> RamView, December 31, 2006
> From The Couch
> (Report and opinions on the game.)
> Game #16: Rams 41, Vikings 21
>
> The Rams close the 2006 season in style in Minnesota. Steven Jackson
> shocks the league's best run defense and the Ram defense benefits from
> Viking rookie QB mistakes for a win nowhere near as close as even the
> blowout final score shows. St. Louis finishes the season 8-8 and with
> an eye toward a bright future.
>
> Position by position:
> * QB: Marc Bulger had an efficient game (19-30-248, 100.4) that would
> have been a dominant game if not for several brutal drops by his
> receivers early on. A good throw that Isaac Bruce stabbed for a 23-yard
> gain on 2nd-and-20 set up the Rams' opening drive FG. The offense
> stopped moving for a while after that, thanks to ugly drops by Torry
> Holt, Aaron Walker and Bruce. Bruce's 3rd-down drop made you wonder if
> the Rams were just going through the motions today, but after that
> play, all aspects of the Ram offense got clicking. Holt made a nice
> scoop for 13, and Marc hit him again with a beautifully-timed pass on
> the sideline for 18 more, to put the Rams at the Viking 6 and set up
> Steven Jackson's first TD. Later in the 2nd, facing a 3rd-and-9 up
> 17-7, Bulger fed Kevin Curtis perfectly for 31. From the Viking 21, he
> hit Holt for 12 on 3rd-and-10 before shoveling to Jackson for a 10-yard
> TD. After halftime, the Rams scored for the 3rd straight drive to make
> it a 27-7 game, and Bulger led them to a 4th straight score thanks to a
> juggling catch by Holt, Curtis' dive for the 1st down on 3rd-and-7, and
> a 26-yard shot upfield to Walker. Marc wasn't called on to throw deep,
> but he did everything else. These last two weeks, he's been as strong
> in the pocket as he's been all season, unloading the ball on time and
> very accurately, pretty close to unstoppable. Scott Linehan's been
> pretty good to Marc Bulger. He wasn't sacked today, and has been
> protected much better than he was under Mike Martz's kill-Bulger
> scheme. In turn, Bulger's been very good to Linehan, with his second
> Pro Bowl season: 4300 passing yards, 24 TDs, just 8 INTs. A great
> formula to follow again next year.
>
> * RB: Steven Jackson hasn't just elevated his play this season, he's
> gone into orbit, to a place where not even one of the best
> single-season run defenses in NFL history can stop him. They allowed
> just 54.5 yards a game coming in, but the Viking defense was humbled
> today by Jackson, who rolled up 142 rushing yards and four TDs. Steven
> opened up with an 18-yard run, patiently waiting for a block, then
> popping it outside while breaking two DB tackles. That drive ended,
> though, with Steven getting stuffed running out of the fullback
> position on a 3rd-and-2. That would be about the last time Minnesota
> stopped Jackson at anything, though. He ran through three Vikings for a
> 4-yard TD that put the Rams up 17-7. He started up the next drive with
> a nice cutback left for 14. After picking up one of many Viking
> 3rd-down blitzes to give Bulger time to hit Holt for 12 and a 1st,
> Jackson took a shovel pass 10 yards for his 2nd TD, making it 24-7.
> After halftime, Steven continued to be the Rams' finisher, bowling
> through two Vikings for his 3rd TD, and not only was he still not done,
> he still had his best play of the season left. From his own 41, he took
> the handoff and came almost to a full stop patiently waiting for Richie
> Incognito's big block, then exploded into the hole, and by the time he
> was running up the sideline, he had much too big a head of steam for
> the Viking secondary to catch him. Jackson's 59-yard TD run was his
> fourth of the day; it put him over 1,500 yards rushing for the season
> and at 2,334 yards from scrimmage. The 2,334 is best in the league for
> 2006 and the fifth-best in NFL history, and all this from a third-year
> back! Steven Jackson does it all - he runs, scores, catches, blocks,
> heck, he even recovered an onside kick today. He is clearly the next in
> the Rams' line of superstar RBs, and this team will be competitive as
> long as he is around.
