An Embarrassing Loss for Rams
The St. Louis Rams already had the worst offense in the NFL. And on Sunday the Carolina Panthers showed that the Rams’ defense and special teams could use some work too.
Kerry Collins threw three touchdown passes, Kevin Greene returned a fumble for a touchdown and Michael Bates ran back a kickoff for another score as the Panthers rolled to a 45-13 victory.
St. Louis Coach Rich Brooks ripped his players after their missed tackles, turnovers and penalties helped Carolina score the most points in its 22-game history.
“We’re not playing defense, we’re not stopping the run, we’re not covering the pass. We’re not playing well and it’s embarrassing,” Brooks said. “I think we have to have an attitude check. As soon as bad things happen to this team, we give in.”
Anthony Johnson rushed for a club-record 126 yards to help the Panthers (4-2) break a two-game losing skid. In both games, Carolina fell behind early and rallied in the second half, but fell short.
“When you lose like that, it makes you come back in and regain your focus,” said outside linebacker Lamar Lathon, who had one of the Panthers’ five sacks Sunday, giving him 7 1/2 for the season.
The Rams (1-5) lost their fifth in a row and are off to their worst start since beginning the 1987 season by losing seven of eight.
“We played poorly in every phase: kicking, offense, defense,” Brooks said. “It’s an embarrassment the way we played today.”
Carolina, which had never scored more than 29 points in a game, got 28 off a variety of miscues by the Rams, who have five rookie starters on an offense that came in ranked last in the 30-team league.
The Panthers were without two defensive starters--strong safety Brett Maxie and cornerback Tyrone Poole rested pulled leg muscles--but St. Louis was unable to take advantage.
“We had a number of backup players who stepped in and did a very good job for us,” Carolina Coach Dom Capers said. “In order to be a good team, you know you’re going to have to deal with injuries.”
St. Louis rookie quarterback Tony Banks completed 15 of 29 passes for 163 yards. He lost one fumble, was intercepted once, sacked four times and took a number of hard hits in the pocket. The last one came on a blitz by Chad Cota late in the third quarter and sent Banks to the bench for the rest of the afternoon because of a bruised throwing elbow.
The Panthers had never scored more than 17 points in a half, but found themselves up, 28-13, at halftime after turning three missed tackles, a penalty and a fumble into 21 points.