reporters on the San Diego game

RAMS REPORT CARD – WEEK 12
Jeff Gordon breaks down the Rams performance following their 27-24 loss to the Chargers.

http://www.stltoday.com/gallery/sports/football/professional/rams-report-card-vs-san-diego/collection_4fedfca2-528f-518e-b0cf-71800aadf37e.html#0

Quarterback: D
Shaun Hill was so close to delivering the signature victory of his career. He was so close to cashing in on his heroic late throw to Kenny Britt. But he didn’t see Marcus Gilchrist just sitting there on the goal line waiting to pick off his slant pass to Britt in the final minute. This was a sickening end to Hill’s roller coaster ride, which featured two TD passes nullified by penalties, another costly interception, a fumble lost for a TD and several passes that sailed high. He deserved better than a 54.2 passer rating, but such is the life of a Rams QB in the post-GSOT era.

Running Backs: C
Rookie Tre Mason’s big play went for 26 yards on his only reception, a dump-off from Hill under duress. Mason broke 13-yard and 21-yard runs and had a 16-yard run erased by penalty. But his other 14 carries netted just 28 yards as he ran into a brick wall again and again. Benny Cunningham was OK with his limited reps, getting 29 yards on six touches—four carries and two catches – and poor Zac Stacy made just a cameo appearance.

Wide Receivers: A
Britt made a diving 27-yard catch to give the Rams a chance to win. He also had a 51-yard TD catch erased by one of the many soul-killing Rams penalties. Stedman Bailey had his breakout game as a Ram, catching seven passes for 81 yards and a touchdown. His score came shortly after a penalty erased his earlier TD catch. Tavon Austin had a 6-yard TD run and 15-yard run on sweeps. He also caught three short passes and drew a long pass interference penalty.

Tight Ends: C
Jared Cook erased a touchdown with one of his team’s many blocking penalties, but the Rams overcame that blunder. Cook made a couple of late catches, one for a first down, and his block cleared the way for Austin’s touchdown run. But overall he had just three catches on nine targets. Lance Kendricks contributed a huge pass drop in scoring range to this crazy game, but he later caught a 16-yard pass.

Offensive Line: D
Rookie left tackle Greg Robinson did not enjoy this trip to sunny Southern California. He allowed a strip-sack that led directly to a Chargers touchdown. The officials called his number for a blocking penalty that negated the 51-yard TD pass to Britt. He also had false start and holding penalties on the same drive, helping slow a promising possession. Such big mistakes and the general inability to create running room made this a long day for the front wall.

Defensive Line: C
Rookie DT Aaron Donald’s late third-down sack of Chargers QB Philip Rivers gave the Rams their chance to win the game. DE Robert Quinn’s outside pressure helped DT Michael Brockers step up for the other Rams’ sack. The Rams applied decent pressure, but the Chargers countered with screen plays and quick-hit passes. As the defense wore down in the second half, RB Ryan Mathews got some big seams to hit. Given the depleted state of San Diego’s line, the Rams could have done better.

Linebackers: D
MLB James Laurinaitis was most visible while chasing Chargers TE Ladarius Green on his 28-yard reception up the left sideline. He had six solo tackles, but he didn’t make many big plays and was nowhere to be found on several of the large-chunk plays San Diego made in the second half. OLB Alec Ogletree had eight solo tackles, but he wasn’t nearly as disruptive as in his previous few weeks.

Secondary: C
Now THERE was the Janoris Jenkins we saw in his rookie season. He gave the Rams hope with 99-yard int return for a TD. Later he killed a Chargers drive by forcing Chargers WR Keenan Allen to fumble. But as the game wore on, Rivers worked over the secondary while completing 29 of 35 passes for 291 yards. After rallying to the ball nicely in the first half, the defensive backs missed some tackles in the second half.

Special Teams: C
This group had a crazy, crazy day. They allowed the Chargers to easily block a 48-yard FG that wouldn’t have counted anyway because the Rams lined up in the neutral zone. On the other hand, Alex Bayer recovered a muffed Chargers punt to set up a Rams TD. Johnny Hekker threw another fourth-down conversion pass off of a punt fake. Penalties flew left and right, with the highlight coming on the phantom blocking penalty on Marshall McFadden during what would have been a 77-yard punt return by Tavon Austin.

