Around the Horns

The Rams opened the game with a three-and-out offensive sequence, thanks to a botched center-quarter back exchange between Brett Romberg (inexplicably in  this week for Andy McCollum) and Marc Bulger on third down.

They nearly got the ball back on special teams, with speedy Derek Stanley making a great play to force Allen Rossum to  fumble the ensuing punt. The Steelers scrambled to recover the loose ball, though, and Ben Roethlisberger  immediately heaved an 83-yard completion to Santonio Holmes over the top of Ron Bartell.

Ouch.

That led to Roethlisberger’s 17-yard TD pass to Nate Washington (after a couple of unsuccessful runs), capping the quick 96-yard TD drive. So less than five minutes into this game, Pittsburgh had a 7-0 lead —  much to the delight of the thousands of Steelers fans packed into  The Ed.

Stanley returned the ensuing kick to the 41, show the same burst he had on punt coverage. So that was a  plus.

Bulger’s 19-yard pass to Torry Holt moved the Rams into scoring range.  Steven Jackson spun away from a  Steelers  blitz  for 10 yards and another first down.  He pounded out five more  yards to carry the Rams into the red zone.

Then he caught a safety-valve pass from a scrambling Bulger for five more yards another first down. Then he took a screen pass in traffic and turned a  nothing play into the tying touchdown, somehow getting  loose for a 12-yard catch-and-run play.

We know this  is Marshall Faulk’s night, but Jackson is a special player.  

Linebacker Brandon Chillar continued his salary drive by sacking Roethlisberger on the first play of the next Pittsburgh possession. Chillar stayed with him on his rollout, then made a good open-field tackle when Roethlisberger stopped to throw.

Rookie cornerback Jonathan Wade missed an open-field tackle on Holmes, but the Rams stiffened after that mishap and forced the Steelers to punt . . . or did they? The Steelers burned the Rams with a 32-yard fake punt play, with punter  Daniel Sepulveda throwing to fullback Najeh Davenport.

(Write your own comment about the Rams’ special teams  coaching below.)

Roethlisberger located Hines Ward for a clutch third-down reception, moving the ball to the Rams 11. Chillar made another nice play, taking down the scrambling Roethlisberger in the open field, and Pittsburgh had to settle for a field goal.

Aftering sitting out a week, defensive lineman Claude Wroten was active for this game — at the expense of Trevor Johnson, who led the inactive list.

Other inactives were third quarterback Brock Berlin, receiver Marques Hagans, cornerback Eric Bassey, tackle Nick Leckey, tackle Rob Petitti, tackle Mark Levoir and . . . back under contract, running back Rich Alexis.

He replaces injured running back Travis Minor, who was relegated to injured reserve.

There were no surprises at the Edward Jones Dome Sunday afternoon.

Packers quarterback Brett Favre continued his assault on the NFL record book and his quest of the MVP award.

The Rams continued their season-long pattern of crumbling during the second half. Once again failed to build on a solid first-half performance —  even with Steven  Jackson plowing for 143 yards.  

So Green Bay pulled away to a 33-14 victory to clinch a first-round playoff bye. Along the way, Favre became the league’s all-time career passing yards leader in the process, passing Dan Marino.

Plenty of Green Bay fans ventured south through the snow to enjoy the record-setting show.

Rams safety O.J. Atogwe picked off two of Favre’s deep throws up the right sideline, but Brett kept firing away. As for the Rams offense . . . well, it just stopped firing altogether Packers forced Marc Bulger into catch-up mode.

So the Rams fell to 3-11 in this forgettable season with two losses, er, games left on their schedule.

Many things went wrong for them, as usual. Breakdowns in the kicking game gave the Packers a lot of short fields. Penalty after penalty hurt the Rams on both sides of the ball.

Bulger suffered two interceptions on passes off the hands of his receivers. And, yes, he took some monstrous hits as well.

Aside from Jackson’s Pro Bowl-caliber performance, there weren’t many positives for the Rams. Which is pretty much what everybody expected.

Jeff Wilkins started the quarter with a thud, leaving a 48-yard field goal attempt well shot.

The Packers moved in for the kill. Brett Favre’s completion to Donald Driver gave him the all-time NFL career passing yardage record, eclipsing Dan Marino’s record.

Ryan Grant’s 24-yard run moved the Packers into scoring range, then a dubious pass interference call on Corey Chavous — compounded by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Rams defensive coordinator Jim Haslett — put the Packers on the Rams 10.

Another Rams penalty moved the ball to the 5. But the Rams defense held, with Jonathan Wade  breaking up the third-down pass, and the Packers settled for another Mason Crosby field  goal.

And the Packers had a comfy  30-14 lead.

