Nothing Special About Special Teams’ Play

Running a little late for his appointment with the Rams’ field goal unit, Leo Goeas grabbed his helmet and scrambled onto the field.

Call it a mind lapse. Goeas, a starting guard added to the field goal unit last week, didn’t realize he was needed.

“I wasn’t paying attention,” he said. “I just ran out there and luckily, I was able to get there in time.”

Just in time for Tony Zendejas’ 49-yard attempt to get blocked by Atlanta’s Ron George, adding another chapter in the Rams’ special teams follies this season.

The Rams’ 13-0 loss to Atlanta Sunday at Anaheim Stadium included not one, but two field goals gone awry. Two holding penalties by lineman Chris Martin. One was blocked. A false start and the gaffe by Goeas. And a lot of frustration.

With the exception of newly acquired punter Sean Landeta, there was little special about the Rams’ special teams, which have given up several big plays this season.

New Orleans’ Tyrone Hughes burned the Rams’ punt coverage for a 74-yard touchdown. A 45-yard kickoff return by former Ram Vernon Turner set up Detroit’s winning field goal. Tony Smith returned a kickoff 39 yards in the Falcons’ 30-24 victory over the Rams earlier this season.

Special teams Coach Howard Tippett switched his kick returners from Todd Kinchen, Steve Israel and Russell White to Deral Boykin and Howard Griffith. Tippett revamped the Rams’ blocking wedge on kick returns.

Landeta is their third punter this season, after brief stints by Don Bracken and Paul McJulien. Their longest punt return of the season--12 yards--was by Richard Buchanan, who’s now on the practice squad. He was replaced by Kinchen, who is back from a knee injury.

One of the few bright spots has been Zendejas, who kicked 11 consecutive field goals from 50 yards or more, an NFL record. But Sunday, even field goals became an adventure.

A 42-yard attempt by Zendejas in the first quarter was partially blocked, although the play had been whistled dead because of a false start by Goeas. Zendejas was good on his second attempt, from 47 yards, but a holding penalty on Martin negated it and pushed it back 10 yards. Enter Landeta for a punt.

“Sometimes those things happen,” Zendejas said. “I can’t control those things, so we just have to back up and kick it again. This has happened before. Things aren’t always going to go perfect. They certainly didn’t go that way today.”

The problems carried over into the fourth quarter, when the Rams were trailing, 13-0. They lined up for the field goal with only 10 players, until Goeas made his last-second appearance. George partially blocked the kick, and Martin was again called for holding, a penalty that Atlanta declined.

Martin protested the first holding call and denied he was the culprit on the second.

“The second one wasn’t on me,” he said. “It was announced as me, but I asked the referee and he told me it was someone else. The first one was a judgment call, and I explained to him at halftime about the kind of blocking technique we have used for every game.”

Martin argued that he came into the defender’s chest with an open hand, and that his own momentum carried him down.

“There was no pulling or jerking motion,” Martin said. “Nothing like that. In a situation like that, where the ref is using his judgment, it shouldn’t be called.”

Zendejas said Kinchen, making his debut as the field goal holder, did a solid job. Both kicks got away cleanly, but were blocked because Atlanta defenders broke through the Rams’ protection.

“It was a difficult day for our field goal unit,” Zendejas said. “We couldn’t get anything straight.

“Atlanta was coming hard, and they got a lot of penetration. We have a lot of new people on our offensive line, and I think that has a lot to do with it.”

The punting game fared a little better. Landeta, who signed Wednesday after he was cut Monday by the New York Giants, said Tippett’s system “gives the punter a great chance to perform.”

So did the Rams’ offense, which forced him to punt eight times. He averaged 47 yards, nearly 10 yards an attempt more than McJulien, who he replaced.

“You never want to punt this many times, but with the good snaps and the protection, there was no reason you shouldn’t punt well,” Landeta said.

Landeta’s booming punts, which included a 66-yarder and a 62-yarder, helped tame Atlanta’s Smith, one of the NFL’s top return men. Smith was regularly backpedaling to catch the ball, and had 39 yards in four returns, plus two fair catches.

The 66-yard punt in the second quarter fell five yards short of his career high and was the best by a Ram since Dale Hatcher’s 67-yarder in 1985.

“Once I get a full week’s rest and get into a little rhythm,” Landeta said, “I’ll be able to punt a lot better.”

And after the way things went Sunday, the Rams, now 2-7 with a five-game losing streak, probably will need him.