walt harris

[general counsel]

when is the last time anyone saw a corner handle torry holt on 5 different deep patterns one on one? Holt was open once and bulger missed him, but other than that, harris was all over him all day, and my hat is off to him for a terrific performance. Bruce had a good day, but holt was neutralized. Curtis dropped a key ball on a big third down.

Meanwhile, no sacks against that sf line and we get sacked 6 times? Steussie gives up the crucial sack at the end with pace out.

Not a great performance, classic mediocrity, playing to the level of the competition.

I hope people have more reasonable expectations regarding the defense that many on this board were declaring completely transformed after last week. We couldnt stop the run, couldnt get to the qb and gave up many many big plays against the whiners.

If we dont get it together on offense, we are going nowhere fast and that means in part we better hope pace is back very soon.

I thought steven jackson played great.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

[UtterBlitz]

Walt Harris impressed me. He played very well agianst Holt and he made some good tackles. He did get away with a big push in the back that should have been pass interfence, but I only saw that happen once.

[laram0]

I find it hard to believe that Harris could do a better job on Holt than Champ Bailey did last week. But that is a fact. Was holt not as motivated ?? After all the game vs Champ was the Rams home opener. I find it hard to believe that there is any defender in the NFL that can shut down Holt.

[Rambos]

Not so fast GC, this is only game two. The home opener against the whinner. They always get up for us. The D play solid with just a few big plays. It was not 7 and 8 yards a pop all day long. I think it's too early to say we are not a very good or bad D just yet.

[BIG-BLUE]

I agree with Rambos, it is game two & these divison games are always tough battles & close on the scoring end of things. On defense we were not as successful on the blitzing as we were for the Broncos, but i think the defense did a fair job. I did hear Witherspoons name often & Im very happy with his performance so far.

Jackson did a good job with a line that seems to be fallen apart faster than we can plug the holes, but i do wish Jackson would quit dancing in the backfield. I really think he could pick up extra yadage if he just hit the holes hard. But then again who am i, just another fan who thinks he can play arm chair QB. LOL

[RamOfDenmark]

I think we lost on 3 big plays, all happening right in the beginning of the 3rd quarter. First the very first play of that quarter, the long kick-off return, then the following long run by Gore for a TD and finally later the long (was that like 70 yards or something?) TD pass. 3 plays - 14 points, we were up by 7 before that and we never came back.

As in game 1 I didn't see Steven Jackson dance much if at all, IMO he has shown good improvement in that area since last year where I felt he danced too much side to side.

Our O-line did not hold up well at all, neither run blocking nor pass blocking, very inconsistent blocking.

The defense wasn't all that bad, save for the 3 big plays where they looked like a Marmie defense all over again, other than that the Whiners offense didn't do too much I think.

Now for the big issue, and it's not pretty.
Our offense is horrible, what the HELL happened to our passing game? Bulger, Holt, Bruce, Curtis, they've all been completely shut down, first by Denver now by lousy San Fran. Where are the big plays? Are we running a ridiculous west-coast offense now or what? It looks like this to me: 5 yard curl route, 5 yard slant, 5 yard out, etc. etc. no creativity no strategy. I can't believe how disappointing this year's offense has been. Is this really what life will be like without Martz calling the shots or is it simply a matter of our O-line not holding up their end of the deal? I would like to say the latter, but I'm beginning to doubt it's just that, playcalling has been very predictable and ineffective, Linehan does not look like much of an offensive guru so far.

As for the positive side, I expected us to lose against Denver and win against the Whiners, we did the opposite, but we're still 1-1 all the same. It just feels much worse than it would had it been vice-versa.

[general counsel]

Gentlemen and ladies, while true that we gave up three big plays, i point out that we had ZERO sacks during the game against a makeshift whiners line. I also point out that fahkhir brown was toasted so badly all game long that he should be called elvis patterson on the back of his jersey next week. If we dont get a better pass rush, we will get beaten like a drum by the cards who have more than one target at the wide receiver position. By the way, they did run the ball relatively consistently and certainly ran the clock out at the end on the ground.

I am not saying our defense stinks, i agree with those that say its only week 2. My point was that those people who were annointing our defense as a top notch group after week one were overeacting.

