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http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_8e63c739-1bb1-51c1-b5f0-1508dc9793d9.html
Had he taken a step or two backward, Chris Givens could’ve caught the pass flat-footed. Instead, he leaped awkwardly, and landed more awkwardly, with the ball falling to the ground incomplete.
San Francisco defender Carlos Rodgers slipped and fell in front of Givens. So Givens might have scored — or at the very least had a gain of 30 yards-plus, putting the ball in 49ers’ territory — had he been able to catch the ball cleanly on the third-quarter play last Sunday. The Rams trailed only 16-6 at the time, so it could have been a game-changing play. Instead, it was another near miss for Givens in what has been a tough, disappointing season.
“It’s been frustrating,” Givens said after the 23-13 loss to San Francisco. “But I’ve got to do my job and make all the catches. It’s really that simple.”
A year ago as a rookie, he attracted notice by catching a pass of 50 yards-plus in five consecutive games. That broke an NFL rookie record set by Chicago’s Willie Gault in 1983, and made Givens only the second player in the Super Bowl era with a 50-yard catch in five straight games. The other was Detroit’s Pat Studstill, in 1966.
By season’s end, Givens led the Rams in receiving yards (698) and in yards per catch (16.6), with three of his 42 catches going for touchdowns. But 12 games into his second season, he has modest totals of 30 catches for 493 yards, and has yet to score a TD.
It isn’t a case of a sophomore slump. More like running in place.
With four games to play, starting with Sunday’s 3:25 p.m. (St. Louis time) kickoff in Arizona, Givens is on pace for 40 catches for 657 yards and 16.4 yards per catch. Those totals are nearly identical to his rookie year.
Givens had success over the first half of this season running a “deep-in” — a pattern similar to what Mike Martz used to call his favorite pass play of the “Greatest Show on Turf” era. But catches on long balls have been rare, with Givens’ longest reception good for 47 yards. A lot of plays, and a lot of yards, have been left on the field.
Late in the third quarter against Jacksonville on Oct. 6, Givens got a few yards behind defender Will Blackmon only to have quarterback Sam Bradford underthrow him on a deep route allowing Blackmon to recover and break up the pass.
The following week at Houston, Bradford threw what looked like a perfect deep pass to a wide-open Givens, but somehow Givens couldn’t quite get there. Another incompletion instead of a possible TD.
And in the past two weeks, against San Francisco and Chicago, he was targeted 15 times but caught only two passes — both catches coming against the 49ers.
So how do the Rams get Givens going?
“We’re trying to get the ball to him,” coach Jeff Fisher said. “Credit the defense. Credit a lot of different things. He’s still playing hard and running fast, and doing the best he can right now. But I would’ve loved to see him make that catch (against the 49ers).”
Asked the same question regarding Givens, quarterback Kellen Clemens replied: “I’ve got to throw to him better, for one. The Chicago game ... there were plays there to be made and I missed him.
“We’ll see, kind of as the game plan unfolds (for Arizona), see if there’s some opportunities to just get him one-one one. Just get him a catch here and there, maybe get him a carry or something. Get him going. We’ll see.”
Givens is one of the fastest Rams, and probably one of the faster wide receivers in the NFL. Arizona has a track record of playing a lot of man-to-man coverage, so there could be chances as Clemens mentioned to get the ball to him Sunday.
“Last game when we played them, they matched Patrick (Peterson) on him, which makes it certainly more difficult,” offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said.
Peterson is one of the league’s emerging young cornerbacks, with elite speed on a 6-foot-1, 219-pound frame. He limited Givens to two catches for 27 yards in the season opener, a 27-24 comeback victory for the Rams at the Edward Jones Dome.
But Peterson isn’t impenetrable. Last week in Philadelphia, DeSean Jackson got behind him for a 25-yard gain late in the second quarter.
“Chris is a guy, obviously with his speed, that we like to challenge people deep with a little bit,” Schottenheimer said. “Again, he had a chance last week and just kind of got ‘stumbled up’ on the one deep ball. But his time’s coming and he’s played well against these guys in the past.”
The deep ball against San Francisco was one of two drops for Givens that day, but he was far from the Lone Ranger there. All told, the Rams had six drops in Candlestick Park, a total that included wideouts, tight ends, and running backs.
Dropped passes has been a recurring theme for the Rams all season, although the issue hadn’t cropped up much lately until Sunday. There have been some mitigating factors over the course of the season.
The team isn’t throwing as much since switching to a run-oriented offense in Game 5 against Jacksonville, so it’s a little harder for receivers to get in rhythm. And Clemens isn’t always sharp when it comes to touch and accuracy.
But after a 19-for-37 outing in San Francisco, which included only 11 completions in 28 attempts while the entire 49ers starting defense was in the game, Fisher defended Clemens.
“Kel’s been doing good,” Fisher said. “Don’t put this on Kel. He did the best he could against a good defense.”
On Monday, Fisher elaborated.
“There was a little of that (inaccuracy), yeah,” Fisher said. “But you want to see the guys make the tough catch. I appreciate Kellen taking responsibility for it. But guys are out there — they’ve got to make the catch. So, there was a little of that, balls were a little off target, but they still should be made.”
And it’s that larger issue for basically all the receivers — not just Givens — making the tough catch, adjusting to the ball in flight, that might influence whether the Rams goes back to the wide receiver well in the draft next spring.
