By R.B. FALLSTROM AP Sports Writer
ST. LOUIS (AP)—A day after a three-point loss to the Arizona Cardinals, St. Louis Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo declined to second-guess decisions that factored into the defeat.
Spagnuolo said on Monday that he still would have burned more than a half-minute off the clock at the end of the first half and settled for a field goal, and he still would have punted on fourth-and-1 late in the fourth quarter and counted on a defense that had given up huge chunks of yards on the ground to get the ball back.
Instead of going for the big plays, the Rams played not to lose.
Spagnuolo is 10-33 with five games to go in his third season. It’s a challenging stretch that could determine whether he keeps his job.
The Rams (2-9) are 13-point underdogs at San Francisco this week and, counting the rematch in the season finale against the 49ers, the next five opponents are a combined 38-17.
“Do you mean, how do I handle this San Francisco game right here this week?” Spagnuolo said. “You guys know how I’m wired.”
The coach believes players are still buying in, if a bit beat down.
“You have to forget about it and move on, but as a competitor they’re going to really get under your skin,” middle linebacker James Laurinaitis said. “I hate losing, I hate losing, and am never going to get used to losing.
“Nobody should in this locker room, in this organization.”
There’s no looking back for Spagnuolo. He wouldn’t have taken a few more shots at the end zone and tried to give the Rams a 14-3 cushion before halftime. He had to be talked into allowing one try before bringing on the field goal unit.
“It was a conservative approach, no question,” Spagnuolo said. “And you could have gone another way.”
In this case, Spagnuolo got the sense the offense was reeling. After Brandon Lloyd’s 26-yard reception to the 3 with 43 seconds left in the first half, the Rams went in reverse with a botched play call that resulted in a false-start penalty but easily could have been whistled for delay of game, and Sam Bradford was sacked for a 9-yard loss the next play.
“Obviously, we put ourselves in a pretty bad situation,” Bradford said.
Spagnuolo wouldn’t say what happened on the play from the 3, but indicated a lot had gone wrong.
“There were a lot of things going on,” the coach said. “There were too many issues. We need to get that play off.”
Spagnuolo also revealed he was thinking field goal right after Lloyd’s catch, going through “what if” scenarios in his mind that only got reinforced after two failures.
“Do we want to get a touchdown? Yeah,” Spagnuolo said. “I was going to bring it all the way down and just kick it, but then there was conversation about `Let’s take a shot,’ and I thought that was OK thinking.”
Spagnuolo’s scenario had the Rams building on the 7-point cushion. Instead, they got outscored 17-0 in the third quarter.
As for the decision to punt on fourth-and-1 from the St. Louis 36 with 3:22 to go and three timeouts left, Spagnuolo said it was the right move. The Rams burned all the timeouts while giving up two first downs, and it was game over.
“We position ourselves a lot of times, especially the last four or five weeks, to win the games,” running back Steven Jackson said. “We keep coming up short.”
Confidence in a defense that surrendered its second franchise record this season was misplaced. Beanie Wells had 228 yards with an 8.4-yard average, following the lead of Dallas’ DeMarco Murray, who had 253 yards last month.
Spagnuolo had no qualms about deciding to punt on fourth-and-1 in the third quarter from the St. Louis 30. The decision became academic after C.J. Ah You was penalized for a false start, and the play resulted in Patrick Peterson’s fourth punt return for a touchdown this season to tie an NFL record.
“I know in hindsight he returns it for a touchdown, so shame on me,” Spagnuolo said. “I just don’t think you take that chance.”
One positive from the setback is there are very few injury concerns.
Safety Darian Stewart was sent home suffering from concussion-like symptoms. Bradford aggravated his high left ankle sprain and was sore, but could be fine for practice Wednesday.
Punter Donnie Jones turned his left ankle after getting blocked on Peterson’s punt return but is expected to be OK.
Wide receiver Danario Alexander, the top deep threat, could return this week after missing five weeks with a hamstring injury.
