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.

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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.
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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