By Jeff Gordon
STLTODAY.COM SPORTS COLUMNIST
Monday, Nov. 10 2008
Rams coach Jim Haslett can’t sift through the wreckage of a 47-3 loss and
announce that the team simply isn’t good enough to compete.

Oh, that thought crossed his mind Monday after he digested his team’s
capitulation to the Jets in New Jersey.

But Haslett doesn’t have that luxury. He is an interim coach, working with no
guarantee of future employment.

His challenge is to win football games with the players on hand. If he doesn’t,
then he won’t coach the Rams past this season.

Sure, it’s too bad that running back Steven Jackson missed another game with
his leg injury and is just “50-50,” as Haslett put it, to play this week.

It’s unfortunate that two players who were on practice squads earlier this
season committed big turnovers in this game.

It’s regrettable that Haslett didn’t have a bigger say on draft selections and
free-agent signings during the disastrous Scott Linehan Era.

That’s the way it is. So all Haslett can do is get back to work with his staff
and his team. Monday’s film review was not pretty.

“On offense, there was a breakdown on every single play,” Haslett told
reporters during his afternoon news briefing. “Every single one there was
something, either the quarterback, the running back, the line, the tight ends,
the wide outs, it was something.”

This was no exaggeration. The Rams screwed up every single offensive play one
way or another.

And that was just one of the problems. Another was the defensive line, which
got manhandled.

“They took it to us up front,” Haslett said. “I thought (Nick) Mangold and
(Alan) Faneca and those guys beat our defensive line up pretty good.”

Some how, some way he must connect with these players on some level and inspire
them to play smarter and tougher football. He started by challenging them
Monday.

“It was an interesting meeting today to say the least,” Haslett said. “I’m sure
you guys will talk to the players and I think they understand where we’re
coming from. It’s not on coaching, this is not on coaching, this had nothing
to do with coaching, it had nothing to do with the scheme, it had nothing to do
with Xs and Os.

“On the defensive side, there were plays that I saw run in practice 15 times
last week that we didn’t execute in the game and the same guys that ran the
same defense for the last three years, so I don’t want to hear that they didn’t
know what they were doing or whatever because we’ve run the same stuff for a
long time.”

Haslett doesn’t want to hear about the team being downtrodden after all these
losses. That just sounds like excuse-making to him.

“To sit here and say that you’re fragile and all that, I think it’s bull,”
Haslett said. “I think it’s just that you had five turnovers. You add playing
bad on defense, not lining up right and doing the things you have to do and
tackle and then you add that with the mistakes you’re making on offense, and it
comes out to be bad football.

“Even if you line up right on defense and you do a great job and you line up
right on offense and do everything right, and you still turn the ball over five
times, it’s still bad football. There’s going to be 40 points scored. You don’t
turn the ball over five times in this league away, in a visiting city, against
Brett Favre and a good football team, you’re not going to beat anybody.

“You can say it’s the psyche, you can say it’s adversity, you can say whatever
you want to say, it doesn’t make a difference. Five turnovers are five
turnovers. You add that you don’t get any, and you have a chance to get two of
them at least, and you don’t get them. Call it whatever you want to call it. To
me, it’s just bad football.”

There is not a whole lot he can do with his lineup. He could bench quarterback
Marc Bulger, as he did for the second half against the Jets, but there is no
reason to believe that will improve things.

Fill-in Trent Green hasn’t done much with his two appearances. So Haslett
decided to give Bulger another start.

There has been some talk of giving rookie guard John Greco a start at guard,
perhaps in place of the disappointing Jacob Bell -– who could fill in at tackle
and guard.

Young receivers Donnie Avery, Keenan Burton and Derek Stanley could gain even
bigger roles -– but they still are making lots of rookie mistakes.

Veteran Torry Holt complains about being phased out of the offense, but is he
really working as hard as he can? Is he still striving for prominence in this
offense?

Offensive coordinator Al Saunders could get a lot more daring with his calls,
but how creative can he get when lead running back Kenneth Darby is getting
caught up on the playbook?

The Rams have seven games left. If they pull themselves together, they could
still win some games.

They will face the ***** twice down the stretch and they are not good. The Rams
have a home game against the reeling Seahawks, too, plus dates at The Ed with
the Bears and Dolphins.

If Jackson returns and the other so-called leaders pull their heads out, maybe
the Rams could still salvage some self-respect this season.

That is Haslett’s only shot to keep this gig.