SF game post-mortem, articles & vids… Wagoner, Thomas, & more

49ers squeeze the life out of the Rams
• By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/rams-report/ers-squeeze-the-life-out-of-the-rams/article_a99068b1-7015-51b6-adb9-521440814042.html

The Rams came out breathing fire. All things considered it was a fair approximation of the group being honored Monday night at the Edward Jones Dome — the Super Bowl XXIV champion Rams of 1999.

In his fourth NFL start at quarterback, Austin Davis did his best impersonation of Kurt Warner, leading the Rams on an 11-yard, 80-yard touchdown drive off the opening kickoff. The Rams lead grew to 14-0 before the end of the first quarter, but the 49ers slowly but completely squeezed the life out of the Rams.

Gaining momentum with an 80-yard touchdown strike in the closing seconds of the first half, San Francisco scored 24 unanswered points in the second and third quarters. A late Rams field goal made things briefly interesting, but San Francisco recovered an on-side kick and in the final minute tacked on seven points with a “pick six” interception return by Dontae Johnson for a 31-17 victory before a crowd announced as 56,851.

The Rams fell to 1-4, for the worst start in Jeff Fisher’s three seasons in St. Louis. San Francisco, after scuffling to a 1-2 start, won their third in a row to improve to 4-2. Things get no easier for the Rams, what with defending Super Bowl champion Seattle coming to town on Sunday.

The big strike on the opening drive was a 39-yard completion over the middle to tight end Jared Cook on third-and-5 from the St. Louis 25.

Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer pulled a lot of things out of his playbook on the drive, including two carries by Tavon Austin up the middle that produced a first down in 49ers’ territory.

Tre Mason — yes, running back Tre Mason — caught a 12-yard pass on the drive that carried to the San Francisco 5. The going was tough from there, with the 49ers’ defense yielding yardage grudgingly. Two carries by Zac Stacy produced minus-2 yards. But an illegal contact penalty by San Francisco safety Eric Reid helped out, giving the Rams a fresh set of downs on the 3.

Finally on the fifth play after the Rams reached the 5, Benny Cunningham bounced a run outside left to score a 1-yard touchdown and give the Rams a 7-0 lead 7 minutes into the game.

Later in the first quarter, the 49ers made it into St. Louis territory for the first time on their second possession, when Colin Kaepernick completed a 21-yard pass to backup tight end Vance McDonald. McDonald was moving down field for more yardage when Rams safety Rodney McLeod knocked the ball loose. Linebacker James Laurinaitis recovered the fumble and return it 17 yards to the Rams’ 45.

Mason then took his first NFL carry 24 yards, well into San Francisco territory. Two plays later, the Rams faced a third-and-1 from the San Francisco 22. With their jumbo package of extra blockers in the game, Davis got much of the San Francisco defense to bite on a play-fake up the middle to Cunningham.

Davis fired to a wide-open Lance Kendricks for a 22-yard touchdown and a 14-0 Rams lead with 53 seconds left in the first quarter.

At this point, the 49ers were very much on their heels. But they regrouped and finally got three points on the board on a 54-yard field goal by Phil Dawson midway through the second quarter.

But one big play in the final minute of the first half changed everything. Backed up on their 30 with 27 seconds left in the half, the 49ers faced a third-and-6 from their 20. Kaepernick threw deep to former Ram wide receiver Brandon Lloyd. Defender Janoris Jenkins bit on a double move, leaving Lloyd all by himself running down field.

It was an easy throw-and-catch with Lloyd outracing Jenkins to the end zone for an 80-yard touchdown. That made it 14-10 Rams with just 14 seconds left in the first half. And the 49ers were just getting started.

Taking the opening kickoff in the third quarter, the 49ers drove 80 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. They completed three third-down opportunities, and even a successful challenge by Fisher — negating what would have been a 27-yard completion to Frank Gore — couldn’t keep San Francisco out of the end zone.

Once again, Jenkins was victimized on the TD pass, an 11-yard pass to Anquan Boldin. Under pressure, Kaepernick rolled to his left to escape pressure and lobbed a pass off his back foot that got over Jenkins and to Boldin for a 17-14 lead with 9:58 left in the third quarter. Jenkins got caught watching Kaepernick and lost track of Boldin.

The Rams were limited to 21 yards in the third quarter; meanwhile, the 49ers rang up 155. The 49ers’ lead reached double digits late in the third quarter when Kaepernick connected with Michael Crabtree for 32 yards and a 24-14 lead. Once again, it was a double move; this time, the victim was Missouri rookie E.J. Gaines who was badly beaten.

