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?

St. Louis Rams Sign Center Hank Fraley

The St. Louis Rams continued with their "so what" free agent signings, by adding 32 year old center Hank Fraley to their roster. Fraley was the back up center in 2009 for the Cleveland Browns, starting only four games. Fraley has been very durable for an interior lineman starting 123 games of the 135 that he has played in over his 10 year career. Steve Spagnuolo again has ties to this free agent pickup. Coach Spagnuolo was with the Philadelphia Eagles while Fraley was playing in Philadelphia. First we had the FOSL's with Scott Linehan, then ex-Saints players coming to town for Jim Haslett and now Spagnuolo continues to focus on Eagles and Giants retreads. Sure their may be an advantage to knowing these players or having a relationship with them but are they the top players to help the St. Louis Rams in 2010?

St. Louis Rams Finally Cut Richie Incognito

Tuesday the Rams finally cut OFFENSIVE Guard Richie Incognito. I guess Steve Spagnuolo does have more backbone than Scott Linehan. After watching Richie arguing with coach Spagnuolo on Sunday I had my doubts we would ever remove him from our roster.

The Rams drafted Richie in the 3rd round of the 2005 NFL Draft even though he was hurt and would not be able to play until 2006. While with the St. Louis Rams for 4+ years Incognito played in 44 games, at both Guard and Center. Richie known as a hot head has not disappointed while in St. Louis. Richie's two personal fouls Sunday in a 47-7 loss to the Tennessee Titans appears to have been the last straw.

Richie who should thank his lucky stars for the money and time he earned in St. Louis did not leave before saying these words;

"So in part, I feel like a great weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I get an opportunity to go play for a new team in a new city. I can get away from the negativity that has surrounded me, that has been surrounding my entire career here in St. Louis. So that I’m looking forward to.”

Well I will say what most Rams fans are thinking. Richie you come across as an idiot and as you walk away with that weight removed off your shoulders take a look back at us Rams fans, we all have out finger flipped up to say goodbye!

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

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?

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

Is Scott Linehan A Wuss?

St. Louis Rams coach Scott Linehan often makes me scratch my head. I have said before that when he was hired I felt like I was a fan of a college team that would now endure 4 years of mediocrity. I never thought that Linehan was qualified to be a head coach in the NFL so I figured we would have to ride out the wave, or four years if you will. Linehan has a 11-21 career record with the Rams. Sure you can't totally blame him with all the injuries and being a new coach taking over for Mike Martz, however I have always had the feeling that he will be here until his time is up and the Rams can replace him with someone better. Linehan was never a head coach in college, and was really not with any major programs. Scott was with Washington and Louisville but they were not real powers at the time and he was the offensive coordinator with each. Since joining the Rams I feel Linehan is not respected by his players. Last year we all saw the looks that Marc Bulger, Torry Holt and Steven Jackson gave him on the sidelines. In addition Linehan took everything from Claude Terrell and Dominic Byrd before finally cutting them loose.

Now comes this weeks examples:

When Steven Jackson told him he would not be making the flight to training camp, Linehan said “I have such respect for Steven and he was respectful with letting me know he wasn’t going to be on the plane.” Is he really this naive? Did he think Steven was hopping on a different plane?

Now today stlouisrams.com reported It was perhaps the hottest session of practice since the team arrived and it showed according to coach Scott Linehan. In the middle of practice, Linehan called his team to the middle of the field and gave an impassioned plea for a better effort.

The high temperature today in Mequon, Wisconsin was 87 degrees. There are already at least 13 players with nagging injuries a couple pretty serious and we are already whining when it is 87 on July 30th and have to give the players a pep talk. As the kids would say WTF. This is the same Scott Linehan that is being the bizzaro Linehan in 2008. He wanted to move camp away from home, have tougher practices and play the starters more in preseason games. I get no impression at all that he can be tough with these players and make them perform above their abilities.

Is Scott Linehan more suited for college coaching like Pete Carroll? Is Scott Linehan a wuss? What are your impressions of coach Linehan?

If you would like to discuss this or have any other opinions you would like to share remember to check out the RAMblin’Fan forum, or if you are a fan of another NFL club check out our NFL forums at Fansided forums, were all bloggers check in to chat routinely.

Chris Long Has The Moves

I have to admit that I am a little worried that Chris Long has still not signed a contract with the St. Louis Rams yet. However it is only late June and we still have a few weeks before training camp opens in Concordia University in Mequon, Wisconsin. Yahoo sports has a short article this week called Inside Slant which talks about how well Chris Long is doing in camp, and how the St. Louis Rams might be able to use his abilities in the 2008 season.

Said coach Scott Linehan, “We’ve thrown a lot at Chris, and that was the objective. He’s seen a lot of offense since he’s been here. Once that starts to click in with him, I know he’s going to really take off.”



Defensive coordinator Jim Haslett has been impressed and looks forward to the different ways he will able to utilize the rookie.

Haslett said, “I think he’s very good in run defense. He does a great job in hand placement and getting off blocks. He looks like his father from that standpoint. You can tell his dad coached him when he was young because he’s got the Howie moves.”

The Rams will need Chris Long to have an impact on the overall play of the defense. A pass rush will do nothing but help the lack of depth at linebacker, and help the secondary play a little more aggresive. Chris should be able to provide a pass rush while playing the 3-4 because he will be lined up over a TE from time to time. When Jim Haslett switches to the 3-4 Chris should be even more comfortable. I expect much more impact from Chris Long than the Rams were able to get from Adam Carriker.

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