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Rams in familiar December territory — playing out the string
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_23dbb6fe-84bb-539a-85f8-b85aa1443070.html
Yes, the holiday season is upon us. But when it comes to Rams football, it’s anything but the most wonderful time of the year.
Once again, December football in St. Louis has absolutely nothing to do with playoff races, fighting for division titles or jockeying for a first-round playoff bye. At 4-8, the Rams are cursed with their 12th straight non-winning season.
“It’s not fun going on these slides that we’re on right now,” linebacker James Laurinaitis said. “You don’t want to be in these weeks at the end of the year in December where you’re playing football essentially for your jobs, but also just for momentum carrying into the offseason. You want to have games that mean something.”
Oh well. Maybe next year.
A loss in Sunday’s noon game against the 4-8 Detroit Lions would make this the Rams’ ninth consecutive losing season. And in a cruel irony for a franchise that plans to file for relocation to Los Angeles in little more than three weeks, it’s Fan Appreciation Day at Edward Jones Dome. There are discounts on food and merchandise, there will be contests and giveaways.
But the best way to show fan appreciation? How about scoring more than 18 points for the first time since Nov. 1? Or snapping the team’s five-game losing streak?
Unfortunately for long-suffering Rams fans, the now-familiar catch phrases of “playing for pride” or “putting out good film” once again are in full effect.
“I think we have to build confidence,” tight end Lance Kendricks said, speaking specifically of the offense. “Somewhere along the line, we just lost that confidence. It could be due to injuries, with the O-line being a little limited. Inconsistency. Penalties.
“We haven’t really had a rhythm on offense in a long time. That’s something we’ll be looking for.”
At least the Rams are moving down in class this week against Detroit, which has the benefit of the so-called “mini-bye,” having last played on Dec. 3 in a Thursday night game against Green Bay.
Were it not for that disastrous ending against the Packers, a 61-yard Hail Mary pass from Aaron Rodgers to Richard Rodgers — against a botched defensive alignment on the final play of the game — Detroit would be coming to town with a four-game winning streak and on the fringe of the wild-card race at 5-7.
Instead, the Lions, who lost their first five games and started 1-7 this season, are out of it, a bitter come-down after winning 11 games and earning a wild-card berth a year ago. Who knows how the Lions will react to that 27-23 loss to Green Bay. Can they regain the momentum of that “almost” four-game winning streak? Or will they mentally pack it in for 2015?
Meanwhile, the Rams’ fall has been swift and dramatic. In a league built for parity, they simply have been non-competitive in their most recent two losses, getting outscored 58-10 by Cincinnati and Arizona. Granted, the Bengals and Cardinals are elite teams. But the Rams were either beating those types of teams (Seattle and Arizona) or competing with them (Pittsburgh) earlier in the season.
“Just to be here now at 4-8, when we were just — it seems like yesterday — we were 4-3 and then everything spiraled,” Laurinaitis said. “Yeah, it’s frustrating.”
The organization is awash in uncertainty. There’s no way at this point to know if the coaches will be back, if any of the team’s many pending free agents will be back, or even if the team itself will be in St. Louis in 2016. There’s nothing that the players or coaches can do about any of that at the moment. The only thing they can make right on Sunday is somehow getting a victory against Detroit.
They’ll try to do so after another tumultuous week, a week in which offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti was fired and Rob Boras promoted and given the play-calling reigns.
“I’ve just been pleased with the players’ response (to Boras),” coach Jeff Fisher said. “That’s the most important thing — is how the players respond. They’re pulling hard for him. They don’t want to let him down.”
Case Keenum, who was 12 for 26 passing for 136 yards three Sundays ago in a 16-13 loss in Baltimore, gets another start at quarterback after spending the last couple of weeks working through the NFL concussion protocol. To say he is excited about this opportunity would be understatement.
“It’s a dream come true for me to be a starting quarterback in the NFL,” said Keenum, who has been thinking about it “since I was 5 or 6 or 7 years old in second grade. I told my teacher I wanted to be an NFL quarterback. She kind of said, ‘OK, Case.’
“Well, I get to do that this week, and there’s not many people that have ever gotten to do that. So I’m not taking it lightly.”
On the other side of the ball, the Rams will face the league’s ninth-ranked passing offense without their best pass-rusher (Robert Quinn), best linebacker (Alec Ogletree), best cornerback (Janoris Jenkins), and arguably, their best safety (T.J. McDonald).
Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford can make all the throws, and he’ll undoubtedly be looking early and often to Calvin Johnson, aka “Megatron.”
“Any time you’ve got Stafford under center or in shotgun, and Calvin and (Golden) Taint out there, they’re a threat,” Fisher said. “Calvin is as good as there is. He’s just so tall, and (has a) big catch radius. Matt knows that and he puts the ball up and makes his plays.”
Containing Johnson won’t guarantee a victory, but it would certainly make that task a lot easier.
“You have to always change things up, whether it’s man or zone,” Fisher said. “Or at times you’re going to have to affect coverage and try to double him. Even though you see team after team after team (use) double coverage on him, he’s still coming up with the play.”
