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Gordon: Rams defense suffers rocky start
By Jeff Gordon
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_255a4dc3-a3fe-5036-a2e7-6995bce812d1.html
The quick takeaway from the Game 1 of the Rams preseason: Their defense must do much, much better against the run.
Yes, some of the player combinations used won't been seen a lot once the real games start. But the New Orleans Saints ran over Gregg Williams' unit Friday night in their 26-24 victory at the Edward Jones Dome.
The line yielded big holes, the linebackers missed some tackles and the safeties suffered some whiffs as well.
Mark Ingram tore into the Rams for 89 yards and a touchdown. Khiry Robinson ran five times for 23 yards and a TD.
"I thought we had a lot to work on," defensive end Chris Long observed. "We knew that coming into the game. The game just reaffirmed it.
"I'm sure there were some encouraging things, but definitely for our first game we should ratchet down the run game a little better. They hit the perimeter a little too much."
Yes, it was just the first preseason game. But all those practice field theatrics at Rams Park didn't translate into a sturdy defensive effort against the Saints.
QUARTERBACKS
Veteran Shaun Hill was very sharp starting in place of Sam Bradford, completing five of seven passes for 84 yards and two touchdowns. He even scrambled downfield for a six-yard gain.
Rookie Garrett Gilbert was good, bad and ugly during his extensive duty. He needed help from multiple Saints penalties to drive the Rams to a field goal at the end of the first half.
He missed some easy throws and put one pass up for grabs in the middle of the field. He finished 6 for 11 for 53 yards.
Austin Davis has had a tough camp, but his preseason got better with his 15-yard TD pass to longshot WR Austin Franklin. He made some nice plays under duress and rallied the Rams downfield in the last two minutes.
Once again Davis looked better in game action than he often looks in practice.
RUNNING BACKS
Benny Cunningham was the first back in after starter Zac Stacy. He broke a nice 19-yard run with a spinning cutback for bolster his bid for the No. 2 job.
With veteran Isaiah Pead in street clothes, rookie Tre Mason got plenty of touches. He had some trouble getting north and south early on, particularly on a couple of short-yardage tries in the third quarter.
But Mason got flashed his wheels in the fourth quarter by bouncing outside for a 20-yard gain.
Chase Reynolds turned a short reception into a first down in the fourth quarter and had delivered some tough runs as well.
TIGHT ENDS
The Cory Harkey Package was prominent Friday night. He broke wide open in the left flat for an easy 16-yard TD catch. Nobody saw him coming.
Jared Cook nice adjustment on a 24-yard catch, reached back to reel in an errant pass. Lance Kendricks earned an early holding penalty on a run play, but he atoned with a couple of key catches.
Alex Bayer battled for a short reception over the middle. He also got out to the right flat for a 7-yard catch, And he got down the middle for a 14-yard catch. Then he broke wide open down the middle of the field to move the Rams toward scoring range in the final two minutes.
This was a big, big game for this street free agent.
On the other hand, Justice Cunningham took a false-start penalty in the red zone, which was not cool.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Stedman Bailey has been one of the training camp stars. So it was no surprise that he fought off a Saints defender in the end zone to make a nice 24-yard TD reception.
Tavon Austin made back-to-back catches from Gilbert to move the chains late in the second quarter. He finished with three catches for 20 yards in the half.
Austin Pettis fought off a holding infraction to make a nice 21-yard catch down the right sideline from Gilbert.
Hill did take one long shot for Brian Quick. Against all odds, Quick failed to gain separation up the sideline.
Franklin ran a very nice route on his TD catch from Davis. And Emory Blake made a very nice adjustment on his 29-yard catch from Davis.
OFFENSIVE LINE
Mike Person starts at LT, furthering his battle for a roster spot. The other starts were rookie LG Greg Robinson, C Tim Barnes, RG Davin Joseph RG and RT Joe Barksdale.
The unit didn't open a lot of holes, but it was pretty solid in pass protection. The group did allow one sack right up the middle, perhaps because of a communication breakdown.
Robinson ended up blocking nobody.
The subs failed to protect Gilbert in the third quarter, suffering a variety of breakdowns. The issues continued in the fourth quarter with Davis playing.
Rookie R.J. Dill drew attention to himself with an unfortunate personal foul penalty in the fourth quarter.
DEFENSIVE LINE
DE Chris Long made the most of his limited time on the field. He jumped up to deflect, then intercept an early Luke McCown pass.
DE Eugene Sims blew up a running play for a seven-yard loss.
DE Michael Sam chased Saints CB Ryan Griffin out of the pocket, forcing an incomplete pass. He broke through the line to blow up a running play and earned another QB pressure in tandem with the blitzing OLB Ray Ray Armstrong.
LINEBACKERS
Armstrong was all over the place, getting into the Saints backfield to pressure passes and making big tackles down the field. He wasn't always where he needed to be, but he was usually visible.
OLB Phillip Steward suffered several mishaps, including a defensive holding penalty, a kickoff return holding penalty and a big missed tackle at the point of attack.
On the other hand, OLB Johnny Millard fielded a deflection interception with 4:16 left.
SECONDARY
With CBs Janoris Jenkins, Trumaine Johnson and Brandon McGee all sitting out, rookies E.J. Gaines and Darren Woodard started and got valuable reps.
Gaines did a job with his open-field tackles, forcing one fumble near the Rams goal line that he did not recover. He also made a nice late tackle that got the ball back for one more Rams possession.
On the other hand, Gaines got beat on a 25-yard TD pass to Brandin Cooks in the third quarter. He didn't cover the pass, then he overran the tackle.
Nickel CB Lamarcus Joyner also had a terrific open field tackle on third down to force New Orleans to settle for a field goal. But he was also one of the Rams flagged for a coverage penalty.
CB Marcus Roberson whiffed on a downfield tackle, but he came back with a big tackle-for-loss in the fourth quarter. And S Cody Davis had a big miss, failing to corral Ingram in the middle of the field. In the second half he was flagged for a 15-yard facemask penalty.
SPECIAL TEAMS
WR Chris Givens had a nice 32-yard kickoff return. CB Greg Reid had an entertaining zig-zag kickoff return that didn't amount to much and a nice 11-yard punt return.
Rookie OT Demetrius Rhaney a false start on field goal try. That forced Greg Zuerlein to kick a 45-yarder, which he nailed. Zuerlein also handled the deeper extra-point attempts with aplomb.
Zuerlein missed badly from 46 yards with 5:02 to play. And then he missed a 59-yard field goal at the end -- the result of utter chaos after Davis botched his clock-killing spike for a 10-yard penalty.
Reynolds started the game with vigorous kickoff coverage, then broke a huge 38-yard running play off a fake punt in the third quarter.
