Rams Central

Unofficial St. Louis Rams Blog

Every Thanksgiving day football viewer saw it, and it’s drawing more scrutiny than any football play I’ve seen in quite some time. The Suh Stomp. I’ve heard and read all the hate that’s come pouring down on Suh. People saying he’s a terrible person, or an immature child, or hate filled demon. I’ve heard it all. But you know what he is to me? A football player. I’m slightly biased being a defensive back in all of my college days, having a father who’s a defensive coordinator (and old school football type of guy), and naturally siding with the defensive side of the ball in most debates. But in this particular case, that truly does not play into my take in this article. I’m only using my eyes, common sense, and knowledge of the game of football for this one.

I am in no way supporting stomping on people or unsportsmanlike play, but after watching and re-watching the replay countless times, I assure you the nationwide crucifixion of the Detroit defensive tackle is an overreaction. What Suh did wrong was let his emotions get the best of him for a few seconds, but he should not be the only person at fault from that play. I strongly urge all of you to go to youtube and re-watch the play if you have been on the side condemning Suh for this play. Let’s take a look at the details of this few second scuffle and understand it from a football perspective a little better:

First of all, if any of you have never played the game of football, especially at a higher level such as college or professionally, you would never understand the intensity and adrenaline flowing through the veins of a player between those white lines. It is literally a whole different world out there, where every player from each team wants to dominate and destroy the members of the other team and especially the man lining up right across from you each and every play. This intensity is slightly heightened for lineman and defensive players simply because of their assignments on every play being more “violent”. You have to have that as a player. It’s a key ingredient to a successful player, an emotional “edge” some might call it. If you’ve got it and your opponent doesn’t, more often than not you win.

Now, back to Suh. When you watch the play, Suh is getting a great push on Dietrich-Smith as Aaron Rodgers let’s go of the football. Suh even turns Dietrich-Smith back onto his back foot and almost completely sideways and off balance in his attempt to rush the passer. As Dietrich-Smith falls back, Suh loses his footing and begins to fall forward. I can’t honestly tell if Suh loses his footing just from Dietrich-Smith falling backwards, or if the blitzing linebacker knocks him off balance, but either way Suh falls forward and off balance. Let me say once again that Aaron Rodgers releases the football just before Suh knocks Dietrich-Smith off balance, and thus the play should essentially be over between the two linemen. But, quite the opposite happens. As Suh knocks Dietrich-Smith back and they both lose their balance, Suh slips to his knees. Then, Dietrich-Smith proceeds to keep his grasp on Suh and attempt to shove him to the ground. They both fall to the ground a bit sideways with Suh being slightly on top. If you take a look at Dietrich-Smith on the play, he is actually holding Suh outside and slightly on the back of his jersey, but that’s all I’ll say about the fact he was holding him because offensive linemen hold on almost every play.

All of this leads me to my main point I was trying to make with several people on twitter yesterday. Everyone kept trying to tell me how Dietrich-Smith pancaked Suh and that Suh was just angry he got beat on that play. Actually it was quite the opposite. Dietrich-Smith got driven back and knocked off balance by Suh. Aaron Rodgers releases the football and two almost three full seconds of a slow motion replay go by before Dietrich-Smith attempts to slam Suh to the ground. If a quarterback got hit that late, the defensive player would get thrown out of the game in a heartbeat. This was clearly not even close to a pancake, and in fact would be considered a bit of a “dirty” play by Dietrich-Smith. But of course, no one even attempts to believe that.

Back to the play. Suh and Dietrich-Smith go to the ground with Suh slightly on top. I imagine that any defensive player would be a little upset after being hit late by an offensive lineman, and as they are on the ground Suh and Dietrich-Smith both have a hold of each other by their back collar area with Suh being more up on the back of Dietrich-Smith’s helmet. Suh pushes Dietrich-Smith’s head into the ground and probably says something to him about the late hit. I know I would. But, Dietrich-Smith still keeps a hold of Suh’s jersey as Suh is on top of him. He pushes his head two more times until Dietrich-Smith finally lets go of Suh’s jersey. Now I’m not advocating jamming another player’s head into the ground, but I can understand when you’re fired up and pissed that this guy just hit you late you might exude a little bit of anger and force towards him.

