Rams finish 7-8-1

The Rams come up just a couple of plays short, and make 5'10", 205-lb Russell Wilson out to be Ben Roethlisberger a little too often, in a 20-13 late-game, season-ending loss to Seattle.

Steven Jackson became the sixth RB in NFL history to run for 1,000 yards in eight straight seasons.

It looks like the Rams and Broncos will tie for the 2012 sack title with 52.

RamView on the way.

Adrian Peterson ran for 199 and 2 TDs, an effort MY FANTASY TEAM COULD HAVE USED LAST WEEK, but came up 9 yards short of Eric Dickerson's single-season record in a 37-34 win over the Packers that put Minnesota in the playoffs. Feel free to pop some champagne, E.D.

If Washington wins tonight, the Rams will have played 8 of their games this season against playoff teams, going 3-4-1.

(educated guess) 209 days till training camp starts!

-$-

Rams inactives

Joe Barksdale
Sammy Brown
Matt Conrath
Austin Davis
Terrance Ganaway
Cory Harkey
Steve Smith

Leroy Hill is inactive for Seattle.

-$-

2013 Hall of Fame semifinalists

Jerome Bettis, Kevin Greene and Aeneas Williams are once again semifinalists for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Voters will select 15 finalists to join Seniors Committee nominees Curley Culp and Dave Robinson early in January, and the 2013 class of inductees will be announced Super Bowl weekend (Feb. 2). Former Cardinals head coach and offensive innovator Don Coryell is also a repeat semifinalist.

First-time nominees Larry Allen, Morten Andersen, John Lynch, Jonathan Ogden, Warren Sapp, and Michael Strahan make this a highly-competitive HoF class, and they're joined by past finalists Tim Brown, Cris Carter, Roger Craig, Charles Haley, Bill Parcells, and Andre Reed.

Rounding out the semifinalists: Steve Atwater, Terrell Davis, Joe Jacoby, Albert Lewis (really?), Karl Mecklenburg, Will Shields, Steve Tasker, George Young. And, as Hall of Fame voters continue to do their very best to tarnish the institution they represent: Edward DeBartolo Jr., Art Modell and Paul Tagliabue.

Former Rams who did not make the cut to semifinalist:
Henry Ellard, Dick Vermeil, Chuck Knox, Ron Jaworski, Stephen Davis, Nolan Cromwell, Sean Landeta, Bud Carson, Clark Shaughnessy, Eddie Kotal. Former Cardinals Ottis Anderson and Neil Lomax and Rams OC Brian Schottenheimer's father Marty were also left out of the final 27.

The voters' insistence on keeping criminal and rule-breaking scum like DeBartolo, a civic traitor like Modell and a completely undistinguished and biased commissioner in Tagliabue alive this far into the balloting really goes beyond the pale while some of the classiest men and most important contributors in the history of the league are left behind them. Just from a quick look at the full list of candidates, Art Rooney Jr. and Gil Brandt are easily more worthy than any of those three. And the voters should be ashamed, and probably all disqualified, upon seeing that the late Steve Sabol didn't even get to this point of considerations.

More importantly, RamView is pretty insistent that this should be the year for several former Rams to be enshrined in the Hall. Bettis has been a finalist two years running and has obviously the best numbers of any RB eligible for the Hall. Greene arguably should have gone in over Chris Doleman last year and has the most sacks of any player not in the Hall. Aeneas Williams was one of the top five vote-getters not inducted last year and is head-and-shoulders the best DB of the class. But I don't expect the the HoF committee to show appropriate respect to any of the three.

My guesses for the 2013 class:
- Allen. Regarded by many to have been the greatest guard to play the game, but was versatile enough to excel at tackle as well. Having been a Cowboy won't hurt him, either. Will Shields will have to wait even though he was in more Pro Bowls.
- Strahan. #5 all-time in sacks, single-season record holder, and his on- and off-field personality and being from New York sure as hell won't hurt him. They'll continue to tick me off and vote people behind Greene on the all-time sack list into the Hall ahead of him.
- Carter. This an even better year to break the WR logjam waiting to make the Hall than last year. Five-time finalist, eight-time Pro Bowler. I believe Cris himself once said it best... C'mon, man.
- Haley. Haley will especially be a pick to tick off Rams fans because he has far fewer career sacks than Greene and would be getting a spot that could have gone to Bettis, Greene or Aeneas Williams. But he has been a finalist longer than either, has five Super Bowl rings and based on reactions to his omission last year, he'll have the media in his corner this year. The voters would have to break a recent trend to vote two players at the same position in the same class.
- Ogden. The voters proved last year they're not afraid to induct a lot of linemen. (Nor should they be. Just remember that when Orlando Pace comes up.) Ogden's 11 Pro Bowls outweighs Aeneas' 8. I know, Shields has 12, but I don't see the voters putting in two guards, and I bumped Allen ahead of him.

