Rush Limbaugh Owning the Rams? Why Not?

When news surfaced that conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh was thinking about teaming about with St. Louis Blues owner Dave Checketts to buy the St. Louis Rams, it apparently rubbed some folks the wrong way.

First it was a few players saying they wouldn’t want to play.

New York Giants defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka told the New York Daily News, “I don’t want anything to do with a team that he has any part of. He can do whatever he wants, it is a free country. But if it goes through, I can tell you where I am not going to play.”

New York Jets linebacker Bart Scott said, “He could offer me whatever he wanted, I wouldn’t play for him.”

More recently, NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith and moral vulturists Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson voiced their displeasure at the prospects of Limbaugh owning the NFL ownership club.

“I’ve spoken to the Commissioner [Roger Goodell] and I understand that this ownership consideration is in the early stages,” Smith said. “But sport in America is at its best when it unifies, gives all of us reason to cheer, and when it transcends. Our sport does exactly that when it overcomes division and rejects discrimination and hatred.”

And really, it’s not that surprising. The NFL is largely a league made up of African-American players (except punters, a club whiter than 1950s Augusta National) and Limbaugh is hardly a candidate for the NAACP Lifetime Achievement Award.

There were Limbaugh’s comments about Donovan McNabb. There was his comparison of a football game to a fight between the Bloods and Crips street gangs. And there’s that whole thing about rooting for the first black president to fail, not exactly ways to endear yourself to black America.

So you can see how maybe some of the people associated with the game, especially African Americans, would be hesitant to sign off on Limbaugh’s ascendancy into the NFL ownership club.

(As for Jackson and Sharpton, they’re nothing but publicity-hungry media vultures looking for the next feed. Whether it’s Don Imus or the Duke Lacrosse team, all you need is a story with a touch of race and a television camera, and there they are. But I digress …)

First realize that Limbaugh is a Missouri boy. He was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He went to college in Missouri. His uncle, Stephen N. Limbaugh, Sr. is a Ronald Reagan-appointed federal judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and his cousin, Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr., is currently a judge in the same court, appointed by George W. Bush after serving 16 years on the Missouri Supreme Court.

Considering the Rams are very much in play for Los Angeles or any other city looking to poach an NFL franchise in five years, a local buyer with deep pockets who would be less apt to ditch St. Louis for richer grounds holds a significant appeal.

The Rams may suck, but being a city with an NFL franchise, no matter how terrible, is and always will be better than being a city with no NFL franchise.

And now for the “yeah, but.”

Yeah, but Limbaugh is a pill-popping maniacal conservative who would probably rather the South had won the Civil War, that there was still such thing as “whites only” bathrooms, and the rest of the world still had a healthy dose of fear of the big bad US of A. (We ask for the Olympics, we get the Olympics, damn it! Don’t you know who we are? Don’t make us come over there.)

I personally don’t know how much I believe that Limbaugh believes everything that comes out of his mouth. I’m cynical in a way that makes me think it’s half-truth, half-shtick meant to draw in and hold a certain devoted section of the American political spectrum.

But whether he believes it or not, his brand of commentary is to glorify the one side and vilify the other. And people tend to take being vilified rather poorly.

So he’s a controversial borderline-racist trying to buy a piece of a league that relies largely on African Americans for its enormous success.

And to that I say: So freaking what?

Look, I’m not denying Limbaugh’s got his flaws. But, to me, those flaws aren’t bad enough to eliminate him from owning a team.

With the exception of some illegal pills, a marginal offense at worst, Limbaugh is not a criminal. He’s not a Holocaust denier. He’s not same David Duke neo-Nazi in church clothing. He doesn’t get involved in sex scandals, beat up gay people, or bomb abortion clinics.

He’s just a fat guy with a sharp opinion, loud mouth, and a microphone. Whoop-de-doo.

If Limbaugh pairs up with Checketts to buy the Rams, it’ll be a media story because of who Limbaugh is and what he does, but it won’t impact the day-to-day running of the franchise any more than the Williams sisters or Jennifer Lopez buying into the Miami Dolphins.

And in a league that includes all sorts of wife beaters, drunk drivers, dog fighters, drug abusers, and at least one guy who killed somebody (two, once Donte Stallworth comes back), perhaps they shouldn’t go about trying to blackball a guy who talks for a living.

Rush Limbaugh owning the Rams? If it keeps them in St. Louis, I’m all for it.

 

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Rams Find a Way To Lose, Even On Tuesday

Coming off an 0-3 start with a road trip to San Francisco on Sunday, the Rams had to think they at least had a few days before anything else bad could happen.

 

Wrong.

 

On Tuesday, the NFL announced starting linebacker David Vobora would be suspended for four games for violating the leagues policy on performance enhancing drugs.

 

According to one of Vobora’s agents, Marc Lillibridge, quoted in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Vobora is the victim of shoddy work at the maker of a supplement he had cleared with the NFL supplement hot line.

 

According to Lillibridge, Vobora went so far as to read off the ingredients list to the league representative to make sure nothing would land him in trouble. But because the maker of his supplement somehow tainted the product with something that is banned, the Rams will be without Vobora’s services for the next four games.

 

“He is suspended under the NFL Anabolic Steroid policy but in no way has David ever used an illegal substance,” Lillibridge was quoted as saying in the P-D article. “He took a (workout) supplement that was tainted. A highly respected toxicologist has proven this to be the case. David did everything by the book in regards to investigating this supplement before he began using this product.”

 

In the article, Lillibridge said he was in the process of filing a lawsuit against the company that manufactures the product, but that will do no good for a St. Louis defense already woefully thin at linebacker. As of this writing, there are only five of them on the Rams roster: James Laurinaitis, Will Witherspoon, Larry Grant, Chris Chamberlain and Paris Lenon.

 

Maybe St. Louis will make a move to bring back Quinton Culberson, who has already been released twice in the past month. Maybe they beg Chris Draft to come back. But the reality is that no matter what Billy Devaney comes up with in his woefully empty bag of tricks, the Rams will take the field totally unprepared to stop a 49ers team that will run it over and over again no matter what they do (witness Glen Coffee’s 25 carries for just 54 yards in a near-upset over the Vikings on Sunday).