Then, as Suh finally gets out of his grasp and gets to his feet Dietrich-Smith rolls over and either attempts to grab Suh’s foot or his hands just touch Suh around the foot/ankle area. I’m not a psychic, so I don’t know what Dietrich-Smith’s intentions are. But, I can see how Suh thought he was trying to grab him as he was walking away. Again, I’m not advocating stomping on another player, but if you thought someone was grabbing at your foot after this little tussle you might react somewhat similarly. Suh truly wasn’t even looking at Dietrich-Smith when he stepped on him. He just stomped his foot in what looked to be an attempt to get out of the grasp on Dietrich-Smith. He should not have stepped on Dietrich-Smith, no doubt about it. He overreacted a bit at that point and that was where Suh’s emotions really got the best of him. He definitely should be reprimanded for that and needs to learn to hopefully walk away from something like this next time. But to crucify him for this is action is just too much.

Ndamukong Suh was not in the right. Please don’t think that is what I am saying. He could have walked away from the tussle and let it go. But like I said earlier, football is the most emotional and intense game on this planet and he was taken to the ground by his opposition several seconds after Rodgers had let go of the football. Anyone who says they would not get fired up in that same situation either has never played football or is an incredibly un-intense person. Suh should be punished for his actions, but everyone proclaiming how dirty of a player he is or he should be kicked out of the league need to look much more closely at the play and understand the emotional aspect of the game of football.

As the Rams bye week draws to a close, I for one am pretty dissapointed. I’m a diehard fan and watch every second of each Rams game. But, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a lovely Sunday of football watching week 5 not having to watch my beloved Rams go out there and get their tails whipped yet again. By now any half-hearted fan knows how miserable they have looked in the first 4 games of the season and all about each of their problem areas causing this regression from their 2010 “breakout” campaign. Some people may still be using the old “It’s still early” excuse, but unfortunately that doesn’t cut it when you’re a quarter of the way through your season. That’s like a major league baseball team having played 40 games or an NBA team playing 20. At some point that excuse doesn’t work anymore, and you’re just not a good team. I think it’s put up or shut up time for Coach Spagnuolo and his Rams.

Another excuse plenty of people like to use is the constant injury problems we’ve seen so far. It seems about like putting on a Rams uniform is about like playing russian roulette with your 2011 season. In such a pass heavy NFL like we have today, it definitely hurts to lose your top 3 cornerbacks and your best and seemingly only reliable receiver. But just like using the “It’s still early excuse”, this one doesn’t quite cut it. Good football teams follow the “next man up” philosophy about injuries. A backup steps in and plays his tail off to fill in for the starter while the remaining starters elevate their game to help offset the losses to injury. I’d say the Colts entire team revolved a bit more around Peyton Manning’s presence than the Rams to all their injured guys combined, and they still manage to be competitive on Sundays. And that’s with Curtis Painter or Kerry “More than a touch of grey” Collins under center. In my 4th and Inches article a couple weeks ago, I consoled Rams fans by saying they could take solice in the fact that the Chiefs fans had it way worse than us Rams fans. I even went so far as to electronically introduce Chiefs coach Todd Haley to Andrew Luck. Kansas City has lost All-Pro running back Jamaal Charles, 2010 breakout tight end Tony Moeaki, and young super stud safety Eric Berry for the year, and STILL HAS WON 2 GAMES. I am not saying I expected the Rams to win 2 of their first 4 games even before the injuries, but taking Rudy-like tail whippings every week without the fight of the famous Notre Dame walk on is embarrassing. One more quick point about the weak injuries excuse… I seem to remember the Green Bay Packers having about 80 guys on the injured reserve last year, and they still managed to win the freaking Super Bowl.
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I have developed a serious problem that involves me looking for anything Rams’ related on the interwebs during the regular season and offseason. As a result, I have become a regular lurker on quite a few of the Rams’ message boards. I’ve noticed lately that a lot of discussion has come up regarding the Rams’ draft position for 2012. There are a lot of opinions on this, and I wanted to address one particular one that I find fairly ridiculous.
 
