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