I am critical of haslett for not giving brown help during the game. We should have doubled bryant if needed, he was the one weapon killing us all game long.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

[RAMMAN68]

Meanwhile, no sacks against that sf line and we get sacked 6 times? Steussie gives up the crucial sack at the end with pace out.

One thing that has me scratching my head is why we have our starting rookie LG playing center, our back up LT playing LG, and our back up center who was brought in from Jacksonville because according to the O-line coach, knows they line calls, came in to replace Pace when he was knocked out.

Until the line is fixed, we will have a very poor offense.
There are other issues with this team, but I too PO'ed right now to talk about them.

[Nick]

Harris looked sharp, but I also have a hard time believing that Holt didn't have it in him to do something to free himself up. I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that our receivers are also trying to get used to this offense, and until they're comfortable in it as well, may not be going at full 100% speed. Just thinking out loud...

[sprtsmac]

Harris looked sharp, but I also have a hard time believing that Holt didn't have it in him to do something to free himself up. I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that our receivers are also trying to get used to this offense, and until they're comfortable in it as well, may not be going at full 100% speed. Just thinking out loud...

I hope you are wrong. IMHO, there is no excuse for not going full speed. I can understand that they might be confused and that could be part of the deal, and I would rather that be the reason than not going full speed.

[Varg6]

Gentlemen and ladies, while true that we gave up three big plays, i point out that we had ZERO sacks during the game against a makeshift whiners line. I also point out that fahkhir brown was toasted so badly all game long that he should be called elvis patterson on the back of his jersey next week. If we dont get a better pass rush, we will get beaten like a drum by the cards who have more than one target at the wide receiver position. By the way, they did run the ball relatively consistently and certainly ran the clock out at the end on the ground.

I am not saying our defense stinks, i agree with those that say its only week 2. My point was that those people who were annointing our defense as a top notch group after week one were overeacting.

I am critical of haslett for not giving brown help during the game. We should have doubled bryant if needed, he was the one weapon killing us all game long.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

We were not the same defense we were last game. Why? I don't know, but I think the D was the most disappointing yesterday. I just hate to see how one game you can be outstanding, and then the next just totally look awful, like all last year.

[Nick]

I hope you are wrong. IMHO, there is no excuse for not going full speed. I can understand that they might be confused and that could be part of the deal, and I would rather that be the reason than not going full speed.

Well, that's essentially what I meant. I wasn't trying to suggest Holt wasn't giving 100%, but simply suggest that maybe he's not 100% sure of his routes at this point and for that reason isn't as crisp in and out of breaks or utilizing his full speed. I mean, he was drafted right into the Martz offense and I'm sure grew very comfortable with what Mike and company were asking him to do. He had years to get used to those deep ins and formations and everything. We shouldn't minimize the effect that a new system has on other players besides the QB. Maybe Torry is still learning as well, and isn't running with the same confidence he had in the Martz system, just like I doubt Bulger is seeing the field with the same confidence he had 1-2 years ago.

[sprtsmac]

Well, that's essentially what I meant. I wasn't trying to suggest Holt wasn't giving 100%, but simply suggest that maybe he's not 100% sure of his routes at this point and for that reason isn't as crisp in and out of breaks or utilizing his full speed. I mean, he was drafted right into the Martz offense and I'm sure grew very comfortable with what Mike and company were asking him to do. He had years to get used to those deep ins and formations and everything. We shouldn't minimize the effect that a new system has on other players besides the QB. Maybe Torry is still learning as well, and isn't running with the same confidence he had in the Martz system, just like I doubt Bulger is seeing the field with the same confidence he had 1-2 years ago.

This I'll buy into and totally agree with what you are saying. It is going to take time for everyone on the offense to get up to speed with the new offense. That is why I would have liked to seen them spend more time on the field during the preseason.

[RAMMAN68]

I hope you are wrong. IMHO, there is no excuse for not going full speed. I can understand that they might be confused and that could be part of the deal, and I would rather that be the reason than not going full speed.

I have to agree with sprtsmac, that deep pass to Curtis was in his hands and he didn't even put up a fight for the ball. The WR's need to get a little more agressive.