It seems that a lot of Rams’ fans have completely written off the rest of 2011. I tend to be fairly pessimistic, but I find it hard to believe that we need to start thinking about next year after 4 games and heading into the bye. Given the injuries at cornerback, and the ineffective play of the offense, I can understand that the rest of the season looks grim. However, I think it’s a little premature to be hoping for the #1 overall pick in 2012.
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If you watched the Rams’ offense between the 20’s last Monday night, you would have thought they scored 40 points. Unfortunately, the offense scored only one touchdown after getting to the red zone 4 times. With the 1 touchdown on one red zone appearance against the Ravens, the Rams are 2 for 6 on the season. Obviously 3 weeks is too small of a sample size to draw too many conclusions yet, but it is a disturbing trend that has carried over from last season. I thought it might be interesting to take a look at 2010 and see how the Rams fared in the red zone. Because the Rams have a new offensive system, I thought I would also include the performance of McDaniels’ Broncos from last year as well.
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As we lead up to the Monday Night game this week, I welcome you to the 2nd edition of our 4th and Inches here at Rams Central, an overview of the games already played and a quick preview of MNF. Yesterday’s slate of games provided a whole lot excitement in nearly every place besides St. Louis. Every week 3 game outside of Rams-Ravens had a win margin no more than 13 points, with 10 of the 15 games being decided by 6 points or less. We also saw a handful of upsets, including one by the team I mentioned last week I can’t help but root for, the Buffalo Bills, over the mighty New England Patriots. As a Rams fan, your wired to root for two things each Sunday, a Rams win and a Patriots loss. Unfortunately, the Rams were a bit dissapointing this week, but that’s a whole different story.

The Harvard Alum does it again. Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Bills battled back from a 21-0 deficit to beat the Patriots on a Rian Lindell 28 yd field goal as time expired. Tom Brady threw 4 interceptions to allow the Bills back into the game, and an overturned Fred Jackson touchdown led to the Bills running down the clock before the game-winning field goal. Fun fact: Tom Brady threw 4 interceptions all of last season.
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With the Rams just hours away from making their first appearance on Monday Night Football in what feels like eternity, it seems like the perfect time to debut a new column here at Rams Central. We are at the “4th and Inches” point of the week, with just one game remaining and one last chance to get our football fix in until next week. We will take a look around the league and recap many of the highlights, or lowlights, and set us up for the Monday night game. We will quickly recap the Rams game that week (in this case a preview) and discuss noteworthy events of the rest of the NFL.

Could the Chiefs luck get any worse? Most of us already thought their 2010 season was a bit fluky, and they would come back down to Earth a bit this year but goodness. In the preseason they lose their break out tight end from last season Tony Moeaki. In week 1 they lose their best defensive player for the season, young stud safety Eric Berry. Then, this weekend their best overall player and offensive weapon Jamaal Charles tears his ACL and joins Moeaki and Berry on IR. Todd Haley meet Andrew Luck.
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With all the new additions to the Rams roster, this year is the toughest in memory to make it down to the magic number of 53 players for the final roster. Countless conversations have been going on about who might get cut and the different strategies for keeping certain positions or players. Twitter has been crazy with conversations about different people’s viewpoints on this topic. It took a lot of thought and some back and forth, but here is my list of players by position, with total number at that position in parentheses, that I feel the Rams will keep on their 53 man roster.

