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Rams hope history doesn't repeat itself vs. Vikings
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_4f61ae15-a26b-5475-ba1d-8bbf64f0230a.html
As much as the Rams would like to burn the game from their memory, it can’t be avoided. Not this week.
In preparation for Sunday’s contest at Minnesota, in the film room they must relive last year’s 34-6 season-opening humiliation to the Vikings.
“I’d like to forget it,” defensive end Williams Hayes said.
The Rams veteran was coming off multiple offseason surgeries at the time, and had missed additional time in camp and the preseason because of a chest injury.
Looking at that game again this week, Hayes says it might be his worst performance since he arrived in St. Louis in 2012.
“I put a bad product on the field,” he said.
Small consolation, but he had plenty of company that day among his teammates. In fact, it would be difficult to imagine a worse start to what was a season of great expectations.
The storyline was that the third year would be the charm for the Jeff Fisher-Les Snead regime.
Instead, the embarrassing defeat foreshadowed another lost season of Rams football in St. Louis. Starting with that Minnesota game, the team stumbled to a 1-4 start and finished 6-10.
The margin of defeat that day matched the worst for a home season opener in franchise history. And you had to go all the way back to 1937, the inaugural year for the Rams in the NFL, to find that game — a 28-0 loss by the Cleveland Rams to Detroit.
“This is the exact opposite of our expectations. Period, point blank,” offensive lineman Rodger Saffold said after last year’s game.
“Nobody saw this coming,” defensive tackle Michael Brockers said after that contest. “It was like a snowball going downfield. It just kept rolling on ...”
The Rams committed 13 penalties for 121 yards that day. Minnesota’s Cordarrelle Patterson, a wide receiver by trade, ran for 102 yards on just three carries, scoring on a 67-yard run on a play in which he lined up in the backfield.
By the start of the third quarter, the Rams were down to Austin Davis at quarterback. He had spent much of that preseason as the team’s fourth-string quarterback. Just 15 days after losing starter Sam Bradford to a season-ending knee injury, the Rams lost Bradford’s replacement — Shaun Hill — to a thigh injury against the Vikings.
So there was chaos at the QB position; Davis hadn’t thrown much to the Rams’ starting wide receivers when he entered the game.
“It was one of those things that happens,” Fisher said. “But I’d like to think we’re a little bit better in all three areas now.”
By the end of that game, it was hard to tell which was louder — the boos from the few Rams fans still in attendance or the chants of “Let’s go Vikings!” by Minnesota fans in the dome.
“It kinda spiraled out of control,” tight end Lance Kendricks said this week. “I remember we just got physically outplayed.”
About the only thing the Rams did well that day was keep the lid on the Vikings’ star running back — Adrian Peterson. He rushed for 75 yards but averaged only 3.6 yards per carry.
“After that game, I was so disappointed,” Peterson told St. Louis reporters Wednesday on a conference call. “Even though we got the ‘W,’ I was disappointed in how I allowed those guys to get free hits and stuff on me. They had me out of character.”
Because of that, Peterson said he is looking forward to playing the Rams this Sunday, in Minneapolis.
If there’s more motivation from Peterson, the same can be said for the Rams. They want to show themselves and the Vikings that they’re not the same team that was dominated last year.
“Yeah, definitely,” Kendricks said. “We took a beating that week. I think it’s important for us come out strong this week, and start fast. Because we’ve yet to start fast this year.”
Hayes said: “It’s a little bit more personal for me this week because the more I look at (that film), the more embarrassed I’m getting. So I’m just gonna go out there and try to put some good stuff on film this week.”
Twenty-two games have passed since then, but the teams still can learn from last year’s contest. They each have new starting quarterbacks. Nick Foles has replaced Bradford in St. Louis and Teddy Bridgewater has replaced Matt Cassel, who was last year’s opening-day starter for the Vikings.
There are new starters sprinkled throughout both lineups. But many familiar faces remain, and for the most part the coaching staffs and the systems are the same on offense and defense.
Fisher likened it to playing a division team the second time around in a season.
“It’s recent,” he said. “They game-planned up. We game-planned them. They made more plays than we did, so we gave up some big plays. We know Norv (Turner) very well. He’s an outstanding coordinator and he’ll have ’em ready to play.”
Turner, a former NFL head coach with Washington, Oakland, and San Diego, is Minnesota’s offensive coordinator.
If the Rams have learned anything from that game, it’s that they have to do more than just contain Peterson to win. And they can’t make the kind of mistakes they made last year, particularly the penalties, and expect to win.
“They’ve got a solid defense,” Kendricks said. “They’re very disciplined and sound in what they do.
“I think we’re such a different team now that I definitely think we’ll play up to our potential this week, especially being on a roll with two (victories) back-to-back. It’d be nice to kinda get out there and get after ‘em, and see if we can pull out a win on the road.”
