Strauss: Sack City has lost its luster/PD

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RamBill

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Strauss: Sack City has lost its luster
• Joe Strauss

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_c93e5a9d-21a5-528d-b0a0-0eaa93243991.html

We’re not even to October and the Rams have taken the city and its irritable fan base on a roundabout trek from the Absurd to the Inspirational to downright Confounding.

Surprising as it is that former third-string quarterback Austin Davis is averaging more than 150 yards passing per half, it’s even more jarring that a defensive front seven that includes first-round draftees Robert Quinn, Michael Brockers, Aaron Donald and Alec Ogletree in addition to second-rounder James Laurinaitis so far has offered the consistency of tapioca pudding against the run.

The Rams also supplemented their prodigious on-field talent by importing transformative defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, a wizard whose effective blitz-intensive schemes outweighed his controversial recent history as Gregg the Bounty Hunter.

Coming off a week in which 31 points weren’t enough to win, the Rams are surrendering about the same yardage per game as during their 7-9 team of 2013. The manner is what’s feeding the madness.

Right now the Rams’ porous run defense is something only fantasy football geeks can love. In three weeks they’ve permitted Cordarrelle Patterson, Bobby Rainey and DeMarco Murray to go for triple-digit rushing yards.

Patterson is a receiver who got there on three attempts, Rainey an undrafted free agent playing in place of injured Doug Martin, and Murray a constant stick in the eye “limited” to 100 yards during the Rams’ 34-31 loss Sunday to Dallas.

“We’ve got to get better against the run. We’re inconsistent,” coach Jeff Fisher responded Monday when asked if he is concerned about this defense.

The coaching phrase is “clean it up.”

Fisher suggested his defense could improve “significantly” on third down and cited the inability to create turnovers so far. (Only four teams carry a worse turnover margin than the Rams’ minus-2.)

So-called “Sack City” has resembled a shanty town to date.

Fisher conceded that pressure has yet to translate into quarterback takedowns but suggested teams are counteracting a legitimate pass rush by unloading the ball quickly. It does not explain why the Rams could be frequently found Sunday employing a three-man front on passing downs. Even missing injured defensive end Chris Long, the defensive front represents the team’s deepest, most effective area.

Fisher described his team as “playing hard. They’re playing physical, and they’re mad. And that’s good.”

Well, agitation is appropriate when your only win remains against an 0-3 Tampa Bay team that trailed 17-0 against the Carolina Panthers and a backup quarterback in its season opener and 56-0 last Thursday against the Atlanta Falcons.

The Buccaneers led the Rams into the game’s final minute and played them to a statistical draw.

In three weeks the Rams have allowed nine first downs by penalty, including four last weekend. Fisher made a compelling case that the zebras jobbed his defense on several calls Sunday, including two pressures against quarterback Tony Romo. Defensive end Eugene Sims was on the wrong end of two questionable calls, coincidentally a week after twice being flagged for personal fouls in Tampa.

Trash-talking is entrenched in the game. Sometimes it gets your mug on television. Maybe it even creates an edge. Doing so following a 15-yard pass play seems a bit of a stretch, though. One is entitled to wonder if all the yapping and absurd penalties the last two years have fed a reputation that conspires against a team with little margin for error.

The Rams did much to win Sunday’s game, starting with a 448-340 edge in total yards. But as Post-Dispatch football scribe Jim Thomas researched on Monday, the largest disparity in penalty yardage since the franchise’s move to St. Louis negated the advantage.

Fisher can rage against the machine. Former chairman and current member of the NFL’s competition committee, he carries requisite credentials to cite chapter and verse, nuts and bolts about officiating. But before running to the grassy knoll to partly explain Sunday’s implosion, addressing a blown third-quarter coverage against wideout Dez Bryant and an inability to contain Romo might bring more future benefit.

More than Sam Bradford’s return, more than the progression of a young receiving corps, the Rams based optimism for this season on their defensive front seven and Williams’ hire.

Conventional wisdom held that last season’s solid defense could evolve into something elite, the Rams could employ a ground-and-pound offense and their made-for-NFC-West style would translate universally.

After three weeks, up remains down and down is up.

Practice resumes at Rams Park with the Arizona Cardinals (71.7), Seattle Seahawks (72.3) and San Francisco 49ers (85.7) all among the league’s top seven rush defenses based on yards per game. The Rams (155.0) rank 29th, besting only Green Bay, Oakland and Jacksonville.

Yes, the Rams also ranked fourth in run defense within the division last season; however, their 102.9 rushing yards allowed per game stood ninth league-wide.

The Rams badly shanked their shot to reach this week’s bye with a winning record.

Now they can look forward to facing seven playoff teams in the next eight games.

The exception is Arizona, the conference’s only remaining undefeated team.

Recent organizational history bred all sorts of intrigue around its offensive coordinators. Bradford allegedly suffered from the even-changing philosophies. Yet changes on the defensive side have provided for similar drama, whether it be the firing of Williams’ son following the 2012 season, the abortive hiring of Rob Ryan, the audible to overmatched Tim Walton or the move to the elder Williams.

Are we to believe defensive end Chris Long’s opening-day ankle injury has proved this disruptive? Is Williams’ scheme proving difficult to digest? Does his philosophy fit his personnel? Three weeks might be insufficient to provide answers but it’s plenty long enough to sprout questions.
 

Merlin

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"Sacked City" is more appropriate for now at least. Hope that changes dramatically starting in this game vs Philly.

I want to see Foles blowin snot bubbles and spittin out dirt.
 

ZigZagRam

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Sack city was built with a four man front. I've never seen so many 3-man fronts by a 4-3 team.

I'd be very surprised if that continues to happen beyond the bye week.
 

Angry Ram

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"Remember that time I called you to never throw flags on teams that play the Rams?! WORTH IT."

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