SI says to Rams fans: curb your enthusiasm

Sports Illustrated’s NFL Preview hits the stands tomorrow, and Rams fans are not likely to be too happy when it does. Thanks to Ben Kaplan at SI, I got a sneak preview of their look at the NFC West. What does their magic 8 ball say for the Rams? Outlook not so good.

This philosophy — that the running game would have to take the focus of the defense away from the passer — was an obvious failure last season. Then, the Rams were trying to protect a fragile specimen in Marc Bulger, and they were attempting to take pressure off their young corps of wide receivers. But defenses found it easy to stack 8 and 9 in the box, force obvious passing downs and easy penalties, then pin their ears back and get after the QB. The result was a Pro Bowl year for Jackson, and a seat on the trainer’s table for him and nearly everyone else.

Now the Rams find themselves with arguably the most fragile and precious commodity — the rookie franchise quarterback — and their workhorse a year older, and if anything a receiving corps even more dependent on its young players. And that doesn’t bode well, says Trotter:

This thinking led to a prediction of a 3-13 finish for the Rams, good for a distant fourth place in a division that Peter King sees being otherwise quite close — he has the Seahawks (?), 49ers and Cardinals separated by a single game in the standings (but none finishing above .500).

However, I think there are significant reasons that Rams fans can differ with this outlook.

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Tags: Danny Amendola, Donnie Avery, Jim Trotter, Peter King, Sam Bradford, Steven Jackson

I know St Louis is supposed to be a baseball town, but…

I’m going to put an idea out there, tell me if it’s right or wrong. I believe the heart of a fan base isn’t caught up in wins and losses: it’s wrapped up in its young players. We fall in love more easily with youth, with potential, with anything that gives us hope for the future. Especially when that youth is pretty damn good, and shows us that our affections are deserved.

If that’s the case, then forget about the Cardinals … move over Blues … St Louis is about to become a football town in a big way.

Sam Bradford, showered with our affections.

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Tags: Colby Rasmus, Danny Amendola, Mardy Gilyard, Sam Bradford, Steve Spagnuolo, Tony La Russa

Rams-Pats: View from the dark side

While all of us are basking in our brand new professional football team, you have to wonder — what do the mighty Patriots think about being so thoroughly upstaged by the upstart Rams? Not that the game counted, of course, but Belichick had the riding crop out and was pushing his starters most of the night to show him something. This was going to be a ‘teaching moment’ for the Pats, with the Rams playing the unlikely role of the schoolyard bullies.

Michael Hoomanawanui splits three Patriots defenders for a touchdown.

I asked one of the new members of Pro Football Focus‘ growing legion of writers, die-hard Patriots fan Akshay Adnan (@PFF_Akshay), for his take on what he saw from the Rams’ opponents. Here’s how he responded:

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Tags: 2010 Preseason Game 2, Bradley Fletcher, Jerod Mayo, Michael Hoomanawanui, Rams vs Patriots, Sam Bradford

Preseason Game 3: The Future is Now

Preseason Week 3: Rams (1-1) at Patriots (2-0)

August 26, 2010 6:30 pm CST
36   35
NFL.com: Recap | Play by Play | Video

Video highlights of a Rams win headline at NFL.com… when was the last time that happened?

Forget for a moment the giddy pleasure of embarrassing the Patriots in their own house, in front of their fans. (But oh, it’s so much fun to remember the shocked silence of their fans, or the look on Tom Brady’s face — like the princess who tried sleeping on a rock-hard pea.)

Never mind the fact that the game doesn’t count. (Bill Belichick certainly didn’t use this game to “evaluate the roster,” keeping Brady and the first team offense in the game until the 4th quarter, racking up face-saving points against the Rams’ 2nd and 3rd stringers on defense)

And keep thoughts of Donnie Avery, who may be out for the season, in your heart while we consider what tonight’s performance means for the Rams.

This was nothing less than an arrival, for Sam Bradford, for St Louis, and for Rams fans everywhere. For more than a year, the Rams have been completely absent from the world of pro football, where anything can happen on ‘any given Sunday.’ No, when the Rams showed up to play, you knew what would happen — they would play hard, but they would make a critical mistake (or lots of them), they would lack the talent to make up for those mistakes, and they would suffer the loss in the end.

