Rams warned to raise game or face changes

The owner of the St Louis Rams, Chip Rosenbloom, puts his team on notice: his team's poor play is "not acceptable".

The Rams quarterback Marc Bulger shields the ball from the New York Giants' defensive end Justin Tuck during their defeat.
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The St Louis Rams, and in particular their coach Scott Linehan, have been put on notice by their owner Chip Rosenbloom, who has termed his team's poor play as "not acceptable". Rosenbloom said he will make changes after this season if Linehan and the winless Rams fail to improve.

"Obviously, the game of football is about winning. The level of play is not acceptable to me or anybody in the organisation," he said. The Rams have lost their first two games this season by a combined margin of 79-16. Following a 38-3 season-opening loss at Philadelphia, St Louis fell to a 41-13 defeat at home to the Super Bowl champions New York Giants on Sunday. Theys have struggled on both sides of the ball in both games and have been outgained, 963-367.

Linehan, who was hired by the Rams prior to the 2006 season, has come under fire and has admitted that his team needs to "turn things around". Rosenbloom echoed that sentiment, saying that he will take action if there is not improvement. He did add, however, that he is confident in Linehan's ability to prepare and motivate the Rams to a turnaround. "Things will get better, and if they don't then changes will be made," he said.

"It is the job of the head coach, Scott Linehan, to figure out how to motivate and give some urgency to this team. I believe in these players and I believe in this coach." Last year the Rams had a dreadful 3-13 record and were ravaged by injuries to several key players, but had hoped to dramatically improve this year in a relatively weak NFC West Division. Despite signing the impressive running back Steven Jackson to a long-term contract extension and drafting the promising defensive end Chris Long, they have been one of the worst performing teams over the first two weeks.

St Louis hopes to avoid third successive loss on Sunday when they visit the Seattle Seahawks, another winless team in the NFC West.w * PA Sport