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Rams look for sunny side of .500 against rival 49ers
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_db6a49e2-d96f-579c-9b31-14eaa6aa0f05.html
There will be no parade down Market Street next week if the Rams beat San Francisco. No rally at Kiener Plaza with speakers and confetti.
But usually at this time of year, you hand out the Halloween candy, November rolls around, and it’s time to think about where the Rams might be picking and who they might take in the upcoming draft.
This year, things feel and look a little different. The Rams are 3-3 and favored against their old West Coast rivals in Sunday’s noon kickoff at the Edward Jones Dome. Such a set of circumstances might be sneered at in other places around the NFL — Green Bay, New England, Denver, and even San Francisco not that long ago.
But in these parts, the local 11 hasn’t had a winning season since 2003. The scars of the worst five-year stretch in NFL history — 15-65 from 2007 through 2011 — remain fresh.
If the Rams defeat the 49ers, they will be 4-3 and above .500 in November for the first time since ... 2006. That’s nine long years ago. That’s three head coaches ago — four if you count interim Jim Haslett.
That year, rookie NFL head coach Scott Linehan steered the Rams to a 4-1 start, and entered November with a 4-3 mark. Trouble was, they were early into a 1-7 nosedive that dropped their record to 5-8 before rallying to close the season with three straight wins and finish 8-8.
And that was that, the only post-Halloween “taste of the glory” over the past decade for long-suffering Rams fans. Pretty pitiful, eh?
But now come the 49ers, reeling at 2-5, coping with all kinds of anti-Colin Kaepernick talk, stripped of most of their marquee players from recent seasons. And, as of Friday, they’re minus feature back Carlos Hyde, ruled out for Sunday with what’s believed to be a stress fracture in his left foot.
They rank 32nd in total offense, 31st in total defense and had more punts (nine) than first downs (eight) their last time out — a 20-3 loss to Seattle on Oct. 22.
“Last week was a big win for us, and for us to have a chance to get in the win column again this week, it’s huge,” coach Jeff Fisher said. “But again, it’s a week-to-week thing. So you all can make whatever you want out of that, and what we’ve done here.
“But we’ve let a few go that we should’ve won. We probably won a couple that people didn’t expect us to win. This is our next game. So it would be great to find a way to win it.”
OK, so Fisher didn’t really want to go big picture. Not the first time that’s happened. But leave it to veteran linebacker James Laurinaitis — who was part of a 1-15 squad as a Rams rookie in 2009 and a 2-14 outfit in 2011 — to frame the moment.
“If you want to be different than what we’ve been in the past, you’ve gotta put two (wins) together,” Laurinaitis said. “And if you want to be different than what we’ve been since ’06, you’ve gotta find a way to be above .500 in November.
“So it’s not like it’s the Super Bowl that we’re playing Sunday, but heck yeah, it’s important.”
Making the moment all the more entertaining is the fact that it’s against not just a division rival, but the division rival for the Rams. Sunday marks the 132nd meeting between teams that have met twice a year every year since 1950.
(The teams played three times during the 1989 season because of a playoff game.)
There have been wild fluctuations in the series, with the 49ers taking 17 in a row in a streak that lasted nearly the entire decade of the ’90s. The Rams then won 10 of 12 from 1999 through 2004. But since then it’s been mainly ’Niners, with San Francisco going 14-5-1 against the Rams since the start of the ’05 season.
Even with the massive changes to the 49ers’ roster and coaching staff this past offseason, Laurinaitis says: “They know us well. We know them well. It’s gonna be a physical football game. These division games, a lot off times you wake up on Monday and you’re a little more sore than the other ones.”
There have been some memorable moments in the series since the Rams moved to St. Louis in 1995:
• Linebacker Ken Norton Jr. celebrating a touchdown by punching the Busch Stadium goal posts in ’95. And then Dana Stubblefield coining the immortal phrase “same old sorry-(bleep) Rams” after a 44-10 49ers victory.
• The Tony Banks “era” beginning with a safety on his first series as a pro at Candlestick Park in 1996.
• The great Isaac Bruce scoring four TDs in 1999 as the Rams ended their 17-game losing streak to the 49ers with a 42-20 win at the Dome. Bill Walsh making a cameo in Dick Vermeil’s press conference, telling his longtime friend, “You’re going all the way.” (Turns out Walsh was right.)
• “Mad” Mike Martz breaking out a broom in the cramped visitors locker room at Candlestick, gleefully commemorating a 34-24 Rams victory and a series sweep in 2000.
• Martz pulling starting quarterback Scott Covington early in the 2002 season finale, a Monday Night affair, because the inexperienced Covington was calling the plays backwards in the huddle.
• Bruce catching what would be the final TD pass of his career — wait a minute, as a 49er! — starting a fourth-quarter San Francisco comeback in a 17-16 Rams defeat in 2008.
• It took 10 quarters to play the series in 2012. A 24-24 overtime tie Nov. 11 at Candlestick, followed by a 16-13 Rams victory 21 days later in St. Louis on a Greg Zuerlein field goal with 26 seconds left in OT.
• And just last season, almost a year ago to the day, the 49ers were poised for a last-second victory with a third-and-goal from the St. Louis 1 with 9 seconds remaining at new Levi’s Stadium. But Kaepernick fumbled on a quarterback sneak before crossing the goal line, and Laurinaitis recovered in the end zone to preserve a 13-10 Rams victory last Nov. 2.
It may be hard to top some of that history. But a winning record in November — for the first time since 2006 — might not be a bad way to go in what could be the final Rams-49ers game in St. Louis.
