Week 6 – Rams @ Jacksonville Matchup

Well Rams fans it has now been over a calendar year since the St. Louis Rams won a NFL regular season road game. a 19=17 victory over the Washington Redskins. The Jacksonville Jaguars are coming off a 41-0 pounding against the Seattle Seahawks. Even the Rams only lost 28-0 to the high powered Seahags. On the positive side the Jags lost 41-0 so they must not be very good right, or will they be that more pissed off and take it out on the St. Louis Rams? The Jags are 30th on defense in total yards and passing yards allowed. On the flip side the Rams are 31st in points allowed and 32nd in points scored, an awful combination.

The Jags took an interesting approach to the offseason one that the Rams could have taken. With their first two picks in the 2009 NFL Draft the Jaguars selected offensive tackles Eugene Monroe & Eben Britton. The Jaguars have each already in the starting lineup, while the Rams are still trying to get Jason Smith on the field at RT. The Rams were looking for more long term upside but meanwhile we are losing game after game, will the gamble ever pay off? The Jags then followed up drafting a DT, CB and 2 WRs seems like they had the same needs heading into the draft that the Rams had. Which has done a better job of filling their needs?

As for this game I think you simply have to follow the numbers. David Garrard has 5 TD passes in two home game, while the Rams have only scored 4 touchdowns the entire season and NONE on the ground even with Steven Jackson. The Jags are capable of putting some points on the board while the Rams rank 31st in points against. In addition the Jags will be getting WR Mike Sims-Walker back today. With Sims-Walker and Torry Holt on the outside and the Rams inexperience at CB the Rams could struggle again today. Maurice Jones-Drew and David Garrard are very hard to tackle so it will be very important for the Rams to get a great game from their front four today.

The Rams will have Marc Bulger back in the saddle at QB today. The Rams are only completing 56% of their passes which is bad news since rarely do they even throw the ball more than 10 yards down field. Bulger is coming back from another injury and I expect him to stay rusty. Steven Jackson has been putting up numbers and is on pace for 1400+ yards rushing but he has ZERO touchdowns, has fumbled a couple of times and continues to miss blitz pickups. I expect Maurice Jones-Drew to outplay Steven Jackson today.

The bottom line is there is still no reason to believe that the Rams believe they can win a game. Until they can believe it and do it, we will continue to pick against them. The numbers are just too heavy against them. In addition to losing 15 straight games, the Rams have also been outscored 146 to 34. Jacksonville is coming off an embarrassing loss and Jack Del Rio is not going to let that fly. I expect Jacksonville to be nasty on defense today and try to knock the Rams around and out. The most telling number may be the fact that in Las Vegas the Rams are a 10 point underdog to a team that just lost 41-0. The Jags can also still salvage their season with 3 straight games against the winless Rams, Titans, and Chiefs. Could the Jags be 5-4 through 9 weeks? I will exit with a quote from Brian Billick "Rams need more talent
Jacksonville has shown signs of being a very good team. I'm not sure St. Louis has the talent yet to beat anybody".

Prediction Jaguars over the Rams 31-10

Week 4 – Rams @ 49ers Matchup

Sunday the 0-3 St. Louis Rams will take on the first place 2-1 San Francisco 49er at 3:15PM CST. The media and experts have these two teams miles apart. Further evidence of this is the 10 point spread in Vegas. This is a 49ers team that is lucky to score 20 points in a game and they are a 10 point favorite. So pencil the Rams in for another 10 point outburst today.

So how did we get here? We know the Rams, 13 straight losses, 5 wins in their last 35 games, awful drafting, etc. However you don't have to look far to find what could have been our twin. The 49ers were 12-20 during the 2007, 2008 NFL season. They had a lack of talent and depth, and a coach in Mike Nolan who could not get the team going, not unlike Scott Linehan in St. Louis. So the 49ers hired Mike Singletary during the 2008 season and they have a 7-5 record with him under the helm. same team different attitude. In addition the 49ers have drafted much better than the Rams. Top draft picks are an obvious issue for the Rams. Their last 4 number 1's are Tye Hill (GONE), Adam Carriker (IR), Chris Long (2nd teamer now?), and Jason Smith (Injured). The Rams have received absolutely NO impact from these players. With Chris Long now seeing spot duty, and Jason Smith playing right tackle you could say we wasted all four selections. The 49ers on the other hand drafted Michael Crabtree, Kentwan Balmer, Patrick Willis. Joe Staley, Vernon Davis, & Manny Lawson in the first round over the past four years. These players are 5 of their 22 starters and they would be 6 for 6 if Michael Crabtree had decided to sign his contract.

So what do we see happening on Sunday? Well these teams are still very similar on the offensive side of the ball, so similar that each team is averaging 276 yards per game. Neither teams scares anyone with their passing game. Both teams try to play it close to the best with the power running game of Frank Gore and Steven Jackson. The major difference is the 49ers defense has helped their team score. The 49ers are 10th in scoring even though they are 28th in yardage. The 49ers will be without Frank Gore today, and are coming off a game that they were 0-11 on third down conversions. The Rams have the worst receiving group I have ever seen take the field in the NFL. The 49ers are not far behind. Isaac Bruce is the 49ers receiver with 100 yards receiving through 3 games.

Defense, here is the difference in this game. The 49ers are aggressive and smash mouth since Mike Singletary took over. Patrick Willis is a poor man's Ray Lewis. The 49ers play a 3-4 and have an outstanding group of linebackers in Parys Haralson, Manny Lawson, Takeo Spikes & Patrick Willis. These linebackers come down hill and will be after Steven Jackson all day. They 49ers will stack the box and they will not let Steven Jackson beat them. With one of the best cornerbacks in the game in Nate Clements along with Dre' Bly, Shawntae Spencer, and Mike Lewis. They are probably laughing during breakfast right now thinking of the Rams receivers.

