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Rams Focus on Staying United
Monday, October 5, 2009
By Nick Wagoner
Senior Writer
As the clock wound down on the Rams’ loss to San Francisco on Sunday, running back Steven Jackson made it a point to provide some obvious leadership to his young teammates.
No, Jackson didn’t return to the sideline yelling and screaming. He didn’t get a silly penalty to try to prove some sort of toughness, either.
Instead, Jackson did what he always does. When the ball was handed to him, he ran as hard as he could. Regardless of the score, Jackson kept grinding away against a San Francisco defense that had fully committed to trying to slow him down.
In the process, Jackson knowingly sent a message to his teammates that quitting is never an option.
“That last drive I was able to be in, I just tried to run with a different determination, not to say that I was holding anything back, but you have got to understand that when you are down like we were you don’t give up,” Jackson said. “We are professional football players and we are expected to execute. We are going to lose battles out there but within those battles you cannot lose yourself in the game. We have to continue to fight no matter what the scoreboard says.”
Now four games in to the 2009 season, the Rams have reached the quarter pole of the first season under coach Steve Spagnuolo.
While that opening stretch hasn’t resulted yet in a victory, Spagnuolo and locker room leaders such as Jackson are doing everything they can to keep the ship headed in the right direction.
For the league’s fourth-youngest team (average age of right around 26), the rebuilding process can be slow and painful. And when dealing with youth and inexperience, it’s imperative for the people who have been around – the veterans and the coaching staff – to keep hammering away at the details until they become second nature.
It’s a painstaking process but it must be done. And though Spagnuolo can’t send any messages with his play on the field, it is his job to continue to take the temperature of his team and find ways to keep everyone’s head focused on moving on to the next step and not allowing any losses to fester.
“I believe in this group,” Spagnuolo said. We can get out of this and work our way out of this. It’s going to take a lot of work. Nothing I am going to say is going to be different than what I have been saying all year long. Those games are done, we move on to Minnesota. We try to learn from it and we try to get better as a football team.”
Indeed, Spagnuolo has been true to his message from day one, never altering the tone or even the volume of what he wants to convey to his team even in the face of adversity.
Following Sunday’s loss to San Francisco in which many of the problems that have plagued the Rams in the first three games showed up again, Spagnuolo maintained that the Rams would continue to work on many of those issues while still accentuating some of the positives.
“We always say we’ll bounce back,” Spagnuolo said. “It should affect you because if it doesn’t then we have got a problem. Guys should be disappointed. Then we have to put it behind them and move on. We get it corrected and move on. The leaders have done that. I expect the rookies to do that.”
That part of it can be a bit trickier. Most rookies and young players entering the NFL come from a long history of success in all sports be it at the college or high school level.
In the NFL, there are no breaks and no free passes but learning to win is as much a part of the process as anything according to defensive tackle Clifton Ryan.
“I walked into a fortunate situation,” Ryan said. “I learned from guys like Torry Holt, Isaac Bruce, Leonard Little, Corey Chavous. Those guys groomed me. I kind of know how to be a pro because I was fortunate enough to play with them. I think more and more of these guys under coach Spags’ leadership; I think we will realize what it takes to win games like this. We are one of the youngest teams in the NFL, I believe. It’s a learning process.”
Although it might not show up on the final tally on the scoreboard, there are some areas of noticeable progress. The Rams defense has improved with each passing week despite being in some difficult positions with its back up against the wall.
In the red zone, the Rams are 12th in the league in total defense. Opponents have had 14 possessions inside the Rams’ 20 and scored touchdowns on just six of those opportunities. From week two in Washington to the second quarter of the Green Bay game, the team held opponents out of the end zone on seven consecutive possessions.
Looking deeper, the defensive progress as a whole hasn’t been limited to the red zone. Against San Francisco, the Rams allowed just 228 yards of total offense and posted a season-best four sacks.
In addition, the Rams racked up three quarterback pressures and six quarterback hits, better than they had posted in the previous games combined.
With each passing week, that group seems to gain more confidence.
“It’s hard to hold a team in this league to 21 points, let alone zero,” Ryan said. “I think this is a learning process for us. I think we are going to get better. But don’t think we are giving up. I want our fans to know we are working hard and we want to continue to put a better product on the field. If you look at the stats and such, to me we have got a whole lot better.”
To a man, the Rams would still maintain that they must find a way to improve on some of those nagging issues, things like costly penalties and turnovers. Even defensively, the Rams need to find a way to get more takeaways.
“We despise losing,” Spagnuolo said. “What I said is, despise it but just be determined to change it. It’s in the determination that it’s going to turn around not being disappointed and despising it. It’s in the determination to move forward that’s going to change it and all we can do, the game is over, all we can do is worry about changing it.”
And while Spagnuolo continues to hammer his message home, Jackson will continue to send a message of his own by hammering his opponents.
“I just want to lead by example in that area,” Jackson said. “At this point I really don’t know what you can say, you kind of try to get your thoughts together maybe Monday, tomorrow and talk to the young guys. Right there in the middle in the heat of things everyone has their minds going a thousand miles per hour. So I just try to go out there and fight and try to show guys this is how you approach the game, regardless of what the score board reflects. You have to go out there and try to win each and every battle.”
