Rams update, 2/24

Thought I'd first catch up on some Rams items before diving into this weekend's Combine coverage. And yes, there's still going to be a Senior Bowl report. Stupidly, my work on it so far was not saved at home or in the cloud, so I'll have to get back to it next week. But it's close.

Short version: Ziggy Ansah star of the game, followed closely by Cornelius Washington. Quarterbacking terrible, especially Landry Jones, who looks like the next Blaine Gabbert. Eric Fisher continues to dominate; Lane Johnson continues to impress.

Also, I obviously have a LOT of work to do on Ramview.com, which I wouldn't even recommend going to right now because it's so out of date. Unless you like juicy news about LAST year's Combine. I'll try to get updates done there and announce them here in the coming days.

* Bye. "The Rams have a number of free agents [we] would like to keep, and [this player] is one of them." Who was Jeff Fisher talking about? The correct answer: Brandon Lloyd, last February. Fisher used almost the exact words describing the Rams' situation with Lloyd as he has to describe this year's situation with Danny Amendola (and Steven Jackson, too, actually). The comparisons with Lloyd don't stop there. Rams GM Les Snead has already announced the Rams won't franchise Amendola. They wouldn't franchise Lloyd last year, despite his outsized value among the receivers on that year's roster. 30 years old at the time, Lloyd wouldn't have been the right player in whom to make a franchise-player-sized investment. Amendola's just 27, but he's also missed 20 games the past two seasons. RamView believes Danny is an elite slot receiver who would have had a 100-catch season by now if he'd stayed healthy. But I wasn't ready to give him franchise-player money when I thought the Rams had salary cap space. Knowing now that they don't, and seeing how everything's lining up just about the same way it did with Lloyd last year, I don't expect to see Danny back with the Rams next year. He can get more money from a lot of other teams than the Rams will be willing and able to give him. Danny's one of the Rams' best, and most popular, players; I hope there's a way to work this out that I'm not seeing. But the trends are pointing the other way.

The Rams will talk to Eugene Parker, Steven Jackson's agent, at the Combine, but it's all but certain that Steven is going to void his contract and at least get a gauge of his open market value.

* QB shuffle? Talking to Nick Wagoner at the Combine, Snead as much as said that if the Rams are bringing Kellen Clemens back, it'll be as the #3 QB. The Rams apparently liked Austin Davis so much last preseason that he's the lead candidate for QB2. Wow, RamView really can pick 'em sometimes.

* O-line healing up. All the offseason news has been good as far as the Rams' injured offensive linemen. Harvey Dahl (torn biceps) and Scott Wells (knees) are reported by Fisher as being right on track with their rehab. And in one of the all-time offseason upsets, Rokevious Watkins' (ankle) rehab is not only complete, he has lost significant weight in getting there. I was expecting him to be about four bills by now. Couldn't have hurt that Hostess went bankrupt during that time period.

* Combine pre-report. I have to chuckle at all the gushing already going on this morning about some of the blazing 40 times the o-linemen are running at the Combine. These are NFL Network's hand-timed readings, which have been notoriously unreliable. Wait for the official times before you get too excited.

* Mock draft review. Some of the pre-Combine mock draft projections for the Rams:
Mel Kiper: 16 - Lane Johnson; 22 - Cal WR Keenan Allen. We'll have to keep an eye on the 6'3" Allen's 40 time tomorrow.
Pete Prisco (CBS Sports): 16 - Lane Johnson; 22 - Florida International safety Jonathan Cyprien. Prisco says, pointedly, "They need to get Craig Dahl off the field." No argument here.

* Ex-Rams report. Two teams on the Rams' 2013 schedule now have defensive coaches that Fisher basically fired this offseason. Gregg Williams is now the senior assistant defensive coach of the Titans. Sounds like his role will be similar to Dave McGinniss' role here, because current DC Jerry Gray is expected to retain responsibility for play-calling. And Rob Ryan was picked up by the Saints, who are converting to a 3-4, and, called it.

Titans-Rams has so many story lines, it almost HAS to be a national TV game, doesn't it? Look for that one on Monday Night Football. If Rams-Titans doesn't get on there, 49ers-Titans will. Watch your ankles, Vernon Davis.

In other coaching moves:
* Ken Flajole has successfully bounced from the Saints to the Browns, where he's going to be the inside linebackers coach;
* Jeff Zgonina has been hired as an assistant defensive line coach for the Texans.

In player moves:
* The Rams can get Jason Smith back if they want him. The Jets cut him among several players they dumped to get under the salary cap. None of the "experts" you're going to hear from about draft prospects the next two months (with the possible exception of Charlie Casserly, who correctly opined no o-lineman that year was worth a top ten pick) had anything bad to say about Jason Smith in 2009. Yet here he is, though certainly not at the head of the class with Ryan Leaf and Jamarcus Russell, on his way to the Draft Bust Hall of Fame. Looks like you're now on your last shot in the NFL, Jason; make it count.
* Then again, the Chiefs signed Mardy Gilyard a couple of weeks ago, so maybe there's no limit on the number of chances a player can get.
* The Packers signed Kevin Hughes. So Kevin Hughes is working, and the #2 pick of the 2009 draft is not.

