Week 8 – Rams @ Lions Matchup

Well today is the day we have been forced to wait for. Are the St. Louis Rams really worse than the Detroit Lions? The Rams have lost 17 straight games, but are still not quite the laughing stock of the league thanks to the Lions going 0-16 in 2008. Prior to the Lions greatness in 2008 it seemed impossible for a non-expansion team, during the salary cap era to lose every game. The Lions losers of 22 of their last 23 games will want this one bad. A Lions win over the Rams on Sunday would give them two victories on the year and put the Rams at 0-8 heading into the bye week. A loss to the Lions would make the Rams the current laughing stock of the league for sure. Nobody takes the Oakland Raiders seriously and they actually already have a win on the season. The Tennessee Titans won 13 games last year, and the Cleveland Browns even have a victory this year. Hands down the Rams are going to be in mocking territory if they can not manage a win today at Ford Field against the Lions.

Don't expect much in the way of great football today, these teams are just looking for a victory. The Rams are coming off of a 42-6 defeat to the Indianapolis Colts and the Detroit Lions lost 26-0 to the Green Bay Packers prior to their bye week. These teams have been awful on offense. The Rams have a league low 60 points scored and have yet to score a rushing touchdown. The Lions are not much better as they are 23rd in points scored, and 25th in total yards. Whoever makes less mistakes should be the winner in this one.

Injuries could be the story of the day. The Rams will be without Richie Incognito, which will force Adam Goldberg to play inside at tackle with Jason Smith coming off injuries playing right tackle. If Donnie Avery is healthy enough to play a whole game he should be able to put a ton of pressure on a very suspect Lions secondary. The Lions desperately need Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson on the field on Sunday. Both are listed as questionable and without them the Lions offense is awful.

Intangibles - Scott Linehan loser of 17 of his last 20 as Rams head coach is now the offensive coordinator of the Lions. If he is ever going to have a good game plan going into a game it will probably be today against the Rams. You know Linehan wants this one bad. Likewise the Rams should really want to take it out on Linehan and the Lions today. This is a game Steven Jackson should be able to dominate. If the Rams are 53 playing as one they should win today, but can we believe in them?

I hope Marc Bulger read the quote from Derek Anderson this week when talking about his stats "Honestly, they are garbage," he said Wednesday. "I haven't looked at them since I started playing." Marc needs to take responsibility for his poor play and the Rams continual losing and lack of offense. Bulger should play better than Stafford, and Steven Jackson should play better than Kevin Smith. This is a game the Rams should win. I am going to stick by my word and pick Detroit today based on the fact I believe they will want it more and make the plays to win it. The Rams still do not seem to know how to win. Until they can turn their culture around I am going to pick their opponent.

Prediction Lions over Rams 20-16

Colts & Manning Dump The Rams 42-6

Well it was another early exit for the St. Louis Rams on Sunday as they were dumped 42-6 by the Indianapolis Colts at the very quiet Edward Jones Dome. The Colts won the opening coin flip, received the kickoff and went 90 yards, in 10 plays, in 6 minutes and 4 seconds to take an early 7-0 nothing lead on a 6 yard TD pass from Peyton Manning to Reggie Wayne. On a day when the Rams would only score 6 points the Colts had 7 before we even touched the ball. Game over.

I expect the usual puff pieces from the St. Louis media and the Rams tomorrow. The Rams tried hard, it was close for three quarters, if only we could have executed on a couple more plays. Well guess what the Rams did not and now have lost 17 straight games which is a disgrace in the salary cap era. In addition they have been outscored at home 116-33. They have not turned any corner, they have only managed to replace some older players for younger players.

I expected more from a Steve Spagnuolo led defense, I know he wasn't given much to work with but I was expecting something. The Rams were again lifeless on defense. The Colts had 3 drives of 78+ yards. The Rams allowed the Colts to convert 8 of 12 third down attempts. The Rams had no sacks and forced no turnovers. I know Manning is good and your secondary is thin but you have to play with a little risk.

