Rams beat hot Skins and step backward
October 13, 2008 by James Edwards
Filed under Sports
NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.
The St. Louis Rams beat the hottest team in football, the Washington Redskins 19 – 17.
Many Rams fans would love to see them lose to get rid of Jay Zygmunt the GM and to keep in the hunt for the top draft pick for next year. Believe me the Rams tried, even getting a 15 yard penalty before drilling a 49 yard kick for the winning field goal.
They fumbled at their own 4-yard line on their second play from scrimmage. They were going nowhere until a fluke turnover flipped the momentum. They blew a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter. They set themselves up for a gimme field goal to win the game, then committed a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
The Redskins won the statistical battle.
Passing Yards:
Marc Bulger StL 136 yds 72 qb rating
Jason Campbell Was 208 yds 93.1 qb rating
Rushing Yards
Steven Jackson StL 79 yds 0 touchdowns
Clinton Portis Was 129 yds 2 touchdowns
Receiving Yards
Donnie Avery StL 73 yds
Antwaan Randle El Was 87 yds
So how bad are the Rams?
The Rams are really bad.
Between 1990 and 1998, the Rams lost 99 games, the worst in the NFL during that stretch. In the 1990s, this team lost 102 games, the second worst record behind the Cincinnati Bengals during that same stretch of time. In fact, the Rams were the worst franchise of the decade until the fourth game of the miracle ‘99 season when they won their first four games and the Bengals lost their first four. From 2002 through today, the Rams have lost another 59 games. So if you throw out the fluke three-year stretch from 1999 through 2001, the true personality of this organization is the other 16 seasons starting with 1990, which had only one winning season (12-4 in ‘03).
Since that last winning season, the Rams are a dismal 25-42, the fourth worst in pro football behind only Oakland (16-51), Detroit (21-46) and Cleveland (24-43).
source
Now that the Rams have fired Scott Linehan, what about GM Jay Zygmunt?
Beyond this move, sources close to the scene have indicated that president of football operations/general manager Jay Zygmunt, who numerous league observers believe is more to blame for the Rams’ embarrassing decline than Linehan, is expected to be out of the picture at season’s end due to serious health issues.
“Apparently a few people have been through here (interviewing for Zygmunt’s job),” one team insider told PFW.
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