Coaching: B
The Rams went on the road and came within one play of upsetting a solid Chargers squad that desperately needed to win. They would have scored another quality victory but for some penalty calls – many of them ridiculous – and a few bad mistakes. There are no moral victories three years into a coaching regime, but Jeff Fisher and Co. had this team prepared to win this game. The Football Gods simply would not allow it.

Bernie: Fisher, Rams are stuck in a cycle of mediocrity

Bernie Miklasz

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bernie-miklasz/bernie-fisher-rams-are-stuck-in-a-cycle-of-mediocrity/article_53f20587-c819-5f9b-98a4-52264be

SAN DIEGO • The elevator opened, and Rams owner Stan Kroenke entered for the ride down to his team’s locker room. He was accompanied by Rams GM Les Snead, chief operating officer Kevin Demoff and a couple of suit-wearing security guys.

I’m surprised that the bodyguards exposed Silent Stan by leaving him so close to the unwashed media devils that were along for the quick trip to the floor of Qualcomm Stadium.

Alas, there was no cause for alarm; the largest media-credential-wearing Beelzebub did not lunge at Kroenke or even shriek filthy questions at the reclusive multi-billionaire.

The crisis was averted. Silent Stan remained silent.

After quarterback Shaun Hill threw the game away with his stunning end zone interception, leaving everyone in the place in a state of disbelief, the Rams had lost again, 27-24. Even with the Rams’ preposterous history of finding ways to get swallowed up near the end of games to sink into the unavoidable pit that traps chronic losing teams, this one was painful.

“A stab in the back,” running back Tre Mason said.

And as the Rams’ owner, GM and COO took the elevator down, the radio was on inside, loudly blaring instant-reaction comments being made by Chargers broadcasters. They were hollering about Hill’s ghastly interception, and how he’s a 34-year-old veteran who knows better, and so there’s no excuse for making a bad throw like that.

And the voices were right; that was about as awful an interception as we could imagine. But it was also predictable, because the truth has been obvious for quite some time.

The Rams need a quarterback, and they must start over at the position in 2015.

This cycle of mediocrity and madness cannot continue. Kroenke, Snead and Demoff didn’t need a broadcaster screaming the truth, and they don’t need me or anyone to state what everyone sees and knows.

Not that anyone with the Rams was thinking about naming Hill as the Starter for Life. He’s a career backup, and he’s capable of playing well at times. Hill was terrific in last week’s 22-7 demo of Denver. And Hill was certainly not the only reason why the Rams blew this game and a chance to muster their first two-game winning streak of the season.

Hill is what he is: a good and proud man, a dedicated professional and a serviceable QB. Hill isn’t the future, and Austin Davis isn’t the future, and Sam Bradford’s crumpled left knee isn’t the future.

Sunday’s horrible loss — and the way it all came tumbling down — just reaffirmed what smart people already knew: the Rams have to prioritize the quarterback position and can’t be content with their current collection.

They can deny this until Snead’s celebrated hair turns stringy and gray. They can deny it for a time that lasts longer than coach Jeff Fisher’s endless debates with officials. They can deny it until Silent Stan communicates to the loyal football fans of St. Louis — which should happen any decade now.

We’re not trying to be mean here — OK, maybe a little.

But come on, now.

The Snead-Fisher rebuilding program still doesn’t have a quarterback. That means it doesn’t have a foundation. What’s the point of developing all of this young talent if the most important part of the team is missing?

Davis was benched because he got jumpy and jangled and careless and started handing out interceptions and fumbles as if they were grocery-store coupons before Thanksgiving. Fisher made the right decision to switch to Hill, who responded just as the team hoped in the smooth win over Denver.

Then, against the Chargers, Hill made the kind of OH-NO errors that got Davis banished. There were two costly interceptions. The first set up an early San Diego field goal, and the second snuffed the Rams’ hopes of a comeback win. In between was a Hill fumble returned for the touchdown that put the Rams in the hole by 10 points.

Remember, Hill is supposed to be the level-headed, steady game manager. So what was he doing throwing a haphazard interception with the Rams down by three and parked beautifully at the Chargers’ 4-yard line?

“This is not Shaun’s fault,” Fisher said. “He got us there. And did a helluva job in that drive getting us down there. You just hope the ball is thrown away, it’s not, and then they made the play.”

