RamView, November 30, 2008, Game #12: Dolphins 16, Rams 12 , by Mike Franke

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RamView, November 30, 2008, Game #12: Dolphins 16, Rams 12 , by Mike Franke




RamView, November 30, 2008
From Row HH
(Report and opinions from the game.)
Game #12: Dolphins 16, Rams 12

Ugh, I went to the Dome for a Rams game and a soccer game broke out.
The Rams and Dolphins traded FGs all day, and though competitive, the
Rams went down kicking with their tenth loss. Maybe next year they’ll
actually be good enough to beat the league’s worst team from the year
before.


Position by position:
* QB: With Steven Jackson somewhat healthy, Marc Bulger was supposed
to return to the back seat in the Ram offense as envisioned here in
the post-Martz era. “Manage the offense” and don’t screw up. Yes, the
Rams paid $60 million for Trent Dilfer. Through about three quarters
today, Bulger was having a classically Dilferian game: 8-20, 85 yards.
He seemed to be “managing”, though. He was the victim of some drops,
played it safe in the pocket with some throwaways, and hadn’t taken a
sack. The Rams weren’t scoring TDs but were still in the game. For
those almost-three quarters, Bulger at least wasn’t hurting the team,
even though the Rams’ biggest problem in the red zone appeared to be
the QB. The Rams got to 2nd-and-goal from the 5 their opening
possession. Bulger had to throw away the 2nd down pass because Miami
had everyone covered. On 3rd down, he forced a pass into the right
corner of the end zone Torry Holt never could have caught. Rams kick a
FG. What was odd was that Bulger had Steven Jackson and Anthony Becht
open in the middle, and Becht had a clear path to the end zone, but
the dumpoff-prone Bulger didn’t dump off this time. Like the next
drive. Bulger settled for a short pass to Dane Looker on 3rd-and-long
with Donnie Avery open deeper downfield. Rams kick a FG. They got back
inside the 20 in the 2nd after Bulger’s nice throw to Holt under
pressure, but on 3rd-and-5, Bulger tried forcing a sideline pass to
Anthony Becht with Holt popping up wide open over the middle. Rams.
Kick. A. FG. Down 13-9 late in the 3rd, Bulger began paying for the
earlier opportunities to cash in. He locked in on Jackson and threw
his first INT right to Akin Ayodele, lying in the weeds. The Rams
recovered from that and got ANOTHER FG, their last, false, hope.
Getting the ball back at his 33 with a chance to drive the offense to
the lead, Bulger rolled out and threw an AWFUL pass, right to Renaldo
Hill, yards short of intended (and open) receiver Becht, for a
crushing INT that allowed Miami to extend their lead to 16-13. What
should have been a big gain was instead a disaster because Bulger got
nervous about Joey Porter five yards away, got happy feet and threw
terribly off-balance. Bulger’s protection was terrific today, and good
on that play; his reaction and that throw are entirely inexcusable.
The rest of the game, with chances remaining to take the lead, Bulger
was a dumpoff machine except for the overthrown bomb for Derek Stanley
at the end of the game that Andre Goodman fielded like he was the
intended receiver for Bulger’s THIRD INT. Coupled with his poor
completion percentage (16-35) and meager yardage (149), that sank
Bulger’s passer rating for the day to a BRUTAL 22.2. The Rams blocked
and ran pretty well. Special teams were pretty good. The defense was
at least better than usual. Marc Bulger had the power to win or lose
this game and he lost it with panicky pocket presence and questionable
decision-making at key moments. The Rams paid $60 million for Trent
Dilfer, and today, they got Tony Banks. Whatever happened to him? Did
he get replaced?




* RB: Rams Nation can pretend otherwise all it wants, but we miss
Steven Jackson (21-94) when he’s away. Right from the first carry it
was too easy to see the Rams have no one else who runs with his power.
Jackson ran decisively, got upfield quickly, and as usual, was happy
to drag defenders along for the ride. He opened the game with an 11-
yard run and added a 13-yarder later. He bailed Bulger out of trouble
on the opening drive and took a hot pass for 16 to keep a FG drive
moving. He pounded out the better part of 35 yards to set up the Rams’
third FG. The thigh injury didn’t prevent him from cutting back for 10
yards in the 3rd, but issues rose about Jackson’s conditioning, which
kept him out of the game for stretches, including the last half of the
4th quarter, though he denied any fatigue problems after the game.
Antonio Pittman (6-25) didn’t play nearly as well in Jackson’s shadow
as he did out of it. He dropped a couple of easy passes and lost yards
on a 2nd-and-4 late in the game by trying to improvise to the outside
on an inside run. At that point of the game, and any time they were in
the red zone, the Rams missed Jackson running the ball (and receiving
– he had only the one catch). The sooner the Rams let the Train out of
the shed, the better.


