One thing they say about Scott Linehan of the St. Louis Rams is “good game coach,” meaning his tactical decisions on Sunday afternoons are sound ones.
Maybe not always.
Consider this situation: Linehan's side is getting bounced around by the Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium. In the third period, the Rams are behind 21-7 with a fourth-and-6 at the San Diego 16. Linehan summons Jeff Wilkins who supplies a 34-yard field goal.
Nothing out of the ordinary there. Ah, but there is a complication. The Chargers' Antonio Cromartie is cited for being offside. Problem for Linehan: Does he accept being 11 points behind, recognizing the conventional wisdom in the NFL that points should not be removed from the scoreboard, or does he take the penalty, bringing up a fourth-and-1 at the 11?
Gain a first down here and the Missourians would be positioned to move in for a touchdown that, with a subsequent conversion, would have leave them just seven points behind in a game the Chargers would win yesterday 38-24.
In assessing fourth-and-1 situations for the Rams, be mindful that the team has one of the NFL's most powerful backs in 231-pound Steven Jackson, among the league's rushing leaders.
Whether Linehan acted wisely or unwisely in not choosing the more aggressive course, which would have been to attempt to cut into the home team's advantage as deeply as he could, is subject to conjecture. This, though, is known: acting as Linehan did could not have turned out more adversely for the Rams.
On the fourth play after St. Louis had kicked off, LaDainian Tomlinson sped through a 51-yard burst. Soon enough, a 31-yard Nate Kaeding field goal made it 24-10 and the hosts were ahead by the same margin by which they had led before Linehan would not choose a more adventuresome course.
Linehan defended his decision. “You're going to need three points in a two-score game to win the game, anyway,” he said. “OK? In a 14-point game, at that point, you make the field goal, it's 11 points. You still have to have two scores.
“I'm not sure that if it's fourth-and-1 and we don't have a point, we still wouldn't have kicked the field goal.”
Jackson would not take exception to how Linehan had proceeded. “I have to go along with what the coach says,” the running back said. “We had to take the points. We didn't count on falling behind in the game, either, but it happens.”
When Marc Bulger's thinking concerning the puzzle at the 16-yard line was sought, the St. Louis quarterback advised his questioner that it had taken him twice as long to detail the situation as Linehan had to act on it.
“Maybe we do go in there,” Bulger said, “but LaDainian still gets his three touchdowns.”
The Rams found out some things about Tomlinson. One thing Oshiomogho Atogwe discovered is that the running back has strength to go with his elusiveness. On his 38-yard sprint to his second touchdown, Tomlinson stiff-armed Atogwe, a second-year defensive back from Stanford, and removed the defender's headgear.
“It was kind of like he pulled it off,” said Atogwe. “He's a great back, a future Hall of Famer.”
“Nothing LT does surprises me,” said Linehan, who placed the source of his team's defeats in its mistakes. The most meaningful one came in the third period when the Rams, then behind just 14-7, had a first down at the San Diego 29.
Bulger handed off to veteran running back Stephen Davis, for whom this was only his second time with the football since Oct. 8. Davis fumbled. Marlon McCree policed up the ball and went 79 yards to the end zone.
“It's reality,” decided Linehan. “You've got to keep a sense of reality.”
Would he view the Chargers, in a poetic sense, as “reality”?
“They were today,” he said.
Jerry Magee: (619) 293-1830; jerry.magee@uniontrib.com
