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By Nick Wagoner
Senior Writer
PHILADELPHIA –
Fourth
Quarter
-
Things got worse to open the fourth quarter. Westbrook
scored his second touchdown of the season, this time from 6 yards out. That
score made it 38-0 Eagles with 12:06 to play.
- The
Rams went to a no huddle to try to generate something offensively and got a
couple of quick completions to McMichael and Dane Looker to move into Eagles
territory.
-
After a Bulger sack, left tackle Orlando Pace left the
field holding his right arm. Adam Goldberg replaced him in the lineup.
-
Finally, with nine minutes left in the game, Josh Brown
connected from 46 yards out to get the Rams on the board. That kick made it
38-3.
- The
Eagles benched McNabb on the next drive with a big lead, plugging Kevin Kolb in
his place.
-
Philadelphia moved deep into
Rams territory but opted to keep the score where it was, kneeling on the ball to
take home a 38-3 win. The loss was the worst in the history of opening days in
franchise history. The previous worst was a 40-7 loss to
Buffalo on opening day 1992.
Third
Quarter
-
The Rams opened the second half with the ball and promptly went
three and out. The defense responded with one of its own.
-
The Rams again went three and out as
Jackson
almost broke a punt return
for a touchdown.
-
The run of three and outs finally ended when Tony Hunt burst in
from 1 yard out for a touchdown and 28-0 lead with 5:45 to go in the third quarter.
-
A 60-yard punt return from
Jackson
gave the Eagles a first down
at the Rams’ 9 to open their next possession.
-
Philadelphia
couldn’t
put this one in the end zone as David Akers converted from 23 yards out for a
31-0 lead with
2:29 to go in the
quarter.
-
The Rams failed to get a first down again on the ensuing
possession, moving to 0-for-10 on third down in the game.
-
At the end of three quarters,
Philadelphia
has a commanding 31-0
lead.
Second
Quarter
-
The Rams got their first defensive stop of the day, getting a deep
incompletion to begin the second quarter.
-
The offense got some momentum with a 15-yard completion to
McMichael but a pair of false start penalties one by each of the guards, pushed
the Rams back and killed any momentum. The Rams were forced to punt and pinned Philadelphia at its 9 with
10:28 to go in the half.
-
So much for being pinned in. McNabb hit Greg Lewis on first down
for a gain of 52 yards to the St. Louis 39 on the first play of the drive.
-
The defense came up with another stop, though and continues to
find ways to hold the Eagles down.
-
The Rams were backed to their 2 on each of their next two
possessions. The first one went three and out.
-
The second, the Rams got some momentum on a penalty and a 24-yard
completion to Jackson
. Once again,
penalties and protection breakdowns stalled the Rams and they were forced to
punt with 1:52
to go in the half.
-
Jones hit another excellent punt, pinning the Eagles at their 8.
-
Once again, the Rams got stops on first and second down before
McNabb hit Hank Baskett for a 90-yard touchdown. Baskett ran free down the
sideline on a blown coverage and ran out of a tackle for a score.
-
That touchdown made it 21-0, which is the halftime tally.
First
Quarter
- The
Rams won the toss and elected to defer, a new NFL allowance this season.
-
Philadelphia
got the ball first and wasted no time marching down the field though the Rams
had the opportunity to get a stop.
-
After a first down incompletion, Donovan McNabb floated a
deep pass down the right sideline for
Jackson
.
Jackson
jumped high over cornerback
Tye Hill and hauled it in for a gain of 47 yards. Hill had an opportunity to
make a play on the ball but didn’t and
Jackson
came down with it.
-
Making matters worse, the Rams were flagged for
unsportsmanlike when someone on the sideline made contact with an official to
tack on an additional 15 yards.
-
Four plays later, McNabb hit running back Brian Westbrook
on a shuffle pass for a 1-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
- End
Leonard Little suffered what appeared to be a right hamstring injury on the
game’s fourth play and came out. His status is unknown.
- The
Rams wasted no time getting
Jackson
involved, giving him a pair of carries to start their first possession of the
season.
Jackson
picked up 11 yards
on those attempts and looked decisive in choosing his running lanes.
