Website note

Ramview.com has changed formats. I didn't update the website at all this season because it was pretty much a pain in the ass to do. I spend a ton of time every week writing the recap and didn't want to spend all the extra time I had been spending creating a new webpage for each one. The way I had been doing it was very cumbersome.

Now, I've got the website acting as a front end for the blog. It should be much easier for me to dump content into the blog and just update the links to the content on the website. I'm sure there are 100,000 better ways of doing this I haven't had time to figure out, but this should work for now.

I've got a LONG way to go before RamView 2.0 is up to date, but there's a link to the old site on it while I get the recaps posted to the blog. (In the meantime, Realramsfans.com has them archived back to 2006.) Ideally I'll post updates of my progress here, or maybe even tweet something for once. Better watch my ambition there!


-$-

Rams to pick tenth

Well, the Rams finished in the top 10 of something for this season. They will have the 10th pick overall in next year's draft.

The current first-round draft order:
1. Tampa Bay
2. Tennessee
3. Jagwires
4. Oakland
5. Washington
6. Jets
7. Chicago
8. Atlanta
9. Giants
10. RAMS
11. Minnesota
12. Cleveland
13. New Orleans
14. Miami
15. 49ers
16. Houston
17. San Diego
18. K.C.
19. Cleveland again, from Buffalo (Sammy Watkins trade)
20. Eggles
21-32 TBA depending on playoff results

And, YES, there are mock drafts out already. At #10, Walter Football projects Iowa offensive lineman Brandon Scherff. Here's their scouting report.  At CBSSports.com, Dane Brugler projects Stanford tackle Andrus Peat, who Walter Football says may stay in school.

-$-

Rams re-sign practice squad

The Rams have signed seven members of their practice squad to futures contracts:

T Steven Baker
WR Emory Blake
G Travis Bond
S Christian Bryant
LB Marshall McFadden
DT Doug Worthington
WR Devon Wylie

I believe only McFadden saw regular season action, on special teams.

That leaves DT Matt Conrath and TE Brad Smelley unsigned. My first guess would be that those two have used up their practice squad eligibility.

-$-

RamView, 12/28/2014: Seahawks 20, Rams 6

RamView, December 28, 2014
From The Couch
(Report and opinions on the game.)
Game #16: Seahawks 20, Rams 6

The Rams do what they do best, find a way to lose, and get a lesson how to win a game with defense, in an inevitable 20-6 loss at Seattle. The Rams so excelled at finding ways to lose this season, they lost more games than either of Jeff Fisher's previous seasons. So we've got that going for us in Rams Nation. Which is NOT nice.

AP

Position by position:

* QB: Pretty typical Shaun Hill performance (26-37-243, 65.5 PR): generally competent but not good enough to win you a game, while committing that one forehead-smacking, what-the-hell-are-you-doing play that helps lose it. Hill looked pretty crisp to start a 1st-quarter FG drive, hitting Kenny Britt for 10 on a rollout and threading a nice pass to Jared Cook on an arrow route on 3rd-and-4 to keep the drive alive. In the red zone, Hill appeared to have the whole right side of the field to himself on a naked bootleg, but with Kurt Warner's foot speed, had no running option and had to chuck a pass away under pressure. On 3rd down, he threw Benny Cunningham a pretty bad screen pass that could have gotten more than the 5 yards it got and the Rams settled for 3. Pressure from the right side affected a lot of Hill's game, as did the almost-complete lack of a running game. I think he missed out on a TD in the 2nd, though. A big blitz didn't give him much time to throw, but he had Cook open down the seam. Throw to his outside shoulder, it's a big gain. Throw it inside and Kam Chancellor is in the way. Incomplete. But that's Shaun Hill. He manages the offense and gives you neither the big play nor the big mistake. Until the first play of the 4th quarter, that is. Hill got the offense clicking late in the 3rd, with up-tempo passing. 12 to Britt. 6 to Chris Givens. 12 to Cook on a quick slant. The offense is hopping and they're in FG position late in a tie game. But, bookending a frustrating play from week 1, Hill failed again at something that seems simple – throwing away the damn ball. I don't think he saw DT Jordan Hill and didn't fire a screen pass he wanted to abort low enough to keep Hill from making a play on it. Of course it's an INT and of course the Ram defense deflates and gives up a TD about a minute later. Fair or not, that was the ball game right there and Hill's screwup was what got the dominoes tumbling. Hill moved the offense with Seattle calling off the dogs, as he should be able to, but two more crushing turnovers, neither his fault, cemented this game and this season in the L column. (Though he once again had Cook open for a late TD and overthrew him. That's three in two weeks.) When it's all said and done, the entire Ram offense is like Shaun Hill. They make some plays, but none of them are good enough to win you a game, and they're all good for that one mistake or two that puts the team in its losing bind. The Rams need a quarterback next season that can elevate them past finding ways to lose. Unfortunately, I don't think one's on the roster, and the Rams don't have a realistic way to get one.

AP

* RB: A great run defense like Seattle's is not going to give up a lot of running room, and this week was no exception. Even when Tre Mason (11-28) got a decent hole at the first level, he couldn't get more than 1 or 2 yards because the LBs shut down the running lane at the second level. Another factor that did not help a bit was yet another week of the Ram running game going mostly straight up the middle. Blocking breakdowns sure didn't help, either. Mason lost 4 in the 1st after Lance Kendricks ran right past a completely-unblocked Bobby Wagner. He lost another 4 in the 2nd after Michael Bennett got through the line too quickly for Rodger Saffold to get a downblock on him. He lost 2 later on a play where Saffold shoved Wagner right into him. The Rams kept ramming their heads into the middle of the Seattle wall, whether with Mason, Zac Stacy (2-3), Benny Cunningham (4-10), or most stupidly, Tavon Austin (2-1). Mason finally got something going late in the 3rd. He got 13 behind Joseph Barksdale and Davin Joseph on the right side, then nearly popped for a TD off the left side, settling for 8 after a clutch grab by K.J. Wright. That was about it for Mason, though, as that drive and the next ended in turnovers. Cunningham spoiled a good day in blitz pickup and as the Rams' leading receiver (7-57) with a crucial fumble at the goal line with 6 minutes left. Wide open in the flat at the 7, he dived and tried to reach the ball across the goal line, but Earl Thomas flashed in and hacked him on the arm. An obvious foul in basketball, but a great play in football, as Cunningham lost the ball and it rolled across the goal line and out of bounds for a damn touchback. For all their respectable effort and talent, the Ram RBs are like Hill, like the rest of this offense. They can't consistently hit the big play when it's there and they don't have margin of error for mistakes like goal-line fumbles. The Rams can't grow out of these tendencies at QB, but with a young, promising nucleus, there's hope they can at RB.

AP

* Receivers: Running backs had half the Rams' 26 receptions; the WRs and TEs were non-factors as they've been most of the season, though Hill did appear to miss a couple of TD opportunities to Jared Cook. Cook (3-37) and Kenny Britt (4-38) had key receptions on the 1st-quarter FG drive. The whole offense was really in quicksand for about three quarters. Britt got them going late in the 3rd with a diving 12-yard catch, then Cook converted a 3rd down on a quick slant for another 12. Stedman Bailey killed their momentum with a holding penalty on a bubble screen, though, and Hill threw his awful pick the next play. Bailey's play (1-17) has regressed after a late-season surge. Tavon Austin (2-13) didn't contribute much at WR or RB. The Rams still looked like they had something left down 13-6 in the 4th. Lance Kendricks (1-17) got them out of a hole with a catch, and appeared to have another one to get them across midfield, but here's Bobby Wagner again, reaching in to not only keep Kendricks from putting the ball away, but popping it out and over to Bruce Irvin for a life-draining pick-six. The story of the offense's not changing here at WR, another group that can't consistently deliver big plays but can often find a way to make a key mistake.

