from off the net

—

fearsomefour

the play calling and kind of routes the team is running is revealing to me.

It is hard to tell watching a game with the normal tv view. Foles is late on a lot of throws or so it seems. The outs to the sideline the OC seems to favor protect the QB from having to make reads. It gives him a basket to throw into that is safe. If it is covered up it is an easy throw away. OCs protect QBs this same way with roll outs. One option or a throw away.

You don’t see the crosses, slants and intermediate stuff with the
Rams….the 15 to 20 yard cross. The Rams will run some stuff in the middle with the TEs but thats about it. That again is mostly scheme related trying to create some mismatches with LBs. The deep throws are usually one guy running deep with everything else underneath….again, no read here, there is usually one option, a predetermined deep shot. I like the deep shots and Foles throws a good deep ball.

I really believe the coaches don’t trust Foles to read the D, be on the same page as his WRs and have the ability to find secondary guys. First and second down it is easier to run some plays where the receiver is predetermined. Third and 8 everyone knows you are passing. I don’t mind first down passes especially versus a loaded box.

I believe the issue is Foles and his shortcomings as a QB. The OC is using him as a manager and little else. Take a few deep shots a game to try and create a big play or two….which can work as we saw vs Cleveland….beyond that don’t throw picks and let the D and running game do their thing. This approach can certainly work.

It would be nice to have a full, grown up NFL passing game to complement what Gurley is doing.

Aaron Schatz tells why he and Football Outsiders have the Rams as clear favorites over Minnesota

from off the net

—

LMU93

great interview and perspectives

Good insights on how the team has performed so far, Gurley, where the OL is, playoff chances and how they stack up vs. some other contenders,.

Todd Gurley vs. Adrian Peterson: That’s Entertainment

Bernie Miklasz

http://www.101sports.com/2015/11/03/todd-gurley-vs-adrian-peterson-thats-entertainment/

Sunday’s game at Minnesota between the Rams and Vikings is intriguing for a number of reasons. Though both teams are in contention for their respective division titles, this contest will have a direct impact on the formative NFC wild-card race. The Vikings have won three in a row to move up to 5-2. The Rams have won three of their last four games to stamp the franchise’s first winning record (4-3) seven games into a season since 2006. This game amounts to a head-to-head credibility check of two improved teams, with the winner getting a bump in status. Moreover, the Rams and Vikings are similar in composition. Both have offenses that struggle to score — and rigid defenses that refuse to yield.

That’s all swell — but c’mon, admit it …

If you’re a casual NFL fan, you’re probably more interested in the matchup of charismatic running backs.

And that’s understandable. For entertainment value, this is hard to resist: Rams rookie Todd Gurley — so often compared to Adrian Peterson — will be running on Peterson’s home turf for the first time. Gurley, quickly having a breakout season, just notched his first national endorsement contract — for Jolly Rancher candy. Hey, Marshawn Lynch can keep his Skittles.

Obviously, Gurley and Peterson won’t be dueling each other. Gurley won’t be tackling Peterson, and AP isn’t going to be playing safety for the Vikings when the Rams break the huddle. The backs’ real matchup is having to wrestle with the other team’s defense. The Vikings will overpopulate the line of scrimmage in an attempt to become the first NFL defense to prove that Gurley is indeed stoppable over four quarters. And NFL defensive coordinators have spent many a sleepless night trying to figure out a plan to prevent Peterson from threatening their job security with one of his huge rushing days.

Of course, none of this matters. We’ll still be tracking the Gurley vs. Peterson yards on Sunday.

The battle of the backs is undoubtedly the feature attraction here.

And they were meant to share this field on Sunday.

The Vikings chose Peterson from Oklahoma with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2007 NFL draft and have no regrets, with AP compiling 10,823 rushing yards as part of his total 12,645 yards from scrimmage and 94 career touchdowns. Peterson has been voted to six Pro Bowls and selected first-team All-NFL three times, but he’s been sidetracked by problems on his route to Canton and induction onto the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

There was the 2011 knee injury that cut Peterson’s season to 12 games — followed by a remarkable comeback of 2012, when Peterson rushed for 2,097 yards. There was last year’s controversial suspension handed down by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell after Peterson pleaded no contest to misdemeanor reckless assault for “abusive discipline” of his 4-year-old son.

Peterson didn’t play in the final 15 games of 2014, but he’s made a strong return to reaffirm his elite pedigree among the league’s running backs. Peterson is 3rd in the NFL with 633 yards rushing on an average of 20 carries and 90.4 yards per game.

No question, Peterson is still a prime back. But he reached age 30 earlier this year, a time when runners begin to slow because of age, heavy usage, and bodies that absorb too many collisions.

It’s probably too soon to know, but we may be seeing some signs of that with Peterson. I’ll point to some relevant stats in a couple of minutes.

First, let’s reintroduce Gurley — the late-model version of Peterson.

Like Peterson, Gurley went early on in the NFL draft, with the Rams picking him 10th overall (out of Georgia) in May.

Like Peterson, Gurley stands 6-1 in height — but at 226 pounds is listed nine pounds heavier than Peterson.

Like Peterson, Gurley had to overcome a serious knee injury — and is thriving in the aftermath.

Like Peterson, you can see Gurley’s name high on the NFL leader board. And just as Peterson did in his first NFL season (2007) Gurley is making an instant and dramatic impact as a rookie.

