Rams' opponents focus on Little

[RamWraith]

By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
11/28/2006

After registering five sacks in his previous three games, defensive end Leonard Little was shut out Sunday against San Francisco.

Little did bring down ***** quarterback Alex Smith for an apparent sack late in the first half. But the play was wiped out because of an offside penalty against defensive tackle La'Roi Glover.

"(Glover) said he owed me one," Little said. "So hopefully, next week he'll give it back to me."

Little just missed on a couple of other sack attempts, including once when he got his hands on Smith.



"I tried to strip the ball, and he was able to get away," Little said.

Little has gotten extra attention from opposing offenses for the last two or three seasons, but it was especially noticeable Sunday.

On almost every play, the ***** deployed a tight end or running back to Little's side for extra blocking help.

"They've been doing it most of the year," defensive coordinator Jim Haslett said Monday. "The guy is second in the league in sacks, and really missed one and had one taken away from him (Sunday) with an offsides. So, he's going to get it all year and he's going to have to realize it. We'll try to move him around a little bit, as much as we can."

With 10 sacks, Little is tied for second in the NFL (with Green Bay's Aaron Kampman). Carolina's Julius Peppers leads the league with 11.






So what happened to Willie Ponder? After one so-so game as the Rams' kickoff returner, Ponder was in street clothes against San Francisco as a pregame inactive.

"Last week's game (at Carolina) had nothing to do with it because he really didn't have an opportunity for a return," coach Scott Linehan said.

In deciding who would dress for the San Francisco game, Linehan said Tye Hill's quadriceps injury worked against Ponder. In watching Hill warm up, Linehan said the team was concerned that fatigue might be an issue with the quad.

"So we had to carry another (defensive back)," Linehan said. "Had we been 100 percent there, we would've had the luxury of having Willie up, but we had to back ourselves up in the secondary."

Safety Dwaine Carpenter, who had been inactive the previous two weeks, dressed against San Francisco; backup running back Kay-Jay Harris handled kickoff returns.

Injury update


— DE Victor Adeyanju will be sidelined for three to four weeks with a fractured bone in his right forearm.

— LB Isaiah Kacyvenski (concussion) has been ruled out for Arizona.

— C Richie Incognito (sprained foot) underwent additional testing Monday.

— CB Tye Hill (strained quad) could be limited in practice this week.


Quotable

"Guys answered the bell. I could sense there was more focus, and a little enthusiasm before the game. And it helps. You just cannot go out and play flat. I don't care who you're playing. It could be the worst team in the league, you're going to get beat if you're flat." — OG Adam Timmerman

The stat

Chicago (9-2) is the only team on the Rams' remaining schedule with a winning record.

Looking ahead

The Rams haven't swept Arizona since 2003, but they'll have that chance Sunday when Bill Bidwill's Gridbirds come to town.

[RAMMAN68]

I wonder if Haslett is pondering a move to a 3-4 with the injury to V.A.

Move Little to OLB and move Chillar inside next to Witherspoon, and have Wroten, Kennedy, Glover, and Green rotate on the line.

This would free Little up from double teams, and maybe help in run support.

Just my two cents.

[general counsel]

If i was playing the rams, i would put two guys on leonard coming out of the tunnel and three guys on him on every passing play and two and a half guys on every running play. Leonard is the only guy on our defense who can do damage in the passing game, i would do everything i could to make sure he didnt beat me. Singling up on leonard is just stupid. Ask seneca wallace.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

[RamOfDenmark]

I wonder if Haslett is pondering a move to a 3-4 with the injury to V.A.

Move Little to OLB and move Chillar inside next to Witherspoon, and have Wroten, Kennedy, Glover, and Green rotate on the line.

This would free Little up from double teams, and maybe help in run support.

Just my two cents.

That actually doesn't sound so bad to me. I don't know if Little would be as effective from an OLB spot (he used to be a LB before we converted him to end if I'm not mistaken? So maybe he would) but I'd like to see some 3-4 fronts with that lineup. Our defensive tackles aren't doing much as it is (neither filling gaps nor rushing the passer), so only having one in the lineup and an extra LB instead might not be a bad idea :x On the flipside with even less of a physical presence up front in the middle they might run it down our throat even more (is that possible?).

[tomahawk247]

our current LBs are too small to be in a 3-4 system

[bruce4life]

The stat

Chicago (9-2) is the only team on the Rams' remaining schedule with a winning record.

we shouldnt be worrying about what our opponents records are, just worry about that we need to win no matter what team it is...

i would like to see some 3-4 implemented into the defensive scheme to shake it up a bit like the rams did in 2003 when they went to the 4-1-6 apprroach...

[laram0]

I like the 3-4 idea...but....can LL play pass coverage???