-$-

Dome drama update

As of today, there still has been no official rejection by the St. Louis CVC of the Rams' (purportedly) $700 million Edward Jones Dome renovation plan. That plan won out in arbitration three weeks ago as the only way to upgrade the Dome into a first-tier facility under terms of the current lease. The delay in action may not be on the CVC, which has stated they're waiting for the Rams to give an official go-ahead. Supposedly, the plan can't be rejected till that happens. (It also hasn't helped clear things up that at least three different deadlines for rejecting the plan have been reported. The CVC may have had 30 days, 60 days or till "mid-April".)

Brian Burwell, who has carried no shortage of water for the Rams in the Dome matter, let the CVC have it in a STLToday column February 5th:
So let’s hope the CVC acts as quickly as the arbitration panel did in identifying what the city needs to do to provide St. Louis with a first-class venue that can attract Super Bowls, Final Fours and other big-ticket sports events to the city. Then we can let these earnest folks at the CVC get on with the business of bringing to the grossly outdated Dome all those tractor pulls, marching band competitions and “bag-lunch” type conventions that the CVC seems to think are infinitely more important keys to a thriving downtown revitalization than a National Football League franchise.

...But I can’t blame the CVC for thinking this way, since it’s in the business of thinking small. So let the good folks at the CVC reject the arbitration decision and move off the point in these negotiations with the Rams and put someone with a real vision for the region’s future in charge.

Again, if the CVC has correct in waiting for word from the Rams before proceeding, Burwell's criticism doesn't ring entirely fairly. Burwell does continue to insist strongly that the Rams are not looking to move anywhere:

The Rams have already made it clear that they want to stay in St. Louis. Go back and listen to the interview team president Kevin Demoff did with me last month. He didn’t try to be cute. He didn’t tap dance. He said the Rams want to put together a deal that will keep them in St. Louis for the next 40 years.

The Rams are not talking about Los Angeles now, and that has a lot to do with the simple fact that they still have two years left on their current lease, the stadium issue in LA is still unresolved and I doubt that Kroenke wants to give up a slice of his ownership to any potential ownership group in Southern California.

The CVC has made a big move seemingly aimed at preventing that; Mom (they're Mom, because in divorces, Mom always seems to get the house) locked up the best divorce lawyer in town, figuratively speaking. They have retained Goldman Sachs to "keep the Rams in the Dome, or, if that's not possible, to maintain a National League Football (sic) team in St. Louis."

OK, some comments on that. First of all, that statement sure has a lot of "we give up" in it right off the top. Second, thanks to the CVC for idiotically perpetuating St. Louis' image as only a baseball town by trying to put the Rams in the NATIONAL LEAGUE.

More important is the presence of Goldman Sachs. Managing director Greg Carey is their chairman of public sector and infrastructure. He's apparently a superstar lawyer at convincing cities to make concessions to sports teams. Goldman has financed or advised on the financing of EVERY NFL stadium recently built, but up till now, they've always represented team owners. Well, like I said, the city, Mom, got the best lawyer in this possible divorce, not Dad. Turns out one of Mom's friends is the governor. The CVC hired Goldman on the recommendation of Missouri governor Jay Nixon, who's certainly gotten himself involved early in this process. Hard not to like that; Jay's a big football fan.

Also hard to like. Politics is unavoidable here, and I'm probably Sean Hannity compared to most people, let alone sports bloggers, so you may want to skip this paragraph. The Goldman link is political incest at its very worst. Goldman is a huge Democratic Party contributor, so of course Nixon and the city want to work with them, and vice versa. They're also a bunch of crooks as far as I'm concerned, making money off selling the awful mortgage-backed derivatives to investors last decade while turning around and shorting said derivatives for themselves because they knew they were utter trash. They played dirty, crashed the market, came out far ahead of anyone, and will never get in trouble for it because they're now the people regulating the market. They're also basically the people running the financial machinery of the NFL. Follow the money here. What does the NFL want more than anything? A team back in Los Angeles. (Goldman is, however, also currently advising the Chargers.)



Anyway. Welcome back. Goldman's official role is to advise the CVC on ways to pay for Dome renovations, ways to finance construction of a new stadium, or ways to get more money out of the Dome if the Rams leave. The CVC states its official objective as to renovate or build a facility "sufficient to retain a National Football League franchise in the St. Louis Metropolitan Area." The local politicians speak with more determination than the headline writers do. Governor Nixon: "The state has a long-term interest in the future of the Dome and in ensuring Missouri continues to be home to this proud NFL franchise." CVC board member Jim Shrewsbury: "It's a sign we haven't given up. The option is to let them go. This is trying to find an alternative."  That nothing's gotten done so far, blame Stan Kroenke, says "Kitty" Ratcliffe, another CVC board member. She's interviewed that the big problem so far in trying to keep the team is that Kroenke has taken no part in talks, so there really hasn't been a negotiation at all.


You've also got St. Louis' dysfunctional political system threatening to rear its ugly head. The CVC has legal authority to buy land and build and operate other stadiums besides the Dome. But you've also got St. Louis County, echoing Burwell, proclaiming the community can now have "a broader conversation about the Rams, and the CVC is not the tip of the spear for that conversation." That sounds like a broadside at the CVC, which, remember, says it represents the whole metropolitan area, or at least it's the county laying a marker that it's going to take a crack at luring the Rams out of the city. We know there are a couple of sites in the county (Fenton and Maryland Heights) mentioned as prospective stadium sites; we also know the county's still paying part of the original bonds taken out to build the Dome. They've got long-held, hard-earned skin in the game.