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_23dbb6fe-84bb-539a-85f8-b85aa1443070.html
Yes, the holiday season is upon us. But when it comes to Rams football, it’s anything but the most wonderful time of the year.
Once again, December football in St. Louis has absolutely nothing to do with playoff races, fighting for division titles or jockeying for a first-round playoff bye. At 4-8, the Rams are cursed with their 12th straight non-winning season.
“It’s not fun going on these slides that we’re on right now,” linebacker James Laurinaitis said. “You don’t want to be in these weeks at the end of the year in December where you’re playing football essentially for your jobs, but also just for momentum carrying into the offseason. You want to have games that mean something.”
Oh well. Maybe next year.
A loss in Sunday’s noon game against the 4-8 Detroit Lions would make this the Rams’ ninth consecutive losing season. And in a cruel irony for a franchise that plans to file for relocation to Los Angeles in little more than three weeks, it’s Fan Appreciation Day at Edward Jones Dome. There are discounts on food and merchandise, there will be contests and giveaways.
But the best way to show fan appreciation? How about scoring more than 18 points for the first time since Nov. 1? Or snapping the team’s five-game losing streak?
Unfortunately for long-suffering Rams fans, the now-familiar catch phrases of “playing for pride” or “putting out good film” once again are in full effect.
“I think we have to build confidence,” tight end Lance Kendricks said, speaking specifically of the offense. “Somewhere along the line, we just lost that confidence. It could be due to injuries, with the O-line being a little limited. Inconsistency. Penalties.
“We haven’t really had a rhythm on offense in a long time. That’s something we’ll be looking for.”
At least the Rams are moving down in class this week against Detroit, which has the benefit of the so-called “mini-bye,” having last played on Dec. 3 in a Thursday night game against Green Bay.
Were it not for that disastrous ending against the Packers, a 61-yard Hail Mary pass from Aaron Rodgers to Richard Rodgers — against a botched defensive alignment on the final play of the game — Detroit would be coming to town with a four-game winning streak and on the fringe of the wild-card race at 5-7.
Instead, the Lions, who lost their first five games and started 1-7 this season, are out of it, a bitter come-down after winning 11 games and earning a wild-card berth a year ago. Who knows how the Lions will react to that 27-23 loss to Green Bay. Can they regain the momentum of that “almost” four-game winning streak? Or will they mentally pack it in for 2015?
Meanwhile, the Rams’ fall has been swift and dramatic. In a league built for parity, they simply have been non-competitive in their most recent two losses, getting outscored 58-10 by Cincinnati and Arizona. Granted, the Bengals and Cardinals are elite teams. But the Rams were either beating those types of teams (Seattle and Arizona) or competing with them (Pittsburgh) earlier in the season.
“Just to be here now at 4-8, when we were just — it seems like yesterday — we were 4-3 and then everything spiraled,” Laurinaitis said. “Yeah, it’s frustrating.”
The organization is awash in uncertainty. There’s no way at this point to know if the coaches will be back, if any of the team’s many pending free agents will be back, or even if the team itself will be in St. Louis in 2016. There’s nothing that the players or coaches can do about any of that at the moment. The only thing they can make right on Sunday is somehow getting a victory against Detroit.
They’ll try to do so after another tumultuous week, a week in which offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti was fired and Rob Boras promoted and given the play-calling reigns.
“I’ve just been pleased with the players’ response (to Boras),” coach Jeff Fisher said. “That’s the most important thing — is how the players respond. They’re pulling hard for him. They don’t want to let him down.”
Case Keenum, who was 12 for 26 passing for 136 yards three Sundays ago in a 16-13 loss in Baltimore, gets another start at quarterback after spending the last couple of weeks working through the NFL concussion protocol. To say he is excited about this opportunity would be understatement.
“It’s a dream come true for me to be a starting quarterback in the NFL,” said Keenum, who has been thinking about it “since I was 5 or 6 or 7 years old in second grade. I told my teacher I wanted to be an NFL quarterback. She kind of said, ‘OK, Case.’
“Well, I get to do that this week, and there’s not many people that have ever gotten to do that. So I’m not taking it lightly.”
On the other side of the ball, the Rams will face the league’s ninth-ranked passing offense without their best pass-rusher (Robert Quinn), best linebacker (Alec Ogletree), best cornerback (Janoris Jenkins), and arguably, their best safety (T.J. McDonald).
Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford can make all the throws, and he’ll undoubtedly be looking early and often to Calvin Johnson, aka “Megatron.”
“Any time you’ve got Stafford under center or in shotgun, and Calvin and (Golden) Taint out there, they’re a threat,” Fisher said. “Calvin is as good as there is. He’s just so tall, and (has a) big catch radius. Matt knows that and he puts the ball up and makes his plays.”
Containing Johnson won’t guarantee a victory, but it would certainly make that task a lot easier.
“You have to always change things up, whether it’s man or zone,” Fisher said. “Or at times you’re going to have to affect coverage and try to double him. Even though you see team after team after team (use) double coverage on him, he’s still coming up with the play.”