>
> * WR: It didn't look like the Ram receivers came to play today
> initially; at least, it looked like they left their hands at home.
> After Minnesota's first TD, a brutal drop by Torry Holt and a bad drop
> by Aaron Walker gave the Rams an ugly three-and-out. The next drive was
> little better - on 3rd-and-2, Bulger hung in tough against a big
> blitz, and found Isaac Bruce (4-66), who. Dropped. The. Ball!
> Fortunately, Isaac had set up a FG earlier with a great full-extension
> grab to convert a 2nd-and-20, and when Minnesota didn't capitalize on
> the Rams' wheel-spinning, the receivers poured it on the rest of the
> game. Torry Holt (9-90) set up Steven Jackson's first TD with a nice
> 13-yard scoop and a perfect 18-yard sideline catch, "dotting the i"
> with his right foot with little room to spare. Torry's string of
> 1,300-yard seasons has come to an end, but 93 catches, 1178 yards and
> 10 TDs require no apologies, either. Kevin Curtis' two catches were
> superb and helped set up TDs. He caught a 25-yard throw from Bulger in
> the 2nd, took a wallop, and ran for five more yards. In the 3rd, he
> dove across the marker to convert a 3rd-and-7. That was followed by a
> 25-yard reception by Aaron Walker. But Bruce may have had the classic
> moment of the day, and I don't mean his wacky TD pass attempt in the
> 3rd, I mean a catch he made to set up a FG in the 2nd. In converting a
> key 3rd-and-8, Ike faked rookie CB Charles Gordon into thinking long
> route so badly that when he made his cut to the sideline, Gordon fell
> to the ground. Isaac's proved this season he's still got it. So does
> this whole receiving unit.
>
> * Offensive line: The revamped Ram offensive line looked very promising
> against Oakland and Washington, but today's matchup against the Viking
> defense loomed as the test that would show whether or not these guys
> could actually play. They passed, nearly with flying colors. Bulger
> wasn't sacked all day, though Richie Incognito got beaten badly by Pat
> Williams and had to drag him down to save a sack on the opening drive.
> That was probably as close as anybody got to Marc, who had a pretty
> comfortable day in the pocket. The success of the Ram running game,
> though, was eye-opening. The Vikings stuffed Jackson a few times but
> were far from controlling the line of scrimmage. Jackson's first TD
> came behind a Todd Steussie pancake and a solid block from Joe
> Klopfenstein, who's come a long way as a blocker. Mark Setterstrom also
> had a block on that play, and the key block on Jackson's shovel-pass
> TD. Incognito's big block blew open Steven's 59-yard TD in the 4th.
> Alex Barron did register his 13th false start of the season to force a
> FG, and the line lost focus a little bit once the Rams pulled the
> starters. But the day was still a big success, as the Ram offensive
> line and their stud RB took it right to the league's best run defense
> and came out on top.