Not any more. The Rams may or may not be fully ready to contend this season — conventional wisdom still says that they’re an impact draft class away from having the blue-chip talent in place — but at the very least they showed that they can surprise teams. They can win games that perhaps they shouldn’t. And as the Patriots just found out, they can even make their opponents flat-out look bad.

This outcome wasn’t luck. This was a beat-down of an opponent that either didn’t compete, or couldn’t compete, until it was too late. So often, that described the Rams. No longer.

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Tags: 2010 Preseason Game 3, Chris Long, Chris Ogbonnaya, Donnie Avery, Fred Robbins, Keenan Burton, Keith Toston, Ken Darby, Michael Hoomanawanui, Rams vs Patriots, Sam Bradford, Thaddeus Lewis

Gearing up for Rams-Pats: Q&A With Pats Chowder

Tom Brady Tom Brady Tom Brady Tom Brady Tom Brady Tom Brady Tom Brady Giselle is freaking hot! Tom Brady Tom Brady Tom Brady Tom Brady Tom Brady Tom Brady 19-0? Tom Brady Tom Brady Tom Brady Tom Brady Tom Brady BILL BELICHICK IS THE SPAWN OF SATAN!

Sorry, when I start thinking about the Patriots my brain snaps into an ugly feedback loop. Instead of writing “Tom Brady” 800 more times while grinding my teeth to dust, I reached out across the Fanball network to Chris Kelley of PatsChowder to talk some actual football. Our full Q&A is after the break.

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Tags: 2010 Preseason Game 3, Benjarvus Green-Ellis, Bill Belichick, Brandon Spikes, Dan Koppen, Devin McCourtry, Fred Taylor, Jerod Mayo, Julian Edelman, Lawrence Maroney, Matt Light, Pat Chung, Quinn Ojinnaka, Rams vs Patriots, Sebastian Vollmer, Tom Brady, Wes Welker

Scouting the Rams: “It’s going to be a huge struggle early”

Former NFL scout Dave Razzano has spent a lot of time in the NFC West, 22 years in all. He scouted for the 49ers in their heyday, for the Cardinals as of late, and spent the crucial 1996-2006 years working for the Rams during their rise and fall. In fact, Razzano got in the news cycles a couple months ago for airing a heated dispute in the Rams’ war room regarding QB Alex Smith’s draft grade.

Never shy with his opinion, Razzano has now provided a thorough scouting report on the Rams’ fortunes for 2010, via the Playmaker Mobile blog.

On Sam Bradford’s ability to make an immediate impact on the team’s fortunes:

Granted, the Rams were playing three guys out of position in the interior of their line against a well-schooled pass rush. But I think the critique is valid. Bell and Brown are veteran players that were brought in to essentially maintain their established talent level, and they’ve both struggled a bit to do that. Saffold looks like the real deal, but Smith is the big question mark. Can he establish himself this season? If so, Bradford’s time in the pocket gets a lot more comfortable, and the receivers have that much more time to get open.

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Tags: Alex Smith, Chris Long, Dave Razzano, Fendi Onobun, George Selvie, James Laurinaitis, Jason Smith, Julius Peppers, Matt Ryan, Michael Hoomanawanui, Sam Bradford

Rounding Up the Herd: DANARIOOOO!

Some quick hits and tidbits from the short week leading up to Thursday’s preseason game against the mighty Patriots:

Welcome to the big time, Danario

Does Billy Devaney read RamsHerd? Or are we reading him? Just a fortnight ago we strongly suggested that the Rams should get off their duffs and sign Danario Alexander; yesterday they went and did just that, giving the rookie from Mizzou a #84 jersey and working him into their second rotation of receivers.

Last year’s 5th round pick, Brooks Foster, was released to make room for Alexander. Sadly, the kid didn’t have much of a shot in St Louis, being lost for the season on the Lindenwood scrimmage field last year, then barely cracking the rotation this summer.

At least one writer thinks that the timing of this move signals desperation on the part of the Rams, and I have to say he makes a good point.

Previously reigning “tall guy” Jordan Kent should be put on immediate watch, but the player that might be most on alert is Keenan Burton.