Stan's input is going to be needed at some point, obviously. Local news has pointed out that Kroenke paid for the Pepsi Center in Denver, which houses "his" NBA and NHL teams, in its entirety, and he's also the full owner of The Emirates stadium, the home of his Arsenal soccer team in London. It would be completely disingenuous of him to expect to pick up none of the bill for a new stadium. Though I'm personally fairly suspicious of the viability of the state of Minnesota's fundraising plans, (do Minnesotans really gamble billions of dollars on pulltabs?) Ziggy Wilf is basically splitting the cost of the Vikings' new stadium 50/50 with them and the city of Minneapolis.

$200 million of Wilf's share comes from a loan from the NFL's G-4 program. Kroenke would assumedly be eligible for a similar loan, though the league, to its credit, currently only grants those in efforts to keep teams in their home markets. That makes St. Louis a much more economical option for Kroenke than Los Angeles, at least for now. Stan can put down $300 million on a new stadium and get a friendly loan from the NFL, or he can fork out an estimated $500 million relocation fee to move into an L.A. stadium he won't own any part of.

Ultimately, everything here's still up to Stan. Not like you really needed 1,400 words to tell you that!

Last but not least, the Minnesota stadium, like I suppose every stadium built since the mid-90s, will be funded to some degree by PSLs. St. Louis is in a unique position here, as the Dome could be the first stadium built with PSL money to be replaced by another stadium built with PSL money. RamView more than likely isn't going there. What was a $1,000 PSL in 1995 seems likely to be at least $2,500 based on what I've seen in other stadiums. I have seats in the Dome so perfect I have all but requested to be propped up in one of them after I die. I won't get 50-yard line seats in the new place, won't probably get to stay with friends I've made over 15 years of screaming for our Rams together; I'm sure not paying for another PSL for the opportunity to lose all of that. If I were younger, maybe I'd buck up and do it. But I'd have to go to Rams games another 25 years or more for that kind of investment to be worth it to me.

I'm too old now for that. Sunday Ticket is a hell of a lot cheaper.

-$-

Rams cut Titus Young, WR mess deepens

After an "extended interview process" and a physical, the Rams have decided to cut wide receiver Titus Young, who they just acquired off waivers from Detroit last week.

Head coach Jeff Fisher: "We just felt that he was not the best option for us at that position... We felt like we’ve got a good, young group (at wide receiver), and we feel like perhaps Titus is better suited for another organization." Jim Thomas reported today that some team employees said Young "didn't seem quite all there mentally." (I'll be honest; that sounds pretty easy to say, and report, given recent media reports on Young.) Young's knee was reportedly not a problem though there's no report he ever had the surgery on it the Lions said was required.

The Rams didn't take a bad approach here. Claiming Young was low-risk, if any, and the whole point of doing it was to have his undivided attention so Fisher and staff could get a few days with him, figure out what makes him tick, and evaluate whether he'd be a fit for the roster and the locker room. So, they made the same decision everybody else made, after taking time to get enough information. No harm, no foul.

There's no reaction from Young himself; wisely, he's been inactive on Twitter, ttbomk, since January 25th, the day he told the Lions they should just cut him and get it over with. Best of wishes to him all the same; may his family rally to him and convince him to take the right steps to get his life on track.

Thomas also reports that the Rams and Danny Amendola are far apart in negotiations to re-sign him, and the team (not surprisingly) is not likely to re-sign Brandon Gibson. Fisher doesn't seem to be sweating any of this: “Not a concern whatsoever... There’s options out there. The free-agent market, there’s options out there, and it’s a great draft for a receiver this year.” Thomas points out that Chris Givens, Brian Quick and Austin Pettis are the Rams' ONLY WRs under contract right now. Fisher did say that Amendola is one of the UFAs he wants to have back, and emphasized there's still plenty of time (3-1/2 weeks till free agency opens) and the sides are communicating.

Well, RamView's more concerned than Fisher is, I guess. And there's only three weeks till free agency? Crap!

-$-

Rams to hire Tim Walton

Lions secondary coach Tim Walton has agreed to become the Rams' defensive coordinator. He accepted an offer Tuesday and the Rams should have a deal wrapped up with him by the end of the week.

A quick recap of Walton's resume again:
2009-2012: Detroit Lions secondary coach. The Lions beefed up his responsibilities in 2012 to include their third down package; this was in response to the Rams' attempt to hire him as an assistant DC before the season. The Lions picked off 21 passes in 2011, 16 by the secondary, returning 3 for TDs. Chris Houston had probably the best season of his career under Walton, and Louis Delmas has developed into one of the league's better strong safeties.
2008: Defensive coordinator, Memphis University
2007: Defensive coordinator, University of Miami
2004-06: Secondary coach, University of Miami. Hurricanes had the #1 pass defense in the nation in 2005, with Brandon Merriweather, Kelly Jennings and Kenny Phillips in the secondary.
2003: Secondary coach, LSU. Coached Corey Webster. LSU's defense was #1 in the nation in yardage and points, and was #2 in pass defense efficiency.
2002: Secondary coach, Syracuse
2000-01: Secondary coach, Memphis
1999: Secondary coach, Bowling Green
1996-98: Running backs coach, Bowling Green
1995: Bowling Green graduate assistant

Walton played defensive back at Ohio State, where he was a team captain in 1993 and lettered four years.

