RamView, November 10, 2002
By Rams Nation's Mike Franke
Position by position:
* QB: Clutch play. Usually pinpoint accuracy. Standing strong
in the pocket with veteran poise. Finding nine different receivers for completions.
Leading the offense on long scoring drives. Putting up outrageous statistics,
like, say, 36 for 48, 453 yards, 4 TDs, no interceptions. Kurt Warner at the
height of his game? No, not even Warner ever had a game this good. That was
Marc Bulger at the wheel today, pulling the Rams out of a ditch for a dramatic
win. And Bulger didn’t have Marshall Faulk to help him, partly due to
injury, partly due to San Diego’s defense. The Chargers dared Bulger to
beat them, and he did. Marc started the Rams off hot again, finishing an opening
85-yard drive with a perfect 17-yard TD pass to Ernie Conwell in the corner
of the end zone. The Rams were down 17-7 at the half thanks to turnovers that
were no fault of Bulger. Marc responded with an 87-yard 3rd-quarter drive to
pull them close. The key play there was a 21-yarder to Rickey Proehl on 3rd-and-10;
the capper was another perfect TD pass, this one to Isaac Bruce from 27. Another
crucial turnover put the Rams back down by 10, and with 4:58 left, it seemed
all over but the shouting, but then, Bulger went back to work. He led the Rams’
hurry-up offense 94 yards in just 1:52. He hit Torry Holt, Bruce, and Proehl
twice before forcing a 34-yard sideline pass to Bruce that Isaac turned into
gold with a tip and a TD. Down 24-21, the Rams recovered an onside kick, and
Bulger proved a Marc of excellence again. He hit Lamar Gordon 4 straight times,
then Holt, then Bruce, before finding Isaac again for the game-winning 7-yard
TD. The Rams hadn’t had a comeback like this in 4 years, but Bulger did
the job thanks to great poise (and blocking). He found alternate receivers repeatedly,
eluded any pressure in the pocket, threw well on the run, didn’t make
any bad mistakes – just an incredible game. Marc can tell his grandchildren
about this game one day. Hell, WE can tell OUR grandchildren about this game
one day, even if Kurt Warner comes back 100% next week and Marc never starts
another game for St.
* RB: The fast, physical San Diego defense put Marshall Faulk
in their crosshairs today, and accomplished what they hoped to, as the team
MVP was held to just 36 yards rushing and 36 yards receiving. Faulk had a costly
fumble near the goal line in the 3rd quarter that seemed lethal at the time,
and left the game with about 12:00 left with a sprained right ankle. This to
go with a left foot injury suffered early in the game when Marshall’s
shoe came off. That’s gotta cost somebody a shoe contract. Warrior all
the way, Marshall says he will be back next week. Lamar Gordon came up very
big in Faulk’s place. What a clutch performance by a rookie! Gordon had
four straight catches and a 9-yard run on the Rams’ game winning drive.
That run was on a 2nd-and-13 just before the 2:00 warning, and Gordon punctuated
it with a headlong dive into the San Diego defenders. Gordon’s effort
in the clutch today should be long remembered by Rams fans.
* Receivers: Happily, Isaac Bruce made yours truly in row
HH look like a fool. After two costly fumbles, frankly, inexcusable fumbles
for a 9th-year veteran, the mandate from this seat was, “DON’T throw
it to Bruce,” made repeatedly. Donnie Edwards had returned the first fumble
for an 82-yard TD. But Isaac did a much better job recovering from his fumbles
than I did, with 4th-quarter TD grabs of 34 and 7 yards to go with a 27-yarder
in the 3rd. Isaac made a spectacular tip play to catch the 34-yarder and had
a great nose for the end zone on the game-winner. Isaac finished the day with
10 catches for 163. Torry Holt added a big 7 for 118. Rickey Proehl (3-37) had
a big 21-yard catch on 3rd-and-10 to set up Isaac’s first TD. Ernie Conwell
(2-20) caught the first TD, and Brandon Manumaleuna (2-38) looked really good
catching the ball. Troy Edwards had a 27-yard reverse but a costly fumble returned
for a TD on his only reception.