Monday, October 5, 2009
By Nick Wagoner
Senior Writer
As the clock wound down on the Rams’ loss to San Francisco on Sunday, running back Steven Jackson made it a point to provide some obvious leadership to his young teammates.
No, Jackson didn’t return to the sideline yelling and screaming. He didn’t get a silly penalty to try to prove some sort of toughness, either.
Instead, Jackson did what he always does. When the ball was handed to him, he ran as hard as he could. Regardless of the score, Jackson kept grinding away against a San Francisco defense that had fully committed to trying to slow him down.
In the process, Jackson knowingly sent a message to his teammates that quitting is never an option.
“That last drive I was able to be in, I just tried to run with a different determination, not to say that I was holding anything back, but you have got to understand that when you are down like we were you don’t give up,” Jackson said. “We are professional football players and we are expected to execute. We are going to lose battles out there but within those battles you cannot lose yourself in the game. We have to continue to fight no matter what the scoreboard says.”
Now four games in to the 2009 season, the Rams have reached the quarter pole of the first season under coach Steve Spagnuolo.
While that opening stretch hasn’t resulted yet in a victory, Spagnuolo and locker room leaders such as Jackson are doing everything they can to keep the ship headed in the right direction.
For the league’s fourth-youngest team (average age of right around 26), the rebuilding process can be slow and painful. And when dealing with youth and inexperience, it’s imperative for the people who have been around – the veterans and the coaching staff – to keep hammering away at the details until they become second nature.
It’s a painstaking process but it must be done. And though Spagnuolo can’t send any messages with his play on the field, it is his job to continue to take the temperature of his team and find ways to keep everyone’s head focused on moving on to the next step and not allowing any losses to fester.
“I believe in this group,” Spagnuolo said. We can get out of this and work our way out of this. It’s going to take a lot of work. Nothing I am going to say is going to be different than what I have been saying all year long. Those games are done, we move on to Minnesota. We try to learn from it and we try to get better as a football team.”
Indeed, Spagnuolo has been true to his message from day one, never altering the tone or even the volume of what he wants to convey to his team even in the face of adversity.
Following Sunday’s loss to San Francisco in which many of the problems that have plagued the Rams in the first three games showed up again, Spagnuolo maintained that the Rams would continue to work on many of those issues while still accentuating some of the positives.
“We always say we’ll bounce back,” Spagnuolo said. “It should affect you because if it doesn’t then we have got a problem. Guys should be disappointed. Then we have to put it behind them and move on. We get it corrected and move on. The leaders have done that. I expect the rookies to do that.”
That part of it can be a bit trickier. Most rookies and young players entering the NFL come from a long history of success in all sports be it at the college or high school level.
In the NFL, there are no breaks and no free passes but learning to win is as much a part of the process as anything according to defensive tackle Clifton Ryan.
“I walked into a fortunate situation,” Ryan said. “I learned from guys like Torry Holt, Isaac Bruce, Leonard Little, Corey Chavous. Those guys groomed me. I kind of know how to be a pro because I was fortunate enough to play with them. I think more and more of these guys under coach Spags’ leadership; I think we will realize what it takes to win games like this. We are one of the youngest teams in the NFL, I believe. It’s a learning process.”
Although it might not show up on the final tally on the scoreboard, there are some areas of noticeable progress. The Rams defense has improved with each passing week despite being in some difficult positions with its back up against the wall.
In the red zone, the Rams are 12th in the league in total defense. Opponents have had 14 possessions inside the Rams’ 20 and scored touchdowns on just six of those opportunities. From week two in Washington to the second quarter of the Green Bay game, the team held opponents out of the end zone on seven consecutive possessions.
Looking deeper, the defensive progress as a whole hasn’t been limited to the red zone. Against San Francisco, the Rams allowed just 228 yards of total offense and posted a season-best four sacks.
In addition, the Rams racked up three quarterback pressures and six quarterback hits, better than they had posted in the previous games combined.
With each passing week, that group seems to gain more confidence.
“It’s hard to hold a team in this league to 21 points, let alone zero,” Ryan said. “I think this is a learning process for us. I think we are going to get better. But don’t think we are giving up. I want our fans to know we are working hard and we want to continue to put a better product on the field. If you look at the stats and such, to me we have got a whole lot better.”
To a man, the Rams would still maintain that they must find a way to improve on some of those nagging issues, things like costly penalties and turnovers. Even defensively, the Rams need to find a way to get more takeaways.
“We despise losing,” Spagnuolo said. “What I said is, despise it but just be determined to change it. It’s in the determination that it’s going to turn around not being disappointed and despising it. It’s in the determination to move forward that’s going to change it and all we can do, the game is over, all we can do is worry about changing it.”
And while Spagnuolo continues to hammer his message home, Jackson will continue to send a message of his own by hammering his opponents.
“I just want to lead by example in that area,” Jackson said. “At this point I really don’t know what you can say, you kind of try to get your thoughts together maybe Monday, tomorrow and talk to the young guys. Right there in the middle in the heat of things everyone has their minds going a thousand miles per hour. So I just try to go out there and fight and try to show guys this is how you approach the game, regardless of what the score board reflects. You have to go out there and try to win each and every battle.”
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