the media reviews the 9ers game

MamaRama re-formatted this, which is why it could be copied & re-posted

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RAMS REPORT CARD – WEEK 8: Rams D-Line excels, other units not so much

http://www.stltoday.com/gallery/sports/football/professional/rams-report-card/collection_d2984249-6a30-5501-b247-435cf363f54a.html#0

Most of the Rams units get bad grades despite their victory over San Francisco.

Quarterback: D
Austin Davis had a few good moments in San Francisco, including his 21-yard TD pass to Kenny Britt breaking wide over the middle of the field. But Davis suffered two ugly interceptions rolling to his right and finished just 13 for 24 for 105 yards and a 44.6 passer rating. His epic struggle forced the Rams to become timid offensively. But unlike 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick, he didn’t turn the ball over late.

Running Back: C
Speedy rookie Tre Mason emerged as the feature back, but aside from a 21-yard run he struggled. His other 18 carries netted just 44 yards and his only catch went for an eight-yard loss. Benny Cunningham didn’t run well (10 yards on four carries), but he did catch three passes for 38 yards when the Rams were desperate for positive yardage. Rookie Trey Watts had a nice little catch coming out of the backfield and former starter Zac Stacy did, well, nothing.

Wide Receivers: C
Aside from Britt’s TD catch, this group did almost nothing during this feckless offensive performance. Tavon Austin’s four touches (two runs, two receptions) earned a grand total of 18 yards—although he did make a nice catch for a critical late first down. Davis targeted his WRs just 10 times in this game. Brian Quick is missed.

Tight Ends: D
Lance Kendricks broke free for what would have been the game-clinching TD late in the fourth quarter, but the Rams didn’t pass block and Davis had to throw away his play-action pass. Davis targeted the trio of Kendricks, Jared Cook and Cory Harkey eight times and got just three completions for 19 yards. The TEs had a less-than-memorable blocking performance, too.

Offensive Line: D
LT Greg Robinson and C Scott Wells each earned costly holding penalties on running plays. The unit suffered some breakdowns in protection—forcing Davis to take off and/or throw balls away—and it failed to muster a consistent push in the running game. When the Rams needed to control the ball and eat clock, they couldn’t.

Defensive Line: A+
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Sack City! The major, DE Robert Quinn, finally cut the ribbon and put the line in business for real. Quinn had two sacks, including one that forced a fumble. Des William Hayes and Eugene Sims earned sacks, as did DTs Aaron Donald and Michael Brockers. Kaepernick went down eight times and became skittish as a result. Oh, and the defensive front finally throttled RB Frank Gore, too.

Linebackers: A
The game ended with MLB James Laurinaitis holding the football in the Rams end zone. How he got it was a bit murky, but it was a fitting (though chaotic) ending to a defensive-oriented game. Laurinaitis also had a sack. Accident-prone OLB Alec Ogletree had one really nice good pass defense and got through the game without making a gigantic mistake.

Secondary: C
It got scary at the end when CB Trumaine Johnson was forced to hang on for dear life in the final moments of the game. But it’s better to be called for pass interference and holding penalties than to give up TDs—as rookie CB Marcus Roberson did when he turned Anquan Boldin loose for a 27-yard scoring catch. This game was another learning experience for the young CBs.

Special Teams: B
There was some high comedy, such as Daren Bates’ spectacular penalty for hurdling the line before the snap while going for a kick block. And Tavon Austin nearly finished the first half with a safety, running out of the end zone with a missed field goal try… and then running back into it to get tackled. But P Johnny Hekker was as good as always and PK Greg Zuerlein bounced back with two field goals, including the game-winner.

Coaching: A
It seems the 49ers have a terrible offensive line. Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams exploited that weakness while hitting on a lot of his blitz calls. He kept dialing up pressure until the end, leaving his CBs to fend for themselves a lot. It almost backfired. But it didn’t—and the Rams learned a monstrous road victory despite getting almost nothing from their offense. This wasn’t a season-saving victory, but the upset made a strong case for staying the current course.

Rams’ defense finally comes as advertised
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/13257/rams-defense-finally-comes-as-advertised

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Before the 2014 season began, much of the St. Louis Rams’ success was said to hinge on the week-to-week performance of new coordinator Gregg Williams’ defense.

After seven weeks of floundering in the same vat of mediocrity, Sunday’s 13-10 victory over the San Francisco 49ers came on the backs of a defense, especially a front seven, that finally lived up to its billing.

