Rams News

Vikes receivers will be a real handful for Rams
09/11 12:02 AM

By Jim Thomas
Of the Post-Dispatch Staff

They have size, speed and resumes.
Washington had the Posse. Denver had the Three Amigos. Buffalo had Andre Reed, James Lofton and Don Beebe.
But before long, Minnesota's Cris Carter, Jake Reed and Randy Moss may be regarded as one of the best wide receiver trios in NFL history. If not the best. They come riding into the Trans World Dome on Sunday like Death, Famine and Pestilence. At least from where the Rams' secondary sits.
"I'm sure I've seen a group equal to them, maybe better," Rams coach Dick Vermeil said. "I can't name who they are right now. But this is a great group. The thing that makes them more impressive is the size."
Carter, 6 feet 3, 220 pounds, is coming off his fifth consecutive 1,000-yard season. He has had two of the top four reception years in NFL history, with 122 catches in the 1994 and '95 seasons.
Reed, 6-3, 217, has strung together four consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, finishing second in the NFL to the Rams' Isaac Bruce in reception yards (1,320) in 1996.
Carter and Reed have started together the past four seasons in the Twin Cities. In three-receiver formations, opposing teams usually tried to double-team Carter and Reed and then take their chances with single coverage on the third guy.
That's a very risky proposition now that Moss - 6-4, 197 - has been added to the mix. Moss caught 54 touchdown passes for Marshall University. He got his pro career off to a roaring start with two TD catches in the Vikings' 31-7 shellacking of Tampa Bay last Sunday.
Somehow, a Rams defense that gave up 26 touchdown passes last season - the fourth-highest total in the NFL - must stop this trio.
"It's going to be a big challenge," cornerback Dexter McCleon said.
"Their problem is going to be who to throw the ball to," fellow corner Ryan McNeil said. "And our problem is going to be stopping them."
As a former Detroit Lion, McNeil knows Carter and Reed better than any other Ram. Between 1993 and '96, McNeil played eight games against the Vikings. So he has had more than his share of head-to-head matches against the pair.
"My history has taught me that they're going to run certain patterns and certain routes no matter what," McNeil said. "And they're going to try to get the ball to Cris Carter. Cris Carter is going to want his catches. After that, they're going to try to spread the ball around to Jake and to Randy, and then run the ball."
Carter, 32, isn't a burner. "He has great hands, and he runs good enough routes to get open," McNeil said. "I mean, he doesn't run the precision Jerry Rice routes. But he has great body control, and he and his quarterback (Brad Johnson) are on the same page nine times out of 10."
And Reed?
"Jake's always been in Cris' shadow," McNeil said. "I think the last couple years, he's been able to step out of that shadow and become his own player and his own person. He is a bigger worry (deep) as opposed to Cris."
And now, Moss makes three. "I haven't seen any routes that he doesn't run well, and he runs well after the catch," McNeil said.
In the preseason, and even in the regular-season opener against Tampa Bay, a lot of secondaries chose to play the Vikings receivers soft - heavy on the zone coverage with plenty of cushion between defensive back and receiver. Such an approach, in theory, keeps Carter, Reed and Moss from getting behind the secondary for big plays.
Well, it hasn't worked. In the preseason, the trio combined for five TD catches. In the Tampa Bay game, Carter had two touchdown catches to go with Moss' two.
The Rams don't plan to sit back and watch the Vikings pick them apart.
"We're going to go after them," Rams co-defensive coordinator Peter Giunta said. "If they make a play, they make a play. We're not going to play scared.
"We're going to play the coverages we've been working on since Day 1, and we're going to be aggressive in the things that we do and get after them that way."
Which means mixing coverages, trying to pressure the quarterback and keeping the Vikings off-balance.
"With our style of defense, you give them as many packages as possible," McNeil said. "You force them to out-think you, you force them to out-execute you."
And then cross your fingers and hope for the best.

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