-
Marc Bulger hit Randy McMichael for a gain of 18 and the
Rams moved into
Philadelphia
territory before a third down sack of Bulger lost 9 yards and forced the Rams to
punt.
-
Receiver Drew Bennett was injured on a play, it appeared to
be a left ankle injury.
-
Philadelphia
converted a pair of third downs, including a third-and-12 for a gain of 31
yards. That helped set up an 18-yard jaunt by Westbrook before McNabb hit L.J.
Smith for 5 yards and a touchdown. That gave the Eagles a 14-0 lead with
1:53 left in the quarter.
- The
Rams did not come with a response, going three and out on the ensuing
possession.
-
The Eagles took over on their 37.
Two plays netted 4 yards. At the end of the first quarter, the Eagles have the
ball at their 41 on third-and-6 and a 14-0 lead.
Pregame Notes
-
Greetings from
Lincoln
Financial Field aka The Linc, where the Rams and Eagles
are preparing to kick off the 2008 regular season.
-
There was much speculation about field conditions after the
torrential downpours yesterday and the Connecticut/Temple football game played
here that this surface would be torn up and trashed. None of those worries seem
to really be in play, though, as the surface looks to be in good shape as the
teams warm up. It’s also gorgeous outside with a nice little breeze. Concerns
over weather should be discarded right now.
-
Running back Steven Jackson will get plenty of work today. In
fact, don’t be surprised if he’s the centerpiece of the offense.
Jackson
is in shape, it’s just a
matter of how well he will take contact when he gets it for the first time in
this preseason.
-
As expected, Nick Leckey will make the start at center in place of
Brett Romberg. Fakhir Brown is active but not starting. Ron Bartell will start
in his place but Brown will get some work.
-
The rest of the inactives for the Rams: receiver Donnie Avery,
third quarterback Brock Berlin, running back Brian Leonard, safety Brannon
Condren, linebacker David Vobora, guard Roy Schuening, tackle John Greco and
defensive end Eric Moore.
-
Leonard is still bothered by the shoulder injury and will be
replaced in the lineup by Dan Kreider.
-
Interesting that both rookie linemen are down but Romberg can play
guard if needed and Adam Goldberg can also fill in at guard and tackle if
needed.
-
For
Philadelphia
, no
surprises. Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown will be replaced by Hank Baskett and
DeSean Jackson.
By Nick Wagoner
Senior
Writer
PHILADELPHIA – Heading to Lincoln Financial Field
to play the Eagles in the regular season opener Sunday, the Rams knew they were
in for challenge.
What they didn’t expect was to be on the other
side as the Eagles offense soared over their heads for big play after big play
while the Rams offense sputtered to an inauspicious start that resulted in
a 38-3 loss in the season’s first contest.
“I was expecting us to play a lot better,” coach
Scott Linehan said. “I fully expected us to play well today. We had great
practices leading up to today and it did not translate obviously. They dominated
us in all three phases today.”
So dominant were the Eagles that they handed the
Rams their worst opening day loss in the history of the franchise. It was the
largest deficit the team has had since a 40-7 loss to Buffalo in 1992.
Philadelphia outgained the Rams 522-166 and had
three wide - outs go over 100 yards receiving.
Perhaps more disappointing than any statistical
measure was the way in which the Rams failed to come up with any kind of rhythm
on offense or consistent defensive performance.
From the moment the Eagles received the opening
kickoff, the Rams were buried in an avalanche of big plays, most of them
courtesy of Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb.
On the game’s second play, McNabb hit rookie
receiver DeSean Jackson for a 47-yard gain down the right sideline on a play
that cornerback Tye Hill had a bead on. Jackson simply out jumped Hill and
snatched it for the game’s first big play. A 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty on
the Rams sideline put the Eagles in scoring position.
Four plays later, running back Brian Westbrook
scored on a 1-yard shuffle pass for a 7-0 lead the Eagles would never
relinquish. At that point, the Rams still had plenty of hope and plenty of game
to play but Jackson’s catch was just the first of many more big plays that would
plague the Rams defense through the remainder of the day.
On Philadelphia’s second possession, it had to
work much harder for tight end L.J. Smith’s 5-yard touchdown catch but benefited
from a 31-yard completion to receiver Jason Avant.
