Unbalanced Rams 'don't have time to finger-point'

Unbalanced Rams ‘don’t have time to finger-point’

Alden Gonzalez

http://www.espn.com/blog/los-angeles-rams/post/_/id/31508/rams-midseason-grade-mediocrity-remains-their-staple

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — The Los Angeles Rams remain united in their locker room, even though they’ve been so divided on the field.

Over these past two weeks — and for most of the season, really — the defense has played well and the offense has slugged along. In back-to-back losses to the New York Giants and the Carolina Panthers, the Rams’ defense gave up just one touchdown each to teams featuring Odell Beckham Jr. and Cam Newton, and still lost. The unit allowed a combined 476 total yards, fewer than what the Saints and 49ers each put up in their matchup Sunday, and still lost. They allowed only one of 21 opposing drives to go 60 or more yards, and, yep, still lost.

In spite of all that, middle linebacker Alec Ogletree stressed that there has been no finger-pointing or dissension on the team.

“We brothers in here,” Ogletree said. “We’re going to win as one, we’re going to lose as one. We don’t have time to finger-point. Everybody makes mistakes on this team, and everybody’s going to have mistakes in the game. Nobody’s going to play a perfect game.”

The Rams’ offense ranks 30th among 32 teams in DVOA (Defense-Adjusted Value Over Average), while their defense ranks 12th in DVOA.

A shorthanded Rams’ defense gave up a combined 61 points to the Bills and Lions in the first half of their current four-game losing streak. But the unit turned it around as the defensive line healed up and cornerback Trumaine Johnson rejoined the secondary. On Sunday, in the 13-10 loss at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, they sacked Newton five times and held Jonathan Stewart to 42 rushing yards. But the offense didn’t score its first and only touchdown until less than a minute remained.

The margin for error was thus microscopic.

“We have to stick together,” Ogletree said when asked about keeping the team from becoming disjointed. “We’ve been through all the [organized team activities] and training camp together, and we all grind together. You definitely try to eliminate all the outside distractions and just make sure that each person is doing their job as best as possible and continue to get better. That’s how you handle that. It’s easy to get sucked into listening to what everybody else has to say about it than actually understanding what’s happening here and trusting your teammates to do the right thing.”