Behind Enemy Lines: St. Louis Rams

Todd Gur

ley has officially taken the league by storm, but Jeff Fisher still wants the Rams to become more consistent running the ball. While Gurley does rip off long, explosive runs, the Rams are still seeing their backs get tackled in the backfield far too often. “We're not necessarily pleased with our run game right now because we've got too many runs for losses” said Fisher while talking to the Bay Area media. “We need to, this is not Todd's issue, this is a team issue, we need to become more consistent in the run game overall.” Fisher also added that the offense as a whole needs to become more consistent. While the 49ers do have a new coaching staff, not much has changed in the eyes of linebacker James Laurinaitus. “You know the personal well, you know the scheme well. So a lot of times, you’re not getting surprised by anything.” said Laurinaitus. The linebacker added that they know the 49ers will line-up and try to pound the ball and it will be up to them to win their individual match-ups. Defensive coordinator Greg Williams says that “They know us, we know them. We always play in a dog fight and always play hard. Believe me, our guys have been very respectful in all the meetings and all the practices this week because they know how good that team is.” Kind words from a division rival. Both Robert Quinn and T.J. McDonald appear on track to play this Sunday. Quinn has been dealing with a knee injury while McDonald has been nursing a shoulder injury. Both defensive players were full participants at practice this week. Meanwhile, defensive end Chris Long is still Jeff Fisher becomes yet another opponent to give high praise towards Colin Kaepernick. While Kaepernick struggled this last game against Seattle, Fisher said that “he's getting stuff done on third down, which is problematic for us. I mean, he's making good decisions, the ball's coming out.” On Carlos Hyde, Fisher says that he’s going to be a problem for the Rams for years to come. “He's hammered it up in there. He's got vision and quickness and acceleration to the hole. He's a tough runner, he's a big heavy back, he's hard to get down once he gets to the second level. We really liked Carlos coming out, [I] thought he was [going to] be a great back. [We weren’t] especially excited that the 49ers drafted him.” Fortunately for Fisher and the Rams, Hyde will miss this game with a foot injury.