Bulger came back with completions to Randy McMichael and Steven Jackson, but, once again, he failed to sustain the  possession. The Packers took over with still another short field and measured the Rams for the kill shot.  

But Atogwe didn’t let them deliver it, making his second interception of a deep throw down the right sideline.

A nice run by Antonio Pittman and  Bulger’s completion to Isaac Bruce gave the Rams rolling again, but then Marc went down on back-to-back sacks and the  Rams eventually turned the ball over on downs again.

Still another Crosby field goal pushed the Packers lead to 33-14.  

Steven Jackson got the Rams started with two tough runs, then a third-down reception to move the chains. He is getting all the touches he can handle in this contest.

Alex Barron earned his second false-start penalty of the game. Marc Bulger worked to overcome that, hitting Isaac Bruce for 10 yards. But he bounced his third-down pass off Bruce  to Atari Bigby, who grabbed his second interception..  

Cornerback Ron Bartell saved a touchdown by swatting away Brett Favre’s third-down bomb to Donald Driver, but Mason Crosby kicked a 50-yard field goal to expand Green Bay’s lead to 20-14.

Back came the Rams, with Jackson pounding away on the ground. But a personal foul penalty on Milford Brown backed up the Rams and forced Scott Linehan to be careful with his playcalling.

And Bulger almost went down for the count on a Packers blitz, barely ducking under a huge hit. So the possession that started promisingly ended badly.

Rams defensive end Victor Adeyanju broke up a screen pass and nearly scored an interception as the Packers came back at the Rams on a short field.
He wishes he made that play, because Greg Jennings broke wide open behind the Rams defense on the next play for a 44-yard TD catch. Yikes!

Where did the Rams secondary go on this play? With that big strike, the Packers pushed their lead to 27-14. Who could have possibly guessed that the Rams would crumble in the second half again?

Bulger tried to rally his guys with completions to Drew Bennett and Randy McMichael. After Bruce dropped a would-be first-down pass, Linehan went for it on fourth-and-one — and got the first down with a little counter-pitch play to Jackson.

On third-and-13, the Rams broke Bennett free for a 16-yard reception  to finally get back  into scoring range.

Green Bay finished off its second scoring drive with a four-yard Brett Favre-to-Donald Lee pass. The scrambling Favre seemed to throw the ball right at Fakhir Brown, but the ball magically eluded him and went to Lee.

So the Packers led 14-7.

Back came the Rams. Steven Jackson broke a swing pass for one first down. The Rams picked up another on an offsides penalty and another on a completion to Torry Holt. A quick-hit pass to Drew Bennett over the middle — to counter a Green Bay blitz — pushed the ball into  Packers territory.

And then came the big play — Jackson blowing through the Packers for a 46-yard TD run. Credit tackle Brandon Gorin for springing him with a huge block. Again, Linehan’s scheme and play-calling got nice results.

With the game tied 14-14, Favre knew he had some more gunslinging to do. But Jim Haslett’s defense responded with a timely three-and-out stop.

But the Rams took a three-and-out powder,  failing to pick up and counter  Green Bay’s third-down blitz. After another poor Jones punt (39  yards, with  little hang time) handed the Packers terrific field position.

The Rams defense held tough against Favre, but the Packers converted the field position into Mason Crosby’s 44-yard field goal and a 17-14 lead.

Derek Stanley’s kick return audition continued to go poorly. He got rocked on the ensuing kickoff and spit up the ball. Teammate Richard Owens recovered it, but the Rams got stuck on their own 4 with that mishap and  a holding penalty on  a return block.

Bulger got the Rams out of their hole with a 37-yard bomb to Isaac Bruce up the right sideline. That  reception lifted Ike to fourth on the all-time NFL career receiving yards list.

Bulger’s roll-out completion to Drew Bennett picked up another first down and stopped the clock. But then he bounced his next pass off Bennett to Packers defensive back Atari Bigby. The ball was a little high, but Bennett has to make that catch.

This gave the Packers the chance to score again. But O.J. Atogwe made the saving play, a terrific over-the-shoulder interception to keep Green Bay off the board.

That was Atogwe’s six interception of the season.  Dare we say the oft-maligned Rams draft  board  found  something with that pick?  

A lot of empty seats on this snowy Sunday — and lots and lots of Packers fans.

The game starts badly enough with poor kickoff coverage. A 43-yard Koren Robinson return set the Packers up in great field position. Then a completion to Robinson, an off-side penalty on linebacker  Chris Draft and a defensive holding penalty on  cornerback  Fakhir Brown moved Green Bay into immediate scroring range.

Packers icon Brett Favre kept marching his offense until running back  Ryan Grant walked in for the first touchdown of the game.  Just like that, Green Bay led 7-0.

