Tweet
The biggest question following Sunday's 35-0 loss to San Francisco was the immediate future of left tackle Alex Barron. Entering the final year of his contract, Barron was moved from right tackle to left tackle this past offseason following the release of Orlando Pace. He stayed there after the Rams selected tackle Jason Smith with the second overall pick in the draft. Smith has missed the last two games because of a knee injury, but might be ready to return this week. The question was whether he will remain at right tackle or replace Barron, who was benched late in the first half against the *****. With the score 7-0, the Rams had moved from their own 27 to the San Francisco 36, where it was third-and-4 with 1:29 left in the half. Quarterback Kyle Boller connected with Danny Amendola on a 17-yard play to the 19-yard line. However, the play was negated by one of the team's 10 penalties. Barron was called for not lining up on the line of scrimmage. Barron was then replaced by John Greco, who played the remainder of the game. Greco had practiced at left tackle during the week while Barron missed time because of a thigh injury. Asked about the decision after the game, coach Steve Spagnuolo said, "Well, again it's not a policy, that's not something that we're going to be doing here. Someone makes a mistake we're not yanking people out of here. I told the group I have a tremendous amount of confidence Alex Barron, I still do. I just felt that it was something we had to do at that particular point and it's over and done and we'll move on." Said Barron, "It was just a decision made by the coach, and that was that. You don't want to get pulled, but it happens." Barron refused to comment on whether the decision was justified, and when asked if he would be more motivated in practice this week, said, "You've got to be motivated anyway. We've got a game Sunday. We've got to play against a good team. Our focus is toward the Vikings." Greco, a third-round pick in 2008, started one game at guard as a rookie, and worked exclusively at guard during the offseason and training camp. He missed the first two games this season with a wrist injury, and began practicing at tackle after Smith suffered a knee injury in Week 2 because the team had no other tackles behind Barron and Adam Goldberg. "I wanted to show that I could play anywhere," he said. "I was kind of getting ready for it this week (in practice). I got an opportunity to get in there, and hopefully I did my job." Center Jason Brown had praise for the job Greco did. "John did a very good job out there; we're proud of him," Brown said. "We never like to call each other backup players; we like to say we have solid depth. Whenever a man goes down, the next guy called to duty has to come in and perform at a level that'll help us win the game. He did that today." Concluded Greco, "It felt good to get in, but I'm kind of sick about the loss." On Monday, Spagnuolo said details of a meeting he had with Barron in the morning would "remain between us." The coach added, "I had my reasons for doing what I did, and now there's a clean slate." Without being absolutely definitive, Spagnuolo was saying Barron would likely be back in the starting lineup ("I anticipate he will be with the ones") and that Smith would "probably" return to right tackle when healthy.
NOTES, QUOTES
—Despite doing little on offense, Sunday's game was scoreless when the defense forced a punt from the San Francisco 43-yard line in the second quarter. Cornerback Quincy Butler had the ball bounce off his foot at the 14-yard line as he was running down to block. The ball quickly went to the end zone where Butler tried to pick it up and run. He failed, and San Francisco linebacker Scott McKillop recovered for the first touchdown of the game. Had Butler simply fell on the ball, it would have been a touchback. Said Butler, "I felt the ball hit me, it hit me in the back of my leg. I tried to run and go get it. But things didn't turn out my way. I thought about falling on it. But my first reaction was just to pick it up and try to kick it out of the end zone or something." He never tried to "kick it out of the end zone," a move that would have better than the result. —Running back Steven Jackson had 26 touches (23 rushes, three receptions) for a total of 85 yards. The touches constituted 45.6 percent of the team's 57 plays, and the yards were 48 percent of the 177 total. He averaged just 3.4 yards per rush and 2.0 per catch. "Really tough going," he said. "The ***** did a really good job of containing the run, stopping the run, and making it really hard on us to get anything going. There was definitely a lot of guys in the box. Patrick Willis made plays like we expected him to make plays. It's no surprise. Every team's going to (stack the box) until we find a way to put points on the board. So we've just got to fight it." It was particularly tough on first down. Jackson ran the ball on the team's first six first-down plays, gaining 16 yards. For the game, he had 10 first-down attempts for just 19 yards. —The Rams entered the game against San Francisco tied for fifth in the league for the most penalties with 22 and they were seventh in penalty yardage with 170. It was more of the same Sunday, beginning with a holding penalty on Anthony Smith on the opening kickoff that wiped out a 92-yard return by Danny Amendola. For the game, the Rams were penalized 10 times for 73 yards. "We have a huge emphasis on playing good, smart, fundamentally sound football," center Jason Brown said. "But yet there were a lot of bad penalties out there and we are hard on ourselves about that because we were playing against ourselves for the better part of the first half of the game. Penalty-wise, we were shooting ourselves in the foot. A lot of missed opportunities." —No Rams team since the 1942 club that played in Cleveland had been shut out twice in a season. Through four games, they have been outscored 108-24. Sunday, they had nine possessions of three plays or less with total yards gained of nine yards on 26 plays. Three possessions netted negative yardage. In the second half, there were five possessions totaling 14 plays for minus-5 yards. Quarterback Kyle Boller had a 77.1 passer rating in the first half, completing 7 of 12 passes for 76 yards. In the second half, he was 6-for-12 for 32 yards and had an interception returned for a touchdown. His second-half rating was 21.7 and he finished with an overall passer rating of 48.6.
STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL
PLAYER NOTES —QB Marc Bulger did some light tossing Monday and felt OK. Bulger also did a little throwing in pregame warm-ups Sunday. At this time of the week, he is considered questionable for Sunday's game against Minnesota. —LG Jacob Bell experienced some muscle spasms in his back Sunday, but it is anticipated he will be fine for this week's game against the Vikings. —CB Ron Bartell is considered day-to-day because of a thigh injury that had him inactive for Sunday's game against San Francisco. —SS Craig Dahl suffered a concussion against the ***** and will have baseline testing Tuesday. —DT LaJuan Ramsey suffered a minor ankle injury Sunday against the *****, and it is hoped he will be OK for this week's game against Minnesota. —OT Jason Smith, who has missed two games because of a knee injury, is now considered day-to-day and it is hoped he will be available to play Sunday against Minnesota.REPORT CARD VS. ***** PASSING OFFENSE: F — QB Kyle Boller was sacked five times and passed for just 108 yards. He had an interception returned for a touchdown, and in the second half went 6-of-12 for 32 yards with a passer rating of 21.7. In the last two games, Boller's second-half passer rating is 24.6 on 14-of-30 passing for 96 yards and two interceptions. RUSHING OFFENSE: C-minus — RB Steven Jackson ran hard, but he averaged just 3.4 yards an attempt and he gained only 19 yards on 10 first-and-10 plays. Jackson was out of the game on a key second-quarter third-and-less-than-a-yard play and Samkon Gado was stuffed for a one-yard loss. PASS DEFENSE: B-minus — Without CB Ron Bartell, the pass defense was solid. Although they allowed touchdown passes of 24 yards to WR Josh Morgan and 21 yards to TE Vernon Davis. San Francisco wideouts had just six receptions for 67 yards. RUSH DEFENSE: B — With Frank Gore out, backup RB Glen Coffee gained 74 yards on 24 carries, just 3.1 per attempt. The ***** were content to be conservative on offense and let the defense win the game. SPECIAL TEAMS: F — A holding penalty on the opening kickoff wiped out a 92-yard kickoff return and the ***** scored the first touchdown of the game when Quincy Butler had a punt bounce off his foot into the end zone, and then tried to pick up the ball rather than fall on it. PK Josh Brown was short on a 51-yard field-goal attempt. COACHING: D — There were some head-scratching decisions. Running Gado on third and less than a yard; trying a reverse to Amendola, who had left the game because of cramps. He failed to get the ball cleanly, fumbled and the ***** recovered for a touchdown. Some of the play-calling illustrates a lack of confidence in the offense. Jackson ran the ball on six consecutive first-and-10 plays to start the game.
