http://www.rams-news.com/foles-pep-rally-turns-into-inquisition-on-bradford-trade-pd/%5DFoles Pep Rally Turns into Inquisition on Bradford Trade –PD
Friday’s introductory news conference for quarterback Nick Foles had all the trappings of a pep rally.

http://www.rams-news.com/britt-fairley-sign-on-big-day-for-rams-pd/%5DBritt, Fairley Sign on Big Day for Rams –PD
Just hours after signing Detroit defensive tackle Nick Fairley, the Rams continued to make moves in free agency by re-signing wide receiver Kenny Britt to a two-year deal, according to the team.

http://www.rams-news.com/rams-re-sign-kenny-britt-pd/%5DRams Re-sign Kenny Britt –PD
Just hours after signing Detroit defensive tackle Nick Fairley, the Rams continued to make moves in free agency signing wide receiver Kenny Britt to a two-year deal according to the team.

http://www.rams-news.com/kenny-britts-return-to-rams-best-for-both-sides-wagoner/%5DKenny Britt’s Return to Rams Best for Both Sides –Wagoner
From the moment wide receiver Kenny Britt arrived in St. Louis on a one-year “prove it” deal in 2014, he made it clear that he needed a fresh start with a familiar face.

http://www.rams-news.com/no-guarantees-rams-are-done-adding-qbs-wagoner/%5DNo guarantees Rams Are Done Adding QB’s –Wagoner
Poor Nick Foles. Surrounded by the pomp and circumstance of a glorified pep rally Friday afternoon at Rams Park, Foles was supposed to be the center of attention as the new, albeit possibly temporary, face of the St. Louis Rams franchise.

http://www.rams-news.com/bernie-fairley-and-ayers-good-fits-for-rams/%5DBernie: Fairley and Ayers Good Fits for Rams
There’s risk involved, because Fairley was up and down in his career with the Detroit Lions.

http://www.rams-news.com/gray-an-in-depth-look-at-the-bradford-foles-trade/%5DGray: An In-Depth Look at the Bradford-Foles Trade
Just five years ago, former Oklahoma Sooners Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Sam Bradford was dropping jaws and setting the NFL world abuzz with an astonishing showing at his pre-draft pro day.

http://www.rams-news.com/jeff-fisher-discusses-the-foles-ayers-and-fairley-additions-audio/%5DJeff Fisher Discusses the Foles, Ayers and Fairley Additions –Audio

http://www.rams-news.com/under-the-lights-new-rams-qb-nick-foles-video/%5DUnder the Lights: New Rams QB Nick Foles –Video

http://www.rams-news.com/rich-eisen-interviews-rams-gm-les-snead-video/%5DRich Eisen Interviews Rams GM Les Snead –Video

http://www.rams-news.com/adam-schefter-breaks-down-the-nick-fairley-signing-for-the-rams-video/%5DAdam Schefter Breaks Down the Nick Fairley Signing for the Rams –Video

http://www.rams-news.com/rams-offer-nick-fairley-chance-to-reach-his-potential-wagoner/%5DRams Offer Nick Fairley Chance to Reach his Potential –Wagoner
In the 2011 NFL draft, the St. Louis Rams had the 14th pick and patiently waited their turn to make a selection while superstar pass-rushers such as J.J. Watt, Von Miller, Aldon Smith and Marcell Dareus came off the board.

http://www.rams-news.com/rams-sign-fairley-introduce-foles-pd/%5DRams Sign Fairley, Introduce Foles –PD
ust before introducing their new quarterback, Nick Foles, the Rams brought in another Nick to meet the assemblage of reporters and Rams employees.

http://www.rams-news.com/so-who-won-the-bradford-foles-trade-pft/%5DSo Who Won the Bradford-Foles Trade? –PFT
In a week full of surprising moves in the NFL, none came as a bigger shock than the news that the Eagles had traded quarterback Nick Foles to the Rams for quarterback Sam Bradford.

http://www.rams-news.com/morning-ram-blings-return-on-qbs-wagoner/%5DMorning Ram-blings: Return on QBs –Wagoner
The St. Louis Rams certainly haven’t been shy about making deals that involve quarterbacks going elsewhere and getting draft pick compensation in return.

http://www.rams-news.com/nick-foles-thankful-to-be-in-st-louis-video/%5DNick Foles Thankful To Be In St. Louis –Video

http://www.rams-news.com/nick-fairley-talks-after-signing-with-the-rams-video/%5DNick Fairley Talks After Signing with the Rams –Video

http://www.rams-news.com/jeff-fisher-talks-bradford-foles-trade-audio/%5DJeff Fisher Talks Bradford-Foles Trade –Audio

http://www.rams-news.com/rams-gm-les-snead-explains-foles-bradford-trade-free-agency-and-draft-audio/%5DRams’ GM Les Snead Explains Foles-Bradford Trade, Free Agency and Draft –Audio

http://www.rams-news.com/nick-foles-its-an-honor-to-be-here-video/%5DNick Foles: “It’s an honor to be here.” –Video

http://www.rams-news.com/amari-cooper-discusses-his-pro-day-video/%5DAmari Cooper Discusses His Pro Day –Video

http://www.rams-news.com/will-witherspoon-breaks-down-the-bradford-foles-trade-video/%5DWill Witherspoon Breaks Down the Bradford-Foles Trade –Video

http://www.rams-news.com/lance-kendricks-talks-re-signing-with-rams-video/%5DLance Kendricks Talks Re-Signing with Rams –Video

http://www.rams-news.com/grudens-qb-camp-best-of-brett-hundley-video/%5DGruden’s QB Camp: Best Of Brett Hundley –Video

Bernie: Bradford should cut Rams a break

By Bernie Miklasz

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bernie-miklasz/bernie-bradford-should-cut-rams-a-break/article_2cf334ea-38f7-53f4-b1b8-743ed39b16fc.html

Oh, goodie … it’s your lucky day! Time for another hot take on Rams quarterback Sam Bradford. And I’m sure there will be many more before he moves on, or the Rams move on, or whatever happens next in their unfortunate, unsuccessful relationship.

