- Joined
- Jul 31, 2010
- Messages
- 8,874
Rams notebook: Fisher hopeful that Stacy will play Monday
• By Joe Lyons
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_5636240c-9dd3-5151-88c6-ab53272ce30f.html
Rams running back Zac Stacy, who was unable to finish Sunday’s game in Philadelphia because of a calf strain, is expected to miss some practice time this week. But coach Jeff Fisher is hopeful his leading rusher will be back in time to play against San Francisco on Monday night.
Stacy was hurt on a late third-quarter play that resulted in a fumble recovered by the Eagles. Before the injury, he ran 11 times for 42 yards and caught four passes for 36 yards.
“It looks like he may miss some practice time this week,’’ Fisher said during his Monday meeting with the media at Rams Park. The “preliminary evaluation is it doesn’t look like he’ll miss the game, but we’ll see.’’
Stacy, who led the Rams last year as a rookie with 973 rushing yards and eight touchdowns, has run for 223 yards and a touchdown this fall. He also has 10 catches for 98 yards.
Benny Cunningham, another second-year back, finished up Sunday with 47 yards in seven carries, including a 14-yard TD run. Cunningham, an undrafted free agent from Middle Tennessee State, also hauled in three passes for 24 yards.
“Benny was solid. He didn’t get much help from his teammates on the kickoff return, but he did a nice job fielding the ball and hitting it up in there,’’ Fisher said. “Then offensively, I thought he played well without the ball, as Zac did. Zac unfortunately put one on the ground, but I thought both the backs ran fairly well.’’
Largely because of the injury, Cunningham (40) took more offensive snaps than Stacy (29). Rookie Trey Watts was in for five offensive snaps, finishing with 6 yards in two rushing attempts and two pass receptions for 12 yards.
DEFENSIVE NUMBERS
According to the coaches’ review of the game tape, second-year safety T.J. McDonald paced the Rams on Sunday with 17 tackles, including 12 solos and two more for loss.
Linebacker Alec Ogletree, another 2013 draft pick, was next with 12 tackles, including nine solos, two for loss and a caused fumble. Linebacker James Laurinaitis was next with 10 tackles, followed by linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar (nine) and rookie defensive backs Lamarcus Joyner (eight) and E.J. Gaines (seven).
Gaines, the sixth-round draft pick from Mizzou, recovered his first fumble and intercepted his first pass in the loss.
William Hayes and rookies Aaron Donald and Ethan Westbrooks paced the defensive line with four tackles each.
Michael Brockers recovered a fumble. Hayes led the way with five quarterback pressures while Donald and Robert Quinn each had three quarterback hits.
As a unit, the defense had 17 quarterback pressures and nine quarterback hits. But no sacks.
QUICK HITS
Fisher’s responses about some key situations in Sunday’s game:
• What happened on the early blocked punt that resulted in the Eagles’ first-minute TD?
“It was a communication breakdown inside,’’ the coach said. “Everybody’s supposed to block out a man — I’m not going into detail about our protection — but it put (Chase Reynolds) in a bad position because he had one responsibility and two guys rushing.’’
• What can Austin Davis do differently to prevent the red-zone fumble in the second quarter?
“He should’ve gotten rid of the football,’’ Fisher said. “It wasn’t like he didn’t sense that we had an unblocked rusher. So he could’ve slid a bit and gotten rid of the football. Sometimes that happens, (but) he’s got a good feel, for the most part, of what he’s doing.’’
• Can you explain the delay-of-game call during the final drive?
“There was a problem with (the communication system). There was a problem with the formation,’’ he explained. “In retrospect, I probably should’ve used a timeout.
“But the way we were going and the opportunities that we had just missed on both balls to Austin (Pettis), I felt like we were going to convert it and we were going to need that (final remaining) timeout to try and put the ball in the end zone.’’
GIVENS SITS
Third-year receiver Chris Givens got caught in a numbers game Sunday and was inactive.
“It’s difficult when you have to deactivate healthy players, especially someone like ‘Give’ that’s been productive for us,’’ Fisher said. “But Tavon (Austin) came back. We had the depth at kickoff return. We needed some other players up in other positions just because of our special-teams needs. It may be a one-time thing. It may happen again. I don’t know.’’
Givens, who led the Rams in receiving yards (698) as a rookie in 2012, has four catches for 50 yards this season. In addition, he has returned five kickoffs for 101 yards.
The breakdown of offensive plays for the Rams’ receivers Sunday — Brian Quick (58), Kenny Britt (45), Austin Pettis (32), Tavon Austin (22) and Stedman Bailey (17).
Quick caught five passes for 87 yards with two touchdowns while Britt had three catches for 68 yards and a score.
Pettis caught three passes (29 yards) while Austin (33) and Bailey (20) had two each.
RAM-BLING
Davis’ 375 passing yards Sunday were the most by a Rams quarterback since Sam Bradford threw for 377 in a 36-22 loss to Minnesota in 2012.
