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Quinn leads way after a slow start
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_ea11b0a4-1f56-5527-b47d-2403c5217fa4.html
Robert Quinn thinks it’s the jersey number changes at practice that have sparked his recent sack surge. In recent weeks, he has been seen wearing No. 1, No. 6, No. 52, No. 97 among others. And yeah, once in a while, he’ll even throw on his jersey number — No. 94.
“It’s something fun to do at practice,” Quinn said. “Switch jerseys with whoever. Make it a little rough for the coaches to grade film.”
Grade film from practice?
“Oh, we grade everything,” Quinn said, smiling. “We’re professionals. We take everything seriously.”
Opposing offensive linemen are certainly taking Quinn seriously these days. After a five-game sack drought to begin the season, the fourth-year defensive end has rung up six sacks in the past three games.
“It’s switching the jerseys,” Quinn said with a laugh.
Then again, rookie defensive tackle Aaron Donald claims it’s the shoes he gave Quinn recently.
“Same style I wore last year,” Quinn explained. “They stopped making them.”
And we all know what happened last year wearing those shoes: a franchise record 19 sacks (since sacks became an official stat in 1982), his first Pro Bowl berth, and recognition as the NFL defensive player of the year by the Pro Football Writers.
Quinn was wearing a different shoe style this season — and the sacks weren’t coming — and then Donald came to the rescue, giving him a pair of the “old” shoes.
“Maybe that was the curse,” Quinn said.
Could be. Not only for Quinn, but for the entire defense, the sacks are starting to flow. After registering only one sack in the first five games — an NFL record for fewest sacks in the first five games of the season — the Rams have had 13 sacks in their last three contests.
“Guys finally are just getting on a roll, feeling comfortable out there,” Quinn said. “The back guys are covering their tails off. Things are finally clicking as a defense the way we expected it to. Hopefully, we can keep on building from here on out.”
So perhaps this is a case of better late than never. Quinn accounted for two of the Rams’ eight sacks in last Sunday’s 13-10 victory at San Francisco, but five other defenders joined the sack act.
Backup defensive end Eugene Sims was part of two huge plays late in the second quarter — one that resulted in a Quinn sack and forced fumble, and one that resulted in a sack of his own to put the 49ers out of field goal range.
On the first play, Sims said, “I just so happened to get a good power rush on (Alex) Boone, and kind of sat him on (Colin) Kaepernick’s lap. Rob came over and stripped him.”
Sims recovered the loose ball, and three plays later the Rams scored to tie the game at 10-10 with 64 seconds remaining in the half.
With just 19 seconds left before intermission, San Francisco had the ball at the St. Louis 34 when Sims sacked Kaepernick for a 3-yard loss. So instead of a 52-yard field goal attempt on the last play of the half, 49ers place-kicker Phil Dawson faced a 55-yard yard attempt.
Dawson’s attempt was short — about two, three yards short of going over the crossbar.
“Just a little power rush on (Mike) Iupati,” Sims said. “Kaepernick usually rushes out of the B gap, and I just rushed the B gap and he was there.”
The B gap is the space between the guard and tackle.
“The defense came together,” Sims said. “We had good coverage. Good front play. And pretty much contained Kaepernick. It was a fun game.”
The eight sacks was the highest total in a game for the Rams since early in the 2012 season against Arizona, Sunday’s opponent in a 3:35 p.m. kickoff (St. Louis time) at University of Phoenix Stadium.
One thing that was noticeable against San Francisco was the effectiveness of the blitzes dialed up by defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. That had rarely been the case for much of the 2014 seasons.
On only one occasion last Sunday at Levi’s Stadium did a blitzer have a sack (linebacker James Laurinaitis). But the extra pass-rushers frequently wreaked havoc by pressuring Kaepernick to throw the ball early, throw it away, or by flushing him out of the pocket and into the path of defensive linemen for a sack.
Contrary to some of the postgame analysis, Williams said he didn’t tweak his blitz calls against San Francisco.
“No, we really didn’t,” Williams said. “There were a lot of things that people wanted to say were new, but our guys just did a great job in the execution part of it. ... The D-line won the one-on-one matchups.
“We were able to finish some one-on-one pass rushes and not allow Kaepernick to extend the play. He’s been very, very good on extending plays with his feet. I think our plan was sound in what we tried to do to make sure he stayed in the pocket.”
Amazing what a new pair of shoes can do, all things considered.
