JT: Rams seek cure for second-half blues

Rams seek cure for second-half blues

By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot…cle_701477ac-0aa8-5d2b-bb9c-996297e9c183.html

One of the most perplexing aspects of this perplexing Rams season is what happens to the Rams in the second half.

It’s almost as if they’re leaving the field at halftime for a hot dog … and never coming back. With rare exception — namely, the Tampa Bay and Philadelphia games — the Rams have all but disappeared in the second half of games this year.

If games ended at halftime, the Rams would be 4-3 this season and in the thick of the NFC West race. They’ve led at halftime four times, and last week in Kansas City trailed by only three points at intermission.

The only exceptions have been the Minnesota and Philadelphia games, where the Rams trailed by 13 points at halftime both times.

“We’ve got to treat the second half like the start of the game,” linebacker James Laurinaitis said. “We’ve been poor there, really bad.”

How bad? In the second half of their seven games this season the 2-5 Rams have been outscored by a whopping 134-56. In comparison, the Rams are in a dead heat with their opponents in the first half, outscoring their foes 80-76.

“It’s been crazy,” Laurinaitis said during the practice week. “I don’t know if we’ve gotta put in a fake halftime (at practice) or what, but we’ve gotta figure something out.

“Maybe tomorrow in practice we should stop practice for 15 minutes. Call it halftime, and come back out.”

Actually, halftime in the NFL lasts only 12 minutes, but you get the point. The Rams certainly aren’t getting any points — not in the second half.

The situation has been particularly bad over the last three contests. In reverse order, the Rams were outscored 24-0 in Kansas City, 20-7 vs. Seattle and 21-3 against San Francisco in the second half. That’s a total of 65-10.

“We stress it,” coach Jeff Fisher said. “We’ve gotta come out and have a good drive, whether we start on offense or whether we go on defense (to start the second half).

“Defense should be a 3-and-out, and offense should be at least a field position change and/or a score. Those are very, very important drives.”

For those who subscribe to the theory that the first few minutes of the second half are critical to who wins and loses, the Rams are a prime example of what NOT to do.

Opponents have scored four touchdowns on their initial possessions of the second half against the Rams this season. Meanwhile, the Rams have managed only one field goal on their first possession of the third quarter, that coming in the season opener against Minnesota.

In fact, the Rams have given up more points on their first offensive series of the second half than they’ve scored — to wit, the lost Rams fumble recovered in the end zone for a TD by Philadelphia in Game 4.

When you add it all up, the Rams have been outscored 35-3 after both teams have had a possession in the third quarter.

“We’ve always felt that the first drive or two of the second half really sets the tempo,” Fisher said. “We’re getting significantly outscored in the second half, specifically the third quarter, and we’ve got to do better there.”

A lot better. It has reached the point where offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer has hinted at scripting plays to start the second half.

“We’ve talked about some different things, maybe looking at the ways we start the second half with ‘openers,’ things like that,” he said Thursday. “Listing the plays and stuff.”

Most teams, Rams included, script plays to begin games. And for the Rams that has worked with very good success. The Rams have scored a touchdown four times on their opening possession this season, tied for the league lead with Green Bay.

But when it comes to the second half, not even a GPS tracking device can get the Rams to the end zone.

It’s become cliche’ to talk about the importance of halftime adjustments, but that’s an overrated concept. As former Rams coach Dick Vermeil used to jokingly say, you barely have time to walk off the field, take a leak, and walk back out to the field during the 12-minute break.

Nonetheless, there are adjustments that can be made during the break, or even in-game. But it can also be a case of taking your best shots with your best plays in the first half, and then seeing the team with the better talent eventually take over as the game progresses.

Immediately after the Kansas City game, quarterback Austin Davis said he thought the Chiefs took some things away in the second half. But after he studied the film over the next day or two, he came to the conclusion that that wasn’t really the case.

“I think in watching the tape, they don’t take as much away as you think they do,” Davis said. “I felt at times that I’ve gotten kind of thrown off a little bit and missed some things. They cover one thing, then all of a sudden you think they’re covering everything but they’re really not.

“We’re getting guys open; the run game’s been good. We’ve just got to stay the course and continue to do what we do.”

Of course, when it comes to the Rams’ second-half woes, it’s not just the offense that is breaking down. Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams’ unit has hardly been a rock in the second half.

“We’ve emphasized: Start fast,” Williams said. “We’ve had some things where a penalty will keep a drive alive. … We’ve had a couple here recently, second halves where we did pretty good to start the third quarter but at the end of third quarter we’ll have a couple penalties that extend drives, a couple of ticky-tack things.

“Those things develop into big things when you continue to allow more plays (for the opposing offense), and put them down in scoring situations when we could’ve been off the field.”

Williams doesn’t know if it’s fatigue, or loss of focus, or just good play by the opponent that’s led to the trouble.

One thing seems certain. With a banged up roster heading into Levi’s Stadium for Sunday’s 3:05 p.m. start (St. Louis time) against San Francisco, the Rams better have high energy and sharp focus from start to finish. Otherwise it might not matter what happens once the second half begins. It’ll already be too late.