St. Louis Rams report card @ 49ers
SAN FRANCISCO — Here’s one blogger’s grades for the Rams after Sunday’s 35-16 loss to the San Francisco 49ers:
QUARTERBACK: Because the Rams again fell behind by a ton at the half, they became a one-dimensional offense. Marc Bulger launched 53 passes but produced a relatively meager 295 yards on 34 completions. He also committed three turnovers — two interceptions and a fumble — and all three resulted in Frisco TDs. Bulger, who seems to have lost his pocket presence, was sacked three times. Only a late TD toss pushed his passer rating up to a mediocre 69.3. GRADE: D-
RUNNING BACKS: Subbing for the injured Steven Jackson, Antonio Pittman and Kenneth Darby were solid. They produced 208 total yards, with the Rams advancing 6.5 yards each time they touched the ball. Pittman nearly got his first 100-yard rushing game, and Darby displayed a nice dimension with eight catches. GRADE: B
RECEIVERS: The Teen Squad — Donnie Avery, Derek Stanley and Keenan Burton — totaled 14 receptions for 127 yards. Torry Holt had five catches for 60 yards, and Dane Looker got the Rams’ lone TD on a 2-yard reception late in the fourth quarter. GRADE: B
OFFENSIVE LINE: After Orlando Pace (knee) and Richie Incognito (shoulder) left, the Rams were without any reserve linemen. Adam Goldberg took over for Pace, and Brett Romberg filled in for Incognito. Bulger was relatively well protected, and the run-blocking was better. GRADE: C+
DEFENSIVE LINE: Some shoddy tackling, and again poor play vs. the run. The line produced no sacks and only occasional pressure. 49ers QB Shaun Hill was able to avoid tacklers and pick up real estate on scrambles. GRADE: D-
LINEBACKERS: Pisa Tinoisamoa forced a fumble. Will Witherspoon was credited with a game-high 12 tackles in the unofficial press-box stats, but also missed a couple of times. Quinton Culberson was quiet. GRADE: C-
SECONDARY: CB Jason Craft recovered a fumble and had both Rams sacks. S Oshiomogho Atogwe punched out the ball that Craft grabbed. Coverage was so-so, and tackling wasn’t very good, either. Journeyman QB Hill recorded a gaudy 142.3 passer rating. GRADE: D+
SPECIAL TEAMS: Josh Brown hit on three of four FG tries, but missed a 48-yarder on the opening possession. Donnie Jones averaged 41.8 yards — almost 10 fewer than his league-best season norm — on four punts. Allen Rossum’s 29-yard punt return, to the Rams 34, set up Frisco’s first TD. Coverage in general was supbar. Nothing exciting from returners Travis Minor and Dane Looker. GRADE: C-
COACHING: OC Al Saunders was handcuffed after the Rams tumbled into an early hole and the offense was forced to try to rally via the pass. The middle of the field often was ignored. DC Rick Venturi’s unit couldn’t muscle up and force a field goal in the brutal seconed quarter and perhaps stifle the Niners’ momentum a bit. Why were the Rams punting in the late going despite trailing big? And how much do the Rams have to be down at the half for Jim Haslett to pull an ineffective Bulger? GRADE: D+


Given Trent Green’s ho-hum performance last week, and in the game where Linehan benched Bulger, is he really a much better option than Bulger? The one thing he has going for him is that last week, the team seemed to get a bit of a spark with him that Bulger couldn’t provide, but neither QB is a winning option at this point.
So which will Rosenbloom do first, retool the front office or sell the team?
The front office shuffle has to be the team’s first dance for next year. Even IF we get the right people in place it will take time and patience to get this mess turned around. Lets hope the town can keep our team this time and at least enjoy watching talented players from other teams until we get back on solid ground.
wow, I don’t get why everyone is so willing to throw bulger under the bus. I really dont see how you can look at the playcalling and revolving door defense and say bulger was ineffective. he was forcing the ball for sure but thats because he had to. he doesnt have the time for the recievers to get separation so he has to throw into coverage. he completed well over 50 percent of his passes for almost 300 yards. I found that something to find hope in.
I could write a book ranting and raving about this team. I will just try to sum it up by saying that it is truly agonizing to watch them. They’re not mediocre, or even bad, they’re horrific in most areas. It’s time to flush this big turd down the toilet and rebuild completely from the very top to the very bottom. Curbstomp Zygmunt and Shaw. Everyone was talking about how bad Millen was as GM in Detroit? He just made an already bad team a bit worse. These comedians managed to turn a perennial Super Bowl contender into one of the worst teams in the league in the same amount of time. Possibly keep Devaney and get him all new help in the front office or else an entirely new front office. The entire coaching staff needs to go. We need a clean break and new culture around this team, and in this case, continuity is a very bad thing. All of the supposed veteran “leaders” need to go and right now for this same reason. The Rams at this point have developed a culture of entitlement and complacency which is very disturbing and needs to be eliminated to prevent our few good young players from being ruined. It seems like the longer players play with this team, the worse they get. I don’t care how many cap hits they take, there ain’t gonna be any quick or easy fixes for this team. There’s too many holes, so might as well clear out all the dead weight now. I would honestly be more entertained watching a younger team with a lot of patchwork undrafted free agents fighting and losing than to watch these smug veteran losers insult my intelligence by pretending to be “leaders” with their heart and soul on winning. The 95 through 98 teams didn’t infuriate me nearly as much because yeah, they stunk and were outclassed by most teams, but at least the played hard and tried as hard as they could to be competitive. I don’t see that now.