Jim Thomas of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
• By Joe Lyons
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_5636240c-9dd3-5151-88c6-ab53272ce30f.html
Rams running back Zac Stacy, who was unable to finish Sunday’s game in Philadelphia because of a calf strain, is expected to miss some practice time this week. But coach Jeff Fisher is hopeful his leading rusher will be back in time to play against San Francisco on Monday night.
Stacy was hurt on a late third-quarter play that resulted in a fumble recovered by the Eagles. Before the injury, he ran 11 times for 42 yards and caught four passes for 36 yards.
“It looks like he may miss some practice time this week,’’ Fisher said during his Monday meeting with the media at Rams Park. The “preliminary evaluation is it doesn’t look like he’ll miss the game, but we’ll see.’’
Stacy, who led the Rams last year as a rookie with 973 rushing yards and eight touchdowns, has run for 223 yards and a touchdown this fall. He also has 10 catches for 98 yards.
Benny Cunningham, another second-year back, finished up Sunday with 47 yards in seven carries, including a 14-yard TD run. Cunningham, an undrafted free agent from Middle Tennessee State, also hauled in three passes for 24 yards.
“Benny was solid. He didn’t get much help from his teammates on the kickoff return, but he did a nice job fielding the ball and hitting it up in there,’’ Fisher said. “Then offensively, I thought he played well without the ball, as Zac did. Zac unfortunately put one on the ground, but I thought both the backs ran fairly well.’’
Largely because of the injury, Cunningham (40) took more offensive snaps than Stacy (29). Rookie Trey Watts was in for five offensive snaps, finishing with 6 yards in two rushing attempts and two pass receptions for 12 yards.
DEFENSIVE NUMBERS
According to the coaches’ review of the game tape, second-year safety T.J. McDonald paced the Rams on Sunday with 17 tackles, including 12 solos and two more for loss.
Linebacker Alec Ogletree, another 2013 draft pick, was next with 12 tackles, including nine solos, two for loss and a caused fumble. Linebacker James Laurinaitis was next with 10 tackles, followed by linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar (nine) and rookie defensive backs Lamarcus Joyner (eight) and E.J. Gaines (seven).
Gaines, the sixth-round draft pick from Mizzou, recovered his first fumble and intercepted his first pass in the loss.
William Hayes and rookies Aaron Donald and Ethan Westbrooks paced the defensive line with four tackles each.
Michael Brockers recovered a fumble. Hayes led the way with five quarterback pressures while Donald and Robert Quinn each had three quarterback hits.
As a unit, the defense had 17 quarterback pressures and nine quarterback hits. But no sacks.
QUICK HITS
Fisher’s responses about some key situations in Sunday’s game:
• What happened on the early blocked punt that resulted in the Eagles’ first-minute TD?
“It was a communication breakdown inside,’’ the coach said. “Everybody’s supposed to block out a man — I’m not going into detail about our protection — but it put (Chase Reynolds) in a bad position because he had one responsibility and two guys rushing.’’
• What can Austin Davis do differently to prevent the red-zone fumble in the second quarter?
“He should’ve gotten rid of the football,’’ Fisher said. “It wasn’t like he didn’t sense that we had an unblocked rusher. So he could’ve slid a bit and gotten rid of the football. Sometimes that happens, (but) he’s got a good feel, for the most part, of what he’s doing.’’
• Can you explain the delay-of-game call during the final drive?
“There was a problem with (the communication system). There was a problem with the formation,’’ he explained. “In retrospect, I probably should’ve used a timeout.
“But the way we were going and the opportunities that we had just missed on both balls to Austin (Pettis), I felt like we were going to convert it and we were going to need that (final remaining) timeout to try and put the ball in the end zone.’’
GIVENS SITS
Third-year receiver Chris Givens got caught in a numbers game Sunday and was inactive.
“It’s difficult when you have to deactivate healthy players, especially someone like ‘Give’ that’s been productive for us,’’ Fisher said. “But Tavon (Austin) came back. We had the depth at kickoff return. We needed some other players up in other positions just because of our special-teams needs. It may be a one-time thing. It may happen again. I don’t know.’’
Givens, who led the Rams in receiving yards (698) as a rookie in 2012, has four catches for 50 yards this season. In addition, he has returned five kickoffs for 101 yards.
The breakdown of offensive plays for the Rams’ receivers Sunday — Brian Quick (58), Kenny Britt (45), Austin Pettis (32), Tavon Austin (22) and Stedman Bailey (17).
Quick caught five passes for 87 yards with two touchdowns while Britt had three catches for 68 yards and a score.
Pettis caught three passes (29 yards) while Austin (33) and Bailey (20) had two each.
RAM-BLING
Davis’ 375 passing yards Sunday were the most by a Rams quarterback since Sam Bradford threw for 377 in a 36-22 loss to Minnesota in 2012.
Jim Thomas of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.