Let’s start by getting a several preliminaries out of the way:

* Bradford is entering the final season of his six-year rookie deal worth $76 million. Bradford is scheduled to make $12.985 million in salary this season, but he’ll count $16.58 million against the team’s salary cap.

* It’s not Bradford’s fault that he got stuck with a terrible football team, or that he was the last No. 1 overall draft pick before the NFL and the NFL players’ union changed the system for rookie compensation in 2011. Bradford’s $76 million was pretty much locked in as soon as the Rams picked him at the top of the 2010 draft. There were no negotiations. He was going make as much money as a Wal Mart heir no matter what he did during the life of the contract.

* Our Jim Thomas — the former star running back at Southwest High School on the city’s south side — has reported, on multiple occasions, that the Rams would like Bradford to restructure the contract and play 2015 at a lower salary.

* Our man Thomas also reports that the Rams and Bradford’s agent Tom Condon have been unable to reach an agreement. There is resistance in the Bradford camp.

* Despite the fact that Bradford has had two knee surgeries … since the fall of 2013 … and that he’s missed the last 25 regular season games … and that he has started only 49 of a possible 80 games during his first five seasons … and that his injury problems date back to his final season of college ball and missing most of the games at Oklahoma in 2009 … the Rams LOVE him. Coach Jeff Fisher and GM Les Snead and offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti and QB coach Chris Weinke have all made that abundantly clear. To quote the famous poet 50 Cent, the Rams’ bosses LOVE Sam Bradford the way a fat kid love cake. (And I do love cake, by the way.) Heck, Fisher basically sought Bradford’s approval before promoting Cignetti and hiring Weinke.

* When the Rams’ folks talk about Bradford, I have to go for the Q tips to clean my ears and make sure I’m hearing things correctly; the Indy Colts don’t carry on about Andrew Luck the way the Rams slobber over Bradford. My late father Bernie Sr. never talked about Johnny Unitas the way Fisher pumps up Bradford.

* It’s one of the most remarkable things I’ve seen, considering that the Rams have WON 18 GAMES WITH BRADFORD AS A STARTING QB since the beginning of the 2010 season. … yes, a whopping 18 WINS … Goodness, the way this is going, I fully expect Rams owner Stan Kroenke to go to Bradford to seek Sam’s permission to move the team to Los Angeles or keep it in St. Louis. I’m surprised that Rams Chief Operating Officer Kevin Demoff hasn’t gone to Dave Peacock and Bob Blitz to demand that Bradford be put in charge of designing the new football stadium.

* Of course, the current predicament is mostly the Rams’ own fault. Snead and Fisher failed to take a proactive and aggressive approach in securing a legitimate QB alternative to Bradford. Especially after Bradford went down the first time, the Rams should have used a premium draft choice to select and develop Bradford’s successor or replacement. They could have, at least in theory, made a trade for a veteran NFL starter. Or reached higher than, say, Shaun Hill. Instead, Snead-Fisher drafted Garrett Gilbert in the 6th round last year, they signed Hill, and they brought Austin Davis back. That’s it. Do you see quality insurance or a future plan there? Nope.

* Condon is a great agent. A legendary agent. A wise agent. And a tough agent. Condon is apparently determined to make sure that Bradford receives full payment on the original contract. And if you look at this from Condon’s viewpoint … why should he settle for less? There’s a shortage of quarterbacks in this league, which explains the recent free-agent feeding frenzy to sign marginal NFL starter Josh McCown. (Cleveland “won” the bidding.) The Buffalo Bills just made a trade with Minnesota for that prized catch, Matt Cassel. The list of remaining free-agent quarterbacks reads like something out 1987, when desperate teams were signing replacement-squad QBs to rush in and start games with the veterans out on strike. Heck, Sammy Garza and Shawn Halloran might be able to find a backup gig right now.

* And when Condon looks at the free-agent list, and when he scans the Rams roster, and when he knows that the Rams have done nothing to give themselves a legitimate option at QB to possibly move Bradford to the side … well, what do you expect Condon to do? In this barren quarterback market, why should Bradford accept less money when the Rams — more than anyone — are faithfully declaring their undying love for Sam?

From a pure business/bargaining position, I’m on Condon’s side. Again, the Rams largely put themselves in this mess by drafting Bradford, and they’ve kept themselves stuck in the muck by staying with Bradford and ignoring the obvious alarms.

But that’s only one side of it.

Here’s the other: Bradford should give the Rams a break.

Why?

I could list many reasons, but let’s stick with three:

1. Because $am already collected about $63 million from the Rams, and he’s started only 61.25 percent of the regular-season games, and the team is 18-30-1 when he starts. Again, he has no obligation to take a pay cut. But in this case, it’s the right thing to do. The Rams have been incredibly supportive and patient with Bradford. And it isn’t unreasonable to ask him to help out _ yes, even though they clearly deserve to be caught in this foolish position of depending on him again.

2. Because if $am accepts less money in 2015, the Rams will have more money to spend on free agents. I’m not saying they’d spend it wisely. They’ve had too many swings-and-misses in free agency during the Snead-Fisher regime. But at least the Rams would have more money in hand to seek solutions, fill holes, and put a better team around Bradford. The Rams require assistance on the offensive line. They need a tackle, a guard, and probably a center. Bradford is coming off two consecutive seasons wrecked by knee injuries. Doesn’t he want the best possible protection he can get? By taking a pay cut, Bradford would be investing in his own safety.

