Nov 16th 2008 5:55PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Filed under: 49ers, Rams, NFC West Remember last week? Well, it’s deja vu. Yes, Yogi, all over again.

It’s halftime in San Francisco.

The scoreboard reads 35-3 in favor of the home town 49ers. Seriously, the same Niners who have already terminated a head coach and sport a 2-7 record.

Let’s see what we’ve got right now in the embarrassing department …

- Two interceptions from Marc Bulger, one of which was a deep pass thrown into triple coverage.

- Shaun Hill, who began the season as a backup quarterback, has completed 12 of 14 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns against this Rams defense. Oh, and he’s also rushed for a touchdown.

- Frank Gore has shredded the Lambs defense for 67 yards on 10 carries and two touchdowns.

- The Niners enjoyed a short 16 yard touchdown drive, thanks to a lost fumble by the hapless Rams.

Just think, it’s only halftime.

Seriously, I know Tony Romo was out and Steven Jackson was playing, but how the hell did these guys beat the Dallas Cowboys? Or how did they beat the Redskins in Washington?

This team is a colossal embarrassment right now. Steven Jackson isn’t the sole reason for this.

Nov 17th 2008 12:30AM by Adam Gretz (author feed)
Filed under: 49ers, Rams, NFC West Just one week after dropping a head-scratching, last-second loss to the Arizona Cardinals, the 49ers responded on Sunday as they pounded the Rams into submission, 35-16, giving Mike Singletary his first win as an NFL head coach. With the win, the 49ers improve to 3-7, which is good enough for second place in the NFC West. That’s just crazy. It also snapped what had been a six-game losing streak.

San Francisco blew the game open with 28 second quarter points, as Shaun Hill completed 15-of-20 passes for 213 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He connected with Vernon Davis and Bryant Johnson for scores in the second quarter onslaught.

Frank Gore led the 49ers with 106 yards on 18 carries, while also scoring on runs of one and five yards. So, what was the difference between this week’s game and the meltdown in the final minutes of this past Monday’s game? Obviously it was Singletary’s five-point plan for success. For the most part, the 49ers were successful in nearly all areas of the plan, so, hip-hip-hurray for progress.Continue Reading

Nov 14th 2008 2:30PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Filed under: Rams, NFC West, Fantasy Football, NFL Injuries Yes, this is your semi-daily obligatory Steven Jackson update. Woo hoo!

So the fact that SJax practiced Wednesday was basically a tease to St. Louis fans — well, sort of, judging from their message board community, it seems like most hate his guts at this point — and his fantasy football owners. Apparently the coaches reviewed the tape of Wednesday’s practice and he didn’t look like himself, and now the thigh is swollen again. His chances of playing, according to head coach Jim Haslett? “I doubt if it’ll happen to be honest with you,” Haslett said. “But we’ll see. You never know.” Jackson himself is quite unhappy. “When I initially hurt myself in the Dallas game, I kind of thought maybe a day or two,” Jackson said. “I really didn’t think I would miss a game, let alone two or three. So it’s frustrating because my thoughts were it was just kind of a strain, that I would probably need a couple days off and I’d be back. But for it to linger like this, it really makes you wonder what’s really going on there.”Continue Reading

Nov 13th 2008 9:15AM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Filed under: Rams, NFC West, Fantasy Football, NFL Injuries Even though nearly every Rams fan can’t wait to remind you that Steven Jackson is “selfish,” because they are still bitter he held out in the preseason, no one can deny that this sputtering offense most definitely needs him on the field. The one time this season they actually looked like a functioning offense he was busy puncturing the Cowboys defense for 160 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.

Since the snafu of Jackson trying to make it back too quickly a few weeks ago, Head Coach Jim Haslett has taken the approach that Jackson won’t be playing on Sunday if he isn’t able to practice full-go during the week.

Wednesday Jackson was able to practice, but he wasn’t full speed. “He worked better today. We’ll work him tomorrow and then hopefully make a decision,” coach Jim Haslett said. “I know it’s a lot better, but is it good enough? I don’t know yet.” Thus, neither do we. Look for some news on this situation tomorrow, because it appears the big test will come Thursday in practice.

Nov 11th 2008 2:40PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Filed under: Rams, NFC West, NFL Coaching Sunday, after the game, Jim Haslett wondered aloud whether or not he’d move forward with Marc Bulger or Trent Green as his quarterback. You can’t blame him, I mean, they had just been administered an embarrassing beatdown at the hands of the Jets. On the flip-side, he shouldn’t blame the media for following up with him about the possible QB swap. Apparently, though, he was not happy about it: There will be no changes at the quarterback position for the Rams this week. And coach Jim Haslett almost seemed insulted by the question Monday.

“Marc will start,” Haslett said, referring to this week’s game at San Francisco.

Has a change been discussed?

“Who do you want me to discuss it with?” Haslett replied. “There was no discussion.” OK, Jim … but there a discussion. You discussed it yesterday to the same media.

Either way, it would appear Bulger’s going to keep the quarterback job in St. Louis for the rest of the season (too bad they don’t still have this guy). Not that it even matters at this point. After winning Haslett’s first two games as their head coach, the Rams have crumbled in the ensuing two contests. They currently sit in a three-way tie for second place in the atrocious NFC West at 2-7, a four-game deficit to the now mighty Cardinals.