* Offensive line: Bulger looked like the “real”
Kurt Warner today because the offensive line provided its staunchest pass protection
of the season. Bulger wasn’t sacked and wasn’t touched often. The
Chargers only got a little additional pressure with blitzes; they were usually
unable to get a blitzer through. Orlando Pace utterly dominated the left side
of the line, and John St. Clair has really developed these last four weeks.
John had an excellent game against Marcellus Wiley, who registered only one
tackle. The middle of the line was also strong, as Bulger usually had all kinds
of time to throw. San Diego has great speed on defense and has been a leading
unit against the run for a couple of years, and Faulk missed a lot of the game,
so the Rams were not able to dominate up front running as they had the last
three weeks. But their dominant pass protection was more than enough for success
today.
* Defensive line/LB: The Rams had only one sack, but oh, what
a big one it was. Tyoka Jackson exploded through the line to get Drew Brees
with the Chargers near midfield, trying to drive for the winning score with
about a minute left in the game. Jackson’s tackle not only forced San
Diego into a 3rd-and-19, it took about 25 seconds off the clock, as Brees failed
to call a timeout. The defense gave up only 10 points even though the front
seven didn’t dominate. The Chargers killed themselves with penalties as
much as anything. LaDainian Tomlinson rolled for 120 yards, and the Rams were
surprisingly slow up and down the line of scrimmage (at least compared to the
likely Pro Bowl RB). Why San Diego didn’t feed LT the ball even more is
beyond me. Brees threw for only 139 yards, but I didn’t notice that much
pressure on him. Grant Wistrom had only 2 tackles, and he and Leonard Little
rarely got into the QB’s face, but they made key plays. Little stopped
Tim Dwight on a reverse in the 3rd for a 3-yard loss. Wistrom had a key play
in the 4th, flushing Brees from the pocket on 3rd-and-23 on a play that kept
San Diego out of field goal range. That’s an unappreciated play, because
the Rams’ comeback began on the ensuing drive. Adam Archuleta (team-leading
8 tackles) and Damione Lewis stopped Tomlinson on 3rd-and-long runs. Ultimately,
the Rams let the Charger offense inside the 30, let alone the “red zone,”
only twice, and that was too far out for their weak kicking game to contribute
key points. Bend but don’t break defense worked to the max today.
* Secondary: Another stalwart effort from the Rams secondary.
Dre Bly worked Curtis Conway over to just 2 catches for just 19 yards. That
stunted Brees, who threw for only 139 on the day. Conway’s his favorite
receiver. Tim Dwight was their leading receiver, but just for 53 yards; a pretty
good game from Travis Fisher. And it was big that the young Rams DBs didn’t
let any receivers get behind them deep on the Chargers’ final possession.
Kim Herring broke up Brees’ first attempt into the end zone on that drive
before Dexter McCleon ended the threat with an end zone INT on the game’s
deciding play. Excellent safety help by both men. Herring also had a diving
interception in the 2nd . James Whitley stopped Terrell Fletcher short on a
3rd-and-18 to stop San Diego’s first drive after halftime, and the Rams
followed that with a TD drive. With Herring coming to life, Bly playing dominating
ball, and the youngsters playing quite well, the secondary has really pulled
itself together in the wake of Aeneas Williams’ season-ending injury.
* Special teams: Special teams turned in the most important
play of the game. With just over 3:00 left and the Rams down 3, Jeff Wilkins
punched a perfect onside kick. It bounced high into the air, and Dre Bly, the
master of the onside kick recovery, SKIED for it and pulled it in to set the
Rams’ winning drive in motion. Then special teams almost blew the game
after the Rams took the lead. Wilkins had to make a possibly game-saving tackle
on a return that came across midfield. Mitch Berger had another exceptional
day punting, getting just under 50/punt, with a long of 61(!). Leonard Little
made the stop on a couple of punt returns. The Rams got little going on their
own returns, including the hideously stupid call at the start of the 4th for
Terrence Wilkins to throw a crossfield lateral to Bly. It was a long return,
but it was called back because the lateral was an illegal forward pass. Really
dangerous call to make at that juncture anyway.