 

So I guess instead of 0-3, the Rams are now 0-3 minus.

 

Super.

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Spinning The St. Louis Rams’ 0-3 Start

One of my passions other than sports is politics. I love how politicians can spin almost anything to their advantage.

 

Cut popular programs? It’s only because you were committed to making the tough choices and being fiscally responsible for the good of the state.

 

Raise taxes? It was the only way to save programs that serve the neediest. Besides, rich people pay the most of it.

 

Caught cheating? It’s an opportunity to refocus on the things that really mean the most and come back a new and better man.

 

I’ve made the argument several times that following politics and following sports are really the same thing. It’s just the nuances of the game that change.

 

And so after the Rams’ 36-17 drubbing by Green Bay on Sunday, I decided to mix my two loves, sports and politics, and describe all the terrible things about the Rams through the lens of a political spin master.

 

 

Reality: After the Lions’ win over Washington, the Rams now have the longest active losing streak in the NFL at 13.

 

Spin: Even if the Rams do match the Lions’ streak at 19, they still wouldn’t go winless this year, so they’d still be better than the Lions.

 

 

Reality: Laurent Robinson is out for the season with a broken tibia.

 

Spin: Now Donnie Avery has a chance to prove he can actually adapt to the Rams’ new offense and be more than just a decoy for Keenan Burton.

 

 

Reality: At 0-3, Steve Spagnuolo joins Chiefs head coach Todd Haley and Buccaneers head coach Raheem Morris as three of only 32 head coaches in NFL history without a career win.

 

Spin: In Tom Landry’s first year as a head coach as a 36-year-old with Dallas in 1960, the Cowboys went 0-11-1.

 

In Chuck Noll’s first year in Pittsburgh, the Steelers won their first game, then lost their next 16.

 

Bill Parcells went 3-12-1 his first year with the New York Giants.

 

I’m not saying Spagnuolo turns out to be any of these guys, but slow starts in year one with terrible franchises do not preclude long-term success.

 

 

Reality: The Rams lost starting quarterback Marc Bulger.

 

Spin: This is a great opportunity to see if Kyle Boller should be the “veteran playing ahead of the star rookie quarterback for a few games” next year.

 

 

Reality: The Rams have scored only 24 points all season, worst in the league. If they kept their current offensive pace, they would finish with 128 points scored, the lowest total ever in a full 16-game schedule and only three more than the famed 0-14 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

 

Spin: With Kyle Boller in the game, the Rams scored 17 points in the final three quarters on Sunday. If he were to continue that pace for the remaining 52 quarters this season, they would end up with roughly 318 points, which would have ranked a somewhat less-reprehensible 24th last season.

 

(Sorry. Not a whole lot you can do with do with an offense that makes you go back to one of the worst teams in NFL history for a historical comparison. That’s the political equivalent of having a gay love affair with your chauffer and have your wife go on Oprah. You’re just screwed at that point.)

 

 

Reality: With a next four of at San Francisco, Minnesota, at Jacksonville, and Indianapolis, the Rams have a 99 percent chance of going 0-7. And now the Week Eight trip to Detroit doesn’t look so winnable any more.

 

Spin: Ummmm…The St. Louis Cardinals are in the playoffs?

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St. Louis-Green Bay: Five Keys To The Rams Hanging With The Packers

Can the Rams beat the Packers?

 

Just typing that sentence seems weird. The Rams have exactly seven points this season. They have exactly one sack. Their quarterback is averaging a miniscule 4.94 yards per pass attempt, worst in the league. Their supposed leading receiver has been terrible.

 

Kick-off returns – terrible. (16.2 yards per return, second worst in the league)

 

Clock management – terrible. (A Martzian waste of their final timeout on Sunday to avoid a delay of game which they ended up getting anyway on a punt that went into the end zone for a touchback)

 

Third downs – terrible. (8 of 26 on offense, 26th worst; 15 of 30 allowed on defense, 29th worst)

 

And then on the other side you have Green Bay, which remains a serious playoff contender despite losing at home to the Bengals on Sunday (knocking a million schlubs like yours truly out of their survival leagues).

 

The Packers have one of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL with Aaron Rodgers, a great receiver duo in Greg Jennings and the ageless Donald Driver, a stud running back in Ryan Grant, and a defense that already has six interceptions in two games, one returned for a touchdown.

 

With all that said, what would you guess the line would be? Nine? Ten?

 

Six and a half.

 

Perhaps Vegas doesn’t like the fact the Packers allowed Cedric Benson of all people to run for 141 yards on 29 caries, or that Bengals DE Antwan Odom, with a career 15.5 sacks in 64 games entering this season, finished this past Sunday with five against the Packers’ sieve of an offensive line.

 

In any event, Vegas has faith that the Rams can make a go of this contest. I’m not sure I agree, but I can tell you that if the Rams don’t improve in these areas, they have no chance whatsoever:

 

 

Donnie Avery: Perhaps it’s a bit harsh to put the total blame for the Washington loss in Avery’s hands, but he fairly well deserves it:

 

* He had a drop that would have given them a first down on their first drive. The ball was a little bit behind Avery, but he got both hands on the ball and should have made the catch.

 

* He got called for a needless block in the back that cost the Rams 13 yards off Steven Jackson’s 61-yard run mid-way through the second quarter. Instead of the ball being placed at the Washington 23, it was at the Washington 36. (The Rams still went on to score their first touchdown of the season).

 

* And then there was the fumble. On third and four from the Washington nine and 13 minutes left in the game, Bulger hit Avery for five yards. But what should have been first and goal four yards from a 14-9 lead turned into Washington ball when Avery fumbled on a hit by Redskins safety Chris Horton. It was Avery’s second fumble of the season – the only two turnovers of the Rams’ season thus far.

 

Based strictly on performance on the field, Avery has been passed by up both leading receiver Laurent Robinson and fellow second-year receiver Keenan Burton. And if the Rams are going to get anywhere this season, Avery has to show up.

 

 

Pass rush: Against Washington, the defensive tackles were getting no push in the middle of the pocket. Even when the Rams were able to bring pressure from the corners, Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell was able to step into the pocket and make the throw or break out for a gain on the ground. Some of Clinton Portis’ best runs also came up the gut of the Rams’ d-line.

