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Gordon: Mistakes define the Rams under Fisher
• By Jeff Gordon
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_6ae00086-d60d-5bc7-a5f6-5a21ab7a86a6.html
After three years under the Jeff Fisher regime, the Rams have established a clear identity.
They are a sloppy, unruly team that keeps offsetting big plays with inexplicable blunders. They are physically tough, but their aggression creates as many costly penalties as game-changing defensive plays.
They can hurt opponents with their big hits ... but then they hurt themselves with their big misses.
Their actions don’t always speak as loudly as their words — and those words just keep flying out of their mouths regardless of how bad the score gets.
Yes, the Rams have upgraded their talent base. This latest draft class was especially strong. They looked better than some playoff-bound teams for much of the season’s second half.
Yes, the Rams have made progress since the disastrous Steve Spagnuolo Era (10-38). Yes, they have distanced themselves from the gruesome Scott Linehan-Jim Haslett collapse (5-27) that preceded the Spags-to-ditches period.
But after 47 games under Fisher the Rams can still crumble against a mediocre foe. After 47 games, a fiasco like Sunday’s 37-27 loss to the Giants still occurs.
You don’t need to be Jared Cook to see that the Rams got outplayed and outcoached again.
So after finishing 7-8-1 and 7-9 in their first two years under Fisher, the Rams will have to upset the Seahawks at Seattle next Sunday just to finish 7-9 again.
“It was just self-inflicted wounds,” middle linebacker James Laurinaitis said. “It feels like it did at the beginning of the season when the things that they got were because of things that we screwed up.”
How bad was the Rams’ secondary in this game? New York Giants running back Andre Williams captured its performance with this comment to reporters afterward:
“Sometimes the defensive backs look like they are there, but they’re not really there.”
Bingo!
The fun started early, with Benny Cunningham spitting up the ball on his first kickoff return. The highjinks continued right to the end, with battle-worn center Scott Wells launching still another errant shotgun snap away from beleaguered quarterback Shaun Hill.
In between there were a litany of errors that define the Fisher-era Rams:
• A sailing Hill pass caroming off the hands of Tavon Austin for an interception.
• Another errant Wells snap disrupting at goal-line pass play at the end of the first half.
• Safety Rodney McLeod getting trucked by Andre Williams in the middle of the field on a 45-yard run.
• Defensive end Eugene Sims earning still another roughing-the-passer penalty to fuel a Giants TD drive.
• Veteran defensive lineman Kendall Langford getting flagged for encroachment on a punt, extending a Giants possession that resulted in a field goal. “When you jump offsides on fourth and 3 when the defense is on the field and they have been told that they’re going to get a hard count and (they) disregard that and jump offsides, that is how you lose ballgames,” Fisher observed.
• Safety Mark Barron turning one way while Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. went the other on a laughably easy 80-yard touchdown reception.
On and on it went, one disaster after another. The Rams did some good things Sunday and showed promise of better things to come.
Kenny Britt had another big game at receiver. Running back Tre Mason hit the jets on outside runs and pounded out yardage inside. Tavon Austin flashed brilliance as a punt returner, receiver and runner.
But what fans will remember about this game — and the rest of the NFL will see once again on tape — will be the ill-timed mishaps that just keep coming.
Week after week, month after month, year after year this goes on. The Rams must break the pattern if they ever hope to see the high side of .500 again, be it here, Los Angeles, London, Bentonville or wherever Stan Kroenke’s new stadium may rise.
Fisher must establish, once and for all, that his franchise can play aggressively and smart at the same time. He must build teams that can play with passion and precision.
There are no excuses for such enduring failure after three years. Every team has injuries. Every team plays some young guys.
But not every team suffers such numbing, momentum-killing breakdowns again and again. That tendency has made the Rams unique in a league where quick team turnarounds abound.
“It’s unacceptable and it was bad,” defensive end Chris Long said.
“This business is about not being repeat offenders of the same mistakes,” Laurinaitis said.
“As I told them, we’re not going to go into the offseason with some of the mistakes we made today,” Fisher said.
“We’ve got a lot of stuff to correct,” Laurinaitis said.
“We need to come back next week and put out a better performance and go into the offseason knowing that we left a message and that we have a new team coming,” Mason said.
Yeah, well, we’ve heard all that before. Will it ever change?
Or will the Rams remain a muffed punt, personal foul, missed block and blown coverage just waiting to happen next Sunday, next year, the next millennium?
This is what fans wondered as they staggered out of the Edward Jones Dome after another disappointing home schedule ended.
