Friday, September 26, 2008

Look out below!

Reported in the Post-Dispatch this morning, Steven Jackson made it pretty clear on his radio show last night that the Rams' locker room is imploding. He suggested that several Rams players were not happy with Scott Linehan's move to bench Marc Bulger, and came out himself as one of those players. He called the move "the wrong decision", adding "He's our general... you don't pay someone $60-something million then sit him on the bench."

I like what Jackson said & I like that he stood up for his teammate. But even though the dismantling of this coaching staff is a fait accompli, Jackson shouldn't be publicly ripping on his head coach. Steven seems to be becoming what we call a "coach killer". He's got his big-ass contract. He fully knows the team depends very heavily on him to be successful. So he feels free to rip on whoever he wants knowing he's not likely to feel any ramifications. If Linehan would retaliate and bench Jackson for any amount of time Sunday, the fans would boo the roof right off the building. Jackson certainly picked his spot last night.

Bulger, meanwhile, doesn't want to play for Linehan any more according to team sources. He has not spoken to the press since his demotion, leaving tea leaves formed to spell "I'M PISSED OFF THE COACH IS SCAPEGOATING ME, OF ALL PEOPLE" that are pretty easy to read. Sure, this could be Marc trying to engineer a trade. Or since it comes from "team sources", it could be diabolical spin meant to keep Bulger buried in the press. More than likely, what it is is the truth, and Bulger's doing the right thing by staying away from the press. He got stabbed in the back and doesn't want to end up in a spot where he's publicly ripping his head coach. Difference in styles between Bulger and Jackson.

Orlando Pace, then, seems to have thrown a grenade into the whole mess with this quote reported in Bill Coats' blog:

"Hopefully I do my job so I don't get replaced."

What a wonderfully divisive quote. If taken in context, Pace is throwing his QB and his head coach under the bus.

The Rams' locker room is becoming a bigger mess than the Roman Senate chambers right around 3/15/-44.

And in perhaps the biggest shock of the week, St. Louis' version of the Colosseum is sold out for Sunday's game.

Guess nobody can pass up the chance to see a good car wreck.

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