Despite missing the first two regular-season games while his mended knee passed all of the necessary tests, Gurley has zoomed to fifth in the NFL with 575 yards rushing.

Gurley evidently is in a hurry to reach Peterson-level status. Since entering STL’s starting lineup four games ago, Gurley has averaged 142 yards rushing per game, 6.45 yards per carry, and has scored three touchdowns. The Rams are 3-1 since launching Gurley as their starter.

Who does Gurley think he is — Adrian Peterson?

Yeah, maybe so.

The Vikings have noted the similarities.

“This guy, Todd Gurley, he’s special,” Minnesota cornerback Captain Munnerlyn told TwinCities.com. “He’s Adrian Peterson all over again. People don’t realize how big he is. He can hit you with the home-run speed. He’s a young Adrian Peterson, but I like our Adrian Peterson better.

As they should.

Gurley, after all, has four NFL starts to his name.

Gurley has a lot to prove — with his long-term endurance and viability at the top of the list.

Peterson ranks 22nd in NFL history in career rushing yards and is 14th with 89 career rushing touchdowns. Peterson’s career average of 97.5 yards rushing per game has been exceeded by only two NFL backs, and both are legends: Hall of Famers Jim Brown (104.3 yards) and Barry Sanders (99.8 yards.)

But as we mentioned earlier, Peterson is 30.

Gurley is 21.

Gurley already is chasing Peterson in the ways that he can. Gurley, for instance, is trending to become the first NFL back to average at least 6 yards per rushing attempt since Peterson in 2012.

“Obviously a big physical guy that has great acceleration and vision,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said of Gurley. “We’re going to have to make sure we have a lot of people at the ball … he runs with violence.”

The sample size isn’t enough to fill one of Gurley’s Jolly Rancher candy bags. But Gurley has outperformed Peterson in some illuminating categories so far this season. As usual, I went to Pro Football Focus to check the data that shows more detailed information on a running back’s effectiveness in eluding tacklers — and in gaining yards after contact.

— Pro Football Focus gives a “Breakaway Percentage ” rating to each back. It’s simply calculated: of a running back’s total rushing yards, what percentage of the yards came on runs of 15+ yards? The answer: Gurley has nine runs of 15+ yards which has accounted for 57.2 percent of his rushing total. Peterson has eight rushes of 15+ yards, and a Breakaway Percentage of 42.5 percent. Gurley and Peterson rank No. 1 and No. 2 in the league in breakaway percentage.

— Pro Football Focus gives an “Elusive Rating” to each back. The quickie explanation from PFF: “The elusive rating boils down to a runner’s success beyond the point of being helped by his blockers.” Gurley ranks 8th among NFL backs with an elusive rating of 57.1. And Peterson is 20th with an elusive rating of 32.0. That number is notable because Peterson hasn’t had an elusive-rating score less than 45.5 in a season. Peterson’s 2015 elusive rating, at least to this stage, is a big drop from his career norm.

— Pro Football Focus charts yards gained after contact by the defense. Gurley is averaging 3.13 yards after contact this season, which ranks sixth. Peterson is down on the list, ranking 23rd among backs with an average of 2.16 yards after contact. Peterson has never averaged less than 2.92 yards after contact during a season.

I’m personally more interested in seeing if the Rams are ready to go on the road and drag home a win against a surging Minnesota team that’s on the rise, trailing first-place Green Bay (6-1) by a game in the NFC North standings.

Agreed, Gurley vs. Peterson is an enticing draw. It’s fantasy football.

Peterson will be fired up to show the rookie a little something: that the NFL’s top running back still resides — and presides — in Minnesota. Maybe so. Maybe not.

Either way, Gurley is coming

Robinson, Reynolds blending on the left side

Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/robinson-reynolds-blending-on-the-left-side/article_65b001e3-debf-5458-8f8f-e5b5d60429e7.html

Greg Robinson has yet to play a full season’s worth of left tackle in the NFL, but he has already had four different linemates at left guard.

Chronologically, he has gone from Davin Joseph, to Rodger Saffold, to Jamon Brown, and now Garrett Reynolds on his immediate right. On a unit where chemistry, communication, and trust is of the utmost importance, Robinson has been doing a blocker’s version of speed-dating since he made his first start at left tackle last Nov. 2 at San Francisco.

And at first, Robinson thought it might be an adjustment with Reynolds at left guard.

“Because our playing style is a lot different,” Robinson said.

How so?

“He admits it,” Robinson explained. “He says, ‘Greg, you’re a lot more athletic than me.’ I can just move a little faster than him.”

Reynolds doesn’t dispute the point.

“I tell him that all the time,” Reynolds said. “He’s got more athletic ability in his leg than I do in my body. But that is completely fine with me. I’m just there. I tell him he’s the athletic guy, I just try to get in the way.”

They are miles apart in terms of pedigree. Robinson was the No. 2 overall pick out of Auburn in the 2014 draft. Reynolds was a third-day guy, taken by Atlanta in the fifth round in 2009.

One reason why the Rams selected Robinson instead of other highly-touted offensive tackle prospects in the ’14 draft such as Jake Matthews of Texas A&M or Taylor Leewan of Michigan was that athleticism. They felt he had a higher ceiling than the other prospects.

So now here he is in his second NFL season, paired with Reynolds — an odd couple if you will on the left side of the line.

“We balance each other out I guess you could say,” Reynolds said, smiling. “But it’s been good working over there. And it’s exciting to see where we’ll go.”