Possibly keep Devaney?!?!? I say keep him for sure. He is the only guy that knows what is going on in the front office. His draft picks this year seem promising, and most importantly he didn’t whiff in the first 2 rounds like in years past. If your 4th-7th rounders work out it is a plus but you CANNOT MISS on the first 2 rounds. These are supposed to be impact players that you can build on for years to come and so far Avery and Long seem to have that potential. Ziggy and Shaw have got to go….priority one. Trade Little and Holt to a contender for some picks and lets start to get out of this mess.
Whether Green can handle it or not this season is so in the tank its time to give Berlin a chance. They need to see what he can do now as the entire QB situation needs to be redone for next year. Bulger should be cut when the season ends and that should be the first shot fired in a total team revamp.
I think its quit generous to give Bulger a D-. After all, he is failing. If you were a school teacher, you wouldn’t give a failing student a passing grade. It’s time for the Rams to move on and try something else as far as QB. It’s plain to see it would be hard to make a mistake and put the wrong guy in now. Protect Bulger all you want. He is still failing as a QB.
It’s called reading a defense. There were a few plays where the quarterback, not naming names here, looked at his first option and saw the safety over top and then went through his progressions somewhat and still threw to his first option who he knew was double covered. I think “the qb” is just throwing the ball up for grabs and hoping someone catches it and most of the time that someone is the other team. Makes no sense, sometimes a qb just has to tuck it and run…not every passing play is going to lead to a wr open.
How can this team get blown out so severely 3 weeks in a row and and any facet of it receive a passing grade. Arent you being quite generous with these grades? Perhaps a sliding scale?
Bulger never had a pocket presence. He avoids blitz’s like a fat person avoids Krispy Kremes. Isn’t it funny, how when RG Incognito goes down and suddenly Bulger has time to throw? Bulger deserves an F. He has never been good, let alone great.
Witherspoon is NOT A MLB. Hey Rick, you are the DC. Move him to SLB. Put in Mr Irrelevent as MLB.
Hey Al, use the running game & the middle of the field. It takes pressure off Bulger. Hey AL, put Darby in play action passing situations. He is the only guy capable of picking up blitzers.
Jim Haslett, Al Saunder’s, Rick Venturi may be good coaches, but clearly none of these players are listening. I am not down on Haslett & Co. because you can’t make a horse drink bourbon.
If Bulger is the best option to win games, somebody needs to clone him 31 more times. Make Bulger into Mr Smith from Matrix. Since 1 Bulger is perfect, maybe 30 others will make the Rams a new dynasty..
2nd week in a row this is easy F for every group. I didn’t give a lot of credence to people saying Bulger is not a leader and his body language can discourage a team but I witnessed it on Sunday. Coach Hasslet said the team had a fragile pyschi when facinf adversity and he was right. When Bulger failed to lead the Offense to a touchdown once they entered the red zone, and Brown missed the field goal it seem to take the life out of the team. At home I said here we go again so I know the players on the field felt the same, and we were right. With the defense being under sized they need to play with emotion and every offensive possesion sucks it out of them when Bulger and company constantly go 3 and out and fail to captalize on the turnovers the defense comes up with. The defense got tired of it at quit. A blogger on Gordos site stated Bulger is going down and hes taking Hasslet with him. Hasslet’s biggest mistake was going back to Bulger after the Buffaloe game. With Green at QB the offense showed a spark and the playing calling was much more agressive and innovative because Green has years of experience and success in Offensive cordinator Al Saunders system. One of two things have to happen. Marc Bulger has to go or the Rams need a whole new coaching staff because the players don’t beleive in this system with Bulger in control. I vote for Bulger leaving.
Rams, Jets, Falcons, and Dolphins all had similar records in 07. The only team not to change QB was the Rams. The only team that is in the same position record wise is the Rams. Skillz only explain part of a QB’s duties, the other more important responsibility is on-field leadership. Bulger has to go regardless of his physical abilities. If players were honest and off the record I’m sure the team has lost confidience in Bulger’s ability to lead the team.
The person I feel most sorry for is Chip Rosenblum. He has a team he wants to sell, but with the economy being what it is, who has 800-900 million to spare? So, he’ll have to keep the team, yet hire a new President, GM and Head Coach. He has millions tied up in people like Bulger, Pace & Holt, great players in their day but their time has come and gone..I think we all know that. Of course, the Rams will have high draft picks which will just cost him more money. This is of course assuming he has in place quality talent evaluators, and that’s certainly debatable. Of course, along with the bad economy he has a fan base that’s both angry and disgusted, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of PSL’s aren’t renewed, further eroding his ability to make the money he’ll have to spend in the next few months. Don’t know what to say to you Chip, but hang in there. The only idea I have is to put the team on the open market..in other words create a public corporation that people buy shares in. Only thing I can think of…