BY JIM THOMAS • Friday, September 24, 2010 12:20 am
With just 27 points in two games, punctuated by a miserable 1˝ quarters in the second half last week in Oakland, offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur is taking some heat over the Rams' scoring woes. But running back Steven Jackson says the blame should not fall in Shurmur's lap.
"No, no, no," Jackson said during his regular Thursday media session. "It's not anything that's on Pat. It happens. It's not something that just happened because Coach Shurmur is the offensive coordinator.
"Each and every team, each and every week you go in, a defense goes into how they're going to match your personnel. That's a chess match that happens throughout the league with each and every team. I'm just saying as players, when a play is called, we have to execute it. We can't concern ourselves with things that are not within our control — our control is executing the plays."
But Jackson, the unquestioned leader of the offense and the offensive team captain, would like to see the Rams take better advantage of matchups.
"This is what I think," Jackson said. "If we want to spread a team out and run in a nickel package where it's three receivers, and they want to keep their big guys in, I think we should take advantage of the mismatch. So if you have a linebacker guarding Danny (Amendola), you should take advantage of that mismatch.
"If we're going to spread them out and (they) go small, then you do vice versa and run the ball. So we've just got to figure out what the defense's trying to do, what's their game plan. And once we figure that out, I think that's what we should do, take advantage of that."
Shurmur's response
Rams coordinators also speak with the media on Thursdays. Shurmur frequently isn't very expansive, but he was even more tight-lipped than usual when asked about some of the offensive problems.
When asked if he was aware of criticism that the offense is too conservative, Shurmur replied, "I worry about trying to win the next game and trying to put together the game plan that's going to attack the defense that we're facing — and keep in mind the things that we can do well as a team, and try not to be concerned about the talk."
When asked if the wide receivers were getting enough separation, he said, "I think our wide receivers are doing a fine job, and I anticipate that they'll execute well this weekend."
Injury update
Defensive tackle Clifton Ryan (migraines) missed Thursday's practice because he was seeing another specialist. Safety Craig Dahl (concussion) also sat out Thursday — his progress was delayed because of post-concussion symptoms following a workout earlier in the week. After being limited in practice Wednesday, wide receiver Laurent Robinson...
-09-24-2010, 12:36 AM
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