Having just turned 23 (two weeks ago), Robinson is still learning his craft in the NFL.

“I feel like I haven’t really reached full potential, but I’m still building,” Robinson said. “Run-blocking’s really just all effort, I feel. Pass-blocking’s more technique, just taking the proper steps that the coaches stress.

“Like our hand placement on run-blocking, because when we’re playing guys that two-gap it’s kind of hard to really get a feel because you don’t know which direction they’re going.”

After Saffold’s season-ending shoulder injury against Green Bay, the Rams switched Brown to right guard from left, and brought Reynolds off the bench to play left. The reason?

In large part, to help make Robinson better faster. Coach Jeff Fisher summed up the reason for putting a veteran on Robinson’s side in two words.

“The communication,” Fisher said. “Greg’s a long ways away from things out there at left tackle, so it’s good to have Garrett in there communicating with him.”

There is no substitute for experience, and because Reynolds has been in the league for seven years — although not usually as a starter — he can help with line calls, checks, and just overall recognition.

“I believe (experience) is the biggest resource that he has,” Robinson said. “I feel like it can only help me just by him being beside me. I can learn from him, and learn how to break things down.”

Robinson said when he gets ready for a play, “I have to wait for things to line up” and then go through a sequence of things in his head. More often than not, Robinson said Reynolds knows what to expect before it even happens.

“It’s pretty impressive,” Robinson said.

“I’ve seen these looks and situations more than he has,” Reynolds said. “That’s where I can kind of help out. It might be a look, like, ‘Oh yeah, this happened to me a couple years ago.’ You’ve been in the situation in the heat of the moment and in the speed of the game.”

But Reynolds says there have been times in their two games together where he’s had what he calls a “frozen moment” and Robinson has bailed him out.

“So that’s where we do a good job of just communicating together and working together,” Reynolds said. “I think we’re improving play by play, just getting more comfortable with each other.”

Obviously, the emergence of Todd Gurley at running back has made every blocker on offense look better. He’s that kind of back. But Robinson has made strides as a run blocker as the season has progressed. His athleticism helps him get those second-level blocks that turn short gains into bigger ones.

Against Cleveland, for example, he had a couple of kick-out blocks that helped pave the way for runs of 10 yards-plus by Gurley.

His pass-blocking remains a work in progress, with Robinson occasionally committing too early when it comes to engaging the pass-rusher and getting off-balance.

“Greg’s been a little inconsistent at times, that’s the nature of that position,” Fisher said. “Left tackle’s a hard position to play. I think Garrett’s been a good influence on him.

“Garrett’s playing well, he’s playing solid. He’s finishing plays. Getting down field. Doing all those kind of things.”

Pulling from his left guard position to the right, Reynolds threw one of the key blocks on Gurley’s 71-yard touchdown run against San Francisco.

“I saw him zip by, blinked my eyes, and he was 30 yards down field,” Reynolds said. “So he just takes off.”

The vast majority of Reynolds’ playing time in the NFL has been on the right side — either right guard or right tackle — so he’s still getting used to playing on the other side in terms of footwork and balance.

“It’s something where you keep getting used to it,” Reynolds said.

Just like playing next to Robinson.

Vikings on Gurley: He’s Adrian Peterson all over again

The Vikings know they’re seeing a star player in Todd Gurley this weekend, mostly because he reminds them of one of their teammates.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/san-francisco-49ers/0ap3000000571794/Next-Gen-Stats-Todd-Gurley

“This guy, Todd Gurley, he’s special,” Minnesota cornerback Captain Munnerlyn said Monday, via TwinCities.com. “He’s Adrian Peterson all over again. … People don’t realize how big he is. … He can hit you with the home-run speed. He’s a young Adrian Peterson, but I like our Adrian Peterson better.”

Gurley and Peterson are almost exactly the same size, but the production is likely what Munnerlyn is referring to. Outside of a ho-hum, six-carry debut, Gurley has been the most productive back in football averaging 141.5 yards per game off 22 carries. He’s scored three touchdowns and in that span, the Rams are 3-

He’s exactly the player the Rams hoped he’d be when they selected him at No. 10 this past year, with the only concern being the typical wear and tear associated with an NFL running back. Gurley is also coming off an ACL tear he suffered in college.

Peterson finished his rookie season with more than 1,300 yards rushing, 12 touchdowns and 5.63 yards per carry. Through his first five games, he was well over six yards per touch, which is the current pace Gurley is setting for himself now.

We’ll see if both up their game on Sunday in what promises to be an old-fashioned affair. Can the new Adrian Peterson upstage the original?

Note:another article that is essentially just a summary of the press conference so I put it here too.

—
Fisher wants Rams to keep grinding

Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/fisher-wants-rams-to-keep-grinding/article_7292ecd9-1d3f-53f4-b075-54cc53d5ad55.html

The Rams’ 27-6 victory against San Francisco had been over for maybe 15 minutes, and already coach Jeff Fisher was looking ahead.

“Yeah, I can’t wait to get back to work in the morning,” Fisher said Sunday. “As a matter of fact, we’re gonna give some players a little bit of extra time off tomorrow so we can dig deep into it as a staff, just to try to make more plays.”

So the players came in Monday and watched the San Francisco tape on their own, which allowed the coaching staff to get an earlier start than usual on this week’s opponent — Minnesota.

