Rams report card vs. Bills
Here’s one blogger’s grades for the Rams after Sunday’s 31-14 loss to the Buffalo Bills:
QUARTERBACK: Trent Green had some nice moments in his first start since coach Scott Linehan benched Marc Bulger. Green led TD drives of 67 and 89 yards, which produced a 14-6 halftime lead. But the Rams were shut out over the last 43:41, and an interception for a touchdown by CB Jabari Greer on the opening play of the fourth quarter was a crusher. GRADE: C-
RUNNING BACKS: Steven Jackson had his first 100-yard-plus outing of the year, which included a 29-yard touchdown run. He also caught five passes for 78 yards. Overall, the Rams averaged 5.8 yards per carry against a Buffalo defense that had been very stingy against the run in the first three weeks. GRADE: B+
RECEIVERS: The wideouts totaled just nine receptions, including four by Torry Holt and three by rookie Donnie Avery in his first start. Lined up as a tailback, Avery sprinted 37 yards for a touchdown. Only two catches for TD Randy McMichael. GRADE: C+
OFFENSIVE LINE: The protection was just OK. Green was sacked twice and pressured several other times. Jackson was provided with a couple of nice holes, but he ground out much of his real estate on effort. GRADE: C
DEFENSIVE LINE: The Rams sacked QB Trent Edwards four times, with DE Leonard Little getting a pair. RB Marshawn Lynch averaged just 3.0 yards on 19 carries. But cut-back runs did significant damage in the second half, when the Bills rallied. GRADE: C+
LINEBACKERS: No glaring deficiencies but no big plays, either, from an area that needs to produce some. GRADE: D+
SECONDARY: Newcomers Jason Craft and Ricky Manning Jr. were forced into larger-than-expected roles when CB Tye Hill went out with a knee injury in the first quarter. Craft was OK, but he gave up a big scoring pass, and a two-point conversion, in the last period. Manning made some nice plays. CB Ron Bartell was strong in coverage. GRADE: C+
SPECIAL TEAMS: Another big day for P Donnie Jones, who averaged 56.2 yards on five punts. K Josh Brown missed his only field goal try, from 51 yards. Coverage was less than ideal. Rams returns were generally unproductive. GRADE: C-
COACHING: The offensive game plan was creative, and effective in the early going. Coach Al Saunders dialed up several trick plays. The defense had perhaps its best half of the year before the break. But when the Rams relinquished their eight-point lead and the momentum, the life drained away quickly. Whatever motivation and inspiration were evident early faded rapidly. GRADE: C-
I must say that after losing for so long it sure is nice to see the Rams playing competitive football again, even if it is just for one half of a game. I give the whole team an A simply for moving in the right direction. Trent Green was the right choice at quarterback and they came out and actually put some air under the ball and used some trick plays. I came away from the game rather pleased but I still think that Linehan must go. The Rams can play every game this season like they have nothing to lose like they did today and it will eventually lead to a win.
Let’s see, Steven Jackson averaged over 5 yards per carry, gained over 100 yards for the game, had 78 receiving yards, and scored a TD. Yet, he didn’t EARN an A+. That’s outlandish.
With that coach… that offensive line… that group at the skilled postions…? Please. Every reader here needs to be glad you’re not evaluating them on their respective jobs.
I’ve read this column for the past few weeks and it really makes me wonder. Just what in the hell do some of these positions and especially the coaches have to do in a game to earn an F? The Rams are on pace to not only be the worst team this year, but one of the worst teams of all time in many ways. One of the hallmarks of a good football coaching has traditionally been halftime adjustments. Obviously the Bills played a lot harder for their coach in the second half than ours did for Linehan. At this point I don’t care whose “fault” it is between players and coaches. It is the head coach’s primary responsibility to get the players ready to kill on Sunday and it is clearly not happening so Linehan needs to go. I don’t think he’s a bad guy, but a bad head coach who’s in over his head. Zygmunt needs to take a permanent vacation and hopefully a new GM will be able to resuccitate this franchise back to life. This season’s gone already. Blow it up and start over. You can’t get much worse than we have now. St. Louis fans have supported this team through thick and thin, but please Mr. Rosenbloom, clean some house at Rams park and lets get a coach that will kick some players’ butts because they sorely need it.