 

Considering the pathetic performance put up by the Packers line so far (NFL-high 10 sacks allowed, and now missing left tackle Chad Clifton), the Rams’ have to capitalize and force Rodgers to throw before he’s ready. Otherwise, he will pick apart the still-developing Rams secondary.

 

 

Time of Possession: The Rams offense has run a total of 107 plays this season. Opponents have run a combined 140. That’s an average of an extra 16 snaps for opposing offenses, which would explain the time of possession disadvantage: On Sunday, the Washington offense had the ball for nearly 10 minutes more than the St. Louis offense.

 

Considering the Rams defense is hardly what you could consider loaded with depth, that’s going to be more and more of a problem as the season rolls on if the Rams can’t string together some more frequent long drives.

 

 

Randy McMichael: Count me among those who thought McMichael would have a bounce-back year with the Rams, but he’s not showing anything close to that on the field. On the Rams’ third drive, he took a screen from Bulger, took a hit from Rocky McIntosh and gave the ball up to Washington on the Rams’ 17.

 

Now it just so happens the Redskins were called for a ticky tack roughing the passer penalty that gave St. Louis the ball back with a first down, but that play still happened.

 

On the game, McMichael, who also dropped a touchdowns pass late in the second quarter, finished with just two catches for 14 yards and zero impact.

 

 

Mental Toughness: There’s a cliché in sports that teams need to learn how to win. But as with most clichés, there’s an element of truth: Teams who win tough games know how to handle adversity.

 

The Rams don’t.

 

When the Rams had a blocked FG return for a tying touchdown against Seattle called back due to a penalty, they instantly imploded and fell down 14-0 within a matter of minutes.

 

And after Avery’s fumble killed the potentially game-winning touchdown against Washington, the Rams got all of three yards on their final seven plays of the game.

 

Bad things happen in football games. The key for good teams is to take the bad things in stride, get past them and not let them impact the rest of the game.

 

 

Honoring Deacon Jones – Kind Of

 

The Rams are going to be retiring the number of former Rams great Deacon Jones this Sunday, and that’s all well and fine. As one of the most feared pass rushers in the history of the game, Jones deserves all the accolades he gets.

 

But retiring his number in a ceremony in St. Louis seems weird … because the only time he played in St. Louis, it was AGAINST the home team St. Louis Cardinals.

 

Jones played for the Los Angeles Rams from 1961 through 1971 before finishing up with two seasons with San Diego and one in Washington.

 

In his time with the then-LA Rams, Jones played played in St. Louis three times:

 

On December 5, 1965, the LA Rams beat the St. Louis Cardinals 27-3.

 

On September 16, 1968, the LA Rams beat the St. Louis Cardinals 24-13.

 

On September 18, 1970, the LA Rams beat the St. Louis Cardinals 34-13.

 

That’s it. That’s the history Deacon Jones has with the city of St. Louis. Was he a great Ram? Yes. But retiring his number with a ceremony at the St. Louis home opener just seems hallow.

 

It would be like the Arizona Cardinals holding a grand ceremony honoring Hall of Fame center Dan Dierdorf, who played his entire career with the franchise while they were still in St. Louis.

 

I mean, what are those fans going to be cheering for? A guy who played for another team 1,500 miles away 40 years ago? How passionate with their appreciation could they be?

 

Now again, this is in no way intended to devalue the career of Deacon Jones. An eight-time Pro Bowler and Hall of Fame inductee in 1980, he deserves to be recognized as one of the all-time greats.

 

I’m just not sure the Edward Jones Dome on Sunday is the right place.

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Finding the Positive in the Rams’ 0-2 Start

In the bottom-line business that is professional sports, the most important thing that happened to the St. Louis Rams on Sunday was another loss.

 

In losing 9-7 to the Redskins in Washington, the Rams are now 0-2 and two games back of the 2-0 San Francisco 49ers heading into next week’s home opener against Green Bay.

 

And if the Rams were a team with high expectations, falling to 0-2 would be borderline catastrophic. Three teams last year made the playoffs from 0-2, but that was an anomaly. Most of the time, 0-2 is a precursor to disaster.

 

But the Rams aren’t a team with high expectations. Not even the most die-hard pie-in-the-sky Rams fan dared dream of better than 7-9 or maybe (if they were high or drunk) 8-8.

 

So yes, the Rams lost again on Sunday, 0-2 is 0-2, and you are what your record says you are. But when you’re the St. Louis Rams and you’re 5-29 over your last 34 games, you learn to find the hidden positives in the bottom-line failures.

 

And so it comes to pass that losing 9-7 to Washington can be considered a success in many ways.

 

 

Red zone defense: The Redskins’ lone scores came on Shaun Suisham field goals of 21, 28 and 23 yards. Washington came close to a touchdown on one other occasion. In the fourth quarter, David Vobora stopped Clinton Portis two yards behind the line of scrimmage on 4th-and-1 from the St. Louis two-yard line.

 

On each of those drives, the Rams defense held strong with their backs against their own goal-line, forcing the Redskins to settle for three rather than seven.

 

 

Steven Jackson: Not only did Jackson finish with 104 yards on just 17 carries for a 6.1 yard average, he also got involved in the pass game with four catches for 15 yards.

 

A week after not catching a single ball against Seattle, it was encouraging to see quarterback Marc Bulger take advantage of the best player on offense in more ways than one.

 

 

The run defense: Washington did gain 125 yards on the ground, but it took them 33 attempts to get there. Not counting the three kneel-downs at the end, the Redskins gained 121 on 30 carries.

 

For a team that gave up 4.9 yards per rush attempt last year and 117 yards on 19 carries to Julius Jones in Week One, it was heartening to see Clinton Portis held to just 76 yards on 19 carries.

 

 

The pass defense: Even though Chris Cooley had seven catches for 83 yards—continuing a trend of the Rams defense getting shredded by opposing tight ends—it’s worth noting four of Cooley’s seven catches came in the first eight minutes, and six came in the first half. In a tight game that was in doubt until the end, Cooley did not have a single reception during the last 24 minutes of the game.

 

Other than Cooley, no Redskins received had more than four catches or 41 yards receiving.

