Rams Ride Dome-Noise Advantage
When you can finally hear yourself think in the Edward Jones Dome, it’s usually too late.
The Cincinnati Bengals learned that the hard way Sunday with a 27-10 loss to the St. Louis Rams in what one deflated lineman called the loudest stadium in the league by far.
“I think you see why they play well at home,” tackle Willie Anderson said of the Rams (12-3), who finished their home schedule 8-0 and extended their home winning streak to an NFL-best 14. “I hope our fans got a chance to see how perennial playoff fans cheer. That 12th man really comes into play.... They take the ability to hear completely out of the game.”
Anderson said that while standing in the quietest place in the stadium -- the Bengal locker room. To make the playoffs for the first time since 1990, Cincinnati (8-7) needs to defeat Cleveland at home in the finale, then get a Pittsburgh victory at Baltimore in the Sunday night game. If the Ravens win, they’re in as AFC North champions.
“Everything’s been hard for us the past 13 years, so there’s no reason to think it will get any easier for us now,” Anderson said. “Everything we get is going to come the hard way. We’ll get a dogfight game against Cleveland, and we’re going to sit there on pins and needles Sunday night praying for Pittsburgh.”
The Rams can breathe a lot easier, having secured a first-round bye with Sunday’s victory and probable home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. By virtue of Philadelphia’s loss to San Francisco on Sunday, the Rams only need to win their finale at Detroit to clinch home-field advantage.
“That’s huge,” tackle Kyle Turley said from home after watching the 49ers defeat the Eagles. “We’re going to go into the Detroit game with a lot more motivation. That could have been a scary game. Now we have a focus and determination to really get that home field.”
Anderson said the Rams could “definitely” run the table in the NFC and reach the Super Bowl if they can play all their postseason games in the dome. While St. Louis players weren’t ready to make those kind of bold predictions, they did acknowledge the importance of playing as many games as possible in the stadium where they are 33-7 since 1999.
“Our fans know when to be loud and when to be quiet,” Turley said after the game. “They’re hardly ever loud when we’re on offense. When I was playing in New Orleans, when we were on offense and something great would happen, they would be cheering their butts off. It would be really loud. Every time something good would happen we’d be like, ‘Calm down! Quiet down!’ But here they’re really conscious of that.”
Coping with the turf also can be a problem for teams accustomed to playing on grass, Turley said.
“It’s a big difference to be on turf,” he said. “You’ve got to pick your feet up. We call it ‘turf monster,’ and it will come up and grab you. You’ve got to pick your feet up on that turf, otherwise it sticks like glue. And you’ll go down. You’ll trip all over yourself.
“You see defensive backs come out of their breaks, and if they’re not picking their feet up on that turf ... it will just snag the rubber on their shoe, and the receiver’s going past them.”
Even with all the comforts of home weighing in their favor, the Rams weren’t leaving anything to chance Sunday, despite the fact Cincinnati had lost 40 consecutive road games to teams with winning records dating to Dec. 2, 1990.
“Coach [Mike Martz] made it real evident early in the week this would be a week to have a letdown,” said Marc Bulger, who completed 24 of 38 passes for 229 yards with two touchdowns. “[The Bengals are] playing for their lives, and we just clinched the division last week. We have too many veterans on this team.”
The Rams rolled up 371 yards with Pro Bowl receiver Isaac Bruce watching from the sidelines in street clothes. He’s nursing a high ankle sprain, and Martz felt the injury was too fresh and the turf too sticky to press him into service. So Bulger zeroed in on his favorite target, Torry Holt, who had 10 catches for 124 yards and a touchdown, and Marshall Faulk, who scored touchdowns on a catch and a run.
It was the 10th 100-yard receiving game of the season for Holt, who surpassed the season franchise record of nine that belonged to Bruce. Holt can tie the NFL record of 11, set by Dallas receiver Michael Irvin, with a 100-yard game against the Lions on Sunday.
“I think I’ve passed all my individual goals for this year, so whatever I’m getting now is just extra,” said Holt, who has 1,642 yards receiving.
He got a rollicking ovation with every catch Sunday. But the decibel level really climbed every time Cincinnati’s offense took the field.
This place used to be called the TWA Dome, as in the now-defunct airline, and, when filled with 66,601 people, the place sounds like the business end of a screaming turbine engine. The noise, coupled with the Rams’ defensive speed, clearly presented problems for quarterback Jon Kitna, who was sacked three times and had three passes intercepted.
The Bengals, whose touchdown came on a two-yard reception by Kelley Washington, kept things close at the end of the first half when Shayne Graham kicked a 48-yard field goal as time expired, trimming the St. Louis lead to 17-10.
But the Rams outscored Cincinnati, 10-0, in the second half, and controlled the clock with the running of Faulk, who finished with 121 yards in 22 carries. His team had a time-of-possession advantage of 35 minutes 18 seconds to 24:42.
“It was a crazy atmosphere,” Anderson said. “We couldn’t hear in the huddle. We couldn’t hear on the sidelines. We couldn’t hear at the line of scrimmage.
“It’s impossible to block two guys just burning up the field when you can’t hear.”
Unless things work out for the Bengals next week, Anderson and his teammates will have more than enough quiet moments in another frustrating off-season to ponder all that.
