Plays that shaped Rams' season: No. 2

Plays that shaped Rams’ season: No. 2

By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/15715/plays-that-shaped-rams-season-no-2

EARTH CITY, Mo. — You’d be hard-pressed to find a play who merged imagination and execution better than the one who defined the St. Louis Rams’ 28-26 win against the Seattle Seahawks on Oct. 19.

The Rams surprised the Seahawks with the victory and many times throughout it with what was one of the most dynamic special teams performances of any team in 2014. Amidst fake punts and long kickoff returns was the 90-yard punt return for a touchdown by receiver Stedman Bailey on a play that goes down in Rams’ lore as “The Mountaineer.”

After jumping to a 14-3 lead in the second quarter, the Rams defense got another stop near midfield. Earlier in the week, special teams coach John Fassel had noticed an interesting tendency in Seattle punter Jon Ryan’s kicks from that part of the field. When the Seahawks kicked “sky” punts with the intent to down the kick near the end zone, Ryan’s kicks regularly drifted to the left. According to Bailey, Ryan had 14 punts that all landed in approximately the same spot.

So Fassel went into the archives and pulled a play from the Chicago Bears circa 2011 playbook. Then, the Bears ran a similar play successfully but had it called back for holding against the Green Bay Packers. During the week, the Rams installed a play that called for Bailey to run in the direction of the spot where the ball was expected to land.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, normal punt returner Tavon Austin would feign a catch and return. The bulk of the Rams blockers ran toward Austin’s side to help sell it and many Seahawks followed along.

Bailey hauled it in over his shoulder, turned up the field and found nothing but open space on his way to a touchdown on the first punt return of his career.

“From watching the tape, I would know exactly where the ball would land,” Bailey said then. “For me to catch it, it was just my receiver skills and catching the ball over my head. I turned around, secured it and just started running.”

The punt return even fooled the camera crew working the game and gave the Rams a 21-3 lead that would eventually become a 28-26 victory to give the Rams their second win of the season. Because of the prominent involvement of Austin and Bailey, Fassel called the play ‘The Mountaineer.’

In the big picture, it didn’t mean much for the Rams’ record in 2014 but if nothing else, it offered a great memory for fans of a team that has provided too few of those over the past decade or so.