They need to fire the head coach, defensive coach, line coach and offense coordinator. Next bench every starter and start all over fresh and open the offense wide open. You have nothing to loose and everything to gain.
While Steven Jackson did run very well, 98 of his yards were in the first half. This was by far his best game but the offense was stagnant in the 2nd half in part due to the ineffectiveness of Jackson who struggled. I agree though that he played remarkably well considering our O-line but he was a tale of two halves, just like the rest of them team. It would be nice if there was some consistancy but then again we are the worst team in the lague so we need that amongst alot of other things.
Nothing below a D+ ? are we watching the same games ? What a joke these grades are !
Jackson’s struggles in the second half should be directly attributed to the adjustments the Bills defense made. Apparently, we’re the only team in the NFL that doesn’t understand the concept of “adjustment”. Jackson couldn’t run in the second half because he was consistently getting hit before he even got to the line of scrimmage. Here are my grade ADJUSTMENTS!
Josh Brown = F. He had the opportunity to make one that we actually *needed*. SHANK!
Linbackers = F. With apologies to Weatherspoon, these guys have no concept of what “swarming to the ball” means. Pisa T. is directly responsible for half of the cut-back yardage. His shoulders are done.
DB = B. That’s right, the DB’s get a B. Why? Because Craft wasn’t even ON the team roster last week and Manning was a 3rd stringer. These guys did the best they could with what they could. Look for Professor Ram to be starting after the bye
DL = B. It wasn’t like the Buffalo QB was comfortable. We were actually giving him a lot of pressure…thank you L. Little.
OL = D. They got an A in the first half but failed the second half…which in my grading system is weighted more heavily. Thus, the grade of D. Anyway, they didn’t adjust to the Bills adjustments in the second half and we lost the game b/c of it (and b/c of Trent’s pick 6).
WR = F. AVery’s score was when he was lined up at RB. Holt…man, I feel bad for you brother. You have no help on the other side, a QB that doesn’t have the time to get you the ball, you’re consistently doubled team, and you’re a step slower. No wonder Bruce left. I’m sure you didn’t think it would end like this…let’s hope it doesnt…
Mr. Coats,
Unlike most of the comments, I do enjoy the weekly report card segment. I think that overall effort has allowed some positions to escape a F grade, as I have watched every second of all four losses and don’t see a lack of effort by the players (skill and effectiveness maybe). Fans are so quick to judge someone elses effort, but most could not stand up to the same critizism at their own jobs.
Coats: You’re kidding, right? Coaching: C- The coach has just been FIRED…yet you have never given Linehan a failing grade. So I take it that you disagree with the firing?
I think that the Bills game should be treated as a semester term in which you have mid-term grades and final grades. Honestly..for the Mid-term I thought QB was a C because Green was efficient but not Great. HB was an A…no question. O-Line..B+ Great on the Run side, Average on the Pass side. D-Line-A…no question.. LB-B..it would be worse without will (Who is playing out of position) DBs-B..it would be far worse with tye hill..but the Bills tried 3 long balls to Bartell and had 0 completions. Special Teams…maybe a C-…coaching A..Saunders showed plays and actually tried to go deep…haslett had the right dfnse…(helped by Little).
Now the Final Grades..based on the second half.. QB-D..Did nothing. HB-C only because of pass receiving…but nothing on the ground..0-Line-D..couldn’t keep open holes. D-Line.D..because they got an F in the second half. LB-D…couldn’t find them DB’s-C..because of injuries..they were thin and not ready…Special Teams D- For Donnie..he’s all we have..
Coaching D- Saunders failed to show anything in the second half…and still crazy play calls on 2nd and 3rd and short…why run toss and sweeps with Jackson? Oh and why do we run the exact same plays in the exact same situations every week? Last week it was tosses to the left and right..this week it was the shotgun draw…Oh..and by the way…what happened to playaction in the second half…and do we know that you can beat a blitz with a screen?
Haslett’s unit…couldn’t make a stop..