Rams Squander An Opportunity
Under new head coach Jim Haslett, the Rams are a better, more competitive and determined football team.
But they should have won Sunday’s game in New England. Period.
The Rams offense just wasted a long menu of opportunities.
Let’s recap:
1. First possession. Emboldened by Haslett’s successful decision to go for it on 4th down earlier in the drive, the Rams advanced to the New England 2 but had to settle for a FG. Why: Marc Bulger’s third-down pass for Torry Holt went incomplete. Bulger went to the wrong receiver; he had the tight end open underneath. Outcome: 3 points instead of 7.
2. Second quarter: Rams moved to New England’s 33 and stalled. Why: Bulger fot sacked for a 13-yard loss. They had another shot, a third-down play at the New England 38. Bulger was sacked again, minus 2. Outcome: zilch, after being pushed out of Josh Brown’s FG range.
3. Third quarter: Haslett called for an onside kick to open the second half and Brown executed it perfectly. The Rams started off at their own 41. Result: nothing, three plays and out. Why: The Rams needed 4 yards on third down and Bulger couldn’t connect with TE Daniel Fell.
4. Third quarter: safety O.J. Atogwe intercepted a Matt Cassel pass to set the Rams up. They got as far as the New England 33 and conked out. Why: a 10-yard holding penalty on RT Alex Barron. And on third and 14, Bulger’s pass to Holt was good for only 11 yards. I’ve never understood the logic of routes that don’t take the receiver to the first-down marker. Holt is no longer capable of catching passes underneath and making defenders miss. Outcome: Brown kicked a 44-yard FG to tie the game at 13-13. But again, the offense couldn’t find the end zone and lost points.
5. Third quarter: CB Fakhir Brown intercepted a tipped Cassel pass to get the Rams started at their own 42. They get as far as their own 46. Outcome: Zero, as Bulger missed on a third-down pass to Holt. So in the third quarter the Rams recovered an onside kick and made two INTs and cashed in for only 3 total points. Not good.
6. Fourth quarter: Rams marched from their 36 to the New England 7. Outcome: a 25-yard FG by Brown, after Bulger can’t hook up with Holt on third down and seven. The FG gave the Rams a 16-13 lead, but they left points on the field… again.
7. Fourth quarter: The Rams were trailing 23-16 and desperate. Bulger navigated them from their 10 to the New England 33, and then it all broke down. Why? A false start on Richie Incognito, and then an interception by Bulger, who threw into triple coverage. Instead of forcing a bad pass that had no chance, Bulger could have waited a second for an open receiver, Donnie Avery to come completely clear towards the middle of the field. Avery had peeled off but the ball was already in the air. Follow-up: some of you have written to disagree, saying that Avery wasn’t really running free; you say it only appeared that way because the Patriots defenders had left him to play the ball. Perhaps. But here’s the bottom line: Bulger had plenty of time but inexplicably rushed a horrible throw that he had no chance of completing. Outcome: INT and game over.
Seven prime chances to score.
TDs scored: none.
Total points scored: 9.
And that’s the No. 1 reason why the Rams walked out of Gilette Stadium with a setback.
What a shame, because the fellas did so many things well in this game. It’s really excting to see the young wideouts (Avery and Keenan Burton) start to take off. The defense did enough to set the offense up for some scores, and that defense had to play shorthanded after DE Leonard Little and CB Ron Bartell left with injuries.
The Rams should have flown out of New England with their third consecutive victory and a chance to reach .500 on Sunday vs. Arizona. Instead they’re 2-5 and still have a long way to go to barge their way into contention in the NFC West.
I want to vent about three more things:
1. Bulger has to be much, much better than this. The good QBs, the clutch QBs, find a way to win this game. An inexperienced and inferior QB, Matt Cassel, made the money throws at the end for New England, completing all four passing attempts on the winning drive, including the decisive TD pass. Bulger had plenty of chances to make plays; we’ve already discussed all of the blown opportunities and third-down misfires. Bulger started off well, but as soon as the Patriots smacked him around, he lapsed into his old routine of throwing off the back foot, and becoming squishy in the pocket. The pressure got to him again. Bulger showed signs of being unnerved by the effects of BQS. (Battered Quarterback Syndrome). The more the Patriots hit him, the more Bulger retreated. Yes, the early flourish put Bulger in position to finish with 301 yards passing. That may look good on the stat sheet, but those who saw the game know better. In the second half Bulger completed only 8 of 20 passes and had a QB rating of 38.9. The O-line didn’t offer great protection, and Bulger was sacked four times, but on a couple of those sacks he needed to get rid of the danged football. After some hopeful progress during the previous two games, Bulger regressed. And I don’t want to hear any of this “They Didn’t Have Steven Jackson” baloney to make excuses for Bulger. Jackson’s replacement, Antonio Pittman, did a solid job. He rushed for 83 yards, averaged 4.4 yards per carry, and caught some balls to finished with 105 total yards from scrimmage. Jackson averaged 127 yards from scrimmage in the first six games.
