Season Review Teil 1
Verfasst: 17.01.2007, 16:51
Season In Review - Part I
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
By Nick Wagoner
Senior Writer
When looking back at the 2006 season, the Rams will see a year full of ups and downs that saw them lay a foundation for the future. It all evened out in the end as St. Louis finished the season 8-8 and just shy of a playoff berth.
This week, stlouisrams.com presents a look back at what was in 2006 in three parts followed by a two-part look at what’s to come in 2007.
When the Rams named Scott Linehan as the head coach last year, he vowed to bring with him organization, discipline, a balanced offense and an attacking defense. After a grueling training camp in the St. Louis heat and four preseason games, Linehan and his revamped troops couldn’t have been more ready to get to the real thing.
Of course, the opener would provide an immediate test with the preseason favorite Denver Broncos coming to town for a Sept. 10 meeting. Denver’s talented offense and super fast defense would make for a good barometer to see where Linehan’s team was and where it could go.
Many expected the opener to be a shootout between two high-octane offenses. But a game that was expected to light up the scoreboard turned into a display of what Linehan and defensive coordinator Jim Haslett had worked on building defensively.
The chants of defense rained down on the Rams as they had one of their finest outings at home in recent memory. Haslett attacked Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer from all angles and harassed Denver into a plethora of turnovers. By the end of the day, Denver had managed just 259 total yards and the Rams had racked up five takeaways and four sacks.
Meanwhile, the offense came up close enough to set up Jeff Wilkins’ six field goals. The defense combined with Wilkins’ kicking gave the Rams an 18-10 victory, a 1-0 record and a fast start to the Linehan era.
More important, though, it appeared to signal a shift to a new brand of football focusing on an attacking defense with a balanced offense. For the first time in a long time, it was the defense that paved the road to victory.
“It’s big,” quarterback Marc Bulger said. “I look back at three years ago; we led the league in takeaways. I certainly put us in some bad positions that year and they bailed me out. You need special teams, you need defense, you need offense to be a contender in this league. You don’t want to be overly excited with one game, but for Coach Linehan’s sake, I think we have put together with Coach Haslett coming in, we might have the defense now.”
The momentum from the week one win seemed like it could lead to a hot start for the Rams that might eventually lead to a playoff berth. Heading into the second week against San Francisco, St. Louis had what appeared to be a prime opportunity to be 2-0.
After all, the 49ers were one of the league’s worst teams a year ago. The Rams had some reshuffling to do as the game approached, though. Center Andy McCollum suffered a knee injury that ended his season against Denver.
For the San Francisco game, the Rams shifted guard Richie Incognito to center with Todd Steussie coming in at left guard.
The Rams’ offense broke through against the 49ers at Monster Park as it managed its first touchdown, a 3-yard touchdown toss from Bulger to receiver Torry Holt. That would be the high point of the day, though, as the Rams would lose left tackle Orlando Pace to a concussion and linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa to a dislocated elbow.
While the defense played well again, there were enough glitches on both sides of the ball to keep the Rams from an undefeated start.
San Francisco’s big blow came on a 72-yard touchdown strike from quarterback Alex Smith to receiver Antonio Bryant. The Rams defense which had allowed some big plays earlier, including running back Frank Gore’s 32-yard touchdown run, had been pretty solid once again but this time a breakdown in their Cover 2 package made the difference.
With the score tied at 10, Smith dropped back to pass with rookie cornerback Tye Hill isolated one on one with Bryant. Hill’s job was to reroute Bryant and turn the coverage over to free safety Oshiomogho Atogwe who would be there to help vertically. Instead, Hill was unable to get the push on Bryant and when he released him into the secondary, Bryant was wide open over the top as Atogwe was late to arrive. Bryant caught the pass in stride and raced in for a touchdown and a 17-10 lead that would prove to be the winning score.
While the offense struggled to find a rhythm again, the defense was unable to bail them out this time. In addition to those big plays in the passing game, Gore was able to rumble for 127 yards on 29 carries as the Rams’ run defense continues to search for consistency.
“It’s different week in and week out,” linebacker Will Witherspoon said. “You can’t put what happened last week in to the same game plan; you can’t replace that with the same deal. It’s a new team, a new offense and a new game plan week in and week out. After everything that happened last week everyone was excited and happy and after everything that happened today you are down. Today we were left saying, ‘What can we go back and do? What can we go back and make better?’”
San Francisco picked up its first win of the year and the Rams fell to 1-1 with a 20-13 loss.
The next week at Arizona saw Pace returning from the concussion a bit sooner than expected. That gave the Rams a full line heading into their first trip to the new stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
The defense came through once again against the Cardinals, creating four turnovers and the offense began to click with 13 unanswered points in the second quarter. Bulger hit Holt for his second touchdown of the year and Wilkins booted a pair of field goals. Wilkins kicked another field goal to make it 16-7 in the third quarter.
Arizona didn’t go away; though as Kurt Warner and Co. made it 16-14 on Edgerrin James’ 6-yard touchdown. That set the stage for one of the wildest finishes of the season.
