Reeling Rams hope the slide stops now/PD

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RamBill

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Reeling Rams hope the slide stops now
• By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_4c894da3-b07a-59b2-a440-9211fee1de78.html

Somewhere along the road from Minnesota to Cincinnati, the wheels have fallen off this Rams season. The shimmer of 4-3 and the team’s first winning record in November in nearly a decade is gone.

Absolutely crushing losses to Minnesota, Chicago, and Baltimore have the Rams staggering at 4-6 and suddenly bearing the all-too-familiar look of a team headed toward another losing season.

Most Rams fans know the milestone years by heart — all together now — no playoff berths since 2004 and no winning records since 2003.

“Big picture-wise, we have zero room for error now,” linebacker James Laurinaitis said. “The way the record is, we’ve made it extremely difficult on ourselves for big picture. But there’s no quit over here.”

But now with a supposedly “softer” portion of the schedule behind them, the Rams head into the teeth of two of the NFL’s elite. On Sunday, it’s the 8-2 Cincinnati Bengals in a noon kickoff (St. Louis time) at Paul Brown Stadium.

“It is definitely frustrating,” said tight end Lance Kendricks. “This team has been in this position a lot in the last few years — since I’ve been here. It’s more frustrating when you have the talent and you have the good players, and you have everything in place.

“But injuries to the offensive line and things like that, it hinders teams that are good. There’s nobody to blame, but I think we just need to find a way to win. That’s kind of where we’re lacking. We’re always in the game, but we just have to find ways to finish.”

Getting to the finish line will be tougher than ever these next two Sundays. Smarting from narrow losses back-to-back against Houston and Arizona, Cincy wants nothing more than to get well against the reeling Rams.

Then comes 8-2 Arizona, looking very much the part of Super Bowl contender these days. One of those two losses came to the Rams way back on Oct. 4, and if you don’t think Big Red coach Bruce Arians wants to avenge that 24-22 loss, well, you don’t know Bruce Arians.

Fleshing out the remaining schedule for 2015, supposed cupcakes Detroit and Tampa Bay are playing much better lately. That leaves road games at Seattle (Dec. 27) and at San Francisco (Jan. 3). The Seahawks, always tough to beat in the Pacific Northwest, look like they’re primed for a wild-card run.

So how many victories does that leave for Jeff Fisher’s Rams? Six? Seven? Can they find a way to eight?

As the Rams prepare for the stretch run, they are missing defensive end Robert Quinn with hip and back ailments. He’s the best player on the team not named Aaron Donald or Todd Gurley.

On the other side of the ball, the Rams’ offseason decision to go largely all-rookie on the offensive line appears to be backfiring in a big way. As the injuries mount, different collections of young and inexperienced blockers are assembled to pass protect and open holes in the running game.

This week, Cody Wichmann makes his second NFL start and Demetrius Rhaney makes his first. Cincinnati’s all-world defensive tackle, Gene Atkins, will try to make it an afternoon to remember for Wichmann and Rhaney, who will be manning the guard positions.

Whether it’s Nick Foles or the recently-concussed Case Keenum behind center, it doesn’t look like the team’s quarterback plan for 2015 will get a passing grade either when all is said and done. In a league where quarterbacks such as Cincy’s Andy Dalton can seemingly complete passes with their eyes closed, the Rams huff and puff to connect on the most basic of passes.

The league’s 32nd-ranked passing offense struggles to move the chains — it’s as if they’re 20 yards apart instead of 10. The Rams are averaging 173.9 yards per game in the air through 10 games this season. That’s on pace to be the lowest per-game average since the 1-15 Rams of Steve Spagnuolo averaged 167.9 yards per game in 2009.

And as dire as all that sounds, it almost pales in comparison to a myriad of off-field issues.

First and foremost, wide receiver Stedman Bailey remains in intensive care over the weekend after surgery for gunshot wounds in a drive-by shooting Tuesday in the Miami area.

The team wants to dedicate the season to Bailey. Teammate and longtime friend Tavon Austin wants to wear Bailey’s jersey No. 12 in his honor in games. Austin and wide receiver Kenny Britt wore No. 12 jerseys in practice Friday.

“That’s cool,” Fisher said. “They love Sted. If we had enough jerseys to go around, everybody would’ve had a 12 jersey on, including me.”

But it remains to be seen if the emotion of a tough week at Rams Park lifts the team to new heights or leaves the players overwrought and mentally drained against the Bengals.

This season already has seen two players — Bailey and reserve running back Trey Watts — suspended for violating NFL policy on substance abuse.

The day before the wrenching 16-13 loss at Baltimore, Fisher benched running back Tre Mason and rookie offensive tackle Isaiah Battle for missing the team bus to Lambert Airport.

Throw in the controversy over concussion protocol and the fact that Keenum stayed in the Baltimore game after banging his head and getting up groggy, and it’s difficult to imagine how anything else could go wrong.

“We’ve gotta stay together as a team,” Britt said after the Baltimore game. “If we don’t stay together, everything’s gonna fall apart. We’ve got a great coach. We’ve got great teammates. And I know we’re gonna pull through this.”

In the past under Fisher, the Rams have managed to follow tough losses to lesser foes with surprising upsets over elite teams. Maybe that happens Sunday against the Bengals or the following week against Arizona. Or maybe the Rams continue to tumble through the trap door in a season once full of playoff expectations.

If the Rams are to pull themselves back up, it must start with offense. With first downs, with third-down conversions, with red zone success — and yes, with completions.

“We just have to utilize us better,” Kendricks said. “I don’t know how to say that without it sounding bad, but we gotta utilize everybody. That’s part of a good offense. Good offenses, everyone gets used. You spread the ball out.

“Hopefully we can figure that out. I know we have issues up front. Once we figure that out, I think we’ll be all right. We just gotta keep hanging on.”

RAMS ADD A KICKER

Greg Zuerlein made the trip to Cincinnati but is questionable due to a groin injury, so the Rams added kicker Zach Hocker to the roster Saturday. Hocker began this season with New Orleans. The Rams cut tight end Justice Cunningham to make room for Hocker.


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Mojo Ram

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Rams are 1-6 outside the NFCW this season.

Ouch.
 

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