Rams News

ST. LOUIS RAMS

September 7, 1998

The question of the day: If the St. Louis Rams can't beat the New Orleans Saints, who can they beat?

The Rams spotted the Saints a 24-0 lead and ended up losing 24-17 Sunday in their season-opener at the Trans World Dome.

It marked the first time that the Rams have lost on their home turf to the Saints since 1994 in Anaheim, Calif.

The loss left Coach Dick Vermeil and his players reeling.

"This shakes your confidence," Vermeil said. "This shakes you up. It doesn't startle you because, as a coach, you are always aware that your team isn't perfect."

Now the Minnesota Vikings, with Cris Carter and company, are coming to town. Hide the women, children and cornerbacks.

The Vikings plundered the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-7 Sunday in their season opener. They scored an NFL-leading 17 touchdowns in the preseason. They'll certainly show no mercy.

"If we don't start off faster against Minnesota, we'll be down by 30 points before we know it," Rams quarterback Tony Banks said.

The Rams didn't just shoot themselves in the foot against the Saints. They blasted the appendage clean off.

The Rams had two turnovers and six penalties for 55 yards in the first half.

Running back Jerald Moore fumbled three times near the end zone. He fumbled to the Saints DE Joe Johnson, who returned it five yards for a touchdown. He fumbled to teammate Derrick Harris for a 12-yard loss on first and goal at the New Orleans 2. He even fumbled to himself for a touchdown.

Moore was benched in the third quarter in favor of June Henley.

Vermeil wasn't saying yet whether Moore will still have the starting job when the Rams play the Vikings this coming Sunday.

Moore, who rushed for 31 yards on 15 carries, was apologetic for the fumbles.

"I guess it was psychological," he said. "I never recovered mentally from the first one and then I kept thinking about it over and over again: 'Hold on to the ball. Hold on to the ball.' I wasn't really concentrating on what I was doing and when it rains, it pours. I had a terrible first game."

Moore's performance made Vermeil's decision to put running backs Greg Hill and Robert Holcombe on the inactive list look even more stupid.

"Obviously, or I would have gone the other way," Vermeil said when asked if he thought the decision to sit out both Hill and Holcombe gave his team its best chance to win. "Right now, it doesn't look that way. When we made the decision, we obviously did what we thought was best for this football team."

Banks completed a career-high 29 passes. He was 29 of 44 for 298 yards and one touchdown in the game.

Banks made a mental mistake at the end of the game by failing to get off a Hail Mary pass as the clock ran out. He tried to step up in the pocket to buy more time for his receivers to reach the end zone, but he was sacked by La'Roi Glover.

"That was inexperience there," Vermeil said. "He should not have been sacked with the ball in his hands at the end of the game. He should have given us a chance."

Banks was sacked five times, all in the final seven minutes.

UPON FURTHER REVIEW: Saints running back Lamar Smith took a short pass from quarterback Billy Joe Hobert and made four would-be Rams tacklers -- Todd Lyght, Eric Hill, Billy Jenkins and Keith Lyle -- miss as he ran 35 yards for a touchdown that put his team ahead 24-0. The crowd was so disgusted at this point that the fans counted off each missed tackle when the replay of Smith's run was shown on the scoreboard.

Being in two places at the same time is no problem if you're Mike Jones of the Rams. That's because the Rams have two players named Mike Jones.

The Rams created this identity crisis by acquiring defensive end Mike David Jones from the New England Patriots last week.

The Rams already had linebacker Mike Anthony Jones.

Having two Mike Joneses on the roster left Rams equipment manager Todd Hewitt with a dilemma. What names should he put on the backs of their jerseys?

"When we had Jack and Jim Youngblood, I used the regular three-inch letters for Youngblood and I used two-inch letters to put Jim and Jack above it," Hewitt said.

Hewitt contacted the NFL office for advice.

"The league had never heard of anything like this," Hewitt said. "It was new to the league, too."

The NFL suggested that Hewitt use "M. Jones" on both jerseys.

