RAMS : Despite ‘Major Problems on Defense,’ No One Is Pointing Fingers

This 1-3 start has Ram Coach John Robinson worrying about more than how to put some pressure on opposing quarterbacks. He’s also concerned about his players sacking each other’s confidence.

The Ram offense is the NFL’s best; the defense ranks dead last. Would an offensive player dare mutter a discouraging word about the defense?

“ ‘I confess, it’s their fault.’ That’s one of the most natural reactions,” Robinson said. “People want to blame other parts of the team to rationalize their own performance. Those are things we all seek when we’re in trouble.

“My biggest concern is that we play the game without beginning to look at individuals or identifying weaknesses in players.”

No one in blue and gold has publicly pointed a finger at a teammate, but in the wake of Sunday’s overtime loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, there has been a little grumbling about areas of concern.

“Any time you give a quarterback that much time, any time he’s able to wait, wait, wait like that, somebody is going to get open,” said safety Michael Stewart. “The secondary can’t do much about that.”

Robinson points out that while the lack of a pass rush has indeed hurt the Rams, the secondary has made more than its share of mistakes.

“The pass rush, not making plays in the secondary, when you begin to separate those things and point a finger at some group of individuals or some individual, well, I can’t remember once when I felt those kinds of analyses were fair,” he said.

“We obviously have major problems on defense, but we have a lot of people who are pressing, playing with apprehension and making mistakes that shock us.”

Safety Vince Newsome, who was acutely aware that he had spent far too much time Sunday afternoon chasing Cincinnati receivers--many of whom already had the ball--decided the Rams’ high-and-mighty-No. 1-ranked offense should shoulder some of the blame. (Maybe he forgot that Bengal quarterback Boomer Esiason completed nine of his first 13 passes while Cincinnati took a 21-0 lead).

“We need to keep the defense off the field more,” Newsome said. “It’s not just the offense that’s coming up flat, though, the whole team is.”

Newsome might not be far out of line, says Robinson, who agrees that the offensive players shouldn’t get too cocky. The Rams may be racking up the passing yards, but they’re not putting the ball in the end zone at crunch time.

In fact, the much-riddled and much-ridiculed defense kept Cincinnati from scoring on eight of its final 11 possessions Sunday. Meanwhile, the offense had three opportunities to move the ball within range of a game-winning field goal and failed each time.

“The offense didn’t score when they had a chance to win the game,” Robinson said. “We’re probably getting more than what we expected from our offense, however, I think our offense has been remiss in not making the plays at the end of the game.”

A porous defense and a big-play offense that misfires in the clutch has added up to a slow start for a franchise that usually gets a jumpstart on the season. So Robinson is left to ponder the effects of a psychological element of the game he usually doesn’t have to even consider. Being team psychologist hasn’t been a big part of his job description in recent years.

“There’s so much external criticism and doubt, I mean that’s just the way it is when you’re losing,” Robinson said. “Players begin to lose their confidence. But we have to build on the things we’re doing OK. We have to make sure we maintain a belief that we’re capable of doing it.

“I think our team has always done a pretty good job of realizing it’s a team game. The players tend to trust each other. The key when you’re in a difficult position is to believe in yourself. We can’t doubt ourselves, and making sure we don’t is part of my job.”

It’s also a duty that falls on the shoulders of team leaders, such as cornerback Jerry Gray, who remembered to emphasize the team unity concept minutes after Sunday’s disheartening loss.

“The main thing now is that we have to stick together,” he said.