Sunday, Sep. 20, 2009

Forget last week: Rams are ready for Redskins

Team has tried to move past lopsided Week 1 loss to Seattle

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo talked to his team about putting blinders on this week, and focusing on the next game instead of their season-opening loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

Considering the ugliness of the Rams' 28-0 loss to the Seahawks, blinders might not be a bad thing.

Now the Rams (0-1) will play the Washington Redskins (0-1), one of the two teams they beat last season, at noon today at FedEx Field.

"Coach uses an analogy of just putting blinders on, and I really agree with that,'' Rams running back Steven Jackson said. "Even if you have a good week, you have to have a blinder on. You can't get distracted by what the outsiders are saying.

"If someone is patting you on the back, you can't get too hard on yourself. When people are down on you, you can't get too low on yourself. You've got to be even keel. Everyone in this locker room knows the hard work we put in and the hard work we're going to continue to put in. All that matters is everyone in this organization sticks together, and when we start winning, we'll welcome the bandwagoners back."

The Rams committed 10 penalties, including four for false starts and three for unnecessary roughness, against the Seahawks.

They also failed to score in a season opener for the first time since 1965.

"Nobody in here will tell you that we did a good job out there,'' tight end Randy McMichael said as he surveyed the Rams' locker room. "A lot of our yards came late in the fourth quarter. We have to get into a better rhythm, and we can't kill ourselves like we did. A lot of times when we had the opportunity to make plays, we had penalties that set us back.''

The Redskins also lost their opener, dropping a 23-17 decision to the New York Giants.

It's safe to say that the Redskins won't be looking past the Rams like they did last season. They took a 4-1 record and a four-game winning streak into their game against the Rams, who were 0-4 and had just fired coach Scott Linehan during their bye week.

"We won't take 'em lightly," Redskins wide receiver Antwaan Randle El said. "That's for sure."

The Rams, thanks to Josh Brown's field goal as time expired, beat the Redskins 19-17 in Jim Haslett's debut as coach.

"Last year, I think we were on the verge of being on the high horse,'' Redskins running back Clinton Portis said. "We had just came off of beating Philadelphia, Dallas, and we turn around and lose to the Rams for their first win.''

Portis has rushed for 265 yards and four touchdowns in his past two games against the Rams.

"I'm a big fan on Clinton,'' Jackson said. "He's a downhill runner. He's put on some weight since he was in Denver. But, he's a one-cut, get-down-the-field tough runner, and he's hard to bring down.

"He's not going to go down on the first tackler. So we got to make sure that we rally to the ball because he is a game breaker. He's someone that we have to respect."

Portis ran for 34 yards on the first play against the Giants, but he gained only 28 yards the rest of the game.

"I wouldn't have figured that because after that run I was like, 'Oh, 150 baby, at least!''' Portis said. "We really didn't get the opportunities down the field, and as I said after the game, we've got to get more plays. I think we had 45 plays on offense, four plays in the first quarter. That's not going to help us do anything. We've got to stay on the field, we've got to sustain drives and just keep attacking.''

Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell has some capable targets in the passing game, including wide receivers Santana Moss and Randle El and tight end Chris Cooley.

Randle El caught seven passes for 98 yards, while Cooley had a touchdown reception against the Giants.

The Redskins exploited Randle El's versatility, calling several trick plays, including a reverse pass.

"I wouldn't call the reverse pass a trick play,'' Redskins coach Jim Zorn said. "If I would have thrown with maybe a halfback or a wide receiver, I'd say, 'OK, it's a trick play,' We had Antwaan and really he is our No. 3 quarterback as well. It wouldn't much be different than a bootleg or something like that that a quarterback would run.''

Cooley is a concern for the Rams, who were torched for 95 yards and two touchdowns by Seattle tight end John Carlson.

"I know from first-hand experience that he is one of the best,'' said Spagnuolo, who spent the previous 10 seasons coaching in the NFC East. "We have talked about it a lot, and hopefully we have some things that can help us out there. It still comes down to playing.

"He has got all the game. He's got the physical part, he's got the speed, he's got the great hands, he detaches from the line of scrimmage, and he is like a wide out and goes in the back field, and he is a blocker, so he presents a lot of problems."

On defense, the Redskins are strong up the middle with defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth and middle linebacker London Fletcher.

Fletcher, who spent his first four seasons in the NFL with the Rams, had an NFL-leading 18 tackles in Week 1.

"He is one of those guys that if you are putting your defense together, you'd love to have that guy quarterbacking your defense just from what I know about him,'' Spagnuolo said. " I have never worked with London, but I have always had a great deal of respect for him.

"I watch him operate there, it looks like he is running the whole show. He gets people in positions, and that is what you need at that position.''

Cornerback Fred Smoot (rib) was downgraded from probable to questionable on the Redskins' injury report Saturday.