Monday, Oct. 05, 2009

Spags sends Barron to the bench

Left tackle has long struggled with penalties

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Rams left tackle Alex Barron was benched in favor in John Greco in the second half of the team's 35-0 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

Barron has been nursing a sore thigh that limited him in practice this week, but Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo said it wasn't an injury that prompted the switch to Greco.

"That's true,'' Spagnuolo said of Barron's absence not being because of an injury. "That's just a decision I made. That's not the way we go, that's not the norm. A guy makes a mistake, we're not going to pull people. It was just a decision I made, and we stuck with it.

"I have not lost confidence in Alex Barron, and next week we'll just move on.''

Barron came out after he was flagged for an illegal formation penalty for lining up too far off the line of scrimmage.

The play negated a 19-yard pass from quarterback Kyle Boller to Danny Amendola that would have put the Rams in field goal range late in the first half.

Barron has been one of the most penalized players in the NFL during his five seasons in the NFL.

Greco, a third-round pick in the 2008 NFL Draft, has worked mostly at guard during his tenure with the Rams. He started at right guard in the Rams' season finale against the Atlanta Falcons last season.

However, Greco played in 36 consecutive games at left tackle to close out his collegiate career at Toledo.

The Rams also were playing without rookie right tackle Jason Smith, who was among the team's inactives because of a knee injury.

Adam Goldberg started in place of Smith.

Sack attack

Larry Grant and C.J. Ah You registered the first sacks of their NFL careers for the Rams.

In all, the Rams had four sacks to more than double their season sack total. They now have seven sacks.

James Hall had his second sack of the season, while Leonard Little had his third sack of the season.

The four sacks were the most by the Rams since they had four sacks against the 49ers last December.

Quick hits

Cornerback Ron Bartell was inactive due to a thigh injury. He was replaced in the starting lineup by second-year player Justin King.

Also inactive for the Rams were safety James Butler, defensive end Victor Adeyanju, guard Roger Allen III, wide receiver Nate Jones, defensive tackle Darrell Scott and emergency quarterback Marc Bulger.

* The 49ers have won seven of the last nine meetings against the Rams.

* Rams safety Craig Dahl suffered a head injury, but it was yet to be determined whether he had a concussion.

* The Rams were penalized 10 times for 73 yards compared to three penalties for 33 yards for the 49ers.

* Rookie linebacker James Laurinaitis had a team-high nine tackles according to the press box statistics.

* Former Rams wide receiver Isaac Bruce had three catches for 20 yards for the 49ers.