* Offensive line: The Seahawk run defense was like the mightiest tree in the forest, and the Ram offensive line was trying to chop it down with a herring. (No, not Will, or even Kim.) On Mason's first carry, Davin Joseph pull-blocked and couldn't budge (I think) Kevin Williams, even with a head of steam! No gain. There were times they could get a crack open for Mason, but that would usually just get filled by a LB. Or, plays like at the end of the 1st, where Bobby Wagner and Lance Kendricks passed one another in the hole like ships in the night. Of course, that's only good for Wagner, not Kendricks, and definitely not Zac Stacy, who lost a yard. An injury to Greg Robinson in the 2nd briefly moved Rodger Saffold to LT and Mike Person to LG, and the line fared even worse. Michael Bennett bolted ahead of Saffold's downblock to bury Mason for -4. Cliff Avril then steamrolled Joseph Barksdale for Seattle's first sack. Robinson missed only that series, but the Rams still went nowhere. Saffold pushed Wagner into Mason for a loss, Barksdale chipped in with a false start, and the Rams could only get a FG out of Alec Ogletree's forced fumble. The Rams couldn't even block the we-give-up runs at the end of the half, and came out for the 3rd quarter reeling. Williams came in completely unblocked for a sack while Robinson did little but stand around. Bennett blew up Joseph to stuff a handoff to Austin. Irvin smoked Robinson to force a hasty dumpoff. That completed a string of four series where the Rams netted six total yards. Late in the 3rd, Barksdale got injured after he and Joseph sprung Mason for 13, moving Saffold out to RT. Mason then nearly popped a run for a TD behind a great lead block by Kendricks and general mauling by Person and Robinson. And I don't think it was a coincidence the Rams got their best pass protection of the game with Barksdale on the sideline. Hill had nothing but ironclad pockets and good blitz pickup, driving the Rams into FG position with really good rhythm until completely screwing up with the INT. Even with Barksdale back, Hill got a solid pocket in the 4th to hit Kendricks for 17, thanks in large part to a Robinson pancake block. That drive and the next failed, though, and with Seattle in tee-off mode late in the game, Robinson had the final meltdown of his up-and-down season, getting whipped twice for sacks, unable to handle the outside speed of O’Brien Schofield or Irvin. Barksdale didn't help on the last one, getting beaten badly by Bennett. And, cue the broken record, except the o-line's not up even to the meager standard of the rest of the offense. They gave Hill some solid pockets, but struggled mightily with outside speed, and basically failed this season as a run-blocking line. There just weren't many games where they could dictate with the running game, especially not this week. The offseason needs to bring interior improvements, run-scheme changes and, hopefully with coached-up young tackles, the Rams will be able to do what they're supposedly designed to do on offense in 2015.

AP

* Defensive line: My advice to Jets coach Rex Ryan, who made a veiled complaint this week that Aaron Donald does not belong in the Pro Bowl, is to suck it. Or, just watch this game tape. You're about to have plenty of time on your hands to do it. Donald absolutely dominated the first half of this game. Here's his first three plays. He whips James Carpenter and stuffs Marshawn Lynch in the backfield. Then he trucks Carpenter, puts him on his butt and hits Russell Wilson to force an incomplete pass. On 3rd down, he pushes a double team back into the pocket, allowing Chris Long to flush Wilson to Mark Barron for the Rams' first sack and a 3-and-out. The perfect start didn't hold. Long struggled way too much against rookie RT Justin F. Britt. He got knocked down on a 5-yard Robert Turbin run and pushed inside with pathetic ease to let Turbin crack off 14 yards on the “wrap” play the Rams never solved all game even though they see it every day in practice. That drive bogged down, though, thanks to William Hayes stringing out a sweep and Long and Kendall Langford crushing the pocket on Wilson on 2nd-and-long. Turbin opened the 2nd busting a wrap play for 13, thanks to Long again completely misplaying read option and Langford getting yanked down by J.R. Sweezy, but Langford got revenge a couple of plays later, putting Sweezy on the ground and dropping Lynch for a big loss. Donald followed up by completely blowing up a play-action pass, going through Sweezy and a blocking TE like they were nothing. Two plays later, a blitz and a huge hit on Wilson by Robert Quinn set up an interception. The Rams continued to be mystified by the wrap play late in the half, but Langford did a great job shedding a block to stuff Turbin and Long helped blow up a read option play for a fumble. Donald ended a dominant half to remember with the Rams' 2nd sack. Quinn trucked Carpenter, whom they abused all game, and Donald hooked the center and forged by for a sack/fumble that had Seattle's awesome fans booing their defending Super Bowl champions and repeat #1 playoff seed. Out of halftime, though, Seattle quickened the pace of their passing game and tied the game with two quick FGs. On a big completion to Tony Moeaki, Long let Wilson step up by getting blocked clear over to the right side of the field. A blitz sack forced Seattle to settle for their 2nd FG, but the Hill INT in the 4th appeared to take the steam out of the whole team. Seattle drove an easy 54 yards, finished off with an easy TD run for Lynch through a misaligned d-line leaving him a massive gap. Donald got in one last run stuff but turnovers had completely done the Rams in by then. Sack City wasn’t all that consistent itself this year. The pass rush had about an 8-week run where it dominated the league and about 8 others where it barely showed up. Run-stopping was also pretty up-and-down. The Ram defense obviously has worked on a higher plateau than the offense but didn’t live up to this year’s billing as a consistently dominating force. Donald’s play makes that look very tantalizing for next season, though.

AP

* Linebackers: The loss wasted one of the best games of the year by the Ram LBs. Alec Ogletree (11 tkl) was pretty much everywhere and James Laurinaitis (13 tkl) stopped a lot of runs. Ogletree stopped a couple himself on Seattle's long 1st-quarter drive, but Laurinaitis stopped that drive with pass defense. He helped collapse the pocket on Wilson on 2nd down and stopped Luke Willson half a yard short on a 4th-and-5 pass. Ogletree forced a fumble to help the Rams get a FG in the 2nd. Lynch made him miss after catching a screen, but Alec tracked him down from behind and ripped the ball out. He helped create a fumble the next possession, too, as he and Long played a read option perfectly the one time all day and Wilson muffed the exchange. Ogletree got run through a couple of times, but he also assisted Quinn on a manly stop of Lynch on a sweep in the 3rd. All the run stopping in the world, though, or Laurinaitis blowing up the pocket pretty consistently when he blitzed, wasn’t enough to overcome more major breakdowns in the secondary. Still, the Ogletree-Laurinaitis combo really seemed to be clicking by the end of the season; if it clicks like this to start next season, the defense shouldn’t spin its wheels like it did in September.

AP

* Secondary: The refrain has become far too familiar, but Janoris Jenkins gave up big plays AGAIN that lost the game. Even better, both plays were by rookies who haven’t gotten the ball much. The secondary had to make several big plays to get out of trouble Jenkins got them into. Marcus Roberson’s INT in the 2nd greatly eased the sting of Jenkins’ wussy failed tackle of Lynch that let Seattle convert on 3rd-and-10 with a screen pass. A pathetic, awful whiff of an arm tackle that Jenkins did not attempt to square up at all. Funny how all these guys who wanted to put Odell Beckham in the hospital last week looked like they wanted to have nothing to do with Beast Mode this week. Roberson’s pick was aided by some of this week’s very effective DB blitzing, with both Mark Barron and Lamarcus Joyner getting free runs on Wilson. Wilson had trouble finding receivers in the first half, but in the 2nd, Jenkins flashed his Pro Bowl-alternate form. First he got beat for 32 by Paul Richardson; Jenkins thought he was playing for an INT himself but Richardson went up and over him. Thanks to Rodney McLeod getting a great jump on a bubble screen later and Luke Willson brutally dropping a pass after Trumaine Johnson left him wide open, that damage was limited to 3 points. No such luck after the Hill INT in the 4th, with Jenkins completely botching coverage on THIRD AND EIGHT and giving up 31 yards to Kevin F. Norwood. No one has any clue what Jenkins thought he was doing on the play, probably least of all him. He broke inside on Doug Baldwin (who did not go all Jerry Rice on the Rams for a change), even though Baldwin was accounted for, and he kind of had a receiver in his own damn area to worry about. All the good secondary play in the world means nothing with Jenkins committing multiple major breakdowns nearly every week. This unit is crying to be taken over by a veteran leader who has his head on straight.