Tim Walton's an up-and-coming young coach. Though he hasn't been a defensive coordinator in the NFL until now, he's got experience with the Rams' system and he's got three experienced defensive play-callers on the Rams staff to fall back on. The Lions were one of the league's better third-down defenses last year, and Walton has a very solid record developing defensive backs. This hiring feels like a winner to RamView, and not just because I picked it to happen yesterday. Grade: B-plus

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Rams interview Singletary, Walton

Cleveland Plain-Dealer

Even the week after the Super Bowl in February, Jeff Fisher is keeping things hopping at Rams Park, interviewing two more candidates for defensive coordinator.

Friday's interview was with Hall-of-Fame LB and former 49ers head coach Mike Singletary, who, much to my surprise, has no NFL experience as a defensive coordinator. He was the Vikings' linebackers coach last season, a position he also held in Baltimore from 2003-04 and in San Francisco from 2005-08. So besides coaching Chad Greenway while he had a career year, Singletary has also coached Ray Lewis and Patrick Willis. Yeah, that record doesn't suck. Adalius Thomas, Peter Boulware and Terrell Suggs all also made Pro Bowls for Baltimore with Singletary on staff.

I'd imagine there's a lot of enthusiasm out there at the idea of re-uniting Fisher and the intensity of Samurai Mike from the greatest defense of all time. Singletary would be an impressive hire as a linebackers coach, except the Rams already have a pretty good one in Frank Bush. And it's a little surprising to hear a team that just dumped Blake Williams for volatility and failure to get along with players to be going after Singletary, isn't it? He's pretty much been a volcano waiting to go off as a sideline presence. As head coach in San Francisco, he didn't get along with his QB, kicked Vernon Davis out of a game and dropped trou in front of his players during a halftime speech. But, of course, all of that looks like it worked. Alex Smith got mentally tougher, Davis grew up, and the halftime incident didn't prevent the then-interim HC Singletary from getting the full-time job with the 49ers in 2009.

Seems like Rams Nation would never have to worry about the defense coming out flat for a game under coach Singletary. They'd be a physical, tone-setting group the likes of which we have yet to see here in the St. Louis era. If you can convince me Singletary has the temperament for the job, I'll happily sign on, but I think that's a valid concern.

DetroitLions.com

On Monday, Fisher interviewed Lions secondary coach Tim Walton, who had been considered for a job on the Rams' staff last year. The Lions were 14th in the league in pass defense in 2012, right ahead of the Rams. Walton's secondary charges, though, picked off only 11 passes, 6 behind the Rams and only good for 23rd in the league. Walton was also the Lions' "third-down package" coordinator, and Detroit did finish in the top 10 in 3rd down conversion percentage (36%). The Rams were a little back of that at 38%.

Walton has been Detroit's secondary coach since 2009. Some of their pass defense stats in those years:
2012: 14th total passing (223.1), 24th completion % (63.6) - Rams were even worse, 30th/66.2 - 18th yards per reception (7.0), 23rd in INTs (11), 20th in TDs (26).
2011: 20th total passing (239.4), 21st completion % (62.3), 8th yards per reception (6.8), 5th in INTs (22), 21st in TDs (26).
2010: 16th total passing (218.6), 25th completion % (63.7), 27th yards per reception (7.3), 19th in INTs (14), 18th in TDs (23).
2009: 32nd total passing (265.6), 32nd completion % (68.1), 32nd yards per reception (8.1), 30th in INTs (9, still 1 better than the last-place Rams), 32nd in TDs (35).

That's the extent of Walton's NFL coaching career. He hasn't coached a player yet who's made the Pro Bowl, but Louis Delmas isn't half-bad, and he's played for Walton his whole career. The Lion secondary showed noticeable improvement under Walton from 2009 to 2011, though with plenty of room for more improvement, and if memory serves, they were pretty banged up in 2012. He does have a couple of years' college experience as a DC - Memphis in 2008, Miami, Florida in 2007, where he coached Kenny Phillips, Colin McCarthy and Calais Campbell. In 4 years at The U, where he was also secondary coach, Walton also coached Brandon Merriweather, Laron Landry, Kelly Jennings and Antrel Rolle. The Hurricanes were the NCAA's #1 pass defense in 2004, and 9th in 2005. He also coached Corey Webster as LSU's secondary coach in 2003. LSU's pass defense that year was 18th in the country, #2 in the SEC.

RamView would be pretty enthused if the Rams were hiring Tim Walton as a secondary coach. He's got a solid record, especially at developing safeties, which the Rams will need to do here pretty quickly. The Rams already have a solid secondary coach in Chuck Cecil, though. There's enough of a seed to see that Walton could show some promise as a defensive play-caller, but he's a little better networked than he is accomplished at it. I'd see him as a somewhat risky hire. Probably means Fisher/Snead will love him. Then again, I think Walton's a somewhat-safer hire than Singletary, which probably means Fisher/Snead will love Singletary even more.

Of the candidates Fisher has interviewed so far, I like Walton the best. He seems like the coach with the most "upside". But I don't think they can go really wrong with Singletary, either.

-$-

Rams claim Titus Young

The Rams claimed wide receiver Titus Young on waivers from the Lions on Tuesday. Young, two seasons after the Lions drafted him out of Boise State, asked for his release, and the Lions granted it. Yes, the sports world has changed; Young made his request via Twitter.