With Frank Gore out and rookie Glenn Coffee averaging 1.8 yards per carry in, this should be another game that the Rams should stay in. This game should be similar to the Rams/Redskins battle. The difference has to be the defense. The Rams have a hard time pressuring the QB, and if they can not provide the Rams offense with good field position points will be hard to come by. I think the 49ers will look like 11 swarming bees today and really hand it to the Rams. Kyle Boller is going to be running for his life today.

Prediction 49ers over the Rams 23-10

Week 2 – Rams @ Redskins Matchup

Both the St. Louis Rams and Washington Redskins started the season with a loss. After today one of the teams will drop to 0-2 and you know what they say about your playoff chances when you start 0-2. The Redskins are coming off a tough loss against the New York Giants and will be looking to take it out on the Rams who have now lost 11 games in a row. The Redskins who play in the tough NFL East should benefit from a string of games against St. Louis, Detroit, Tampa Bay, Carolina, and Kansas City which could put them at the top of their division. The Rams on the other hand have to play tough road games at Washington, San Francisco, and Jacksonville and even tougher home games agsinst Green Bay, Minnesota and Indianapolis before their schedule gets easier.

These teams at times can be very similar with bad QB play, a receiving core that does not scare you and an inconsistent running game. Which ever team plays better in these 3 areas today will come away the winner. The Rams managed to create three early turnovers last weeks against the Seattle Seahawks but were unable to turn those mistake into any points. They must convert all opportunities to stay in these games.

The Rams need to find a way to stop the run and then come after Jason Campbell with a pass rush that they have not been able to produce so far. I expect a much better blitz package this week from Steve Spagnuolo. This is the type of game the Rams usually get beat by the back up running back. I think Ladell Betts will see a lot of action today and the Rams will need to shut down their run. The Rams who allowed 5.1 per rush in the preseason started off allowing 4.9 last week to Julius Jones and the Seattle Seahawks, they will not win many games if that continues.

On offense the Rams were worse than pitiful last week as they were the ONLY NFL team to come away with zero points. They obviously look to improve upon that this week. The Rams had around 100 meager yards heading into the 4th quarter last week. The Rams say they are going to pound Steven Jackson but will they? Today should be straight forward they need to run behind Incognito and Jason Smith and try to overpower Phillip Daniels & Brian Orakpo. On the left side of the line they will have their hands full with Jacob Bell who has been just awful since the Rams acquired him from Tennessee, going up against the monster man Albert Haynesworth. In the passing game I am about done with Marc Bulger and talking about Marc Bulger. However if we are going to score any points today he is going to need to complete some passes under pressure. He is great in practice with his little red "don't touch me shirt on" but under pressure he continues to crumble like a Ritz cracker. Step up Marc, just step up!

Although the Redskins do not frighten me and are not the type of team that will blow many teams out, I still do not like the Rams chances today. They have just not played together long enough. The injuries to Marc Bulger and Donnie Avery have this offense way behind. Along with the fact the Rams have a new Offensive coordinator, RT, LT and Center this team will take a while to put it together. I do love the swarming, ball hawking defense but they are not good enough to spend the whole day on the field. If the Rams can contain Portis and Betts they should be able to take this one into the 4th quarter and have a shot. In the end I think the team with 11 straight loses will continue to find ways to lose.

Prediction Washington 20-10 over the Rams

Week 1 – Seahawks vs. Rams Matchup

Both the Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams are looking to start over in 2009. The teams combined to go 6-26 in 2008. With last year behind them both teams are looking to start over with new leadership. The Seahawks are now coached by Jim Mora Jr. and Steve Spagnuolo is the new coach of the St. Louis Rams. Both teams are looking to build their defenses around 2009 draft picks Aaron Curry and James Laurinaitis. Both players were outstanding in the preseason. Curry had 9 tackles and a sack, while Laurinaitis made 13 tackles and intercepted a pass.

Seattle will be glad to get Matt Hasselbeck back after only playing in 7 games last year. The Seahawks huge offseason pick up was T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and later they also added Edgerrin James to back up Julius Jones. In the 2009 NFL draft the Seahawks picked up Aaron Curry, Max Unger and Deon Butler all should step right in and have a huge impact this year.

The Rams are just looking to start over and move in the right direction. After removing the front office and almost all of the coaching staff it is now Steve Spagnolo's job to right the ship. The Rams picked up center Jason Brown, while adding Jason Smith and James Laurinaitis through the draft. The Rams are now very young and inexperienced since releasing a few veterans including Tye Hill their first round draft pick in 2006.The recent release of Chris draft 72 hours prior to the season starting also raises a possible team chemistry issue.

As for this weeks game, if it looks like, acts like, and quacks like a duck it is a duck. In this case that means clearly the Seattle Seahawks will win this week. The Rams have lost 8 straight games to Seattle, including a 37-13 pounding last year at Quest Field. For those that have forgotten the Rams have also lost 10 straight regular season games. Quest Field is a very hard place to play and the Rams will be heading there with an offensive line that has never played together. To make matters worse the offense was not able to get in any work in the preseason. Marc Bulger injured his pinkie and only threw 4 passes in the preseason. In addition an injury to Donnie Avery cost him the entire preseason, and Steven Jackson only saw enough action to get in 10 carries. After cutting Tye Hill the Rams will head into the game with Ron Bartell and Jonathan Wade as their starting corners and they will be forced to cover Houshmandzadeh, Burleson, Butler, and Branch who may not play. I love how the Rams defense forced turnovers and swarmed to the ball in the preseason but I just do not see the offense doing enough to win this one.

Prediction Seattle 23-10 over the Rams