Tweet
Rams give Seattle food for thought
By Jim Thomas
Of the Post-Dispatch
Tuesday, Oct. 05 2004
While the Rams were making a 3,400-mile round trip to San Francisco for
Sunday's game with the *****, the Seattle Seahawks were at home on the couch,
watching games on TV in their bye week.
In four days, the Rams begin another 3,000-plus mile trek to Seattle, to play
the NFC West division-leading Seahawks, who not only are 3-0, and seven-point
favorites, but have the league's No. 1-ranked defense.
A tough task to be sure. But if nothing else, the Rams gave Seattle something
to think about on several fronts with their impressive 24-14 victory over San
Francisco. If Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren completed most of his game plan in
the bye week, he'll have to make some adjustments based on what transpired at
Monster Park.
Offensively, the Rams were more balanced and a lot more diverse. Which Rams
offense will show up Sunday in Seattle? The pass-happy group that lost to
Atlanta and New Orleans? Or the unit that mixed the run with the pass
effectively in victories over Arizona and San Francisco?
After leaning heavily on Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt and Marshall Faulk (when the
Rams did decide to run) in the first three games, some new names got into the
act against San Francisco. Bruce, Holt and Faulk have scored 185 touchdowns as
"St. Louis" Rams. But against San Francisco, the Rams' three TDs were scored by
Shaun McDonald, Joey Goodspeed and rookie Steven Jackson.
"These are guys that we've been counting on" to contribute, Martz said. "This
isn't the Isaac and Torry and Marshall Show. To be able to use all of those
people is vital. They're integral parts of what you do offensively. It's very
important. And it's hard on the (opposing) defense."
When the Greatest Show on Turf was at its height from 1999 to 2001, it was the
multiple options on offense that made the Rams so tough to defend.
Jackson got 10 carries against the *****, a high in his young NFL career. When
veteran Seattle defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes goes over the Rams' red zone
offense, he'll have to spend at least a minute or two going over "20 Fullback
Crunch" - the play on which Goodspeed scored his first NFL touchdown.
Lost in the shuffle Sunday was the fact that Kevin Curtis replaced Dane Looker
as the Rams' slot receiver in three wide-receiver sets. Curtis is healthy after
a case of preseason shin splints and brings an added dimension of speed. He had
three catches for 22 yards against San Francisco, two of which went for first
downs in first-half TD drives.
Martz also did some interesting things formation-wise, using a lot of two tight
end sets early, but also mixing in some two-back sets employing Jackson and
Faulk.
The biggest wrinkle defensively was the sight of Leonard Little shifting from
his usual left end spot to a standup "linebacker" spot in the middle on a few
occasions.
"Everybody in the last few weeks has turned their protection and double-teamed
(Little) with two linemen," Martz said. "That's why he's not been as productive
as you would expect.
"So what we tried to do is move him around a little bit. I don't know how
effective it was ... but we'll continue to experiment."
Overall, Little had a productive evening, finishing with seven tackles, three
hits on the quarterback, one sack and one fumble recovery. Those are the types
of games the Rams need week in and week out from Little, their top defensive
playmaker.
After the ***** game, Martz dropped some not-so-subtle hints that more new
wrinkles were on the way in the defensive scheme of coordinator Larry Marmie.
"I want to continue to change some things on defense," Martz said. "I want to
be aggressive and attack people, and not let them get in any kind of rhythm in
terms of what we're doing. That's kind of the direction we're headed."
Some aggressive early blitzing led to a half-sack by linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa
- he shared it with defensive end Bryce Fisher. And it led to the sack by
blitzing linebacker Tommy Polley that caused the fumble Little recovered.
Up front, rookie defensive end Anthony Hargrove was worked into the rotation
behind Fisher after not playing a down from scrimmage against New Orleans.
"I thought Tony Hargrove did some nice things in the short time that he was in
there," Martz said.
Hargrove was flagged for illegal hands to the face on ***** quarterback Tim
Rattay while chasing him out of the pocket. It was a silly penalty, but
undismayed, Hargrove pursued hard down the line of scrimmage to drop running
back Kevan Barlow for a 1-yard loss on the next play.