Under a lot of circumstances, acquiring a young, fast, deep threat who's basically been a two-year starter would be seen as a coup for the Rams’ front office. Young is just 23. The Rams inherit his contract for this year and next, but as a second-round pick, he’s not high-cost. He’d be under $1.5 million to keep for two years, should the Rams choose to do so. Young probably ranks as the best scoring threat on the Rams roster right now. He had 10 TDs in 2 years in Detroit; that’s more offensive TDs than either Danny Amendola or Brandon Gibson have for their careers. Physically, Young is certainly a player who can create needed spirited competition in training camp. He’s already an infinite upgrade over surely-departed 2012 free-agent bust Steve Smith. That’s like going from a tricycle (with a broken wheel) to a Ducatti.

Unfortunately, much as if yours truly ever actually tried to drive one, this Ducatti could go off the road at any time. Young was a problem child at Boise. He was suspended for most of the 2008 season there for violating team rules. There were character flags on him for immaturity heading into the 2011 draft. He had a good rookie season at Detroit (48-607, 6 TD), but had already begun to butt heads with head coach Jim Schwartz, and he became a complete head case in 2012. He punched a teammate during voluntary workouts. He pouted about not getting the ball enough and being only the Lions’ #3 WR behind Megatron and Nate Burleson. He was sent home three times in seven months. The breaking point came in a November game where he started intentionally lining up incorrectly, trying to get the ball thrown to him. He literally drove his position coach into a rage on the sideline. Schwartz made him inactive the next two games for insubordination, then decided to IR him after that for a nagging knee injury, announcing Young would undergo knee surgery, “unless he doesn’t show up for it”. (There is no report so far that Young has had any knee surgery.) Over the holidays, he claimed to his high school coach that he’s better than Megatron. At least one Detroit writer thinks Young is delusional to the point he may not be mentally stable. The Lions reportedly tried to send Young to therapists but he refused. Young tweeted January 25^th that he was tired of threats to get cut and the Lions should just do it. Which they did Monday, which was just as soon as they were allowed to.

It’s fair to ask what Young even brings to the Rams. He’s 5’11”, 174, and might be fast by Rams standards, but he only turned a 4.53 at the 2011 Combine, and could be coming off knee surgery. Where does Young even fit in? He’s too small to be #1, where I imagine the Rams are going to try to convince us and themselves that Brian Quick will be the major upgrade they need over Brandon Gibson. Chris Givens should be #2; he’s faster and bigger than Young without near as much baggage. If Young was upset at being #3 in Detroit, imagine how he’ll act here!

And Young’s only #3 here if the Rams don’t re-sign Gibson and Amendola. By claiming Young, the Rams seem to be trying to double down on the negative energy failing to re-sign Amendola would generate. Danny could be the team’s most popular player, as well as being the receiver Bradford leans on most. Yeah, let’s stunt Bradford and the passing game again AND replace a fan favorite with a whiny, brooding, diva headcase. (As far as negotiations with Amendola are going, his agent says things are proceeding positively, and he doesn’t consider Young even remotely close to Amendola as a receiver, going so far as to mock Young in the press earlier this week).

Well, a lot of teams would have jumped at the chance to get such a talented player as Young, right? WRONG. NO OTHER TEAM in the NFL wants anything to do with him. Even Marvin Lewis and Cincinnati! The Rams were the only team to file a waiver claim on him. Jeff Fisher, who’s gone this route many times with varying success (Pac-Man, Albert Haynesworth, Kenny Britt, Randy Moss, Janoris Jenkins), has officially turned St. Louis from the city of Four Pillars into the halfway house for NFL knuckleheads. Every time an NFL player gets cut for doing something stupid, we can expect the Rams to be the first team John Clayton, Chris Mortenson and Adam Schefter will speculate to pick that player up. (Look out Sam Bradford if Jamarcus Russell loses a few pounds!) I like winning football games. I’m not thrilled with the Knucklehead of the Week plan the Rams appear to have embraced, adopted and sworn to live by.

Jeff Fisher can probably start by banning Young from using Twitter. Getting in cyberspats with fans who claim they could cover you probably isn't the wisest thing. Neither is saying you don't want to play anymore if you're not going to get the ball more. (That tweet appears to have been deleted.) But getting Titus Young to seek therapy is a whole other critter than trying to make Janoris Jenkins hire your financial adviser, I'd wager.

This offseason, Rams GM Les Snead has mentioned the need to add explosiveness to the Ram offense. If Titus Young does provide explosion at Rams Park, somehow I don’t think it’s going to be the kind Snead was looking for.
-$-

Rams interview Dick Jauron

Akron Beacon-Journal

The Rams have interviewed Dick Jauron for their open defensive coordinator position. Jauron was a free safety in the NFL for eight seasons, with the Lions and Bengals, and made the Pro Bowl as a punt returner in 1973. He was Buffalo's secondary coach in 1985, then held the same job title with the Packers for nine years. He coached two Pro Bowl defensive backs while at Green Bay - Leroy Butler and... current Rams secondary coach Chuck Cecil.