I was going to predict Aeneas Williams here, and he should finish ahead of a lot of folks. In last year's balloting, he finished ahead of I believe Reed, Brown and Craig, as well as Bettis and Greene. He has more Pro Bowls than Sapp. The problem with Parcells is that they want to be sure he's actually done coaching, and he almost took the Saints' interim job this year, remember? The problem with DeBartolo is that he's a f*cking criminal. Shields wasn't even a finalist last year. The only way Aeneas can get left off of the HoF's final ballots this year is for stronger first-time candidates (Allen, Ogden, Strahan) and sentimental favorites (possibly Haley). So naturally, this is a year where we could see a lot of that. And Carter's been on the waiting list longer. I'm looking for Aeneas to make it in 2014, when the only newly eligible player likely to jump ahead of him will be Marvin Harrison (another good reason to get moving on Carter).

For the record, my votes that won't count would be for Bettis, Greene, Williams, Carter and Allen.

-$-

Sunday ex-Rams notes

* Eric Dickerson respects Adrian Peterson, but he's not rooting for him Sunday. Same here.

* Doesn't sound like Thad Lewis will be able to save Pat Shurmur's job in Cleveland; the Browns are expected to fire him and their GM on Monday.

* No one's day would be complete without a Jimmy Saddler-McQueen update. He has been promoted from the Lions' practice squad.

* Brody Eldridge tried out for the Jets but was not signed.

-$-

Rams report, 12/29

* Friday's injury report: funny how the Rams playing a lot better and being a lot healthier than past seasons go together. They'll be fully loaded for the game Sunday in Seattle, with no one missing practice the past two days. Craig Dahl (knee), Cortland Finnegan (thigh), Steven Jackson (foot), James Laurinaitis (back), Austin Pettis (shoulder) and Scott Wells (knee) are all listed as probable for Sunday. No one else on the report.

Seattle is also about as healthy as a team could ask to be for the final game of the regular season. CB Walter Thurmond is out; T Breno Giacomini and LB/Ram-killer Leroy Hill are both questionable. Marshawn Lynch, Sidney Rice, Golden Tate, Earl Thomas, Red Bryant and Marcus Trufant all probable.

Kickoff Sunday at 3:25.

Photo - TripAdvisor.com

* Go tell it... reports after the Rams' last home game are that Sam Bradford and Danny Amendola are going to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in the offseason. It's part of an expedition (if that's the right word) led by Springfield, Mo. philanthropist Doug Pitt (who has a rather-famous brother and sister-in-law) to raise awareness for clean water projects in Tanzania. Jeff Fisher, who ascended the mountain last year as part of his work with the Wounded Warrior Project, thinks more Rams players will join in on the trek. Sounds very cool, even if the highest climb RamView's ever made was to my original Dome seats in row WW. Without oxygen!

* Ex-Rams report: Thaddeus "Thad" Lewis will get the start at QB for Cleveland Sunday in Pittsburgh against the Steelers. Should he get the win Sunday, per ESPN.com, he'll be the only Cleveland starting QB with a winning record since the team was re-franchised. (Jake Delhomme was 2-2.) Best of luck.

-$-

Rams report, 12/28: SEA CB Sherman not suspended

* Looks like my hopes for Sam Bradford play-faking rookie CBs and Steven Jackson facing less than 8 in the box all day Sunday have been dashed a little bit. Even though the hearing was here in St. Louis, Seahawks CB Richard Sherman has won his appeal and his suspension has been lifted. (ONCE AGAIN home field officiating only applies when the Rams are the road team.) Sherman's also likely to be extra-motivated Sunday because he was snubbed for the Pro Bowl. You always hate to go against a guy with that chip on his shoulder late in the season. No telling from here if the Hawks will have Marcus Trufant; he was inactive Sunday night but wasn't listed on yesterday's injury report.

