Rams Report Card @ Jacksonville
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Here’s one blogger’s grades for the Rams after Sunday’s 23-20 overtime loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
QUARTERBACK: Starting for the first time since injuring his shoulder three weeks ago, Marc Bulger got off to an impressive start. He was five-of-five on the opening drive, a 73-yard march that ended with Bulger’s 17-yard TD pass to WR Donnie Avery. Bulger was intercepted once, on an overthrown ball to Avery near the end zone. After Avery exited in the second quarter with a hip injury, Bulger’s effectiveness dipped — no great surprise, sin that he was targeting largely inexperienced WRs. Despite generally good protection, he finished 22 of 34 for 213 yards. GRADE: C+
RUNNING BACKS: The Rams ran only 18 times. Steven Jackson, given little room, rushed for 50 yards on 16 carries, but added six catches for 78 yards. As usual, Jackson ran hard, especially on a 38-yard gain on a screen pass that ignited the Rams’ game-tying drive. GRADE: B-
RECEIVERS: A so-so day, especially after Avery left the game. WR Keenan Burton was the leading receiver, but with a mere 37 yards on five catches. No big gaffes, but not much impact, either, in this category. GRADE: C-
OFFENSIVE LINE: Bulger was sacked once and hit just one other time, impressive work by those protecting him. The run blocking was poor, however. Jackson often had to grind out real estate on his own. GRADE: C-
DEFENSIVE LINE: T Clifton Ryan roamed the line of scrimmage with a vengeance, picking up five tackles (press-box stats) and a sack. Leonard Little and James Hall also had sacks, and fellow lineman C.J. Ah You tipped a pass that was intercepted. Little raced 36 yards for a TD on an interception. Still, there was little resistance on the Jaguars’ last two drives, which turned the outcome. GRADE: B
LINEBACKERS: Two weeks, two picks for Laurinaitis. He also was credited with five tackles, two fewer than SLB Paris Lenon, who turned in his best game since stepping in for the suspended David Vobora. WLB Will Witherspoon had three stops. There were some problems in coverage and sealing the perimeter. GRADE: C
SECONDARY: Ex-teammate Torry Holt made life difficult for CB Ron Bartell. Mike Sims-Walker did even more damage, though, as the Jags piled up 335 receiving yards. S Oshiomogho Atogwe was credited with a team-high 10 tackles. Bartell and S Craig Dahl dropped interceptions. GRADE: D
SPECIAL TEAMS: Donnie Jones had a rare off day, averaging 41.2 yards (39.8 net) on six punts. K Josh Brown connected for field goals of 52 and 27 yards, the latter sending the game into OT. Danny Amendola was solid on kickoff returns, averaging 31.3 yards on three. He returned one punt for 11 yards. The Rams’ coverage was pretty good. GRADE: C+
COACHING: HC Steve Spagnuolo wisely ordered a FG with just seven seconds left in the fourth quarter and the Rams on the Jags 9-yard line. Any kind of hiccup while gambling on another snap would’ve doomed the Rams. Game management was pretty good. OC Pat Shurmur continued to be more aggressive with his play-calling, especially before Avery was hurt. Partly because of that, the Rams lacked balance — 18 runs vs. 35 pass plays. DC Ken Flajole also is bringing the heat more regularly and molding an effective rotation up front. GRADE: B
COACHING: HC Steve Spagnuolo wisely ordered a FG with just seven seconds left in the fourth quarter and the Rams on the Jags 9-yard line. Any kind of hiccup while gambling on another snap would’ve doomed the Rams.
Are you serious? 1st and goal with a time out and we run up to spike the ball with 20 seconds left? Call the time out, save the 13 seconds and take three shots. That’s what good teams do.
The coaching sucked …not going for the TD and kicking the field goal….You would think this team was in the play off hunt…They are going no where but reverse!!!
You go for the win!!!!!!!!!!!! What’s another loss in a season that is a total loss as of now!!
The coach should be in Guantanamo
Hey, we are not good. They gave them a fight. You can’t expect a team to win when there defense is on the field for 42 minutes.
bill-i think you have to be fair about the oline.every d we face puts 8 in the box…hard to run against that.
o.j. had ten tackles, but his coverage is terrible and way overrated by the media.
Bill, you are way off on the coaching.
You go for the win in that situation. And you give the ball to SJax more.
Hey don’t criticize Bulger. He played the best he could play. That is right, that is the “peak” of his abilities…(which ain’t very good). Marc did as well as we should expect of him at QB. He cannot get any better. Last week th erams had over 400 yards of offense (with Boller…at best an average QB) against one of the best defensive teams in the NFL. This week, with Bulger AT HIS BEST, the team produced about 200 yards total offense, until a short pass to Steven Jackson led to 50 yards of sheer will on Jackson’s part. And this was against one of the WORST offensive teams in the NFL. I know most people can see this, but Spagnola (whom I think will be a fine head coach) has Bulger-disease, like a small minority of Rams fans. Just remember, Bulger’s best is about 35th in the NFL for QBs. At least he is better than Jamarcus Russell and better than Marc Sanchez’s game against Buffalo. Editorial comment: Sanchez and Russell are two more cases of the misguided playing rookie QBs their first year, and ending up retarding their progress.
Shurmur continued to be more aggressive with his play-calling??? When was this after Avery went down? Don’t know what game you were watching. Shurmur is in over his head.
0-6 - you can not have any passing grades period
Bill, I’m sorry, but Bulger didn’t overthrow that ball. He underthrew it something awful. That was a terrible throw, and Avery did everything he could.
They definitely should have called the time out to give them more opportunities at the end zone. Once they failed to do that, then they were stuck with just the one shot at the end zone.
This team has got to improve its depth at WR. Teams just simply don’t have to respect the passing game right now. Jackson is seen as the only offensive threat, so teams will continue to stack the box against them.
It was good to see that the lines are definitely improving. I’m happy to see Laurianitis and Dahl developing into solid players, and Clifton Ryan was a beast today. Long is killing us on the end, and they definitely need help at the CB position.
The offense is going to have to find a way to even out the time of possession because the defense is simply wearing out in the 4th quarter. I’m starting to really question the conditioning of the defense.
Totally agree with etp_stl and the UNDERTHROWN ball that was an interception. C’mon Bill you can do better than this. Bulger will never be a reason a team wins. He might be an OK mechanical QB on a good team but that’s it. Bulger definitely wasted time on the final drive sequence. Can’t have that. QB needs to be a leader. I know we’re stuck with him but, move on. I’d rather see Boller do his thing (good & bad) or give Null the time to show his stuff.
I also agree with the comment that Coats is off his rocker with the comment that Shurmur’s offensive play calling got more aggressive in the 2nd half. Man that is so far off. It’s like Coats has a script he is trying to support and is writing these grades to fit it.
We played pretty good at times today. Our offense let us down though and left the defense out on the field too long. This turned out to bite us in the OT. But the O failed us big time on that last drive. We could have put this game away. It was part play calling part execution. I wish we would make some progress in the right areas.