“Coming into this hostile environment, it was going to have to be up front,” defensive tackle Michael Brockers said. “This team thinks they can bully people up and down the field. We were saying they weren’t going to do that to us.”

It was the Rams’ defense that did the vast majority of the bullying, with Niners quarterback Colin Kaepernick on the receiving end. The oft-laughed-at hashtag #SackCity began to populate right away with six first-half sacks, the most in a first half by a Rams team since sacks became an official statistic. They finished with eight, led by a pair each from ends Robert Quinn and William Hayes, the first time the Rams had that many in a game since 2003.

Colin Kaepernick
The Rams defense had a huge day against the 49ers, especially in forcing a fumble on a goal-line stand in the closing seconds.
Those eight sacks were the most Kaepernick had suffered in his career, coming on seven drives, all of which ended with no points for the Niners. For a team that had all of six sacks in the first seven games, Sunday’s performance represented something much closer to the avalanche that Quinn said would follow the first snowflake (sack) just a few weeks ago.

“To have six sacks throughout the first seven games and to have eight today is a heck of a pass rush, especially against a quarterback like Kaepernick who can get out of the pocket fast,” Quinn said.

Beyond the finally-in-rhythm pass rush, the Rams held Niners running back Frank Gore to 49 yards on 14 carries, an average of 3.5 yards per attempt. The Niners finished with 263 yards of offense and St. Louis found a way to get off the field consistently by holding the Niners to 3-of-12 on third down.

More important than all of that, the Rams found a way to get the stop to win the game when they absolutely had to have it. It’s something they couldn’t do in home games against Dallas and San Francisco. This time, it happened in most unusual fashion.

Given just three weeks between meetings with the 49ers, Williams and the Rams didn’t have much time to look for idiosyncrasies in San Francisco’s offense. With such a familiar opponent, adding unseen wrinkles can be difficult. But as Williams studied the Niners’ goal-line tendencies and compared them to his own, he recognized something in his group that could be exploited if he didn’t tweak it.

Williams saw a Niners’ offense that liked to attack a gap between the tackles that the Rams usually left open as they often favored a look that overloaded the defensive line to one side. But the Niners often would attack that gap with fullback Bruce Miller, leaving a guard head-to-head against a linebacker.

To combat that look, Williams tweaked things to allow the Rams to attack the A and B gaps, leaving a more balanced defensive line and asking the Niners to attack on the edge.

With San Francisco at the Rams’ 1 and only 9 seconds to play, Williams called for the changed look upfront.

“We really have three or four fronts in goal line that we have and go into every week, so it was just a great adjustment by Gregg and great instincts,” linebacker James Laurinaitis said.

The call worked to perfection as Kaepernick took the snap with the intent of going up over the top for the game-winning touchdown on a sneak. Sensing the sneak before the snap, Rams linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar crashed over the top of the middle of the line with the idea that Kaepernick would have to go high with the sneak.

Kaepernick mishandled the snap, lost the ball and Laurinaitis smothered it to end the game.

“It feels great for the game to be on our shoulders and for us to win the game,” Dunbar said. “We haven’t been able to close those games in those types of situations and we have given up big plays, and we didn’t do that today. It feels good to do that and I think it’s something we can build on.”

Upon coming up with the ball, Laurinaitis quickly showed it to an official. In his hands was the Rams’ third victory of the season. It was a fitting bit of symbolism for a defense that was supposed to have games in its hands all along.

ESPN’s Jim Basquil and Eric Allen break down the Rams’ 13-10 win over the 49ers.

http://www.rams-news.com/espns-sunday-blitz-rams-49ers-recap-video/

Ram Bytes: Welcome back, Gregg Williams
• Bernie Miklasz

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bernie-miklasz/ram-bytes-welcome-back-gregg-williams/article_25c83b37-6e04-54c1-9d82-17a0595014c2.html

Good afternoon. My initial takeaways from the Rams’ 13-10 win at San Francisco:

1. This was the headline of yesterday’s triumph: Gregg Williams finally made a positive difference. As the acclaimed defensive coordinator began his first full year on the job at Rams Park, we expected an enhanced defense. The Rams’ strength (pass rush) would become even more disruptive. And the weak areas (especially pass defense) would get cleaned up. Williams’ aggressive and innovative uses of blitzes and exotic looks would surely elevate the feisty Rams defense.