* Special teams: Quiet week on special teams. The highlight was probably Greg Zuerlein drilling a 52-yard FG outdoors; glad he appears to be fixed and ended the season on a good note. Chase Reynolds made a couple of good stops on returns and wins the special teams tackling crown. Seattle prevented Austin or Cunningham from doing much returning. Special teams might be the part of the team where it’s clearest to see a lot of young talent coming together, from Zuerlein and Johnny Hekker to the returners to guys like Reynolds and Daren Bates. I’ll buy in to this unit’s prospects for next season and beyond.

* Strategery: Make it stop, Brian Schottenheimer. JUST MAKE IT STOP. Quit calling runs straight up the middle when there has been nothing there all day. All year. Please? How many times do the Rams have to get stuffed straight up the middle before Schottenheimer will EVER try to run ANYWHERE ELSE? 30? 40? Mason’s first three runs, all up the middle. He gets stuffed up the middle for a loss to make the Rams settle for their 2nd FG. At the end of the half, a minute left, the Rams can’t even run down the clock successfully, with Cunningham getting stuffed twice up the middle. Oh, this hammer didn’t fix the light bulb, let’s try a different one! After a sack on the Rams’ first play in the third, brilliantly, TAVON AUSTIN UP THE MIDDLE! Just stop it! Just freaking make it stop. Schottenheimer took three quarters catching on. He finally got the Rams moving with the quick-passing offense many opponents have beaten our heads in with this season. I think last week’s preview mentioned Seattle would leave receivers open in the flat, and Schottenheimer finally managed to use that. Just in time for the Rams to roll craps with turnovers. Brian Schottenheimer in a nutshell: 4th-and-35 at the end of the game. No, no one has a sheet of plays to call on 4th-and-35. I probably would have punted. The only other option is to have Hill throw it as far as he can and hope a DB slips or commits DPI while probably Austin or Givens is trying to run under it. No, we’re dumping off to Cunningham. What was the point of that? Maybe Schottenheimer was also voting for a punt. I don’t blame him. The way he calls a running game, the punter gets to be a pretty damn familiar sight.

Amazingly, Gregg Williams got away with calling just as many weak zone coverages as he did last week without really getting burned by it. He also deserves credit for a very productive blitzing day, especially the double DB blitzes off each end, even though he didn’t lean as hard on blitzing this week as he’s known to. Those DB blitzes produced at least the interception along with a sack in the 3rd that forced a FG. Blitzing Ogletree and Barron out of a 3-4 look produced a sack/fumble at the end of the half. There’s still plenty I didn’t understand. After Donald dominated the opening drive from LDT, Langford stepped in there and Donald wasn’t near as effective at RDT. Not that Langford had a bad game, but if that’s the rotation, it’s wrong. Then there was the failure at defending wrap plays out of read option. Williams repeatedly had guys running at Wilson, whether Long, Hayes, Ogletree or T.J. McDonald, only to have the RB take off right past them for a big gain. This was reminiscent of the Rams in Carolina last season, just using read option handoffs as an excuse to hit Cam Newton. It didn’t work, and in a division where Wilson and Colin Kaepernick are going to be around a while, it might be best to get that play defended.

Lynch’s TD was a multiple failure. The d-line was horribly misaligned, with 3 linemen right of center and a yawning chasm in front of the RG and the RT. Little surprise Lynch strolled right through there for a simple stand-up TD. If that alignment was intended, it was foolish on Williams’ part. I don’t think it was. The Rams needed to call a timeout and get it corrected. But they didn’t get a realignment or a timeout from Laurinaitis, (who I’ve never seen call one), and they didn’t get one from Jeff Fisher on the sideline. Fisher has had many opportunities, and I believe this was a fair one, to get the Rams out of a bad play with a timeout in his time here, and I don’t know that he ever has. When you are leaving a three-man-wide gap in the line inside your own 10, coach, something is probably very wrong. Burn the damn timeout. It’s one of the clearest ways you have to help your players and win games from the sideline. Plays like that, or the Rams’ constant failure to get beneficial refereeing calls even though Fisher’s on the rules committee, make me wonder what his value on the sideline even is sometimes. 

* Upon further review: There were some dumb penalty calls by Ron Torbert (for some reason the Rams got stuck with each first-year referee TWICE this season) and crew, but not enough to give them a failing grade, even if Torbert tried to face the wrong way for his announcements half the time. Let’s first give Torbert a delay of game penalty for letting the Rams run an entire play in the 1st before flagging them for delay of game. Sharp. Chris Long got an offside at the end of the half when he wasn’t. Chris Givens got a B.S. OPI call late in the game not because he did anything but because Richard Sherman complained. I show no holding penalties on Seattle even though J.R. Sweezy yanked Langford to the ground to “spring” one of Turbin’s long runs. That’s been pretty typical all season. Credit to them for getting difficult calls right on the Lynch and Cunningham fumbles, though. Grade: C-

* Cheers: Seeing Gus Johnson and Charles Davis on this game had me thinking we’d be in for a good broadcast. Johnson can give rec-league flag football a big-game feel, and Davis is as well-scouted and as good an X’s and O’s commentator as there is. Normally. This week they were just kind of there. Enjoyed Johnson’s callback to his soccer gig when he announced the Rams were up “three-nil,” but he also identified Austin as “Trayvon” and for some reason said Cook “is having a terrific season.” I don’t know why Davis thought Laurinaitis’ 4th-down stop in the 1st was a close play or why he said Seattle “created a tunnel” for Lynch’s TD. The Rams built the tunnel; Seattle almost didn’t have to do anything. To their credit, though, they hornswoggled me. They still sounded like a pretty polished NFL crew, but this I think this is the only NFL game they’ll do this season. This game was a trial run for a college bowl game they’ll work for Fox. Just like the refereeing, nothing but the best for the Rams this season.

* What now?: I know, every year I get to this point and say next year will be the biggest year in Rams history, but really, wow. Two of the biggest parts of an NFL team’s identity – where it plays and who’s playing QB – and the uncertainty around them will dominate football talk in St. Louis in the offseason.

The plan right now appears to be to bring Sam Bradford back as the starting QB next year, a plan for which RamView has little enthusiasm. QB is the most important position on the team to improve, and Bradford is capable of coming back and playing well, but with his checkered injury history, he’s no long-term fix, and he’ll cost far too much to be anything less. However, because the team made little effort this year to draft a QB of the future, and Austin Davis is at best the backup QB of the future, Bradford appears to be Plans A, B and C. Bradford may defy the odds, play more than six games and get the team over the hump in 2015. I’m kind of done counting on it (especially the former). On the other hand, free agency’s going to have little to offer at QB and the Rams won’t pick high enough to draft a blue-chipper. They’ve painted themselves into a corner at QB where Bradford is, for better or worse, their best/only option for 2015. Watch out that Sam doesn’t slip on that wet paint, blow another ACL, fall down and blow out his shoulder, too. The Rams have significant work to do on the offensive line to get Bradford past September. (Hell, August.) They need to upgrade at right guard and center, and may have to make a move at right tackle if Joseph Barksdale leaves. With a number of young players on the verge of breaking out, especially Tre Mason, Brian Quick and Stedman Bailey, the offense could be fun to watch if Bradford can stick around a while. And if the Rams have any competent play-calling. That doesn’t appear to be tabbed for change, either. Year 4 of Schottyball. That’ll really get the season tickets flying off the shelves.