* On the good side, the Rams appear to have NO ONE on the injury list. Craig Dahl, Cortland Finnegan, Steven Jackson, James Laurinaitis, Austin Pettis and Scott Wells were all full participants in Thursday's practice. Pettis had an injured shoulder yesterday but didn't have to miss any time.

* Transactions: the Rams' practice squad is fully manned again after the re-addition of DT Mason Brodine.

- Ex-Rams: the Steelers signed FB Jamie McCoy off of San Diego's practice squad

* And from the idiotic rumors department, the always-responsible folks at NFL.com are hyping Steven Jackson retirement talk and are all but positive he won't be back with the Rams because they have Daryl Richardson and Isaiah Pead. Who ran for nine yards combined Sunday. I'd tell the writer of this article to jump in the lake were I not afraid he'd take that idea seriously, too.

-$-

Rams report, 12/27: No Rams in Pro Bowl

* Wednesday injury report: Cortland Finnegan (thigh), Steven Jackson, James Laurinaitis (back) and Scott Wells (knee) did not practice Wednesday. No earthshaking surprises there. Craig Dahl was limited, which is fitting, since Craig Dahl IS limited. NFL.com listed Austin Pettis as a full participant but I'm not sure why they went to the trouble.

Notable Seahawks who did not practice Wednesday:
Marshawn Lynch (back), Sidney Rice (knee), along with Red Bryant, Leroy Hill and Breno Giacomini.

* No Rams were named to this year's Pro Bowl. In fact, Nick Wagoner reports that no Rams were even named first or second alternates. That's kind of bull, considering James Laurinaitis is 3rd in the NFC in tackles or that Janoris Jenkins leads the whole fricking league in defensive TDs. Or when the 2-13 Chiefs have FIVE players heading to Hawaii.

Frank Gore was the 3rd RB behind Peterson and Lynch, not that I would have picked him. Blair Walsh was in fact picked to be the NFC's kicker.

Buffalo, Carolina, Jacksonville, Oakland, Philadelphia, San Diego and Tennessee join the Rams in having no rooting interest in this year's game. Hmm, let's make a "No Bowl" roster from just those teams...

QB - Cam Newton, Phillip Rivers, Sam Bradford. Alarmingly, Bradford's only in because Carson Palmer's hurt. Even more alarmingly - did you know Bradford has a lower passer rating this season than Tim Tebow?
RB - Chris Johnson, C.J. Spiller, Steven Jackson.
FB - Marcel Reece
WR - Steve Johnson, Steve Smith, Jeremy Maclin, Kendall Wright
TE - Brandon Myers, Greg Olson
OT  - Jordan Gross, Jared Veldheer, and Michael Roos, though Roos just apologized for his team's "crappy" 55-7 loss at Green Bay on Twitter.
OG - Andy Levitre, Evan Mathis, and I guess Mike Brisiel. Harvey Dahl had a spot if he hadn't been injured.
C  - Beats me after Eric Wood. I went with Stefen Wisniewski.

DE  - Charles Johnson, Greg Hardy, Chris Long
DT  - Kyle Williams, Jurrell Casey, Fletcher Cox. Michael Brockers and Marcel Dareus in a dogfight for first alternate. And Brockers has been playing with a high ankle sprain all season.
OLB  - Mario Williams, Thomas Davis, Jo-Lonn Dunbar. All right, I moved Mario to OLB to get Chris Long on the roster. So sue me.
ILB - James Laurinaitis, Luke Kuechly
CB  - Cortland Finnegan, Janoris Jenkins, Chris Gamble
FS  - Jairus Byrd, Eric Weddle
SS - Quintin Mikell. I'd have said George Wilson had he not dropped 2 INTs late in Buffalo's loss to the Rams.
P - Bryan Anger
PK - Sebastian Janikowski. Sorry, Legatron.
KR - Leodis McKelvin
ST - Jon Condo

Head coach - Jeff Fisher, who else? He could be the only coach from these eight teams who returns to his job next year.

