Rams dust off their defense in upset of Washington

By Jeff Dickinson  |   Monday, October 13, 2008  |  Comments( 3 )

St. Louis Rams
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Every football fan who hates hearing coaches throw out old, worn-out clichés in interviews and news conferences must have cringed after Josh Brown hit the game-winning field goal to help the Rams beat the Redskins on Sunday.

Prior to Week 6, woeful St. Louis was 0-4. The Redskins, on the other hand, had won four straight and were the talk of the league behind new coach Jim Zorn, steady quarterback Jason Campbell and electric running back Clinton Portis.

Now, thanks to the Rams’ 19-17 upset, coaches can dust off their tired sayings that had been put in the closet. “Anything can happen on any given Sunday in the NFL. “We’re just taking it one game at a time.” “We’re not going to overlook the _______ because they are much better than their record indicates.”

Thanks, St. Louis. We thought we had heard the last of those clichés.

Commentary: How did the Rams manage to beat the Redskins? Defense, plain and simple, which St. Louis hadn't displayed in its first four games.

Before the game against the Redskins, the St. Louis defense had given up almost 37 points per game, which was last in the NFL. Against the Redskins, the Rams were able to force four fumbles (recovering three) and sack Campbell four times.

Quarterback Marc Bulger didn’t win the game for the Rams. He only passed for 136 yards and no touchdowns. Bulger did help the Rams get in position for the game-winning field goal with his 43-yard completion to Donnie Avery. On that pass, however, Bulger lofted the ball up and the play was more of a lack of execution on the defense than a precise pass from Bulger.

Running back Steven Jackson was also not the reason the Rams snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Jackson did gain 79 yards on the ground, but he carried the ball 22 times and only averaged 3.6 yards per tote. He also fumbled the ball once and failed to reach the end zone.

After this big win for the Rams, no one is ready to call them playoff contenders. No one is expecting them to put together an 11-game winning streak to end the season with a 12-4 record. But what this win does is give a franchise steeped in turmoil a reason to hope. It also removes the Rams from the talk about the biggest jokes in the NFL this season. Now the Lions and Bengals can continue to be laughed at as the Rams try to march to respectability.
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About Jeff Dickinson

I have been writing and editing professionally for 18 years. I spent the first three years of my career as a sportswriter for a daily newspaper in Alabama and got to cover sports and get paid for it! It was great until I got married and then it wasn't too much fun being away from my wife every ...
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