Defensively, the main thing the Rams need to change is to not flounder around the first 4-5 weeks of the season. We’re told this was because: 1) Chris Long got hurt early and William Hayes was coming off too much offseason surgery to be as effective right away as he was in 2013; 2) the tackles changed roles from left/right to true nose/3-technique and needed time to adjust; 3) Alec Ogletree showed up for camp out of shape and wasn’t in shape until well into the season. As poor as those last two excuses are, there is absolutely no reason to expect or excuse Sack City to do another five-week Hanna Barbera bongo jog in 2015. They could use a tweak here and there, but will probably return all 11 starters from a defense that should, and better be, potent. The second half of this season showed the Rams’ potential as a 65-70 sack defense; if the offense can aspire to be merely average, think of how well the team could finish.

The theme of each of Jeff Fisher’s first three seasons at Rams Park seemingly has been, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. Rams Nation needs better than that in 2015. The Rams can’t start next season 1-3 waiting for the offense to click, like 2013, or start 1-4 waiting for the defense to gel like 2014. September 6, 2015, this team needs to be ready to dictate to their opponent on both sides of the ball. Young players? Not an excuse. New coordinators? New systems? Not an excuse. Injuries? Sorry. Not an excuse. No excuses, no apologies, no settling for less, no lowered expectations. 2015 is the year for Jeff Fisher to get the Rams over the top.

Yeah, I know, just in time to move back to Los Angeles. Until then, though, let's start breaking out those draft guides and have a great new year.

-- Mike
Game stats from espn.com

Rams 2015 opponents

Looks like the Rams' 2015 opponents are pretty well set:

Home
Arizona
San Francisco
Seattle
Chicago
Detroit
Cleveland
Pittsburgh
Tampa Bay

Away
Arizona
San Francisco
Seattle
Green Bay
Minnesota
Baltimore
Cincinnati
Washington

9 games against 2014 playoff teams.
One thing to key on here is the ridiculous number of top receivers the Rams have to stop next year. Calvin Johnson, Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffery, A.J. Green, Antonio Brown, Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, Josh Gordon if he doesn't party his way out of the league, Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Golden F. Tate, Martavis Bryant, Vincent Jackson, Mike Evans, DeSean Jackson, Pierre Garcon, Torrie Smith (good Lord - remember the last time the Rams played him?)... anybody think it'll be smart at all to stand pat with what the Rams currently have in their secondary?

-$-

Stadium news, 12/27

STLToday

 

Bernie Miklasz is keeping far better track of St. Louis' football stadium situation than I have been able to for some time. Here's his latest article on the matter.

What we know:
- the Rams' 20-year lease is about to expire, making them free to play anywhere they want;
- NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has already given the order that no team will move to Los Angeles in 2015 (though the door sounds very open for 2016);
- Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has appointed a two-man team to put together a new stadium proposal that may go public shortly after the New Year. This team has gone over the Rams' heads and made a presentation directly to Goodell and representatives.

So far, so smart so far, along with the indication the new stadium would be built downtown north of the Dome. There's also, though, what I see as a fair amount of cynicism and lack of realism within this plan:


- the stadium as proposed will be under public ownership, i.e. not S.E. Kroenke or the Rams, though the team and the league will be expected to chip in $400-450 million toward the project. Where to even start with this idea? Kroenke prefers to own the facilities his teams play in. What's wrong with letting him build and own the whole thing? Does the rejection of the Dome upgrade last winter rule that out? Isn't part of the current problem that Kroenke has no skin in the St. Louis stadium game? Won't we just be doing this dance again in 20 years (or less)? And then, why should Kroenke pay for 1/3 of a stadium he'll own 0% of? Is this a loan from Kroenke? Is the theory Kroenke will get a huge ROI in the form of appreciating value of the team? Suffice it to say I don't quite get it.

- the stadium SUPPOSEDLY will have a joint tenant in an MLS expansion franchise. That is a total JOKE. Not that St. Louis isn't a very good soccer market; it's turned out major crowds for recent international club and World Cup exhibitions. But MLS has done little but screw with St. Louis for at least a decade now. MLS has passed over St. Louis several times because it's apparently more important to have multiple teams in New York and in Canada. They passed St. Louis over for Philadelphia and they didn't even have a stadium plan. I'm not even aware there's interested ownership in an MLS team in St. Louis any more, though I assume the Nixon team knows different. In any event, relying on MLS to bring a team here has been a proven fool's errand.

- In a possibly bigger joke, Nixon insists the new stadium will be built with NO NEW TAX BURDEN on the state or the region. Well, Nixon's a smart guy; he should be able to figure out a scheme at least as credible as the "pull-tab" scheme that's supposedly going to fund Minnesota's new stadium. Never underestimate the power and palatability to taxpayers of hotel and car rental taxes!

- Nixon also will not submit a proposal to voters to increase taxes for a new stadium. Well, THAT I believe. Many of the recent stadium funding proposals around the country have simply been done behind the taxpayers' backs. Plus I wouldn't expect the Rams to win such a vote any time soon around here. There's no appetite for it. The Cardinals wouldn't have won a vote here for the new Busch Stadium, so that funding got sneaked to them.

- So, no private equity, no new taxes, no public vote, where the BLEEP is the money for this coming from? Well, the forming plan appears to be to extend the current bonds on the Dome and put them toward a stadium/riverfront development project. Nixon is big on there being more development downtown than just the stadium. BECAUSE BALLPARK VILLAGE WORKED OUT SO WELL. It took ten years just to put up a few bars, and I'm not sure those are doing anything more than enriching the Cardinals further. Also, mere minutes into the stadium plan and we're deep into political weasel talk. NO NEW TAXES! We're just growing the old ones!

- And don't get me started on the possibility the new stadium is going to be outdoor only. The stupidity of building another facility that won't qualify to host a Super Bowl is too staggering for me to imagine. Also, I ain't buying another PSL to sit outside in December.

There is a LOT to be filled in about St. Louis' football stadium future, and I'm a notorious over-reactor. I still think I have raised legitimate questions that need good answers to get this thing off on the right track. I'm eager to get answers to those questions in the coming months.

-$-

Rams report, 12/27

* Injury report. Both teams are in reasonably good shape for tomorrow's season finale between the Rams and the Seahawks. The key Ram likely to be missing will be E.J. Gaines, their best defensive back, who's listed as doubtful due to getting concussed by his own teammate T.J. McDonald last week. Janoris Jenkins, Chris Long and Scott Wells are all probable.

Key players for Seattle: Jermaine Kearse (hamstring) is out. Max Unger (knee) is questionable. Marshawn Lynch (back) and Russell Okung (chest) are probable.

The Seahawks are poised to clinch home field throughout the playoffs (for the 2nd year in a row) with a win and are 12-point favorites. 4% of fans are still picking the Rams to win, as is Sterling Sharpe, but the NFL Network Playbook host is just doing that as a jinx to try to get Green Bay the #1 seed.