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_db6a49e2-d96f-579c-9b31-14eaa6aa0f05.html
There will be no parade down Market Street next week if the Rams beat San Francisco. No rally at Kiener Plaza with speakers and confetti.
But usually at this time of year, you hand out the Halloween candy, November rolls around, and it’s time to think about where the Rams might be picking and who they might take in the upcoming draft.
This year, things feel and look a little different. The Rams are 3-3 and favored against their old West Coast rivals in Sunday’s noon kickoff at the Edward Jones Dome. Such a set of circumstances might be sneered at in other places around the NFL — Green Bay, New England, Denver, and even San Francisco not that long ago.
But in these parts, the local 11 hasn’t had a winning season since 2003. The scars of the worst five-year stretch in NFL history — 15-65 from 2007 through 2011 — remain fresh.
If the Rams defeat the 49ers, they will be 4-3 and above .500 in November for the first time since ... 2006. That’s nine long years ago. That’s three head coaches ago — four if you count interim Jim Haslett.
That year, rookie NFL head coach Scott Linehan steered the Rams to a 4-1 start, and entered November with a 4-3 mark. Trouble was, they were early into a 1-7 nosedive that dropped their record to 5-8 before rallying to close the season with three straight wins and finish 8-8.
And that was that, the only post-Halloween “taste of the glory” over the past decade for long-suffering Rams fans. Pretty pitiful, eh?
But now come the 49ers, reeling at 2-5, coping with all kinds of anti-Colin Kaepernick talk, stripped of most of their marquee players from recent seasons. And, as of Friday, they’re minus feature back Carlos Hyde, ruled out for Sunday with what’s believed to be a stress fracture in his left foot.
They rank 32nd in total offense, 31st in total defense and had more punts (nine) than first downs (eight) their last time out — a 20-3 loss to Seattle on Oct. 22.
“Last week was a big win for us, and for us to have a chance to get in the win column again this week, it’s huge,” coach Jeff Fisher said. “But again, it’s a week-to-week thing. So you all can make whatever you want out of that, and what we’ve done here.
“But we’ve let a few go that we should’ve won. We probably won a couple that people didn’t expect us to win. This is our next game. So it would be great to find a way to win it.”
OK, so Fisher didn’t really want to go big picture. Not the first time that’s happened. But leave it to veteran linebacker James Laurinaitis — who was part of a 1-15 squad as a Rams rookie in 2009 and a 2-14 outfit in 2011 — to frame the moment.
“If you want to be different than what we’ve been in the past, you’ve gotta put two (wins) together,” Laurinaitis said. “And if you want to be different than what we’ve been since ’06, you’ve gotta find a way to be above .500 in November.
“So it’s not like it’s the Super Bowl that we’re playing Sunday, but heck yeah, it’s important.”
Making the moment all the more entertaining is the fact that it’s against not just a division rival, but the division rival for the Rams. Sunday marks the 132nd meeting between teams that have met twice a year every year since 1950.
(The teams played three times during the 1989 season because of a playoff game.)
There have been wild fluctuations in the series, with the 49ers taking 17 in a row in a streak that lasted nearly the entire decade of the ’90s. The Rams then won 10 of 12 from 1999 through 2004. But since then it’s been mainly ’Niners, with San Francisco going 14-5-1 against the Rams since the start of the ’05 season.
Even with the massive changes to the 49ers’ roster and coaching staff this past offseason, Laurinaitis says: “They know us well. We know them well. It’s gonna be a physical football game. These division games, a lot off times you wake up on Monday and you’re a little more sore than the other ones.”
There have been some memorable moments in the series since the Rams moved to St. Louis in 1995:
• Linebacker Ken Norton Jr. celebrating a touchdown by punching the Busch Stadium goal posts in ’95. And then Dana Stubblefield coining the immortal phrase “same old sorry-(bleep) Rams” after a 44-10 49ers victory.
• The Tony Banks “era” beginning with a safety on his first series as a pro at Candlestick Park in 1996.
• The great Isaac Bruce scoring four TDs in 1999 as the Rams ended their 17-game losing streak to the 49ers with a 42-20 win at the Dome. Bill Walsh making a cameo in Dick Vermeil’s press conference, telling his longtime friend, “You’re going all the way.” (Turns out Walsh was right.)
• “Mad” Mike Martz breaking out a broom in the cramped visitors locker room at Candlestick, gleefully commemorating a 34-24 Rams victory and a series sweep in 2000.
• Martz pulling starting quarterback Scott Covington early in the 2002 season finale, a Monday Night affair, because the inexperienced Covington was calling the plays backwards in the huddle.
• Bruce catching what would be the final TD pass of his career — wait a minute, as a 49er! — starting a fourth-quarter San Francisco comeback in a 17-16 Rams defeat in 2008.
• It took 10 quarters to play the series in 2012. A 24-24 overtime tie Nov. 11 at Candlestick, followed by a 16-13 Rams victory 21 days later in St. Louis on a Greg Zuerlein field goal with 26 seconds left in OT.
• And just last season, almost a year ago to the day, the 49ers were poised for a last-second victory with a third-and-goal from the St. Louis 1 with 9 seconds remaining at new Levi’s Stadium. But Kaepernick fumbled on a quarterback sneak before crossing the goal line, and Laurinaitis recovered in the end zone to preserve a 13-10 Rams victory last Nov. 2.
It may be hard to top some of that history. But a winning record in November — for the first time since 2006 — might not be a bad way to go in what could be the final Rams-49ers game in St. Louis.