Quarterback (2)
Sam Bradford
A.J. Feeley
-It may be a bit risky to only keep 2 quarterbacks on the roster, but this would give the Rams A LOT more flexibility at other positions that are very tough decisions between talented players. Thad Lewis would get moved to the practice squad which is slightly scary since former O.C. Pat Shurmur could very well claim him if that happens. Nonetheless, I think this is the smartest move for the Rams roster. And I also think Lewis would ultimately make it through waivers to the Rams practice squad. The 2 quarterback move has become a bit of a trendy new age roster move.

Running Back (4)
Steven Jackson
Cadillac Williams
Jerious Norwood
Britt Miller
-Notably missing from this group is Keith Toston. Toston has played very well this preseason and has done just about everything you can do to make the roster, but he simply doesn’t provide the weaponry that Norwood does. Britt Miller sticks as the fullback as he has played tremendous this preseason. He will be the lead blocker for the tailbacks as well as contribute on special teams.

Wide Receiver (7)
Danny Amendola
Brandon Gibson
Mike Sims-Walker
Donnie Avery
Mardy Gilyard
Greg Salas
Austin Pettis
-The only major cut in this group is Danario Alexander, who’s inability to stay healthy does not allow him to take a full slate of reps in either practice or games to become a true impact player in this league. Rookie Austin Pettis sneaks onto my roster, partially due to only keeping 2 quarterbacks, even though I have been a bit of a supporter for letting him go (attempting to move to the practice squad) if we only held onto 6 receivers. Mardy Gilyard’s stellar performance on special teams, both in the return game and specifically as a gunner on the punt team, have allowed him to make this team. Dominique Curry will be moved to the practice squad.

Tight End (4)
Lance Kendricks
Mike Hoomanawanui
Billy Bajema
Fendi Onobun
-Combine Josh McDaniels use of tight ends with the fact that Illini Mike is injured again and what do you get?… Fendi Onobun making this football team. I just don’t see the Rams going with only 2 tight ends while Mike is recovering from his most recent injury. Fendi has shown some flashes of his athleticism this preseason, but I don’t believe he makes the team without Hoomanawanui’s brittleness.
Offensive Line (8)
Roger Saffold
Jacob Bell
Jason Brown
Harvey Dahl
Jason Smith
Adam Golberg
Quinn Ojinakka
Renardo Foster
-Not a whole lot shocking here other than the fact that most teams tend to keep 9 offensive linemen, but the backups on this roster are very versatile with Golberg and Ojinakka being solid swingmen. I think with the way the Rams have built their o-line in the last few years, they can do without the extra backup. The Rams have quietly built one of the most underrated lines in the league.

Defensive Line (9)
Chris Long
James Hall
Fred Robbins
Justin Bannan
Daniel Muir
Gary Gibson
Robert Quinn
C.J. Ah You
George Selvie
-Not a whole lot to report here either, especially with Jermelle Cudjo being sent to the IR today. Most teams tend to keep 8 d-lineman, but we all know how Coach Spags likes to rotate his boys up front. This group is very deep and talented giving Spags the flexibility to rotate and moving guys around depending on down and distance or situations throughout the game.

Linebackers (7)
James Lauranitis
Ben Leber
Brady Poppinga
Josh Hull
Chris Chamberlain
Zac Diles
Bryan Kehl
-This picture became a whole lot clearer after the cutting of veteran Na’il Diggs today. Bryan Kehl sneaks onto the roster sort of by consolation after Diggs got cut. In this scenario, rookie Jabara Williams gets sent to the practice squad, although I really would not be upset if he made the team over Kehl. While Williams is very raw, he has shown to be a supreme athlete this preseason and has shown a lot more promise than Kehl. I think the Rams will stick with the vet however, and stash the rookie on the practice squad.