Rams head coach Jeff Fisher recaps the 31-17 loss to 49ers with D’Marco Farr and Steve Savard.

http://www.rams-news.com/jeff-fisher-recaps-rams-loss-to-49ers-radio-interview/

W2W4 revisited: St. Louis Rams
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/12627/w2w4-revisited-st-louis-rams-8

EARTH CITY, Mo. — Looking back at three things to watch from the St. Louis Rams’ 31-17 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night:

1. Penalty persistence: As the Rams jumped out to a 14-0 lead, it was no coincidence that they were on the right side of a handful of penalty calls against the 49ers. They managed to avoid early flags and were enjoying the benefits as teams usually do against them. Of course, that course corrected throughout the rest of the game as the Rams managed to finish with eight penalties for 38 yards. That’s less yardage than they usually accumulate but partly because two of those infractions came down by their goal line when there wasn’t much room for the ball to move after the flag. The Rams were also burned near the end of the first half by a phantom offensive pass interference call against tight end Jared Cook. All in all, it was better than it’s been, but still not good enough.

2. Communication is key: Niners receiver Brandon Lloyd’s 80-yard touchdown before the half might not have been a miscommunication per se, but it might as well have been given the outcome. Lloyd beat cornerback Janoris Jenkins on a double move when Jenkins was supposed to play a simple zone coverage intended to keep the ball in front of the defense. We don’t know if he thought it was supposed to be something else because he didn’t talk about it after the game but either way, it was yet another massive coverage breakdown that flipped a game the Rams were leading. The big plays allowed by the defense continue to pile up.

3. Bringing down Kaepernick: We are now five games into this season and the Rams have a whopping total of one sack. That’s the worst start to a season since the NFL began tracking sacks. The Rams had a couple of opportunities but couldn’t bring Colin Kaepernick down, and they weren’t all that close for most of the night despite coordinator Gregg Williams’ insistence on bringing the blitz over and over. Kaepernick was five-of-11 for 97 yards and two touchdowns against the blitz. Kaepernick had been sacked the fourth-most of any quarterback in the league entering Monday night’s game, but the Niners found the tonic for that in the Rams.

ESPN’s Nick Wagoner joined Kevin Wheeler to talk about the struggles of last night, the pass D, the lack of push generated by the defense, the struggles on the O-line, and the situation at RB.

http://www.rams-news.com/will-the-struggles-in-pass-pro-from-the-o-line-continue-radio-interview/

CBSSports.com NFL Insider Jason La Canfora talks about the 49ers win over the Rams on Monday Night Football. LaCanfora was glad to see the Rams rookies get to play and he’s still intrigued by Austin Davis. He sees no way the Rams bring back Bradford at his contract number for next year. (3:03)

http://www.rams-news.com/jason-lacanfora-monday-night-football-recap-video/

Three Plays That Defined Rams’ Loss to 49ers
By Anthony Stalter

http://www.101sports.com/2014/10/15/three-plays-defined-rams-31-17-loss-49ers/

While providing the opening statement for his press conference on Monday night, it didn’t take Jeff Fisher long to cite the tipping point in the Rams’ 31-17 loss to the 49ers.

“We got up and got some points, and then obviously the chain of events that happened before half were pretty much hard for us to overcome,” Fisher said. “One was the offensive pass interference call on (tight end) Jared (Cook). That’s a points swing. We’re in field-goal range, we have a pretty good kicker, might even be seven (points).”

Play 1: The Momentum Shift

With just under three minutes to play in the first half and the Rams in possession of the ball and a 14-3 lead, St. Louis moved into San Francisco territory at the 49ers’ 46-yard line, where they faced a third-and-9. Although it was third-and-long, the Rams put the 49ers’ defense on its heels for most of the first half and were looking to strike again.
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Rams TE Jared Cook makes his way past 49ers CB Perrish Cox

At the snap of the ball, Jared Cook ran a crossing pattern from the right side of the line of scrimmage and engaged with San Francisco defensive back Perrish Cox roughly five yards into the route. There was some minor hand fighting between the two players but nothing excessive, as replays would later verify.

When Cook disengages from Cox, he successfully creates separation from the San Francisco defensive back and catches a pass from Austin Davis while heading toward the left sideline. Cook then fights through a failed Cox tackle and rumbles for 21 yards to the 49er 25-yard line.

The problem is that Cook was flagged for offensive pass interference and instead of increasing their lead (as Fisher noted in his press conference), the Rams were moved all the way back to their own 44-yard line due to the penalty. They would then run Benny Cunningham up the middle for five yards before punting the ball on fourth down and pinning the 49ers at their own 5-yard line.

The fallout from the play proved critical, which is why Fisher felt the need to mention the penalty while unprovoked in his press conference. Momentum is a fragile thing in sports and once it shifts, there’s no guarantee that it’ll return to the team that once possessed it. The Rams once again found that out on Monday night.

Then again, while the bogus penalty on Cook was a momentum shift, it wasn’t the momentum shift, in my eyes.

Play 2: Here we go again.