The Rams offense was not much better. The Rams had only 121 yards of offense at halftime and trailed the Colts 21-3 going into the second half. On the Rams 4th offensive play they completed on a 50 yard flea flicker from Marc Bulger to Donnie Avery. In usual Rams fashion they only managed a field goal on the drive, and Donnie Avery was banged up again and was unable to play much after his catch. The Rams who had 63 yards passing only four plays into the game ended the game with 117 net yards passing and two awful interceptions by Marc Bulger.

I don't know how much worse it could get but we will find out this week as the Rams travel to Detroit to take on the Lions. The Rams have replaced the Lions as the laughing stock of the NFL, and if the Lions can hand the Rams another loss next week we will be down about as far as a franchise can fall.

Until next week....

St. Louis Rams Complete The Perfect Season

The St. Louis Rams completed their perfect season today with a 23-20 Overtime loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Tomorrow will be the one year anniversary of the St. Louis Rams stunning 34-14 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. That is one calendar year folks, without watching our beloved Rams win a regular season football game. When the salary cap and parity have made it so easy to compete the Rams have found a way to lose 16 straight games. Scott Linehan has been gone for a while now, and the Rams have still managed to lose under Jim Haslett and Steve Spagnuolo as well. Although the Rams were only 9 yards away from winning the game late today, you just never had a feeling they will pull it out. If we feel that way how must they feel in the locker room?

The Rams have been perfect, 16 straight losses. The Rams are 0-9 in their last nine road games and 0-7 in their last seven home games. To put things into perspective the Rams have been outscored 456 to 190 points in those 16 games. The Detroit Lions who went 0-16 in 2008 scored 268 points while allowing 517. The Lions were the laughing stock of the country the only difference between the 2008 Lions and our Rams is the calendar year. The Rams have lost 9 of those 16 games by at least 19 points. We have been routinely blown out like a college team.

Today's loss was almost worse than being blown out. The Rams took the opening kickoff and marched down to take an early 7-0 lead on a pass from Marc Bulger to Donnie Avery. The Rams led from that point on until only 8 minutes and 5 seconds remained in the game. Then just when you thought it was over Leonard Little made a fantastic play, on an awful pass by David Garrard and intercepted a pass and took it 36 yards for what looked like the winning TD. However nothing is that easy for the Rams. The Jaguars went 75 yards on 9 plays to take the lead back 20-17. The Rams had one last chance and after an unbelievable screen pass catch and run by Steven Jackson the Rams were able to move down the field. When Randy McMichael caught a 13 yard pass and took the ball to the Jags nine yard line with only 30 seconds left, a win was finally in our site.

The Rams that are 5-33 in their last 38 games then took over. The Rams who wasted 2 timeouts earlier in the half only managed two incomplete passes and never once threw a pass into the end zone and were still left with 1 time out when time expired. The Rams never saw the ball in OT as the Jags went 62 yards in 13 plays and capped off the game and the Rams perfect season with a Josh Scobee 36-yard field goal.

Thanks to the Rams for our special season

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!

Week 5 – Vikings @ Rams Matchup

Well normally I do my weekly analysis of the St. Louis Rams matchup. This week I am not going to bother to give you tons of information about the game against the Minnesota Vikings. I will simply say this is a complete miss-match. Sure Minnesota played an emotional game Monday Night against the Green Bay Packers, and their next two games are against the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers, but this is NOT a trap game. The Rams would be lucky to trap a mouse between them using all 53 players on the roster. Sure I watched Any Given Sunday and have seen many upsets in the NFL but this will not be one of them. Stating this by the way does not make me a bad fan but a realist and there is a difference. I will be there early, cheer for my team and hope for a victory but at the moment I give them zero percent chance of being in this game. Hopefully the Rams can thrill me with a win but how?

The Rams are last in points scored, and 30th in total yards and passing yards in the NFL. The Vikings 118 points scored, are third most in the NFL, while the Rams have only scored 26. Brett Favre alone has 8 TD passes. The Rams are still looking for their first rushing TD, while Adrian Peterson has racked up 5 already. Adrian Peterson has 92 touches on the year and look for him to have a great game against the Rams on Sunday.