3. Because if $am plays at a reduced rate, and he has the 2015 season that he and everyone else has been waiting for … can you imagine the kind of berserk, preposterous and insane bidding for him on the open free-agent market after the ’15 season? If NFL general managers are losing their minds over Josh McCown, Bradford would cash in for a huge contract.

If the Rams are willing to put attainable incentives in a reworked Bradford contract, he’d probably end up making close to the original $13 million, anyway.

Bradford needs to play and perform. And if he plays and performs at a quality level in 2015, he’ll make plenty of money going forward, and will more than make up for any salary concessions he grants now.

If five-time league MVP Peyton Manning can take a pay cut in Denver … it’s hardly unreasonable, let alone outrageous, to ask Bradford to do the same.

=============================
MMQB
Peter King
The Super Bowl Story, According to Tom Brady

http://mmqb.si.com/2015/02/09/tom-brady-super-bowl-49-nfl/6/

The Game Plan.

FULL STORY
McDaniels: “I didn’t get to see tape on Seattle until about 4 in the afternoon the day after our championship game. The way we do it is, we take care of all our Super Bowl logistical work first, so we can concentrate on game preparation after that without a lot of distractions. I watched a lot of them, obviously.

And when you saw people have success against them, you saw teams stringing eight or 10 normal successful football plays together. Not explosive plays. But the word that kept coming to my mind, and I must have said it to our offensive players 25 times in two weeks of prep, was ‘patience.’ I told them, ‘Maybe we can come out of the game with one or two big plays. Maybe. But just trust the process.

Be patient.’ The keys, to me, were being patient and never running horizontally after the catch. Just go upfield. You’re not going to create yards by trying to get around one guy, because two guys will be waiting for you. We did so many catch-and-run drills during the week of practice. Vertical, vertical, vertical. For Tom, the key was: Do not hold the ball for four seconds, or bad things are gonna happen.”

Brady: “I watched a lot of tape. A lot.”

He watched the Seahawks’ NFC Championship Game three times.

Brady: “They’d allowed the fewest big plays of any team all season, and you saw pretty early why you don’t want to go into the Super Bowl throwing up a bunch of posts, a bunch of ‘nine’ routes. [‘Go’ routes.] Richard Sherman picks off the go route every time you throw it. The plan was to exploit other parts of the field—but short parts of the field. Michael Bennett rushes from everywhere. Cliff Avril kills people. They believe in what they do. We countered that by saying, ‘Okay, here’s what we’re pretty good at: Space the field, find the soft spots, be satisfied with the four-yard gain, be happy with the four-yard gain. We were gonna be happy with a two-yard gain.”
Ball Security.

McDaniels: “The thing nobody talks about with Seattle is their ability to create disruptive plays. We worked on that literally every day, and in our six or seven practices before the game. Ball security. How to run after the catch. We told the scout team guys to punch, strip, whack at the ball, all the time. I knew every time we would have the ball in space, they’d be chopping at it. And that’s exactly what happened in the game. In fact, I have this thing I do during the first half of our games. I write down on my play sheet what I want to talk about to the team at halftime. And after seeing this five, six, seven times in the first half, I wrote down: ‘Constantly stripping at the ball.’ And we talked to them about it again at halftime.”

In 72 offensive plays in Super Bowl XLIX, New England did not fumble.

(Gregory Payan/AP)Josh McDaniels and Tom Brady have both been a part of all four of the Patriots’ Super Bowl titles. (Gregory Payan/AP)
The First Drive.

Seattle led 24-14 early in the fourth quarter. After an eight-yard Bruce Irvin sack, New England had second-and-18 with 11:30 to play at the Patriots’ 24.

In the regular season, Brady was among the most deliberate quarterbacks in the league in getting rid of the ball, at 2.39 seconds per pass drop, according to Pro Football Focus. On second down he took 1.01 seconds to dump a slip-screen to Brandon LaFell on the right side. Gain of four. Third and 14.

Brady: “Would this have been a four-down situation here? I don’t know. The way it worked, Sherman had Gronkowski. Danny had a deeper incut. He was the go-to guy, but they squeezed him on defense, so I couldn’t go there. Now LaFell … He had a deep comeback. When you wait for a guy—what does he run the 40 in, and what can he run 25 yards in? Maybe 2.8 seconds, three seconds? You have to wait for him. So their rush sort of ran past me, and I moved up in the pocket. As a quarterback, you start to feel the rhythm of the pass-rush as the game goes on; your body develops a cadence. You feel what they’re doing. Russell Wilson, he doesn’t care—he can outrun them. I can’t. So I have to make the calculated decision. I had the ball quite a while there.

Me: “Well, 3.48 seconds, to be exact.”

Brady: “Probably the longest time I had all game. Julian was the last option I had on the play, and there he was, in the middle.”

Edelman caught it, bounced off Kam Chancellor, and gained 21.

New life. First down in the flat to Vereen (1.76 seconds), with an extra 15 tacked on because of a late hit by Earl Thomas.

New Goal: Three-Hawks

No team in the salary-cap era has ever been to three consecutive Super Bowls. With the majority of its talent coming back and the motivation after its Arizona disappointment, Seattle has more than a legitimate chance to become the first, Greg Bedard writes.

FULL STORY
Brady: “We knew Shane needed to play a big role in the game. The halfback would be critical against an All-Pro secondary because you’re not going to target Sherman 12 times, Chancellor 12 times. The big challenge for him was to catch it and make yards, while at least one of their guys was going for the strip. They killed the Broncos last year with that in the Super Bowl.”

Now incomplete into the end zone for LaFell, trying to take advantage of the matchup against backup corner Tharold Simon. Then Vereen over the right side for two.

