Is There A New Fossil Sherriff In Town?

As a St. Louis Rams fan it was very upsetting to watch Scott Linehan sign one FOSL (friends of Scott Linehan) after another. Well don't look now but there is a new fossil collector in town and his name is Steve Spagnuolo. Spagnuolo has signed 3 ex-Giants players so far during free agency. In addition his first pick up last year was S James Butler another New York Giant. That would be bad enough but let's not forget the time Steve Spagnuolo spent with the Philadelphia Eagles. Since the start of the 2009 NFL season the Rams have also gathered in Danny Amendola, Brandon Gibson and Hank Fraley all from the Eagles organization. Are the St. Louis Rams collecting talent and improving their roster or just gathering fossils?

Brad Grogan's Rams Fan Point Of View

This week we asked fellow Rams fan and college football player Brad Grogan his thoughts on the St. Louis Rams 23-20 OT loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. See if you agree with Brad's synopsis of the game and the Rams:

The Rams fell to 0-6 on Sunday with a discouraging 23-20 loss in OT. Here are some stats that tell the story of the game:

Offensively: Total plays = 53, 13 first downs (11 passing, 1 rushing, 1 pen), 4-12 on 3rd down, 262 Total yards (55 rushing 207 passing), 22-34 passing, 1 sack + 1 turnover, Time of Poss 24:48 vs. 42:12
Team Notables: 10 offensive drives. Only offensive touchdown came on 1st drive of game. 3 scoring drives = 193 yards, other 7 drives = 69 yards.
Individual Notables: SJack 16 for 50, 6 for 78., JBrown 2for2 FG, DJones 6 punts, 1 inside 20., Amendola = 4KR for 125 yds

Defensively: Total plays = 84, Gave up 33 first downs (15 passing, 14 rushing, 4 pen), 11-16 on 3rd down, 492 total yards (166 rushing, 326 passing), 30-43 passing, 3 sacks + 3 turnovers
Team Notables: 12 defensive drives (didn’t count downing the ball at end of 4th quarter.) 1 - 3plays and out drive. Gave up 2-100 yard receivers, 300 yard passer, 100 rusher
Individual Notables: Little 3 tack, 1 sack, 1 INT, 1TD, 3PD, Atogwe: 10tack, Lauranitis 5 tack, 1INT

Opinion: The stats tell it all. We couldn’t move the ball consistently on offensive and defensively we couldn’t stop them. Turnovers were the reason this game was close, without them the Rams are beat by at least 14 points. The Jaguars are 3-3 on the year and their defense is 25th in pts allowed, 24th in yards allowed, 12th in rush yards allowed and 30th in pass yards allowed (these rankings are after the game on Sunday). There is no way we shouldn’t have been able to move the ball against these guys. We didn’t because we don’t have any talent. Five people on the injury report after the game including leaders at WR and LB. Yes we held them to 23 points and lost in OT, but anyone who watched the game could tell the Jags dominated and deserved to win by much more. The question on many sportscasters’ minds: Are we closer to winning? Will 262 yards of offense get it done against the Colts? No! Lions? Maybe! The best possible outcome for next week is to keep everyone healthy and move the ball offensively. If I were drawing up the game plans, offensively they would include screen passes, draws, and reverses and oh yes a double pass! Why not! If we can’t beat them straight up why not try and steal a few points on a trick play. Fake a punt and/or field goal while were at it! People want to say our defense has improved. Well we have 3 of the top offenses in the NFL coming in over the next 4 weeks. This will be our litmus test. PS…if the Saints put up 49 on the Giants, what will they hang on us? WOW!

Positives: Danny Amendola finally got to play receiver and proved he can be more than a kick returner. Now let’s use him! I wasn’t upset with Bulger’s interception because it was a great defensive play (granted about 2 yards underthrown), but we finally threatened deep. We forced turnovers, but couldn’t convert them into TD’s. The Offensive line had decent pass blocking although Jags are tied for dead last in sacks.

Spags: “I told them we win together and lose together, they all understand. Now we need to learn from these mistakes and get better next week”. Not to bust his chops, but Linehan and Martz used to say the same thing!
Thanks Brad! What do you other fans have to say?

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!

St. Louis Rams Try Out Two Wide Receivers

The St. Louis Rams tried out wide receivers Courtney Taylor and Larry Beavers today at Rams Park. So far the Rams have not signed either. The Rams seem determined to stay young and go with inexperienced players. I believe the Rams currently have the worst set of receivers I have ever seen on a roster at this point of a season. There are only 4, count'em four wide receivers currently on the Rams roster; Danny Amendola, Donnie Avery, Keenan Burton and Ruvell Martin. Between them they have 134 NFL receptions, which includes zero for Danny Amendola who the Rams just signed last week. The Rams also signed Ruvell Martin the previous week so 50% of their corp. have never caught a pass as a Ram. With Donnie Avery regressing or still trying to come back from injury and Marc Bulger's shoulder injury, how are the Rams planning to move the ball? Will the acquisition of Courtney Taylor or Larry Beavers help?

Courtney Taylor a 6th round selection of the Seattle Seahawks in 2007 has 14 total catches in the NFL. Coming out of college SI.com said Courtney could be a productive pass-catcher with potential as a fourth wideout at the next level. Larry Beavers a blazing fast receiver out of Wesley College (Div. III) in Dover Delaware was undrafted but signed in 2009 by the Carolina Panthers. Beavers was unable to make the Panthers roster and has been waiting for a call ever since. Beavers is the current holder of the NCAA all divisions career record with 13 kickoff and punt returns for touchdowns. We just signed Danny Amendola to return kicks so who knows why we are looking at another very small kick returner with no wide receiver experience in the NFL. Larry Beavers is lightning quick but only 5'10" and 165lbs.

I Got Caught Drinking The Kool-Aid

Ok you caught me and I have to apologize to Rams fans, if there are any left at this point. Last night I got pretty excited and pumped up about opening day against the Green Bay Packers. Maybe, just maybe I had a little too much Kool-Aid Saturday night. I originally thought about predicting a score of 31-10 for the Packers but you know what they say about how women look after 6 beers. I had a little Kool-Aid, thought about the game, hell the Bengals just ran all over the Packers. This is the home opener, these are the Rams trying to win the fans back. We have Steven Jackson, if Cedric Benson can run on the Packers surely Jackson could have a good game. The Packers had allowed 10 sacks, and would be missing starting left tackle Chad Clifton, Steve Spagnuolo would have some blitz packages to eat up that Packers O-line right?

So reality set in and as Denny Green said we are who we thought we were. The same old Rams that have now lost 13 straight regular season NFL games showed up again. The Rams D started off tough and held off the Packers early after Bulger and Jackson turnovers. The Packers who only managed 26 yards in the first quarter were still up 9-0. That just seems to be what happens to bad teams. The Rams get a nice opening kickoff return from Danny Amendola and moved the ball down to the Packers 31 to start the game, but Josh Brown's 48 yard FG was blocked. So instead of getting off to a 3-0 start we found ourselves down 9-0 even though the defense played nearly a flawless first quarter. I somehow forgot about the Rams lack of pass pressure, their lack of secondary depth, their lack of playmaking receivers, and their lack of talent. I am sorry fans I will not forget again. Like the Detroit Lions I will never pick the Rams to win a game again until they win one first.