* Ex-Rams and relatives in the news since the last time this poor excuse for a blog did an update:
12/23 - Ray Agnew Jr. waived by Cleveland;
12/17 - Matt Daniels promoted from Jacksonville's practice squad;
12/17 - Garrett Gilbert signed to New England's practice squad;
12/16 - Ryan Fitzpatrick placed on IR by Houston after breaking his leg in their week 15 game against the Colts;
12/16 - Matthew Mulligan signed by Tennessee;
12/16 - Quinton Pointer signed to Baltimore's practice squad;
12/16 - Zac Diles waived by Cleveland;
12/15 - Houston signed Case Keenum off the Rams' practice squad. He started in their surprise 25-13 win last week over the Ravens that kept Houston's slim playoff hopes alive and dealt Baltimore's a blow;
12/14 - Kevin Reddick promoted from Carolina's practice squad;
12/10 - Gerald Rivers signed back to Denver's practice squad;
12/8 - Danny Gorrer placed on IR by Baltimore after tearing an MCL and a PCL in their week 14 win over Miami;

* Ex-Rams on TV:

The Michael Sam special aired on OWN a/k/a the Oprah Channel last night. I could not find any info on how it fared in the TV ratings.

Not having been on an NFL roster most of this season, the Oprah Channel special may mark the end of Sam's NFL career. I'm a little surprised he didn't try the CFL route, and I'd be a little surprised from here if he doesn't give a media career a try.

In other TV news, I have Sunday Ticket but obviously don't pay a lot of attention to who's announcing every game. I had Cleveland vs. Carolina on last Sunday, and what to my wondering eyes should appear? Adam Archuleta doing color commentary for CBS. He did not do a bad job, either, so expect to hear more of him in the future. (Wikipedia says he's been doing college games out west since 2012.)


* When the Rams lost Keenum off their practice squad, they replaced him with DT Doug Worthington. Worthington is 6'5" 311 and has not appeared in a game since 2012. He missed all of 2013 due to a torn bicep. He was a 7th-round pick of Pittsburgh in 2010 but spent his first three seasons with Washington before getting cut this summer. He also had a summer fling with San Diego. Worthington was a three-year starter at Ohio State. Every other team that's had him played him as a 3-4 DE, so I'm really not sure what the Rams are thinking here. Well, he's already gotten in a fight with Joseph Barksdale in practice, so maybe he fits right in with Gregg Williams' well-disciplined defense.

* The current practice squad: tackle Steven Baker, WR Emory Blake, guard Travis Bond, DB Christian Bryant, DT Matt Conrath, LB Marshall McFadden, TE Brad Smelley, Worthington and WR Devon Wylie. I guess the Rams are going to end the season a man short on the squad. They were short even before they lost Keenum.

Try to have fun with the game tomorrow; it'll be nine long months till the Rams' next meaningful action...

-$-

Pro Bowl honors

Congratulations to Rams defensive linemen Robert Quinn and Aaron Donald for their selection to the 2015 Pro Bowl. Teams will be selected by captains Michael Irvin and Cris Carter on January 21st for the game on January 25th.

What a dreadful uniform!
(Wikipedia)

Quinn will play in his 2nd Pro Bowl even though he's going to fall pretty short of his numbers from last year:

2014 (15 games) 45 tackles, 10.5 sacks, 6 passes defended, 5 forced fumbles.

2013 - 57 tackles, 19 sacks, 1 pass defended, 7 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 TD.

Quinn's not in the top ten in sacks among all players, but he is tied for fifth among 4-3 DEs (with Jason Pierre-Paul, who was not selected for the Pro Bowl).

New York Post

Aaron Donald became the first Rams rookie in 22 years (Jerome Bettis, 1993) to be named to a Pro Bowl. He has 40 tackles, 8 sacks, a forced fumble and a pass defense in 15 weeks. He's also been the #1 defensive tackle most of the season according to Pro Football Focus. That's all tackles, not just rookies, because of Donald's excellent run defense.

Congratulations to both players. I frankly wasn't expecting any Ram to make the Pro Bowl on the first crack. I thought the Rams' best chance would be Johnny Hekker, who isn't making the game this year. Both punters selected beat him in both net and gross punting yards, so at least he didn't get ripped off.

Two other Rams are Pro Bowl alternates. One is Tavon Austin, I assume as the punt returner. Devin Hester and Darren Sproles were picked for the game. The other alternate is proof something is seriously wrong with Pro Bowl voting:

Janoris Jenkins?

Seriously? Janoris Jenkins has a chance to play in a Pro Bowl? Who voted for him, besides all the league receivers?

I'm sitting here wishing Jenkins weren't in the Rams secondary half the time, so I have no idea.

-$-

Fine time

Washington Post

The NFL levied fines for the sideline fight in last week's Rams-Giants game, as follows:

Damontre Moore - $15,000

Preston Parker - $15,000

Odell Beckham - $10,000

William Hayes - $10,000

Alec Ogletree - $8,268

So, pretty funny, Ogletree starts the fight and gets the smallest fine. Also, on the play, the Giants lost a down, 7 yards of field position, and now, 21,732 more dollars. NFL justice!

-$-

Rams report, 12/6: a Hekk of a contract

St. Louis Rams

Are you reluctant to buy a Rams player jersey because you're afraid the player you pick won't be around very long? Then go get yourself a #6. This week the Rams signed punter Johnny Hekker to a 6-year, $18 million contract extension that will keep him on the team till 2020. (Robert Quinn is also signed through 2020.)

The move was ridiculed in some corners of cyberspace because Hekker would have been a restricted free agent after this season and the Rams overspent to keep him. But Jeff Fisher doesn't mess with a good thing at punter; he had Craig Hentrich, a two-time Pro Bowler, for 12 years in Tennessee. Hekker's already been to a Pro Bowl and is 3 yards a punt better than Hentrich was in his career. (He's also the most clutch passer on the team.)

$9 million of the contract is guaranteed, which Adam Schefter reports is the highest ever given a punter or kicker. Hekker enters the weekend 14th in punting average (45.7) and 6th in net (41.4) after setting the league record for net punting last season. I don't blame the Rams for not wanting to mess with a good thing.

* Next year's free agents:
* Unrestricted - Joseph Barksdale, Kenny Britt, Alex Carrington, Shaun Hill, Davin Joseph, Lance Kendricks, Mike Person
* Restricted - Tim Barnes, Austin Davis, Corey Harkey, Rodney McLeod
* Exclusive Rights - Marshall McFadden, Chase Reynolds, Brandon Washington

* Other Rams transactions:
The Titans started the ball rolling on Rams transactions this week by signing Jemea Thomas to their roster off of the Rams' practice squad. The Rams filled that open roster slot with McFadden, who they cut last week to activate Chris Long.

The Rams are still a man short on the current practice squad; they never made a move to fill the spot left after they promoted Justice Cunningham. The squad: Steven Baker, Emory Blake, Travis Bond, Christian Bryant, Matt Conrath, Case Keenum, McFadden, Brad Smelley, Devon Wylie.

* Alumni report:
Can RamView make a recommendation on that open practice squad slot? Bring Gerald Rivers back. He was released from Denver's PS this week. Also:
- the Giants signed Chris Ogbonnaya;
- the Jets put Greg Salas on injured reserve. He injured a hamstring scoring his first career TD Monday night;
- the Cardinals waived Matthew Mulligan.

* Injury report:
The Redskins may be missing their two best players (if you ask me) on either side of the ball tomorrow. DeSean Jackson is listed as questionable after a leg injury suffered against the Colts last week, but NFL.com does not expect him to play. He's said to have contusions on both legs. On defense, Brandon Meriweather is doubtful due to a sprained toe.

That's two very significant playmakers the Redskins are down, while the Rams are relatively healthy, with no one listed as worse than probable, including Rodger Saffold. The Rams are three-point favorites and 85% of the public is picking them to win.

-$-

Rams report, 11/29: Chris Long activated

ESPN

It's unknown how many snaps he's scheduled to get, but Chris Long will be active for tomorrow's game against the Oakland Raiders. Linebacker Marshall McFadden, of last week's phantom holding penalty fame, was released so the Rams could put Long back on the main roster.

In a move earlier this week, the Rams called up TE Justice Cunningham from the practice squad (giving them FIVE tight ends) and cut WR Damian Williams. Enough tight end injuries have piled up around the league that they were afraid of losing Cunningham to another team.