Defensive Backs (9)
Ron Bartell
Bradley Fletcher
Quintin Mikell
Craig Dahl
Darian Stewart
Al Harris
Justin King
Jonathan Nelson
Jermale Hines
-This is the main group that could see some change after other teams make their cuts. With the injury to Jerome Murphy, the Rams only have 4 cornerbacks in this group. Thus, rookies Nelson and Hines make the cut. Nelson has been splitting time between safety and corner in practice since Murphy went down which could give possibly make the Rams feel comfortable with this group, but that’s pretty unlikely. I think the Rams will look for another corner in the next week and one of those 2 rookies move to the practice squad. We have been rumored to be interested in Joselio Hanson of the Eagles, who led all slot DB’s in the NFL in yards allowed per catch at a measely 4.4.

Those Other Guys
Josh Brown
Donnie Jones
Jacob McQuaide
-Brown and Jones are stalwarts and some of the best at their respective positions in the NFL. Did you see Brown drill that 60 yarder this preseason? And McQuaide takes over the long snapping duties from recently cut veteran and cap casualty Chris Massey.

Well, there you have it, my thoughts on the final 53 players for the Rams roster in 2011. This is clearly subject to signing a fifth cornerback as mentioned above or some unforeseen trade by Billy Devaney. Feel free to leave your thoughts on my list, or even leave your own 53 man list.

The biggest, and toughest, decision for the Rams this preseason definitely appears to be which Wide Receivers to keep on the 53 man roster heading into the regular season. The candidates to be kept are Danny Amendola, Brandon Gibson, Mike Sims-Walker, Donnie Avery, Mardy Gilyard, Danario Alexander, Greg Salas, and Austin Pettis. There are a couple major roadblocks in making this decision. First, only two of these players are eligible to be placed on the practice squad, Salas and Pettis. If one of these two were designated to be moved to the practice squad, any of the 31 other teams in the NFL can claim them and place them on their 53 man roster. It is an almost certainty that these two would get claimed in that process, and consequently be lost for nothing. Another problem has been the constant little injuries many of these players have been haunted by during this training camp. Almost every one of these guys has had to sit out practice and/or preseason games at some point due to injury. It doesn’t exactly make it easy for the Billy Devaney and crew to make decisions when they don’t get to see a big sample size from any of these guys during camp. Nonetheless, a decision will be made soon and this group of 8 will be trimmed down to 6.

Is it possible the Rams keep 7 wide receivers? Yes. Likely? Nope. Keeping 7 wide receivers would put the Rams at a disadvantage in terms of depth at another position, maybe tight end or even somewhere on edefense. With the recent injury of Mike Hoomanawanaui, this seems even less likely. The Rams might be forced to keep 3 tight ends in addition to Illini Mike considering the various offensive sets Offensive Coordinator Josh McDaniels uses with multiple tight ends (in addition to goal line sets). Then, with the amount of depth the defense has acquired this offseason, and the amount of rotating a Spags defense generally does, it all but rules out keeping 7 wideouts.

