Just a couple,” Frerotte stressed. “Mostly
of it’s mental reps, and that’s the hard part for a backup, not getting the
practice time to get those quality reps in. But that’s what you’re paid to do,
come in cold and do the job.”
(more…)
Posted in Rams News | No Comments »
Friday, September 28th, 2007
By Bernie Miklasz
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Let’s clear something up at the beginning: Not only will Scott Linehan remain
the Rams head coach for the remainder of the season, he’ll be the HC in 2008
unless something extraordinary goes down.
If Linehan smashes a chair over the head of one of his bosses, OK, that
probably gets him fired. If he finishes 1-15 or 0-16 and the players quit on
him, maybe that gets Linehan fired. But only maybe. I’d say the chances of that
happening are minimal.
You need to understand that Rams owner Georgia Frontiere, team president John
Shaw and general manager Jay Zygmunt really like Linehan and will give him
every chance to succeed. I can assure you that he has 100 percent support from
his employers, so you might want to hold off on those upstart Internet
campaigns for Marty Schottenheimer or Bill Cowher. Linehan isn’t going
anywhere.
(more…)
Posted in Rams News | No Comments »
Friday, September 28th, 2007
By Jeff Gordon
STLTODAY.COM SPORTS COLUMNIST
Yes, Marc Bulger is still hurting. Those broken ribs bark at him a bit during
practice.
“On game days, there are ways to correct that,” he said after Wednesday’s
workout.
But Bulger is a stand-up quarterback. He isn’t looking for pity, despite the
physical beating he has absorbed on the field and the verbal thrashing he gets
on Rams message boards, forums and chat sessions.
“There are a lot of worse things,” he said. “I could be over in Iraq right now.
Two broken ribs isn’t the end of the world.”
(more…)
Posted in Rams News | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007
I believe — and have always believed — that the offensive line is where you stick in the thermometer to see how your team is doing. The so-called “skill” position roster can be dripping with talent and you might never win a game if the line fails to stay healthy and play strong.
Sad but true for the 2007 Rams. Even the national media is calling them “The Battered Rams” and bemoaning their rotten luck through the first three weeks of the 2007 season.
Now, Mark Setterstrom has gone down, and the patchwork line is at its thinnest point in many years. When there is talk about retreading guys like Adam Timmerman and Tom Nutten and pushing them back out there, you KNOW things are thin.
I find it ironic that everybody is all of a sudden flapping their hands and getting all nervous because Marc Bulger has an icepack strapped to his ribcage and Steven Jackson has a groin snip. Hey, if there was a good time for “skill” guys to get hurt, it’s RIGHT NOW while the lack of a line means IT BASICALLY DOESN’T MATTER.
It wrenches my guts to say this: Don’t expect the Rams to win any games this year. If they do win a couple, consider it a gift.
Unless there are three or four Kurt Warner-style miracles waiting just off-stage, the Show is over for 2007. And those miracles? This time, they’d better weigh in at around 300 pounds. Each.
Posted in LA Bob | No Comments »
Friday, September 21st, 2007
By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
When Rams quarterback Marc Bulger gets hit, “it takes a toll on us,” offensive
tackle Alex Barron said.
Just imagine how Bulger feels.
In the season opener against Carolina, Bulger absorbed a couple of crunching
hits and suffered a rib injury. In Week 2 against San Francisco, the frequency
of the hits increased, and the ribs began barking again.
Bulger was sacked six times by the 49ers, just one off his career high. He was
hit on seven other occasions by pass rushers. That’s 13 hits, and few were
glancing blows.
(more…)
Posted in Rams News | No Comments »
Friday, September 21st, 2007
By Jeff Gordon
STLTODAY.COM SPORTS COLUMNIST
Back in the not-so-distant past, Rams-Buccaneers showdowns were special.
The Rams would pit their famously explosive offense against Tampa Bay’s
talented and innovative defense. The Buccaneers would mock the Rams for being a
“finesse” team, prompting the guys at the Earth City complex to redouble their
efforts.
Entertaining wars ensued. We saw some of the best football we’re ever going to
see in this market.
The floundering Rams could sure use some of that fire now.
(more…)
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Friday, September 21st, 2007
By Bryan Burwell
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Leadership comes in many forms. It can be as subtle as a look, as complicated
as a plan, as forceful as a sermon or as compelling as the cult of personality.
In the simulated battlefield environment of pro football, leadership is most
often identified in emotional men who rage wonderfully in the heat of battle.
There is no place on the football field for anyone who cringes or panics in
their athletic wars. So it strikes me a little odd that anyone would demand or
quietly coax an apology from Rams running back Steven Jackson for baring his
dissatisfaction with another fourth-quarter meltdown by his team in last
Sunday’s 17-16 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
I would never undercut the passion that Jackson shows on the field. I would
never suggest for a second that he turn down his competitive fire even one
notch. I would never discourage the intensity he carries in his gut and the
will to win that he displays every time he steps on the field. In fact, I would
stoke it so all his positive emotion spreads to some of his underachieving and
nonchalant teammates.