Until the conquest of San Francisco, very little went as anticipated. The pass rush got worse, the pass defense was as vulnerable as ever, and the Rams remained vulnerable on outside runs.

Sunday in Santa Clara, Williams and his defense put it all together with a true-impact performance we’d been waiting for. Williams’ designs attacked the 49ers’ interior line, often putting extreme pressure on center Daniel Kilgore and right guard Alex Boone. St. Louis defenders owned that gap for most of the game. The blitzes were more creative. During his time as a Ram we’ve rarely seen middle LB James Laurinaitis so effective in the pass rush; he had a sack and two pressures.

There was just a lot of good stuff on display there. The Rams not only had eight sacks of QB Colin Kaepernick, which was plenty. But they caused discomfort all game, with two other hits and 12 hurries.

Williams clearly made adjustments based on what the Rams saw from the 49ers in the Oct. 13 game at the Edward Jones Dome. According to Nick Wagoner of ESPN, Williams even changed his goal-line defense in response to what he learned from the 49ers in the first meeting, and that was a big reason for the game-ending stop and Kapernick fumble on the final play.

This was the Gregg Williams we were waiting for.

Welcome back, coach.

So many NFL games are determined by tactics. Sunday in Santa Clara, Williams easily got the best of 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman.

2. Kapernick told reporters he was convinced that he crossed the goal line on the final play. And he did. One minor problem: he didn’t have the football at the time. Kaepernick’s predictable whining conveniently overlooked a couple of things: (A) stupid play-calling; the 49ers ran three plays down there at the end and didn’t run Frank Gore once. And (B) Kaepernick made an awful throw on second down, forcing WR Michael Crabtree to go low for a catch that prevented him from posting up in the end zone for what should have been an easy TD.

3. Not that they went head-to-head on every snap … but one of the real surprises for me yesterday was watching the work of Rams rookie offensive left tackle Greg Robinson against the 49ers’ excellent defensive end Justin Smith. I believe Smith is a future Hall of Famer, and I don’t think there’s a defensive player in the NFL who commands more respect than Smith, the Mizzou football alum. And Robinson held his own in his confrontation with the experienced Smith. In his first NFL start at offensive tackle, Robinson did a commendable job in pass protection and won his share of battles in the run game. According to the grades posted by Pro Football Focus, Smith had the worst game score among 49ers’ defensive players. And Robinson had something to do with that.

4. Rams second-year OLB Alec Ogletree, who has been having a terrible season, easily played his best game of the year. PFF graded Ogletree as the Rams’ best defender yesterday. He had four stops, two QB pressures, and the ‘Niners completed only one of three passes thrown against him. You didn’t see the out-of-position lapses — or the poor angles — that have been routine with Ogletree this season. What we saw yesterday was a good sign; maybe this young talent is starting to get in synch with the Williams defense. Or maybe Williams did a better job in his deployment of Ogletree yesterday.

4a. I also thought safety T.J. McDonald and DT Michael Brockers had their best games of the season in Sunday’s win.

5. Rams rookie cornerback E.J. Gaines played very well against the 49ers. According to PFF, the 49ers targeted Gaines six times and completed three of the passes for only 31 yards. Kaepernick’s passer rating when targeting Gaines was a poor 65.3.

6. Rams defensive end Robert Quinn is making his way up the charts. Quinn has played well all season; until recently he just didn’t have the sacks to show for it. But according to Pro Football Focus, Quinn ranks 8th among NFL defensive ends in pass-rush percentage. (That’s the percentage of pass-rush snaps that result in the defender getting pressure on the QB.) Quinn has five sacks and 28 total pressures. Though off last year’s pace, Quinn is making up ground.

7. On the other side, William Hayes continues to play on as one of the league’s best — but most overlooked — defensive ends. Hayes’ pass-rush percentage ranks fourth among all NFL defensive ends. Hayes has 24 pressures on 166 pass-rush snaps this season. Only three defensive ends have a higher pass-rush percentage than Hayes’ 11.3 pct. Hayes is limping around on an injured foot, and was limited to 33 snaps yesterday. I don’t know what his status will be for Sunday’s game at Arizona. But even though third DE Eugene Sims does a nice job, the Rams need Hayes.