* Coaching/discipline: A-plus-exclamation-point for Mike Martz.
He didn’t panic after Faulk’s injury (as he said he did in Tampa),
and his team never quit on him. Faulk didn’t get a lot of touches when
he was in there, but that was more “Mad Marty” than it was “Mad
Mike.” The Chargers were determined to take away the run, and Martz went
to the air because they were willing to let Bulger challenge them. So Martz
had Marc throw 48 times. And this wasn’t from any simple game plan. It
looked like Martz really gave Bulger the keys to the car. Martz called oodles
of motion, empty backfields, bunch formations and misdirection. And Marc handled
it all like he’d been running it for years. Major accolades to Martz for
having Bulger as ready to run the full offense as he was today. Poor timeout
management could have hurt, but didn’t. The Rams used two on their first
3rd-quarter drive, including one before the first play, which came after about
a 5-minute TV timeout. Huh? The Rams committed a lot of penalties (10), and
the fumbles (FOUR) better get under control quickly. After I said Lovie Smith
learned from Super Bowl 36 last week, he seemed to forget it this week. He didn’t
bring extra rushers and kept the secondary in pretty soft zones as the Chargers
moved into scoring position on their final drive, including a conversion on
4th-and-12. But results are results.
* Upon further review: I cringed upon seeing Ed Hochuli at
midfield today. He refereed two of the Rams’ three losses last year, including
the Super Bowl. Flags didn’t just fly today, they swarmed – 22 penalties
in all. The least popular call was easily the 2nd-quarter roughing-the-passer
call on Wistrom. Man, that was just a tackle, nothing more. Jack Snow (radio)
didn’t think Bulger was really roughed in the 3rd, either. And Bly got
away with taking off his helmet after recovering the onside kick. But good calls
on two of Bruce’s TDs: that future Hall-of-Famer Ryan McNeil interfered
on the first one, and that Isaac indeed got in on the 3rd one, called correctly
before and after the review. Refereeing was really pivotal. Penalties killed
several Charger drives today; they stopped themselves as much as the Ram defense
stopped them.
* Cheers: Marty Schottenheimer said today’s crowd was
the loudest he has ever heard. That is truly high praise, considering he coached
in Arrowhead for 10 years. And the crowd deserves high praise. More than any
other game I can remember, they willed the team to a win. It was as loud and
intense as it has ever gotten in the Dome. It shows on the stat sheet, too,
under “Penalties.” Half of San Diego’s 12 penalties were plainly
crowd noise-induced false starts, including 3 in a row (!) their first series.
12th man? Absolutely! The crowd probably also forced a Charger delay of game,
so there’s 35 yards of defense from your crowd.
* Who’s next?: Reeling ain’t the half of it to
describe the Chicago Bears, who have lost seven in a row and managed to blow
a 3-TD lead at home today to the Patriots. Injuries have really decimated the
team, which went 13-3 last year. Their success last year came from pounding
the defense with Anthony Thomas, but injuries on the offensive line have withered
their running game. Chicago is also very banged-up at QB. Crystal Chandelier
shattered AGAIN today, and the regular starter, Jim Miller, is far from 100%.
Heck, they called four option passes today. Even at full steam, the Bear offense
is not that threatening; it’s back to a 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust scheme
that doesn’t expect the QB to complete a pass over 5 yards. Very defendable.
The Bear defense is surprisingly near the bottom of the league in total defense.
It’s an overall effort – they’re in the bottom third against
the run, the pass and in sacks. Even so, Brian Urlacher is close to being the
league’s best LB, and Roosevelt Colvin leads the team with 7 sacks from
his LB position. The defensive line had just 3 sacks going into today, though,
so it’s apparent they’re weak up front (after losing man-mountain
Ted Washington for the year) and have to blitz to get any pressure. Mike Brown
has been a great play-making safety for their secondary, but the New England
receivers toasted them today. The Rams will have to do a couple of things well
next Monday night if they are to achieve the tantalizing .500 mark: stop the
run, protect well against the blitz, and please, oh, please, take better care
of the ball.
-- Mike