By Jeff Gordon
09/11/2007
Rams coach Scott Linehan, offensive coordinator Greg Olson and defensive coordinator
Jim Haslett had a lot of explaining to do after their team keeled over in its season opener.
That 27-13 loss was disastrous on every level, starting with the loss of tackle
Orlando Pace for the season and extending to every aspect of the team’s offensive and defensive play.
The special teams were great, so we can skip over them.
Here are five of the most common fan complaints and how the coaches responded to them:
1. The Rams staff devised an unimaginative offensive game plan.
Linehan reminded us that Carolina features a dominating defensive front. This group has throttled
Steven Jackson before and forced the Rams into a pass-happy offense, which put quarterback
Marc Bulger at risk.
“It may not have been the flashiest thing in the world, but it’s to go back there, slinging it, getting four guys out, emptying (the backfield), five wides, when you have a defensive front that can actually ruin a game, which we’ve seen,” Linehan said. “We were executing the plan exactly how we expected to. We should have played better in the second half and didn’t.”
The Rams believed they could bang out some first downs with runs and ball-control passing. Then, after keeping the Panthers defense on the field for a while, the Rams expected to take some shots downfield.
That plan worked for one drive. For a variety of reasons, the offense sputtered after that. The Rams failed to convert Dante Hall’s kick return into a touchdown and then Jackson’s fumbles turned the game to Carolina.
In the end, the Rams were forced out of their plan and into a two-minute offensive scheme.
“I think it’s frustrating for everybody,” Olson said. “At the same time, we had a plan in place. We felt we had a chance to bury them there and we didn’t get it done after the kickoff return. Then the fumbles.”
2. The Rams didn’t use tight end Randy McMichael as a receiver until the game was out of hand.
Olson said that wasn’t the plan. “We had a couple of plays designed for him where he was No. 1 in the progression and he ended up being covered on them,” he said. “That happens at times. Again, in the first half, there were a couple of situations that didn’t happen. We had some things designed in the second half . . . and we ended up in different situations. We would like to use him in the red zone and we end up in a third-and-long situation.
“We couldn’t get into the flow, couldn’t get into a rhythm.”
3. Jackson’s lack of carries during the preseason schedule led to his two costly fumbles.
The coaches shot down that theory. “Steven was ready to play,” Linehan said. “He played very good in the first half. We established a lot more things in the first half than we did a year ago.”
Jackson has never had ball security issues before. “He’s been good in practice, he’s been good when he played in games before,” Linehan said. “He’s a great football player. When great football players have a game like that, they come back and play great. That’s what we expect.
4. Quarterback
Marc Bulger was terrible in this game.
“I can call ‘em better and he can, I’m sure he feels today, like he could have played better,” Olson said. “Marc is a competitor and an elite quarterback in this league and Marc will continue to get better. I don’t have a problem with
Marc Bulger.”
5. The Rams' front seven collapsed against the rush during the second half.
Haslett didn’t believe the team quit. Rather, players got frustrated and tried to make heroic plays to get the Panthers off the field. As a result, Carolina broke big runs at crucial points in the second half.
“They kind of methodically picked us apart in the third quarter,” Haslett said. “I thought we got frustrated in the fourth quarter, which disappointed me. We’re still in the game. It’s 8:33, it’s 17-13, we’re still in the game, got a chance to get off the field with a punt or a long field goal -– and that’s when we broke contain twice on those two runs and they went down and scored. That sequence disappointed me as much as anything.”
Overall, Haslett said, “They had about nine plays that got outside that we weren’t really good on the edge. It was a number of different people. A couple of times it was the end, two times it was the safety, linebacker once. Actually, we were really good inside. We played the inside run good, which was our problem area last year. The stuff we screwed up yesterday is correctable. We can fix that stuff. It’s just being disciplined, holding your gap responsibility. As the game wore on, we didn’t do a very good job of it.”
So there you have the coaches’ take. We’re not sure it makes you feel any better, but at least they got their say.
Now let’s see what they do about all the problems that arose in this fiasco.
GO RAMS 
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