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SOME POSTGAME THOUGHTS
BY BAMA RAM FAN (Nov 2) 

Tennessee Titans defensive end Jevon Kearse (90) knocks the ball from the grasp of St. Louis Rams quarterback Kurt Warner (13) during the Titans' 24-21 win on Oct. 31, 1999 in Nashville, Tenn. The Titans recovered the ball on the play. After only seven games as a pro, rookie Kearse is drawing high praise from coaches and players on his team, and also on opposing teams. (AP Photo/John Russell)

THE TITANS GAME. Ask yourself, before the game, how could we lose? The answers would include penalties, turnovers, bad calls, poor OL blocking.

Well, we had all of the above, and still came damn close to tying at the end! Hard to say what would have happened in OT, but the momentum was definitely going our way. Remember, everyone of us would have been ecstatic going 6-1 only 8 weeks ago, and I see  nothing to change that. The Rams are still a team to respect, and one that can put some points on the board.

* The Titans clearly had the fresh legs at the start of the game, which I would expect coming off the bye week. The bye is very important for the D especially to get rested. Look at the Rams results this year and last after extra days off.

*  The Rams blitz wasn't as effective as you would like. Wait 2 more weeks until Little gets back. He has that blitz stuff down. It will make this D even better.

* I think using McNair also put the Rams off some. No tape on him except for game 1. Very  hard to defend a guy when you don't really know what he will do, or which plays he will run. After the draw for the TD, they kept him in check for the most part.

* The other team still gets its big running play by sweeping to the left, usually strong side. I don't know why, but it does happen. Maybe it's the double teaming of Wistrom. It seems to be the one play they give up every week. But other than that play and the QB draw, the run D was very good, and held on several third downs.

* The receivers played OK, although its hard to say from the TV view why they weren't getting open early on. Still, all 4 WR made catches, with some big ones in the second half. Clearly the strength of the team after/with Faulk.

* Offensive play calling. Not that many teams play the 46 defense, so it would be hard for them to suddenly change just for 1 game.

* Warner took much deeper drops in the second half, 7 step compared to 5 step, it gave the OL room to move the rushers inside without messing up Warner.

* The main way to slow a rush down is to run at it or outside it. They didn't do that much, except for  the screen to Faulk. The run from Watson was a good  example, but then there was the phantom holding call. A few power runs worked in would be good. The 90-flip play still got yards, even though they only used it twice.

* Martz is good, and he can find ways around or over a D. But it still takes players performing to make it work.

* Also, there were none of the reverse-fake reverse-fake and pass type plays called. Maybe it was because of the DL penetration or something. Still, the way the D was pursuing, a reverse to Az or Bruce should have been a big play. Lining Az up for the 90-flip play was cool, another head scratcher. Next I would like to see Watson or Holcombe on the Bo Jackson play (line up as a wing go in motion on an arch behind the QB, get a quick pitch at full speed, turn it up field).

* Amp Lee is back! Marshall was clearly upset the few times he came out and Amp went in, but after the TD, I think he understands. One more weapon to choose from, one more way to rest Faulk without any lose in productivity.

* So much for Faulk not being able to run on grass. The long TD catch-run left three defenders searching for their you-know-whats. That alone got the team rolling.

* Warner, in an "off" game, has qb rating  of only 106.1. Let's see---McNair, who Berman gave one of his game  balls, had a rating of 89.2 And Kurt also rushed for 22 yards on 2 carries, Steve had 39 yards on 13 carries. SO...who had the better game? Warner's fumbles make it hard to judge. But I still say Warner. McNair was very wild in the second half when he could have put  the Rams away.       

OFFICIATING. A lot has been made of the poor officials, BUT, they obviously didn't remember the rule change from last year about the DL drawing the OL offsides. Funny thing is, I saw that exact call in both the Colts-Cowboys and Lions-Bucs game made correctly. It makes you wonder why they keep some of the refs employed in this business. The new rule clearly states that any movement into or beyond the neutral zone in an attempt to draw the OL offsides is a penalty by the Defense. At least twice, Kearse did this. So I can't really blame Miller, he was playing by the rules as he knows them. Once the ref changes the rules in mid-game, it can really mess you up. I bet Kearse doesn't get away with that again this season, as the Rams will show the tape to the league, who will say, oops, sorry about that. But, the Rams should have used the same tacticonce they saw the ref wouldn't call it. That would give them even more postgame talk if it was called on them but not on the other team.

For the Rams, there was Bruce's fumble turned incomplete pass, a phantom hold on a McNair run, a patsy roughing the QB call. Now these didn't even out the bad calls made in favor of the Titans, but they show that the calling was bad overall.

And as for the last play, roughing the kicker---clearly a blown call. Grutt made a chop block art the guy's shins, pretty hard to force someone into the kicker on that. But the official was looking at his watch more than anything, ready to catch his flight.

AFTER-THOUGHTS. The Lions looked good in their game, but the Bucs looked awful on offense. You can tell the offense (or lack thereof) is really getting to the Buc defenders. Does this sound familiar? The Rams last year, the Bucs, Giants, Eagles, Cards, Chargers this year. Look for the Lions to have a much tougher time with the Rams.

* The Cowboys are really going downhill. They haven't shown they can beat anyone other than Washington. They are 1-3 their last 4 games. Too Bad. My heart really goes out to them...NOT!!!

* Green Bay, MNF. Man, something like 8 or 9 turnovers, no crowd noise, stil one quarter to go. I'm glad they kept all thoose "boring games" like St. Louis at Tenn off the MNF schedule. Ooops, another INT by Brett. And we thought Warner looked shakey.          

* Ben Coates is unhappy in New England. Can you say big off-season acquisition? Charley, get on the phone with his agent, check it out.