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Tags: Brooks Foster, Danario Alexander, Dominic Curry, Jordan Kent, Keenan Burton

Preseason Game 2: Yes, we know it doesn’t count, but…

Preseason Week 1: Rams (0-1) at Browns (1-0)

August 21, 2010 12:00 CST
19   17
NFL.com: Recap | Play by Play | Video

We know it doesn’t count, but it’s been a long, long time since the Rams got a win, and got to silence the Nelson laugh that has been running constantly since the Detroit game of last year.

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Tags: 2010 Preseason Game 2, AJ Feeley, Bobby Carpenter, Keith Null, Pat Shurmur, Rams vs Browns, Sam Bradford, Steven Jackson

Rams vs Browns: Three Burning Questions

The Browns and Rams were on parallel courses of suck last season, both teams afflicted with a crippling lack of talent and a carousel of ugly quarterback play. But the Browns somehow caught fire and won five games last year, including their last four in a row. (Granted, those four opponents were the death-spiraling Steelers, the eternally crappy Chiefs, the Raiders and top-ten-draft-pick-hopefuls in Jacksonville. But still. Wins are wins.)

This seemingly puts them in a slightly higher circle of football hell (-130 points on a season looks pretty good to a team that finished -261), but did their hot finish actually hold back their rebuild? Despite dumping every signal caller from last season, they still have a carousel of suck at QB, with Jake Delhomme, career backup Seneca Wallace, and the poor man of the Big 12, Colt McCoy, holding the clipboard. They got a hell of a player in CB Joe Haden with their first-round draft pick, but he seems like a luxury on a team that, like the Rams, was very unsettled on offense and struggled to get to the passer in ‘09.

So now the Rams have their QB of the future locked up and legitimate buzz, and Cleveland has… a suddenly skinny and very old-looking Drew Carey. And Jake Delhomme. And not much else, besides a smoldering mountain of impatience named Mike Holmgren at GM.

Am I wrong? I asked Fanball’s newest Cleveland connection, Zach Mentz of Cavmen.com, to sit in and answer some quick questions on the Browns, which I can supplement with some choice tidbits from Fanball’s OwnersEdge AFC North Camp Report. Q&A After the break:

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Tags: 2010 Preseason Game 2, Colt McCoy, D'Qwell Jackson, Jake Delhomme, James Harrison, Joe Haden, Mohamed Massaquoi, Monterrio Hardesty, Rams vs Browns, Seneca Wallace, Shaun Rogers

The Rams and St Louis United Way team up to put you on the field

Every now and again I get to post a legitimately “nice” item. You know, something other than injury carts and two-fisted practices and the new hope of the franchise having to spatula himself off the turf. So when Carrie at the United Way of Greater St Louis emailed me with this item, I was all too happy to pass it on.

Give. Bid. Win.

Football, baseball, hockey and golf have teamed up together, giving Rams fans and Saint Louis sports fans in general a chance to bid on some pretty cool items. United Way is hosting a sports-themed Warm-up Online Auction at www.givebidwin.com, starting Friday August 20th, and running until August 31st. Bid on memorabilia, tickets, autographs and more. This auction is a warm-up to United Way’s big online auction, which runs from August 30 to September 9. Check out the site now to see sports items that are currently in the line-up, and preview more that are waiting on the sidelines.

Some of the preliminary auction items are:

• Rams on-field experience for St. Louis Rams plus club seats: Winners get an on-field visit to the Rams playing on the field prior to the Rams v. Seattle home game on October 3. Afterward, the guests will watch the game sitting in four club seats.
• Ride the Olympia (Zamboni) at a Blues Game: Come on. You know you’ve always wanted to ride the Zamboni as you’ve watched it glide seamlessly across the ice. Now’s your chance. Between the first and second periods of a Blues game, you’ll have the chance to hop on and ride the Blues Olympia as it resurfaces the ice.
• Cardinals Tickets: Get the opportunity to sit behind home-plate and watch the Cards take on the Padres this season. There’s also other great seats available for other upcoming Cards games.
• Albert Pujols Street Banner: For the baseball fan who must have it all, this is an Albert Pujols street pole banner that hung outside Busch Stadium during his 2009 League MVP season.

In the full auction, Rams fans will be able to bid to win items like a VIP away-game package, club seats, even tickets to the granddaddy of them all, Super Bowl XLV.

Proceeds will go to United Way of Greater St. Louis.

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Tags: Auction, Give Bid Win, Rams Tickets, United Way