Trailing 14-0, it seemed the Rams defense had
finally begun to settle in as it came up with a couple of stops. A two-score
deficit at the half seemed surmountable before the biggest play of the day
struck.
The Rams played a basic two deep coverage with
safeties Corey Chavous and Oshiomogho Atogwe responsible for their respective
sides of the field. Cornerback Ron Bartell was to stay in the flat to cover
anyone coming out of the backfield or releasing off the line.
McNabb faked a handoff and three Eagles wideouts
ran vertical routes straight down the field with Hank Baskett running a double
move on the left side of the field. Suddenly, Baskett was running free down the
left sideline with Chavous apparently out of position.
Baskett hauled in a perfect throw from McNabb,
broke Chavous’ tackle attempt and raced into the end zone for a 90-yard
touchdown and 21-0 lead with a minute to go.
Game over.
“I thought our defense was really starting to pick
it up,” Bartell said. “They had got on us early and we had done a good job of
stalling them the next couple of drives and we had them backed up and they hit
that big one it really affected momentum going into the half.”
By the time the afternoon was through, McNabb was
21-of-33 for 361 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. In addition,
the he completed passes for gains of 14, 19, 25, 31, 47, 52 and 90 yards.
The little known trio of Baskett (102 yards), Greg
Lewis (104 yards) and Jackson (106 yards) broke the century mark by running wild
through the Rams secondary.
The Rams did what they could to find solutions,
even removing Tye Hill and replacing him with Fakhir Brown in the first half.
But with little pressure on McNabb even on blitzes, the defensive backs were
often asked to hold coverages longer.
“Big plays were the difference and they did it
through the air,” Linehan said. “Those kinds of chunks just really affect the
game, obviously the scoreboard but also field position, especially when you’re
in a position where you think you might have them on third down or whatever it
is and they come up with not only a conversion but a big play off the
conversion. It pretty much devastates you once that happens.”
Just as devastating to the Rams’ chance at
grabbing a win was their inability to find an offensive tempo.
In part because of the Eagles defensive talent but
also because of the old habit of pre snap penalties, the Rams found themselves
in most undesirable offensive situations for most of the game.
The Rams committed six false start penalties,
leading to consistently long third down conversion opportunities. On eight of
those third downs, the Rams had to get 6 or more yards to pick up a first down,
making it no coincidence that they were unable to convert any of their 11 third
down chances.
“We just kept killing ourselves,” tight end Randy
McMichael said. “Every time we took a step forward, we took two steps back with
the false start penalties. We have to do a better job of honing in. It didn’t
have anything to do with the crowd. It was just a mental thing and we have to do
a better job of sustaining drives without penalties.”
The long third downs might as well have been an
open invitation for Philadelphia defensive coordinator Jim Johnson to let his
blitz happy imagination run wild. The Eagles regularly came after quarterback
Marc Bulger, forcing him to throw early and off his back foot.
Bulger struggled mightily to find a rhythm,
completing 14-of-26 for 158 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. In
the game’s aftermath, Bulger was quick to put the blame on his shoulders for his
skittish performance.
“There was a litany of problems,” Bulger said. “I
really didn’t throw the ball well. We probably could have blocked better at some
point, there’s a lot of blame to go around. I realize it starts with me. If the
quarterback doesn’t play well then the rest of your offense won’t. If there’s
No. 1 blame, it will start here.”
While Bulger and the passing game were scuffling
aside from some solid gains for tight end Randy McMichael, running back Steven
Jackson was running hard in his first live action since returning from his
training camp holdout.
Jackson simply didn’t have much room to run nor
did he get many opportunities as the Rams fell behind by so much they had to
attempt to throw to catch up.
Opting to go without a huddle in the fourth
quarter, the Rams pieced together their best drive and got a 46-yard field goal
from Josh Brown for their only points of the day. By then, the Eagles were
holding a 38-0 lead.
Now, it’s back to the drawing board for a second
week matchup against the Giants.
“We have got to use this as motivation to
not go back here,” Linehan said. “We expect to play a lot better next week. We
have to put this game to bed but we have got to learn from it. You can’t forget
about it. It’s got to sting, it’s got to hurt, it’s got to light a fire under
our belly.”