Fisher has been around long enough to realize this Rams team has an opportunity to put something together this season. The last thing he wants is for the team to feel self-satisfied after back-to-back wins over Cleveland and San Francisco by a combined score of 51-12.

So the emphasis these days at Rams Park is more constructive criticism than patting each other on the back.

“We want to get better,” Fisher said. “That’s what this is about.”

He doesn’t want a repeat of last season, when the Rams posted back-to-back shutouts of Oakland and Washington, only to lose their final three games of 2014 to finish 6-10.

Three times in 2013, the team won back-to-back games only to stumble the following week. In fact, in Fisher’s three-plus seasons in St. Louis, the team has won as many as three games only once, winning at Arizona, at home against San Francisco, and at Buffalo in Games 11-13 of the 2012 campaign.

As the players say, the idea is to stack wins together. As many as possible.

“The thing for us is we can’t be content,” tight end and fullback Cory Harkey said. “Obviously, we know we can get better. So we’ve just got to come back to work, and we’ve gotta get the next one. We’ve gotta get three in a row. That’s all we can worry about right now.”

The players barely paused to reflect on the fact that at 4-3, they were above .500 in November for the first time since 2006. The mood was more

”we’ve got a lot to work on”

rather than

”we’ve come a long way.”

“And I appreciate that, because it just shows this team is growing,” defensive tackle Michael Brockers said. “So many times in the past years, we’d look at a win — we’d be so high on that win, we’d end up not focusing on the game ahead.”

But the past two Sundays, the postgame vibe in the locker room has been telling, and Fisher has taken notice.

“This was not an overtime victory against Seattle in the opener type of feeling in the locker room,” Fisher said Sunday. “This was, ‘OK, we got through it. We won it. But we gotta play much better.’ I think that’s the sign of a team that’s moving forward and understands that it has potential, it has opportunities, but you can’t be satisfied.”

In this week-to-week league, there’s always another Sunday to prove yourselves. The test next Sunday in TCF Bank Stadium is daunting against a 5-2 Minnesota team that embarrassed the Rams 34-6 at the Edward Jones Dome in the 2014 season opener.

The two areas of greatest concern for Fisher coming out of the San Francisco game were third-down conversions on offense — or lack thereof — and penalties.

The Rams went one for 12 on third downs against the 49ers, are two for 21 over their past two games, and now rank dead last in the NFL in third-down conversion rate at 25.9 percent.

“Realistically speaking, I would subtract four of those, because we had one where we ran it with the intention of kicking the field goal,” Fisher said. “And then we had three where the offense was instructed to run it in the 4-minute (drain-the-clock) situation. Still, two for 17’s not good.

“We can’t win games, especially at this time of year, when we’re not completing third downs on offense.”

As for penalties, they’ve historically been a bugaboo for Fisher-coached teams. Penalties are up throughout the league this season, so the Rams’ numbers aren’t as bad as one might think. They’re tied for 13th in penalties assessed (56), and 21st in penalty yardage assessed (431).

Keep in mind, however, several teams with more penalties and more penalty yards have yet to have their bye week.

Nonetheless, 12 penalties for 93 yards against San Francisco is too much. So was nine penalties for 75 yards against Cleveland.

“We’ve got seven defensive offsides in the last two weeks, and that’s at home,” Fisher said. “So as we start playing good teams on the road here, we’re gonna have to learn from that, and play with more discipline up front on the defensive line.”

While third-down efficiency and penalties are the top agenda items, Fisher also would like to run the ball better early with Todd Gurley.

“We’ve gotta block better for him earlier in the game,” Fisher said. “You saw it, it was two yards or three yards, or one yard, or a tackle for a loss. And then all of a sudden, we hit a crease and things start to open up for us, and then (Gurley) gets the game-breaker.”

A more productive running game in the first quarter should lead to faster starts on the scoreboard as well. The Rams have scored only 19 points in the first quarter this season; only Philadelphia (10), San Francisco (12), and Jacksonville (16) have scored fewer.

And nine of those 19 Rams points have come directly from the St. Louis defense: Sunday’s safety against San Francisco and Rodney McLeod’s scoop-and-score on a Cleveland fumble a week earlier.

Ten Takeaways from the Rams’ 27-6 Win Over the 49ers

Randy Karraker

http://www.101sports.com/2015/11/02/ten-takeaways-from-the-rams-27-6-win-over-the-49ers/

Even Jeff Fisher noted after his team’s 27-6 win over San Francisco that the performance left them plenty to work on before next week’s game. A dozen penalties and a tough time for the offense staying on the field made for a less than dazzling display, but a win is a win.

And for the Rams, any win in this playoff race is big. With that, ten takeaways from the win that got St. Louis over .500 in November for the first time in nine years.

1) 4-3 is a major accomplishment for this franchise. They hadn’t been 4-3 since the first seven games of 2006, their first year under Scott Linehan. Winning two in a row and playing well in back-to-back games should give the team confidence as it heads out on the road to face the Vikings next week. The last time the Rams were as good as 5-3 at mid-season? The 12-4 West Division Championship season of 2003.

2) After going 1-for-9 in third down conversions against Cleveland last week, the Rams offense was 1-12 on Sunday. That’s something Jeff Fisher noted as he pointed out that things aren’t perfect. “We converted one third down today. That just doesn’t get it done. So we obviously have some work to do. Pleased with the win, don’t misunderstand me. We came through healthy. We still have a lot of room for improvement.”

