Bolts-Rams film no cure for flag follies
Upon further review, Rams coach Jeff Fisher was still miffed over the officiating from his team’s loss to the Chargers.
Fisher, speaking Monday after film study of San Diego’s 27-24 victory, said Carl Cheffers’ crew was “incorrect at times” and “missed some things as well.”
Specifically, he mentioned the Rams’ holding penalty that cut in half Tavon Austin’s 76-yard punt return late in the fourth quarter. Fisher said he couldn’t find Marshall McFadden’s infraction anywhere on the coaches’ film.
“According to (Cheffers’ crew), there was supposedly a foul during the kick on the line of scrimmage,” Fisher said, via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Didn’t see it. I mean, we’ve been looking for it. Seriously, we looked all over the place for it. We just didn’t see it.”
Fisher, the Dispatch wrote, made it sound like Rams coaches looked everywhere except under couch cushions for a Rams infraction on the Austin return.
“Yeah we did,” Fisher said, smiling. “We even looked at some other games, and didn’t see it, so ...”
Austin, fielding Mike Scifres’ 55-yard punt at the Rams’ 22, eluded Darrell Stuckey and Donald Brown before Ladarius Green knocked him out of bounds at San Diego’s 2.
The disputed flag on McFadden, coupled with a penalty on Scifres for a low block, put the Rams on San Diego’s 40. The Chargers led, 27-24 with 1:27 to play. Five plays later, Marcus Gilchrist’s interception near the goal line secured the victory.
Following Sunday’s game, Fisher and his players lauded Philip Rivers and the Chargers. Yet Fisher also suggested a Rams victory would’ve come despite the officiating.
“Unfortunately,” he said Monday, “it seems like every week is an adventure with the officiating.”
As a longtime member of the NFL’s competition committee, Fisher knows the rules like few other coaches.
The Dispatch reported that critiquing the officiating has become almost a weekly feature of Fisher’s Monday media briefings at Rams Park.
“We deal with it and we move on,” Fisher said. “They’re doing the best they can. Dean (Blandino) is doing the best he can. From a consistency standpoint, that’s what he’s striving for. ... There were some things that I disagreed with (Sunday). But you can’t change it.”
At Chargers Park every Monday, Mike McCoy declines almost always to comment on officiating. Monday, speaking generally on the topic, he said officials’ calls even out over the course of a season.
