Rams report, 1/4: Did the Rams jump off the fiscal cliff?

* Count me as one of the Rams fans really surprised to read Jim Thomas' report this morning that the Rams are only $2 million under the 2013 salary cap as of today. TWO million? Wasn't one of the reasons Jeff Fisher came to St. Louis the Rams' great cap situation? They were supposedly $30 million under the cap!

Well, I hope you like Chris Long and James Laurinaitis A LOT, because that's where almost ALL the Rams' cushy cap room went. The two Rams defensive stalwarts gobbled up $26 million of next year's cap space by themselves. $2 million's not even enough to sign the upcoming draft picks, let alone sign Steven Jackson, Danny Amendola, William Hayes, etc.

Thomas says "Rams executive vice president Kevin Demoff doesn’t like to backload contracts. He prefers a pay-as-you-go method, making sure that the Rams aren’t boxed in during future years when the contracts of many of their younger players start expiring." Um, aren't the Rams boxed in right now?

Sounds like the two juiciest re-structuring targets are Quintin Mikell and... Steven Jackson, who both count $9 million(ish) against the 2013 cap. Guess that explains the supposed enthusiasm in Terrance Ganaway at Rams Park. In any event, this is going to be a completely different free agency season for the Rams than I was ever expecting. Not sure I need to bother with any previews this year when it doesn't look like the Rams can even afford to be active.

* This weekend's picks, so you know who to pick against:
- Houston over Cincinnati. The Texans have been playing like garbage, but I don't think the Bengal offense has enough spark to take advantage of them on the road. 
- Minnesota over Green Bay. The myth about Green Bay being invincible at home in the playoffs was dashed for good last season. And do a lot of teams win playoff games while giving up 200 rushing yards? This prediction does depend on Christian Ponder playing a pretty clean game, which makes it pretty dumb.
- Indianapolis over Baltimore. I'm not betting against Chuckstrong. And I don't trust the Ravens to be smart enough to hand the ball off to Ray Rice 30 times like they should. Baltimore will run the Colts into the ground if they do.
- Seattle over Washington. The best matchup of the weekend. These two teams look like mirror images. Plus the Rams have beaten both of them. In the end, Seattle's been too hot for me to go against them. Jim Haslett has been successful in the past against mobile QBs, but I see him getting into trouble blitzing.

RamView does plan to "live-blog" this weekend's games. In anticipation, my PC's USB ports are already starting to flake out and lock up the whole system. (Note to self: save frequently.)

* Chris Williams was fined $7,875 for his late hit in Seattle last week.

* The Rams tried out DT Landon Cohen and LB Brian Rolle, reportedly on Friday. Cohen is 6'3", 300 and was last with the Eagles. He was a 7th-round pick by the Lions in 2008 out of Ohio University. He hasn't had significant action in a game since 2009, though he has been on at least five different teams. Sudden burst, good strength, power and leverage, excellent balance. Good punch and rip move. Undersized, short-armed, best in a phone booth. Doesn't pursue well.

Rolle is a former Ohio State linebacker who was drafted by the Eagles in the 6th round in 2011. He's a member of the famed Rolle football family and a second cousin to Chad Johnson. He started 13 games in '11 with 63 tackles. He came into training camp this year as the Eagles' starting WLB but lost the job to Akeem Jordan. He was reportedly cut due to poor play on special teams. Undersized (5'10" 230) but a willing hitter who plays to the whistle. Was considered a good special teams player coming out of college. Finds the ball well, gets good drops in coverage but only average speed and range.

* Former Rams report:
- LS Travis Tripucka has been signed to a futures contract by the Jets. 
- Pittsburgh signed OT Joe Long to a futures contract.
- Never saw a transaction where LB Alex Hoffman-Ellis was dropped from San Francisco's practice squad, but he had a tryout in Green Bay. 
- Kicker Justin Medlock tried out with the 49ers but lost out to Billy Cundiff. David Akers struggled this year after a record-setting 2011 and a double hernia he had surgery on in February has acted up on him again. Cundiff could easily be the 49ers' kicker next weekend.

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