 

 

Laurent Robinson: The state of the Rams’ passing attack is pathetic and Donnie Avery was a total non-factor (actually worse), but Robinson did his part with six catches for 54 yards. He also had his first Rams touchdown, a beautiful high grab on a 3rd-and-goal fade pass late in the first half.

 

The talk coming into this season was that Avery was the unquestioned leader and maybe Robinson could beat out Keenan Burton for the second WR position. Right now it’s Robinson leading the team in catches with 11 for 141 yards and the touchdown. He’s also been targeted a team-high 19 times, with Avery at 14.

 

Now he just needs a quarterback who can throw the deep ball.

 

(Consider that a tease for a column I’ll be running later this season; working title: “The Rams Should Have Taken Mark Sanchez.”)

 

 

To go along with the pass attack, there’s a whole lot of other things the Rams need to work on. From clock management to covering the opposing tight end to evening out the time of possession, the Rams’ gotta-get-better-at list is a long one.

 

But for going to 0-2, there was enough positive in this game to at least feel like there’s progress being made.

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St. Louis-Seattle: Rams Set New Low in Shutout Loss

If Rams fans came into this season thinking to themselves, “Well, at least it can’t get any worse than last year,” they were wrong.

 

It did.

 

In getting beat down 28-0 on Sunday afternoon in Seattle, the Rams fell to a low not even last year’s 2-14 debacle accomplished—getting shut out.

 

Even when the 2008 Rams got pasted 47-3 by the Jets last year, they still got the three to avoid the goose egg.

 

But not Sunday.

 

28-0.

 

Damn.

 

St. Louis could have avoided their first shutout since Week 11 of the 2006 season and their first Week One shutout loss since 1965 when Quincy “Big Play” Butler returned a blocked field goal that would’ve tied the score 7-7 with under a minute left to play in the first half.

 

It just wasn’t mean to be. The Rams had 12 men on defense for the play, so instead of a game-tying touchdown, the five yards gave the Seahawks a first down.

 

Seattle scored a touchdown three plays later, and the route was on.

 

While that was the most glaring and damaging mistake of the game, it was by no means a one-time miscue.

 

Far from it.

 

The Rams committed 10 penalties (including two straight moron personal foul calls on Richie Incognito that resulted in a brief benching), fumbled the opening kick-off, and generally got gashed left and right to the tune of 446 yards of Seahawks offense (279 passing, 167 rushing).

 

The St. Louis defense did continue its preseason trend of wining the turnover battle, picking off Seattle QB Matt Hasselbeck twice and recovering a fumble forced by rookie linebacker James Laurinaitis. When you don’t capitalize on turnovers, all you’re really doing is delaying the inevitable.

 

Unfortunately, the Rams’ defense continued another preseason trend I like to call “let’s always bite on the play fake so the tight end can have a great day.”

 

Anybody watching the Rams the past month has seen the likes of Dustin Keller and Tony Gonzalez shred the Rams’ first unit, so it was no surprise to see Seattle TE John Carlson put up a huge day, with six catches for 95 yards and two touchdowns.

 

(So if you have Chris Cooley in your fantasy league, next week would probably be a good time to start him.)

 

Some other lowlights on a day chalk full of them:

 

* The defensive line was there, but not really. Despite missing all-world left tackle Walter Jones and starting center Chris Spencer, there was no pressure on Hasselbeck, who had plenty of time to sit back and pick apart the Rams secondary.

 

* The Seattle run game also had open holes all day: Of their 34 run plays, only three went for negative yardage. They averaged 4.9 yards per rush, including a 62-yard touchdown run by Julius Jones late in the third quarter.

 

* The Rams’ best drive of the day took place at the end of the first quarter into the second quarter, moving from their own 33 to the Seattle nine with a third and one. Randy McMichael was then called for a false start, then there was a delay of game when center Jason Brown couldn’t hear Bulger scream for the snap, followed by an incompletion. Then a missed field goal.

 

(You have to give the Seattle fans their due—everybody knows about the crowd noise and how it causes false starts, but I love the fact that they boo the opposing kicker who used to be their kicker. That’s just awesome.)

 

* Clock management was a problem in the first half. The Rams used two timeouts within minutes of each other mid-way through the first half. They had to know it was going to be loud, right?

 

* Third down was an issue on both sides of the ball. On offense, St. Louis only converted two of 12 third downs. Meanwhile, the Rams D allowed Seattle to convert on eight of 15 third downs.

 

* Oddly lacking from the receptions column was running back Steven Jackson. The expectation coming into the game was that the Rams offense under new coordinator Pat Shurmur would involve a heavy dose of Jackson in the pass game, but that wasn’t the case.

 

Considering the amount of pressure Bulger was under, it seems an outlet to the back would have come in handy at least once along the way. I’ll be interested to see if they can incorporate Jackson into the passing game a bit better next weekend at Washington.

 

Now this might sound weird after a 28-0 drubbing, but there were some slight signs of positive momentum from the Rams:

 

* The three turnovers were indicative of effort and the potential for game-breaking defensive disruption. The first interception in the end zone was caused by some really good coverage by corner Jonathan Wade on Seattle WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

 

* The receiving duo of Donnie Avery and Laurent Robinson looked good. Avery had six catches for 46 yards, while Robinson had five catches for 87 yards, including a 45-yarder as part of a fourth-quarter drive when Seattle had lost their intensity.

 

Robinson could have had another huge play for a touchdown, but Bulger couldn’t get the ball deep enough.

 

* Punter Josh Brown is the man. His 59-yard beauty in the third quarter that settled at the Seattle one was one of the greatest punts I’ve ever seen. Of course Seattle then put on a 99-yard drive for a touchdown, but that’s not Brown’s fault. If you had to name a team MVP after just this week, it’s Brown.

 

* I also liked the Rams’ decision to not go for a field goal at the end. With 2:48 left in the game, the Rams were faced with fourth and goal from the seven.

 

This was head coach Steve Spagnuolo’s first game as a head coach, and I’m sure getting shut out was the last way he wanted to start his tenure. They could have kicked the field goal to at least avoid the goose egg, but that would have been a show move, and Spagnuolo isn’t a show coach.