-$-

RamView, 12/26

Photo - ESPN

All right, the world's worst Rams website is now up to date for the first time in two weeks. Re-live the Rams' win over Tampa here.

- Positives: Defense dominated as the Rams sacked Josh Freeman five times and picked him off four times, including Janoris Jenkins' third pick-six of the season. Great pass protection - Sam Bradford was not sacked for the first time in 30 games. Steven Jackson scored a TD and pulled within 10 yards of 1,000 for the eighth year in a row. Big-play... Lance Kendricks? Even punter Johnny Hekker had a super game.



- Negatives: Craig Dahl trying to tackle anyone, ever. 196 yards passing isn't very good against Tampa Bay. And there's only one game left in the season.

The Rams are off to Seattle to finish the season. The Seahawks are 10.5-point favorites. The last time the Rams were that big an underdog, it was +11.5 at the 49ers, and they tied.

* (Non)transactions: the Rams are apparently still a man short on the practice squad. I have seen no report of a transaction to fill the spot opened when they promoted Quinton Pointer. (He took Harvey Dahl's main roster spot when Harvey went on IR.)

* Pro Football Weekly is as surprised as everyone else that Rams' OC Brian Schottenheimer is supposed to be a candidate to be a head coach somewhere else next season. Not that Schotty has been bad here at OC. But there's still work to be done. Like I said in last week's recap, the Rams should make a playoff game or two, or Sam Bradford should make a Pro Bowl or two, before the Rams' offensive staff becomes the cradle of NFL head coaches. (Not that it stopped the Browns.)

* Pro Bowl rosters will be announced tonight. I wouldn't expect any Rams to get invited to Hawaii without someone else opting not to go. Steven Jackson should be closest, but I'd figure him behind Adrian Peterson, Marshawn Lynch, and probably Doug Martin, though Martin's tailed off like Lance Kendricks trying to run  80 yards. I wouldn't put anyone else ahead of Jackson, certainly not Frank Gore after he f*cked my fantasy championship this weekend. Alfred Morris should be in the picture, too, but that would be kind of mean, since I consider him to basically be young Steven Jackson. If you're going to invite someone, invite the original!

The other Ram I'd say has a shot at the Pro Bowl is Greg Zuerlein, not because he deserves it, but because he got a lot of his best hype around the time Pro Bowl balloting started. He wouldn't even be the right rookie kicker to send to the game; Blair Walsh deserves the honor. I guess I shouldn't count out Janoris Jenkins or Cortland Finnegan, but the Bears and Seahawks should pick up a lot of support back there, probably Patrick Peterson as well.

* The NFL released salary cap and franchise-player numbers for 2013 today. NFL.com article
The total cap will be $121 million. Danny Amendola would cost the Rams $8.7 million if they use the transition tag on him, $10.357 million if they franchise him. One of several puzzles Les Snead will have to figure out this coming offseason.

* Ex-Rams update:
- The Browns promoted Thaddeus Lewis to the main roster.
- The 49ers cut Alex Hoffman-Ellis.
- The Jets cut Mardy Gilyard.
- Brit Miller tried out with the Browns but was not signed.
- Daniel Muir tried out with the Lions but was not signed. They recently IR'ed Nick Fairley.

* Ex-Ram of the week: as you might guess if you've observed this blog for any amount of time, I'm more than a little lazy, so I'll be lazy this week and just hand the award to Josh Brown without checking all the boxscores very carefully. Josh hit the game-winning FG for the Bengals in their big 13-10 win at Pittsburgh, which means he'll be kicking for them in the playoffs. Best of luck.

-$-

Merry Christmas

Photo - ESPN

Merry Christmas from RamView. Here's a link to a holiday message from Jeff Fisher and the Rams.

Congratulations to the Rams for their convincing 28-13 win in Tampa Sunday. RamView's report for that game is only about half-done but I expect to have it up in the usual places tomorrow morning. Think I'll watch Sunday night's Seattle game (EVEN THOUGH IT FREAKING CRUSHED MY FANTASY LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP HOPES) to get better scouting on next week's red-hot opponent.

Enjoy the rest of the holiday.