Had he taken a step or two backward, Chris Givens could’ve caught the pass flat-footed. Instead, he leaped awkwardly, and landed more awkwardly, with the ball falling to the ground incomplete.
San Francisco defender Carlos Rodgers slipped and fell in front of Givens. So Givens might have scored — or at the very least had a gain of 30 yards-plus, putting the ball in 49ers’ territory — had he been able to catch the ball cleanly on the third-quarter play last Sunday. The Rams trailed only 16-6 at the time, so it could have been a game-changing play. Instead, it was another near miss for Givens in what has been a tough, disappointing season.
“It’s been frustrating,” Givens said after the 23-13 loss to San Francisco. “But I’ve got to do my job and make all the catches. It’s really that simple.”
A year ago as a rookie, he attracted notice by catching a pass of 50 yards-plus in five consecutive games. That broke an NFL rookie record set by Chicago’s Willie Gault in 1983, and made Givens only the second player in the Super Bowl era with a 50-yard catch in five straight games. The other was Detroit’s Pat Studstill, in 1966.
By season’s end, Givens led the Rams in receiving yards (698) and in yards per catch (16.6), with three of his 42 catches going for touchdowns. But 12 games into his second season, he has modest totals of 30 catches for 493 yards, and has yet to score a TD.
It isn’t a case of a sophomore slump. More like running in place.
With four games to play, starting with Sunday’s 3:25 p.m. (St. Louis time) kickoff in Arizona, Givens is on pace for 40 catches for 657 yards and 16.4 yards per catch. Those totals are nearly identical to his rookie year.
Givens had success over the first half of this season running a “deep-in” — a pattern similar to what Mike Martz used to call his favorite pass play of the “Greatest Show on Turf” era. But catches on long balls have been rare, with Givens’ longest reception good for 47 yards. A lot of plays, and a lot of yards, have been left on the field.
Late in the third quarter against Jacksonville on Oct. 6, Givens got a few yards behind defender Will Blackmon only to have quarterback Sam Bradford underthrow him on a deep route allowing Blackmon to recover and break up the pass.
The following week at Houston, Bradford threw what looked like a perfect deep pass to a wide-open Givens, but somehow Givens couldn’t quite get there. Another incompletion instead of a possible TD.
And in the past two weeks, against San Francisco and Chicago, he was targeted 15 times but caught only two passes — both catches coming against the 49ers.
So how do the Rams get Givens going?
“We’re trying to get the ball to him,” coach Jeff Fisher said. “Credit the defense. Credit a lot of different things. He’s still playing hard and running fast, and doing the best he can right now. But I would’ve loved to see him make that catch (against the 49ers).”
Asked the same question regarding Givens, quarterback Kellen Clemens replied: “I’ve got to throw to him better, for one. The Chicago game ... there were plays there to be made and I missed him.
“We’ll see, kind of as the game plan unfolds (for Arizona), see if there’s some opportunities to just get him one-one one. Just get him a catch here and there, maybe get him a carry or something. Get him going. We’ll see.”
Givens is one of the fastest Rams, and probably one of the faster wide receivers in the NFL. Arizona has a track record of playing a lot of man-to-man coverage, so there could be chances as Clemens mentioned to get the ball to him Sunday.
“Last game when we played them, they matched Patrick (Peterson) on him, which makes it certainly more difficult,” offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said.
Peterson is one of the league’s emerging young cornerbacks, with elite speed on a 6-foot-1, 219-pound frame. He limited Givens to two catches for 27 yards in the season opener, a 27-24 comeback victory for the Rams at the Edward Jones Dome.
But Peterson isn’t impenetrable. Last week in Philadelphia, DeSean Jackson got behind him for a 25-yard gain late in the second quarter.
“Chris is a guy, obviously with his speed, that we like to challenge people deep with a little bit,” Schottenheimer said. “Again, he had a chance last week and just kind of got ‘stumbled up’ on the one deep ball. But his time’s coming and he’s played well against these guys in the past.”
The deep ball against San Francisco was one of two drops for Givens that day, but he was far from the Lone Ranger there. All told, the Rams had six drops in Candlestick Park, a total that included wideouts, tight ends, and running backs.
Dropped passes has been a recurring theme for the Rams all season, although the issue hadn’t cropped up much lately until Sunday. There have been some mitigating factors over the course of the season.
The team isn’t throwing as much since switching to a run-oriented offense in Game 5 against Jacksonville, so it’s a little harder for receivers to get in rhythm. And Clemens isn’t always sharp when it comes to touch and accuracy.
But after a 19-for-37 outing in San Francisco, which included only 11 completions in 28 attempts while the entire 49ers starting defense was in the game, Fisher defended Clemens.
“Kel’s been doing good,” Fisher said. “Don’t put this on Kel. He did the best he could against a good defense.”
On Monday, Fisher elaborated.
“There was a little of that (inaccuracy), yeah,” Fisher said. “But you want to see the guys make the tough catch. I appreciate Kellen taking responsibility for it. But guys are out there — they’ve got to make the catch. So, there was a little of that, balls were a little off target, but they still should be made.”
And it’s that larger issue for basically all the receivers — not just Givens — making the tough catch, adjusting to the ball in flight, that might influence whether the Rams goes back to the wide receiver well in the draft next spring.