It took the Packers just two plays to score their first sack of poor Marc Bulger. That led to the predictable three-and-out start for the Rams offense.

Do you get the idea this won’t the Rams day?

After a poor Donnie Jones punt (31 yards!), Favre got the Packers rolling again with a 21-yard completion to James Jones.

But then the Rams got a defensive takeaway, with Chillar blowing up a screen pass to Grant and Adam Carriker recovering the fumble. If Chillar doesn’t make that play, Grant might have run for the distance.

A defensive holding penalty on Green Bay finally got the Rams offense moving forward. A couple of tough runs by Steven Jackson earned them another first down. A completion to Torry Holt moved the Rams into scoring range.

Antonio Pittman’s 13-yard surge moved the ball to the Green Bay 20.  This kid is a nice change-of-pace sub for Jackson, no?  What a gift from Saints.

On third-and-seven,  Bulger executed a red zone play — hitting a Dane Looker over the middle for a first down as he ran a nifty route.

After the obligatory bulldozing Jackson run,  Bulger  finished off the drive with a TD pass to a wide-open Torry  Holt in the left corner of the end zone.  With a terrific drive, doing it the Scott Linehan way, the Rams tied the game 7-7.

Robinson  broke another big  return,  but a holding penalty well downfield forced the  Packers to settle for merely good  field position — at the Rams 45.  

Then came a harmless swing pass over to Donald Driver . . . that broke for 37 yards, due to some shoddy tackling in the Rams secondary.

Derek Stanley will get his long-awaited chance to return kicks.

That was the big news with the lineup. Stanley was active and both Marques Hagans and the injured Brandon Williams were out. With Stanley promoted from the practice squad, spare quarterback Todd Bouman was let go.

Also inactive were safety Hanik Milligan, third quarterback Brock Berlin, offensive lineman Nick Leckey, concussed tackled Rob Pettiti, tackle Mark LeVoir and enigmatic defensive  lineman Claude Wroten.  

Rams president John Shaw gave second-year coach Scott Linehan a strong vote of confidence this week. The team celebrated the news by banking its 10th loss of the season, 19-10 at Cincinnati.

Of course, there were mitigating circumstances. With this team, there almost always are.

Brock Berlin made his NFL debut, starting in play of injured starting quarterback  Marc Bulger (concussion) and back-up Gus Frerotte (torn labrum).

This was just the latest development in a season-long series of injury-related disasters. Kick returner Dante Hall and cornerback Tye Hill also bowed out for the season this week, leaving Linehan and his staff scrambling to adapt.

Orlando Pace, Leonard Little, Richie Incognito, Pisa Tinoisamoa, Mark Setterstrom, Adam Goldberg, Jerome Carter . . . the list of key injuries goes on and on with this team.

In that context, then, Linehan and Co. should be commended for leading this battered team to a competitive showing against the Bengals.

The Rams defense held up well, despite spending a LOT of time on the field. Jim Haslett’s unit picked off two Carson Palmer passes and scored a defensive touchdown.

Berlin wasn’t great against the Bengals, but he didn’t make big mistakes either. He didn’t turn the ball over until the game got desperate, inside the last 2 minutes.

Given the limited practice time he had with the first-team offense last week, what more could be expected?

Steven Jackson rushed for 91 yards and caught four passes for 26 yards more. Torry Holt caught eight passes for 90 yards. Isaac Bruce, though, didn’t make a catch and Berlin wasn’t able to get a whole lot done downfield.

Brock Berlin started the quarter on a good note, completing a nice throw to Torry Holt. But Steven Jackson’s nice burst up the middle was negated by a holding call on Brandon Gorin.

Then a chop-block penalty against Todd Steussie essentially ended this possession. The Bengals also salled on their next possession, keeping the Rams within nine points.

Marques  Hagans didn’t help himself by fumbling  the ensuing  punt, but the loose ball bounced safely out of bounds. This is NOT how a young guys carves out a niche for himself in the NFL.

Berlin made his best downfield throw of the game, finding Holt for 23-yard gain. That gave Torry his eighth consecutive 1,000-yard receiving season. Completions to Holt and Randy McMichael kept the chains moving.

After  the Broncos batted down Berlin’s third-and-10 pass attempt, Jeff Wilkins kicked a 50-yard field goal to cut Cincinnati’s lead to 16-10.

The Bengals continued to play conservatively in the wet conditions. They  seemed more interested in burning the remaining clock than  scoring a touchdown.

Rudi Johnson gashed the  Rams defense with one power run after another, advancing the ball upfield while clocking off the  remaining minutes.

His fifth run pushed the ball all way the to the Rams 28 games, getting Cincinnati into position for the clinching field goal.

Graham dialed up a 47-yard field goal to give Cincinnati a 19-10 lead put the Rams away.