By Jim Thomas
Of the Post-Dispatch
Tuesday, Oct. 05 2004
While the Rams were making a 3,400-mile round trip to San Francisco for
Sunday's game with the *****, the Seattle Seahawks were at home on the couch,
watching games on TV in their bye week.
In four days, the Rams begin another 3,000-plus mile trek to Seattle, to play
the NFC West division-leading Seahawks, who not only are 3-0, and seven-point
favorites, but have the league's No. 1-ranked defense.
A tough task to be sure. But if nothing else, the Rams gave Seattle something
to think about on several fronts with their impressive 24-14 victory over San
Francisco. If Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren completed most of his game plan in
the bye week, he'll have to make some adjustments based on what transpired at
Monster Park.
Offensively, the Rams were more balanced and a lot more diverse. Which Rams
offense will show up Sunday in Seattle? The pass-happy group that lost to
Atlanta and New Orleans? Or the unit that mixed the run with the pass
effectively in victories over Arizona and San Francisco?
After leaning heavily on Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt and Marshall Faulk (when the
Rams did decide to run) in the first three games, some new names got into the
act against San Francisco. Bruce, Holt and Faulk have scored 185 touchdowns as
"St. Louis" Rams. But against San Francisco, the Rams' three TDs were scored by
Shaun McDonald, Joey Goodspeed and rookie Steven Jackson.
"These are guys that we've been counting on" to contribute, Martz said. "This
isn't the Isaac and Torry and Marshall Show. To be able to use all of those
people is vital. They're integral parts of what you do offensively. It's very
important. And it's hard on the (opposing) defense."
When the Greatest Show on Turf was at its height from 1999 to 2001, it was the
multiple options on offense that made the Rams so tough to defend.
Jackson got 10 carries against the *****, a high in his young NFL career. When
veteran Seattle defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes goes over the Rams' red zone
offense, he'll have to spend at least a minute or two going over "20 Fullback
Crunch" - the play on which Goodspeed scored his first NFL touchdown.
Lost in the shuffle Sunday was the fact that Kevin Curtis replaced Dane Looker
as the Rams' slot receiver in three wide-receiver sets. Curtis is healthy after
a case of preseason shin splints and brings an added dimension of speed. He had
three catches for 22 yards against San Francisco, two of which went for first
downs in first-half TD drives.
Martz also did some interesting things formation-wise, using a lot of two tight
end sets early, but also mixing in some two-back sets employing Jackson and
Faulk.
The biggest wrinkle defensively was the sight of Leonard Little shifting from
his usual left end spot to a standup "linebacker" spot in the middle on a few
occasions.
"Everybody in the last few weeks has turned their protection and double-teamed
(Little) with two linemen," Martz said. "That's why he's not been as productive
as you would expect.
"So what we tried to do is move him around a little bit. I don't know how
effective it was ... but we'll continue to experiment."
Overall, Little had a productive evening, finishing with seven tackles, three
hits on the quarterback, one sack and one fumble recovery. Those are the types
of games the Rams need week in and week out from Little, their top defensive
playmaker.
After the ***** game, Martz dropped some not-so-subtle hints that more new
wrinkles were on the way in the defensive scheme of coordinator Larry Marmie.
"I want to continue to change some things on defense," Martz said. "I want to
be aggressive and attack people, and not let them get in any kind of rhythm in
terms of what we're doing. That's kind of the direction we're headed."
Some aggressive early blitzing led to a half-sack by linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa
- he shared it with defensive end Bryce Fisher. And it led to the sack by
blitzing linebacker Tommy Polley that caused the fumble Little recovered.
Up front, rookie defensive end Anthony Hargrove was worked into the rotation
behind Fisher after not playing a down from scrimmage against New Orleans.
"I thought Tony Hargrove did some nice things in the short time that he was in
there," Martz said.
Hargrove was flagged for illegal hands to the face on ***** quarterback Tim
Rattay while chasing him out of the pocket. It was a silly penalty, but
undismayed, Hargrove pursued hard down the line of scrimmage to drop running
back Kevan Barlow for a 1-yard loss on the next play.
Comment