reporters etc. inquest the MIAMI game

Penalties prove too much for Rams to overcome

MARK WHICKER / STAFF COLUMNIST

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/rams-736088-miami-first.html

LOS ANGELES – Maybe quarterbacks shouldn’t be protected like FBI informants, but that’s a philosophical discussion that does not absolve Aaron Donald.

The best defensive player in the NFL hit Miami’s Ryan Tannehill after the pass was already traveling toward Kenny Stills, and that added 15 yards to the 15-yard catch, and a chill invaded the souls inside the damp white jerseys on the sideline.

NFL teams don’t get away with penalties at bad times in close games. Tannehill went 4 for 4 thereafter, and Devante Parker caught the winning 9-yarder by the sideline with 36 seconds left in the Coliseum Sunday.

Parker was also on the field when it ended, as a defensive backstop for Jared Goff’s heave-and-hope into the end zone. He didn’t catch it but he knocked it over the end line, and the Rams fell to 4-6 with a 14-10 loss that was both live and Memorex.

Donald dressed methodically and then did a swim move past the waiting cameras. Since he is normally a stand-up guy after games, one can surmise he didn’t agree with the call and didn’t want to get fined.

It was the final Rams penalty but it wasn’t the worst. Take your pick:

• Tavon Austin returned a punt 36 yards to the Miami 31, but Marqui Christian was caught for holding, a penalty that took precedence over Malcolm Brown’s illegal block. The Rams got a field goal anyway and led, 10-0, but they were on the verge of actually scoring two touchdowns in the same game for the first time since Oct. 16.

• In the fourth quarter Goff motored for 11 yards and got to the Dolphins’ 42. His effort was scotched by Greg Robinson’s block from behind, which set up a third-and-16 and yet another punt by the iron-toed Johnny Hekker.

• Alex Ogletree’s unnecessary roughness penalty gave Tannehill a first down on the Rams’ 38 on the way to a 10-yard TD pass to Jarvis Landry, making it 10-7 with 4:13 left.

• And on the next drive, which absolutely demanded that the Rams click off some first downs and make Miami spend its timeouts, Lance Kendricks false-started on second-and-5. The Rams are not built for second-and-10, and Miami got the ball back with 2:11 left.

“When you’re up 10-0 you need to go ahead and finish the game,” said Robert Quinn, the defensive end. “All we had to do was hold them to field goals or keep them out of the end zone. The best way to put it is that we just dropped the ball.”

NFL dynamics are strange at times. Miami converted one first down all day, and that came with 5:34 left in the third quarter. The Rams bottled up Jay Ajayi except for one 36-yard burst, and they made Miami punt on 10 of its first 11 possessions. The 11th was an interception by Maurice Alexander.

Then came the two touchdowns, in which Tannehill magically gained a rhythm and his receivers suddenly had a cushion.

“We couldn’t put as much pressure on them,” Quinn said. “I think they were max-protecting, and then he (Tannehill) was getting rid of the ball..”

“It was highly self-inflicted,” said defensive end Dominique Easley. “We were on a good run. You start getting penalties, that’s how you lose the game.”

The Rams came into Sunday tied for second in the NFL with 8.3 penalties per game. They had eight against the Dolphins. But even though their volume is notable, their timing is exquisite.

Such a loss pretty much confines the rest of 2016 to observing Goff, who made his first start. He was pretty much what Case Keenum had been, minus the pick-sixes.

Goff was not intercepted and was surprisingly agile against Miami’s insistent rush. He also recognized blitzes and was usually decisive. He made good throws and bad, and he got only 134 yards out of his 31 attempts. But he isn’t ready to expand the Rams’ skinny margin of error without a reliable running game.

It’s clear that the Rams were mistaken in thinking a top quarterback was the final piece in their puzzle. Their fans look at Dak Prescott, the fourth-round pick who is Pro Bowl-bound in Dallas, but Prescott has a symphony of playmakers around him. Even Nick Foles, who was banished almost as soon as the Rams drafted Goff, played well when he was needed in Kansas City. This is a team with lots of holes, including an unchecked box when it comes to learning how to win.

Worst of all, the Rams have become the one thing L.A. teams can’t become. They’re boring, because they keep losing the same way, on any giving Sunday.