8. Gotta be smarter than that, Tavon Austin.

9. Jerome Boger’s officiating crew has got to be the worst in the NFL.

10. The Rams head to Glendale Sunday to take on the Cardinals. Opening-look question: Why are the Arizona Cardinals 7-1? Head coach Bruce Arians deservedly receives a lot of the credit. But No. 1 on the list is Arizona GM Steve Keim. He’s outstanding. And Keim hired Arians. The Rams interviewed Keim before hiring Les Snead.

10a. The Cardinals’ 7-1 start is the best for the franchise at the beginning of the season since 1974, when coach Don Coryell and his St. Louis football Cardinals also started out 7-1 en route to a 10-4 record and first place in the NFC East.

10b. The Cardinals aren’t a fluke. They’re 14-3 over their last 17 regular-season games.

Thanks for reading …

— Bernie

On today’s Breakfast with Bernie, the Post-Dispatch’s Bernie Miklasz discusses the Rams upset of the 49ers on Sunday and wonders why the Rams seem more inspired when they play tougher teams. (2:47)

http://www.rams-news.com/bernie-terrific-rams-win-in-san-francisco-video/

Fisher still upset about quick whistle
• By Joe Lyons

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/fisher-still-upset-about-quick-whistle/article_0ff48594-fa7f-5777-9e81-d9beb58e08dd.html

With San Francisco leading 10-3 midway through the second quarter Sunday, the Rams’ Kendall Langford tackled the 49ers’ Frank Gore after a short gain near midfield when the ball came loose and James Laurinaitis recovered and headed for the end zone.

But the officials ruled that Gore’s forward progress had been stopped and blew the play dead.

Rams coach Jeff Fisher was not happy at the time and was still upset about the ruling when he met with reporters late Monday afternoon at Rams Park.

“I’ll just say this, it’s nice to have won this game because that is a game-changing call,’’ Fisher said. “That’s a defensive touchdown and it’s the wrong call, the incorrect call. It was not progress. The ball was out.

“(The official) should’ve thrown the bean bag, ruled it a fumble. They you go back to replay and replay shows it’s a fumble. It’s a defensive touchdown.

“In essence, they took a defensive touchdown away from us because he blew the whistle. The forward progress … there were a number of other instances in that game where you could say, ‘OK.’ When they picked up Tre (Mason) and dropped him on his head, that’s forward progress. Whistles didn’t blow there.’’

Fisher added: “I was disappointed in the call and I will be. It’s the incorrect call, the wrong call.’’

MASON’S FIRST NFL START

Mason, the Rams’ third-round draft pick in May, made his first NFL start Sunday and responded with a game-high 65 rushing yards in 19 carries. One of his rushes went for a game-best 21 yards.

“I thought he played pretty well,’’ Fisher said. “He missed a couple holes, but he ran hard. He overcame some things. His ball security’s good, pass protection is good. He needed to get out in the routes.”

Still, Fisher isn’t naming anyone the full-time starter.

“I can’t tell you who’s starting this week,’’ said the coach, who later joked, “You guys come to Arizona, watch the first play, figure out who’s gonna start.’’

Mason was on the field for 38 offensive plays while Benny Cunningham took 16 offensive snaps. Cunningham rushed for 10 yards on four carries and had a team-leading three catches for 38 yards. Rookie Trey Watts had a 6-yard reception while Tavon Austin ran twice for 7 yards.

Zac Stacy, who ran for 973 yards as a rookie last year, suited up Sunday but did not play.

“Zac handled things professionally,’’ Fisher said. “Unfortunately, he didn’t get to play, but he will get to play. He’ll get his reps. We have not lost faith or confidence in him. But it’s hard to spread the ball around.’’

Fisher said the running back situation remains a week-to-week decision, based in part on scheme and approach.

DEFENSIVE NUMBERS

According to the coaches’ review of the tape, linebackers Laurinaitis and Alec Ogletree paced the Rams with 10 tackles each. Laurinaitis also had a sack and recovered the fumble in the end zone to finish the game.

Other tackle leaders were safety Rodney McLeod (eight), cornerback E.J. Gaines (seven), cornerback Lamarcus Joyner (seven), safety T.J. McDonald (six), defensive tackle Michael Brockers (five) and linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar (five).

The Rams, who entered the game with six sacks, had eight against the 49ers. Robert Quinn and William Hayes each had two. Laurinaitis, Brockers, Aaron Donald and Eugene Sims chipped in with one.

The Rams also had 18 pressures against Colin Kaepernick.