That brings us to the roster “locks”. There appears to be only 3 absolute locks out of this group, Danny Amendola, Brandon Gibson, and Mike Sims-Walker. Rookies Salas and Pettis are pretty close to locks as well since relatively high draft picks were spent on them this year and the practice squad dilemma discussed earlier. Salas has shown flashes of tremendous potential and just needs to continue to work towards consistency which is typical of a rookie. Pettis has struggled transitioning into the NFL and has yet to make a real impact since taking some reps with the first team early in camp. I think there is a very, very small chance they could attempt to move Pettis to the practice squad due to his lackluster camp, but this is incredibly unlikely. That leaves Avery, Alexander, and Gilyard for the 6th and final spot. Each player brings something a little different to the table, which makes it even more difficult of a decision. Avery was a 2nd round pick in 2008 and was actually the first WR taken in that draft. At times, Avery has shown the rare ability to be a legit deep threat in this league. He has incredible speed, running as low as a 4.27 at his pro day before the 2008 draft. The main problem with Donnie is his inability to stay healthy. He appears to finally be fully healthy after missing all of last season with a knee injury and being dinged up early in camp, but how much trust can you put in him to stay healthy all season? Danario Alexander is another player with serious health concerns. He may have the worst knees in the entire NFL. When on the field though, DX has shown the combination of size and speed that makes coaches mouths water. He had an up and down year in his rookie campaign. At times he looked like an unstoppable force as an outside weapon for Sam Bradford. Other times his knees were a bit bothersome or he struggled to make big catches, including the infamous drop week 17 at Seattle. He is showing the toughness coaches love this preseason by saying he will play through whatever pain he is having in his knee, but one can only wonder if he will ever be able to consistently contribute with those knees. Then there’s Mardy Gilyard. Mardy had a rookie season to forget, struggling to catch up with the playbook after missing time early due to an injury. Coming into this camp, I had essentially written Mardy off after his performance last season left a sour taste in my mouth. However, watching him this preseason has given me a new perspective on the former Cincinatti Bearcat. Mardy has had limited reps working as a Wide Receiver thus far, but has worked a tremendous amount on special teams where he has truly excelled. Returning both kicks and punts, he hasn’t broken any big returns but has shown passion and shiftiness. Mardy has also been tremendous on the other special teams, that the average onlooker doesn’t see. As a gunner on the punt team, Mardy appears to be the best option the Rams have, constantly defeating blocks and flying down the field to make tackles. Mardy would be a star on every single special team for the Rams, which is a very valuable asset to a team.

When it comes down to it this is a very painful decision to make. But, I believe if the Rams can only keep 6 wide receivers those 6 would have to be Amendola, Gibson, Sims-Walker, Salas, Pettis, AND…….


Donnie Avery. While I love the skills that Alexander brings to the table and the improvement and special teams play Gilyard brings to the table, I think the explosion and verticality Donnie can bring to this offense is too great to let go. Donnie appears to be fully healthy now and looks as fast as ever. He is the type of deep threat this offense is missing and could elevate the entire offense to a much higher level with his speed. It seriously hurts to have to say good bye to Mardy and Danario, but I think at this point in time keeping only 6 wideouts, it’s exactly what the Rams will have to do.

Heading into the 2011 NFL Draft I was slightly infatuated with Greg Salas as a football player. Not in a weird or creepy way (get your minds out of the gutter!), but after watching a few of his games and checking out some of his film I just loved the way this kid played football. So much so that in the 3rd round when the Rams went on the clock, I was hoping they would select the man with the most receiving yards in the history of University of Hawaii even though it may have been a slight reach based on the “experts” rankings. They instead selected fellow Wide Receiver Austin Pettis from Boise State, but much to my delight Salas lasted all the way to the Rams 4th round pick, number 112 overall, where the Rams actually did select Salas.

If you check out the video above of some highlights from Salas’ 2010 season, it is pretty apparent that Salas outmatched the competition he faced regularly in the WAC. He broke Hawaii records for single season receptions (119) and receiving yards (1,889), led the nation in receiving yards in the regular season, and was a semi-finalist for the Fred Biletnikoff award while during his dominating 2010 campaign. Pessimists may question the level of competition he faced in the WAC, and while the WAC is non-BCS it’s not like it’s the Ivy League or Division III. Even so, Pierre Garcon played his college ball at Division III Mount Union, and the greatest Wide Receiver of all time Jerry Rice went to little ol’ Mississippi Valley State. Basically, if you can play, you can play regardless of what college you attended.

Getting back to Salas, he shows the savvy and grit on the football field of a true football player. In today’s game, so many players are judged solely on their measurables such as the 40 yard dash, but players with the intangibles of Salas tend to outshine them due to their heady and gutsy play on the field. That being said, Salas is far from all brains and no athleticism. He displays very reliable hands (I mean he did have 119 catches!) and stop-on-a-dime quickness. That quickness allows him to make incredibly sharp cuts both after the catch and in his routes to create seperation from defenders. Salas worked mostly out of the slot position in his final two years at Hawaii, where he really shined due to the aforementioned skillset, which lends itself perfectly to a slot receiver. While we’ve become accustomed to seeing smaller players such as Wes Welker (and our very own Danny Amendola) in the slot, Salas maintains a bigger frame at 6’1 and 211 lbs. Combine that with his 37 inch vertical leap, and Salas brings a dimension to the slot position that the smaller players can’t. This also makes him a much more effective red zone threat being able to use his bigger body and leaping ability in the shrunken dimensions of the red zone.