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_ea11b0a4-1f56-5527-b47d-2403c5217fa4.html
Robert Quinn thinks it’s the jersey number changes at practice that have sparked his recent sack surge. In recent weeks, he has been seen wearing No. 1, No. 6, No. 52, No. 97 among others. And yeah, once in a while, he’ll even throw on his jersey number — No. 94.
“It’s something fun to do at practice,” Quinn said. “Switch jerseys with whoever. Make it a little rough for the coaches to grade film.”
Grade film from practice?
“Oh, we grade everything,” Quinn said, smiling. “We’re professionals. We take everything seriously.”
Opposing offensive linemen are certainly taking Quinn seriously these days. After a five-game sack drought to begin the season, the fourth-year defensive end has rung up six sacks in the past three games.
“It’s switching the jerseys,” Quinn said with a laugh.
Then again, rookie defensive tackle Aaron Donald claims it’s the shoes he gave Quinn recently.
“Same style I wore last year,” Quinn explained. “They stopped making them.”
And we all know what happened last year wearing those shoes: a franchise record 19 sacks (since sacks became an official stat in 1982), his first Pro Bowl berth, and recognition as the NFL defensive player of the year by the Pro Football Writers.
Quinn was wearing a different shoe style this season — and the sacks weren’t coming — and then Donald came to the rescue, giving him a pair of the “old” shoes.
“Maybe that was the curse,” Quinn said.
Could be. Not only for Quinn, but for the entire defense, the sacks are starting to flow. After registering only one sack in the first five games — an NFL record for fewest sacks in the first five games of the season — the Rams have had 13 sacks in their last three contests.
“Guys finally are just getting on a roll, feeling comfortable out there,” Quinn said. “The back guys are covering their tails off. Things are finally clicking as a defense the way we expected it to. Hopefully, we can keep on building from here on out.”
So perhaps this is a case of better late than never. Quinn accounted for two of the Rams’ eight sacks in last Sunday’s 13-10 victory at San Francisco, but five other defenders joined the sack act.
Backup defensive end Eugene Sims was part of two huge plays late in the second quarter — one that resulted in a Quinn sack and forced fumble, and one that resulted in a sack of his own to put the 49ers out of field goal range.
On the first play, Sims said, “I just so happened to get a good power rush on (Alex) Boone, and kind of sat him on (Colin) Kaepernick’s lap. Rob came over and stripped him.”
Sims recovered the loose ball, and three plays later the Rams scored to tie the game at 10-10 with 64 seconds remaining in the half.
With just 19 seconds left before intermission, San Francisco had the ball at the St. Louis 34 when Sims sacked Kaepernick for a 3-yard loss. So instead of a 52-yard field goal attempt on the last play of the half, 49ers place-kicker Phil Dawson faced a 55-yard yard attempt.
Dawson’s attempt was short — about two, three yards short of going over the crossbar.
“Just a little power rush on (Mike) Iupati,” Sims said. “Kaepernick usually rushes out of the B gap, and I just rushed the B gap and he was there.”
The B gap is the space between the guard and tackle.
“The defense came together,” Sims said. “We had good coverage. Good front play. And pretty much contained Kaepernick. It was a fun game.”
The eight sacks was the highest total in a game for the Rams since early in the 2012 season against Arizona, Sunday’s opponent in a 3:35 p.m. kickoff (St. Louis time) at University of Phoenix Stadium.
One thing that was noticeable against San Francisco was the effectiveness of the blitzes dialed up by defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. That had rarely been the case for much of the 2014 seasons.
On only one occasion last Sunday at Levi’s Stadium did a blitzer have a sack (linebacker James Laurinaitis). But the extra pass-rushers frequently wreaked havoc by pressuring Kaepernick to throw the ball early, throw it away, or by flushing him out of the pocket and into the path of defensive linemen for a sack.
Contrary to some of the postgame analysis, Williams said he didn’t tweak his blitz calls against San Francisco.
“No, we really didn’t,” Williams said. “There were a lot of things that people wanted to say were new, but our guys just did a great job in the execution part of it. ... The D-line won the one-on-one matchups.
“We were able to finish some one-on-one pass rushes and not allow Kaepernick to extend the play. He’s been very, very good on extending plays with his feet. I think our plan was sound in what we tried to do to make sure he stayed in the pocket.”
Amazing what a new pair of shoes can do, all things considered.