 

So he tried to get the touchdown, it didn’t work out and the Rams got the bagel. But I have more respect for 28-0 and going balls out until the end than 28-3 just for show.

 

So the Rams limp home, the only team in the league without a point on the board. (Hell, even Kansas City managed 24 at Baltimore.)

 

And it doesn’t get any easier next week. The Redskins lost a tough division game to the Giants on Sunday and will be playing their home opener desperate not to fall into an 0-2 hole in one of the toughest divisions in football.

 

They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

 

Let’s hope.

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Grading The 2009 St. Louis Rams Defense

With just days to play before the season opener at Seattle, you would like to have your roster and depth chart settled out and ready to roll.

 

But it seems 2009 year is the Year of The Crazy in the NFL. Kansas City, Tampa Bay, and Buffalo all fired their offensive coordinators with less than two weeks to go before the regular season.

 

New England traded a five-time Pro Bowl defensive end to Oakland, but he won’t report. Buffalo cut its starting left tackle this week. Minnesota cut its leading receiver. Cleveland is playing hide and seek with its starting quarterback and starting center.

 

Is this the NFL or a pack of teen girls shopping for makeup?

 

St. Louis got into the act on Thursday, cutting starting linebacker Chris Draft just 72 hours before kicking off against the Seahawks.

 

Others have already written about the reasoning behind the move, including Bleacher Report’s Ron Clements, so there’s no point in re-hashing it here. I’ll just say I think it’s a dirty way to treat a veteran leader and an active guy in a community that already barely cares about the franchise.

 

On the other hand, I completely understand the move. The simple fact is that Draft doesn’t belong starting on an NFL defense. He’s a C-player at a position that needs at least a B in order to survive.

 

And if the Rams are going to graduate to defensive respectability under Steve Spagnuolo, guys like Draft, no matter how kind or nice, are going to be left behind.

 

We’ll get to where this leaves the linebacker corps in just a minute, but first we continue the grading of the Rams with the guys who will hopefully be keeping opposing offensive linemen occupied while the linebackers run around making plays.

 

 

Defensive Line: C+

 

I vacillated between a B- and a C+ here, but ended up on the lower side because I just don’t know that the little bit of spark we saw from Chris Long in the preseason will translate to the real thing.

 

Spagnuolo comes into his first head job as a D-line guru. The performance of his New York Giants lines over the past two years has been the envy of the league, and their performance in Super Bowl XXLI over New England will go down as one of the most dominant defensive line performances in Super Bowl history.

 

And it’s that history that should provide Rams fans some hope that Spagnuolo can get the most out of a group that has a couple of pieces, but is far from a finished product.

 

The DE rotation of Leonard Little, Long (especially when moved over to the left side), and James Hall, with Victor Adeyanju and C.J. Ah You in reserve, is going to be absolutely critical in creating the kind of pressure that will relieve the burden on the under-manned linebacker and secondary groups.

 

The tackle rotation took a hit with the loss of Adam Carriker, but Carriker was gone all preseason, so at least the group has experience playing with what they have.

 

Gary Gibson was the primary beneficiary of Carriker’s absence and showed well in preseason action, but his next start on Sunday will also be the first of his career. Clifton Ryan, a  fifth round pick in 2007 who was one of the few bright spots of the 2008 Rams defense, is listed as the other starter.

 

In reserve are Hollis Thomas, a 12-year veteran signed on the eve of camp, LaJuan Ramsey, picked up off waivers this week, and Darell Scott, a rookie fourth-round pick out of Clemson.

 

There’s some talent there, but overall this is still a very thin group, especially considering the burden of performance being laid on their shoulders.

 

 

Linebackers: C

 

I’m all fine and good with letting go of Draft as a football decision. The problem is the guy you brought back to replace him is Quinton Culberson, who was not only cut last Saturday, but cleared waivers, meaning no other team wanted him.

 

I’m a big believer in James Laurinaitis, even going so far as to predict he’ll win the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year Award in my recent 100 Predictions for the 2009 NFL Season column. But a stud rookie MLB does not a competent linebackers corps make.

 

Last year’s Mr. Irrelevant, David Vobora, steps into Draft’s spot, starting at strong-side linebacker, though I think Larry Grant will end up starting once he comes back from a knee sprain that will keep him out for at least the Seattle game. Neither guy is an experienced starter, so there’s some definite uncertainty there.

 

Will Witherspoon, reunited with his former Carolina Panthers position coach in Ken Flajole, now the Rams defensive coordinator, looks primed for a good season and should be a rock for the defense.

 

I’d like to go through the rest of the depth chart at LB, but there isn’t any. There are only six linebackers on the roster, and one of them, Grant, has already been ruled out for Seattle.

 

That’s not good.

 

 

Cornerbacks: D

 

I hate to be the one to break bad news, but I suppose I’m not breaking it to anybody who’s watched St. Louis this preseason: The cornerbacks on this team are a huge liability.

 

Ron Bartell is a solid guy, but he’s a solid number two guy. You put him on an island with Larry Fitzgerald, or even T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and you’re going to have some issues.

 

After the Rams ditched out on Tye Hill (traded to Atlanta for a seventh-round pick), Jonathan Wade moves up to a starting corner position, a position he earns because, well, there aren’t any other options. Wade has shown signs of improvement over the past month, especially in run support, but he’s still going to get beat a lot.

 

The rest of the corners all bring some upside, but with question marks.

 

Justin King has blazing speed, but is inconsistent with his technique; Quincy Butler (I love the fact he made this team) is a ball hawk who makes plays, but also guesses a lot and pays a steep price when he’s wrong; and rookie Bradley Fletcher has good size and speed, but looks lost right now.

 

 

Safety: B-

 

If I was going strictly on the preseason, this grade would be lower, but we know starting free safety Oshiomogho Atogwe is a great player, and we know starting strong safety James Butler can quarterback this defense, having played in it at a very high level under Spagnuolo in New York.

 

The backups, however, leave a whole lot to be desired.

 

If you put together a tape of all the opposing team’s big plays this preseason, you would see a whole lot of David Roach looking bad. He just seems to make critical mistakes at just the wrong times, leading to huge plays for the opposing offense.