2. I simply did not understand the play-calling approach of offensive coordinator Al Saunders, at least in the passing game. I hosted a virtual chat during the game over at the Bernie’s Press Box forum, and those who joined in know that I was squawking about the Rams’ stubborn refusal to work the short and intermediate areas in the middle of the field. You have to establish that you’ll use the middle and make the defense account for that.and ir helps to force those slower ILB to cover. But the Rams were predictable and directed much of their air game to the sideline. .
3. The officiating was a disgrace, and an embarrassment to the NFL. Nine penalties on the Rams? And NONE called on the Patriots? (Well, they did call a couple of penalties which were declined by the Rams, but that’s not the point). The Rams had to go into New England and not only beat the Patriots and handle the home crowd, but also had to overcome the grossly incompetent officiating. The refs ignored a blatant late hit out of bounds against Fakhir Brown when he made his INT. Head referee Scott Green ignored an obvious roughing-the-passer episode that happened several feet from him, and while he was staring at the play. Green also threw a flag on the Patriots for hitting Bulger in the facemask, then picked up the flag and waved off the penalty. They missed other stuff, too, including some flagrant holding calls. The lazy, gutless display by this crew only reinforced the impression that the Patriots get special treatment. The Patriots came into the game having been flagged only 16 times in the first 6 games, the second-fewest total in the league. Patriots coach Bill Belichick is very good at intimidating officials, and it apparently worked again for him on Sunday. I had to laugh late in the game when the TV camera zoomed in on Belichick as he screamed at the officials. What was Coach Hoodie possibly upset about? Did one of the officials fail to properly shine Belichick’s car? Did Scott Green forget to pick up the coach’s dry cleaning? Did one of the refs make a mistake and deliver the wrong kind of pizza to Bill’s house on Saturday night? LOL. No surprise. I don’t even know why I get worked up. The way NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell handled “Spygate” and made it disappear told us all we needed to know.
Wanted to add something upbeat as I finish… as Andy B, one of the posters at Bernie’s Press Box said: it feels good to be mad at the Rams for losing a game like this. This is a helluva lot better than the non-competitive and dull blowouts we were seeing under the previous head coach.
Thanks for reading …
-B
Finally Bernie, you mention Bulger’s statistics as being misleading. That’s been my whole point about this guy. Marc Bulger is NOT, a winning NFL QB. Stats don’t mean squat, it’s about winning football games. Statistically, his lifetime stats look great, but lets face it. The Rams since 2004 have lost a lot of football games. And it’s probably safe to say that at least 1/2 of their losses, were good whoopings. I mean when the Rams lose, they lose good. 04,05 and 06 were all good statistical years for Marc, but what does that mean? There were a lot of football games where Marc just soaked up stats cause the opposition played soft due to being in control against the Rams. It was pretty common. Meaningless yards, meaningless touchdowns, inflated red zone stats. It’s a real joke. He threw a nice pretty ball to his quick receivers, but pretty don’t get you wins. Ask Billy Kilmer. I know Haslett has high standards and I know he has the guts to do something about this if it continues, so I still have a lot of hope for this franchise. Thanks Bernie - enjoy your articles!
Nothing like laying blame where ever it can be found! Bad officiating…come on!! That’s like pinning the loss on an injury…maybe worse. The only close call (no call) was the hit by Green-Ellis out of bounds, that was close. But the flag that was waved off for a facemask to Bulger? Did you see the replay on that?? Not close, good pick-up.
The Pats got some pressure on Bulger and the o-line did they everything they could to stop it…hold, hold, hold.
No credit where it’s due, they don’t have half their team, they have to play clean football.
But hey…good game and I don’t think you’ll be hearing anyone impartial blaming this loss anywhere else but where it should be - on the team.
I am not adroit enough to comment on the play calling. Nice job listing the team’s shortcoming on each drive. But I really agree that Bulger played very poorly and in such a close game it was enough to make the difference. Bulger has always hung the ball up longer than I would like, but it’s just getting worse and worse. The interception was another example.
I have always maintained that Belichick intimidates the officials. That was very one-sided officiating yesterday as it often is when the Patriots play. The late hit on the interception was ridiculous. I couldn’t see what they were doing to the receivers, but I can only speculate as Avery never got loose again. I live in Indiana and it always seems Dungy (since 2003) has more success countering Belichick’s intimidation than most coaches.
Still the Rams could have won with a compitent QB performance.
The one criticism missing is Cassel had all day to throw the entire first half. LL is invaluable to this team.
Bulger always plays one way. “I don’t have to worry about my job, because Jimmy says I am the starter the rest of 2008″. Any other QB would be long gone for going 12 - 22 since 2006. Warner had 8 bad games and it was see ya later. Haslett should take Bulger, Leckey, and Incognito and trade them to the Texan’s for another unknown TE. Who taught Nick Leckey & Incognito how to block? Rodney Allen Rippey.