* WR: Another quiet performance from the Ram receivers, who had a bad
sort of timing problem with Bulger. He couldn’t find them when they
were open, and when he did find them, they weren’t. Dane Looker (6-52)
was the only one who could get reliably open much and thus led the
receivers. Looker, Torry Holt (3-30) and Keenan Burton (1-23) all had
third-down catches that kept FG drives alive, but those’d be TD drives
if anybody would get open in the end zone one of these days. At the
Miami 20 in the 4th, they tried a go route to the end zone for Holt
that was just kind of sad. Maybe it would have been a TD for the Holt
of 2006, but 2008 Holt wasn’t open against Andre (Who?) Goodman for
even a nanosecond. Donnie Avery (0-0) drew a couple of DPIs on the
opening drive but was invisible otherwise. We learned a few things
from the Rams’ attempts to get the TEs involved today: Anthony Becht
isn’t a receiver, Joe Klopfenstein’s sociology degree may come in
handy for him any day now, and Daniel Fells (3-28) can probably be
rushed into a starting role. He looks like a nice find. He’s a fluid
receiver with good hands, a vast step up from the other two. Plus
Fells is a big man and a strong runner that DBs don’t want to mess
with after the catch. Oddly, he may be this receiving corps’ best
chance at YAC these days.


* Offensive line: Unexpectedly, the offensive line had its best game
of the season. Bulger was not sacked, and Miami didn’t really come
close on most of his dropbacks. They led Jackson and Pittman to an
average of 4.3 a carry. Orlando Pace, back weeks earlier than expected
from a knee injury, had a monster game and showed everyone why he is
still the man. He collapsed the right side of Miami’s line on
Jackson’s opening 11-yard dash. Jackson got 13 more to open the next
drive with another big block from Pace and one from Richie Incognito
on the pull. Alex Barron picked Pittman up and swung him around to
break open an 11-yard run in the 3rd. Another Pace block sprung
Jackson for 10 on a cutback right before Bulger’s first INT. Orlando
also dominated in pass-blocking; Joey Porter didn’t get anywhere
against him today. He really didn’t against Barron, either. Incognito
left the game in the 2nd half due to ironic lightheadedness; John
Greco replaced him and the o-line seemed not to miss a beat. (Dun dun
DUN.) Jacob Bell even threw some good blocks. The only blemish was a
Barron false start. Now, before we start declaring these guys the
second coming of the Hogs, it’s worth mentioning that Miami did not
blitz much at all. The Rams picked up the few blitzes that did come
well, but Miami really played into the hands of a team that usually
struggles to pick up blitzes by blitzing very little. Still, what’s
not to like about Bulger not getting killed, or RBs cavorting through
big gaps, or Pace knocking people around like it’s 1999? A-plus today
for the front five.


* Defensive line/LB: The local media have been all but gushing about
the defense today; I don’t get it, other than 16 points allowed being
a respectable total for a change. They didn’t sack Chad Pennington and
barely pressured him at all. Who even had a QB pressure? Chris Long
once or twice? James Hall once? What’s to gush about there? Long
probably did win his square-off with Jake Long on points. Dolphin RBs
had 4.2 yards a carry and Miami rushed for 149 total; what’s the big
deal there? Miami started their 2nd drive from their own 9 and still
got a TD out of it – so what’s new? Dolphins ran around Victor
Adeyanju repeatedly for big gains. Let’s throw a parade! How is it
that Adeyanju is considered the run stopper among the Ram DEs? Does he
ever stop a run? Ronnie Brown scored from the 3 after Corey Chavous
didn’t wrap up and Pisa Tinoisamoa blew his second ankle tackle of the
drive. And they got out of a first-and-22 hole getting there! Send
that tape to the Hall of Fame! Leonard Little jumped offside and kept
Miami’s third FG drive alive. Save that for the highlight reel! The
Dolphins grinded out 2 first downs and 2:30 of game clock with the
Rams trying to get the ball back at the end of the game. Ooh, clutch!
OK, there’s a couple of good things to say. David Vobora may have
gotten run over a couple of times, but he did a good job staying in
most plays in his first career start at MLB. The secondary (next) made
some good plays. After the Rams narrowed the lead to 13-12 in the 4th,
Adam Carriker and Will Witherspoon stuffed Ricky Williams on 3rd-and-
short and forced a 3-and-out. Leave it to Bulger to throw an awful INT
to stem the rising Ram tide. The Ram defense competed and tackled
better than usual, but with the Dolphins notching 5 runs of 10 yards
or more, 16 of 5 yards or more, I’d hold off on the ceremony with the
President in the Rose Garden, too.


