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Ramgator
When the Rams completed 87 WR screens in one game!! So what if they netted 3 yards?? That was a lot of completions! UUUUUGH!! That was THE most bored I have ever been with the Rams! Personally, I thought the 2000 offense was the best. GEESH LOUISE! Imagine if that team had a stud defense??
That was the year of the infamous Rams OL apocalypse.
It started in the preseason. By the third game, which was the Tampa game, the Rams had lost several players, including both Pace and Incognito. They actually had 10 position changes on the OL by game 3 (and after that in the next few games it got worse).
The broken OL got Bulger injured and he was playing hurt in that game. Plus Linehan clearly didn't know what to do with an offense that beat up and as it was, under those conditions, Bulger had one of his worst days as a pro. He was playing with broken ribs.
Rib damage can hurt your velocity as a passer and Bulger's great thing was his quick release. With the ribs he had neither the quickness and velocity nor his normal accuracy. He threw 3 INTs, and they ran 34 times for just 136 yards (an actually respectable 4 yards a carry, cause....Jackson). That was more than their passing yardage for that game. In their first 4 games (including the Dallas game that followed that one) they were averaging just under 10 points a game on offense.
Meanwhile Tampa was 2nd on total defense that year and 3rd in points allowed. Tampa couldn't throw either but they had 32 rushes for 151 yards and 3 TDs.
So against that defense their OL was an injured-up disaster, and with Bulger's ribs they couldn't throw.
BTW that was one of the games that gave rise to the message board debate about what was wrong with Bulger. One side argued that since signing his big contract he didn't care anymore. Others tried to point out that he was playing hurt behind an emergency room OL, but, for some reason, many considered that to be an apologist viewpoint.
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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/2018 05:08AM by zn.