Jauron was the Jagwires' first defensive coordinator, working there from 1995-98. Success there landed him the head coaching job in Chicago, and he was the NFL Coach of the Year in 2001, when the Bears went 13-3. They lost in their first playoff game, though, and that was Jauron's only winning season in five years at Soldier Field. He was the Lions' DC in 2004-5 and was interim HC after Steve Mariucci got fired. That led him back to Buffalo, where he was head coach for four years, going 7-9 three times before getting fired midway through a 6-10 season. He was the Eagles' secondary coach in 2010 and was Cleveland's DC the past two seasons.

Besides Cecil and Butler, Dre Bly, Asante Samuel and Shaun Rogers have all been Pro Bowl players for Jauron as a DC or secondary coach. The Browns were 23rd in the league in total defense last season, 25th against the pass, 19th against the run. They finished 11th in sacks with 39 and finished 16th in 3rd down percentage with 38%. In 2011, Cleveland was a poor 30th against the run but had the #2 pass defense, probably because they were easy to run on, and finished 10th overall.

Jauron's a 4-3 system coach, so at least he's a scheme fit. He gets pretty good reviews for his work at Cleveland, where the run D did make serious improvement, and the pass defense couldn't have been helped by Joe Haden's early-season suspension. (Cleveland actually started last season minus both their regular starting corners.) Personality-wise, he's an inverse Rob Ryan, who he actually succeeded at Cleveland. He seems to have made his career nut off that Jagwire defense, yet it was never better than 15th while he was there, jumping to 4th in 1999 after he left.

RamView can find little reason for enthusiasm in bringing Jauron aboard. All I see is all I've ever seen from Jauron teams, unexciting mediocrity. He seems like a perfect fit as far as the chemistry of the coaching staff goes, and he has plenty of experience, but I don't know what that experience is worth when no team he has served as head coach or defensive coordinator has finished higher than 10th in total defense. Hell, even Ryan had the one big year in Oakland.

Jauron wouldn't be a bad pickup at this stage; there can't be many DCs with shining resumes out there for the taking. But he'd be little reason to start a parade, either. I'm thinking C-minus if Jauron gets the job.

-$-

49ers lose

The Baltimore Ravens have claimed their second Super Bowl championship, beating San Francisco, 34-31. The Ravens blew most of a 28-6 lead after a power outage at the Superdome caused a delay (officially 34 minutes) almost as long as that military PSA after the halftime show felt. Oprah made damn sure we knew she was the one reading it, though.

Congratulations to the Ravens and Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco, though RamView's vote was for Jacoby Jones, who made two of the game's biggest plays, catching one of Flacco's 3 TD passes for 56 yards and returning the second-half kickoff 108 yards to give Baltimore that 28-6 lead right before the power outage. The power outage should give the NFL a good excuse to maybe quit having almost every other Super Bowl in New Orleans, but probably won't.

Jerome Boger and company didn't completely butcher the game, though it could have been called better. I thought Lamichael James' helmet was grabbed on his 2nd quarter fumble. A flag could easily have been thrown either direction on the 49ers' final 4th-and-goal play. My gut says it should have been a call on Jimmy Smith, but a no-call was probably the best way to go. Jim Harbaugh agrees with my gut. But watch Smith on the ground in the end zone on the replay; he's pleading for a call on Crabtree. Crabtree gave as good as he got on the play. Several brutal holds were unflagged, too, including one in the end zone, but that was the play where Baltimore was taking the intentional safety anyway.

I always like to address next year's needs for the teams in my postseason recaps; these two teams obviously don't need a lot. The 49ers need a better pass rush than they got in the playoffs. The Smith "brothers" were rarely a factor, but, of course, Justin has been injured. They only got 12 sacks this season that weren't from Aldon Smith or Ahmad Brooks. I don't know, maybe that's a 3-4 quirk, but I'd say they need to develop a deeper pass rush rotation and get younger and stronger for the future at DE anyway, as Justin will be 34 next season.

Then again, the Ravens just won the Super Bowl and didn't even have a 10-sack defensive player; Paul Kruger was their leader with 9. Ray Lewis' retirement leaves them needing a LB. Matt Birk's retirement leaves them needing a center. Ed Reed, Bryant McKinnie and Anquan Boldin aren't spring chickens, either. And Joe Flacco just guaranteed himself a lot of their scarce salary cap space. Good thing for them Ozzie Newsome is running the show.

I was generally happy with CBS' broadcast of the game. Steve Tasker did a fine job picking up for everybody during the power outage while he had CBS' only working mike. I agreed with every point Shannon Sharpe made before, during and after the game - his analysis has been superb this year - but one. That's when he said that nobody has played the 49ers as physical this year as the Ravens have. No, the Rams did, twice.

And the 49ers didn't beat them, either.

USA Today AdMeter says this year's commercial winner was the intensely schmaltzy Budweiser Clydesdale ad. I did think this year's ads were big improvements over the last several years'. Quick reactions:
- Dodge Ram "it takes a farmer" spot: Hell yeah.
- Most entertaining: Oreo library riot.
- My favorite: Leon Sandcastle. Draftniks had to have loved every second of that.
- Bar Rafaeli making out with tech dude: Gross. And I'm a tech dude.
- Doritos dad in drag spot: complete waste of $5 million. Stupidest ad of the night.
- Close second: Beck's Sapphire with the red jewel on the bottle. Sapphires are BLUE!
- I had no idea a Lincoln could get 45 mpg or a Mercedes could be bought for less than $30K, so those were effective commercials. But where the hell was the Kate Upton ad? Being in the "sell your soul" ad for like two seconds doesn't count. Guess I got fooled by a trailer or something.