* Secondary: OJ Atogwe and Jason Craft are probably going to enjoy
reviewing game tape Monday; Fakhir Brown and Ron Bartell, maybe not.
Craft shut down Miami’s opening drive by stopping a screen to Davone
Bess with a nice open-field tackle. Atogwe tracked down TE David
Martin, wide wide open on a squirrelly Wildcat halfback option pass in
the 3rd, and knocked the ball from him for the Rams’ only turnover.
Ted Ginn (4-55) partied most of the first quarter at Brown’s and
Bartell’s expense. He beat Brown for 15 when Fakhir got caught looking
in the Miami backfield. He beat Bartell badly for 19 on Miami’s TD
drive and was wide open over the middle for 13 a couple of plays
later. Someone named Brandon London beat Brown, who unsurprisingly
couldn’t find the ball, for another 13 that drive, and Patrick Cobbs
started it with a 14-yard sweep where he beat Bartell around the right
corner with stunning ease. Bartell struggled and got run over by the
Miami running game. So did Corey Chavous, who was knocked aside on
Ronnie Brown’s TD run and beaten by Bess for 21 on 3rd-and-2 during
Miami’s first FG drive. Todd Johnson came in as an injury replacement
for Chavous. The big pass of the day went to Bess for 37 against a
beaten / picked Craft and set up a FG. Brown and Bartell got a little
face back with good pass defenses later on, but wound up paying for
too-loose coverage at the beginning of the game.


* Special teams: Maybe the Rams need more high school coaches (Like
Mike Jones, who just won the Missouri state title with Hazelwood
East). Top to bottom, Al Roberts has the Rams special teams looking
better than they have for some time. Derek Stanley should have been
returning kicks all season. His first move is forward, he’s good at
using his blocks and getting better at making defenders miss.
Blocking’s improving, especially the wedge on kickoffs. Josh Brown hit
four FGs, with a long of 51. Kick coverage was terrific, played with
discipline and stayed in their lanes. Jonathan Wade is a key man
outside on kick coverage and did a terrific job. And you gotta love
how Keenan Burton gets in there on kick returns. I think he even drew
a holding penalty. Donnie Jones welcomed his old team back with a
couple of 60-yard blasts. Now, is it too much to start asking for some
TDs out of this unit, since the offense can’t score any?


* Coaching/discipline: Al Saunders’ offense was balanced and was able
to put together some drives because of its success on 3rd down (7 of
14). The obvious problem today was the Rams’ failure in the red zone,
and with receivers popping open on critical plays, Saunders’ calls
down there weren’t as big a problem as Bulger’s play was. But it sure
seems like there would have been ways for Saunders to help Bulger out.
I know the injury and layoff played a factor, but I can’t square with
Steven Jackson getting ONE carry inside the 20. 39 should get the ball
on 1st-and-goal at the 7, not Antonio Pittman. The 2nd-and-goal play
on the opening drive was the same old play the Rams always run down
there. Drag a WR (Holt) across the back of the end zone, hook one
(Looker) at the goal line. Miami had that scouted. The Rams got to the
Dolphins 23 in the 4th by mixing run and pass, but then passed three
times and kicked a (4th) FG. Saunders knows Jackson needs to carry the
load on this offense, and it’s too bad, for whatever reason, that the
Rams’ money RB didn’t get the ball more in money territory today. It’s
also too bad Rick Venturi has apparently forgotten how to blitz. The
Rams’ nearly complete inability to pressure Pennington didn’t mix very
well with the coverage breakdowns downfield. Though they recovered
well, the Ram defense got off-balance a lot against Miami’s high-
schoolish offensive attack. Venturi earns a thumbs-up for having
Vobora ready to play, but I’m puzzled at his continued expectation of
a 4-man pass rush.


It took three weeks, but the Rams finally returned to the competitive
level Jim Haslett had them at his first two weeks after taking over.
After eight weeks, Haslett’s led the Rams to two wins, two close
losses and four stinkbombs. Luckily for Haslett, in Chip Rosenbloom’s
eyes, that probably makes him .500, even though maintaining this level
of play, for what it’s worth, shouldn’t be enough on its own to get
Haslett renewed. For instance, 0-6 in the division won’t get it done,
not for a team where even 2-4 would be a reversal of recent trends.
It’d be nice if somebody would get Bulger straightened out to where he
could at least turn in a passer rating over 50 sometime soon. And
maybe now that it’s gathered itself a little bit, the defense can
start going aggressively after QBs again. This team needs to hit as
many high notes as possible by the end of the season; no time like the
present for Haslett to really start tuning up the band.


