Defense Does It Again

By Nick Wagoner

First Quarter

- The Rams got a quick three and out on Kansas City’s opening possession as Justin King made a nice tackle after stretching a play wide for no gain. On third down, Jonathan Wade stopped Jamaal Charles for a loss of 3.

- On their first possession, the Rams gave it right back after a three and out of their own.

- The Chiefs picked up a couple of first downs before the Rams came up with another stop.

- Likewise, the Rams moved it with a third down conversion to tight end Daniel Fells before a punt.

- Jones booted a 58-yard punt that was downed at Kansas City’s 1 to start the Chiefs’ third drive.

- The Rams went to their second team defense for the most part on the following drive and Kansas City capitalized. A 41-yard jaunt by Larry Johnson gave the Chiefs the ball at the Rams’ 6.

- Penalties derailed the drive and Kansas City had to settle for a 31-yard field goal from Ryan Succop. The Chiefs have a 3-0 lead with 55 seconds to go in the quarter.

- The Rams have put their second team offense in with the exception of Bell, Goldberg and Smith. Brock Berlin is in at quarterback.

- At the end of the first quarter, Kansas City leads 3-0.

Second Quarter

- The Rams got off to a promising start on their next possession as Brock Berlin hit receiver Ronald Curry for a 14-yard gain.
- But a trio of incompletions forced the Rams to punt again. Jones boomed another kick and the Chiefs started their next possession from the 14.

- Rams defense gets a three and out as C.J. Ah You came up with a sack for a loss of 7 yards on third down. Rams take over at their 47.

- Rams took a shot on first down but Berlin just missed Derek Stanley deep down the right sideline.

- The Rams couldn’t convert a third-and-1 and Jones punted again. This time, he dropped it at Kansas City’s 2. Jones is having a big night.

- Dantrell Savage broke a 70-yard run to the Rams’ 28.

- A sack by Victor Adeyanju stalled that drive and the Chiefs had to settle for a 40-yard field goal by Succop.

- The Chiefs lead 6-0 with 9:20 to go in the half.

- The Rams responded with their best drive of the night as Berlin was nearly perfect on the possession and hit tight end Daniel Fells for a 6-yard touchdown. The extra point gave the Rams a 7-6 lead with 1:51 to go.

- Berlin was 7-of-9 on the drive for 74 yards including a 17-yard completion to Curry and a 27-yard strike to Nate Jones for a gain of 27 yards on third-and-10.

- The drive covered 85 yards on 15 plays in 7:29.

- Rams get a three and out right away as a blitz for Adeyanju forces a third down incompletion.

- Chiefs safety DaJuan Morgan appeared to come up with an interception on the Rams first play from scrimmage to give the Chiefs life at the Rams’ 23.

- The Rams defense got the job done again, holding Kansas City to a 34-yard field goal. Kansas City has a 9-7 lead at the half.

Third Quarter

- The Rams opened the second half with the ball and rookie Keith Null at quarterback. Chris Ogbonnaya picked up 26 yards on the drive as the Rams got into Kansas City territory but the drive stalled at Kansas City’s 36.

- The Rams opted to punt and Kansas City took over at its 15.

- After driving into St. Louis territory on a 53-yard completion, the Rams got another takeaway in the preseason as David Roach forced a fumble that linebacker Dominic Douglas recovered in St. Louis territory.

- Null hit Stanley on third down for a conversion to move into Kansas City territory.

- The Rams couldn’t get another first down, though, and Jones had to punt again. This time, he couldn’t drop it inside the 10 and it went through the end zone for a touchback.

- The Chiefs’ possession didn’t last long though as Rams cornerback Quincy Butler sat on an out route and picked off a Tyler Thigpen pass. He returned it 28 yards for a touchdown and a 14-9 Rams lead with 2:48 to go in the quarter.

- The Rams have the ball and a 14-9 lead at the end of three.