He’ll make sure the players know they weren’t perfect, either. Winning imperfectly provides a great coaching point.

3) To get better on third down, the Rams need to have a better passing game. Perhaps limiting what’s asked of Nick Foles will help. He seems to have difficulty with the deep sideline routes (in fairness, football folks say that’s the hardest throw to make). But if he can’t make that throw, perhaps one thing the Rams could try are some slants and some shallow crossing routes to their talented playmakers. Foles had great success in Philadelphia throwing to the middle of the field. With big guys like Kenny Britt and Brian Quick, plays like that would seem to be a perfect fit with the Rams.

4) The 49ers called ten passing plays and seven running plays to running backs in the first quarter, but after that only handed off eight times in the final three quarters. San Francisco gave up running and tried to throw 34 of their final 42 plays. The Rams early dominance on defense, and injuries to running backs Carlos Hyde and Reggie Bush, caused San Francisco to completely abandon their game plan. And that affected the way the Rams played offense, clearly knowing that the only way San Francisco could score a touchdown would be with a fluke.

5) In half a season of home games, the Rams have allowed two offensive touchdowns to the opposition. Seattle got a touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham, and the Steelers got a one yard touchdown run from LeVeon Bell. Otherwise, the Seahawks kicked three field goals, and the Steelers, Browns and 49ers each kicked two. The Rams have had remarkable red zone success, a have done a great job of clinging to the vine when they need to keep the opponent into the end zone. Their defense at home is as good as any in the NFL.

6) The game changed on the Rams safety in the first quarter. After picking up just 26 yards on their first two possessions, the brilliant punting of Johnny Hekker forced the 49ers to start at their own three. Mark Barron stopped running back Mike Davis for back-to-back one yard losses, and then Davis was tackled in the end zone for another one yard loss by James Laurinaitis to get the Rams within 3-2. The 49er offense wasn’t the same after that play, and the Rams scored 25 of the game’s final 28 points.

7) Hekker, by the way, was amazing. He punted eight times for a 54.5 yard average, and a remarkable 49.8 net average.

Four of his eight punts pinned San Francisco inside their own twenty yard line, and three of them were downed at the three, eleven and two yard lines. It’s amazing what a weapon he is. The average starting field position for the 49ers was the 22 yard line, and on Hekker’s punts before the final minute of play it was the fifteen yard line.

8) Since the debacle against the run at Washington, the run defense has been sensational. The leading running back rushers since then have been LeVeon Bell of the Steelers, 19 for 68 yards, against Arizona Chris Johnson had 16-83, Eddie Lacy of Green Bay 13-27, Robert Turbin of Cleveland 5-30 and Kendall Gaskins of San Francisco, 5-6. In the last five games, the Rams have allowed an average of 77.6 yards per game on the ground.

9) We are in an instant gratification society, and sometimes if players don’t live up to expectations right away, they get labeled a bust. Well, with two touchdowns against the 49ers, Tavon Austin has seven, an average of one per game. My hope was that Austin could combine for ten touchdowns this season. He’s got two rushing, four receiving and one on returns. Suddenly, Austin has become one of the best weapons and best fantasy players in the NFL. He’s on pace for sixteen TD’s. Hard to call him a bust right now.

10) 28 penalties were called and 25 were accepted. Most were legitimate penalties against both teams. But if 28 penalties are called in a pro football game, either the coaches and players aren’t very good, or there are too many rules. I watch a lot of NFL games, and this happens all the time. There’s no rhythm to the games. There are simply too many rules for officials to call, and Jerome Boger’s crew loves to call all of them.

Hopefully Jeff Fisher and his cohorts on the NFL’s competition committee can cut back on some of the rules the officials call so that the game can get back into the players hands. The lurching style of the game makes it difficult to stick with.

The run defense will have their hands full against Minnesota next week, but the game is huge because it can go a long way toward determining the second wild card team in the NFC. At the moment, the Vikings have a one game lead over St. Louis for the final playoff spot in the NFC. If the Rams win next week, they’ll own that spot.

Picking over the 49ers’ totality of wreckage

http://www.mercurynews.com/tim-kawakami/ci_29056711/kawakami-picking-over-49ers-totality-wreckage?source=rss

sT. LOUIS — The ruins were everywhere on Sunday. The evidence was overwhelming.

The crumbling equation was right there: Colin Kaepernick + the 49ers’ offensive game plan + Jim Tomsula + Trent Baalke + Jed York = a lost and broken franchise.

There’s no way for the 49ers to escape the reality now — and whenever the 49ers tried that Sunday, the Rams literally knocked them backward.

Back to 2004 or 2010 and the bad old days. When they were bad and knew they were bad.

“When I signed up, I signed up to play through wins, losses or whatever,” linebacker NaVorro Bowman said after the 49ers’ 27-6 loss in St. Louis. “This is the type of team we have. There’s no genie that’s coming through the door.”

They’re searching for something they threw away and can’t get back, and opponents are proving this every week.

The 49ers probably don’t have the right coach, quarterback or offensive coordinator, their general manager has been on a bad personnel streak and their owner is a ghost.

They’re lost. And nothing underlines that more than having zero chance against the mediocre Rams — who outgained the 49ers 388-189 — because the 49ers’ offense has zero chance against anybody who plays decent defense.

Aren’t they trying different things on offense? What in the world are the 49ers doing?

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“Obviously I haven’t gotten to the right answer yet,” Tomsula said afterward. “But we’ll find the right answer.”

