The NFL is up for grabs and the St. Louis Rams don’t know it. They thought winning a Super Bowl includes privileges. Time’s up.
The defending champions are having trouble defending their own turf. They played the last 20 minutes of their game Monday against Washington without scoring. Fans deserted the TWA Dome in the fourth quarter as if a five-point deficit, then an eight-point deficit, then an 11-point deficit and finally a 13-point deficit were too much to overcome.
Used to be it took the Rams two plays to make up a 13-point deficit.
The Rams have lost two in a row at home and three of their last five games. Suddenly they are wondering when Kurt Warner will be back. They beat the New York Giants without Warner or Marshall Faulk, but couldn’t beat the Redskins with Faulk.
Something is wrong and the Rams won’t admit it.
“We are a better ballclub than the Redskins. It just didn’t show on the scoreboard,” defensive end Grant Wistrom said.
“We hurt ourselves [Monday],” said linebacker London Fletcher.
“I thought our effort on defense was real good,” coach Mike Martz insisted.
Players said Martz was not so kind in private, and it’s a good thing. The Rams aren’t going to repeat by living in the past. While they have been patting themselves on the back, rivals are stabbing them in the heart. If the Rams haven’t learned by now that the second time around is harder, it’s too late to explain.
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“I think it’s OK to start pressing,” Martz acknowledged this week. “We probably should start pressing. I think there’s a real sense of urgency now. There has to be. It should be building as you go through the season. Nobody’s trying to pace themselves or play relaxed or any of that stuff. We need to press if we’re going to get into these playoffs.”
Dick Vermeil was introduced to the TWA Dome crowd Monday night in his first visit since retiring as coach. It was a reminder that was of no comfort three hours later. Vermeil said he believed the offense was better in its second year under Martz and that the defense was improving under recently hired guru Bud Carson.
Wrong on both counts. The offense was held to its lowest output of the season, 20 points, and the defense is regressing. It was giving up 29 points a game before Carson arrived. Now it’s giving up more than 30 a game, last in the league.
Martz’s response to all adversity is to score. Usually it has worked. Martz was appalled when his team couldn’t punch it in late against Washington.
“Even at the end of the game I felt we had a chance to get this thing done. And we don’t get the ball in the end zone, that’s our fault offensively. It’s inexcusable, you get down there and don’t get it in the end zone,” he said, revealing his utter disdain for defense.
It was the third game in a row in which the Rams have failed to score in the fourth quarter.
The stretch run does not look kind. The Rams play the New Orleans Saints twice and have noticed the Saints will be playing without quarterback Jeff Blake and running back Ricky Williams, both lost for the season. If the Rams discount the Saints, it will be because the Rams forgot how determined they felt themselves without Warner and Faulk.
The only team with a losing record on the Rams’ schedule is Carolina away. The Panthers beat the Rams in St. Louis three weeks ago. The Rams are a game behind the Minnesota Vikings, who come to the TWA Dome on Dec. 10 knowing it is no longer the scary venue it was when the Rams took a 49-17 lead on the Vikings en route to a 49-37 playoff win 10 months ago. The Rams finish at Tampa Bay on a Monday night and at New Orleans. They lost the home-field tiebreaker Monday to the Redskins.
Their swagger has turned to stagger. They defined last season with their unlikely rise to domination. They are defining this season by their plunge into a pool of candidates who haven’t yet stamped themselves as real contenders entering the final weeks.
The Vikings and Oakland Raiders are in the favorite rolesat the moment, mainly because they are the only two teams leading their division by more than one game.
It’s not because there are so many great teams. The Raiders (28th) and Vikings (25th) have pass defenses that are almost as porous as the Rams’ (29th).
If defense still matters, look for Washington and Baltimore to meet in the Super Bowl. They played on Oct. 15 and the score was 10-3 Redskins. The NFL and CBS would hate it.