As the Rams tried to run out the clock, Bulger fumbled at the Rams’ 30. It seemed certain that kicker Neil Rackers would get a chance to win the game for Arizona. But Warner fumbled the ball right back and Witherspoon fell on the fumble to preserve the win as St. Louis improved to 2-1.
Week four saw the Rams’ offense breakout.
St. Louis rang up 41 points and 423 yards as Bulger lit up the Lions for 328 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winning touchdown pass to receiver Isaac Bruce. Bulger and Bruce connected again on the two-point conversion to make it 41-34 Rams.
Detroit promptly drove down the field to put itself in position for the tying score. When the officials threw a flag for defensive pass interference in the end zone, it seemed the Lions were certain to score and tie the game.
That’s when Witherspoon came up with his second game-saving play in as many weeks. After dropping about 35 yards into coverage, Witherspoon leaped in the air and tipped the ball away, nullifying the penalty and giving the Rams their third victory.
“Sometimes in this type of game it’s going to be who gets the ball last,” Bulger said. “It was nice that our offense could finally step up and help that defense out a little bit. We didn’t do anything crazy this week to get better. We just kept plugging away. Hopefully we can keep it going.”
Suddenly at 3-1 with a trip to Lambeau Field on the horizon, the Rams appeared poised to set themselves up nicely for a home showdown with division rival Seattle.
The Packers had been struggling, but were always tough to handle in Green Bay. On a windy day at Lambeau, the Rams got yet another clutch play from the defense to preserve their third straight win and fourth in five games.
This time, it was defensive end Leonard Little making the big play at the most important time. Clinging to a 23-20 lead late in the game and with Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre charging toward another game-winning drive, Haslett challenged his star end to come up with a big play.
Little charged around the tackle and knocked the ball out of Favre’s grip. Cornerback Jerametrius Butler recovered to preserve the win.
For the Rams, the win was just another in a line of heart stopping finishes. Fortunately for them, those finishes continued to go in their favor. Sure, there had been some luck involved such as Warner’s fumble in Arizona, but make no mistake, the defense had developed a knack for coming up with big plays when the team needs it the most.
“We are the second coming of the cardiac kids right now,” cornerback Ron Bartell said. “How many times can that happen? Hopefully the ball keeps bouncing our way and we can pull out some more wins.”
Sitting at 4-1 with Seattle coming to St. Louis in the week before the bye, the Rams had positioned themselves for a playoff run. But the toughest part of the schedule was yet to come and the Rams had of difficult challenges ahead.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
By Nick Wagoner
Senior Writer
When looking back at the 2006 season, the Rams will see a year full of ups and downs that saw them lay a foundation for the future. It all evened out in the end as St. Louis finished the season 8-8 and just shy of a playoff berth.
This week, stlouisrams.com presents a look back at what was in 2006 in three parts followed by a two-part look at what’s to come in 2007.
When the Rams named Scott Linehan as the head coach last year, he vowed to bring with him organization, discipline, a balanced offense and an attacking defense. After a grueling training camp in the St. Louis heat and four preseason games, Linehan and his revamped troops couldn’t have been more ready to get to the real thing.
Of course, the opener would provide an immediate test with the preseason favorite Denver Broncos coming to town for a Sept. 10 meeting. Denver’s talented offense and super fast defense would make for a good barometer to see where Linehan’s team was and where it could go.
Many expected the opener to be a shootout between two high-octane offenses. But a game that was expected to light up the scoreboard turned into a display of what Linehan and defensive coordinator Jim Haslett had worked on building defensively.
The chants of defense rained down on the Rams as they had one of their finest outings at home in recent memory. Haslett attacked Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer from all angles and harassed Denver into a plethora of turnovers. By the end of the day, Denver had managed just 259 total yards and the Rams had racked up five takeaways and four sacks.
Meanwhile, the offense came up close enough to set up Jeff Wilkins’ six field goals. The defense combined with Wilkins’ kicking gave the Rams an 18-10 victory, a 1-0 record and a fast start to the Linehan era.
More important, though, it appeared to signal a shift to a new brand of football focusing on an attacking defense with a balanced offense. For the first time in a long time, it was the defense that paved the road to victory.
“It’s big,” quarterback Marc Bulger said. “I look back at three years ago; we led the league in takeaways. I certainly put us in some bad positions that year and they bailed me out. You need special teams, you need defense, you need offense to be a contender in this league. You don’t want to be overly excited with one game, but for Coach Linehan’s sake, I think we have put together with Coach Haslett coming in, we might have the defense now.”
The momentum from the week one win seemed like it could lead to a hot start for the Rams that might eventually lead to a playoff berth. Heading into the second week against San Francisco, St. Louis had what appeared to be a prime opportunity to be 2-0.
After all, the 49ers were one of the league’s worst teams a year ago. The Rams had some reshuffling to do as the game approached, though. Center Andy McCollum suffered a knee injury that ended his season against Denver.