Could they start to consider benching Kaepernick — who was 20 for 41 for 162 yards — in favor of backup Blaine Gabbert?

“I’m not going to get into all that today,” Tomsula said. “I’ll get into that after we’ve had the opportunity to watch the tape.”

That was not exactly a soaring commitment to Kaepernick.

Nor should Tomsula be committed to Kaepernick after this run of terrible offense and scattered QB play, including a play in the first quarter when the QB didn’t see that receiver Torrey Smith was left uncovered because the Rams knew Kaepernick wasn’t going to throw backed up on his own goal line.

A few plays later: 49ers tailback Mike Davis was tackled in the end zone for a safety.

So yes, the QB play is way, way below acceptable.

Would Kaepernick understand if the 49ers think about benching him?

“To me, I’m doing everything I can to win games,” Kaepernick said.

“Whether they make that change or not is their decision. But I’ll give this team everything I have every week.”

But Tomsula isn’t qualified to make that call, offensive coordinator Geep Chryst certainly hasn’t made things any easier, and why would anybody think Gabbert could do any better with that coach, that offensive coordinator and the woeful offensive line Baalke put together?

When any one of these positions is wrong, it can screw up a franchise.

The 49ers’ great 2015 accomplishment is that they’ve gotten each part of this so badly, terribly, ruinously wrong.

Gabbert isn’t the answer, not really, and the idea of him behind the 49ers’ offensive line probably scares even him.

Firing Tomsula and replacing him with either defensive coordinator Eric Mangini or tight ends coach Tony Sparano — the only feasible interim candidates — isn’t the answer.

Getting rid of Baalke and letting York try to find another credible GM probably isn’t the answer because York bet it all on Baalke when the two men fired Jim Harbaugh last December.

Now they don’t even have a quick way to eject themselves from any of these decisions, because each wrong piece is interlocked with the others.

And each wrong piece is weighed down by all the other wrong pieces.

You saw it in Tomsula’s drooped posture, every one of Kaepernick’s misfired passes and each time Chryst chose to run the ball in a passing situation simply because he didn’t trust Kaepernick to throw.

You heard it in the players’ quiet, resigned voices afterward, and you felt it all throughout this dud.

“You can only control individually what you do on the field, what your performance is,” left tackle Joe Staley said.

“You can’t worry about what anybody else is doing out there. You’ve got to control what you can control on the football field.”

On Sunday, the 49ers defense was fine. Not great — the 49ers gave up a 71-yard touchdown run to Todd Gurley and a few other big plays, but at some point any defense is going to break when its offense can’t move the ball.

“I can’t comment on the offense, man,” Bowman said, before adding:

“I wish I could just go ask the coach to play running back, or something. But that’s not how this business works.”

This is the business: The 49ers are 2-6, their offense is easily the league’s worst, they’ve been crushed by all three of their division rivals already, and they have deleted themselves from NFL contention and relevancy.

It took seven games in 2015 to do that — and about a hundred big and medium-sized terrible decisions, all adding up to so much ruin.

from off the net

—

TackleDummy

When the Rams went all out and drafted 5 OL the handwriting was on the wall. They would go into this season with an extremely inexperienced OL. And the type of OL they drafted were better suited to run blocking than pass blocking. They will learn and eventually be pretty good. But not this year.

If the five starting OL could give Foles an extra half a second or so on average while at the same time do it without added help from two tight end sets then you would see the receivers getting open more often, especially when you would see more three and four WR sets. But too often you see only two receivers downfield and even then Foles has to get rid of the ball quickly.

It is easy to blame Foles. It is easy to blame the receivers. And of course there is always the coaches for scapegoats. But, by design, the Rams blew up their OL and started over. And it wasn’t for 2015 but for later.

Winning Ugly? For the Rams, Any Victory is Beautiful

Posted by: Bernie Miklasz

http://www.101sports.com/2015/11/01/winning-ugly-for-the-rams-any-victory-is-beautiful/

Presuming I’ll be able to type this to completion without having to duck a penalty flag thrown by referee Jerome Boger’s hyperactive officiating crew, here are some quick-hit reactions to the Rams’ assertive 27-6 victory over the visiting San Francisco 49ers at The Edward Jones Dome:

An Update On the Path to Progress …

It was a rather ugly little slugfest Sunday, with the teams being penalized a combined 25 times (186 yards) by Boger’s crew. But with an acknowledgement of history — you know, the reality of the Rams last posting a winning season in 2003 — I’m not inclined to diminish the importance of any win based on artistic merit. Not for this team. And certainly not after the Rams won by 21 points and shoved the 49ers onto their team busses for the ride to Lambert Field.

With the win, the Rams are 4-3 after seven games for the first time since Oct. 29 of the 2006 season. That’s a long time ago. As a frame of reference the Rams haven’t had a winning record this deep into a season since the same week that the baseball Cardinals defeated the Detroit Tigers in Game 5 to capture the 2006 World Series. The Rams’ victory over the 49ers for that 4-3 record came nine years and six days after Jeff Weaver beat Justin Verlander in that Friday-night Game 5. And the last time the Rams were above .500 at this stage of the season, the Blues were being led by Keith Tkachuk, Doug Weight and Lee Stempniak. In CoMo, Mike Anderson was just getting underway in his first season as Mizzou’s new basketball coach. Closer to home, Kevin Lisch, Tommie Liddell and the rest of St. Louis U. basketball’s team was getting settled in for a 20-13 season. Yes, it’s been a very long time.