RamView picked the wrong horse to win, but got the over and the Ravens on the cover, so happy hypothetical gambling night. For the postseason: 7-4SU, 8-3ATS, 7-4O/U. I'll happily take that.

OK, enough nonsense. I have a Senior Bowl report to write still.

Corrections: Matt Birk is not definitely retiring at this point. He was interviewed on ESPN Radio Monday morning and said he hasn't made a decision one way or the other. I probably was thinking of Jeff Saturday, who is retiring. Also, the 49ers are likelier to look for a corner in the draft than a d-lineman.

-$-

Rams shut out of Hall of Fame again

This year's induction class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame has been named, and once again this year, no former Rams have been selected for the honor. This year's class:

* Larry Allen (first-time nominee)
* Cris Carter (six-time nominee)
* Curley Culp (veterans' committee nominee)
* Jonathan Ogden (first-time nominee)
* Bill Parcells (two-time nominee)
* Dave Robinson (veterans' committee)
* Warren Sapp (first-time nominee)

For the second straight year, Aeneas Williams made the list of the final ten nominees without getting in. Jerome Bettis improved from last year and also made the top ten. The rest: Charles Haley, Andre Reed, Michael Strahan. Unless one of them came in tenth, you would think 2014 will be the year for both Williams and Bettis. Marvin Harrison should be a first-time inductee next year, but the only other possibility is Tony Dungy, and Parcells didn't get in his first time with more career wins and more Super Bowl rings. It better be next year for the players struggling to get in - look who's coming eligible for 2015: Isaac Bruce, Orlando Pace, Kurt Warner, Torry Holt, Walter Jones, Junior Seau, Kevin Mawae and Edgerrin James. Seau, Jones and Warner appear to be locks; Pace and Bruce should be.

Update, and sorry for the bad info: Derrick Brooks and Zach Thomas are also eligible for the HoF in 2014. Brooks is first-team all-Decade 2000s, has a Super Bowl ring and played in 11 Pro Bowls. Um, he's a lock. Seven Pro Bowls for Zach, 2nd-team all-Decade, so he's solidly in the mix, though maybe not a first-timer. On the ex-Rams front, Dante Hall and Le'Roi Glover are also first-time eligibles next year, not that I expect either to make the first cut to semi-finalist. Hope I didn't miss anybody else!

Kevin Greene finished outside the top ten for the second straight year. Also between 11-15: Tim Brown, Will Shields, Art Modell, I believe all for the 2nd straight year at least, and law- and NFL rule-breaker Eddie DeBartolo Jr., who fell out of the top ten from last year iirc.

RamView has no qualms with the seven men who have been nominated. It's about time the Hall voters broke the wide receiver logjam. Strahan's omission was a surprise; he has as many Pro Bowls as Sapp (7) and many more sacks. Of course, Greene has more sacks than either one of them, and Williams has been to more Pro Bowls (8). Speaking during the NFL Network special, voter Rick Gosselin made a big deal out of Sapp and Allen being members of two all-decade teams. I'm not sure how important a criteria that should be, but it appeared to be a tipping point for getting Sapp in.

Congratulations to this year's inductees, and HoF voters, you are officially on notice to put Aeneas Williams and Jerome Bettis in the Hall next year.

-$-

Rams update, 2/2

CBS Sports

Rams news:

Since it's been a couple of months since he's had any surgery, Scott Wells has recently had his right knee scoped. He missed all of training camp after having surgery on that same knee last spring, then broke his foot his second game back from that, missing over half the regular season as a result. The first practice he participated in coming back from that, he tore cartilage in the knee again. To his credit, he played the rest of the season with that injury. All the same, Wells is fortunate the Rams didn't stink last season; a big-ticket signing who was on the field less in 2012 than Danario Alexander would have been a giant electromagnet for criticism. With luck, Wells will heal up well here in the offseason, give the Rams a full season in 2013, and the offensive line will be that much more cohesive and effective.

Super Bowl:

There is not a big ex-Rams contingent in Super Bowl XLVII. The 49ers have linebacker Larry Grant; the Ravens have tight end Billy Bajema, corner Chris Johnson (yes, the guy who stepped out of bounds at the 1 with the 2005 Opening Day kickoff) and running backs coach Wilbert Montgomery.

Yahoo! Sports

A more interesting angle for the big game Sunday involves the refereeing. The game will in fact be refereed by Jerome Boger, which RamView still finds unbelievable. Having watched him mangle Rams games the past two seasons, Boger's about the last referee I'd pick to do a game of any importance. Turns out my uninformed fan opinion is a pretty damn good one – some of Boger's own refereeing colleagues question what he's doing there, and have accused the NFL's whole selection process of being rigged. Boger was downgraded 8 times for mistakes during the regular season, but they were all magically reversed later at league offices. In fact, Boger and two other members of the Super Bowl officiating crew didn't even qualify to work last year's playoffs. Boger's never worked a conference championship game, either, which is supposed to be a requirement for a ref to work a Super Bowl.

The excellent Football Zebras site has done great work reporting this controversy; have a good look at their work and hope Boger doesn't butcher Sunday's game too badly.