Third-and-eight, 8:46 to go. Four-down territory now?

Brady: “We had two guys running opposite seams, Gronk and LaFell. Both safeties had vision on that. Julian’s route was supposed to be four yards. This was identical to a play we ran [against Seattle] in 2012. I hit Wes Welker. They played that same coverage against Welker in 2012, with a lineman dropping back on him in coverage in the short middle, and I hit him. I watched a lot of tape—our game with them from two years ago three times, Dallas this year multiple times, their championship game against Green Bay three times. I’m always trying to match the perfect amount of physical preparation with the right mental preparation. And I’m 37, I’ve got to get a lot of rest. I am a person that relies on my sleep. Anyway, that is what makes my relationship with Josh so special, because I feel at this point we’ve been together so long and we know each other so well and we’re so synchronized. This game, awesome. This play was an example of that. He knew it would work. He knew Julian would be there for me, and he was. Watching that tape, I saw it from a couple of years ago—and Josh saw it too.”

Dump to Edelman. Gain of 21.

First-and-goal, Seattle 4-yard line, 8:04 left. Plenty of time.

Now, for the only time in his last 18 plays, Brady errs. Edelman runs a quick fake post on Simon, pirouettes to the left, leaving Simon in the dust, and turns to Brady—who throws a line drive too high. Too hard, and too high. But a lesson to him. And a lesson to McDaniels.

Brady: “There’s a mental part to a football throw and a physical part. The mental part is being decisive. Every throw is risk-reward. When you’ve played for 15 years, you have what I call ‘no-fear throws.’ Josh calls them that too. You’re confident, you know you’ve got it, and you just rip it. Some other throws, just before you let the ball go, you’re still not quite convinced that’s what you want to do. It comes right off your last fingertip, and you’re just not convinced. I admire Andrew Luck; he is so decisive for a guy who is so young. Aaron Rodgers, same thing. But this throw, the last thing I wanted to do was throw it to the other guy. Just as I let it go, I caught a glimpse of the DB [Simon]. He’s looking at me, I’m looking at him, as I let it go, it was a mental mistake, I got indecisive. My fault. I have had so many plays where I have made bad plays and I say, ‘I ain’t never doing that again.’ Josh has done such a good job trying to break down the mental blocks. Some of those decisions go right up to the time before the ball leaves your fingertips. On that one, it was, like, yes yes yes, NO! On my two interceptions in the game, the first one I should have called time because I just didn’t like what I saw, and then it was too late when I made the throw. Dumb throw. The second one, Bobby Wagner made a phenomenal play. He read my eyes. He got me. If I ever play those guys again, I will not lead Bobby Wagner anywhere with my eyes.”

McDaniels: “Tom learns from everything, and he doesn’t let it bother him. What happened next was Tom took advantage of Earl [Thomas] not being quite as aggressive as he could have been. And Danny Amendola played the back of the end zone perfectly. Tommy knows, in the tight red area, you always have to err away from the defender.”

Thomas and Amendola were on the end line, Thomas to Amendola’s right, and Brady threw hard to the outside of Amendola, away from Thomas. Touchdown. Seattle 24-21.

Brady: “Earl was indecisive, thank God.”

Brady wasn’t. And he wouldn’t be on the next drive either. He would have a long memory, as would McDaniels.
(Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)Danny Amendola finished with five catches for 47 yards and a touchdown. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
The Second Drive.

Before the drive started, McDaniels said to Brady: “I got some things I’m gonna go with. I’m gonna pull ’em from everywhere.”

In the huddle to start the series, Brady, as heard on Showtime’s “Inside the NFL” show, told his team: “We need a big championship drive! That’s what we need!”

First down at the New England 36 after a short Jon Ryan punt … 6:52 to play, Seattle 24, New England 21.

• Brady to Vereen, one-handed catch. Gain of eight.
• Brady to Vereen in the left flat. Gain of four.
• Edelman, in motion to the left, grabs a quick dump-off from Brady. Gain of nine.
• After a pass-interference call on Amendola, Gronkowski beats Chancellor on a shallow cross. Gain of 20.
• Brady to Vereen, right flat, Sherman sniffs it out. No gain.

Second-and-10 at the Seattle 32, 4:05 to play. Field-goal range. But no settling now.

Brady: “So K.J. Wright walks up to Gronk. We know it’s man. Same coverage Wright had on the touchdown pass to Gronk earlier. So if you’re K.J. Wright, you’re thinking, ‘I don’t want to get beat on a TD pass again,’ and he plays him high. Gronk sells the go route, and runs the stop route. Gronk knew it. Later, he told me, ‘As soon as the ball was snapped, I knew you were throwing it to me.’ Gronk’s a tough matchup. I’ve seen it for a long time. You put two guys on him, we got three wideouts single-covered. We’ll win those, somewhere. Big fast, unbelievable hands. He’s got vacuum hands.”

Vereen on a quick snap, up the middle for seven. Seattle was tiring now. This was the 15th round of a 15-round donnybrook, and the Seahawks were on the ropes. Brady to LaFell—with no one covering him—for seven. Blount up the middle for two.

New England ball at the Seattle 3-yard line, 2:06 left.

Remember six minutes ago? New England ball at the Seattle 4-yard line?

McDaniels: “It wasn’t very complicated.”
(Christian Petersen/Getty Images)Julian Edelman’s fourth-quarter score capped a nine-catch, 109-yard day. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Brady: “After the last drive, I went to the sidelines and told Josh, ‘Josh, come back to that call. Please come back to that call.’ I knew even before the call came in what it was going to be. I knew how it was going to play out. Earl in same place. Simon in same spot. Only this time, they ended up blitzing, really a max blitz, creating one-on-one with Jules. He ran a great route. It’s a tough route to cover. The cornerback has no help. Looks like a slant. How do you not respect the coverage on the slant?’’