-$-

Rams report, 12/22

* Once again playing catchup from well behind:

* Injury report for Sunday:
Questionable: Cortland Finnegan (thigh). Hasn't practiced all week.
Probable: Flu and cold season is making its annual run through the Rams' locker room. Steven Jackson was limited due to illness. He was held out of practice Wednesday and participated only in warmups on Thursday. Bradley Fletcher and Robert Quinn returned to practice Thursday after being sent home due to illness Wednesday. James Laurinaitis (back) and Scott Wells (knee) were full participants Friday. They did not practice Wednesday or Thursday.

* Transactions:
- Quinton Pointer has been called up from the practice squad to fill Harvey Dahl's spot on the roster. Harvey was placed on injured reserve after tearing a bicep late in the Minnesota game. Though nothing about tearing your bicep sounds good, it's not the most severe kind of bicep tear, meaning it wasn't torn off the bone. He was scheduled to have surgery Wednesday and is expected to be out 3-4 months, which means he shouldn't even miss minicamp this spring. Shelley Smith and Chris Williams are the candidates to start in Harvey's place. Let's assume it'll be Shelley. Have heard of no move to replace Pointer on the PS; can we assume Mason Brodine?

* RamView for the Minnesota game, eventually: Link
- Positives: Steven Jackson crossed the 10,000-yard career rushing mark. Sam Bradford threw for a career-high 377 yards.
- Negatives: Adrian Peterson's assault on Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record was not slowed by the Ram defense, which allowed him 212, including an early 82-yard backbreaker. The offense once again sputtered the whole first half. Bradford had two costly turnovers. The o-line struggled to protect him. Harvey Dahl went down for the season and Scott Wells had a poor game. Craig Dahl failed at safety again and special teams and the defensive gameplan were poor.

* Ex-Rams notes:
- Ron Bartell signed with Detroit.
- Good news for those of us with Andy Dalton and A.J. Green on our fantasy teams: the Steelers have signed Justin King.
- Saalim Hakim promoted to the Saints' main roster.
- Hall Davis promoted to Cleveland's main roster.
- Jamie McCoy added to San Diego's practice squad.

* Ex-Ram of the week goes to Steve Spagnuolo for New Orleans' 41-0 whitewashing of the Buccaneers. The Saints picked off Josh Freeman 4 times, sacked him twice and held Doug Martin to 16 yards on 9 carries. Yeah, it would be very bad for the Rams' D to get lit up by Tampa the week after Spags' D shut them out.

* One of my New Year's resolutions is to update the blog daily. Unfortunately, that was one of my resolutions last year, and we see how that's gone. I'll try to at least start putting up more links to interesting articles.

-$-

Rams report, 12/15

Photo - ESPN

Yes, I'm woefully behind. What can I say? It's the holidays. Anyway...

* Injury report for Sunday:
Probable: 
- Danny Amendola (foot) - was limited up until Friday. Worked in team drills for the first time in weeks. I think he'll play, but I thought that last week, too.
- Craig Dahl (concussion) - was cleared to practice after Wednesday's practice and was a full participant Thursday and Friday.
- Cortland Finnegan (ankle) - Cortland was held out of practice all week due to a nagging ankle injury he's played with for a few weeks now. He was a full participant Friday.
- Steven Jackson (foot) - standard rest. He's playing. Steven is 71 yards from 10,000 career yards and 164 away from his 8th straight 1,000-yard season.
- James Laurinaitis (back) - James did not practice all week until Friday, and was limited then. He was injured when he recovered Fred Jackson's first-quarter fumble in Buffalo last week. That's a bad injury considering what he has coming right at him tomorrow.
- Scott Wells (knee) - standard rest; I assume he'll go. Practiced in full Thursday.
- Also: Mario Haggan (elbow) and Mike McNeill (thigh).
Questionable: 
- Jermelle Cudjo (foot) - did not participate Friday. Jermelle has made some good run stops this season, and to my knowledge, the Rams have only two other DTs on the roster, the starters. If he misses the game, it'll be a more significant injury than you'd originally suspect.

Janoris Jenkins was out sick Friday and is also considered probable. Antoine Winfield is the only Viking listed as questionable or worse. Adrian Peterson didn't practice most of the week due to an abdominal injury, but Adrian Peterson doesn't exactly need a lot of practice, either.