Fisher reacted to an excruciating loss with defiance. He suggested that his team be pardoned from the blame-game aspect of this latest, bitter defeat.

“I feel bad for the guys,” Fisher said. “You can’t blame those players in there. There’s no blame to be placed any place. Put it where you want, but this was a tough one. We’ve got a great locker room and a great group of guys. We’re disappointed and they’ll come back.”

Fisher stressed how hard his team was working and playing. But this isn’t the Junior Football League. These are paid professionals. These men are supposed to work hard. In the NFL they keep score, and the object is winning.

And unless the Rams (4-7) win their last five games of the season, they’ll add to the franchise streak of nonwinning seasons, and stretch it to 11. Fisher wasn’t here for the worst of it, but he is 18-24-1. The Rams have gotten better and more talented under Fisher. But 43 games into the program-building, is it unreasonable to ask that the progress be quantified by actual victories and winning streaks?

When I asked Fisher why his team can’t seem to get over the hump, he began his response by praising the Chargers and their quarterback Philip Rivers.

As for his Rams …

“We’ve got to learn,” Fisher said. “Until we put a couple in a row together, it’s going to always be hard for us. But these guys … I’m not going to change anything. I’m not going to ask them to change anything. We were pretty close to pulling this one off.”

Close? That isn’t good enough.

Does this bother you? It bugs me. Fisher doesn’t want any blame put on his team. Instead he wants to dish praise for them working hard and being good guys. He isn’t going to change anything. He isn’t going to ask the players to change anything. That’s all there is to it.

Fisher has to be really careful here, unless he wants to give the wrong impression about accountability, responsibility and setting high standards for his team. I don’t think Fisher is settling for mediocrity. But what’s up with the message he’s sending? I’d hate to come to the conclusion that Fisher not only finds the mediocrity acceptable — but he’s also defending it.

That won’t do.

The Rams lost another winnable game.

The elevator — still — is going down.

Ten Takeaways from Sunday’s 27-24 Loss to Chargers

By Randy Karraker

http://www.101sports.com/2014/11/24/ten-takeaways-sundays-27-24-loss-chargers/

There is a term that people in sports use for coming close in a game and almost winning. That term is “losing.” As the Rams fell to 4-7 Sunday in San Diego, they fell to 3-3 in one-possession games, and 3-5 in games that were within reach in the fourth quarter.

Jeff Fisher often talks about how his team is “growing up.” But he has one more season with his original draft class under control before the turnover starts again. It’s reaching the point where this edition of the Rams needs to grow up and win their close games, or the same cycle of futility that’s lasted for ten years will be extended.

1) While I would have probably called something different, I had no problem with the play call on the game-clinching interception thrown by Shaun Hill. It was second and goal at the four, and as Fisher said, they were going for the win. The problem was in the execution. I said to myself as Hill dropped back, “just don’t throw a pick.” There is no excuse for a 13-year veteran quarterback to make that throw in that situation.

Throw to the perimeter or throw the ball away, but don’t throw a pass that can be intercepted. By the way, I personally would have preferred the Rams run the ball. With over a minute to go, force San Diego to use their time outs. And if you don’t punch it in on second or third down, you take your chances in overtime with a field goal. I want the team to be aggressive overall, but sticking with what you do best and want to be would have served them best in the final minute of the fourth quarter.

2) Turnovers were killers-again. One of the problems the Rams have had this year is the sack-fumble. Sunday’s hit by Cory Liuget on Hill and Andrew Gachkar’s ensuing 13 yard fumble return are added to devastating sack-fumble touchdowns against in Philadelphia and Arizona. With all of the investment in their offensive line, the Rams still get quarterbacks battered into giving up points. Only the Jaguars have allowed more sacks than the Rams 34 this season. With all due respect, there is only one rookie playing up there. Hill was only brought down once on Sunday, but that sack led to the points that provided the difference in the game.

3) The run defense was bad. Ryan Mathews’ best game of the season so far had been sixteen carries for 70 yards last week against the Raiders. He ran 12 times for 105 yards. The Rams knew he’d be running between the tackles, and knew San Diego’s favorite play was the draw. Yet he continually picked up large chucks of yardage on that very play. As the esteemed Stats Doctor Rick Winer wrote last week, the Rams had “allowed 51 yards rushing on 26 carries in the last two weeks, or just under two yards per carry. If my research is accurate, this marks the lowest two-game total for rushing by Rams opponents in franchise history.” To go from that level of excellence to allowing 19 carries-129 yards to Charger running backs defines the Rams inconsistency. Once again, at some point, youth doesn’t work as an excuse any more. There are two rookies on the Rams starting defense…Aaron Donald and E.J. Gaines…and they are arguably among the top four players on the unit.

