| Bummer, man. The Rams are reeling big-time.
After losing to Tampa Bay the other night in what has to be considered an instant classic,
they are in dire straits indeed. Unless the Rams beat the Saints and the hapless Bears
beat Detroit this Sunday, St. Louis is out of this year’s playoff picture.
Have you seen the Bears play lately?
While the Rams only have themselves to blame for the likelihood of becoming only the 10th
Super Bowl champion to fail to make the playoffs the following season, it will be a super
shame if they’re not in the 2000 postseason mix.
Why? Because win or lose, there isn’t a more fun team to watch play professional
football.
At least on offense.
Starting right off with their 2000 debut vs. Denver, another Monday-night masterpiece
that remains frozen in the memory bank, the fast-and-loose Rams have demanded our
attention, playing at a pace that makes normal hearts race with every snap. This Sunday
vs. New Orleans, they will become the most prolific passing team in NFL history, needing
just 15 passing yards to surpass the record of 5,018 set by Miami in 1984.
In the 38-35 loss to the Bucs, they became the first team in NFL history to top 500
points twice. With a pair of TDs vs. the Saints, RB Marshall Faulk can duplicate Emmitt
Smith’s NFL-record 25-TD mark. While he has been more prone to interceptions, QB Kurt
Warner has still been very productive, spreading the ball around to a glittering array of
receivers led by Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt and Az-Zahir Hakim.
Too bad the defense let them down so badly this season.
With a game left to play, the Rams have given up a franchise-record 450 points —
already 32 points higher than the previous record. Following his defense’s abysmal
effort vs. the Bucs, especially vs. the run, head coach Mike Martz complained openly about
the unit’s overall ineffectiveness.
"I was very surprised, considering what was on the line and how we had
practiced," said Martz after the Rams allowed the Bucs 446 total yards — a team
high for Tampa Bay in the Tony Dungy era. "I’m very disappointed and shocked
with some of the effort by some of the players on defense. We’ve got some guys back
there that we need to get going."
Unfortunately, it looks like you’re a day late and a dollar short, Mike. And what
was up with that play-calling vs. Tampa Bay with 3:33 to go and a 35-31 lead, when you
suddenly shook your mad-scientist offensive persona and became Bud Grant, running Faulk
three times into the teeth of the Bucs’ tenacious defense?
"We’ve got a 3rd-and-6 when we were trying to run the clock out. I
wanted them to burn the timeout and make them go the distance with no timeouts,"
Martz said of the last of Faulk’s three runs in that sequence — a play on which
Martz initially planned to go with a play-action pass. "In retrospect, that was not
the thing to do.
"Eighty yards? No timeouts? Two minutes? I don’t know. Obviously, it
didn’t work that way. So I don’t know what to tell you."
There really isn’t much more to say, Mike. The Rams’ playoff hopes have all
but vanished.
And the playoffs just won’t be the same without them.
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