The Cook penalty was bad – atrocious, actually. Cook barely pushed Cox in effort to create separation and make a great play to pick up not only a first down, but also put the Rams in scoring range right before half. There’s no way of knowing if the Rams would have scored had the flag not been thrown, but their odds certainly increased significantly once Cook set them up deep into San Francisco territory.
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Janoris Jenkins on field in the first half of Monday’s game

But the penalty on Cook didn’t make me think, “Same old Rams” or even, “Here we go again.” No, that moment came just a few minutes later.

After being backed up to their own goal line, the 49ers successfully moved the ball to their own 20-yard line before facing a third-and-6 with 29 seconds remaining in the half. Fisher admitted that he considered calling a timeout to preserve time in case he wanted his offense to try to get into scoring range again before halftime. But he didn’t, and disaster struck.

The 49ers came out in a 3×1 formation with three receivers to Colin Kaepernick’s (who is in shotgun with a single back aligned to his right) right and one receiver, Brandon Lloyd, to his left. The Rams are in basic zone coverage with two safeties 15 yards off the ball and middle linebacker James Laurinaitis aligned roughly 10 yards off the ball. With only 29 seconds left on the clock, the Rams would happily concede a short pass over the middle that would force the Niners to either burn one of their remaining timeouts or let the clock run out the half.

But the Niners didn’t have to settle for something short because Lloyd burned Janoris Jenkins on a double move down the sidelines. It’s fair to ask why the Rams didn’t provide safety help over the top, but it was inexcusable for Jenkins to be caught looking into the backfield given the situation. Had he stayed over top of Lloyd, there would have been no need for safety help because Jenkins would have been in the right situation. (Speaking of fair, it’s also worth noting that Robert Quinn was mugged by Joe Staley on the play, but alas, no flag was thrown.)

Given the coverage that was called and the situation the Rams were in, the only reason Jenkins would fixate on Kaepernick and play underneath Lloyd would be because he wanted an interception. Jenkins could have explained his reasoning for taking the approach that he did on that play, but as Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com pointed out after the game, Jenkins refused to talk to the media.

In my eyes, that play sums up the game and, on a macro level, the Rams’ season up to this point. Do the Rams have talent? Unquestionably, as does Jenkins. Is he or are they disciplined, technically sound and/or focused enough to overcome self-inflicted wounds? The answer to that question lies in the team’s current record.

The 49ers went on to score 21 points in the second half, so pinning the loss solely on that play or on Jenkins is unfair. He simply played a role in the Rams’ demise, which featured a disappearing offense, a coaching staff that once again lost the chess match with its opponent and yet another night where the pass rush failed to get to the quarterback.

Play Three: Welcome to last week. And the week prior.

Holding on to a 17-14 lead with 19 seconds remaining in the third quarter, the 49ers face a second-and-8 from the Rams’ 32-yard-line. San Francisco comes out in an offset I formation with two receivers to the left of the formation and Michael Crabtree lined up as the lone receiver wide to the right. Before the snap, Vernon Davis goes in motion as the outside receiver to the left and winds up in the slot. Safety Rodney McLeod follows him, indicating that the Rams are in man-to-man coverage.
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49ers WR Crabtree makes his way into the end zone during Monday’s game

Jon Gruden provided great insight on the route the Crabtree used to beat rookie E.J. Gaines for a 32-yard touchdown, indicating that Crabtree ran a post-corner-post (or “dino” according to Gruden). Gaines, who has done a terrific job filling in as the starter for Trumaine Johnson this year, bit on Crabtree’s corner fake, and Kaepernick hit Crabtree in stride for an easy touchdown (which has become a common occurrence over the last three games for the Rams).

Crabtree is a veteran receiver, so one would think that he could execute that type of route on a corner playing in just his fifth professional game. But I chose to highlight this play because once again, the Rams failed to get to the quarterback despite sending extra rushers.

Credit must be given to San Francisco’s offensive line, which picked up a pair of blitzing linebackers in Laurinaitis and Jo-Lonn Dunbar. Still, despite sending six defenders to crash the pocket and disrupt the timing between the quarterback and his receivers, Kapernick still had functional space to throw a perfect spiral to Crabtree as the receiver finished his move on Gaines.

It’s not as if Gregg Williams is trying to hold the Rams to just one sack this year, which is now a record for the lowest total for a team through five games in a NFL season. He’s rushing extra defenders in attempt to get to the quarterback, and his blitzes simply aren’t landing. Yes, the three-step drops employed by teams like the Vikings and Bucs early in the season have had an impact on the Rams’ low sack total to this point. But the Crabtree touchdown provides evidence that this team isn’t getting pressure when quarterbacks are taking deeper drops, either. Granted, William Hayes provided outstanding pressure throughout Monday night’s game, but the results remain the same: one sack.

As always, Fisher and the Rams will look to turn the page this weekend against a new opponent. Unfortunately for them, that opponent is a pissed-off Seattle team fresh off a loss at home to the Cowboys. The schedule won’t provide this team with any favors, so it simply needs to get better or watch as the rest of the season unravels.