Might as well catch up with the ex-Rams-and-family updates while I'm at it:

* New England signed Matthew Slater to a two-year contract extension;
* Houston signed Thaddeus Lewis;
* Arizona signed Matt Mulligan;
* Cleveland signed Zac Diles;
* Dallas signed Robert Steeples to their practice squad;
* Tampa added Denicos Allen back to their practice squad, and released Quinton Pointer;
* Carolina waived Chris Ogbannaya;
* New Orleans waived Brian Leonard.

Latavius Murray is out for tomorrow's game for the Raiders due to a concussion. I think that greatly reduces the threat their running game will pose, but I've been wrong about this kind of thing before. The Rams are 6.5-point favorites and are favored straight-up by 94% of fans. I believe it's the first time they've been favored since the first two weeks of the season, and they split those two games.

-$-

Six Rams named Hall of Fame semifinalists

The Pro Football Hall of Fame reduced the pool of candidates for the class of 2015 to 26 tonight, and nearly one-quarter of them are Rams.

The entire Greatest Show contingent, - Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Orlando Pace and Kurt Warner - all first-time nominees, advanced to the next round, along with past finalists Jerome Bettis and Kevin Greene. The semifinalist list also includes former Cardinals and Chargers head coach Don Coryell, one of the fathers of the Greatest Show offense. List of all 26 semifinalists  Bettis, Greene, Charles Haley, Marvin Harrison and Will Shields were top-ten votegetters last year and should be the main candidates for 2015 induction among the repeat finalists. Junior Seau is the biggest favorite for induction among this year's first-timers.

On tonight's NFL Network reveal show, voter Rick Gosselin suggested there could be only one first-timer getting in this year. I assume that first-timer would be Seau, creating a scenario where the entire Show gets shut out and starting a run on pitchforks and torches in the St. Louis area.

The class will be reduced to 15 on January 8th. Those 15 will be joined by senior committee nominee Mick Tingelhoff and contributor nominees Bill Polian and Ron Wolf. My sincere thanks to the contributor voters for getting Eddie DeBartolo and Paul Tagliabue the heck off the list.

The 2015 Hall of Fame induction class will be announced January 31st.

-$-

Catching up: Rams transactions

The Rams have had to be quite busy on the NFL's transaction wire the past few weeks. I'm sure every decent Rams blog has already been all over those transactions. Here at the world's worst Rams blog, though, I'm still getting caught up. So, here's all the Rams' moves I could find reports for since the last transaction I reported, which was Ray Ray Armstrong getting cut:


Oct. 31 - Signed Case Keenum to practice squad.

              Re-signed Jemea Thomas to practice squad. He has bounced on and off
              the practice squad since being signed originally in September.

Oct. 30 - Placed Brian Quick on season-ending injured reserve.

Oct. 30 - Signed WR Damian Williams.

              Promoted Brandon Washington from practice squad.

Oct. 30 - Added T Steven Baker, WR Emory Blake, G Travis Bond and TE Justice
              Cunningham to the practice squad. Re-adding Blake is interesting, since he
              was believed to have gotten cut for missing a meeting. Austin Pettis was
              supposedly cut for missing that same meeting and remains persona non grata.               
              Cut Kadron Boone from the practice squad.

Oct. 29 - Placed Jake Long on season-ending injured reserve.

Oct. 29 - Cut Garrett Gilbert and Case Keenum from practice squad and
              promoted Korey Toomer from the practice squad to the main roster.


Oct. 28 - Traded next year's 4th- and 6th-round draft picks to Tampa for Mark Barron.

Oct. 28 - Carolina signed T Mike Remmers from the Rams' practice squad.

Oct. 25 - Placed Brandon McGee on season-ending injured reserve. 

Oct. 21 - Promoted LB Marshall McFadden from practice squad.
              They originally signed him on the 8th.

St. Louis Rams

Signed LB Korey Toomer, WR/KR Devon Wylie and WR Kadron Boone to practice squad.

Oct. 20 - Cut WRs Austin Pettis and Emory Blake (PS).

Oct. 7 - Cut Justin Veltung from practice squad.

The Rams' practice squad as of November 15:
Baker, Blake, Bond, Christian Bryant, Matt Conrath, Justice Cunningham, Keenum, Brad Smelley, Jamea Thomas and Wylie.

-$-

Catching up: ex-Rams transactions

And recent transactions involving ex-Rams, some of which I may have missed the first time around:

Nov. 12 - New Orleans signed Brian Leonard.

NBC Sports

Nov. 11 - Cleveland signed Ray Agnew Jr. back to the main roster. They had waived him  back on October 20th.

Tampa released Denicos Allen (signed Nov. 3) from their practice squad. I don't have any record from any of three different sites when the Rams released him or when the Bucs signed him. The lack of a fully-accurate NFL transactions source in the age of the information superhighway continues to be truly baffling.   

Houston waived Zac Diles. He may have been signed on Oct. 29th.

Nov. 3 - Detroit cut Danny Gorrer. Gorrer was picked up the next day by the Ravens,
             re-uniting him with their secondary coach, Steve Spagnuolo.

Nov. 5 - Tampa signed Quinton Pointer to their practice squad.

             Carolina re-signed Chris Ogbonnaya after waiving him on the 3rd.
             They originally signed him Sept. 30.

Oct. 31 - Carolina signed Kevin Reddick to their practice squad. He had been waived
              on the 7th.

Oct. 29 - Jacksonville signed Matt Daniels to their practice squad.

AP

Oct. 21 - Dallas released Michael Sam from their practice squad.

Oct. 15 - Denver signed Gerald Rivers to their practice squad.

Oct. 11 - Buffalo placed Chris Williams on season-ending injured reserve.

Oct. 7 - Buffalo released Jamie Childers from their practice squad. They had signed him a week earlier.

Sept. 30 - Rokevious Watkins' league suspension was lifted. He remains unsigned.

-$-

Rams injury report, 11/1

The Rams have so many injuries right now, the list gets its own post. The Rams were too banged up on Wednesday to even do a proper practice. They just did a walkthrough. Even in Steve Spagnuolo's injury-plagued regime I can't remember such a thing happening.

Questionable
* Aaron Donald, shoulder. The biggest injury to worry about since he's been the defense's best player this year. Was limited on Friday, which was his first practice of the week.
* Jo-Lonn Dunbar, toe
* Janoris Jenkins, knee. Injured against Seattle. Sat out the Kansas City game and has not practiced this week. I wouldn't count on him.
* Rodney McLeod, knee. Injured against Kansas City. Was limited Friday.

Probable
* Tim Barnes, shoulder
* Kenny Britt, hip
* Cody Davis, concussion. Injured against Kansas City. Has passed the league protocol.
* William Hayes, foot
* Trumaine Johnson, knee. Johnson will play against the 49ers, I assume as the starter.
* Lamarcus Joyner, hip
* Marcus Roberson, ankle
* Scott Wells, elbow. I'll start with the optimistic o-line news: there's a chance the Rams' line will be pretty intact Sunday.
* Rodger Saffold, shoulder. As for the pessimistic news, I want to start by giving the injury-plagued Saffold all the credit in the world for being willing to pay through pain. But it's widely believed he is going to need shoulder surgery after the season, assuming it holds up for another two months. In other words, the Raiders weren't crazy, just sloppy, when they signed him this spring and then said they weren't keeping him because he failed a physical. The Rams then pooh-poohed that and signed him to a big deal. More top dollar from this regime for damaged goods.


