First loss arrives special delivery

The Rams' were haunted by an old nemesis in Sunday's debacle in San Francisco.

ST. LOUIS -- Special teams, the St. Louis Rams' softest area last season, remained a major problem after the team's stumbling opener.

The Rams put themselves in an immediate hole against the underdog 49ers when kick returner Chris Johnson, signed earlier in the week, stepped out of bounds at the 1. It never got much better in a 28-25 loss on Sunday to a team that won an NFL-low two games last season.

"We'll have to fix that, unfortunately," coach Mike Martz said Monday.

The Rams also surrendered a 75-yard punt return for a touchdown in the second quarter by Otis Amey, and a 40-yard kickoff return to Maurice Hicks on their first kickoff. Punter Reggie Hodges averaged 33 yards on four attempts with a 14.3-yard net and the 49ers recovered an onside kick.

"It surprised them," 49ers kicker Joe Nedney said.

Vocal, energetic Bob Ligashesky is the fourth special teams coach for the Rams in six seasons, and he got more time to remold the units in training camp. So far it hasn't helped the Rams, who ranked at or near the bottom of every major category. Poor special teams allowed the 49ers to build a 28-9 third-quarter lead and hold on despite the Rams running more than twice as many plays while holding the ball for nearly two-thirds of the game.

Martz exonerated Ligashesky during a brief media session Monday, saying it was the players' fault.

"Here's my frustration: I sit here and listen to Bob coach these guys and I know every little detail from how guys line up on the kickoff return to the footwork to where the kicker stands," Martz said. "Every little detail gets covered and coached on that field, I know that, and I can't tell you that's always been the case here.

"But I can tell you you're just not going to get better coached than this."

Martz hinted at personnel changes for next week's game at Arizona.

"Perhaps we need to change some people and we probably will in certain situations, but I'm disappointed some of the younger players that we're counting on for special teams didn't step up and play as well as they should," Martz said. "That's very disheartening."

There were problems on offense, too.

"I'm not very happy with our offense, whatsoever," Martz said "But we obviously can play much better and I think we will."

Marc Bulger threw for 362 yards and two touchdowns, and Torry Holt caught 10 passes for 125 yards. But Bulger's interception in the final minute on a poorly thrown ball cost the Rams a chance to at least force overtime.

Bulger was sacked seven times, but often held the ball an inordinate amount of time.

And the Rams settled for field goals in their first four trips inside the 20, getting held to minus-5 yards on 15 plays.

"I don't think we executed as well as we should have in the red zone, or as well as we did in practice," Holt said. "It didn't carry over and that's why we had to kick field goals."

Martz said the offense was a "little jittery, if you will" in the first half while adjusting to the 49ers' 3-4 alignment. He said perhaps the players were overcoached, and also blamed himself for putting too many plays on the list for the red zone.

"We had a run that would have gone in from the 20 had it been blocked properly," Martz said. "Just some broken plays, some things where guys just didn't execute very well, and I can do a better job."