 

Craig Dahl…well, let’s just say I watched all four Rams preseason games pretty closely and I don’t really remember anything about Craig Dahl. That should tell you something right there.

 

Still, Dahl spent some time in New York under Spagnuolo, so there must have been something that Spagnuolo saw in him that made him want him on the Rams.

 

The Rams did pick up SS Anthony Smith off waivers from Green Bay. Smith is a physical hitter best known for guaranteeing the Steelers would beat the Patriots in New England while Smith was still in Pittsburgh, then getting burned for several touchdowns and taunted by Tom Brady as the Pats ran away with the game.

 

On the overall, this is a defense with several very strong players, but a whole lot of inexperience at every level. As these guys go through the gauntlet early in the season, things might get a little ugly for a while.

 

 

Blackouts Lifted—Kind Of

 

In a sign theNFL recognizes the economic pressures working against some teams, the league announced on Thursday that fans whose local teams’ games are blacked out will be able to watch replays online for free, though not until after midnight.

 

Several teams have reported difficulties selling out their home games. Cincinnati and Arizona received extensions from the league in an attempt to keep their home openers on Sunday from being blacked out

 

Given the competitive state of the Rams and the fact neither home preseason game was sold out or shown live in St. Louis, there’s a fairly good chance some home games of lower interest (read: not Minnesota or Green Bay), will not sell out. Fans who would otherwise be left in the dark will now be able to check out the team online.

 

Then again, they could probably just go scalp a ticket for $10.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Grading The 2009 St. Louis Rams Offense

One of the silly things sports writers do is give out grades. So and so gets an A for drafting who I thought they would. So and so gets a D for doing something I didn’t expect.

 

It’s really all just a matter of what happens and how it relates to what the writer thought should have happened.

 

It’s dumb really.

 

So with that said, here my preseason grades for the Rams by position grouping, because they might be dumb, but I love reading them.

 

 

Quarterbacks: C

 

Leave it to the Rams to dole out the biggest free agent contract ever awarded to a center, only to have their starting quarterback break his pinkie on a snap from that center in practice.

 

But that’s what happened and so we haven’t seen Marc Bulger in a game since he completed four of four pass attempts for 77 yards against the Jets in the first preseason game.

 

On the plus side, he was perfect. Can’t do better than that. 

 

On the down side, Bulger has all of four pass attempts in a brand new offense going into a killer back-to-back road double of Seattle and Washington.

 

As for the back-ups, Kyle Boller came on just enough at the end of the preseason to give Rams fans a glimmer of hope that he might be up to the task of leading the team should Bulger go down.

 

And give the coaches credit for keeping Keith Null over Brock Berlin as the third quarterback. Null certainly has some growing to do, but the rookie sixth-round-pick out of West Texas A&M (and former pupil of Ryan Leaf!) showed flashes of being a really good quarterback playing garbage time the past few weeks. The old Rams regime would have kept Berlin and lost Null through waivers.

 

 

Running Backs: B

 

St. Louis rightfully limited the amount of work Steven Jackson received in preseason games (10 carries for 37 yards), but they didn’t take it easy on him in practice, which is good. Last year, Jackson held out for a new contract and never really got his legs under him. I do not expect that to be an issue this season.

 

Samkon Gado and Kenneth Darby are the two back-up backs, as the coaches elected to jettison both Antonio Pittman and Chris Ogbonnaya, though Ogbonnaya, with a team-high 32 carries for 94 yards this preseason, was signed to the practice squad.

 

With 29 carries for 148 yards and two TD, Gado showed a lot of toughness and some surprising shiftiness through the preseason, while Darby (20 for 66) is a special teams contributor who still shows some potential for carries should the need arise.

 

Free agent addition FB Mike Karney was hurt much of the preseason and didn’t get to do much on the field, but he’s not a guy who needs it. The dude knows how to bang heads with the best of them and Rams fans should expect to see him get the ball in space for some nice tough after-the-catch runs down the sideline.

 

 

Wide Receivers: C+

 

I really think this is a B+ group in the making behind the starting duo of Donnie Avery and Laurent Robinson (I told you!), with Keenan Burton and Derek Stanley rounding the top four.

 

Actually, that’s the only four, which is somewhat of a surprise. The Rams had Ronald Curry in camp and he showed some ability to be a playmaker, but the coaches must have felt the roster slot was better used elsewhere.

 

Nate Jones was released along with LB Quinton Culberson to make room for waiver wire acquisitions S Anthony Smith and DT LaJuan Ramsey, so now instead of a kind-of-fab five, it’s a kind-of-fab four.

 

Like I said, I do have high hopes for Avery and Robinson, but the lack of depth, coupled with the lack of experience, forces me to hold back for now.

 

 

Tight Ends: B-

 

To be honest, I expected more out of Randy McMichael this preseason. He’s in an offense that should be perfect for him, he’s healthy, and he’s the clear number one guy on the depth chart. But all he put up was four catches for 47 yards.

 

Now maybe that’s the Rams taking it easy on him and his 30-year-old, legs, but I was personally looking to see more.

 

The plus is that while McMichael wasn’t making plays, Daniel Fells and Billy Bajema were. Both made some nice catches (Fells had a TD), and, probably more importantly in the eyes of new head coach Steve Spagnuolo, both are excellent blockers on the line of scrimmage.

 

Don’t be surprised to see a lot of two-TE sets with McMichael and either Fells or Bajema, and all three on the goal line.

 

Overall, this is a position of strength on the roster.

 

 

Offensive Line: B+

 

The Rams’ offensive line was an absolute catastrophe last season, and the Rams front office did what it had to do by dolling out just shy of $100 million on center Jason Brown ($37.5 million) and tackle Jason Smith ($61.775 million), the second overall pick in April’s NFL Draft.

 

Spagnuolo announced this week that Smith will indeed start at right tackle in Week 1 at Seattle, finishing a line that will have former right tackle Alex Barron slide over to replace Orlando Pace at left tackle, Jacob Bell at left guard, Brown at center, and Richie Incognito at right guard.

 

Factor in some decent back-ups in Adam Goldberg, Mark Setterstrom and John Greco, and you have a group that was one of the worst in the league in 2008 transformed into possibly a major strength in 2009.