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_4f61ae15-a26b-5475-ba1d-8bbf64f0230a.html
As much as the Rams would like to burn the game from their memory, it can’t be avoided. Not this week.
In preparation for Sunday’s contest at Minnesota, in the film room they must relive last year’s 34-6 season-opening humiliation to the Vikings.
“I’d like to forget it,” defensive end Williams Hayes said.
The Rams veteran was coming off multiple offseason surgeries at the time, and had missed additional time in camp and the preseason because of a chest injury.
Looking at that game again this week, Hayes says it might be his worst performance since he arrived in St. Louis in 2012.
“I put a bad product on the field,” he said.
Small consolation, but he had plenty of company that day among his teammates. In fact, it would be difficult to imagine a worse start to what was a season of great expectations.
The storyline was that the third year would be the charm for the Jeff Fisher-Les Snead regime.
Instead, the embarrassing defeat foreshadowed another lost season of Rams football in St. Louis. Starting with that Minnesota game, the team stumbled to a 1-4 start and finished 6-10.
The margin of defeat that day matched the worst for a home season opener in franchise history. And you had to go all the way back to 1937, the inaugural year for the Rams in the NFL, to find that game — a 28-0 loss by the Cleveland Rams to Detroit.
“This is the exact opposite of our expectations. Period, point blank,” offensive lineman Rodger Saffold said after last year’s game.
“Nobody saw this coming,” defensive tackle Michael Brockers said after that contest. “It was like a snowball going downfield. It just kept rolling on ...”
The Rams committed 13 penalties for 121 yards that day. Minnesota’s Cordarrelle Patterson, a wide receiver by trade, ran for 102 yards on just three carries, scoring on a 67-yard run on a play in which he lined up in the backfield.
By the start of the third quarter, the Rams were down to Austin Davis at quarterback. He had spent much of that preseason as the team’s fourth-string quarterback. Just 15 days after losing starter Sam Bradford to a season-ending knee injury, the Rams lost Bradford’s replacement — Shaun Hill — to a thigh injury against the Vikings.
So there was chaos at the QB position; Davis hadn’t thrown much to the Rams’ starting wide receivers when he entered the game.
“It was one of those things that happens,” Fisher said. “But I’d like to think we’re a little bit better in all three areas now.”
By the end of that game, it was hard to tell which was louder — the boos from the few Rams fans still in attendance or the chants of “Let’s go Vikings!” by Minnesota fans in the dome.
“It kinda spiraled out of control,” tight end Lance Kendricks said this week. “I remember we just got physically outplayed.”
About the only thing the Rams did well that day was keep the lid on the Vikings’ star running back — Adrian Peterson. He rushed for 75 yards but averaged only 3.6 yards per carry.
“After that game, I was so disappointed,” Peterson told St. Louis reporters Wednesday on a conference call. “Even though we got the ‘W,’ I was disappointed in how I allowed those guys to get free hits and stuff on me. They had me out of character.”
Because of that, Peterson said he is looking forward to playing the Rams this Sunday, in Minneapolis.
If there’s more motivation from Peterson, the same can be said for the Rams. They want to show themselves and the Vikings that they’re not the same team that was dominated last year.
“Yeah, definitely,” Kendricks said. “We took a beating that week. I think it’s important for us come out strong this week, and start fast. Because we’ve yet to start fast this year.”
Hayes said: “It’s a little bit more personal for me this week because the more I look at (that film), the more embarrassed I’m getting. So I’m just gonna go out there and try to put some good stuff on film this week.”
Twenty-two games have passed since then, but the teams still can learn from last year’s contest. They each have new starting quarterbacks. Nick Foles has replaced Bradford in St. Louis and Teddy Bridgewater has replaced Matt Cassel, who was last year’s opening-day starter for the Vikings.
There are new starters sprinkled throughout both lineups. But many familiar faces remain, and for the most part the coaching staffs and the systems are the same on offense and defense.
Fisher likened it to playing a division team the second time around in a season.
“It’s recent,” he said. “They game-planned up. We game-planned them. They made more plays than we did, so we gave up some big plays. We know Norv (Turner) very well. He’s an outstanding coordinator and he’ll have ’em ready to play.”
Turner, a former NFL head coach with Washington, Oakland, and San Diego, is Minnesota’s offensive coordinator.
If the Rams have learned anything from that game, it’s that they have to do more than just contain Peterson to win. And they can’t make the kind of mistakes they made last year, particularly the penalties, and expect to win.
“They’ve got a solid defense,” Kendricks said. “They’re very disciplined and sound in what they do.
“I think we’re such a different team now that I definitely think we’ll play up to our potential this week, especially being on a roll with two (victories) back-to-back. It’d be nice to kinda get out there and get after ‘em, and see if we can pull out a win on the road.”