(more…)
Posted in Rams News | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 19th, 2007
By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Any time you hold a team to fewer than 200 yards of offense, it’s a good day’s
work in the NFL. In fact, it’s almost a sure recipe for victory. Almost.
Against San Francisco on Sunday, the Rams’ defense held the 49ers to 186 yards.
It marked only the ninth time the Rams had held an opponent to under 200 yards
since the franchise moved to St. Louis in 1995. But it also marked the first
time the Rams held an opponent under 200 — and lost. Which made the 17-16
defeat to the 49ers even tougher to take at Rams Park.
“We didn’t win the game,” defensive coordinator Jim Haslett said. “That’s the
most important thing. We gave up a touchdown when really, we were in a great
situation to get off the field, and we didn’t do it.”
(more…)
Posted in Rams News | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 18th, 2007
By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
As he left Rams Park on Monday afternoon, Steven Jackson chalked up his angry
sideline outburst Sunday to the heat of battle and the frustration of a
wrenching 17-16 defeat to San Francisco.
“I was upset mainly because I thought we were going to come out on top,”
Jackson said. “I really thought we were going to win, and I was hoping that we
could put together a successful drive — and it just wasn’t going that way. It
was more a vocal out-letting of frustration than anything.”
(more…)
Posted in Rams News | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 18th, 2007
By Bernie Miklasz
Tuesday, Sep. 18 2007
I believe Rams RB Steven Jackson has a good heart, and that he wants to win. I also respect that he wants the ball in his hands with a game on the line. The great competitors always want to make the difference when it matters most.
That said, Jackson shouldn’t be showing up his head coach, Scott Linehan, by screaming at the boss on the sideline late in the game, as S.Jax did Sunday with the Rams going down to the 49ers.
Though Jackson was diplomatic in his comments the day after the 17-16 loss to San Francisco, he clearly was irate on Sunday afternoon when the Rams blew the chance to win.
(more…)
Posted in Rams News | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 18th, 2007
By Bryan Burwell
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
In the NFL’s current confusing state, it’s really difficult to tell what is
real and what’s imagined. Are we really supposed to believe that the New
Orleans Saints — everyone’s favorite feel-good story a year ago — have
descended overnight back to the dregs of the pro football heap? Are we
genuinely supposed to accept the concept that some NFL vagabond named Derek
Anderson just outgunned a Pro Bowl blue blood Carson Palmer, and the lowly
Cleveland Browns could hang 51 points on the Cincinnati Bengals? Are the 2-0
records of the surprising Houston Texans, Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers
just as golden as the 2-0 records of the exalted New England Patriots and
Indianapolis Colts?
After two weeks in this pro football season, trying to separate loose facts
from hard reality is quite a chore. All that we know for sure is that there are
two super teams (the Patriots and Colts), a couple of really inferior ones, and
this 28-team clump of mediocrity in the middle.
(more…)
Posted in Rams News | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 18th, 2007
By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
On a day when the Rams’ defense yielded only 186 yards, the only glaring
blemish was a 43-yard touchdown run by San Francisco’s Frank Gore on a
fourth-and-1 play late in the third quarter. Strong safety Corey Chavous went
for the football near the line of scrimmage, and Gore made Chavous and the Rams
pay.
“I tried to strip the ball, and he spun while I was stripping it, and basically
got away from me,” Chavous said. “It just led to him breaking more tackles.”
Gore was sidelined during the exhibition season with a broken hand, so the Rams
stressed even more than usual trying to strip the football.
(more…)
Posted in Rams News | No Comments »
Monday, September 17th, 2007
By Bernie Miklasz
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
I wouldn’t want to have John Shaw or Jay Zygmunt’s job right now. Their choice
to lead the franchise, Scott Linehan, is only 18 games into his appointment as
head coach, and the town already is fizzing with anger.
Here’s how we should evaluate a young coach: Is he getting better?
And do his football behemoths respond to him?
In Sunday’s 17-16 loss to the San Francisco 49ers at the desolate football
warehouse, Linehan’s players did supply the kind of intense effort that went
missing in that flat-line loss to Carolina. The Rams came out Sunday, ignored
all of the bruises, bad breaks and bedlam, and played a hard four quarters.
(more…)
Posted in Rams News | No Comments »
Monday, September 17th, 2007
By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
The wheels didn’t fall off Sunday, but they were wobbly. Very wobbly. For the
second week in a row, the Rams’ “drive” to the playoffs veered dangerously off
course.
This time, a 17-16 loss to San Francisco left the Rams in an 0-2 ditch, and
about to engage in a stretch of six road contests over the next eight games.
For those keeping score, only four of the past 60 teams to start a season 0-2
have reached the postseason. And only one of those four — the 2003 Philadelphia
Eagles — lost their first two home games as the Rams have done. What now?
“Like anybody else, you’ve got to go home, feel the pain, look at the tape, and
then decide what you want to do,” place-kicker Jeff Wilkins said.
(more…)
Posted in Game Recaps | No Comments »
