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09.13.2009 10:03 pm

Rams report card vs. Seahawks

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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SEATTLE – Here’s one blogger’s grades for the Rams after Sunday’s 28-0 loss to the Seattle Seahawks:

QUARTERBACK: He was sacked three times, but Marc Bulger didn’t get much done even when he had plenty of time to throw. Bulger, playing with his injured right pinky finger taped, looked tentative in the pocket never did get into a rhythm. He wasn’t intercepted, but completed just 47.2 percent of his passes and earned a poor 63.5 passer rating. When a team gets shut out, most of the blame falls on the QB. GRADE: F

RUNNING BACKS: Steven Jackson didn’t have much room to operate, but he didn’t bring much juice, either, getting just 67 yards on 16 carries. His 4.2-yard-per-carry average was propped up by some late bursts well after the outcome was determined. Only two passes were thrown Jackson’s way, and he caught neither. One was a flat-out drop. GRADE: D-

RECEIVERS: WRs Donnie Avery and Laurent Robinson, and TE Randy McMichael combined for 15 catches and 177 yards. But that was about the extent of the receivers’ contributions. WR Keenan Burton, who had trouble getting separation, had just one receptions, as did TE Daniel Fells. GRADE: C-

OFFENSIVE LINE: The pass blocking wasn’t terrible, despite the three sacks. There were few holes for Jackson to exploit. Rookie RT Jason Smith gave up one of the sacks but generally was OK. G Richie Incognito’s two personal-foul penalties were killers, and his undisciplined play dragged down the entire unit. GRADE: D-

DEFENSIVE LINE: Seahawks QB Matt Hasselbeck was rarely touched, and he torched the Rams for 279 yards and three TDs. Again, the Rams were gashed on the ground. Seattle rolled up 167 rushing yards, including a 62-yard TD run by Julius Jones in which he was barely touched. DE Leonard Little was whistled for a 15-yard personal foul that extended Seattle’s first TD drive. GRADE: D-

LINEBACKERS: Rookie James Laurinaitis was stout in the middle, collecting 14 tackles in the unofficial press-box stats. He had some miscues in coverage, but overall it was an impressive debut. David Vobora was active at SLB, but also had a couple of breakdowns. WLB Will Witherspoon had six stops and forced a fumble that Laurinaitis recovered. GRADE: C

SECONDARY: Safeties Oshiomogho Atogwe and James Butler had interceptions that snuffed promising Seahawks drives. CB Ron Bartell was generally strong in coverage, and Jonathan Wade did OK in his start at the other corner, although at times the DBs gave the receivers too much cushion. GRADE: C+

SPECIAL TEAMS: Donnie Avery fumbled away the opening kickoff. Josh Brown missed a 37-yard FG. A blocked FG and subsequent TD run was wiped out by an inexcusable 12-men-on-the-field penalty. Donnie Jones was his usual steady self, averaging 50.8 yards on eight punts. Rams returns were OK, their coverage pretty good. GRADE: D-

COACHING: There were problems getting personnel into the game, which cost the Rams a couple of timeouts. HC Steve Spagnuolo had a generally rough debut, but he earned points for temporarily benching, but not burying, Richie Incognito after his second personal foul. OC Pat Shurmur’s play-calling was timid and uninspired. The Rams failed to capitalize on the three early turnovers that DC Ken Flajole’s unit provided. The defense remains soft vs. the run, and there was little pressure on Hasselbeck. Tom McMahon’s special-teams committed a couple of major gaffes. GRADE: D-

119 comments

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Ya, If this team falls any futher, its going to be at Obama’s level with Mel. Talk about losers!

— KVPHawk
10:14 pm September 13th, 2009

The Rams looked about as out of place as stupid political cheap shots on a Sports Page’s comment section…

— Idiot
10:32 pm September 13th, 2009

If Incognito doesn’t get benched for at least a game, Spags will lose the respect of a lot of people, and probably most of his team. You can’t have guys like this on your team. He is worse than Leslie O’niel. (yeah, remember him?)

— Jamie
10:35 pm September 13th, 2009

I know it’s only one game but this looks a lot like the past two seasons where only the punter merits consideration for the Pro Bowl. I was hoping Spags would have sent Incognito to the showers. The game was over at the time of his second stupid penalty. Why not make an even stronger statement? On the plus side, no Alex Barron false start penalties.

— Cross-Czech
10:42 pm September 13th, 2009

Spags handling of C Draft vs his handling of Cogs, makes his 4 pillars sound pretty hypocritical. Four pillars, yeah right, when a coach is not true to his words, bad things happen, the players and fans will see through this BS. Spags better get rid of Richie now, or start packing his own bags…. I don’t care how Richie grades out on 50+ plays, if every game he costs us two or more drives. However I watched Ritchie completely whiff on some blocks today, so he could not possibly have gotten a good grade today. He has to go. Spagnolo’s credibility with not only the fans, but with his players are at stake. I can accept rookie mistakes, but Richie has been starting for a couple of years now, and his act is old, immature and costing us games. I have never seen a team give a player more chances to get his act together, except for Bulger, and Mark makes too much to cut this year. Richie on the other hand would have little CAP ramifications if cut, let’s just do it and move on. If he goes on to become ALL Pro somewhere else so be it. The positive PR with the fans alone, would make it worth it. We just can’t afford to keep this Albatross around the Rams necks!

— Passrush
11:16 pm September 13th, 2009

Bulger sucks! The Rams always lose a game when he starts. Bring on Boller. This guy has some success while he was at Baltimore. I have no respect for Bulger anymore and he brings no leadership to this team.

— ibleedcardinalred
11:29 pm September 13th, 2009

I think incognito only came back into the game when Smith came off the field and goldberg slide over to right tackle. The team just needs more talent than they currently have and complaining about these current players are not going to produce better players this year. Not one player from this team should be cut/released this year because there is not a single player out there that would advance the team in the long run.

— west coast ram
11:30 pm September 13th, 2009

Like, what the hell!!
What is wrong with these rams!!??
Seems like they were all doing fine
in the 1st quarter, and then, bam, they
collapse!! Spags needs to find a way how
to fix the offensive line and make the
defense tough on defense!! That was an embarrassing
lost!! If not fixed, then Ima start thinking 2-14 season :’(
but i believe in spag, he’ll change it all around!!

— Speedy
11:44 pm September 13th, 2009

Bulger has got to get rid of the ball quicker. It’s 3 or 5 drop and pass- he’s either mentally challenged or slow athletically. But this is not Martz system anywhere with 7 drop and wait. Even his few completions could have done better with quicker timing.

— cardsfan21
11:47 pm September 13th, 2009

How can you give the O-line anything but an F. Bulger was better than the o-line for sure. $100M spend on RT, C, and G last 2 years and still sux

— bay area ram fan
11:55 pm September 13th, 2009

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