• By Jeff Gordon
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_6ae00086-d60d-5bc7-a5f6-5a21ab7a86a6.html
After three years under the Jeff Fisher regime, the Rams have established a clear identity.
They are a sloppy, unruly team that keeps offsetting big plays with inexplicable blunders. They are physically tough, but their aggression creates as many costly penalties as game-changing defensive plays.
They can hurt opponents with their big hits ... but then they hurt themselves with their big misses.
Their actions don’t always speak as loudly as their words — and those words just keep flying out of their mouths regardless of how bad the score gets.
Yes, the Rams have upgraded their talent base. This latest draft class was especially strong. They looked better than some playoff-bound teams for much of the season’s second half.
Yes, the Rams have made progress since the disastrous Steve Spagnuolo Era (10-38). Yes, they have distanced themselves from the gruesome Scott Linehan-Jim Haslett collapse (5-27) that preceded the Spags-to-ditches period.
But after 47 games under Fisher the Rams can still crumble against a mediocre foe. After 47 games, a fiasco like Sunday’s 37-27 loss to the Giants still occurs.
You don’t need to be Jared Cook to see that the Rams got outplayed and outcoached again.
So after finishing 7-8-1 and 7-9 in their first two years under Fisher, the Rams will have to upset the Seahawks at Seattle next Sunday just to finish 7-9 again.
“It was just self-inflicted wounds,” middle linebacker James Laurinaitis said. “It feels like it did at the beginning of the season when the things that they got were because of things that we screwed up.”
How bad was the Rams’ secondary in this game? New York Giants running back Andre Williams captured its performance with this comment to reporters afterward:
“Sometimes the defensive backs look like they are there, but they’re not really there.”
Bingo!
The fun started early, with Benny Cunningham spitting up the ball on his first kickoff return. The highjinks continued right to the end, with battle-worn center Scott Wells launching still another errant shotgun snap away from beleaguered quarterback Shaun Hill.
In between there were a litany of errors that define the Fisher-era Rams:
• A sailing Hill pass caroming off the hands of Tavon Austin for an interception.
• Another errant Wells snap disrupting at goal-line pass play at the end of the first half.
• Safety Rodney McLeod getting trucked by Andre Williams in the middle of the field on a 45-yard run.
• Defensive end Eugene Sims earning still another roughing-the-passer penalty to fuel a Giants TD drive.
• Veteran defensive lineman Kendall Langford getting flagged for encroachment on a punt, extending a Giants possession that resulted in a field goal. “When you jump offsides on fourth and 3 when the defense is on the field and they have been told that they’re going to get a hard count and (they) disregard that and jump offsides, that is how you lose ballgames,” Fisher observed.
• Safety Mark Barron turning one way while Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. went the other on a laughably easy 80-yard touchdown reception.
On and on it went, one disaster after another. The Rams did some good things Sunday and showed promise of better things to come.
Kenny Britt had another big game at receiver. Running back Tre Mason hit the jets on outside runs and pounded out yardage inside. Tavon Austin flashed brilliance as a punt returner, receiver and runner.
But what fans will remember about this game — and the rest of the NFL will see once again on tape — will be the ill-timed mishaps that just keep coming.
Week after week, month after month, year after year this goes on. The Rams must break the pattern if they ever hope to see the high side of .500 again, be it here, Los Angeles, London, Bentonville or wherever Stan Kroenke’s new stadium may rise.
Fisher must establish, once and for all, that his franchise can play aggressively and smart at the same time. He must build teams that can play with passion and precision.
There are no excuses for such enduring failure after three years. Every team has injuries. Every team plays some young guys.
But not every team suffers such numbing, momentum-killing breakdowns again and again. That tendency has made the Rams unique in a league where quick team turnarounds abound.
“It’s unacceptable and it was bad,” defensive end Chris Long said.
“This business is about not being repeat offenders of the same mistakes,” Laurinaitis said.
“As I told them, we’re not going to go into the offseason with some of the mistakes we made today,” Fisher said.
“We’ve got a lot of stuff to correct,” Laurinaitis said.
“We need to come back next week and put out a better performance and go into the offseason knowing that we left a message and that we have a new team coming,” Mason said.
Yeah, well, we’ve heard all that before. Will it ever change?
Or will the Rams remain a muffed punt, personal foul, missed block and blown coverage just waiting to happen next Sunday, next year, the next millennium?
This is what fans wondered as they staggered out of the Edward Jones Dome after another disappointing home schedule ended.