Edelman pushed off Simon, mildly, on the slant, then pirouetted again, just like last time. Only this time the throw wasn’t 115 miles an hour, and it wasn’t high. It was thrown medium speed, and right to Edelman.

Touchdown. New England 28, Seattle 24.

Immediately, McDaniels pointed at Brady. The NFL Films cameras captured Brady pointing at McDaniels. The message from each man was simple.

McDaniels: You executed the play exactly how it should have been done.

Brady: You trusted me on the same play again—and this time I didn’t let you down!

In the span of 10 minutes, Brady took the Patriots 76 yards in eight plays (after the Irvin sack), then 64 yards in 10 plays. He completed 13 of 15 passes. He’s had some good Super Bowl quarters in his three previous wins, but none like this one. None under this pressure, against a defense this good (though wounded, without Avril down the stretch) and with so much on the line.
The End.
(David L. Ryan/Getty Images)Brady (David L. Ryan/Getty Images)

Brady: “I haven’t thought about that yet—two touchdowns in that short a time against them. I felt good that we got the lead. I was THE reason we lost the lead. I felt like my teammates can count on me. I felt satisfied I overcame those two interceptions. I never want to be the reason why we lose.

“They trust me with the ball. All the hopes we had coming in … When you throw it 50 times, the team is saying, ‘We trust you with the ball.’ But I have to give credit to so many other guys. The emotional energy you put into games like this, the physical energy. The game is 30 percent longer, 40 percent longer because of the long pre-game and the long halftime. First time we played in 70-degree weather in two months. Football is such a game of attrition, never more than in the Super Bowl.”

McDaniels: “It’s one of the best examples of what we talk about so much—we identify how we want to play an opponent, and then we design a game plan to do that, and it might be the exact opposite of the game plan we had the previous game. But we give it to the players. We told them in this case to stay patient and not panic, and to practice the way we planned. It was an incredible example of the harmony between the players and the staff, and to Bill’s leadership making it all work, and the players buying into it, and just believing. Believing in the plan is so important, and they believed—never more than this game.”

Brady: “I had a nice moment with my wife Tuesday morning. Monday was taken up with getting home, and I finally had a chance to sleep Monday night … We woke up Tuesday, and, now, she’s woken up twice next to me after Super Bowl losses, and [for those] I was like, ‘The game’s today, right? What I just had was a nightmare, right? That didn’t really happen, right?’ And this time, I just looked at her and it was, it was …”

Pause. Three, four seconds.

Me: “What happened? What’d you say?”

Brady: “It was just special. Just pretty special.”

(Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)The Falcons went 6-10 in 2013-14 at the Georgia Dome, where they’re accused of piping in artificial crowd noise. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
On all the cheating

One of the most important things facing Roger Goodell this offseason (you mean there’s more?) is to clear the police blotter of the nagging cheating scandals/problems that have surfaced in the last couple of months.

New England is cooperating with the investigation by Ted Wells and Jeff Pash into allegations brought by Indianapolis GM Ryan Grigson that one or more footballs the Patriots used in the AFC title game were significantly underinflated. There’s no timetable for the investigation, but I wouldn’t think a decision is imminent; it took Wells 14 weeks to finish his probe into the Miami bullying scandal, and he’s been on the job here only two-and-a-half weeks.

Atlanta owner Arthur Blank told the Associated Press he expects the team will be found guilty of some wrongdoing in connection with fake crowd noise pumped into the Georgia Dome over the past two seasons. “I think what we’ve done in 2013 and 2014 was wrong,” Blank said last week, implicitly acknowledging a violation. “Anything that affects the competitive balance and fairness on the field, we’re opposed to, as a league, as a club and as an owner. It’s obviously embarrassing. But beyond embarrassing, it doesn’t represent our culture.” Some good it did. The Falcons were 3-5 at home in 2013, and 3-5 at home last season. The league could fine the Falcons or dock the team a draft choice or choices. Expect a decision as soon as this week.

Cleveland is expecting a decision soon, too, that could be harsher for the franchise than the punishment for Atlanta. GM Ray Farmer stands accused of illegally communicating via text message with coaches and in-game staffers. The NFL bans that kind of communication during games because of the potential advantage that could be gained from electronic messages from outside sources. According to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Farmer could be fined and suspended, and draft choices taken from the team, if the investigation finds he texted coaches during games. Quite a week for the Browns, who also saw a spokesman for potential starting quarterback Johnny Manziel announce that Manziel was in rehab for a substance-abuse problem. The NFL also announced a one-year suspension (minimum) for wide receiver Josh Gordon for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy. It never showers in Cleveland. It only pours torrentially.

Jerry Rice … Now, this is a strange one. Rice, clearly defending Joe Montana as comparisons between Montana and Tom Brady mount, has been critical of the Patriots for cheating. (Join the outside-of-six-northeastern-states club.) Now comes Rice’s admission, on an ESPN feature in January, that he used Stickum during his NFL career on his already-tacky gloves. Stickum was banned by the league in 1981, and Rice’s NFL career began in 1985. As he said in the ESPN piece: “I know this might be a little illegal, guys, but you put a little spray, a little Stickum on [the gloves] to make sure that texture is a little sticky.”

I’m not one to indict the entire business for the acts of a few. I am also not one to dismiss rule-breakers, even if those in the game say everyone’s doing something or other. Goodell needs to be sure there are teeth in all his sanctions, preferably involving draft picks, to be sure teams aren’t tempted to cheat in any way in the future.

And one more thing: Rice should tell us which cheating is allowable and which is reprehensible, since he knows so well.

