* Defensive line / LB: The Rams won this week by dominating the line of scrimmage defensively, a welcome return to their play earlier in the season. Not coincidentally, one guy we saw a lot of: Fred Robbins. The Rams shut down the 49er running game early on. To start the game, Brian Westbrook was stuffed on back-to-back plays by Robbins and James Laurinaitis. On 3rd down, Laurinaitis capitalized on a bad snap for the Rams’ first sack. Next drive, with the 49ers backed up at their goal line, Bryan Kehl stuffed Westbrook to force a passing down. Troy Smith dropped a good snap this time in the end zone and was tackled for a safety, I thought by Eugene Sims, though James Hall has credit for it in the box score. (Sims came up huge on the ensuing free kick, recovering an Amendola fumble.) They blitzed Smith into a grounding penalty in the 1st, then Hall tripped him up just short on a 3rd-and-15 scramble in the 2nd, saving the day with excellent hustle. Hall completely smoked Barry Sims for a sack/fumble of Smith late in the half, but the 49ers recovered and then burned a couple of blitzes for their 2nd TD. They held the 49ers to a FG in the 2nd half, though. Decent pass pressure forced a bad throw intercepted by Oshiomogho Atogwe. Darian Stewart brought Smith down from behind on a blitz for a 3-and-out. Hall took advantage of a major mismatch to start the 4th, beating Westbrook for another sack/fumble on Smith. Alex Smith got the 49ers a FG before the Rams locked him down, too. Stewart nearly got to him a couple of times in the 4th before Chris Long did get him. Long made a pretty move, ripping under Anthony Davis and knocking the ball out of Smith’s hand, the fumble recovered by Robbins this time. Robbins got the last word with the Rams’ 4th sack with only seconds left in the game, dropping A.Smith after good coverage and edge pressure forced him to step up. It was good that Robbins got the last word, too, because he got the Rams push up the middle today they haven’t had lately. That helped make Long and Hall pretty consistent threats off the edge. It also pretty well clogged up the Niners’ run game, with Westbrook going just for 40 yards, Anthony Dixon just 17 on 6 carries. Laurinaitis had a lot to do with that, too. As simple as it sounds, a little push up the middle on defense can make a big difference in a football game. It certainly did today.
Rest of the defense after the jump!
* Secondary: A far cry better this week for the Rams secondary than it was in San Francisco. Troy Smith was just 7-19-153 though was still able to pull the lucky horseshoe out of his butt a couple of times, none more so than Michael Crabtree’s 60-yard TD in the 2nd. The pass was poorly thrown for Vernon Davis. Kevin Dockery lost coverage of Crabtree thinking Davis would catch it. Craig Dahl’s miserably-blown tackle then ensured the lead TD. Laurinaitis and George Selvie, of all people, got burned by Davis for long gainers, but the DBs covered far better as a unit than they did when Smith torched them in November. Oshiomogho Atogwe got a gift INT early in the 3rd to set up a FG. Dahl broke up a pass near the goal line, and Dockery stopped Crabtree on a screen, to force a (missed) FG attempt late in the 3rd. Unlike the first meeting, the Rams were getting the first guy Smith looked for covered, leading him into a lot of indecision, opportunities for sacks and turnovers, and eventually, to Alex Smith. With San Francisco down 22-14, the secondary forced a FG when Darian Stewart shut down a screen to Brian Westbrook for a loss, followed by Dockery tripping up Delanie Walker short on 3rd down. Stewart became weaponized late in the game, forcing an incompletion with one big blitz hit and nearly getting a sack a couple of plays later. On the 49ers’ last gasp, Bradley Fletcher tripped up Crabtree to prevent a big gain, Ron Bartell kept the clock moving by tackling Josh Morgan in bounds, and good overall coverage set up a sack for Fred Robbins in the last ten seconds. The Rams have badly needed the DB unit to bounce back; the last couple of weeks, it looks like that’s happening.
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