* Upon further review: 98% of the job Ron Winter’s crew did today
looked pretty good. They were good about calling offensive holding and
penalties on kick returns. They made a few good defensive pass
interference calls. They were right the first time on a Miami
challenge (Holt sideline catch in 4th) and a booth challenge (Looker
catch/fumble late in game). Little was lucky not to get 15 yards for
sacking Pennington hard after jumping offside in the 4th. But a couple
of plays in the 3rd loom as critical. Radio called out Ernest Wilford
for a pick on Craft that set up Davone Bess’ 37-yard catch and an
eventual Miami FG. Next series, Holt strenuously objected to an OPI
thrown on him in the Miami red zone, arguing he was the player being
held. The Rams moved back ten yards, and the next play was Bulger’s
first INT. Going from the analysis on Fox, that OPI’s the kind of play
Holt and Bruce used to get ripped off on all the time before Mike
Martz complained to the league and the referees cracked down. Sounds
like some refresher courses may be in order once today’s game tape is
thoroughly reviewed.


* Cheers: The list of stuff I’ll never understand about the NFL is, I
admit, a long one. High on that list is how it is that this game
counts as a “sellout”. Estimating the Dome at half-full would not be
lowballing the crowd today. I’ll say 40,000. Those who did show seemed
to still be in a Thanksgiving food coma, only perking up a couple of
times, to boo Incognito during player introductions and to boo
Bulger’s INTs. Which is a shame, because Miami’s jumpy offensive line
would flinch at even a small din, but there wasn’t much sustained
noise from Ram fans. Something else I don’t understand is where the
hell all the Dolphin fans came from. They seemed as thick as last
week’s Bears fans, even though it’s Thanksgiving weekend and Miami’s
over 1,000 miles away and 40 degrees warmer. Does Missouri have a huge
population of closet Dolphin fans? And why are Miami’s fans the most
obnoxious opposing fans I’ve encountered this season? Seriously? What
have you guys had to be coc ky about since, oh, 1984? Halftime was the
always enjoyable Punt, Pass and Kick exhibition; snacktime was the not-
so-enjoyable, charcoal-like in appearance, taste and texture, seven-
freaking-dollar buffalo popcorn chicken. Don’t repeat my mistake
there. Zero stars.


* Who’s next?: The football fates have thumbed their noses at me all
season and threaten to jam their thumbs in my eyes next week. A Rams
loss coupled with a Jets win in San Francisco will clinch, yes,
clinch, the NFC West title for the Big Dead, guaranteeing them their
first home playoff game since they were the Chicago Cardinals. Dare I
hope to be spared the fate of the loathsome Bill Bidwill achieving
history at the Pink Taco Dome by again beating the city he dumped 20
years ago?


To avoid that fate, the Rams are going to have to perform far, far
better in the trenches than they did when the Dead won here a few
weeks ago. Today’s game is a good sign they might, though Arizona is
guaranteed to blitz a lot more than Miami did. Orlando Pace owes
Bertran Berry a receipt for the beating he took in the Dome. The Ram o-
line may be helped further by Brett Romberg settling in at center and
continued contributions from Greco. A healthy Steven Jackson is also
going to be a must for the Rams to stand a chance in Arizona. Bulger’s
going to have to play a lot smarter, and maybe this time around try to
get the ball over the Arizona d-line more often. But the Rams are
going to have to show the most improvement over the last meeting up
front. They have to pick up the Cardinal blitzes and they simply have
to play far stronger than they did in the Dome last month. Otherwise,
same old story, different day.


And the defensive line has to do something. Tim Hightower’s averaging
2.9 yards a carry this season. Against the Rams in November, he
averaged 5.0. That’s ridiculous. I know the Cards have Kurt Warner and
Godzilla Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, but if the Ram defense can’t
play with some spine against the run – they allowed 177 yards last
time to the now 32nd rushing offense (76.4 yds/gm) in the league – it
won’t matter if Arizona’s passing game is third in the league or 23rd.
(Try the former.) Let’s get some simple stuff right against these guys
for a change. Stop the run, hold your own in the trenches on both
sides of the ball, and good things will happen.


And you know what that’s all about? Attitude. Willingness to get
after it. Motivation. Jim Haslett gets this out of his team in spurts;
now it’s time to sustain it. I like Kurt Warner, but his Cardinals
aren’t the Joe Montana 49ers or the Terry Bradshaw Steelers or the
Bart Starr Packers. The Rams don’t have to get slaughtered by Arizona
like the last two meetings. They don’t have to lose to the Big Dead
for the fifth straight time. Given the comparative histories of these
franchises, that by itself is a crime against nature. Every week and
especially this week, Haslett better have his boys ready to compete,
and if they’re not, it shouldn’t matter if Chip Rosenbloom likes him
or not.


-- Mike
Game stats from nfl.com