* * *
(Larry French/Getty Images)Darren Sharper’s 14-year career ended in New Orleans in 2010. (Larry French/Getty Images)
On Darren Sharper

I mentioned in this column last week that former Green Bay and New Orleans safety Darren Sharper would be eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the first time in 2016, along with Brett Favre, Terrell Owens and Alan Faneca. I wrote those four would be leading candidates to be finalists in 2016 and said of the four players: “Pretty thin at the top, but two premier guys.” Meaning Favre and Owens.

Sharper stands accused of serial sexual assault in California, Arizona and Louisiana, in some cases by using drugs on the women he attacked.

So some media people, and quite a few fans, picked up on my note, and the reaction was intense: How can you consider a man sitting in jail, accused of drugging multiple women and raping them, for the Pro Football Hall of Fame? I wish it had been that civil. But of course it wasn’t.

I understand the emotion involved in a case like this. The crimes are deplorable and reprehensible, and if true, Sharper should be imprisoned for a very long time. And it became very clear to me last week that fans want Sharper nowhere near the Pro Football Hall of Fame, ever. To even consider him should be cause for the 46 voting members of the Hall to first be dismissed from the committee and secondly to have their heads examined.

To clarify the way the Pro Football Hall of Fame works, we have a bylaw that says we can consider only football-related factors in determining a candidate’s worthiness for election. For example, when Lawrence Taylor was up for election 16 years ago, we were allowed to consider the fact that Taylor missed four games once for a drug suspension, but we weren’t allowed to consider his drug use or his other off-field transgressions, of which there were many. I can’t tell you whether some voters considered the other things; I can just tell you that I considered Taylor as a football player only. He was enshrined on his first season of eligibility, 1999.

Talk Back
Have a question or comment for Peter King? Email him at talkback@themmqb.com and it might be included in Tuesday’s mailbag.
Maybe you would say: If a candidate is convicted of a felony, he cannot get into the Hall of Fame. Leaving the scene of an accident is a felony. Arson is a felony. Selling drugs is a felony. Animal cruelty is a felony. Should those crimes be enough to automatically eliminate a candidate?

Maybe you would say: Don’t complicate things! It’s obvious that a very serious crime, such as murder or rape, should bar a candidate from the Hall. Obvious to whom? There are 46 voters for the Hall of Fame. Do you want to leave it up to the conscience of each individual voter as to what constitutes a crime serious enough to ban a person from the Hall?

I don’t. The voters for the Hall of Fame should consider what a player did on the field, and the influences of a coach on the game and how many games he won, and the contributions that other figures have made to the sport. Beyond that, the slope is far too slippery.

I plan to devote my Tuesday column—barring some major NFL development pushing this issue aside—to your email on the subject. Send them here, and I’ll pick a handful. Thanks in advance for your interaction.

* * *
On the passing of Dean Smith

One of my fondest memories as a sportswriter came early in my career, as a 25-year-old college basketball writer for the Cincinnati Enquirer in 1982. On a late March Monday night in the Superdome, I was in the second row of the press area, even with the foul line at the basket where North Carolina was shooting, when 19-year-old UNC freshman Michael Jordan took a pass at the left wing. Georgetown led 62-61. Jordan was about 16 feet from the basket, not closely covered, and he rose to take a jump shot. It was perfect. North Carolina won the game, 63-62. That night was the first of many legendary baskets in huge games by Jordan.
Michael Jordan and Dean Smith, in 2007 (Grant Halverson/Getty Images)Michael Jordan and Dean Smith, in 2007 (Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

The cool part of the story came the next morning. In those days, the media’s access to teams wasn’t as tightly controlled as it is today (I am assuming it’s the same after a Final Four as for a big NFL playoff game). And a few reporters, including me, learned the North Carolina team would be leaving the next morning, pretty early, on the plane back to Chapel Hill. So a few of us went out to the airport. Not much security then; we went right out to an outer tarmac, where the players were waiting to board the flight home. I talked to James Worthy for a couple of minutes, and then saw Matt Doherty, another one of the players, and went up to speak to him. It was early, and I assumed most of the guys had been up much of the night celebrating. No matter. They had to get home. “Dean,” one of the North Carolina staffers told me, “wants his players back on campus for afternoon classes. If they’ve got a Tuesday afternoon class, he wants them there.”

Doherty talked about the exhilaration of the win. I looked over to the side, and there was Jordan, with a packed gym bag slung over his shoulder, wearing a coat and tie, as all traveling Tar Heels did. He was also carrying a film projector in his right hand, and a few canisters of film (this was in the pre-video days) in the other hand. I asked Doherty, “What’s Jordan doing with that film projector?”

“The freshman always carry the film and the film projector,” Doherty said.

Coat and tie. Back for Tuesday afternoon classes. Freshmen, regardless of their greatness, earning their stripes. That’s what I thought of Sunday, when I heard Dean Smith had died at 83.

Quotes of the Week

I

“Other than my parents, no one had a bigger influence on my life than coach Smith.”

—Michael Jordan, on the passing of Dean Smith.

II

“Look fellas, it’s the same thing we talked about in the Baltimore game. We just need everyone to do their job! All right? There are no new plays. We have to contain the quarterback and get to his level. We’re getting high-armed because we’re not playing with our hands. We have to step up and challenge the line of scrimmage. We have to wrap [Marshawn] Lynch up. We have to do a good job in our man-to-man coverage. There is no mystery here, fellas. It’s trusting each other and everybody doing their job!”

—New England coach Bill Belichick, to his defensive players, gathered on the bench in the second half of the Super Bowl, imploring them to remember their fundamentals, on Showtime’s “Inside the NFL” program, in a similar rant to those he’s given his defenses for years.

III

Part 1

“You gave me the best year of my life!”