A couple of jinx-y items that may be worth mentioning:
* I'm wearing my Steven Jackson jersey to tomorrow's game. It could be his last game here; I have to. However, I am notorious for getting players injured when I wear their jersey. I've been wearing Torry Holt all season because the Rams don't have a #81.
* An even bigger jinx: the Couch Potatoes went 11-3 to win the regular season in my fantasy league. I've been carried all season by... Adrian Peterson, who I was brilliant enough to draft in the 2nd round. To my credit, I make the playoffs a lot. But every year, something always happens at a Rams game I'm at that fouls up my playoff game. So there you go.
* More potential jinxes: the Rams are 2.5-point favorites, and all three hosts on NFC Playbook on NFL Network picked them to win.

* Transactions: the Rams made a practice squad move, cutting DT Mason (Jethro) Brodine and signing WR Raymond Radway. Dallas signed Radway out of Abilene Christian after the 2011 draft and he broke his leg on the final play of the final preseason game that year. They brought him back to training camp this year, but he did next to nothing in games, and was said to still be dealing with "mental fallout" from the previous year's injury. Radway has been on Dallas' and Chicago's practice squads this season. He's 6'3", 204 and supposedly runs in the 4.32 - 4.42 range. (He even claims a 4.2.) At his 2011 pro day, he did a 38" vertical leap, but all of 6 bench presses, or 6 less than 65-year-old Rams owner Stan Kroenke. Reports on him in this year's training camp were enthusiastic; he caught everything in sight and one observer likened him to Laurent Robinson, who was actually good for Dallas last year.

* RamView for the Buffalo game has been up: Link
- Positives: Sam Bradford put together another late clutch drive for the win. Brandon Gibson caught the winning TD and had several other crucial catches. D-line had Ryan Fitzpatrick under siege and Michael Brockers came up with his second straight huge game.
- Negatives: Offense looked terrible a lot of the game and took a full half to get going against a non-elite defense. Coaches continue to insist on laying DBs 10-12 yards off the line of scrimmage.

* Ex-Rams notes:
- The Raiders released Ron Bartell.
- Keith Toston re-signed by the Jagwires.
- Jimmy Saddler-McQueen added back to Detroit's practice squad.
- Former Rams preseason kickers Garrett Lindholm and Justin Medlock tried out for the Bears' kicking job that opened up after a season-ending calf injury to Robbie Gould. They both lost out to Olindo Mare. Medlock was cut by the Panthers before Thanksgiving after missing 3 straight FGs, including one in a game they eventually lost to the Bucs in overtime. I regularly check THREE different websites for NFL transactions, including the LEAGUE'S OWN WEBSITE, and never saw this transaction. Is there ANY reliable NFL transactions site out there?
- Jamie McGee had a tryout with the Bills. Ray Feinga and Quinn Ojinnaka had tryouts for Tampa Bay.
- Former Ram TE Chad Lewis was recently interviewed for a Sports Illustrated article about BYU draft prospect Ziggy Ansah. Lewis is an associate athletic director at BYU and is also the NFL's "Ambassador to Southeast Asia," promoting the league in China, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. He was inducted into BYU's Hall of Fame in 2007.

* Ex-Ram of the week: Who else? Danario Alexander, with 7 catches for 88 yards and 2 TDs in San Diego's 34-24 upset of the Steelers in Pittsburgh. DX is up to 5 TDs now in 5 games for San Diego; Brandon Gibson is the Rams' TD leader this season, also with 5.

-$-

Rams win! Rams win! Rams win!

Photo - ESPN

After a dreadful first half, Sam Bradford pulls off a Houdini act in the 2nd and leads the Rams to a TD with 48 seconds left to give the Rams a 15-12 win over Buffalo...

RamView on the way, hopefully no worse than noon Monday.

Go crazy folks, go crazy!

-$-

Amendola out today

ESPN is already reporting that Danny Amendola will not play today in Buffalo. Chris Mortensen said the Rams think Amendola will be able to return next week against Minnesota.

-$-

Marketing, or something else?

Should I be really thrilled that NFL.com is trying to sell me this particular T-shirt?

P.S. I'm from ST. LOUIS. I became a Rams fan because they became the ST. LOUIS Rams. I don't really want to wear a shirt emblazoned with the fine city of Los Angeles without really knowing the Rams are not going to move back there, you know?

