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Rams' Team Report Week 3
« on: Sep 18th, 2002, 3:55pm » |
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St. Louis Rams
Rams at Tampa Bay, Monday night
I never thought the fantasy value of the Rams’ skill players would be in doubt this year. I hear the rumblings of panic out there in the FF world. How many threads have you seen about whether people should trade Warner, or is Warner’s thumb okay? Yes, the Rams are 0-2 and the offense has scored only 18.5 points per game and Kurt Warner has thrown only one TD, but they have played against two very good defenses. Denver and the Giants shut the Rams down fairly well, but they both have also shut down the 49ers fairly well this year too. The Rams aren’t clicking on offense yet. There are several reasons for this, but I think the biggest factor, so far, has been the lack of playing time in the preseason by the starters. I’d wager that the Rams starters played less in the preseason than any other team. The crispness and timing has been off. A lot of that should be attributed to two good defensive efforts against them, but a missed block here a miscommunication between Warner and a receiver, some turnovers and a couple of missed field goals, all help to add up to 0-2. To read Martz’ comments about the lack of playing time by the starters in the preseason and the Rams’ miscues in the first two weeks check out the link below and click the story “ Martz on the Mike. Sept. 16”
http://www.stlouisrams.com/
Quarterbacks:
Kurt Warner, contrary to the belief of some, Collinsworth included, has not reinjured his thumb. Warner on his thumb: “ It’s great, it’s fine”. The interception on the final play against the Giants was a bad read by Warner. He thought Holt would break the pattern inside, but Holt broke outside. Warner has averaged just under 300 passing yards per game, but has only 1 TD.
Running Backs:
Marshall Faulk had one of the best games of his career two years ago on Monday night against the Bucs. He had 4 Tds and well over 250 combined yards. He already has 3 Tds this year, but his total yardage is slightly less than what we expect from him. Faulk sums up the mood of the Rams after going 0-2:
“Anything can happen. If we were a team that couldn’t make plays or get things done or have expectations to do great things or things like that. We expect to win ball games. It’s not like we are going in the tank or anything, we are not going away. We are going to come back next week and battle tough and look up at the scoreboard and hope the score adds up in our favor. It’s a long season. You can be looked down upon or can be looked up upon. A lot of things happen”
Wide Receivers:
You can expect to see more of Terrance Wilkins in the Rams’ passing game. He is slowly learning the system. He looked very close to breaking a couple of returns also. Robert Edwards may see some game time this week as well. Further updates on this will follow later this week.
Prohel looked good last week in making some clutch third down catches and he caught Warner’s only TD of the year.
Bruce and Holt haven’t been called upon to stretch the field yet. Bruce has dropped a couple of easily catchable balls which could have been long plays. Holt looks great when Warner gets him the ball. One of these guys is due to bust out this week. Which one, I have no clue.
Tight Ends:
Ernie Conwell didn’t start last week because of a neck stinger. He did get in the game in the second half as the Rams trailed by 17 points. He should be close to 100 % this week.
Kicker:
Jeff Wilkins has missed a chip shot last week. He’s been kicking barefoot, because he thinks his cleats get caught in the turf.
Offensive Line:
The O line is banged up a little this year. Adam Timmerman is bothered by a lingering knee injury. Tom Nutten suffered a concussion last week. His status is probable. Right Tackle John St. Clair had a very good game against Michael Strahan. Granted he got some help on plays, but what team doesn’t do that? When they left him on the island against Strahan, he played him stright up. Strahan was a complete non-factor in the game last week. This fact alone should give all the Warner owners some confidence. If Nutten can’t go, Heath Irwin will replace him. Orlando Pace hasn’t played like the Pro Bowl player he is. He has given up a couple of cheap sacks, and hasn’t cleared the path for Faulk. In the 4th quarter, the Rams went for it on fourth down and one. They ran a play to Pace’s side, but the Giants’ D line collapsed the line of scrimmage, and Faulk was stopped.
Comments:
The Rams will react one of two different ways to being down 0-2. They will either continue to struggle and make crucial mistakes, or they will come out smoking. Tampa Bay is not normally a place where you would expect a team to go to and put up a huge offensive game, but this isn’t Dungy’s defense anymore. The Rams have had tough games against Tampa Bay the last few years, but they also put on an offensive show the last time they played there.
Don’t panic, stick with the same Ram players you would start each week. They are due to explode. If not this week, then next week at home against the Cowboys.
Score Prediction.....Rams 31- Bucs 24
Links:
http://www.stlouisrams.com/
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/Rams
Wide Receiver update, Martz:"We tried to do too much with him," Martz said. "We tried to get him up to where Az (Hakim) was mentally, and that's my fault. We just put too much on the poor guy. What we've done with him at this point is we've moved him over to the split end spot."
There, he'll be backing up Torry Holt.
"Torry's been in this offense now for close to four years," Martz said. "So we can move him around, or he can go inside and play (in the slot). But at this point, I think Terrence probably is ready to contribute."
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| « Last Edit: Sep 19th, 2002, 12:54pm by paulinstl » |
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