By throttling the 49ers, the Rams moved to 3-0 against NFC West rivals this season, having successfully handled their first tests against the Seahawks (a three-point win at home), Cardinals (a two-point win on the road), and the 49ers (by 21 points.) The Rams are now all even (10-10-1) in NFC West games since Jeff Fisher became the coach in 2012.

Does this team need more from its offense? Absolutely. Especially the passing game. There is no question about that. But for now, it’s best to pause and take a few minutes to appreciate what they’re doing — even though we all realize they’re going to have to score more points and get more production from their passing game to sustain this brief run of success.

I’m working on a piece on the offense.

After you read this — Part I — you can check out Part II.

Another Conquest For the Burly-Gurley Rams …

Gregg Williams’ burly defense smothered the 49ers, giving the visitors only brief gulps of oxygen that lasted long enough to kick two harmless field goals. (More on the defense later.) And then there was No. 30, rookie running back Todd Gurley, the new franchise player and quick-strike generator who is racing his way into the grand franchise tradition of distinguished running backs. It’s a lengthy list, one that includes Marshall Faulk, Eric Dickerson, Lawrence McCutcheon, Steven Jackson, Dick Bass, Deacon Dan Towler, Tank Younger, Jerome Bettis, Wendell Tyler, Jon Arnett, Willie Ellison and Cullen Bryant. Gurley is just getting started, but his impact already is changing the course of his team’s season.

In his first four NFL starts, Gurley has romped for 566 yards, an average of 141.5 yards per game. He’s averaging 6.4 yards per carry, has three touchdowns, and has bolted for 15 runs that gained 10+ yards. As the 49ers, Browns, Packers and Cardinals have learned, it’s possible to keep Gurley under control for a few series. But just when the defense starts to believe that their wall will hold, Gurley breaks through with a game-changing play. Suddenly, the wall comes down — instantaneously shattered, and leaving defense broken. And that’s how it played out again Sunday.

In his four starts, Gurley has been held to 31 yards rushing on 18 carries in the first quarter. And on Sunday, the 49ers brought a thicket of defenders close to the line to shut him down early; Gurley scraped for only 15 yards on six runs in the opening quarter. But the Rams keep feeding him the football, confident that Gurley will charge his way into the open field. It happened on his first carry of the second quarter — lightning that appeared in the form of a perfectly-blocked, 71-yard, breakaway for a touchdown.

This great Gurley escape gave the Rams a 10-3 lead and effectively ended the 49ers’ hopes of becoming the first defense to stop him since he tore a knee ligament in his final game for Georgia, against Auburn, on Nov. 15 of 2014. Considering the brutality of the Rams defense, the the ‘Niners had little chance of recovering from Gurley’s amazing gallop. Other than American Pharoah’s six-length triumph in the Breeder’s Cup Classic, this was the best run of the weekend.

The Rams are 3-1 with Gurley as their starting running back.

This Is the 49th Season of NFL ball In St. Louis, and This Is the Best Defense We’ve Had Here…

The Rams defense continued to muscle opponents onto the ground, keeping offensive invasions from advancing into the end zone. Yeah, I know. The 49ers offense is bad, weakened by injuries, and the joy and energy and light re gone from quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s performances. But it doesn’t matter. Winning matters, and the NFL standings don’t include asterisks next to a team’s victory total to note beatdowns of sad-sack opponents. Besides, the Rams have been playing tremendous on the defensive side for a while now, and there’s no legitimate basis to downgrade the unit’s domination of 2-6 San Francisco. This is what they’re supposed to do — correct?

The 49ers had 11 first downs, with three coming on their opening possession before the Rams’ defense broke a sweat. Overall the Niners converted only 3 of 17 third-down plays, and finished with 189 net yards. The 21 rushing attempts by the 49ers accumulated 38 yards, with a few Kaepernick dashes accounting for most of that. The SanFran running backs had 10 yards rushing on 15 carries. Kaepernick was sacked three times, pursued into misfiring on multiple instances, and completed only 20 of 41, and averaged a dinky 3.4 yards per passing attempt. On third down Kaepernick flunk 14 passes for only five completions and 35 yards, and his passer rating for the game was a lame 59.1.

Because of the Rams’ struggles and ineptitude on offense, this is a game that could have gotten away … but the Rams defense wasn’t going to let that happen. The group’s first-quarter safety made that clear. Until Gurley’s long TD run, the Rams’ defense provided the only two points by the home team.

The Rams defense has allowed the opponents’ offense to score only eight touchdowns in 85 possessions this season, a rate of 9.4 percent that’s the stingiest in the NFL. And the Rams have been hit for only five TDs in their opponents’ 16 red-zone opportunities. That red-zone touchdown yield of 31.2 percent is the best by an NFL defense this season.

Overall the Rams’ defense has given up only 104 offensive points in seven games, an average of 14.8 points.

The Rams Defense Continues to Rule the Dome …

With the defense guarding the home turf, the Rams are 3-1 at The Ed this season. Even before Gurley moved into a starting and starring role, the Rams’ defense has made it awfully difficult for visiting teams to reach the end zone. Here’s the breakdown, and I’ve excluded three offensive possessions that ended with the visiting team taking a knee to run out the clock at the end of the half or — in Pittsburgh’s win — in the final seconds of the fourth quarter:

Seattle, 11 possessions — one TD on offense.

