The Rams’ tribute to Deacon Jones, one of the NFL’s most-feared players, will precede the Rams’ kickoff. At halftime, fans will be treated to a women’s football scrimmage. Ironically, characterization of the 2009 Rams is caught uncomfortably in between. Here’s some reading on the Deacon for the weekend, after the break:

One game is a small sample size. Two consecutive games might be a trend. According to Mike Sando’s latest post on ESPN, the Rams averaged only 1.5 yards per carry with Karney in as a lead blocker in Week 2… and 8.6 y/c from a single-back set. This brings up an interesting bit of Rams […]

The Rams enter week three and their home opener ranked dead last in ESPN’s power rankings, but first in Thesaurus entries for “shitty” used by sportswriters: “Lowly” (Yahoo Sports), “Pathetic” (Sporting News), and most infamously, “a shambles” (Marc Schlereth). And that’s just in the last 24 hours. Do they deserve this vitriol? Hell no! (Unless […]

In a recent post from his must-read NFC West blog on ESPN, Mike Sando asked a question that has been on our mind as well, here at the RamsHerd: As noted after Week 1, I’m still waiting to see whether the Rams are better off running the ball with fullback Mike Karney on the field. […]

Firstly, I have to tip my hat to Jeff at RamsGab, who took our in-game twitter conversation and went and found an empirical study from Advanced NFL Stats to back up the argument. Yes, as the P-D recapped, Donnie Avery’s fumble inside the ten, with the Rams mounting their most impressive drive of the season […]

Ultimately, this will go down in the eyes of most observers as a “trap” game that the Redskins barely escaped. Yes, both teams were 0-1 Sunday morning, but there’s 0-1 teams and then there are the “we need to completely re-learn how to win after the last 3 years” 0-1 teams like the St Louis […]

Here’s a reprint of our original RamsHerd prediction for this game, a close-fought 13-12 loss, plus additional notes and comments: In Week Two, Coach Spagnuolo faces off against a doubly familiar opponent: the NFC East’s Washington Redskins, running an offense eerily similar to the scheme that Pat Shurmur wants to install. Week Date Opponent LY: […]

Pro Football Focus has posted their recap and stats from the Rams/Seattle week 1 tilt, giving us the opportunity to do a final post mortem. If you’d like to get notified when these game recaps go live, PFF has a nice little feature, allowing you to sign up for their game alerts. Here are a […]

If you are a man and you don’t know what it feels like to get punched in the nuts, please raise your hand. An official RamsHerd representative will be with you shortly for a very important educational experience. Ever since Steve Spagnuolo became head coach of the St Louis Rams, he has preached the importance […]

The stat line for Richie Incognito is going to be ugly. He racked up 35 yards in penalties, most coming on two unnecessary roughness calls where he found himself still finishing his block against Brandon Mebane. Each of his three penalties killed a drive, or at least significantly contributed to its failure. After his second […]

The Rams’ 3-1 record in the preseason was earned when their opponents pulled their first-teamers off the field. Unfortunately for the Rams, Seattle showed no such courtesy. Seattle’s front seven and the noise level of the stadium consistently flustered the Rams’ attempts at offensive execution. It should say something that our best offensive lineman today […]

When we originally previewed the season’s first month, we forecast a Week 1 loss in Seattle. (Boo!) Given the events of the preseason, though, does this prediction still hold up? In St Louis, we’ve seen the emergence of Laurent Robinson, the shuffling of linebackers, and the transformation of the defense into a producer of sacks […]

As Jim Thomas points out in his Game 1 preview, the Rams have been NFC West doormats for the past three years, winning only 4 of 18 games against the Seahawks, Cardinals, and 49ers. This includes a streak of eight consecutive losses to Seattle, a team we once owned in division play. The depths of […]

(Cue “Thus Spake Zarasthusa“) The dawn brings us the new season of the NFL, a perfectly conceived battle of opposing sides and opposing aspects of our collective personality. Like the arrival of the monolith in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001, perfectly formed and inscrutable, it excites and confuses us. There is the visceral conflict that constantly boils […]