Whither Marc Bulger?

The biggest issue facing the Rams right now is, What the heck is wrong with Marc Bulger? And it sure looks like a lot is wrong - his preseason stats so far: 10 for 23, 83 yards, THREE interceptions, ZERO touchdowns. His passer ratings so far are 3.7 and 20.8, in a system where a passer who does nothing but just spike the ball to the ground would get a 37.6. Marc overthrew Randy McMichael Saturday night to turn what should have been a wide open, big gain into an interception, and threw a lollipop for Drew Bennett that was also picked off. To all the world, he looks unconfident in the pocket, flinchy, reacting to pressure that's not quite there yet.

And then there's the mysterious nature of his shoulder injury. The Rams pulled him immediately out of the game after he got up in pain after being sacked late in the first half Saturday night. The injury may hold him out of practice today. Everybody, however, is blowing it off. Bulger called it "a five-minute thing". Scott Linehan said Bulger would have stayed in had it been a regular season game. (We'll ignore for now that Trent Green then came in cold and played FAR better than Bulger has all preseason.) Bulger's been hurt a lot, and that shoulder's been hurt before. That shoulder was a lot of the reason for Bulger's problems in 2007. Has it ever really healed up? Is he struggling now because his throwing shoulder is hurt again or still hurting?

Not if you ask Linehan. "Marc's making a lot of progress... It's a new system, got some new players and all those things. As soon as we get our timing down, he's going to continue to play winning football for us."

He's making a lot of progress?!?!? Did he start training camp trying to throw the ball with his feet?

Yeah, Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job.

Over at ESPN.com, Evan Sando says Bulger's struggles are all timing problems, that it's going to take everyone a while to get into sync in the new system.

I'd like that answer more if the team hadn't been practicing this system for three months or more, and if this weren't a system the key players, like Bulger, weren't supposedly already familiar with from the Mike Martz days. But I like it because it'd be a something that practicing could actually correct, so here's hoping Evan Sando has Bulger's problems nailed.