RamView's taking a sure-fire losing proposition for Sunday: 49ers to win, Ravens to cover, take the over. I expect Kaepernick to tie Terrell Suggs in knots like RGIII did to Demarcus Ware on Thanksgiving, and I'm suspicious of Baltimore's run defense in general. That's putting a lot of faith in a young QB on the biggest stage, though, and I've underestimated Baltimore's secondary all postseason. They could easily trigger a rout with a pick-six. I expect the Niners to put a lot of heat on Joe Flacco and get him off his game, but that's the same line that did squat two weeks ago in Atlanta. And if Jim Harbaugh needs David Akers to make a clutch kick, he's not going to get it. Baltimore's special teams have issues, too, though. The 49ers could easily trigger a rout with a big return. Baltimore manhandled the 49ers last Thanksgiving, though. That was the 49ers with Alex Smith, though. I'm expecting a game as back-and-forth as my thought processes. 28-26, San Francisco.

Belated Pro Bowl update:

Thanks to the need to replace players appearing in the Super Bowl, two ex-Rams did play in last week's Pro Bowl: London Fletcher, and, yes, Richie Incognito. Had I known sooner that Richie was in, I might actually have watched the game to see if he could become the first player ever thrown out of the Pro Bowl. Didn't happen, though. The NFC won this year's farce, 62-35.

Hall of Fame update:

This year's Pro Football Hall of Fame class will be announced Saturday. Former Rams Aeneas Williams, Jerome Bettis and Kevin Greene are finalists. I do not expect any of them to gain admission tomorrow, even though all three should have by now. Amending my prediction from last month, I think both veterans' selections, Curley Culp and Dave Robinson, will join Larry Allen, Jonathan Ogden, Michael Strahan, Charles Haley and Cris Carter in this year's class. I think Allen is the closest thing to a lock in this year's class. Strahan is almost surely in thanks to an all-New York NFL career and his current show-biz career. Ogden and Haley will be helped by their teams playing in the Super Bowl Sunday. I get the sinking feeling, though, that the person who's really going to be helped is NFL rulebreaker and criminal Eddie DeBartolo. I can see him and Andre Reed in those last two spots, and I think I've been underestimating Warren Sapp's chances, too. I think the voters go with the maximum class of seven in part to tweak the Baseball Hall of Fame for admitting nobody this year.

Ex-Rams updates:

He's not going into the Hall of Fame, but Mike Jones was recently featured in an ESPN article about “lost heroes” of the Super Bowl: http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/page/lost-heroes/lost-heroes-super-bowl

In other ex-Rams news:

- You already know Marshall Faulk, justifiably, is still not happy about the way Super Bowl XXXVI went down. You may not have heard that Marshall is going to participate in what may be the biggest reclamation project in NFL history, which would be resurrecting the career of Jamarcus Russell. He's going to be part of a group of advisors helping the 27-year-old draft megabust make a comeback. Specifically, Marshall is going to tutor Russell on how to read defenses. In preparation to make a run at a second chance in the NFL, Russell has his weight down to 308 pounds. You read that right. 308.

God help you, Marshall.

- Steve Spagnuolo and Ken Flajole were both fired by New Orleans. Spags “led” the Saints to the worst season ever by a defense; they allowed a league-record 7,042 total yards. But hey, they did finish ahead of the Titans in scoring defense. Unfortunately, that's the only team they finished ahead of. Spags was also ripped in local press by an anonymous player who called him a control freak and a phony, and said he had no personality, treated players like crap and was poor at adjusting during games.

Well, Spagnuolo is nothing if not consistent in a couple of those areas, at least.

Hey, you don't suppose Jeff Fisher would.... Um, NO.

- Al Harris has joined Andy Reid in Kansas City as a secondary coach.

- Ron Milus, who was just fired in Denver, joined San Diego's staff as secondary coach, rejoining Chargers head coach Mike McCoy, also plucked from Denver's staff.

- Adam Schefter reported last weekend that Gregg Williams could be reinstated by commissioner Roger Goodell before the Super Bowl. Whenever it happens, he's expected to join Tennessee's staff as assistant head coach.

In ex-player news, Jamie Childers was signed by the Giants to a reserve/future contract. Justin Medlock also tried out there but was not signed.

-$-

Advantage, Kroenke

Though conventional wisdom said it would take till March Madness for a decision to come down, the arbitration panel has ruled tonight in favor of the Rams in their stadium negotiations with the St. Louis CVC. The city has 30 days to accept or reject the Rams' extensive plan to remodel the Edward Jones Dome, a plan the city says will cost $700 million. Rejecting the plan would concede that the Dome would not be a top-tier facility and would terminate the Rams' current lease after the 2014 season. After 2014, the Rams could choose to renew the lease on a year-to-year basis, or obviously, they would be free to move. The arbitrators cited the Dome's small footprint, narrow aisles and poor lighting as reasons it is not a first-tier facility. It sounds like they doubted the city's plan for a scoreboard over the middle of the field, saying it would prevent good views.

Allow me to thank the arbitrators on behalf of myself and everyone else with season tickets in the upper deck, then. But, wait a minute, no mention of the stadium's horrid sound system?

It is a sure thing that the city will reject the Rams' plan; one of the city's attorneys has already said as much. Even if the money and the willingness to spend it were simple things, it would only guarantee the Rams staying to 2025. Even a politician should be able to see that isn't very cost-effective.

Though I wonder how much tax money was spent getting to this point, we're now at the crossroads we thought this would be at all along; the Rams pressing the city for a new stadium and holding all the cards.

-$-