Forget Goff, the letdown came on defense

Jim Thomas

When Miami took over at its 23 with 6 minutes 40 seconds to play, the Dolphins trailed 10-0. But given the struggles its offense was having against the Los Angeles Rams’ defense, it might as well have been 30-0.

More than 3 1/2 quarters into the game, the Dolphins had a meager 118 yards of offense. Quarterback Ryan Tannehill had completed 12 of 21 passes for 57 yards and an interception. Not 257, not 157. Just fifty-seven.

The Rams were even controlling the Dolphins’ budding star at running back — Jay Ajayi. The Dolphins were zero for 11 on third-down conversions, and had punted 10 times.

With Pro Bowl offensive linemen Branden Albert and Mike Pouncey pregame scratches with injuries, and first-round draft pick Laremy Tunsil leaving in the first half with a shoulder injury, things didn’t figure to change.

But it did after Greg Zuerlein’s 48-yard field goal bounced off the left upright, no good with 6:40 to play:

— Tannehill completed seven of eight passes and a touchdown pass on a 77-yard drive.

— After a 3-and-out by the Rams’ offense, the Dolphins got the ball back at their 25, with 2:11 to play.

— Tannehill went five-for-five and a TD on a 75-yard drive, throwing the game-winner to wide receiver DeVante Parker with 36 seconds to play.

And just like that, the 10-0 deficit became a 14-10 Miami victory, and a stunning loss for the Rams. Owner Stan Kroenke may have taken the money and run from St. Louis to further enriching himself. But the same team followed.

The Rams are4-6, with a tough finishing schedule that includes New Orleans, Atlanta, New England, Seattle, and Arizona. It looks exactly like more “7-9 bull (bleep)” to quote from coach Jeff Fisher on the “Hard Knocks” training camp series on HBO.

Fisher’s Rams once again appear to be wasting a playoff-caliber defense. The Rams have moved up to sixth in the NFL in total defense after holding their fourth consecutive opponent under 300 yards and under 20 points.

But the Rams are 1-3 in those games because of amazingly inept offense — offense as bad as anything Fisher put out there during four seasons in St. Louis. The eagerly-anticipated debut of No. 1 overall draft pick Jared Goff at quarterback changed nothing.

In their prior three games, the Rams scored 10 points against the New York Giants, 10 more against Carolina, and nine vs. the New York Jets with Case Keenum at quarterback. They were right on pace under Goff, with 10 points against the Dolphins. Teams are always striving for consistency, but not that kind of consistency.

Unlike parts of his preseason work, Goff didn’t look lost Sunday at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. He got the ball out quick, made some good throws, and showed some escape-ability in the pocket.

But he missed high on a few throws early, and nearly had a sideline throw intercepted late in the second quarter. There were times when Goff held onto the ball too long, struggling to make a decision.

The Rams kept it very conservative for him. Too conservative. At the end of the day, Goff threw 31 times, completing 17 for only 134 yards. That averages out to a ridiculously low 4.3 yards per attempt.

Even within a conservative scheme, you’ve got to take a chance every now and then to win in the NFL. Stretch the field. Throw it deep. Put some pressure on the opposing defense. The Rams were unwilling to do so, and almost got away with it. Almost.

In the end, Goff wasn’t really a factor in the Rams winning or losing. He was just out there. If you were looking for any semblance of magic — you know, the kind you might get from someone you traded six draft picks to land — well, maybe next week.

The Rams have lived and died with their defense and special teams all season. But when the time came to close out Sunday’s game, the defense couldn’t deliver. Three of the team’s top defensive players let them down on the final two Miami drives.

The Dolphins’ first touchdown drive was aided by a 15-yard late-hit penalty against Alec Ogletree — the Rams’ best linebacker — for striking wide receiver Jarvis Landry out of bounds.

The Dolphins’ second TD drive got a free 15 yards when Aaron Donald — the Rams’ top defensive lineman — was flagged for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Tannehill. The Rams have always been penalty-prone under Fisher, and that hasn’t changed just because the team has changed addresses.

And finally, on the game-winning touchdown, Parker beat cornerback Trumaine Johnson — the team’s top defensive back — on a nine-yard out pattern to the right front corner of the end zone. Johnson, of course, is playing under the franchise tag this season.

Just because you’re a franchise player doesn’t mean you’re perfect. But top players are paid big bucks to come through in the clutch. And that didn’t happen this time. Not for Johnson, and not for the Rams’ highly-touted defense.