Out for season
* Jake Long, ACL. Like Bradford, Long re-tore the ACL that put him out last season, and the new injury was almost exactly ten months after the old injury. The Rams are being defended as not having rushed Long or Bradford back. Didn't an ACL use to be a one-year recovery? In any event, that'll do it for Long as a Ram. He's not a talent bust like Drew Bennett, he's an injury bust, but his signing rivals Bennett's as one of the worst free agent signings in the St. Louis era. Long is way too juicy a cap target to even think about bringing back for 2015, and he has an obvious replacement on hand in Robinson, so the Rams will let him go and not look back. Long would represent cheap veteran insurance for the second half of the 2015 season, and a lot of guys will be injured by then, so I expect he'll finish his rehab while with another team.
* Brian Quick, shoulder. When he went to the ground after his only catch Sunday, he separated his shoulder and tore his rotator cuff. Rotator cuff? St. Louis really is a baseball town. This is the injury that mainly tells us the football gods hate the Rams. By all appearances, Quick is on his way as a quality NFL receiver. This injury has the crappiest timing I can imagine. The WR corps I see right now needs beefing up if Quick can't be relied on 100% next year. Kenny Britt needs to start showing up, Brian Schottenheimer needs to figure out how the hell to get the ball to Tavon Austin and it's time for Stedman Bailey to flash that preseason form.


The Rams reportedly made 18 roster moves this week to adjust for all the injuries. I'm obviously behind on transactions anyway; that will also be getting its own post.

-$-

Rams acquire Mark Barron

Getty Images

Make no mistake, part of the reason this is the world's slowest blog is that the Rams are just no fun to write about. The 2014 season is rapidly spinning down the toilet bowl after an uncompetitive 34-7 loss at Kansas City dropped the Rams to 2-5 and about half the team was injured, including Brian Quick and Jake Long for the season. But there has been plenty to write about.

For instance, the Rams made a frankly puzzling trade at the deadline Tuesday and acquired Tampa safety Mark Barron. Drafted 7th overall in 2012, Barron has underachieved so far in Tampa and they're basically giving up on him. With several injuries yet to be reported, the Rams may have made the move because they've run out of bodies in the secondary. Rumor is that Rodney McLeod has a long-term knee injury. Cody Davis got a concussion Sunday. All of that conspired to bump Lamarcus Joyner back to safety for a while during the game. Janoris Jenkins and Trumaine Johnson could both return to action this week, but the roster is still very thin at safety short of moving TruJo or Joyner back there full-time, not the best use for either player.

Barron is 6'1", 213 and just 25. He was considered the best safety of the 2012 draft class, highly regarded for his ball skills, range and run support. Those haven't translated from Alabama to the NFL so far. Pro Football Focus ranked him 70th at his position as a rookie, 55th last year, and he was down to 66th this year. The verdict from Tampa is that the Bucs never used Barron correctly, that he should be used as an in-the-box safety but played deep safety about 70% of the time. He's supposed to be a very good run defender and to possess the skills to cover tight ends underneath to thrive as a box safety. His deep speed and coverage skills are lacking and the Bucs were not putting him in the best position to succeed.

The Rams gave up 4th- and 6th-round picks for Barron. There's little question any more those are going to be picks very early in those rounds. It's also hard to look at this team and not think they need all the draft picks they can get. With all the holes they (still) have, that's too high a price to pay for an unproductive safety. Box safeties are cheap commodities. In recent seasons, the Rams have found Davis, McLeod and Darian Stewart as undrafted free agents. And what the hell happened to Maurice Alexander, this year's 4th-round pick? He ideally would have been next man up, but instead, the Rams fired off two draft picks to not have to play him. So, two picks for Barron, and expense a blown pick on a safety they're apparently already giving up on to that account, too.

Barron sounds like a good fit, and he's still young. It's still a trade I have a hard time getting enthused about until Les Snead finds a way to replace those draft picks.

-$-

Rams report, 10/18: Key Seahawks missing

AP

More Rams news you already knew, from the world's slowest blog:

* Attendance report. Who knows how much it will matter since the Rams just lost to the 49ers without Patrick Willis, NaVarro Bowman or Aldon Smith, but Seattle will be missing some key players for tomorrow's game:

-The heart of the defense, middle linebacker Bobby Wagner, will be out due to turf toe. His absence should be a significant help to the running game. Plus, if that pulls Kam Chancellor into run defense even more than he already is, the Rams should be able to kill Seattle with play-action tight end passes.

- With Byron Maxwell (calf injury) out, Brian Quick should have a much better time getting open than he did against the 49ers. Maxwell's injury should make Marcus Burley the next man up for Seattle. Seattle should also be much more vulnerable in the slot than usual.

- The best player on the Seahawk offensive line, center Max Unger, is out due to a foot injury. If the Rams don't get pressure up the middle on Russell Wilson tomorrow, they never will.

- And, in possibly the worst-timed trade in league history, the Seahawks traded Percy Harvin to the Jets Friday. So they didn't watch tape of the Rams from opening week at all? Harvin was set up to kill the Rams with jet sweeps tomorrow, and loosen up the field a lot for Marshawn Lynch. The Rams will be keying all over Lynch now.

The Rams' injury report:
Doubtful: Tim Barnes (shoulder, injured Monday night)
Questionable: Jo-Lonn Dunbar (groin), Trumaine Johnson (knee), Brandon McGee (foot), Ethan Westbrooks (hand)
Probable: Alex Carrington (knee), Barrett Jones (back), Austin Pettis (ankle), Chase Reynolds (hip), Zac Stacy (ankle).

The Rams are 6.5-point underdogs and Seattle is being picked to win straight up by 98% of the public.

* Referees admit they're idiots. In a rare admission, the NFL said the referees blew the call against Jared Cook in the first half Monday night. League vice-president Dean Blandino:

From the back judge's perspective, the official that threw the flag, he's got Cook extending his arms into the defender, and in his judgment, pushing to create separation. That's not the case when you look at the sideline angle. (Cook) is going to get jammed by the defender and he's going to use his hands to get that release. That's legal, that's not offensive pass interference. Not a correct call.

Unfortunately, a bad, young team like the Rams that finds plenty of ways to lose games on its own isn't going to recover from referee screw-ups.

* Alumni news. Not a lot out there this week, though I have to admit I didn't look very hard. John Greco has moved to starting center for the Browns after Alex Mack's season-ending injury last week. The Browns also suffered another season-ending injury: Armonty Bryant, the defensive lineman whose tackle blew out Sam Bradford's knee in preseason, blew out his right knee against the Steelers. Maybe Bradford was contagious? 

-$-

Rams report, 10/12: Class of '99 reunion

* Monday night injury report:
Out - Trumaine Johnson (knee); Brandon McGee (foot).
Questionable - Alex Carrington (knee); Jo-Lonn Dunbar (groin); Barrett Jones (back); Chase Reynolds (hip).
Probable - Kenny Britt (knee); Eugene Sims (groin); Zac Stacy (calf).

Stacy is expected to play. The worrying name on this week's list is Dunbar, who's made a good number of run stuffs this season and has been the player most comfortable in the new scheme, since he played in it before in New Orleans. For San Francisco, Vernon Davis (back) and Anthony Davis (back) look like the most significant injuries. Both are questionable.

ESPN

* Transactions:
The 49ers are 3-point favorites and are getting picked straight-up by 94% of fans, so the Rams will try to chop down the mightiest tree in the forest with a Herring. To replace Ray Ray Armstrong, they signed veteran LB Will Herring (31, 6'3", 241), who vexed the Rams a time or two as a Seahawk. It'll be as shocking to hear that Herring played a season for Gregg Williams in New Orleans (he spent three years there) as it will be to hear that he's a graduate of (sigh) Auburn University.  Scouting reports consider Herring strictly a special-teams specialist. His veteran temperament could settle down the Rams' special-teams penalty problems. He was the Saints' special teams captain last season.