But I guess the league has got a bunch of T-shirts ready if they do. And thanks so much for that.

-$-

Rams report, 12/8

Photo - NBC Sports

* Injury report for Buffalo:
Probable: Steven Jackson (foot), Scott Wells (knee)
Questionable: Danny Amendola (foot), Mario Haggan (elbow)
Out: Mike McNeill (thigh)

Amendola reportedly will be a game-time decision, but Tony Softli reported on radio that he hasn't been in a walking boot at all this week. Expect him to be able to play.

Buffalo has *23* players on its injury report. Yes, half their team is injured. The notables:
Questionable: Leodis McKelvin (back), Aaron Williams (knee), Stevie Johnson (hamstring)
Out: Chris Hairston (ankle), Eric Wood (knee), Mark Anderson (knee), Chris Kelsay (neck)

The Bills' offensive line is about as healthy as some of Steve Spagnuolo's were. Reports have them down to their third-string right tackle, and Wood is a big loss for them at center. They're already down a starting corner, and now two pass-rushing ends. Anderson has been out for two months now and Kelsay was IR'ed Wednesday. It's a team that should be very ripe for the pickin's, though neither Miami nor Jacksonville have even come close to beating them the past two weeks.

Kickoff at noon Sunday.

* Ex-Rams report:
- The Bengals have signed Josh Brown, and he'll be kicking for them Sunday. Mike Nugent was injured in practice Wednesday.
- WR Saalim Hakim has been added to the Saints' practice squad.

* From the RamView accounting department: the Rams are not a man short on their practice squad and haven't been since adding Cameron Graham a couple of days ago. The genius who writes this mess keeps forgetting to count Jabara Williams, who joined the PS after Corey Harkey's promotion. The full practice squad: DT Mason Brodine, Graham, WR Nick Johnson, T Ty Nsekhe, DB Quinton Pointer, RB Chase Reynolds, G Brandon Washington and Williams.

-$-

RamView, 12/6

* Sunday recap. Greg Zuerlein was named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week after kicking a tying 53-yard FG with :02 left in regulation and a winning 54-yard FG with :30 left in overtime as the Rams beat the 49ers 16-13. Report

Other positives: Janoris Jenkins scored his third TD in two weeks on a fumble recovery. Rams held Frank Gore under 60 yards. Standout games for Chris Givens (11 catches) and Michael Brockers (11 tackles). William Hayes and Eugene Sims were excellent filling in for Robert Quinn.

Negatives: Givens was the only receiver who could get open. 49ers held Steven Jackson under 50 yards.

The Rams travel to Buffalo Sunday, where they are 3-point underdogs to Ryan Fitzpatrick's Bills.

* Transactions. The Rams did re-sign Quinton Pointer to the practice squad, so I guessed right last week. They have also signed TE Cameron Graham to the PS. According to my record-keeping, Pointer fills the spot left open when Sammy Brown was promoted, and Graham fills the spot left open when Corey Harkey was promoted. But the Rams have also cut Saalim Hakim from the PS. Any reason they would insist on staying a man short on the practice squad? I'll assume there's another PS move brewing.

RamView has only one note on Graham, from the 2011 NFL Combine: just looks like a poor athlete; I'm not even sure what he was doing there. He was signed as an undrafted rookie free agent by the Titans in 2011 and spent all of that season on the Titans' practice squad. He doesn't have any career stats. He's 6'3", 244, out of Louisville, where he was all-Big East in 2010. One of Scouts Inc.'s notes is that he "has to learn to control emotions." Smooth athlete, good at finding holes in the zone and can make plays down the seam. Good hands but doesn't have elite burst or pull-away speed. Has a nasty disposition and maintains his blocks in the running game. Not elusive or a big-play threat.

* Ex-Rams report.
- LB Alex Hoffman-Ellis has been added to the 49ers' practice squad.
- CB Kendric Burney was added to the Panthers' practice squad.
- T Phil Trautwein tried out with the Steelers.
- PK Todd Carter tried out with the Bills. He was a camp leg here last summer.
- TE Brody Eldridge tried out with the Raiders.
- T Ray Feinga tried out with the Packers.