 

 

That’s it for the offense. Check back Friday for the defensive grades.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

100 Predictions for the 2009 NFL Season

Normally, I’m not one for preseason prediction columns. Oh, I always do them, but I usually kept them to my old blog. There’s just something about the “Hey guys, look what I think!” column that always seemed … I don’t know, kind of lame.

 

At the same time, there’s nothing like making a bold prediction, having the balls to put it in print to get ridiculed (as all bold predictions invariably do), and then actually have it come true.

 

Over the past few years, I’ve had some luck in that department. In a 2007 preseason column for sports-central.org, I called a complete collapse for a Baltimore Ravens team that had gone 13-3 the year prior and was being billed as a top AFC contender. And though I was one off on the final record (I called 4-12, they went 5-11), I still considered it a good pick.

 

Same thing with the Cleveland Browns last year. Everybody thought they had finally arrived, but I called a collapse and I was right.

 

But of course predictions are like golf shots. You remember the great ones, all the while conveniently forgetting all the crap shots that ended up at the bottom of the lake.

 

So what if I predicted the Falcons to go 5-11 last year and they went 11-5? At least I called Matt Ryan the Offensive Rookie of the Year!

 

So take these for what they’re worth: One educated man’s opinion on how this season will play out.

 

Feel free to disagree.

 

The Fantasy Files

 

Dustin Keller will finish with more fantasy points than Antonio Gates. Mark Sanchez will be looking for Keller on damn near every play.

 

Beanie Wells will rush for fewer than 700 yards. He’s got great talent, but the dude is injury prone. Meanwhile, Tim Hightower is no chump. A 50-50 split is Wells’ best-case scenario.

 

Maurice Jones-Drew will not rush for more than 1,000 yards. He’s never had more than 200 carries in a season – college or pro. Now he’s going to last for 250-300?

 

Brett Favre will start fewer than 10 games. Signing Favre was the single worst thing the Vikings could have done for the Super Bowl hopes. And Brad Childress will pay for it with his job.

 

Chris Johnson will finish with more touchdowns than LenDale White. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if the Steelers found a way to put White out for a few games on opening night.

 

Chad Henne will start at least four games. In his nine-season career, Chad Pennington has never started double digit games in two consecutive seasons. He started all 16 last season. Henne is the Dolphins’ future.

 

Wes Welker will catch fewer than 85 passes. The 5 foot 9 inch Welker has 223 catches over the past two seasons and missed most of the pre-season with some mysterious injuries. I just have a weird feeling that he’s going to miss some games this year.

 

Donnie Avery will have more receptions than Terrell Owens. The Bills are a franchise on the verge of hitting rock bottom. T.O. does not handle adversity well. Meanwhile, Avery is a rising star on a franchise that will struggle mightily early but start to emerge in the second half.

 

Shaun Hill will have more passing yards than Matt Cassel. Two reasons: 1. Hill is a very underrated quarterback who threw for over 2,000 yards last season in just eight starts; and 2. Cassel is going to tank behind the worst offensive line in football.

 

Jamal Lewis will run for more yards and more touchdowns than Larry Johnson. I mentioned, the Chiefs’ offensive line, plus Cleveland has a decent O-line, Thomas Jones scored 13 touchdowns under Eric Mangini last year, and I don’t think Jerome Harrison is the man to take Lewis’ carries away. 

 

Carson Palmer will start fewer than 12 games. I mentioned the Chiefs are the worst offensive line. The Bengals are the second worst.

 

Chris Simms will score more fantasy points than Michael Vick. I was excited for Simms as a sleeper to take the Broncos’ job before it became clear Josh McDaniels wanted to give it to Kyle Orton. I still think Simms is the best quarterback on that team.

 

Along The Road

 

In Week 2, a ton of people will take Minnesota over Detroit in their Survivor Leagues – and lose. I might be the only guy in America who is down on the Vikings, but I am. And this has nothing to do with off-the-field BS. This is all about on-field mediocrity.

 

After the Lions win their second game in a row in Week 3, Chris Berman will use the phrase “Break up the Lions” and think he’s being funny.

 

The Lions won’t win again until Week 11.

 

The Jets will lead the league in penalties. Rex Ryan’s over-developed sense of machismo + Bart Scott = Total breakdown of discipline at least once per game.

 

Last undefeated team: Indianapolis; First loss will be in Week 11 at Baltimore. For some reason, people are sleeping on the Colts this year. Losing Marvin Harrison is not that big of a deal. And I think Donald Brown, the rookie from Connecticut, will be a huge lift to a sagging run game.

 

Last team to win: Tampa Bay, which finally beats Carolina in Week 6 at home. I don’t think new head coach Raheem Morris has any idea what he’s doing. Their first five games run the full gamut of the NFC East, plus a road trip to Buffalo. Maybe they beat the Bills, but they’re not beating Dallas, Philadelphia (road), Washington (road) or the Giants.

 

Coaches to get fired during or after this season: Dick Jauron (Buffalo), Marvin Lewis (Cincinnati), Jack Del Rio (Jacksonville), Brad Childress (Minnesota), John Fox (Carolina – franchise on the verge of collapse), Jim Zorn (Washington), Wade Phillips (Dallas)

 

The Final Standings

 

I went through the entire schedule, picking every game. This is how it ended up.

 

AFC East

New England: 12-4

New York Jets: 9-7

Miami: 8-8

Buffalo: 5-11

 

AFC South

Indianapolis: 13-3

Tennessee: 7-9

Houston: 7-9

Jacksonville: 5-11

 

AFC North

Pittsburgh: 13-3

Baltimore: 9-7

Cleveland: 7-9

Cincinnati: 6-10

 

AFC West

San Diego: 11-5

Oakland: 7-9

Denver: 5-11

Kansas City: 4-12

 

NFC East

Dallas: 11-5

New York Giants: 10-6

Philadelphia: 7-9

Washington: 7- 9

 

NFC South

New Orleans: 12-4

Atlanta: 10-6

Carolina: 4-12

Tampa Bay: 4-12

 

NFC North

Green Bay: 13-3

Chicago: 10-6

Minnesota: 8-8

Detroit: 4-12

 

NFC West

San Francisco: 9-7

Seattle: 8-8

St. Louis: 6-10

Arizona: 5-11 (Super Bowl Loser Curse lives! Warner’s hip is going to prove his final undoing.)