4) The Rams HAVE to overcome bad calls. The Rams were victimized again by the officials, and that’s too bad. They had two touchdowns called back, plus a Tavon Austin punt return that would have started the final drive at the Charger five yard line rather than the 40. But great teams generally are able to overcome adversity. When Kenny Britt’s 51 yard score was nullified by a facemask penalty with 1:51 left in the first half, the Rams ran two more plays, punted, and allowed a ten play, 54 yard drive that resulted in a field goal at the end of the half. Remember, the game ended 27-24. After the penalty on the Austin play, the Rams committed the decisive turnover. Those were untimely penalties, but it’s important for everyone to think “one snap and clear” and move on to the next play.

5) The special teams were a mixed bag. A team like the Rams, that plans to play such close games, can’t get field goals blocked. That’s what happened with 4:38 left in the first half.

Blocked field goals and blocked punts (which gave Philadelphia a touchdown in their six point win over the Rams), can’t happen EVER for a team that plays the way the Rams do. The margin for error is too thin. On the plus side, Johnny Hekker completed ANOTHER pass on a fake punt. He’s now 5-6 for 79 yards and a touchdown in his career, and he has a PERFECT passer rating of 158.3. Hekker is a real weapon…and apparently there is no way to stop him.

6) It was good to see the Mountaineers step up. Stedman Bailey was…and might be…unstoppable. He looks like a number one receiver. When he had a touchdown to the left side called back in the fourth quarter, he simply went to the right and caught a TD there. He became Hill’s primary target late, and caught seven balls for 89 yards. He should be the Rams go-to wideout. And Austin, in addition to his punt return, was used as a runner on the perimeter and scored his first touchdown of the year. He had six touches for 38 yards. If they get his touches up to about twelve per game and don’t run him up the middle, the Rams might have something.

Tre Mason had 16 carries for 62 yards Sunday.

7) Tre Mason showed he’s durable. I had concerns about the 5-8, 207 pounder after a 29 carry performance against Denver. But he had seventeen touches for 88 yards and looked fresh. Not only that, but on the sack-fumble play, Mason was fending off Gachkar before Liuget’s sack. If he holds up, Mason has all the attributes to be a three down back.

Cool The Rams are a lower third team. Bill Parcells said it and I subscribe to his belief 100 percent that “you are what your record says you are.” The Rams are tied for the 22nd best record in the league. If the draft were held today, they’d have the ninth pick. They went through the gauntlet half of their schedule at 3-5. But they haven’t put back-to-back wins together this year.

At 4-7, two of their wins came on special teams tricks (Seattle) and an uncommon goal line fumble by Colin Kaepernick at San Francisco. They dominated Denver, and were dominated by Minnesota. Consistency isn’t exactly a strong point, here.

There’s no reason to believe this group could put a streak together or win consistently enough on the road to be great.

9) The Rams have said that they plan to draft a quarterback early in the 2015 draft. And they need to. Hopefully that player will be ready to take the reins and win immediately. The guy who has the ability to do that is Jamies Winston of Florida State. He is SO good as a quarterback that if I squint real hard, I can see that he hasn’t been charged in a he-said/she-said sexual assault, has had his crab leg-gate situation adjudicated, stupidly jumped up and yelled something profane in a school cafeteria, and hasn’t had any evidence of being paid come forth about his autograph signing situation. Could he be a victim of circumstances? If he keeps leading Florida State back to wins, I’ll buy it.

10) Fisher falls to 0-8 against San Diego in his career. The only other team he hasn’t beaten is the team he coached for eighteen years, the Titans, whom he’s only faced once. If Fisher ever DOES get a team back to the Super Bowl, hopefully for his sake it’s not against San Diego.

The Raiders are next for the Rams at the Dome. Definitely a winnable game. And as we saw Sunday, they’re all losable.

wv wrote:

[espn.go.com]

WV…that thing from the herd? it’s not a live, real link when copied to this board. I fixed it though.