Ex-Ram of the Week is an obvious call this week. Donnie Avery had 5 catches for 91 yards and 2 TDs, including the game-winner with time expiring, in Indy's come-from-behind 35-33 thriller over the Lions.

-$-

Jovan Belcher, 1987-2012

I don't for a second wish to be insensitive to Jovan Belcher's family, or to his fans and teammates with the Kansas City Chiefs, but I need to get this off my chest. I've wondered how the NFL should/would handle this unmistakeable tragedy, and these are my thoughts.

By no means should the NFL cancel tomorrow's Panthers-Chiefs game in Kansas City. Furthermore, there should be not even be a moment of silence for Jovan in Kansas City or anywhere else around the league. Jovan's death was only half of yesterday's tragedy. He also killed Kasandra Perkins, the mother of his child. Neither the National Football League nor any of its teams should insist on holding a moment of silence for a murderer; it simply would not be right.

I can't think of a situation like this before in the NFL. I can think of one in another "sport". Professional wrestler Chris Benoit, along with the rest of his family, died on a Sunday night in June 2007 under unclear circumstances. WWE decided to cancel the next night's show and air a 2-hour tribute to Benoit instead. All seemed well and good, and the tribute seemed fitting, until, shortly afterward, police determined that Benoit killed his family before killing himself (robbery initially hadn't been ruled out). WWE was broadly condemned for rushing to pay tribute to someone who turned out to be a murderer. And rightly so.

We apparently have little reason to doubt that Jovan Belcher took an innocent life before taking his own. It is not wise, suitable or right that his death be publicly mourned. Regrettable as all deaths are, if there's a moment of silence at the Dome for Jovan Belcher tomorrow, I'll remain seated. So should everyone else.

-$-

Rams report, 12/1

AP Photo

* Injury report for tomorrow's game vs. San Francisco:
Probable: Steven Jackson (foot)
Questionable: Barry Richardson (knee), Robert Quinn (concussion), Scott Wells (knee). So the Rams get one game with their starters on the offensive line before it falls apart again? Sigh. Wells did not practice this week till Friday, and was limited for that one. Richardson was fine until Friday. Quinn has to pass the last round of concussion tests before he can be cleared to play. That's anyone's guess, so Questionable is a good designation there.
Doubtful: Danny Amendola (foot). 'Tis only a flesh wound!
Out: Mario Haggan (elbow).

Kickoff tomorrow at noon. All the rest of this season's games will be televised on Fox.

* Transactions: The Rams recalled Sammy Brown from the practice squad yesterday and waived Quinton Pointer, probably with an eye toward returning him to the PS. Pointer played quite well on special teams last week, but as a LB/pass rusher, Brown fills bigger needs, given the injuries to Haggan and Quinn. Brown's recall appears to leave the Rams two men short on the PS; I've never seen that they made a move to fill the slot left open after they promoted Corey Harkey.

* Stan Kroenke, dental floss tycoon. The Rams' owner has plunked down over $130 million on a 124,000-acre cattle ranch in Montana called the "Broken O." (Broken O? Is that a vote of non-confidence in Brian Schottenheimer?) The ranch has 4,300 cows and 175 bulls, (which leads one to believe bulls do not live very hard lives) and is also Montana's largest irrigated farm, producing 700,000 bushels of various crops annually. Part of Stan's ranch is a 10,000-square foot "farmhouse" with an indoor pool. From Stan's end, it's an investment both in farmland, which has appreciated rapidly in value lately, and in beef and grain markets, where prices have been on the rise.Obviously, there's also plenty of ground up there to build a new stadium. Ladies and gentlemen, your Montana Rams!

$130 million would pay for a lot of stadium renovations in St. Louis, by the way, Farmer Stan. Good luck convincing taxpayers to spend a dime of their money on Dome upgrades after you just spent $130 mil on a bunch of cows.

Which reminds me, here's a link to Sports Illustrated's recent feature article on Stan.

* Ex-Rams update:
- a Joe Germaine update here by Bernie Miklasz. (toward the end of the column). Germaine's quickly becoming a standout coach at the high school level, not just by leading a state champ, but by leading players with real character.
- Kellen Heard signed with the Colts last week. Leave it to RamView to let a 340-pounder slip by me.

* Condolences to Chiefs Nation on today's tragedy.

-$-