Why not start Brock Berlin one game? He could be the next “old” Bulger!!!!
You cant cry about the penalties… If its not called, its not a penalty. We see guys holding and performing illegal contact from how HD TV’s every sunday and stuff isnt called. You have to make the plays.
You also cant cry about the “shoulda - woulda - coulda”. Thats just the way sports goes. While I agree that Bulger didnt play that well and made some poor decisions. Cassel was benefitted by some great plays of others… that pass that Faulk caught for the final TD was AMAZING. But keep in mind the Pats settled for 3 field goals also in STL territory which shows that they had some shoulda-woulda-couldas also. The Rams are much improved…and althought I am a Pats fan, I was rooting for a close game and I have some Rams on my Fantasy team to cheer on. Also.. S Jax not being in the game made a HUGE difference. Rams could not establish a running game and the Pats did not have to worry about Pittman because he does not have the skills of Steven Jackson. As you all saw with the Dallas game, Steven can take over a game. Pittman can not. Huge factor. If Jackson plays, I think the Rams control the ball and the game. I also think with Jackson in, the Pats would pay more attention to him which would have made play action MUCH more effective for Holt and Avery.
I like the Rams, I really do… The Rams will make a playoff run given how bad the NFC West is. You have a big game coming up on a team that you can beat in Arizona. I will be watching that game on Sunday ticket. What a much improved team from the first 4 weeks.
wojonova wrote “You cant cry about the penalties… If its not called, its not a penalty. We see guys holding and performing illegal contact from how HD TV’s every sunday and stuff isnt called. You have to make the plays.
You also cant cry about the “shoulda - woulda - coulda”. Thats just the way sports goes. While I agree that Bulger didnt play that well and made some poor decisions. Cassel was benefitted by some great plays of others… that pass that Faulk caught for the final TD was AMAZING. But keep in mind the Pats settled for 3 field goals also in STL territory which shows that they had some shoulda-woulda-couldas also. The Rams are much improved…and althought I am a Pats fan, I was rooting for a close game and I have some Rams on my Fantasy team to cheer on. Also.. S Jax not being in the game made a HUGE difference. Rams could not establish a running game and the Pats did not have to worry about Pittman because he does not have the skills of Steven Jackson. As you all saw with the Dallas game, Steven can take over a game. Pittman can not. Huge factor. If Jackson plays, I think the Rams control the ball and the game. I also think with Jackson in, the Pats would pay more attention to him which would have made play action MUCH more effective for Holt and Avery.
I like the Rams, I really do… The Rams will make a playoff run given how bad the NFC West is. You have a big game coming up on a team that you can beat in Arizona. I will be watching that game on Sunday ticket. What a much improved team from the first 4 weeks.”
It is pretty easy to say the refs don’t make a difference if you are a NE fan. If you were on the other side of the ledger once in a while you would know what you said is not true. The refs as usuall were rediculous and very much in NE’s pocket. That said, I am proud of the way the Rams fought. For us to even be in the game at NE is a testement to the job Coach Hasslet has done. I am looking forward to Sunday’s game against the Big Red and I didn’t think that would be possible this season.
As a Cardinal fan from Missouri who lives out west and watched the Cardinal game, we had a call against us too. The receiver on a 65 yd. touchdown pass stepped out of bounds as evidenced by a footprint on the white that Rolle pointed out, a camera which showed the back of his foot on the white and Coach Whiz appealed and it wasn’t overturned because I don’t know why. A Patriot fan sitting behind the Card bench blogged that he stepped out of bounds and said the fans cheered super loud afterwards because they knew they got away with one. I’m convinced the refs know who is supposed to win and make sure it happens. I think you need a super ref up in the booth with a super horn who can watch TV replays and honk the horn asking the refs to look at it again.
I was suprised the offensive line couldn’t protect Bulger after a great performance against Dallas.
Sure they lost, but I don’t think anyone should give up on this Rams team. I couldn’t believe how lopsided the officiating was and they still put forth a valiant effort and had a chance to win, even after blowing all those scoring opportunities. This upcoming week’s game will decide the tone for the rest of the season. If the Rams go 2 and 6, there season is all but over. If they go 3 and 5, in OUR division, we’ll have a shot.
Blaming the refs? You have to be kidding me, that is about as amateurish as it gets. Dis these people actually watch the game or do they know the rules? Face it, the Rams had a decnt gig copying the Chargers on the long ball a couple of times, that well ran dry and they couldn’t run the ball, stop the Patriots run or pass, protect their QB, etc etc etc. They got beat every which way by a better team that was better coached when things started to matter, just live with it, try to improve and be grown ups, for crying out loud.
I am glad to see some one point out bulgers inept playing…Kurt warner got ran out of town and mark was given alot of money??? and for what??? I know warner was along time ago, but look at warner compared to bulger for the money the rams paid out??? and overall every time the rams have to go too there 2 min. drill they fold like a house of cards. Why can’t we go long down field or in the middle of the field? I agree with the recap of the game andf its all to tipical