While the Rams best proven receiver on their roster currently is Danny Amendola, who works almsot exclusively out of the slot, the previously mentioned attributes Salas brings to this team will allow the Rams to be more versatile and explosive. Amendola has been tremendous for the team due to his quickness, consistency, and work ethic, but he is a littlbe bit limited physically. With Salas, the ceiling is much higher. Amendola can still be an integral part of the offense on Sundays while brnging Salas along in a bit of a mentor role. This would set the Rams up for a dynamic offense for years to come. Most of us have seen the effectiveness of another rookie Lance Kendricks at the tight end position early in his career, which only helps the potential for Salas. If the Rams can develop some consistency out of the two outside receiver spots, this would allow Salas, and Kendricks, to draw one-on-one coverage consistently against which they would thrive due to their athleticism. For Salas, especially in this offense with Josh McDaniels calling the plays, the sky truly is the limit and he could be the key piece that puts this offense over the top…. or the X factor if you will.

While wathcing the first half of the Eagles/Steelers preseason game, there’s a lot of things that prove clear about the NFL in general and the Rams chances in what appears to be a pretty brutal schedule this season. In week 1, the Rams draw the recently named “Dream Team” of the NFL, the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles are one of a handful of non-divisional teams that Rams fans seem to be worried about on their schedule, but tonight’s preseason game against the Steelers shows a glimpse of why the Rams are not as big of underdogs in these games as it may appear. Every team in the NFL has holes in their roster, and in the case of a lot of the big name teams, we let their strengths override their glaring weaknesses in our minds’ perceptions of them. We have foregone conclusions about what teams such as the Patriots, Steelers, Cowboys, and Eagles are going to be each year due to their headline players, coaches, owners, legacy, or whatever it may be. The Cowboys proved last year that you need more than a legacy and some big name players to win football games. Funny thing is Cowboys made very few changes to their team this offseason and many people are pegging them as a dangerous sleeper and a probable playoff team. All of this based on the outsider’s perception of their franchise. They may have a bunch of weapons on their roster, but they also have obvious deficiencies if you look past the star on the helmet.
As for the Eagles, if you watched the first half against the Steelers (while both teams starters were in), even their star-studded roster with the countless big name free agent signings couldn’t hide their holes on the field. The Eagles are small and unproven up the middle of their defense. Without big run-stuffing defensive tackles the Eagles undersized linebackers can get engulfed by offensive lineman, especially a quality offensive line like the Rams have put together. I’ll take the Rams chances with Harvey Dahl getting to the second level onto Casey Matthews and Steven Jackson chugging in behind him. At safety the Eagles allowed Quintin Mikell to leave this offseason to open up a spot for Major Wright and are extremely inexperienced in the back of their defense. Coverage breakdowns are much more likely and something tells me Josh McDaniels might have some plays in his playbook to cross up those young pups back there. This is not even taking into account the pathetic play of the Eagles offense tonight, their sketchy offensive line, and health problems of Jeremy Maclin. I refuse to put too much stock into preseason games, but these issues with the Eagles defense are apparent and can’t simply be fixed by practicing. And while the Eagles (and other “headliner” teams previously mentioned) are still going to be a very good team, Rams fans shouldn’t be too quick to overlook Spags’ boys’ chances against them and the other top teams on their schedule. Like I said earlier, every team has holes. This year, the Rams upgraded roster (and coaching staff) have no more holes than anyone else regardless of how much us die-hard Rams fans like to nit-pick at the ones we do have.