It is simple, we lack skill, talent, and playmakers. In this game the Rams are facing a Vikings team that is loaded with playmakers. On offense the Vikings have all world QB Brett Favre, Adrian Peterson, Sidney Rice, Bernard Berrian, Percy Harvin, Chester Taylor & Visanthe Shiancoe. I can't even count the amount of bad matchups this causes for the Rams. The offensive line features great blocking on the left side by Steve Hutchinson and Bryant McKinnie. When the Rams go to run the ball they will face the wall of Pat and Kevin Williams inside. When the Rams go to pass they will need to find a way to block the NFC sack leader Jared Allen, and get the ball past one of the best cornerbacks in the league Antoine Winfield.

Hopefully the Rams front office will get a good look at a team that is loaded with playmakers, and see that they are needed to compete and win in the NFL. Nate Jones, Keenan Burton, Donnie Avery, and Danny Amendola are not the answer and an absolute joke that in week 5 of an NFL season they are the only receivers on the roster.


Prediction Vikings over the Rams 30-6

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.

St. Louis Rams Lose Donnie Avery To Injury

Donnie Avery suffered a stress fracture in his left foot during the St. Louis Rams scrimmage at Lindenwood University on Friday night. This is not good news for the Rams receiving core which is already without stars and depth. Everyone know the numbers, the remaining Rams receivers on the roster combined caught 43 passes for 524 yards and four touchdowns last season. Who will step up? Veterans Ronald Curry and Tim Carter were picked up recently but are they the answer with Avery out until possibly the home opener against the Green Bay Packers.

Well I am here to tell you that the sky is not falling...yet. With coach Steve Spagnuolo in town I have a renewed sense of hope and optimism. So with that in mind I am going to take another sip of kool-aid and give you some facts, and reason for hope. First off the season is 16 games long so if we can get Avery back by week 3 at the latest that will soften the blow. Spagnuolo has been around a lot of success with the Eagles and Giants. Three of the top 10 passing offenses last year did not have a 1000 yard receiver. The Eagles typically will pass for around 4000 yards by just spreading the ball around. The Giants also spread the ball around. The Rams look toward this philosophy in 2009. I believe the tight ends and backs will catch many more balls in 2009. You may know the New Orleans Saints led the league in passing, but did you know their leading receiver was undrafted Lance Moore who had only 928 yards receiving. Likewise the Philadelphia Eagles were led by rookie DeSean Jackson with 912 yards. The New York Giants made the playoffs with no receiver topping 600 yards. So hang in there and remember even Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce were rookies once.

Banner Contest Voting

Chris Long edged out Donnie Avery 36% to 33% and will replace Torry Holt on our banner. Look for this update later this week. Mike from Wentzville gave the best reason for his selection: "I voted for Long and I think he should be on there. First of all, it can't be Avery, he shows promise, but the "Greatest Show" has folded it's tent and left town so you're going to see a lot of running and swing passes and since Avery is all we have he's going to see a lot of doubles and I don't think is going to put up the numbers. Secondly it should be Long, because the defense should be represented since it's going to be on the upswing with Spags in charge and I think Long is poised to have a breakout year".

Donnie Avery Injured

St. Louis Rams Donnie Avery has a crack in his pelvic bone (stress fracture). That is the report today from St. Louis Rams training camp in Mequon, Wisconsin. The only place we have seen this report is from Jim Thomas of STLtoday.com and on Team 1380 sports talk radio. Thomas reports that Avery was injured after catching a ball in practice on Monday and landing on his hip. Team doctors said they have not seen a stress fracture in this area before so they are looking into how they will treat Avery. Avery who just watched practice from the sideline on Tuesday could be out for any length of time but team sources have said a few days to a few weeks. We would like to thank Jim Thomas for breaking this story on the radio for fans that want to be up to date on the latest St. Louis Rams news. This could be a crushing blow to the Rams, who have no clear cut #3 receiver behind Torry Holt and Drew Bennett. It is very important that Donnie Avery and Keenan Burton pick up the Al Saunders offense as soon as possible.

Donnie Avery was the Rams second-round pick, and 33rd pick overall in the 2008 NFL draft.

In other St. Louis Rams injury news Chris Draft has back spasms; Mark Setterstrom has an injury to his leg, and Anthony Becht, Vince Hall & Oshiomogho Atogwe all have nagging hamstring injuries. I have not found any word yet on Victor Adeyanju's finger surgery.