As, quite possibly, the last Rams fan standing, it's hard to get pumped up for the upcoming season. However, I must! Especially the way the Angels have been playing, us old school Anaheim sports fans have to look somewhere for joy. Of course, looking to the Rams probably isn't the answer, but with training camp opening tomorrow for the STL let's be hopeful! You know we have to at least do better than last year. And, by the way, there is more Rams news than the impending Bradford mega-deal...I think.
The team with a mighty history since 1936, including 3 league championships (2 before the Super Bowl was created), 6 conference championships, and 15 division titles, hasn't been "the greatest show on turf" for some time. Last year we went an almost impossible 1-15, beating only the Detroit Lions. All that after a 3-1 preseason! In fact, we have just 6 wins over the last 3 years. Talk about a team that has managed to shake off all the bandwagoners. We got shutout twice in '09 and low lighted with a memorable 6-42 loss to Indy in late October. With QB Keith Null being the most exciting thing we had going for us, we were hurting.
But now, it's the dawn of a new day. Training camp opens tomorrow, and despite being worried about the impact of the heat, I'm all smiles and high hopes about climbing out of the NFC West cellar this year. What's that about the heat? Oh yeah, the Weather Channel has rated the Rams' training camp as the 6th hottest in the NFL. Brutal guys. Move back to OC, and things'll be much better.
The key departure for the Ramies this offseason was clearly Mr. Fantasy, Marc "I was raised Catholic" Bulger. Look, if you read this blog, you know I've kind of always been on Bulger's case. I always considered him "good," but knew that he wasn't the kind of QB to lead a team through a deep playoff run. I think that was always clear. Now he's off to Baltimore to a) make more money than their starter and b) make Andrew's life miserable instead of mine. Other notable departures are OT Alex Baron, DT Adam Carriker, and DE Leonard Little.
The key addition for St. Louis is obviously Sam Bradford. Without ever taking a NFL snap, Bradford has become the annointed savior of this whole franchise. Of course, having some players to catch the ball might help. The steal of the draft, in my opinion, may have come in the fourth round with the overall 99th pick. We snagged Cincy WR Mardy Gilyard. The Florida native was an All American in 2008 and 2009, finished last year with 1,191 yards receiving and 11 TDs, and was the offensive player of the game at the 2010 Senior Bowl. Guess what? He'll be starting! He couldn't have asked for a better situation. Will he be Sam Brad's arme de choix? Other notable additions include LB Na'il Diggs and OL Hank Fraley. Of course, the biggest and best addition to the Rams for the 2010 year has to be new mascott Rampage. I think he's the first openly gay NFL mascott, not that there's anything wrong with that.
Looking at the rest of the roster, there are some interesting and hope inspiring characters I'll point out. AJ Feeley is probably feeling good about being the backup to Bradford, and may even seen some significant time as the signal caller this year. Steven Jackson will obviously electrify the fan base again, but backup Chris Ogbonnaya should be a difference maker as well. The UT grad should see solid time this year. ESPN doesn't agree, but what do they know? They seem to think Ken Darby will errupt as the full time #2, which would also be cool, but we'll see. The big name receivers, if you can call them that, outside of newbie Gilyard are (of course) Donnie Avery, Laurent Robinson, and Brandon Gibson. Not really the Holt/Bruce/Proehl days of old, but we'll take it. Avery was the Rams rookie of the year in 2008 and the Houston Homeboy caught 5 TDs on 589 yards his sophomore campaign (47 catches). Robinson came from the Falcons and quickly became one of "the" guys last year. Word out is that he may be the #1 guy over Avery once we get into camp this year. Last season L-Rob Hubbard caught 13 balls for 167 and 1 TD. Numbers are low for Laurent thanks to his fractured fibula after week 3, but he was leading the team when we lost him for the year. He's back this time around, baby! Finally, Gibson came over last year in a trade with the Eagles, and caught 7 balls for 93 yards in his first game with STL. Those were both Ram records for a rookie playing in his first game. He's hoping to continue to explode on the scene this season.
Given that ESPN ranks the Rams projected defense as #32 out of the 32 NFL teams, the aforementioned offense sure is going to have to be spectacular!
So, now to what we all want to know. How are the Rams going to do this year? And simply saying "bad" doesn't qualify for an intelligent prediction. Let's start by taking a look around the "real" media to get a feel for where we're headed in 2010 per their prognostications.
+Fox Sports ranks the Rams 32/32, saying, "The Rams are far from contending any time soon."
+Rams Gab (my favorite Rammie blog) held a poll to see what fans think about our chances. The Rams winning 4-6 games in 2010 won the poll with 57% of the vote (one of those 62 votes was mine!)
+SB Nation's Turf Show Times has come out predicting 6 wins, despite saying that's pretty optimistic.
+CBS Sports not only points out that the Rams have zero nationally televised games on the schedule this year (thank you, Fox), but also boldly predict that they should go 4-4 in the second half of the season. Um, what about the first 8 games? Are we looking at a 12-4 finish? Wow!
+Yahoo! Sports and ESPN have provided some previews, but have yet to throw their predicting hats into the ring. Weak.
Now, let's take an honest look at what we can expect in 2010:
-I don't really want to go into detail about the preseason, so we'll say we go 2-2 over our four games.
-We play everyone in the division twice, and I always expect to win one game against each team as a rule, so that puts the Rams at 3-3 as we go into the ten non-division games.
-Oakland week two may be a huge chance to get on the board. Win.
-Before McNabb, I would have said we'd beat Washington in week 3, now I'm saying no dice.
-Why not say we can beat the Detroit Lions again?
-Now to be ultra-realistic, I'll say we lose 3 straight to San Diego, Tampa Bay, and Carolina. I think you'd all agree with me on that one.
-I think I can safely say we'll lose the next three non-divison games as well, dropping tests to Atlanta, Denver, and the Saints. Again, these are pretty easy losses to call.
-The third to last game of the year is the final non-divison battle, against Kansas City. It's a big game out there locally, and I think we can take it.
So, where does that leave us? It looks like the LSF is giving the Rams a predicted 2010 record of 6-10. I think after winning 6 games over the last 3 seasons combined, a 6 win season would be a welcomed sight for STL fans.
Good luck this season, Rampage.
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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