>
> * Defensive line/LB: The Ram pass rush would have been abysmal against
> most other QBs, but by blitzing a ton, they were able to pressure
> rookie QB Tarvaris Jackson into poor throws, even though none of their
> blitzes resulted in sacks. After Dexter Coakley dropped Chester Taylor
> for a loss on Minnesota's 2nd drive, a 3rd down blitz forced Jackson,
> who'd already thrown an INT/TD, into a bad overthrow. The defense's
> main lapse while the game was still a contest came after the Rams went
> up 10-0. After about 40 yards worth of poor secondary tackling and
> coverage, the line gave Jackson forever to take off on a 7-yard
> scramble. That helped set up a 3rd-and-goal, where Leonard Little not
> only embarrassingly got manhandled by Jim Kleinsasser, he then got even
> more embarrassingly faked out by the rookie QB, who juked outside and
> then ran inside Leonard for Minnesota's first TD. With just a 10-7 lead
> and the offense spitting the bit late in the first, the Rams needed a
> big play out of somebody, and got it from Brandon Green, who blew up a
> Chester Taylor sweep to stall a Viking drive. In the 2nd, after Jimmy
> Kennedy HORRIBLY blew a backfield tackle and let Taylor get away for
> 15, Little put a big rush on the QB, and with Raonall Smith likely
> getting away with a helmet-to-head hit, Jackson chucked a pass up for
> grabs for Ron Bartell's 2nd INT of the day. That set up a TD, and the
> defense set up another one after Jason Fisk and Coakley slammed the
> door shut on Taylor on a 3rd-and-1 run. All that momentum eventually
> rolled into a 41-7 lead and a meaningless 2nd half. The referees
> screwed the Rams for one 2nd-half TD, while Mewelde Moore set up
> another with a 40-yard screen pass. The Rams did end up with three
> sacks, all in the 2nd half. Little forced a sack/fumble, Kennedy plowed
> in unblocked for one, and Will Witherspoon got a late Christmas gift
> from the statistician. The Rams more than made up for any pass rush
> flaws with solid run defense. All those good stops helped hold Taylor
> to 29 yards; Jackson was Minnesota's leading rusher, with 34. Pretty
> darn funny that with the NFL's best rushing defense on the other
> sideline, it's the 31st best Rams who hold the opposition to 82 running
> yards.
>
> * Secondary: The Rams started the game in fine fashion thanks to Ron
> Bartell, who classically jumped a sideline route to intercept a
> brutally dumb throw from Jackson and return it for an easy 38-yard TD.
> Bartell, who has really come along the last quarter of the season,
> picked off another pass Jackson threw up for grabs in the 2nd, and
> right now, I'd consider him and Tye Hill next year's starting CBs.
> Fakhir Brown's certainly no shutdown corner the way he looked early on,
> unable to cover the likes of Travis Taylor or Martin Nance, who sounds
> more like a TV fisherman than an NFL WR. Hill's terrible tackle of
> Taylor gave the completely-ordinary-but-somehow-hard-to-stop-today WR
> 19 to help set up Minnesota's first TD, also helped when he was left
> WIDE OPEN over the middle for 14 on 3rd-and-7 at the Ram 19. A poor DPI
> call set up one of Minnesota's late TDs, and then Taylor struck again.
> OJ Atogwe, who covered Nance nicely on an earlier bomb, seemed to react
> to a Jackson rollout and uncovered Taylor in the end zone for a catch
> in a crowd. It's a young, mistake-prone secondary, fortunately, a match
> for the young, mistake-prone QB and subpar receiving corps they faced
> today. We'll have to hope their development stays on schedule.
>
> * Special teams: Bob Ligashesky seems to just be guessing on covering
> kick returns anymore, like that guy on the FedEx commercial who can't
> find China on the wall map. He tried to trap Bethel Johnson with
> woefully-short directional kicks but generally couldn't keep him inside
> the 30. Then the Rams went with deep kickoffs, which had limited
> success until Johnson ran one back 65 yards in the 4th to set up a TD.
> The TV shot of Linehan muttering after that play was priceless unless
> you're someone who really wants to see Ligashesky back next year.
> Though to be fair, there were positives on STs as well. Jeff Wilkins
> hit a 53-yard bomb, his long for the season, and Matt Turk finished off
> an excellent season with three punts averaging 47 yards. The "hands
> team" can't get much work on onside kicks, but Corey Chavous made a
> nice play to cover one, and Steven Jackson recovered the other. Shaun
> McDonald has even started running forward just a little on punts before
> going sideways and getting stopped. To Ligashesky's credit, special
> teams improved a lot over last year's, but without some critical
> coverage breakdowns, the Rams are in the playoffs, and the return game
> continues to be a non-factor. "Teams" got a big personnel upgrade when
> Scott Linehan took over; the Rams will have to determine how much of
> the problem is still on, or off, the field.
>
> * Coaching/discipline: Kudos to the Ram coaching staff after today's
> game, starting with Scott Linehan, who got his charges to end the
> season on a three-game winning streak, winning convincingly and playing
> well this week even though they already knew they were out of the
> playoff picture. Linehan's shown he can get the Rams playing with
> focus; let's hope that in future seasons, they keep that game-to-game
> focus better than they did at times this season.
