Thursday, May 5, 2005
By Nick Wagoner
Staff Writer
Since the Rams won the Super Bowl in 1999, they have been known around the NFL for having one of the league’s most dominant offenses. The first things that come to mind when someone mentions the Rams are points, point and more points.
While that reputation is deserved based on the production of the offense under coach Mike Martz there is still a nasty side of the team’s performance that has been just as consistent, special teams.
That consistency has been a bad thing considering the way those units have played in recent seasons. Last year, the group hit an all-time low, ranking last in the league in kickoff return defense, next to last in punt and kick returns and second to last in punt coverage.
Those failures led Martz to the realization that something had to change and it had to change fast.
"That's a mistake I've made in the past when we've gone after defensive players," Martz said. "We've spent so much time looking for ability only on defense, but really didn't go into the next phase of that. You have to be equally significant on special teams. We made an issue of it this year both in free agency and the draft. So hopefully, we'll make a quantum leap."
The changes did indeed come fast. Nearly every player the Rams signed in free agency is capable of contributing in some way on special teams. Almost every player the team drafted also has special teams abilities.
The Rams hope that a unit that was once a major weakness will become strength. The special teams makeover wasn’t limited to personnel changes, either. Coach Mike Stock became the third special teams coach to lose his job since Martz became head coach.
Hoping to add intensity and youth to the coaching position, the Rams hired Bob Ligashesky on January 21. Ligashesky was the assistant special teams coach for Jacksonville last season and has 20 years of coaching experience. With Ligashesky’s help, the Jaguars had one of the best special teams units in the league last year.
The coaching changes didn’t end there. In a perfect example of just how dire the special teams situation was last year, the Rams didn’t hire just one special teams coach, but two.
St. Louis hired Charles Bankins as assistant special teams coach on February 17. Bankins comes to the Rams from Hampton University, where he was the running backs coach from 2000-2004. The commitment to special teams started with the two coaches, but as the previous three coaches proved, there is only so much you can do when you aren’t on the field.
With that in mind, the Rams signed a number of players that can contribute as much to the special teams as they can to the defense. Heading that list is former Arizona Cardinal Michael Stone.
Stone was the team’s top target for the secondary in...
-05-05-2005, 12:53 PM
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