Fourth Quarter

- The Rams got yet another takeaway to open the final quarter as Justin King got an interception at Kansas City’s 26.

- The offense couldn’t do much with it though and a fumble on third down that the Rams recovered knocked the team out of field goal range. Jones punted again, this time dropping it at the 10 and Kansas City took over at its 12.

- The teams traded punts but a roughing the punter penalty on Kansas City gave the Rams a first down and new life with about eight minutes to go.

- That was enough to give the Rams another chance to score and they took advantage. Null connected with Sean Walker for gains of 14 and 23 yards.

- Josh Brown connected on a 37-yard field goal for a 17-9 lead with 4:08 to play.

- After Kansas City marched into Rams’ territory, the defense stepped up and got the stop it needed again.

- The offense couldn't salt out the clock and the Rams had to punt with about 50 seconds left. Jones rocked a 62-yard punt, downed at Kansas City's 6 to put it away.

- The Rams ultimately held on for a 17-9 win. The Rams finish the preseason 3-1 for the first time since 2005.

Boller leads Rams over Bengals 24-21

CINCINNATI (AP)—The last thing that the St. Louis Rams wanted to see was Kyle Boller’s helmet tumbling across the field.

Boller played better Thursday night in his second game filling in for Marc Bulger, completing a flurry of short passes during a 24-21 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. He also had one moment of bravado that made the Rams shudder.

He refused to duck.

Boller got his helmet knocked off on a hit by linebacker Keith Rivers at the end of an 8-yard scramble, waiting too long to start his slide. Unfazed, Boller got to his feet, found his helmet and completed his next two passes, including a 3-yard shovel pass to running back Samkon Gado for a touchdown.

“I could have slid a little earlier,” said Boller, who was 14 of 20 for 96 yards. “It is what it is. My chin strap hit just above my eyes. It was a good scramble, but maybe if I can get down a little sooner, the coaches would like that.”

No kidding.

“I was just trying to get to the ball,” said Rivers, who had his jaw broken on a hit from Pittsburgh’s Hines Ward last season. “It wasn’t anything intentional.”

The Rams lost Bulger to a broken pinkie finger on his passing hand before the last game and couldn’t afford another quarterback setback. Bulger is hoping to be ready for the season opener Sept. 13 at Seattle. Boller struggled as his replacement last week in a 20-13 loss to the Falcons, but seemed much more comfortable against the Bengals.

“He moved the team,” coach Steve Spagnuolo said. “He drove us down there after the bad start. When you score on a drive, the quarterback deserves the credit.”

Both teams were missing their starting quarterbacks, turning the game into a preview of how it might be if their injuries linger. The Bengals were reminded that they really need Carson Palmer back for their opener against Denver.

J.T. O’Sullivan was sacked three times, lost a fumble and had two passes batted away at the line. His best moment was an improvised underhand pass to running back Brian Leonard that went for 25 yards and set up a touchdown. O’Sullivan was 7 of 13 for 94 yards while playing into the third quarter.

With Palmer sidelined the last two games by a sprained left ankle, the offense has moved the ball in spurts but failed to get many points because of penalties and mistakes. O’Sullivan’s fumble at the Cincinnati 20-yard line set up the Rams’ second touchdown.

“We’ve just got to find a way to eliminate it,” O’Sullivan said. “It puts you in such a disadvantage any time you turn the ball over. That’s one of the things that has to change immediately.”

Running back Bernard Scott, a sixth-round draft pick from Abilene Christian, had a fumble that safety James Butler returned 73 yards for a touchdown. Butler also intercepted one of Jordan Palmer’s passes in the third quarter and returned it 68 yards before the third-string quarterback tackled him.

The Bengals have lost five fumbles and thrown three interceptions in three preseason games.

“When you turn the football over, you have a difficult time winning, whether you’re playing in the regular season, the preseason, junior high, sixth grade, whatever it is,” coach Marvin Lewis said.

