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St. Louis Rams Lead a Long Drive to Nowhere

Marc Bulger must learn: A receiver covered by Kelly Jennings is wide open.

More photos » Ted S. Warren - AP

Marc Bulger must learn: A receiver covered by Kelly Jennings is wide open.

It was a long drive, spanning two quarters, but it was a boring drive that turned on a ball spot. The yellow line isn't gospel, but it should be accurate. Daniel Fells was on or over the first down marker. The refs marked him a yard short and the Twelfth Man took care of the rest. A false start and delay of game later, the Rams were third and 11. Josh Brown hooked it left and the shutout was intact.

From a statistical standpoint, this drive was important. The chance the Rams would win peaked at 69% on that third and one. But it was slow, detail-poor football. Seattle was getting moderate pass rush and controlling their assignments, but Marc Bulger and offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur found holes in the Seahawks zone and methodically converted first downs to crawl down the field. Here is what little detail I can offer.

  • Ken Lucas missed two tackles. His first allowed Steven Jackson to turn the corner and rush for ten. His second was a play that could have been worse. The Seahawks defense was sure someone on the Rams had committed a false start, so sure three were busy pointing when the play began. Bulger passed very short left to Laurent Robinson, an out of position Lucas dove right and missed, and Robinson ran clean into the third level. There Deon Grant tackled him. Replace Robinson with a good open-field runner and it's anyone's guess where that play ends.
  • Former defensive back John Lynch and Ron Pitts praised Lucas for covering Keenan Burton on a deep route, and Lucas did cut off the route a smidge, but it was an overthrown ball or an under-fast receiver, because Lucas was beat, incomplete or not.
  • Seattle got sucked up on an end around. That's the price of an attacking defense.
  • Cory Redding adjusted to a naked bootleg by Bulger and pressured him into throwing it away.
  • Patrick Kerney, as quiet as I can ever remember him, almost tackled Steve Jackson from behind. He almost behind the line and tackled Jackson, but didn't.
  • Lawrence Jackson tackled Steven Jackson for a loss that was somehow spotted as no gain. He stuck an arm into Jason Smith and tracked the action towards the middle. When Steven Jackson's lane opened right of center, Jackson plunged into Jackson and our Jackson won.
  • Seattle blitzed six on third and 11. It overloaded the right, sending Aaron Curry and Jordan Babineaux. Bulger overthrew Robinson. Kelly Jennings was glued to his hip. Guess Bulger missed that memo. Robinson was wide open, yo.

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On the play where Lucas missed Jackson,

and Jackson ran for 10 yards, I can’t help but think that it was the safety (or linebacker, I can’t remember which)‘s fault. In an open field situation, Lucas isn’t going to bring down Jackson a goo 50% or so of the time (random guess), but he did slow him down and make him shift. The backup guy was content to stay 10 yards away waiting to see what Lucas did, when I think he should have came up and helped forcing Jackson to run out of bounds.
Am I wrong here or is my memory correct?

Also, this game did a bit, in my mind, to make me think that Jennings and Jackson could pan out. Jennings obviously won’t be a great starter, but I’m just hoping for serviceable backup at this point.

by LantermanC on Sep 15, 2009 7:45 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

The Jennings quip is a joke

Of course there’s hope.

I can’t be sure exactly what Babineaux did before he tackled Jackson, but one of the worse things a defender can do is break contain and make a rush for the tackle. Lucas was on Jackson and had position. Jackson, a very good running back, turned the corner and stiff-armed Lucas to the turf. Babineaux played his part and made sure Lucas’ mistake wasn’t more damaging. It’s no great failure for a corner to get beat outside by Steven Jackson. Get the safety up there and turn it into a circus and suddenly there’s no one to stop Jackson.

by John Morgan on Sep 15, 2009 7:59 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

So if Babs cheats up a bit more

then Jackson has a chance to break it for a long TD. But if he doesn’t cheat up, then Lucas misses, it’s almost a guaranteed 10 yarder?

by LantermanC on Sep 15, 2009 8:02 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

If Babs could cheat up, and that's an assumption, he could have limited the gain.

