Solution to Rams’ struggles surprisingly simple

By Steve Reynolds  |   Monday, September 24, 2007  |  Comments( 5 )

St. Louis Rams
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Turning the ball over in the red zone and settling for missed field goals rather than touchdowns is not going to get it done, folks.

And teams certainly aren't trembling in fear of the Rams' vaunted horizontal passing game.

The Rams' offense has seemingly pulled even with its poor defense and terrible special teams, creating an utterly ineffective unit. It's almost as if St. Louis is cursed by Murphy's Law; when the defense finally begins to improve a bit, the offense goes south. However, the solution to the problem may not be as elusive as it appears.

There is one simple thing missing from the equation -- guts.

The Rams have been totally gutless in their play-calling. Certainly, running the ball more will help protect Marc Bulger, but protecting him to the point where your opponent knows you're afraid to challenge them downfield is a recipe for, well, putting three points on the board.

When teams other than the Rams stack the box, they can generally stop the run.

With the exception of St. Louis' Week 2 loss to the 49ers, the Rams have largely abandoned the vertical passing game in favor of pounding the ball between the tackles, slowly developing passes in the flat to the running backs and ridiculous horizontal quick outs to receivers who gain absolutely nothing. How many times does offensive coordinator Greg Olson have to try the same thing before he realizes it's not working? Or did he not notice that such passes failed to be effective the previous two weeks?

There is nothing wrong with continuing to run and having faith in the backs; however, they must be utilized to set up the vertical passing game. The Rams do not the have the type of defense that can win a grind-it-out slugfest; they have to put points on the board.

In Tampa Bay, Bulger never tested the Bucs downfield. He threw three interceptions on ill-advised "safe" passes. The Rams must force the opposition to play honest and respect the deep passing game, which will open opportunities for Steven Jackson rather than trying to force them open by pounding the ball without any creativity ad nauseam. Likewise, if Bulger is banged up to the point where you have to change your entire game plan to protect him, then he shouldn't play. The Rams must learn to limit their mistakes by playing smarter, not safer.

The St. Louis offense has been so maddeningly anemic that it's probably making Rams fans wish for the days of Mike Martz.

His comments may have incited death threats from front office staff and he may have burned timeouts challenging the opening kickoff, but at least he had guts. Perhaps the Rams needn't utterly throw caution to the wind in the style Martz ran his offense, but they have to mix pounding the ball and stretching the field; such a blend will allow the rushing and passing attacks to open holes for each other. In this way, opponents will not be able to consistently stack the box or sit on receivers because they have figured out the tendencies of the Rams' vanilla offense.

When the Rams enter the red zone, they seem so afraid to make mistakes that they render themselves completely ineffective. That's a tendency seems to be spilling over to the rest of the field as well; the Rams run the ball because they fear something bad may happen if they don't.

If Bulger gets hit or he throws an interception downfield, so be it. That's football, folks. If the line is having trouble in pass protection, then keep a tight end or an H-back in to block, but you can't play such woefully generic offense because you are afraid of your QB getting sacked or making mistakes.

If that's the case, then you've beaten yourself before you've even begun.

The Rams' offense runs deep crossing patterns over the middle and 20-yard out routes to the sidelines better than any team in the league. Drew Bennett and Randy McMichael are certainly capable, while Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce can run those patterns in their sleep.

But you have to have the guts to throw downfield.

Until the Rams find their courage, they will remain among the league's ever-shrinking winless population.

**You can e-mail Steve Reynolds at sreynolds@realfootball365.com
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CommentsComments: 5  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
Jake L.		10:31 AM
09/25/2007
The Rams do need to find their courage and the will to use all the weapons that they paid so much for in FA. If you're not gonna ...
No.2
Cory		12:36 PM
09/25/2007
I've had the unfortunate privilege of watching all the "contests" the Rams have been a part of thus far and couldn't agree more. ...
No.3
Alex		02:17 PM
09/25/2007
I would rather see Gus Ferrote playing than Marc right now. He's hurt and they need a QB who can challenge the secondary without ...
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