Chase Reynolds paced the special teams with two tackles. Jake McQuaide, Greg Zuerlein, Will Herring and Mark Barron had one each. It was the Rams debut for Barron, a safety acquired earlier in the week from Tampa Bay for a couple of draft picks.

“I went to Mark before the game as we were trying to sort out the inactives,’’ Fisher said. “The way it went, I talked to Mark about playing some special teams and I think he told someone he hadn’t played special teams since pee-wee football. He did a really nice job on our kickoff return and kickoff coverage.

“We’re going to work, like we said, to see if we can get him into some packages on defense to get him on the field.’’

RAM-BLINGS

Rams quarterback Austin Davis was forced to leave the game for a play late in the opening quarter after a rough slide into the turf at Levi’s Stadium.

“As he slid, the (knee) brace got caught in the grass and the brace twisted, so he had the brace re-adjusted,’’ Fisher explained, noting that all Rams quarterbacks wear a knee brace on their front leg during games.

Veteran Shaun Hill came in for the one play, handing to Mason for a 4-yard gain.

• Fisher said that rookie cornerback Marcus Roberson is dealing with an ankle injury. He was replaced by Trumaine Johnson, who had three tackles in his first action since hurting his knee in the preseason. Fisher said Johnson probably will start this week. The coach is “optimistic’’ about the return of Janoris Jenkins (knee), too.

• Defensive end David Bass, who starred at University City High and Missouri Western, has been promoted from the practice squad to the active roster by the Chicago Bears.

The Film Don’t Lie: Rams
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/13304/the-film-dont-lie-rams-5

A weekly look at what the St. Louis Rams must fix:

No cliche in football carries more truth than the need to win the turnover battle, but never is it more true for the St. Louis Rams than this week against the Arizona Cardinals.

In last week’s surprising 13-10 win against the San Francisco 49ers, the Rams managed to escape with the victory because their defense was able to come up with two key takeaways that helped nullify the two they gave away early in the game. The Rams scored their lone touchdown after one of those takeaways and ended the game with the second.

But turnovers have been a consistent issue for the Rams offense this season. Many of those issues can be pinned on quarterback Austin Davis. Against the Niners, Davis didn’t get through his progression and missed an open target on a crossing pattern, which led to the first of his two interceptions. His second came later, when he scrambled and attempted to throw downfield on the run — a throw he simply doesn’t have the arm to make.

Those two interceptions both came outside the pocket, which made Davis the first quarterback since Christian Ponder in 2012 to throw two interceptions from outside the pocket in the same game.

For the season, Davis has thrown seven interceptions, three of which have been returned for touchdowns. He also has a fumble that was returned for a score. All told, the Rams are minus-3 in turnover margin, which is tied for 23rd in the NFL.

If Davis and Co. are going to pull off an upset in Arizona, they’ll have to cut down on the mistakes. The Cardinals are second in the league in turnover margin at plus-10, with a plus-8 margin in the fourth quarter.

Relive the Rams thrilling, last-second victory over the San Francisco 49ers.

http://www.rams-news.com/relive-it-rams-last-second-victory-over-the-49ers-video/

Rams’ offensive line regrouped against 49ers

By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot…cle_d2c60e72-0b41-537b-a0c1-f1d2e265540c.html

On a day when the Rams’ defense registered its highest sack total in more than two seasons, dropping San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick eight times, coach Jeff Fisher didn’t award a game ball to the front four. Or even any of the six players who combined for those eight sacks.

No, in the visitors’ locker room at Levi’s Stadium following Sunday’s 13-10 upset victory over San Francisco, Fisher presented the game ball to …

The offensive line.

“Just because of what they endured last week,” Fisher explained. “With the changes that took place in the Kansas City game, the fact that we weren’t quite sure as to who was going to be able to come back. … They all came back from last week.”

After getting flattened in the second half of a 34-7 drubbing by the Chiefs Oct. 26, the offensive line looked decimated. Left tackle Jake Long was lost for the season with a torn ACL in his right knee.

Center Scott Wells suffered an elbow injury in his right (or snapping) arm, and offensive guard Rodger Saffold suffered yet another shoulder injury.

“Scott didn’t even snap in the walk-through on Wednesday,” Fisher said. “The first day he snapped was Friday.

“For Rodger to come back after subluxing the shoulder and playing the way he played (against San Francisco). And then going from whatever number sack total we had at Kansas City to just one, I thought it was a great effort.”

The Rams yielded a season-high seven sacks against the Chiefs at Arrowhead.