* Alumni report:
- As for Ray Ray The Penalty Machine, he was cut on Monday and picked up by Tuesday by the team he was born to play for: the Raiders. And yes, he will return to St. Louis November 30.

Sporting News

- Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson was the subject of A Football Life this week on NFL Network. It wasn't a bad hour of TV, but it wasn't very compelling, either. If you missed it, you don't have to go out of your way to watch it. The highlight was, well, the highlights, featuring not only Dickerson's amazing ability to break tackles and make people miss in the open field, but the impressive offensive line he ran behind. I think he broke O.J. Simpson's record with a 9-yard run; thanks to his line he didn't have to deal with a defender for the first 7 yards of it. Another favorite highlight was a 20-25 yard TD run where Dennis Harrah has his back to the play and it's not even close to over, but he raises his hands and heads toward the sideline because he knew that early in the play that it was going to be a TD. Old fans don't need to hear from me that a RB that good with a line that good in front of him really should have gotten the Rams a championship or two.

- And, of course, the Rams are going to have the better part of the Super Bowl XXXIV championship team in St. Louis this weekend and tomorrow night. The Rams' gameday info e-mail to season ticket holders lists these as the players and coaches expected to attend: Coach Dick Vermeil, Coach Mike Martz, Ray Agnew, Taje Allen, Lionel Barnes, Dre Bly, Isaac Bruce, Devin Bush, Kevin Carter, Rich Coady, Ernie Conwell, Clifton Crosby, D'Marco Farr, Marshall Faulk, London Fletcher, Mike Gruttadauria, Az Hakim, James Hodgins, Robert Holcombe, Torry Holt, Mike Horan, Tony Horne, Keith Lyle, Dexter McCleon, Andy McCollum, Fred Miller, Mike Morton, Tom Nütten, Orlando Pace, Jeff Robinson, Cameron Spikes, Chris Thomas, Ryan Tucker, Rick Tuten, Kurt Warner, Justin Watson, Jeff Wilkins, Jay Williams, Roland Williams, Grant Wistrom, Jeff Zgonina. Forget the halftime ceremony: they could stand to suit about 16 of those guys up for the game.

RamView will have to miss all the fun due to a scheduling conflict - thanks for the stupid Monday night game, Goodell, I could have made it today - but maybe I'll have the recap out Wednesday now instead of Friday. Monday night games still suck.

-$-

Rams cut Armstrong

@boom_king26

In the wake of a 34-28 loss at Philadelphia in which they trailed 34-7 at one point, the Rams have cut special teams player Ray Ray Armstrong. As they're known to do, the Rams hurt their cause with a bunch of penalties (10), many of them dumb, and though I think this was his first penalty this season, Armstrong's had a penchant for stupid special teams penalties, and he committed the dumbest one Sunday, a 15-yarder for shoving an Eagle player down after a 22-yard Darren Sproles punt return. That put the Eagles across midfield to start what would be a FG drive. (He might also have had something to do with the Eagles' blocked punt TD; the pressure came from the gap between him and Corey Harkey.)

For that to be a penalty that cost him his job, Armstrong didn't get his money's worth, because it wasn't that much of a push. The Eagle player fell more because he slipped on the turf than because Armstrong pushed him. It was a soft penalty, but you know what? Just don't do that. There was no need for it, and Armstrong's penalties have hurt the Rams more than enough times.

So, it took over two years, but there are finally implications in the Fisher regime for committing stupid penalties. With Armstrong out, and with Zac Stacy injured, there's the glorious chance Monday night that the Rams' 3rd- and 4th-round picks this year, Tre Mason and Maurice Alexander, might both actually be active for a game. Being down a LB could mean that Denicos Allen will get called up from the practice squad, but there's no official move there yet.

I also wouldn't be terribly surprised to see Armstrong turn up on the roster of a NFC West team in the next week or so.

-$-

Rams report, 10/3: Lots of stuff you already knew

AP

* Davis named starter. Jeff Fisher has backtracked on his pre-bye week talk and has named Austin Davis the Rams' starting QB for the rest of the season. It's surprising that Fisher changed his mind after saying nothing but "Shaun Hill is our starter" for three weeks, but it's the right move. Davis' ability to lead the offense, his mobility, his fearlessness going downfield, and certainly not least, his 70+% completion percentage, have earned him the starting role, while Hill hadn't done anything to plant himself decisively into the role.

Designating Davis as the starter for the rest of the season is the right move, too. If he's earned the job, he's earned the chance to have and keep the job without having to look over his shoulder every week. I feared Davis' interceptions or blitz-reading skills might knock him back to second-string, but in promoting Davis and avoiding a QB controversy, Fisher has made the right move.
 
* Injury report: The Rams should be in pretty good shape coming off a bye week, and they are.
Out: Trumaine Johnson (knee), Barrett Jones (back), Brandon McGee (foot). Johnson is said to be on schedule, which to me means he could return in the next couple of weeks. Jones has improved to the point of working out individually and could be ready to go next week.
Probable: Shaun Hill (quad). Sounds like Hill is really 100%, though.
Questionable: Tavon Austin (knee). Austin has looked good in practice and should be active tomorrow.

Two significant injuries for the Eagles: they could be missing Mychal (aka Marvin) Kendricks on defense, and will be missing center Jason Kelce on the offensive line.

* Tick talk. The reason for Scott Wells' mysterious absences this summer has been revealed: a bug bite. STLToday article OK, it was much more serious than that. Wells contracted a disease called ehrlichia, which develops from tick bites. It started with flu-like symptoms before Wells actually ended up in intensive care the last week of OTAs. Yikes. Wells also lost 20 pounds while in ICU. Double yikes. Wells doesn't have any idea where he got the tick bite. He wasn't out camping and his dogs weren't even at his house. He missed time in training camp getting his weight and his strength back.

So obviously, Wells had a lot to overcome physically just to be ready for the season. STLToday's article agrees with my last RamView that Wells and the offensive line are coming off their best performance of the season. Still TBD if a symptom of ehrlichia is forgetting snap counts, though.

* Practice squad shuffle. Justin Veltung returned to the practice squad during the bye week, replacing Brad Smelley. Since then, though, Smelley has returned, replacing Kourtnei Brown. The current squad: Denicos Allen, Emory Blake, Christian Bryant, Matt Conrath, Garrett Gilbert, Mike Remmers, Smelley, Veltung, Jemea Thomas, Brandon Washington.

* Alumni report:
- Ryan Pickett re-gained the crown for longest-tenured former Ram from Steven Jackson when he was signed by Houston last week.
- Carolina signed Chris Ogbonnaya. He was cut by Cleveland before the start of this season after playing there for three years. Carolina's top three RBs are all out right now, so Chris could see some carries.
- Kevin Reddick, who had a cup of coffee on the Rams' PS in September, has been signed by San Diego.
- I'm sure everyone's had enough of the Ray Rice story, but I didn't know about former Ram (identified only as a former Raven) Chris Johnson's involvement in the anti-domestic violence movement. I knew his sister had passed away but not that her death was a result of domestic violence. Johnson has become a pretty prominent voice, so I thought I'd link to this SI.com article.

ESPN

* The Rams are 7-point underdogs to the Eagles Sunday. Straight up, 97% of fans are picking Philadelphia to win. The Eagles looked far from unbeatable in San Francisco, though, thanks to injuries in the middle of their offensive line. LeSean McCoy, and therefore my FFL team, have gone nowhere the past two weeks. The 49ers knocked Nick Foles around. Of the two QBs tomorrow, Davis may be the one with the better deep ball. I would definitely like to see the Rams run plays that get Davis outside. Philadelphia was clueless last week to the idea of pocket containment. They don't defend the edges well at all, so let's run plenty of sweeps, too. A lot more flaws to this team than you'd expect for a playoff-caliber team. Let's see if the Rams can find ways to exploit those.

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