Special teams tops Martz's list of sins

The St. Louis coach didn't have too many kind words about his team's play in a 31-14 loss to Miami.

By Jim Salter ~ The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS -- A lot of things went wrong for the St. Louis Rams in a 31-14 loss to previously-winless Miami, and at the top of the list was the performance of the special teams.

Or perhaps the not-so-special teams. Coach Mike Martz, who is slow to be critical of his team, didn't mince words.

"Special teams-wise, we did a very poor job," Martz said Monday. "We're starting to put starters on special teams. We have some guys here because that's part of their role and we feel like we've got to compensate for those guys. And that's not good."

Consider:

--The Dolphins used a 63-yard second-quarter kickoff return on a reverse to set up a touchdown that broke a 7-7 tie.

--Miami's Bryan Gilmore returned a punt 20 yards to the Rams 49 in the fourth quarter, leading to a field goal that helped put the game out of reach. Dolphins rookie Tony Bua threw a block on that return that took out two Rams.

--Miami was successful on a fake punt on fourth-and-1 in the third quarter when tailback Sammy Morris took the short snap and ran 6 yards for a first down.

--On six kickoff returns, the Rams averaged just 17 yards per return. Shaun McDonald's two punt returns went for a combined minus 1 yard.

The result? The Rams' average starting field position was their own 21; the Dolphins started, on average, at the 32.

Issues? Yeah, the Rams have issues, Martz said.

"We've got kickoff returns, we've got punt returns, we've got fake punts -- you name it, we've got it," Martz said. "Our special teams did not play well in any capacity and that's a major issue for us at this point."

Part of the problem is personnel. Martz said after reviewing videotape of the game that one special teams position missed a block on every play. He did not name that player or players.

Martz and special teams coach Mike Stock will spend the bye week looking at what's going wrong.

"We need to change up a little bit of what we do, too, on the kickoff team, from a strategic standpoint -- how we're running them down the field. And do a better job coaching them," Martz said.

The problems are nothing new for St. Louis. The team fired special teams coach Bobby April after last season, when the Rams were last in the NFL in punt coverage, allowing 15.1 yards per return, and 30th in kickoff coverage (23.9 yards). In three seasons under April, they allowed 10 special teams touchdowns.

Things haven't gotten much better under Stock. The Rams are allowing 24.6 yards per kickoff return, tied for third-worst. They're in the middle of the pack in net punting yards.

St. Louis ranks next-to-last in punt returns, averaging just 4.7 yards, and fourth-from-last in kickoff returns, averaging 18.3 yards. The longest kickoff return has been 27 yards.

The Rams had other problems beyond special teams. The offense could muster only 14 points and twice went 3-and-out on drives that began inside the St. Louis 20.

"To me that's a mortal sin to go 3-and-out, that's the worse thing to coach Martz in the world," Martz said. "That's intolerable."

And defensively, St. Louis gave up 31 points to a team that hadn't topped 13 in any of its previous six games. Three plays accounted for 160 yards.

Asked to assess the performance of first-year defensive coordinator Larry Marmie, Martz bristled.

"First of all, that's none of your business," Martz said. "What I think of my staff and my assessment of my staff is certainly personal. And I think he's a terrific coach and he's done a terrific job."

The Rams (4-3) missed a chance to put some distance between themselves and Seattle (3-3) in the NFC West. The Seahawks lost to Arizona 25-17 Sunday.

"You can't relax in this league," defensive end Damione Lewis said after the loss. "You have to be able to overcome adversity, and we weren't able to do that today."