Rams Report Card @ San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO — Here’s one blogger’s grades for the Rams after Sunday’s 35-0 loss to the San Francisco 49ers:
QUARTERBACK: Stepping in for the injured Marc Bulger, Kyle Boller started for the first time since 2007, when he was with the Ravens. The results were less than encouraging. Boller earned an abysmal passer rating of 48.6, a bad interception that Niners LB Patrick Willis returned for a TD knocking down the score considerably. Boller moved around well in the pocket, but was sacked five times and under heavy pressure most of the day. Penalties killed a couple of promising drives in the shutout, no fault of Boller’s. GRADE: D
RUNNING BACK: Steven Jackson ran hard, as usual. He picked up 79 tough yards on 23 carries against a Frisco defense that ranked fourth in the NFL vs. the run coming into the game. Jackson also caught three passes, but for just 6 yards. Backup RB Kenneth Darby had 12 yards on two carries, and 2 yards on a single reception. GRADE: B
RECEIVERS: WR Donnie Avery rebounded a bit from his slow start. He picked up a game-high 47 yards on three catches, including an impressive run-after-catch for an early 22-yard gain. Eight receivers caught at least one pass. No outright drops this week, but the receivers struggled to get separation again. GRADE: C
OFFENSIVE LINE: The 49ers front seven is a formidable group, and the Rams’ linemen didn’t put up much resistance. The mobile Boller was sacked five times and harassed many other times. Jackson had little room to operate. Also, the line committed three penalties, and each of them put a crimp in a possession. GRADE: D
DEFENSIVE LINE: Linemen Leonard Little, James Hall and C.J. Ah You accounted for three of the Rams’ season-high four sacks. The run defensive was stout. Rookie Glen Coffee, subbing for the injured Frank Gore, averaged just 3.1 yards on 24 carries. GRADE: B+
LINEBACKERS: The fourth sack went to SLB Larry Grant. MLB James Laurinaitis was credited with a game-high nine tackles in the unofficial press-box stats, although he was beaten by TE Vernon Davis for a TD. WLB Will Witherspoon was active. Paris Lenon was just so-so as the strongside starter for the suspended David Vobora. GRADE: B-
SECONDARY: Subbing for the injured Ron Bartell, CB Justin King gave up a TD pass to WR Josh Morgan. CB Jonathan Wade was medicore. S Craig Dahl left with a head injury, and Anthony Smith made a couple of nice plays in his stead. S Oshiomogho Atogwe was quiet. GRADE: C-
SPECIAL TEAMS: A 94-yard return by Danny Amendola on the opening kickoff was wiped out when Anthony Smith was called for holding. After a punt deflected off his leg into the end zone, Quincy Butler tried to pick it up and failed; if he’d fallen on it, it would’ve been a touchback. Instead, the 49ers recovered and took a 7-0 lead. Josh Brown was short from 51 yards on his only field goal try. Donnie Jones averaged 43.6 yards (40.8 net) on eight punts. Rams returns weren’t very good; coverage was decent. GRADE: D
COACHING: Again, too many rookie mistakes. On 3rd down and about a half-yard, RB Samkon Gado was dropped for a 1-yard loss, and Brown’s missed FB followed. In that situation, why give the ball to a back who hadn’t had a touch all season? Inexplicable. OC Pat Shurmur’s play-calling showed little imagination, a growing trend. DC Ken Flajole tried some different things, and the Rams were able to dial up some pressure on the QB. Tom McMahon’s special teams struggled. GRADE: D+
Are you kidding me? This horrible team get thumped to the tune of 35-0 and they all get a passing grade? Do they get extra credit for just showing up on the field now? How can any of them pass? Every player and coach should be ashamed to cash their game check.
Considering the score, the defense allowed only a little over 200 yards total offense. Not too shabby, IMO.
Heres my grades:
Steven Jackson-A
Everyone Else- F
The defense played well. I understand wanting to get SJ the ball, but running #39 right on every 1st down is getting old quick. As much as Spags talks this is a very undisciplined team and I’m disappointed. I expected them to play much smarter…guess it’s the same old Rams.
Well, let’s put it this way. It has become apparent that we have the worst offensive coordinator in the NFL. What kind of a coordinator dials up run plays on 3rd and long all day. Do you really think that gives our receivers reason to have confidence when their coordinator shows no confidence in them? Inexcusable. Shurmur is starting to show as a playcaller, he is a joke. Flajole and his troops can only do so much when the offense has 3 and outs just about every other series. I will say this though, the sack number would have been higher today had Bulger been in. At least Boller can give himself a chance, but there’s only so much a QB can do when his O Coordinator can’t call plays if it meant saving his life. It’s a shame. If Shurmur doesn’t have confidence to call the right plays, he needs to get the hell out of town. End of story. And take Barron with you.
Defense played well again - but can’t getting put in the same positions again. Other than OJ, there are no playmakers on that side of the ball either. There are no words for how bad this offense is. Steven runs hard and is the ultimate warrior, but they have no talent, no firepower, no chance on offense. Bulger is bad and Boller is worse. The play calling is just awful - an end around to Danny Amendola? Alex Baron gets pulled because he still doesn’t know where the line of scrimmage is - great money spent on the other free agent linemen over the past two years.
Can it get worse?
Hmmm..
To be a hypocrit or not a hypocrit,that is the question for PD bloggers/writers.
Boller gets d+ performance with 50% completion, 108 yards, 0 td’s, an int returned for a TD and a fumble that is attributed to him…
yet Bulger gets an F in the week 1 game without a turn over and more yards.
http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/around-the-horns/around-the-horns/2009/09/rams-report-card-vs-seahawks-2/
Such hypocrits
Let’s quit excusing this coaching staff. They deserve a big fat “F”. Undisciplined play that includes drive killing penalities and other assorted mistakes is a direct reflection of the coaching staff.
The Rams may not be as talented as other teams, but, if they played disciplined mistake free football I guarantee you they wouldn’t be getting blown out of these games and they might have at least one win.
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Special teams turned the whole game around….The hold on the opening kickoff cost us 7 points and the punt that hit Butler was 7 points. Without those 2 mental breakdowns, we are up at halftime—that has to be a “F” for special teams. 48 percent qb rating looks like another “F”. Gave up 5 sacks and opened no holes for Jackson, along with 3 penalties—Offensive Line gets an “F”…..Coaching is another “F”…Ten penalties again….. but you sit a guy for playing undisciplined and you get someone even worse….bad situation. Most guys 23-53 on this team should be wearing street clothes–along with a few of the starting 22.