Hammock Parties
11-01-2006, 10:34 PM
The San Diego Chargers ran all over the Rams. They also exploited Jim Haslett’s defense by throwing to their superstars at tight end and running back.
Now the Rams are preparing to face a similar offensive team, the Kansas City Chiefs.
Wish Haslett luck, because he faces a challenging week of practice. His personnel is what it is, so the defensive staff will have to coach ‘em up . . . or else this next game could get ugly.
The Rams’ defensive shortcomings were obvious during the 38-24 loss.
“We had no turnovers and we didn’t tackle very well,” Haslett said. “We had five missed tackles that led to big plays. Our two things going into the game were, ‘Let’s get some turnovers and we’ve got to tackle.' We did neither one very well.”
Here are a few specifics:
The Rams allowed too many “explosive” plays: “They had five runs for 123 yards,” Haslett said. “Then they had 30 runs for 80-some yards.
“The one run, we had a guy unblocked in the hole and he didn’t make the tackle. The corner missed the tackle, so they got a 50-yard run on it. The 38-yard run, we just weren’t sound. There were like four or five people that screwed up on it. When we messed up, we messed up as a whole. It was a good team effort on that standpoint.
“The tackling part of it, the cracks where the corners are going to have to fit in, guys staying in their gaps -- those are the things we have to clean up.”
They didn’t get the Chargers into tough down-and-distance situations: “We did a good job this week in practice stressing getting turnovers,” he said. “You have to put yourself in position to get them. You have to get them in third-and-longs, some situations where you can get after the quarterback and do those type of things.”
They overran some plays with their speed: “They gave us a lot of misdirection runs, some counters, some different things. We overran some things.
“But I don’t think that is what hurt us in the long run. Their basic play is a power game. They’re a power football team, double-team, kick out, get angles on people and run at you. We knew that going into it. We didn’t execute. We didn’t hold up on that kind of running game very well.”
They lost their discipline: “Guys were getting frustrated yesterday trying to make plays,” he said. “Consequently what happens is, you start being unsound in what you try to do defensively.”
They failed to adjust to offensive tweaks: “They did some different things we hadn’t seen and we just didn’t adjust to it very well,” Haslett said. “I’ll take the blame on that. We have to be more conscious, do a better job to adapt to what they did to us during the middle of the game.
“They do a lot of shifting and motion. They do a great job of creating mismatches with the running back (LaDainian Tomlinson) and the tight end (Antonio Gates). They came out and got us in a couple of man-to-man coverages. Will Witherspoon matched up on LaDainian. You have a great player covering a great player and their player beat us once or twice. That is something you have to live with.”
Their blitzes had just mixed success: “The third-down ones worked pretty well,” he said. “First or second down, we got kind of limited because of what they were doing.”
Fixing all this will take more than the return of linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa, who will try to play through elbow and hand injuries. The Chiefs will bring a power-running scheme to The Ed with all-pro running back Larry Johnson.
He is a different type of runner than Tomlinson, but just as dangerous.
“It’s another challenge for us,” Haslett said. “A lot of similarities. We’ll see how we come back. We’ve got to come back and play better than we’ve played the last game and a half.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us. We’re going to have to rally.”
If you have an extra magic wand sitting around the house, you might want to send it out to Rams Park.
Now the Rams are preparing to face a similar offensive team, the Kansas City Chiefs.
Wish Haslett luck, because he faces a challenging week of practice. His personnel is what it is, so the defensive staff will have to coach ‘em up . . . or else this next game could get ugly.
The Rams’ defensive shortcomings were obvious during the 38-24 loss.
“We had no turnovers and we didn’t tackle very well,” Haslett said. “We had five missed tackles that led to big plays. Our two things going into the game were, ‘Let’s get some turnovers and we’ve got to tackle.' We did neither one very well.”
Here are a few specifics:
The Rams allowed too many “explosive” plays: “They had five runs for 123 yards,” Haslett said. “Then they had 30 runs for 80-some yards.
“The one run, we had a guy unblocked in the hole and he didn’t make the tackle. The corner missed the tackle, so they got a 50-yard run on it. The 38-yard run, we just weren’t sound. There were like four or five people that screwed up on it. When we messed up, we messed up as a whole. It was a good team effort on that standpoint.
“The tackling part of it, the cracks where the corners are going to have to fit in, guys staying in their gaps -- those are the things we have to clean up.”
They didn’t get the Chargers into tough down-and-distance situations: “We did a good job this week in practice stressing getting turnovers,” he said. “You have to put yourself in position to get them. You have to get them in third-and-longs, some situations where you can get after the quarterback and do those type of things.”
They overran some plays with their speed: “They gave us a lot of misdirection runs, some counters, some different things. We overran some things.
“But I don’t think that is what hurt us in the long run. Their basic play is a power game. They’re a power football team, double-team, kick out, get angles on people and run at you. We knew that going into it. We didn’t execute. We didn’t hold up on that kind of running game very well.”
They lost their discipline: “Guys were getting frustrated yesterday trying to make plays,” he said. “Consequently what happens is, you start being unsound in what you try to do defensively.”
They failed to adjust to offensive tweaks: “They did some different things we hadn’t seen and we just didn’t adjust to it very well,” Haslett said. “I’ll take the blame on that. We have to be more conscious, do a better job to adapt to what they did to us during the middle of the game.
“They do a lot of shifting and motion. They do a great job of creating mismatches with the running back (LaDainian Tomlinson) and the tight end (Antonio Gates). They came out and got us in a couple of man-to-man coverages. Will Witherspoon matched up on LaDainian. You have a great player covering a great player and their player beat us once or twice. That is something you have to live with.”
Their blitzes had just mixed success: “The third-down ones worked pretty well,” he said. “First or second down, we got kind of limited because of what they were doing.”
Fixing all this will take more than the return of linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa, who will try to play through elbow and hand injuries. The Chiefs will bring a power-running scheme to The Ed with all-pro running back Larry Johnson.
He is a different type of runner than Tomlinson, but just as dangerous.
“It’s another challenge for us,” Haslett said. “A lot of similarities. We’ll see how we come back. We’ve got to come back and play better than we’ve played the last game and a half.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us. We’re going to have to rally.”
If you have an extra magic wand sitting around the house, you might want to send it out to Rams Park.