—Julian Edelman, to Bill Belichick, on the field after the Patriots won the Super Bowl, as captured by NFL Films and aired on “Inside the NFL.”

Part 2

“You know what? You guys went out there and won it. It’s a players’ game.”

—Belichick, to Edelman, via NFL Films.

Part 3

“I’d do anything for you, coach.”

—Edelman, to Belichick, via NFL Films.

IV

Black Monday Primer: A definitive guide to the 2015 coaching carousel

BY DON BANKS/SI.com

http://www.si.com/nfl/2014/12/24/2015-nfl-black-monday-coaches-fired-jim-harbaugh-rex-ryan

Those seasonal winds of change are getting ready to blow on the coaching staffs and front offices of the NFL, but from all indications, there isn’t going to be quite as much activity in the league’s firing/hiring season as we first anticipated. Believe it or not, Black Monday — the day of bloodletting after the close of the NFL’s regular season — might not be quite so bleak this year, with several undecided team owners showing signs that they are starting to lean toward a sense of patience and continuity in regard to their staffing.

Fancy that. With seven or eight coaching changes made in the NFL in each of the past four seasons, this year’s coaching carousel has a chance to feature the least amount of turnover since only three teams changed coaches in 2010. Look around the league as we approach Week 17 and you’ll see several teams where coaching or general manager changes were once projected, but now look much more unlikely:

Miami owner Stephen Ross has come out in recent days and assured the continued employment of both coach Joe Philbin and general manager Dennis Hickey. Washington’s uptick in performance the past two weeks has removed whatever doubt there might have been regarding coach Jay Gruden’s status for next season. The Giants are finishing strong offensively, with three consecutive victories, and that has buoyed the chances that New York will not feel forced to move on from either coach Tom Coughlin or GM Jerry Reese.

The signs point toward stability in Jacksonville with coach Gus Bradley getting a third season in that massive rebuilding job, and Carolina miraculously being in position to defend its NFC South title this Sunday in Atlanta probably means coach Ron Rivera survives into a fourth season in Charlotte. In Buffalo, though there’s the unpredictability of new ownership with Terry and Kim Pegula, head coach Doug Marrone is thought to have secured his job for next year by getting the Bills to the eight-win mark, their best record in 10 years.

And in St. Louis, while the record is again last-place material at 6-9, Jeff Fisher’s club has posted several impressive upsets from midseason on, and has the makings of one of the league’s best defenses. In short, no changes are expected in St. Louis.

Who does that leave on the firing line? Glad you asked. It appears to be shaping up as a year that will include four or five changes among the head coaching ranks, with perhaps a similar number of moves, or slightly less, made at the general manager level.

After speaking with league executives, personnel men, team sources and agents, here’s an around-the-league encapsulation of what we think we know about the changes that are about to unfold.

Going, going, gone

• San Francisco — This just in: 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh will be coaching the final game of his interesting four-year tenure in San Francisco when the Cardinals visit Levi’s Stadium on Sunday afternoon. And my biggest question is: Can Harbaugh continue to rock his now-familiar black-and-khaki combination no matter whose sideline he lands on in 2015? I’d say at Michigan no, and Oakland yes, because the Raiders would be so happy to hire him they’d let him wear a pink tutu if he so desired.

A few things I’m hearing in regard to where San Francisco may turn in the search for its next coach: With all the time the 49ers have had to contemplate life after Harbaugh, the thinking is owner Jed York and GM Trent Baalke already know exactly who they want to hire. Their coaching search will be short and sweet and is likely to produce a hire who is seen as someone Baalke can work with seamlessly and fairly well control. After the drama of the Harbaugh era, the 49ers are not looking for another big ego or ultra-demanding personality on the sideline.

Two names that make a lot of sense: Seattle defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who I’m told the 49ers front office has already spent a lot of time studying, and Arizona defensive coordinator Todd Bowles. Both have been very successful in the NFC West, and thus would theoretically help San Francisco while also hopefully weakening one of the two rivals that finished above the 49ers in the division this season. That’s a double whammy San Francisco might like to inflict on either the Seahawks or Cardinals. Bowles is probably the “hot coordinator’’ most likely to get a head coaching job this offseason, after the superb job he did scotch-taping the depleted Arizona defense together this year.

If the priority is to fix the issues that have surfaced with franchise quarterback Colin Keapernick’s game this season, the offensive-minded candidates who figure to get the first and longest looks include highly respected Denver offensive coordinator Adam Gase, New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and Indianapolis offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton.

If management wants an internal candidate, defensive line coach Jim Tomsula has long been considered the in-house favorite, but it’d be somewhat curious if the team elevated him over its successful defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, who is very well liked in the locker room. Tight ends coach Eric Mangini is also a potentially viable choice, but I don’t think the former Jets’ and Browns’ head coach would be a well-received selection.

One wild-card candidate who could surface if the 49ers surprise us and seek a bigger name with a Super Bowl résumé: former Packers and Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren, who has the itch to coach again and has let it be known he wants back on the sideline. Holmgren would certainly not fit the lower profile-type coach Baalke is said to be seeking, but the former 49ers’ offensive coordinator does have Bay Area credibility galore, and he’d help diffuse some of the heat coming from a fan base that still doesn’t understand how the franchise could run off the coach who took the team to three consecutive NFC title games in his first three years on the job.

• New York Jets — Head coach Rex Ryan and embattled second-year general manager John Idzik were both almost assured of being fired after this season’s three-win disaster, but the news Monday that team owner Woody “Bullet Proof’’ Johnson is preparing to bring in former Houston and Washington general manager Charley Casserly as a hiring consultant seemingly guarantees a house-cleaning is on tap in Gotham. Idzik was hired two years under the agreement that he would retain Ryan as his head coach, and now he’ll never get the chance to handpick his own guy for that job. And that’s the way that story ends.