A shoulder subluxation is a temporary, partial dislocation of the shoulder joint. Saffold will try to get through this season, but may need surgery at the conclusion of the season.

Fisher said he didn’t get an idea that Wells and Saffold could play until Friday of last week.

“Then, when we traveled (to San Francisco) and we got treatments at the hotel done, we had a pretty good sense that they were going to be able to go,” Fisher said.

Besides the uncertainty over the availability of Wells and Saffold, rookie Greg Robinson made his first NFL start at left tackle, and Davin Joseph came off the bench to start for the first time since Game 4 at Philadelphia at right guard.

All against the league’s second-ranked defense, on the road.

“They have an excellent defense and that’s a good football team,” Wells said. “So we just tried to take it one play at a time and not make the game bigger than it was. Try to go out there and execute each play as it was called. And learn from the mistakes moving forward to the next play.”

By the numbers, the offensive results were anything but gaudy: 13 points, 193 yards gained, and 3.4 yards a carry on the ground. But the running game was effective enough to help keep the 49ers’ defense honest. And for the most part, quarterback Austin Davis was kept clean.

“It’s nice to find a way to win,” Wells said. “It wasn’t pretty. A lot of room for improvement obviously. But to claw and scratch and bite and do whatever we had to do come away with the win, it was huge.”

That’s right, he said, bite.

The game-ball gesture by Fisher was much appreciated by the O-line.

“It’s definitely nice to be able to achieve something like that, and be recognized by Coach for our efforts,” Wells said. “But again, I know there’s a lot of room for improvement. We’re gonna hit that film hard and make the necessary corrections moving forward.”

The challenge gets no easier this week, with a road game Sunday against Arizona, which at 7-1 has the best record in the league and ranks third in the NFL in rushing defense.

As for Robinson, his first start at left tackle was relatively uneventful, which is always good news for an offensive lineman.

“Greg did a nice job out there,” Fisher said. “We struggled at times with some pass-rush ‘games’ (by the 49ers), but most of those things took place on the other side. Greg, for the most part, was what we expected out of him against that defense.”

Although he didn’t run into the 49ers’ five-time Pro Bowler, Justin Smith, as much as he did when starting at left guard on Oct. 13, Robinson and Smith still ran into each other on several occasions Sunday. Robinson more than held his own.

There were a few hiccups. For example, San Francisco linebacker Dan Skuta got past Robinson with an inside move to hit Davis late in the opening quarter. But there was no sack; the play resulted in an incomplete pass and the Rams settled for a Greg Zuerlein field goal and their first points of the day three plays later.

And early in the second quarter, Robinson was called for holding on a drive that ended one play later on Davis’ second interception. But overall, it was a good day for Robinson.

There was another unexpected bonus from Robinson after that Davis deep ball was picked off by Perrish Cox. Namely, Robinson brought Cox to the ground on the interception return. He did the same after a Ron Parker interception in Kansas City.

“He’s shown that he’s an outstanding open-field tackler, unfortunately, for two weeks in a row,” Fisher said, smiling. “I may put him on the kickoff cover team.”

Three Plays That Defined Rams’ Win Over 49ers
By Anthony Stalter

http://www.101sports.com/2014/11/05/three-plays-defined-rams-win-49ers/

Entering the season, I assumed the Rams’ identity would consist of two things: a strong rushing attack and a relentless defense. But for nearly two months, neither of those characteristics showed up in the Rams’ play.

Until Sunday, that is.

The Rams were due for a market correction when it came to their sack numbers. Through the first five games of the season, their vaunted pass rush delivered just one sack as the team sputtered to a 1-4 record. Things got so bad that the media and fans made the PR-driven “#sackcity” slogan into a weekly punchline.

But consider the script officially flipped. Over their last three games the Rams’ defense has produced 13 sacks, including eight against Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers in the team’s shocking 13-10 victory in Santa Clara on Sunday. With that, it’s only appropriate that we start with one of those sacks.

Play 1: The Tide Changes.

In the first game between these two teams, the Rams generated a ton of pressure but failed to sack Kaepernick in the Niners’ 31-17 victory on “Monday Night Football.” In that game, Kaepernick hit Brandon Lloyd for an 80-yard touchdown right before halftime that proved to be the tipping point in a game the Rams once led 14-0.
robert quinn

Robert Quinn

While the Rams never built a two-touchdown lead on Sunday, the game started to take on a familiar feeling for Jeff Fisher’s squad. Nursing a 10-3 lead with 2:32 remaining in the first half, the Niners faced a second-and-2 following a Kaepernick 9-yard run.

