Special teams miscues fuel Rams' loss to Chiefs --PD

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RamBill

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Special teams miscues fuel Rams' loss to Chiefs
• By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_558be4f4-f804-5afc-9303-3809ee348c67.html

KANSAS CITY • Last week, the entire football world was raving about the derring-do of the Rams’ special teams unit. There was the fake punt, and the decoy punt return with the special name — “Mountaineer.”

But football can be a humbling game, and it was the Rams’ failure to execute the basics that contributed mightily to a landslide 34-7 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium.

It looked odd when Greg Zuerlein hit a line-drive kickoff that bounced before reaching Chiefs return man Knile Davis to start the second half. No one was laughing, at least on the Rams’ sidelines, 12 seconds later when Davis was celebrating in the end zone after a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

Zuerlein has a strong enough leg to routinely kick the ball high enough and long enough into the end zone for a touchback. He did so after the Rams scored a touchdown on their opening possession of the game.

But this wasn’t a case of the Rams trying to get too cute with the low, bouncing kick to start the third quarter.

“It was a bad kick,” Fisher said bluntly. “We were trying to get a deep left kick and he shanked it.”

Zuerlein missed Friday’s practice with a flu-like illness, but said, “It really doesn’t matter. You’ve still got to come out here and perform and do your job. There’s no excuses for mis-hits or missing field goals, or anything like that. So really how sick I was is irrelevant.”

Zuerlein said he simply tried to kick the ball too hard, struck it too high. “Can’t do that,” he said.

Davis’ TD made it 17-7, and the Rams all but curled up into the fetal position as the second half progressed and they lost player after player to injury, including Jake Long (knee), Rodger Saffold (shoulder), Brian Quick (arm) and Scott Wells (elbow). The Chiefs (4-3) would add a field goal and two more TDs before the day was done, winning for the fourth time in their last five games.

As for the Rams (2-5), well, they didn’t do much of anything in the second half. They committed more silly penalties and missed more open-field tackles — recurring themes over this season. And after a scoring a touchdown on a Lance Kendricks reception to start the game, they couldn’t get anything generated on offense until garbage time in the final 6½ minutes.

“We clearly got outplayed in the second half of this game in all three phases,” a disheartened Fisher said after the game. “This team’s gonna have to learn to play consistent through 60 minutes. ... So it wasn’t a good effort.”

Not even close.

The Rams have been outscored 65-10 in the second half of their past three games. For the season, the tally is 134 to 56 — opposing team — after halftime.

But as Fisher noted, Sunday’s troubles began even before intermission. More specifically, after Rams defensive end William Hayes recovered a botched handoff from quarterback Alex Smith to running back Jamaal Charles deep in Kansas City territory.

Hayes returned the loose ball 6 yards to the KC 8-yard line midway through the second quarter of what was then a 7-7 ballgame.

But a running play by Tre Mason and a scramble by Austin Davis left the Rams at third-and-goal from the 8. On the next play, Davis scrambled, and scrambled some more, and then took a sack. Not just any sack, but a 14-yard sack.

“That was a big point in the game,” Davis said. “You get the big turnover. Minimum, you gotta come away with three. But really, you’ve gotta score a touchdown, right?”

Right.

“I was just trying to make a play,” Davis continued. “I thought that maybe I could move around — you see a lot of plays happen that way. ... That’s just me trying to do too much.”

But even after the sack, which backed the Rams up to the 20, a 38-yard field is a chip shot for today’s NFL place-kicker, right?

Wrong.

Zuerlein’s kick sailed wide right. It didn’t miss by much, but it missed.

“I didn’t hit it solid,” Zuerlein said. “That’s basically all it was. Rushed at the ball a little bit and didn’t get my plant foot set properly. If that doesn’t get right, then the leg swing’s not gonna be proper and you saw the result.”

Compounding matters, Kansas City cobbled together a field goal drive after the Zuerlein miss, taking a 10-7 lead on a career-best 53-yard kick with 1 second left in the half by rookie Cairo Santos.

So it was a 10-point swing. Rams miss out on golden chance to score a touchdown; Chiefs counter with field goal.

Then came Knile Davis’ 99-yard kickoff return to start the second half.

“Obviously, a play like that is a dagger,” said Chase Reynolds, one of the Rams’ core special teams players.

But as Reynolds pointed out, it would be a mistake to heap all the blame on Zuerlein for the mis-hit on the kickoff return.

“He can hit it wherever he wants,” Reynolds said. “It’s our job to go tackle the ball. We’re accountable for wherever that ball goes — it’s our job to stop it.”

And there was plenty of blame to go around well behind the special teams miscues.

On offense, the Rams’ most consistent blocker, right tackle Joe Barksdale, had the worst day of his young career in giving up three sacks to Chiefs outside linebacker Justin Houston.

On defense, cornerback E.J. Gaines and linebacker Alec Ogletree both were guilty of costly personal fouls that kept a third-quarter Kansas City field goal drive going. Fisher didn’t think Gaines’ infraction should’ve been a penalty. As for Ogletree, Fisher wasn’t as forgiving.

“‘Tree’s’ gotta outgrow that, learn how to be a pro,” Fisher said. “Keep fighting when things aren’t going well and just worry about doing his job. So, we’ll get him straight.”

Gaines, playing in his hometown, missed a tackle on third down that set up the Chiefs’ first touchdown of the game. Linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar missed a tackle on Charles in the third quarter that turned about a 6-yard gain into a 30-yarder.

“I overplayed it, so that was a bad play on my part,” Dunbar said. “I accept it. I understand it. I’ve got to play better.”

He’s got plenty of company on that point.
 

jjab360

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Those two plays right out of our sails. And unfortunately, it seems like lately somebody left the motor at home so without the wind we're just dead in the water.