For the San Francisco game, the Rams shifted guard Richie Incognito to center with Todd Steussie coming in at left guard.
The Rams’ offense broke through against the 49ers at Monster Park as it managed its first touchdown, a 3-yard touchdown toss from Bulger to receiver Torry Holt. That would be the high point of the day, though, as the Rams would lose left tackle Orlando Pace to a concussion and linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa to a dislocated elbow.
While the defense played well again, there were enough glitches on both sides of the ball to keep the Rams from an undefeated start.
San Francisco’s big blow came on a 72-yard touchdown strike from quarterback Alex Smith to receiver Antonio Bryant. The Rams defense which had allowed some big plays earlier, including running back Frank Gore’s 32-yard touchdown run, had been pretty solid once again but this time a breakdown in their Cover 2 package made the difference.
With the score tied at 10, Smith dropped back to pass with rookie cornerback Tye Hill isolated one on one with Bryant. Hill’s job was to reroute Bryant and turn the coverage over to free safety Oshiomogho Atogwe who would be there to help vertically. Instead, Hill was unable to get the push on Bryant and when he released him into the secondary, Bryant was wide open over the top as Atogwe was late to arrive. Bryant caught the pass in stride and raced in for a touchdown and a 17-10 lead that would prove to be the winning score.
While the offense struggled to find a rhythm again, the defense was unable to bail them out this time. In addition to those big plays in the passing game, Gore was able to rumble for 127 yards on 29 carries as the Rams’ run defense continues to search for consistency.
“It’s different week in and week out,” linebacker Will Witherspoon said. “You can’t put what happened last week in to the same game plan; you can’t replace that with the same deal. It’s a new team, a new offense and a new game plan week in and week out. After everything that happened last week everyone was excited and happy and after everything that happened today you are down. Today we were left saying, ‘What can we go back and do? What can we go back and make better?’”
San Francisco picked up its first win of the year and the Rams fell to 1-1 with a 20-13 loss.
The next week at Arizona saw Pace returning from the concussion a bit sooner than expected. That gave the Rams a full line heading into their first trip to the new stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
The defense came through once again against the Cardinals, creating four turnovers and the offense began to click with 13 unanswered points in the second quarter. Bulger hit Holt for his second touchdown of the year and Wilkins booted a pair of field goals. Wilkins kicked another field goal to make it 16-7 in the third quarter.
Arizona didn’t go away; though as Kurt Warner and Co. made it 16-14 on Edgerrin James’ 6-yard touchdown. That set the stage for one of the wildest finishes of the season.
As the Rams tried to run out the clock, Bulger fumbled at the Rams’ 30. It seemed certain that kicker Neil Rackers would get a chance to win the game for Arizona. But Warner fumbled the ball right back and Witherspoon fell on the fumble to preserve the win as St. Louis improved to 2-1.
Week four saw the Rams’ offense breakout.
St. Louis rang up 41 points and 423 yards as Bulger lit up the Lions for 328 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winning touchdown pass to receiver Isaac Bruce. Bulger and Bruce connected again on the two-point conversion to make it 41-34 Rams.
Detroit promptly drove down the field to put itself in position for the tying score. When the officials threw a flag for defensive pass interference in the end zone, it seemed the Lions were certain to score and tie the game.
That’s when Witherspoon came up with his second game-saving play in as many weeks. After dropping about 35 yards into coverage, Witherspoon leaped in the air and tipped the ball away, nullifying the penalty and giving the Rams their third victory.
“Sometimes in this type of game it’s going to be who gets the ball last,” Bulger said. “It was nice that our offense could finally step up and help that defense out a little bit. We didn’t do anything crazy this week to get better. We just kept plugging away. Hopefully we can keep it going.”
Suddenly at 3-1 with a trip to Lambeau Field on the horizon, the Rams appeared poised to set themselves up nicely for a home showdown with division rival Seattle.
The Packers had been struggling, but were always tough to handle in Green Bay. On a windy day at Lambeau, the Rams got yet another clutch play from the defense to preserve their third straight win and fourth in five games.
This time, it was defensive end Leonard Little making the big play at the most important time. Clinging to a 23-20 lead late in the game and with Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre charging toward another game-winning drive, Haslett challenged his star end to come up with a big play.
Little charged around the tackle and knocked the ball out of Favre’s grip. Cornerback Jerametrius Butler recovered to preserve the win.
For the Rams, the win was just another in a line of heart stopping finishes. Fortunately for them, those finishes continued to go in their favor. Sure, there had been some luck involved such as Warner’s fumble in Arizona, but make no mistake, the defense had developed a knack for coming up with big plays when the team needs it the most.
“We are the second coming of the cardiac kids right now,” cornerback Ron Bartell said. “How many times can that happen? Hopefully the ball keeps bouncing our way and we can pull out some more wins.”
Sitting at 4-1 with Seattle coming to St. Louis in the week before the bye, the Rams had positioned themselves for a playoff run. But the toughest part of the schedule was yet to come and the Rams had of difficult challenges ahead.