NOTES, QUOTES
—Despite doing little on offense, Sunday's game was scoreless when the defense forced a punt from the San Francisco 43-yard line in the second quarter. Cornerback Quincy Butler had the ball bounce off his foot at the 14-yard line as he was running down to block. The ball quickly went to the end zone where Butler tried to pick it up and run. He failed, and San Francisco linebacker Scott McKillop recovered for the first touchdown of the game. Had Butler simply fell on the ball, it would have been a touchback. Said Butler, "I felt the ball hit me, it hit me in the back of my leg. I tried to run and go get it. But things didn't turn out my way. I thought about falling on it. But my first reaction was just to pick it up and try to kick it out of the end zone or something." He never tried to "kick it out of the end zone," a move that would have better than the result. —Running back Steven Jackson had 26 touches (23 rushes, three receptions) for a total of 85 yards. The touches constituted 45.6 percent of the team's 57 plays, and the yards were 48 percent of the 177 total. He averaged just 3.4 yards per rush and 2.0 per catch. "Really tough going," he said. "The ***** did a really good job of containing the run, stopping the run, and making it really hard on us to get anything going. There was definitely a lot of guys in the box. Patrick Willis made plays like we expected him to make plays. It's no surprise. Every team's going to (stack the box) until we find a way to put points on the board. So we've just got to fight it." It was particularly tough on first down. Jackson ran the ball on the team's first six first-down plays, gaining 16 yards. For the game, he had 10 first-down attempts for just 19 yards. —The Rams entered the game against San Francisco tied for fifth in the league for the most penalties with 22 and they were seventh in penalty yardage with 170. It was more of the same Sunday, beginning with a holding penalty on Anthony Smith on the opening kickoff that wiped out a 92-yard return by Danny Amendola. For the game, the Rams were penalized 10 times for 73 yards. "We have a huge emphasis on playing good, smart, fundamentally sound football," center Jason Brown said. "But yet there were a lot of bad penalties out there and we are hard on ourselves about that because we were playing against ourselves for the better part of the first half of the game. Penalty-wise, we were shooting ourselves in the foot. A lot of missed opportunities." —No Rams team since the 1942 club that played in Cleveland had been shut out twice in a season. Through four games, they have been outscored 108-24. Sunday, they had nine possessions of three plays or less with total yards gained of nine yards on 26 plays. Three possessions netted negative yardage. In the second half, there were five possessions totaling 14 plays for minus-5 yards. Quarterback Kyle Boller had a 77.1 passer rating in the first half, completing 7 of 12 passes for 76 yards. In the second half, he was 6-for-12 for 32 yards and had an interception returned for a touchdown. His second-half rating was 21.7 and he finished with an overall passer rating of 48.6.
STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL
PLAYER NOTES —QB Marc Bulger did some light tossing Monday and felt OK. Bulger also did a little throwing in pregame warm-ups Sunday. At this time of the week, he is considered questionable for Sunday's game against Minnesota. —LG Jacob Bell experienced some muscle spasms in his back Sunday, but it is anticipated he will be fine for this week's game against the Vikings. —CB Ron Bartell is considered day-to-day because of a thigh injury that had him inactive for Sunday's game against San Francisco. —SS Craig Dahl suffered a concussion against the ***** and will have baseline testing Tuesday. —DT LaJuan Ramsey suffered a minor ankle injury Sunday against the *****, and it is hoped he will be OK for this week's game against Minnesota. —OT Jason Smith, who has missed two games because of a knee injury, is now considered day-to-day and it is hoped he will be available to play Sunday against Minnesota.REPORT CARD VS. ***** PASSING OFFENSE: F — QB Kyle Boller was sacked five times and passed for just 108 yards. He had an interception returned for a touchdown, and in the second half went 6-of-12 for 32 yards with a passer rating of 21.7. In the last two games, Boller's second-half passer rating is 24.6 on 14-of-30 passing for 96 yards and two interceptions. RUSHING OFFENSE: C-minus — RB Steven Jackson ran hard, but he averaged just 3.4 yards an attempt and he gained only 19 yards on 10 first-and-10 plays. Jackson was out of the game on a key second-quarter third-and-less-than-a-yard play and Samkon Gado was stuffed for a one-yard loss. PASS DEFENSE: B-minus — Without CB Ron Bartell, the pass defense was solid. Although they allowed touchdown passes of 24 yards to WR Josh Morgan and 21 yards to TE Vernon Davis. San Francisco wideouts had just six receptions for 67 yards. RUSH DEFENSE: B — With Frank Gore out, backup RB Glen Coffee gained 74 yards on 24 carries, just 3.1 per attempt. The ***** were content to be conservative on offense and let the defense win the game. SPECIAL TEAMS: F — A holding penalty on the opening kickoff wiped out a 92-yard kickoff return and the ***** scored the first touchdown of the game when Quincy Butler had a punt bounce off his foot into the end zone, and then tried to pick up the ball rather than fall on it. PK Josh Brown was short on a 51-yard field-goal attempt. COACHING: D — There were some head-scratching decisions. Running Gado on third and less than a yard; trying a reverse to Amendola, who had left the game because of cramps. He failed to get the ball cleanly, fumbled and the ***** recovered for a touchdown. Some of the play-calling illustrates a lack of confidence in the offense. Jackson ran the ball on six consecutive first-and-10 plays to start the game.
