Rams fail to finish fight

[RamWraith]

By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Monday, Sep. 15 2008
Since the start of training camp, Scott Linehan has talked about making a play,
or maybe a defensive stop — something that would be the spark. A "little magic"
he called it, to end the losing and get the staggering Rams franchise back on
its feet.

And here it was. Five minutes into the fourth quarter, quarterback Marc Bulger
threw deep to wide receiver Torry Holt in the end zone. New York Giants safety
Kenny Phillips did everything but apply brass knuckles to prevent Holt from
getting the ball.

But Holt, incredibly, came down with the football, on his back, with Phillips
desperately trying to wrestle it loose in the north end zone.

"He was in a better position to go up for it," Holt said. "He tips it. I tip
it. My thing was just keep it alive all the way to the end. The last time I
tipped it, and it rolled off his back, I caught it and then I tried to roll
over to stop him from getting it.

"I'm taking my cleats, my legs, and I'm digging in the turf trying to get some
power, some leverage to kind of take it from him. My thing was, I'm going to
hold on to it as long as he does. Somebody's going to get tired. It ain't going
to be me."

Suddenly it was a ballgame with 10 minutes, 46 seconds remaining to play. The
45-yard touchdown catch narrowed the Giants' lead to 20-13.

That got the crowd into it in a big way at the Edward Jones Dome. Even more so
when the Rams' kickoff coverage unit pinned the Giants back at the 18 on a
jarring tackle by Chris Draft.

Holt held on; his team didn't. With the game there for the taking, the Rams
promptly took the rest of the day off. The defending Super Bowl champions
scored three touchdowns over the next seven minutes to win going away 41-13. In
the wreckage that is now an 0-2 start, the Rams have been outscored 79-16.

"It's very shocking and disappointing that we're playing like this," running
back Steven Jackson said.

Shocking, as in a defense that has yielded nearly 1,000 yards in two games.

"Wow," Holt said, shaking his head at that big number. "That's all I can say
is, wow. They've got some cleaning up to do. And we've got to do a better job
of trying to score some points."

That's for sure. The St. Louis offense has yet to run a single play in the red
zone this season. Holt's circus catch — complete with juggling — is the Rams'
one and only TD this season.

Their embattled head coach, Scott Linehan, was as angry as he has ever been
after a loss. And you had to have your head up in the locker room afterward,
because some furniture was flying. According to team sources, defensive end
Leonard Little and wide receiver Dane Looker lit into their teammates after the
game. Little was so mad he threw a chair.

Linehan said very little to the team in the locker room afterward, but he got a
lot off his chest during a rather bizarre postgame news conference that lasted
less than four minutes. A brief sampler:

"Bottom line, we can't expect to win games, playing the way we're playing, OK?"
Linehan said. "Last week was different than this week. Even you guys would
agree that for three quarters, maybe 3½ quarters, we were right there.

"But we didn't finish and they did. … So I want to put that out there, OK? We
have not had one red zone offensive play, OK? If you don't get the ball down
there, you don't convert third downs and get down there, you can't expect to
score touchdowns. You need to score touchdowns. … It's lousy, OK?"

Not OK, actually. On a day set up to honor late owner Georgia Frontiere, the
Rams caved with the game on the line in the fourth quarter.

So what's missing?

"At this point, it's strictly a mindset," Jackson said. "Because I think
everyone agrees, I think the New York Giants agree, that they were in a fight
for three quarters. (But) I think that in the back of our minds, somewhere in
our subconscious, we just feel like we can't pull it off. That's not how it
works, and that's not how it needs to be. You have to have that confidence that
we can fight and we can play with anybody."

One of the major points of emphasis by Linehan this season was finishing games
in the fourth quarter. The Rams, remember, were outscored 147 to 40 in the
final quarter last season. Throughout training camp, the preseason, and even
once the regular season began, two toots of the air horn near the end of
practice signified the fourth quarter. Players responded by hoisting four
fingers in the air, or with chants of "fourth quarter."

But after Holt's big catch Sunday, the Giants marched 82 yards for a
backbreaking score. Running back Ahmad Bradshaw's 18-yard reception from Eli
Manning gave the Giants a 27-13 lead with 7:18 to play.

"Plain and simple, we let the team down on defense," said linebacker Pisa
Tinoisamoa, who was supposed to be covering Bradshaw. "We let our offense and
special teams down. We fought so hard to stay in position, and that drive was
really where it all caved in."

[UtterBlitz]

Their embattled head coach, Scott Linehan, was as angry as he has ever been
after a loss. And you had to have your head up in the locker room afterward,
because some furniture was flying. According to team sources, defensive end
Leonard Little and wide receiver Dane Looker lit into their teammates after the
game. Little was so mad he threw a chair.

It is good to see some anger out of Linehan and some of the players. At least some of them have some spark still in them.

[moloch41]

In all honestly, if Manning doesn't make two bad passes, we would have been down 21-3 very early, but even with those gifts, this defense still managed to give it away. The turning point in this game was when we pinned the Giants on their own 3 with a great punt by Donnie Jones, but then Haslett laid off and let the Giants march 97 yds for the TD. That was a backbreaker. He needed to go after them, but once again, he didn't. You can't sit back and hope for more bad passes from Manning.

[TheBritishRam]

Their embattled head coach, Scott Linehan, was as angry as he has ever been
after a loss. And you had to have your head up in the locker room afterward,
because some furniture was flying. According to team sources, defensive end
Leonard Little and wide receiver Dane Looker lit into their teammates after the
game. Little was so mad he threw a chair.

This is the best news so far this season.

And that's depressing

[moloch41]

This is the best news so far this season.

And that's depressing

It's good to see some of the team leaders taking it personally.

[eldfan]

"At this point, it's strictly a mindset," Jackson said. "Because I think
everyone agrees, I think the New York Giants agree, that they were in a fight
for three quarters. (But) I think that in the back of our minds, somewhere in
our subconscious, we just feel like we can't pull it off. That's not how it
works, and that's not how it needs to be. You have to have that confidence that
we can fight and we can play with anybody."


Two years we have been outplayed in the fourth quarter I don't understand why he can't get those guys to play.

[dgr828]

This is a joke! Now they get mad and start throwing chairs. Its too late for that now! Its all a put on! Chair should have been thrown in camp. The Rams, What a bunch of Chumps!!