Pittsburgh, 9 possessions — one TD on offense.

Cleveland, 12 possessions — no touchdowns.

San Francisco, 14 possessions — no touchdowns.

That’s two offensive touchdowns in 46 possessions for visiting teams in St. Louis this season.

Not counting kneel downs, the Rams haven’t allowed an offensive touchdown at home in 32 consecutive possessions. The last touchdown was a 1-yard run by Pittsburgh running back Le’Veon Bell two minutes into the second quarter on Sept. 27 during the Rams’ 12-6 loss.

This has been quite a stand by the Williams’ defense.

A final reminder that I’ll also have a piece on some of the positive parts (non-Gurley) of the Rams’ offense in Sunday’s win.

(In fact, it’s there for you now.)

Austin scores twice in Rams’ blowout win over 49ers

Joe Lyons

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/austin-scores-twice-in-rams-blowout-win-over-ers/article_43f21244-d42f-5c03-a5aa-3acd862ab173.html

At 5-feet-8 and 176 pounds, Rams wide receiver Tavon Austin can sometimes be overshadowed on the football field. That’s been especially true in recent weeks with rookie running back Todd Gurley bursting onto the scene.

With 566 yards against Arizona, Green Bay, Cleveland and San Francisco, Gurley has rushed for more yards in his first four starts than anyone since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970. On Sunday, the rookie from Georgia rushed 20 times for 133 yards, including a 71-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter that put the Rams on top to stay in a 27-6 rout of NFC West rival San Francisco at the Edward Jones Dome.

But Austin, the team’s first-round draft choice in 2013, had a similarly impactful game, rushing three times for 21 yards with a 2-yard touchdown run just before halftime to make it 20-6, and leading the team with four catches for 98 yards, including a 66-yard touchdown on a flanker screen in the fourth quarter to close out the day’s scoring.

“Oh man, it’s good playing with a guy like that,’’ Gurley said. “He’s a dual threat and can be in the backfield, slot, everywhere.’’

Quarterback Nick Foles agreed: “Those are two dynamic players that are extremely explosive. Once they get in the open field, they do electrifying things. You have a receiver (in Austin) that can go in the backfield and do a bunch of things.’’

With the Rams up 13-6 in the final minute of the opening half, Austin followed up on a 49-yard strike from Foles to tight end Jared Cook with a jet sweep around right end. The play was well-defensed, but Austin used his speed to get the corner and somehow got the football inside the pylon before his momentum carried him out of bounds for the touchdown.

“Cook did a good job of making the block for me, and I was able to stretch out and find the end zone,’’ Austin said.

The score remained 20-6 into the fourth quarter when Austin collected a short pass on the left side, picked up some down-field blocking and cruised to the end zone for 66-yard score with 8½ minutes to play.

“Just a screen play,’’ he said. “Kenny (Britt) had an awesome block and the O-line did a great job of getting out in front of me. They opened the hole and I was able to use my speed to do the rest.’’

Foles added: “Standing right behind it, I probably had the best view in the house. … Our guys do a great job of blocking downfield (and) then Tavon does his thing. He weaves in and out of every defender and he weaved in and out of a couple of guys twice. He just showed why he’s so special.’’

With two touchdowns Sunday and five in his last four games, Austin has a career-high and team-leading seven scores this season. He scored six times as a rookie and had three TDs a year ago. He leads the team in receiving with 24 catches for 285 yards and is second to Gurley in rushing with 141 yards on 17 carries. In addition, he’s among the league leaders, averaging 11.3 yards on 12 punt returns.

“The big difference I see in Tavon this year is confidence,’’ second-year tackle Greg Robinson said. “The coaches are putting the ball in his hands in all sorts of ways and he’s showing that he’s a playmaker.’’

Austin’s Sunday was not perfect. Late in the first quarter, after hauling in a 24-yard pass from Foles, Austin lost control of the ball on a tackle by San Francisco rookie Jaquiski Tartt. Another 49ers rookie, Eli Harold, recovered.

“I was trying to make a play and lost the ball,’’ Austin said. “It was my first fumble of the year and hopefully my last. No excuses, but it definitely made me try to work a little harder to make up for it.’’

He did that and more before leaving the field to chants of “Tavon.’’

“Felt like I was back home in West Virginia. Back there, they did that all the time,’’ he said. “I’m thankful for the fans and I’m glad we could get a win for them.’

Veteran guard Garrett Reynolds said the Rams’ quick-strike ability eases some of the pressure on a young and developing offensive line.

“Having guys like that, guys who can break a play at any time, definitely helps our confidence,’’ the seventh-year pro said. “It allows us to stick with the plan and not let one bad series get us down. We’re able to stay together and keep doing what we’re doing because we know that on any play, our guys are capable of breaking a long one. Mainly, we’re just trying to get in the way for them.

“But it’s just fun to watch the way those guys move. It’s a blast.’’

Austin said the presence of Gurley opens up possibilities for everyone in the offense.

“That’s the way football works,’’ he said. “When a team has a great running back, it forces the linebackers to respect the run instead of getting back in coverage. And that opens things up for the passing game.

“It all works together, so we just have to keep pushing forward and do what we can to keep it rolling. Today, we’re feeling pretty good because we won, but tomorrow, it’s back to work to prepare for next week’s game.’’

The Rams travel to Minnesota for a Sunday matchup with the 5-2 Vikings.