> Greg Olson did not have it going right away today. Incognito's holding
> penalty came on one of those bizarre Martz crossfield screen passes,
> and Richie's hold was probably the best potential result of the play.
> On 3rd-and-2 later that drive, Olson tried a twist on the fake flip-90
> he's enjoyed success with lately, this time with Holt at tailback and
> Jackson at fullback, but either Minnesota had it scouted, or Jackson
> didn't have enough room to build enough power to get through the beef
> up front. Probably the latter. The play looked like a bad idea as run
> and forced the Rams to settle for a FG. With the Vikings consistently
> blitzing on every third down, I'd expected a little more in the way of
> draw plays and screens. What you have to love about Olson's game plan
> today, though, is that he didn't concede the run even though the Rams
> were up against a historically-tough run defense. Showing faith in the
> running game - 35 runs vs. 31 passes - keeps up Jackson's and the
> o-line's confidence, and though a running game plan seems deceptively
> simple, I think it was really good coaching on Olson's part.
> Jim Haslett also chose the right plan today; the Ram defense held
> Minnesota to right around 300 total yards. He blitzed young Jackson
> almost constantly, and though it didn't result in any sacks, he got a
> lot of bad throws, and at least one of the turnovers, out of the
> strategy. Pass coverage was so soft, though, that it continues to be
> apparent that Haslett doesn't trust his secondary to cover much of
> anybody man-to-man, even Minnesota's motley crew. Haslett's going to
> have to get a lot more confidence in the DBs' man-to-man abilities if
> the Ram pass rush is to show improvement.
>
> * Upon further review: Today's officiating wasn't too bad - the Rams
> usually play well in games Peter Morelli's crew officiates - but it
> wasn't great, either. The early taunting penalty against Bruce was
> NHL-quality; Ike got flagged for retaliating after getting shoved WELL
> out of bounds. Bad referees always catch the 2nd infraction, never the
> first. Minnesota seemed to get the worst of it from Morelli and crew,
> however. The umpire tripped Jermaine Wiggins in the end zone in the
> 1st. It looked like Steven Jackson had the ball stripped out before he
> got it across the goal line for his 2nd TD. We never saw who recovered
> the loose ball, so it may not have mattered, and maybe Morelli got a
> better replay look than we got on TV. The cut work being done on
> Tarvaris Jackson's chin after his 2nd INT, though, tells me Raonall
> Smith's hit wasn't a legal one. Even with all that, the worst call of
> the day was the bullshit DPI called on Coakley that set up a Viking TD
> in the 4th. Dexter had position to receive the pass, turned for the
> ball, played the ball, and the contact was initiated by the receiver,
> but Dexter gets the penalty? I don't care if it is 41-7; referees have
> to do better than make ludicrously bad calls like that one. Morelli did
> an OK job, but it'll be an indictment of the mediocrity of NFL
> officiating if we see him in a game more important than this the rest
> of the season.
>
> * Cheers: Apparently, St. Louis isn't enough of a baseball town
> already, so now our baseball announcers do our football games. Fox gave
> us Cards TV announcer Dan McLaughlin along with former Jagwire OT Tony
> Boselli. (What, John Rooney and Jeff Lageman weren't available?) And
> you had Joe Buck providing updates from the studio. I was a couple of
> Frederick Roofing jingles away from wondering why LaRussa was giving
> Albert Pujols the day off. Even so, it was a pretty good broadcast,
> though too many sloppy transitions ran over the next play or kept us
> out of date on down/distance/yard line. Other negatives: nobody figured
> out who recovered the loose ball on Jackson's 2nd TD, and all the
> outdated "Greatest Show on Earth" talk in the first half. I realize the
> Rams scored a GSOE-like 41 points, but the Rams aren't the old GSOE any
> more than today's Vikings are the Purple People Eaters. Positives:
> Boselli pointing out the rubber dust Holt kicked up when he got his
> foot in on the challenged sideline catch in the 2nd, and the hilarious
> crowd shot of the grumpy Minnesota fan in his Viking helmet. That was
> priceless.
