Rams no strangers to current woes

By Steve Reynolds  |   Monday, August 20, 2007  |  Comments( 3 )

St. Louis Rams
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Here we go again.

The St. Louis Rams' first-unit offense was charging over the feared San Diego defense in the first quarter Saturday night, dinking and dunking the Bolts to death. Rookie back Brian Leonard was running in workmanlike fashion and Marc Bulger was hitting Torry Holt at will.

Then a funny thing happened: The Rams entered the red zone.

Almost as if he crossed some imaginary line of ineptitude, fullback Madison Hedgecock coughed the ball up when he was stripped at the 20-yard line by Shaun Phillips. It was then that the Chargers' Shawne Merriman, who has seemingly taken a break from his heroic battle with the evil guild of supplement-tainting super villains who framed him a season ago, spotted the loose ball. He fell on the football while the Rams commenced in falling apart.

The Rams' defense, sporting its revamped front that includes rookie Adam Carriker and free-agent pickup James Hall, wasted little time in allowing the Chargers to systematically run and dunk their way down the field in precisely the same fashion as St. Louis' aborted attempt, but with a different outcome: Philip Rivers found the end zone.

Here we go again.

It appeared for a moment that the Rams would overcome their aforementioned adversity when they got the ball back and drove down the field once again, moving the ball seemingly at will to the Chargers' 25. Then, Bulger hesitated a moment too long in launching the ball toward a dashing Holt, allowing Chargers safety Clinton Hart time to make a play on the ball, intercepting it in the back of the end zone.

If problems such as red-zone efficiency and stopping the run sound eerily like the woes faced during last year's preseason, it's because they are alike; the Rams had the same problems early last year, and, seemingly, for several seasons now.

That's not to mention the St. Louis' special teams coverage units' weekly contribution to league kickoff and punt return averages. So porous has the Rams' special teams been in recent years, that the team fired the latest in a seemingly endless parade of supposed coaching saviors in Bob Ligashesky, then combed the high school ranks and found its latest future termination in Al Roberts.

Of former special teams front man Ligashesky, head coach Scott Linehan remarked, "He's a good coach with a bright future, but we need to make some improvements on special teams. Sometimes change is good for both parties."

True enough, except in the Rams case. Year after year, the unit produces the same maddening results. Sure, there were a couple of inexperienced rookies playing when the Chargers' Darren Sproles took a second-quarter punt return to the house, but there were some Rams starters manning the unit, too. Roberts may wish he was back coaching kids after a few more such typical efforts from his group.

Adding insult to potential injury was the likelihood of Rams' fans suffering from collective cardiac arrest after Bulger got blindsided by speed rushers slamming full stride into his back on more than one occasion. If Bulger goes down, the Rams are finished.

So, if Week 1's preseason showing filled Rams fans with guarded optimism, Week 2 filled them with vomit. While St. Louis did have a few bright spots, such as its ability to easily move up and down the field against one of the league's best defenses, its penchant toward turnovers, lack of red-zone production and looking completely inept stopping opponents' rushers and return men plague the team still.

With a couple of preseason contests under their belts, the prospect of a repeat of last year's underwhelming, underachieving squad still looms large. However, offseason upgrades in talent on both sides of the ball as well as another year in the respective coaching systems could just as easily push the Rams back into playoff contention.

The coming weeks will provide greater insight, but Sept. 9 will be the first true barometer in measuring how far the Rams have come. Much like last year at this point in the exhibition schedule, there are still many of the same questions that only the regular season can answer. If Saturday night's contest proved anything, it's that the Rams still have a lot of room for improvement.

Here we go, still.

You can e-mail Steve Reynolds at sreynolds@realfootball365.com


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