I picked the Rams to win their opening game, not because I was exceptionally down on the Panthers, but I expected an inspired performance along the lines of last year’s Denver game.
Unfortunately, that’s not what we got. The Rams looked anything but inspired on Sunday, especially in the second half. Turnovers, injuries, and an inability to sustain drives seemed to suck the life out of this team as the Panthers marched on to victory.
First things first. Offensive execution was poor, but in my opinion, the playcalling was worse. We had virtually no downfield passing attack, even when left tackle
Orlando Pace was in the game. When #76 went out, the hand was even tighter to the vest. We have too much talent on this offense to not open things up more, but Olsen seems content testing the perimeter with quick hits to receivers at the line of scrimmage that don’t seem to play to the strengths of our players. Randy McMichael was virtually nonexistent in this contest, making me wonder what plans they spent half a year drawing up for him that they ended up not using. Milford Brown started the game at right guard, but if I had my way he wouldn’t see much more time on this team. Unfortunately, injuries may prevent my dream from coming true.
To continue with the offense, newly-resigned quarterback
Marc Bulger was okay, nothing special. He looked a bit skittish once Pace was out of the line-up, and it affected his accuracy. I can’t really say I blame him, as it’s a scary thought going up against the Panthers’ defensive front without two O-line starters. But you would expect a leader to step up and lead in that situation. This game was typical of one of Bulger’s slow starts to the season. I expect him to improve. Stud running back
Steven Jackson ran well to start the game but didn't do much as the game progressed, touching the ball only six times in the second half. Two of those touches resulted in turnovers, the first of which basically changed the entire game's momentum, and his second fumble all but sealed the fate of the team. Jackson didn’t seem to have many gaping holes to run through, and as with the case with Bulger, I tend to rank playcalling and the offensive line as bigger concerns in this game.
Now, onto the defense. As a whole, I thought the unit looked solid in the first quarter excluding the Panthers' first drive. But the offense's inability to sustain drives caused the D to play too much in the second half, and they wore down quite a bit. Second-year cornerback
Tye Hill was decent against Panthers star receiver Steve Smith, but Hill got burnt like a piece of fried chicken on that deep touchdown pass, falling on his face as Smith cruised into the end zone. He should probably learn to keep his mouth shut and let his play talk for itself. Inconsistent free safety O.J. Atogwe looked lost out there today, similar to how he started 2006. Hopefully his turnaround is quicker than it was last year, but I left the game rather unimpressed by the play of our safeties.
Corey Chavous had a nice forced fumble in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to excuse his bad play in the first and second quarters. Rookie Adam Carriker showed promise inside on the defensive line, but the D just didn't get a break in the second half of this game and it showed.
The Carolina Panthers, on the other hand, executed as if they were in midseason form. Jake Delhomme looked better than usual, and Steve Smith was on fire. They took advantage of everything the Rams did incorrectly. There are still some issues they’d likely want to shore up, particularly efficiency on third down and ball protection by the runners, but they have to be relatively happy about how they played today. There are some instances where a person says "Team A didn't win the game, but instead Team B lost it." I'm not sure I'd go that far because the Panthers were executing well and clearly played good enough football to claim the win as their own, but the Rams gave them a lot of help with their own uninspired, unproductive play.
On top of it all, it looks like
Orlando Pace is injured again with a shoulder sprain that sounds significant. It doesn't sound like we'll be seeing him any time soon, but perhaps Monday's MRI will bring good news.
Hopefully St. Louis finds the solution this week in practice.