But by staying back in position, he allows teammates to swarm and gives himself his best chance to complete the tackle.

by John Morgan on Sep 15, 2009 8:25 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Best possibility...

risk/reward when talking about matching up to a beast like Jackson. I’m perfectly okay making sure his 30 yard bursts stay at 10-12 yards.

Well, that’s not true. He’s on my fantasy team. But for Seattle standpoints, yes, take the medicine of containment in the Green Death flavor…

Mancrushed. Jake Locker for Heisman 2010.

by whiskey chainsaw on Sep 15, 2009 9:39 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

I wonder if Lawyer would have hammered Jackson earlier

I saw Lucas get stiff armed. Hard to expect a CB to stop a 240 lb back.

And by the way, when is someone going to post a gif or video of Curry destroying Jackson. I can’t even remember a Seahawk defender blowing a back as big as Jackson up like that. It was beautiful.

by ASeahawkfan on Sep 15, 2009 8:47 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

While we're on the subject.

Request: Ray Willis demolishing that poor sap on a run play right, springing Julius Jones for a decent run down the sideline that I think converted the first.

"Part, fools!
Put up your swords. You know not what you do."

by Fearless Frog on Sep 15, 2009 10:02 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

If it's the one I'm thinking of, I believe it was the pitch to Forsett.

Willis pushed his block all the way downfield, then finished it off by shoving him to the ground, taking out about two other defenders and Butler, making a pile that Forsett couldn’t quite get past.

by Groundhog on Sep 15, 2009 10:37 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Willis is a bulldozer not nearly as smart as Unger about what to do at the second level

His pass blocking has improved to the acceptable level and he is going to improve. Not a pro bowl talent but a keeper

by southern oregon on Sep 15, 2009 10:46 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Unger hasn't impressed me all that much

With his second level blocking. But he is a rookie.

by Groundhog on Sep 15, 2009 10:55 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

sweet

That was one of the most vicious hits I’ve ever seen on Steven Jackson. I’m surprised he wasn’t hurt.

by ASeahawkfan on Sep 16, 2009 8:40 AM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Whoah, never knew Jackson was 240.

"Part, fools!
Put up your swords. You know not what you do."

by Fearless Frog on Sep 15, 2009 10:01 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

I was watching the game with a buddy who used to work at Qwest Field.

He said that he got to see a lot players up close before games, and even in comparison to other NFLers, S-Jax looked superhuman. The phrase he used was along the lines of “something beyond humanity.”

by thebyron on Sep 16, 2009 11:12 AM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

With his dreads...

and super-tall long frame for a football player, he reminds me a little of the predator, lol.

Mancrushed. Jake Locker for Heisman 2010.

by whiskey chainsaw on Sep 16, 2009 11:47 AM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

That's what my wife calls him.

Well, she calls Marion Barber that as well.

It's Great to be a Florida Gator!

09/05
Terminated contracts
S Brian Russell

by Wayward Llama on Sep 16, 2009 2:51 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Couple of quick things about the defense that I found interesting and don't know where to put elsewhere

Bradley made most (or all) of the defensive calls. They only blitzed 9 times. They had more called but checked out of them. I believe I’m remembering this from the Mora interview, but it stuck in my head as interesting.

by B.B.Finnegan on Sep 15, 2009 9:18 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

Rare to see Lucas mess up a tackle

From what I remember he was pretty good at that, especially coming up to stop the run.

Kerney, I think, was effective just by jumping the snap so fast that he had to be making Bulger nervous.

by Groundhog on Sep 15, 2009 10:40 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

Speedy little devil.

Glenn Beck likes argument, but has a deap-seated hatred for logic.

by Cheddar28 on Sep 16, 2009 9:59 AM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Early thoughts on Kerney?

I was at the game in the 300 level about 8 drinks deep. My analysis skills were poor, at best.

The demise of the Broncos in '09 is our future. Pray hard.

by Nick Andron on Sep 16, 2009 10:12 AM PDT reply actions   0 recs

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