Quan Cosby, an undrafted receiver from Texas, returned the Rams’ first punt 49 yards for a touchdown, breaking through the front line of defenders into the clear. He ran past punter Donnie Jones to get to the end zone.

Jones also had a punt returned 44 yards by Tom Nelson in the third quarter.

Spags On Loss to the Falcons

BY STEVE KORTE
News-Democrat

Coach Steve Spagnuolo blamed himself for the St. Louis Rams' ugly first quarter Friday night, saying he was guilty of not having his team ready to play.

The Rams (1-1) fell behind 14-0 and could never make up the lost ground as they fell 20-13 to the Atlanta Falcons at the Edward Jones Dome.

"I think it's all on the head coach with the first quarter," Spagnuolo said. "I don't think I had the team ready to play in the first quarter. I'm going to take the onus on that. We need to start the game better, especially against a good football team."

Asked how he was going to make sure the Rams were ready when they travel to Cincinnati to play the Bengals on Thursday, Spagnuolo said he didn't know.

"I'm going to be evaluating myself all the time," Spagnuolo said, "I'll sit back this week, and if I think there's something we can do differently in practice, we'll do it.

"If I think there's something we can say or approach differently the day before the game, we'll do that. But, right now if the team is not ready early like that, it's on the head coach. So we'll figure out a way."

The Falcons (1-1) first-string offense marched down the field with surgical-like precision on their first two drives against the Rams' first-string defense.

Spagnuolo said he couldn't tell in the locker room before the game that his team wasn't prepared.

"Are they ready? Are they not ready?" Spagnuolo said. "Sometimes you'll walk in there and say, 'This team is not ready to play,' and they go out beat a team by 30 points. So that's hard to assess."

The Rams allowed 162 rushing yards. Their starting defense got bludgeoned for 65 yards on seven carries by running back Michael Turner on the opening drive.

The Rams were plagued by poor tackling even though they had live tackling in practice during the first two weeks of training camp.

Spagnuolo said he wasn't going to second guess his decision to scale back on the live tackling during the last week.

"I'm not going to do that to myself," Spagnuolo said. "At some point, we all know in this league you stop doing live tackling in practice because you've got to have guys healthy. I think we will bounce back on that. It wasn't real good last night, but we'll get better at it."

The Rams' first-string produced only three points in the first half.

For the Rams' offense to struggle was more understandable since they were playing without quarterback Marc Bulger (broken pinkie finger), left tackle Alex Barron (swelling on the knee), left guard Jacob Bell (concussion) and wide receiver Donnie Avery (broken foot).

Still, the Rams were 0-for-3 in their red-zone opportunities.

"We talk about it all the time," Spagnuolo said. "When you get in that area of the field, everybody has to remind each other in the huddle that we have to focus and finish. I'm not sure why we didn't finish. I'm not going to blame it on focus. They probably made some good plays, too."

The Rams had a chance to pull out a win after rookie quarterback Keith Null and the third-string offense moved the ball to Atlanta 17 with 1:27 left to play.

But Null had a pass go through the hands of tight end Joe Klopfenstein in the end zone on second down.

"It probably would have been a tough catch, but it was a decent throw, I think," Spagnuolo said. "Keith would tell you that if he had to do it all over again. He would have went somewhere else with it. There was a possibility to make a play there, but it wasn't an easy catch."

Null was intercepted in the end zone by Atlanta safety Eric Brock on fourth down.

Spagnuolo said wide receiver Nate Jones was open on underneath route, but Null tried to throw the ball to tight end Eric Butler.

"They had brought a blitz, which is a good call by them," Spagnuolo said. "(Keith) got it out in time, so the blitz part of it wasn't an issue. It just didn't happen."

Spagnuolo said he didn't know if he would have gone for the win and attempted a two-point conversion instead of kicking the game-tying extra point if the Rams had scored.

"We would have had to talk about that," Spagnuolo said. "I would have liked to have a chance to make that decision."