Remember This Guy

Local Kirkwood Missouri product Jeremy Maclin is starting to show his stuff in the NFL playing for the Philadelphia Eagles. Former Missouri Tiger Maclin was the Eagles 19th pick in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft. Maclin caught his first two touchdowns of his NFL career Sunday in the Eagles 33-14 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. For the season Maclin now has 12 catches for 187 yards and two touchdowns. In addition the Eagles have used Maclin to return a kick or two as well. Only Donnie Avery with 196 yards has more receiving yards than Maclin, who was at least 3rd on the Eagles depth chart starting the 2009 season. The Eagles are loaded with speed and playmakers. The Rams need to get playmakers on this roster soon. The Eagles always stock players like the top college teams do. The Eagles released Greg Lewis and Hank Baskett and the Rams took Danny Amendola off of their practice squad. All of that depth on one roster. The Rams need to get to the point where they can have quality players with quality backups at key positions. Props to you Jeremy!

Roll 'em Up Rams Fans!

Well I hate to be Donnie Downer but the 2009 St. Louis Rams season is over. That's right I am calling it. Sure not many fans had a vision of playoffs this year but there are still those of you out there thinking we are turning the corner and can win 5, 6, or even 7 games. Well I am here to crush those dreams, another season has ended for our beloved Rams. Facts are that since the playoffs were expanded to 12 teams in 1990 only 3 out of 204 teams that started the season 0-3 made the playoffs. Don't even start thinking we will be the 4th.

The Rams have lost 13 straight games, including 6 straight at home. In addition since the 2006 NFL Season the Rams are 5-30! That is an outstanding winning percentage of 14.2. Although I was and am behind the hiring of Steve Spagnuolo this franchise has been run into the ground and I do not see us turning the corner soon. The drafting and free agent signings this decade have been worse than awful. All of our talent and playmakers have moved on or retired and we have not backfilled as needed.

The most depressing part of our current situation is that we have salary cap issues. Based on our talent level how can that be? Well it is easy, more mistakes by the front office over the years. We are apparently so strapped for money we cut Chris Draft over $380,000. The 2009 NFL salary cap is set at $127 million, and we were forced to worry about $380,000. Let's recap where some of the money is going. We have 60+ million dollar contracts with Marc Bulger, Chris Long and Jason Smith. Chris Long is not even starting at the moment and is unable to provide any push on the front line. Jason Smith is the starting right tackle when healthy but he was drafted second overall in the draft a spot reserved for outstanding left tackle talent. I don't even want to discuss the contract that was given to Marc Bulger. We can then drop to the second tier decisions. The Rams gave out 30+ million dollar free agent contracts to Drew Bennett, Jacob Bell, and Jason Brown. Brown looks like a nice NFL center but should he be the highest paid in the NFL? In addition to these expenses we are starring at another top 5 draft pick in the 2010 NFL Draft which will cost the Rams another $60+ million. Still with all this money going out the lack of talent, experience, and depth on this team is staggering. We enter Week 4 of the 2009 NFL season with the worst wide receiving group I have ever seen. At corner only Ron Bartell really has any NFL experience and no other cornerback on the roster has shown me anything. So don't make fun of the Raiders, Browns, and Lions of the world because we are going down the long winding road along with them.

In the words of Chevy Chase Roll 'em Up!