 

The Awards Show

 

AP Offensive Rookie of the Year: Mark Sanchez, New York Jets

 

AP Defensive Rookie of the Year: James Laurinaitis, St. Louis Rams

 

Rookie Rushing Leader: Donald Brown, Indianapolis

 

Rookie Passing Leader: Sanchez

 

Rookie Receptions Leader: Hakeem Nicks, New York Giants

 

NFL Rushing Champion: Michael Turner, Atlanta Falcons

 

Most Receptions: Eddie Royal, Denver Broncos

 

Most passing touchdowns: Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers

 

NFL Sacks Champion: Mario Williams, Houston Texans

 

AP Offensive Player of the Year: Rodgers

 

AP Defensive Player of the Year: Troy Polamalu, Pittsburgh Steelers

 

MVP: Rodgers

 

Coach of the year: Mike McCarthy, Packers

 

(So yeah, I’m fairly high on the Packers this year.)

 

The Playoffs

 

AFC Playoff Seed: 1. Pittsburgh, 2. Indianapolis, 3. New England, 4. San Diego, 5. Baltimore, 6. New York Jets

 

* Pittsburgh takes home field by virtue of better conference record than Indianapolis (10-2 vs. 9-3)

 

* Baltimore takes fifth seed due to better record in common games than Jets (3-2 vs. 1-4).

 

AFC Wild Card Round: New England over New York Jets, San Diego over Baltimore

 

AFC Divisional Round: New England over Pittsburgh, Indianapolis over San Diego (the Colts finally beat the Chargers in a playoff game)

 

AFC Championship Game: Indianapolis over New England

 

NFC playoff seeds: 1. Green Bay, 2. New Orleans, 3. Dallas, 4. San Francisco, 5. Atlanta, 6. New York Giants

 

* At 10-6, Bears lose out on the Wild Card due to worse conference records than the Giants and Falcons; Falcons have 8-4 record in NFC, Giants 7-5 and Bears 6-6

 

* Falcons’ conference record also gives them fifth seed over Giants.

 

NFC Wild Card Round: New York Giants over Dallas (followed by Wade Phillips getting immediately canned and replaced by Bill Cowher), Atlanta over San Francisco

 

NFC Divisional Round: Green Bay over the Giants, New Orleans over Atlanta

 

NFC Championship Game: Green Bay over New Orleans

 

Super Bowl: Green Bay over Indianapolis

 

Super Bowl MVP: Aaron Rodgers

 

Basically, 2009 is football’s way of telling Favre to eff off. He gets hurt, breaking the coolest streak he could have held on to in retirement, the team that sold their soul to bring him back goes down in flames, causing a second coach to get fired as a result of trusting him, and the team he came back to screw over ends up winning it all.

 

Now that’s a football season worth watching.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Rams Vs. Chiefs Preview: Time For Adam Carriker To Stand Up

On Tuesday, the St. Louis Rams finally gave up on two of the remaining disappointments from their failed 2006 NFL draft—first-round pick Tye Hill and third-round pick Joe Klopfenstein.

 

Hill was shipped to the Atlanta Falcons for a bag of donuts, otherwise known as a seventh-round pick. Klopfenstein couldn’t even bring that much in return.

 

But this isn’t about how Hill fell flat on his face after famously declaring as a rookie that he was bound for numerous Pro Bowls.

 

Nope. That story’s been told and, to tell the truth, it wasn’t all that interesting the first time.

 

No, this story is about the first-round pick the year after Hill.

 

This story is about Adam Carriker who, with Hill’s departure, takes over the title of biggest draft bust on the roster.

 

Chosen out of Nebraska with the 13th overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, Carriker had the resume:

 

As a senior defensive end, he finished with seven sacks and 16 tackles behind the line of scrimmage, was named Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year, First-Team All-Big 12, and Third-Team All-America.

 

The year prior, Carriker had 9.5 sacks, 17 tackles for loss, and was voted the 2005 Nebraska Defensive MVP.

 

His career with the Rams: Two seasons. Thirty-one games. Two sacks.

 

Two.

 

Now not all of this is Carriker’s fault. The plain and simple fact is that he’s a defensive end playing the role of defensive tackle. Forget what the scale says. He’s not a middle-of-the-line plugger like Clifton Ryan or even Gary Gibson, who has shined in Carriker’s absence this summer.

 

He needs to get away from guards diving at his ankles. He needs to get on the edge against a tackle or even a tight end. He needs space.

 

He needs to be a defensive end.

 

 

When Steve Spagnuolo got the head coaching job, I thought it might provide Carriker with new life. Spagnuolo is known for moving guys around the line to fit their strengths (witness Long rushing from the left side against the Bengals last week).

 

I thought, “Finally, somebody is going to figure out how to use this guy.”

 

But all that went to crap when Carriker hurt his ankle in camp practices, missing the entire preseason so far.

 

I mean, Spagnuolo is inventive, but there’s not much even he can do with a guy who doesn’t put on the pads and get on the field. I’m not saying Carriker dogged it, but you can’t be a player if you don’t play. That’s just how it is.

 

The good news is that Carriker will finally step on the field Thursday night at the Edward Jones Dome against the Kansas City Chiefs. It might still be on the inside rather than on the end in space, but it’s a hell of a lot better than the sideline.

 

The fourth preseason games are usually most important for the final roster battles, with the starters watching and joking around, but not this game for the Rams, and certainly not this game for Carriker.

 

This game counts.

 

Against one of the worst offensive lines in football, Carriker needs to accomplish what Long accomplished against the Bengals last week: disruption.

 

Whether that’s stopping the run, getting his freakishly long arms up to bat down a pass, or collapsing the pocket and sacking the quarterback, he has to do something—anything—to show his coaches, teammates, and fans that he’s going to be a factor this season.

 

Otherwise, the countdown begins until Carriker becomes just another first-round bust along the path of roster carnage left by Shaw and Zygmunt.

 

The time is now, friend. Show us what you can do.

Next Page »

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