> RamView's fearless Super Bowl prediction: in true conspiracy-theory
> tradition, I'm picking the Saints to win it all, because they're the
> team the NFL most wants to do it. They'll eliminate the Eggles on a
> late FG set up by a controversial tuck rule call. The Bears won't beat
> anybody, even Seattle, with their QBs throwing more INTs than
> completions, but the Hawks will stand no chance against the Saints'
> building momentum. The Chargers steamroll through the AFC, but look for
> the refs to call pass interference exactly opposite to the way they did
> in Super Bowl XVI. The Charger D will never stand a chance, which will
> also take LT out of the game on offense. Laissez les bons temps rouler!
> 38-28, Saints.
>
> * Who's next?: As you might expect in a season that ended with an 8-8
> record, the 2006 Rams had their ups and downs. The ups were mostly on
> offense. Scott Linehan's more conventional, conservative offensive
> approach kept Marc Bulger healthy for a full season for only the second
> time, and what do you know? Like his last healthy season, Marc made the
> Pro Bowl. He bought into Linehan's system and executed it well,
> throwing an astoundlingly-low 8 INTs. Steven Jackson emerged as one of
> the league's superstars and a guy who could well carry the team to
> greater glory. The WRs showed they've still got it, though given Holt
> and Bruce's increasing age, I doubt the Rams can afford to lose Curtis.
> TEs Walker and Klopfenstein proved good blockers, - Klop's
> development has been notable - while Dominique Byrd flashed potential
> as a receiving weapon. Despite a flood of injuries, the offensive line
> held up, and a young nucleus has suddenly sprung up in the middle,
> that, combined with a healthy Orlando Pace, could rank among the
> league's best in a couple of years. Linehan seemed to break the Ram
> offense early in the season, but the switch to Greg Olson as
> play-caller has generally been a success. Olson calls a balanced game
> plan. After the brutal shutout in Carolina, the Rams averaged 27.5
> points a game. They averaged over 31 a game in December. At season's
> close, you can say the offense is set and doesn't need much going into
> next year. Their best moves would be to retain Curtis, and Jackson's
> mentor Stephen Davis.
> The Ram defense, though, still seems to need a lot. Leonard Little is
> their only bona fide pass rusher. That has to improve. They really need
> to add a threat at DE who can return Brandon Green to spot roles, where
> he'd be best, while giving Victor Adeyanju time to develop. The Rams
> probably need to focus on improving the pass rush short-term, because
> Hill, Bartell, and Atogwe look like good DBs to develop long-term, and
> I wouldn't mind adding Laron Landry in the draft if they can pull it
> off. If that's the plan, the secondary is going to continue to be
> dependent on the defensive line until the youngsters settle in. The
> team's worst shortcoming, though, is its run defense, worse than even
> Larry Marmie's of last year, the worst Ram run defense since 1961. In
> run defense, like in baseball, you have to be strong up the middle, and
> the Rams aren't. They don't have a difference-making DT. With luck,
> Claude Wroten will fill one of the roles and the Rams can find an
> impact free agent for the other. LaRoi Glover isn't what he once was,
> and lighting a fire under Jimmy Kennedy's proven about as successful as
> those women trying to start fires during last season's Survivor finale.
> Prevailing opinion is that Will Witherspoon's too small for MLB, but
> Carolina didn't get run on the way the Rams do when Will played there;
> the Panthers had a top pair of defensive tackles. And London Fletcher
> was small, too. The building blocks on defense are in the middle of the
> line, and since that's where they need the most help the quickest,
> they'd best not rely on the draft to deliver an answer. Build up the
> line in free agency and use the draft to add secondary, linebacker and
> offensive depth. If the Rams find an effective way to improve on
> defense, they may not have to rely on three other teams to lose the
> last week to make the playoffs next season.
>
> -- Mike
> Game stats from nfl.com
>