Nov 9th 2008 5:15PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Filed under: Jets, Rams, AFC East, NFC West The Rams had to figure it would be an uphill battle against a quickly improving Jets defense, especially without their best offensive player, Steven Jackson. The Jets’ front is strong enough to hold down any of Jackson’s backups, so they could then put their emphasis on stopping the passing game.

And the whole thing just turned into a disaster. Let us count the futility, bullet-point style:

– Five turnovers, zero takeaways. You can’t win a football game with a minus-five turnover ratio on any level.

– The Rams were outgained 206 to 80 on the ground.

– The Jets scored more points on defense than the Rams did on offense.

– Jets’ rookie tight end Dustin Keller — who entered the game with only 147 receiving yards — outgained the entire Rams receiving corps.

– Thomas Jones shredded the Rams abysmal run defense for 149 yards and three touchdowns.

There’s more …Continue Reading

Nov 9th 2008 7:45PM by Josh Alper (author feed)
Filed under: Jets, Rams, AFC East, NFC West It would have been easy for the Jets to fall into a trap today against the Rams. The game was against a weak opponent, sandwiched between two divisional road games and the second of those is Thursday in New England. Someone forgot to let the Rams know they should set one.

There wasn’t much that went wrong for the Jets today. They cruised down the field and scored on the opening drive, forced a three-and-out and then added a field goal. The game wasn’t in doubt after the next Rams possession. Abram Elam came like a cannonball on a safety blitz to force a Marc Bulger fumble, Calvin Pace recovered and returned it for a touchdown. It was 17-0, just 10 minutes were off the clock and things only went downhill from there for the Rams.

It was a complete effort for the Rams as well, completely inept. They turned the ball over five times, gained 200 yards and looked about as happy to be in New Jersey as a low-level mafioso who insulted Tony Soprano’s goomah. During the game, I got a text from a friend suggesting that Alabama would beat the Rams. My reply, “So would Michigan,” should let anyone familiar with college football know how pathetic the visitors’ effort was this afternoon.

Pathetic may seem like a strong word, but, really, based on the way the Rams played, effort is the stretch in that last sentence.Continue Reading

Nov 4th 2008 1:39PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Filed under: Rams, NFC West, Fantasy Football, NFL Injuries Steven Jackson is easily the best player the Rams have, when healthy. Of course, he’s not healthy at this point, as evidenced by his lackluster at best performance Sunday. Apparently he wasn’t as confident as he led everyone to believe leading up to the game. When the Rams’ offense trotted out for their first series of the day Sunday, Jackson was in the huddle. But before the Rams broke the huddle for their first play, Antonio Pittman had replaced Jackson. What happened?

With his strained right thigh muscle not 100 percent, Jackson said he wasn’t comfortable running the play once he heard the call.

“The play call was really more of an outside play, a cutback play,” (Jim) Haslett said. “He didn’t think he was ready for that play. … It kind of caught everybody off guard.” The entire backfield was in flux for the game, as Antonio Pittman and Travis Minor also suffered injuries. The Rams offense was handcuffed at that point. They had Jackson and Pittman fight through injuries, but they really couldn’t advance the ball via the ground as a team.Continue Reading

Nov 2nd 2008 11:20AM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: Rams, NFL Injuries, NFL Coaching, NFL Media Watch Steven Jackson is not the type of football player to shy away from public discussion/saying things that will embarrass him later. For instance, he has previously mentioned that he would like to shatter Marshall Faulk’s season yardage record (hint: not happening).

And now, he is bypassing the whole “coach in charge” thing and letting everyone know, via his website (SJ39.com) that he plans on playing today.
I want to let you all know that the leg is feeling good enough for me to go on Sunday. This is a big game for us against Arizona, and I’m going to give everything I’ve got to get us a win.

So to be clear: I am playing. Be ready.
Yes, it does seem a touch aggressive, thanks for asking. But then again, Jim Haslett is “running” this team, so maybe Jackson has more of a say in whether he gets to play than we thought. Or maybe he’s just saying this and it means nothing — it’s entirely possible for the coaching staff to laugh him off when he tries to play and sit him on the bench.

And that’s made more likely by the fact that Haslett no longer stands to make seven figures if this team cracks six wins; if he thinks he’s coaching next year in St. Louis and there’s no tremendous financial incentive, then it makes zero sense to force your best player into a potentially dangerous situation.

I’d probably hold off on inserting Jackson into your lineup until you hear a definitive answer from the team or see his name on an official injury report. Not that he’s not trustworthy or anything, but this isn’t a “set your lineup and walk away” type situation.

Nov 2nd 2008 10:20PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Filed under: AZ Cardinals, Rams, NFC West How did you enjoy the Edgerrin James era? That’s past tense for a reason, because in one week the torch was emphatically passed. We figured it might happen this week, but not like this. Not only did rookie Tim Hightower steal Edge’s job, he was handed 22 carries to Edge’s zero. That’s right, not even in trash time of a blowout victory did Edge see the field. J.J. Arrington even had 11 touches.

The other main story-line was the Cardinals seizing a major lockdown of the NFC West. Had the Rams won this game, they’d have only trailed the Cards by a game … sporting the head-to-head win and facing the Jets and Niners the next two games. This really would have been a divisional battle had the Rams held serve at home. They even stormed out of the gate with a 7-0 lead after one quarter, courtesy of an 80 yard bomb from Marc Bulger to Derek Stanley — much to the chagrin of Torry Holt and Donnie Avery fantasy football owners.Continue Reading