"If they were on different sides of the ball, we could have gotten away with it," Hewitt said. "But, they could be in on the same tackle. It could be Mike Jones and Mike Jones making the same tackle."

Hewitt opted for adding middle initials. It was "M.A. Jones" and "M.D. Jones" suiting up for the Rams against the Saints.

"No. 90 will be the doctor, M.D. Jones," Hewitt noted.

--Wide receiver Isaac Bruce registered the 17th 100-yard receiving game of his career with 10 catches for 131 yards against the Saints.

Bruce moved into sole possession of third place for most 100-yard games in Rams history. He had been tied with Tom Fears with 16 100-yard games. He still trails Elroy Hirsch (21 100-yard games) and Henry Ellard (26 100-yard games).

Bruce now has four 100-yard games against the Saints.

--With Mark McGwire chasing the most coveted record in all of sports up the street, the Rams drew only 56,943 fans for the game against the Saints. It was the smallest crowd to attend a Rams game at the Trans World Dome.

BY THE NUMBERS: Rams coach Dick Vermeil lost to the Saints for the first time. He is 7-1 vs. the Saints, including a 5-0 mark when he was head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "My threshold for misfortune is great. We wanted to come out here in the home opener and give the fans something to cheer about, and then we basically shoot ourselves in the face." -- Rams safety Todd Lyght, who has been with the club since 1991.

The Rams will work on having their offensive line do more cut blocking this week after QB Tony Banks had four passes batted down against the Saints.

The Rams hope the cut blocking will keep opposing linemen from jumping up so much.

The Rams lined G Tom Nutten as a tight end in goal-line situations.

REPORT CARD VS. SAINTS

PASSING OFFENSE: B-minus -- Banks completed 66 percent (29 of 44 passes), but he could have avoided several of his five sacks by throwing the ball away. He decided not to tuck the ball under his arm and take off, even though he had lots of running room on a couple of third-and-long situations. Banks seems to have tunnel vision, focusing solely on Isaac Bruce and forgetting about his other receivers. Bruce showed he's ready for a monster season with 10 catches for 131 yards. The offensive line showed improvement on pass blocking until late in the game.

RUSHING OFFENSE: F -- The Rams gained only 56 yards on 25 carries. RB Jerald Moore's case of fumbleitis was extremely costly. The Rams' longest run was a 12-yard scramble by Banks.

PASS DEFENSE: D -- Eleven of the Saints' 15 first downs came on pass plays. The Rams' secondary got snookered on a halfback option pass by Lamar Smith for a touchdown in the first half. The Rams still fail to realize that the tight end is an eligible receiver. Saints TE Cameron Cleeland was his team's leading receiver with four catches for 82 yards.

RUSH DEFENSE: A -- Completely shut down the Saints' running game, holding them to 37 yards on 24 carries. Smith had 14 yards on 16 carries for less than a 1-yard average.

SPECIAL TEAMS: D -- The Rams' special teams deserves some blame for the loss. Six of the Rams' first seven possessions started inside their own 20 thanks to penalties and lackluster returns. P Rick Tuten had a 52-yarder on his first punt, but followed that with a 31-yarder and 42-yarder.

COACHING: D-minus -- The decision not to dress both Greg Hill and Robert Holcombe made no sense. Sitting out your two best big-play running threats in favor of dressing WR J.T. Thomas, LB London Fletcher, G Ryan Tucker and CB Taje Allen is ridiculous.

INJURY IMPACT: S Toby Wright was advised by the Rams' medical staff to sit out the game against the Saints. Wright was limited in practice last week due to swelling in his surgically repaired knee. He tore some scar tissue in the knee during the Rams' final exhibition game. He will be ready to play this week.

MLB Eric Hill broke his left hand in the first half. He returned to action with a cast in the second half. The injury shouldn't cost Hill any playing time.

C John Flannery bruised his knee in the first half. He also returned to the game in the second half.

OG Tom Nutten hyper-extended his elbow late in the game. He is doubtful for this week.

C Mike Gruttadauria (knee) and LB Roman Phifer (hamstring) both will miss another week.

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