Monday, Nov. 02, 2009

Fake field goal helps Rams snap losing skid

Special teams coach saw something on film

DETROIT -- Kicker Josh Brown's first fake field goal led to the St. Louis Rams' first win of the season.

Brown threw a pass -- actually, he sort of shot-putted the ball -- to Daniel Fells for a 36-yard touchdown in the Rams' 17-10 win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday.

It was Brown's first pass attempt in seven seasons in the NFL

"Oh man, that was the nastiest-looking pass ever,'' Brown said. "You know what it, it worked, and that's all that matters.''

On fourth-and-8 from the Detroit 36, Rams quarterback Marc Bulger let the play clock run down before calling a timeout.

Out came Brown and the Rams' field-goal unit.

Ryan Neill snapped the ball to holder Donnie Jones, who flipped the ball to Brown.

Brown rolled to his left and tossed the ball to Fells, who broke a tackle and ran into the end zone.

Brown, who was a running back playing eight-man football at Foyil (Okla.) High School, said he considered trying to run for the first down.

"Part of me wanted to keep that thing, but it couldn't have worked out better,'' Brown said.

The Lions were completely fooled by the fake field goal.

"People know that Josh can take a whack at that distance, so that helps us a little bit,'' Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo said. "Tom McMahon and Derius Swinton do a great job with our special teams, and they saw something during the week, and we didn't know if we were going to get a chance to do it, but we did. And, it worked out well.''

Brown said he hadn't spent a lot of time practicing that partiular trick play.

"It was a play that we worked on for about six minutes on Saturday,'' Brown said. "We kind of found a weakness in what they were doing.''

Brown credited McMahon for finding a kink in the Lions' armor.

"As much as tease Tom for a first-year guy and as much time as he spends in the office, he really is a dynamic coach because he really looks for the small things,'' Brown said. "He really found a weakness in them, something they do all the time. When they have a two-man push back there, they really come hard off the edges and we were able to take advantage of it.''

Injury report

Right guard Jacob Bell left the game due to a head injury in the fourth quarter.

Mark Setterstrom replaced Bell.

Return specialist Danny Amendola didn't return to action after sustaining a bone-jarring hit by linebacker Zach Follett on a kickoff reutrn with 13:51 left in the fourth quarter.

Rams tight end Randy McMichael had a problem with bruised ribs.

Quick hits

The Rams' inactives were guard Richie Incognito, wide receivers Ruvell Martin and Tim Carter, safety Anthony Smith, guard Roger Allen III, tackle Phil Trautwein, defensive end C.J. Ah You and third-string quarterback Keith Null.

* Quarterback Marc Bulger passed Hall of Famer Roman Gabriel for second place on the Rams' all-time list for passing yards with a 7-yard completion to tight end Randy McMichael in the second quarter.

The pass gave Bulger 22,224 passing yards with the Rams, one more than Roman Gabriel.

* Steven Jackson passed Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson for fifth place on the Rams' all-time yards from scrimmage list with a 6-yard run early in the third quarter.

The run gave Jackson 8,158 yards from scrimmage, one more than Dickerson tallied with the Rams.

* Jackson's 6.8-yard rushing average against the Lions was the third-highest of his career (minimum 10 attempts).

Jackson's career high is a 7.2-yard average against Jacksonville on Oct. 30, 2005.

* Chris Long registered his first sack of the season when he took down Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford for a 4-yard loss with 8:47 left in the third quarter.

* Rookie linebacker James Laurinaitis had a team-leading seven tackles, according to the press box statistics.

* Tight end Billy Bajema had a career-high two catches for 43 yards. It marked the first time he'd caught a pass since a 29-yard reception against the Washington Redskins as a member of the San Francisco 49ers on Dec. 28, 2008.