San Francisco was set up at its own 49-yard line, and one got the feeling that if the Niners could take a double-digit lead into halftime, the Rams might wilt given how poorly their offense was playing.

On that second down, the Niners came out in a no-back set with three receivers to Kaepernick’s (who was in shotgun) left and two to his right. The Rams countered with a single-high look and three down linemen (Eugene Sims, Aaron Donald and Robert Quinn from left to right).

Alec Ogletree and safety T.J. McDonald flanked the three defensive linemen while Jo-Lonn Dunbar and James Laurinaitis lined up side-by-side at the second level.

At the snap, Ogletree rushes off the edge while McDonald jams Vernon Davis at the line. Dunbar, who had walked toward the line of scrimmage pre-snap, blitzed through the A gap to center Marcus Martin’s right while Donald crosses Martin’s face and engages left guard Mike Iupati.

Quinn then beats left tackle Joe Staley around the edge, but the key to the play is Sims, who takes a few steps inside and then bull-rushes right guard Alex Boone. As Kaepernick tries to set his feet in order to hit Stevie Johnson on a quick slant, Sims pushes Boone into the quarterback’s face. Then, as Kaepernick tries to retreat by breaking the pocket to his right, Quinn bursts past Staley and is in perfect position to swat the ball out of the quarterback’s hand. As the ball flops on the ground, it was none other than Sims who jumped on it for the recovery.

Three plays after Quinn’s strip and Sims’ recovery, an offense that had been stuck in neutral for most of the afternoon finally shifted forward.

Play 2: Rams Capitalize.

Following a 17-yard pass completion to Benny Cunningham and a negative 2-yard run by the aforementioned running back, the Rams faced a second-and-12 at the Niners’ 21-yard line with 1:11 remaining in the half. What transpired would be the first and final time the Rams would reach the end zone.
Kenny Britt

Kenny Britt

The Rams come out in a spread formation with Chris Givens and Stedman Bailey lined up to the left of the formation and Kenny Britt lined up to the right. Austin Davis is in shotgun with Cunningham as the single back to his left.

Before the snap, Britt goes in motion and then runs a crossing route, while Givens takes an inside release and runs vertically to the end zone, Bailey runs a curl, and Cunningham runs a sneak.

With Britt and Cunningham both crossing his face while heading in opposite directions, linebacker Chris Borland blows his assignment by breaking toward Cunningham.

He tries to recover, but it’s too late as Davis gets the ball out of his hand right before defensive end Justin Smith crushes him for a would-be sack.

The end result is an easy 16-yard touchdown reception for Britt, who waltzed into the end zone to tie the game at 10-10. Who knew it would be the only touchdown the Rams would need?

Play 3: Why Not Gore?

There’s really nothing to break down when it comes to the deciding play of this game – Kaepernick doesn’t field the snap cleanly while diving into the end zone and instead of scoring the game-winning touchdown in the closing seconds, Laurinaitis emerges from the pile with the football in hand.

Game over.

What’s interesting about that play, at least in my eyes, is the Monday water cooler discussion about why Jim Harbaugh didn’t put the ball (and the game) in Frank Gore’s hands. The consensus is that Gore was the better option considering the Niners only needed a yard and the team’s identity under Harbaugh has been power football (at least until this season).

But honestly, who could blame Harbaugh for wanting to run a simple quarterback sneak? How many times do fans complain about a running back getting stuffed in the backfield in a crucial short-yardage situation when “all the team had to do was give it to the quarterback on a sneak?” Had Kaepernick fielded the snap cleanly, chances are that he would have been lying across the goal line when the officials started peeling bodies off the pile.

Personally, I would have run play-action again. The Niners had just attempted a play-action pass on second down, and the result was an incomplete pass. But with linebackers and safeties so worried about a run in that situation, there seemingly is always a tight end or receiver open for an easy touchdown off play-action. And at the very least, another incomplete pass would have stopped the clock to preserve a last-second field goal attempt from PAT range.

Nevertheless, the results worked out favorably for the Rams, who will head back on the road this week to take on the red-hot Cardinals in Arizona. If the same defense that showed up in Santa Clara makes its way to the desert, I like the Rams’ chances to pull off another stunner.