On the GM front first, that job was difficult to fill the last time it was vacant, after the firing of Mike Tannenbaum, and I don’t think the search will be any easier this time around for Johnson, who is not seen as someone candidates are eager to tie the future of their careers to. I expect the Jets to go hard after promising Ravens assistant general manager Eric DeCosta, especially since Casserly and DeCosta have history together dating to DeCosta’s days as a personnel intern in Washington. But DeCosta has been hesitant to leave Baltimore in the past, where he has been groomed as GM Ozzie Newsome’s eventual replacement, and I don’t see much changing on that front on behalf of the always chaotic Jets.

Former Bucs general manager turned ESPN analyst Mark Dominik could be in line for an interview in New York, but if there’s a coaching-GM tandem to keep on the radar screen it’s Baltimore offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak and Texans director of college scouting Mike Maccagnan. Kubiak, the former Houston head coach, was hired by Casserly as the Texans’ coach in 2006 and is known for his strong work with quarterbacks — a skill that could come in handy for the Jets if they choose to continue the team’s Geno Smith era or start over at the game’s most pivotal position.

Two other candidates who likely will be on the Jets’ wish list include Seattle’s Quinn, who would continue the club’s bent toward head coaches with a defensive background (see Ryan, Herm Edwards, Al Groh, Bill Parcells, Pete Carroll, etc.), and New England’s McDaniels, a hire that would strike a blow against the Jets’ archrivals, those Beasts of the East to the North. I don’t think McDaniels would touch the job — I know he wouldn’t get a thumbs-up from onetime would-be Jets head coach Bill Belichick — but I suppose you never know. Once upon a time Eric Mangini made that trek from Foxboro to New Jersey, and look at how well that turned out. Never mind.

• Oakland — Did you know on a clear day you can see Santa Clara from Oakland? Actually I have no idea if that’s true, but I’m guessing the Raiders hope Jim Harbaugh buys it, if only because it might help buttress their case to land the biggest fish in this year’s coaching market. Staying in the Bay Area and being in position to exact revenge on the 49ers might be the two best selling points Oakland has in wooing Harbaugh. I mean, other than the $8-million-plus per season compensation that he seems likely to require.

Most league sources I talked to believe it’s down to either Oakland or Michigan for Harbaugh, and while his preference is to stay in the NFL, the lure of Ann Arbor and being able to resurrect the struggling program at his alma mater might be too tempting an opportunity to say no to. If there’s a possession arrow at the moment, indications are it has begun to slightly point in the direction of the Wolverines. Remember, the Harbaugh family quotes Bo Schembechler on a near-daily basis, and considers the ex-Michigan coach in their own personal pantheon of heroes. To have Jim ascend to that throne would be close to a dream-come-true material.

Or as one source told me: “He can go there and be God, and never get fired. That’s a home he can live in and stay at. It’ll be like [Nick] Saban in Alabama. He’ll do whatever he wants there. I’d call that the logical place for him.’’

That said, Raiders owner Mark Davis has already swung and missed on Jon Gruden — who said no thanks and signed a new extension with ESPN — and he’ll throw his best sales job at Harbaugh in an effort to finally restore Oakland to the level of playoff contender. It just may work, if Harbaugh can’t overcome his hesitancy to go back to the college coaching ranks. With the promising Derek Carr at quarterback, a couple of productive drafts in a row, and some late-season progress made with three home wins, the Raiders have more to offer right now than they’ve had in quite some time.

If Harbaugh does say yes to the Raiders, it’s bad news for Oakland GM Reggie McKenzie, who will lose his job to the personnel man of Harbaugh’s choosing, perhaps ex-Browns GM Mike Lombardi or current Eagles personnel VP Tom Gamble. Both are believed to be on his short list for requested personnel chiefs if he stays in the NFL.

But where do the Raiders go if Harbaugh spurns them? It’s not out of the question that Davis will turn back to the tandem of interim head coach Tony Sparano and McKenzie in the short term. That option might make as much sense as any if Davis can’t land a game-changing headline name. Sparano did have the team improving down the stretch and has some vocal support from his locker room. He wouldn’t cost much to sign as the fulltime coach, and with the Raiders still paying off the fired Dennis Allen, money could be one of the deciding factors if Harbaugh isn’t coming.

If there’s a previous NFL head coach with a chance to surface in Oakland, Denver defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio makes some sense. He has ties in the area, and the Broncos’ defense, at least before Monday night’s meltdown in Cincinnati, has played exceptionally well this season. Del Rio is an experienced and proven commodity who won 70 games in his almost nine-season tenure in Jacksonville, and that’s nothing to sneeze at in a place like Oakland. The Jaguars have won exactly 11 games since Del Rio was fired with five games remaining in 2011, so his work there is looking better and better all the time.

On very shaky ground

• Chicago — The Bears have been a disaster on the field and a soap opera off it this season, and that’s a combination that can rarely be survived. It’s almost hard to keep track of who has thrown whom under the bus at this point. But while it looks likely that head coach Marc Trestman won’t see a third season in the Windy City, few sources believe his firing is a 100 percent eventuality. At least not yet. Bears GM Phil Emery is believed to be in big trouble himself, with Trestman’s hiring and that Jay Cutler mega-extension on his record, but he is said to still retain the confidence of Bears president Ted Phillips. If the usually patient Bears grant Emery another season, it’s not out of the question he might be loyal enough to impart the same last-chance leniency to his head coach.

The problem is, Bears fans are in an uproar and want sweeping change. If you let Emery stay and fire Trestman, you’re letting the GM who made the mistake on the coach hire the next coach. That’s not going to be easy to sell to the natives. It’s a combustible environment in Chicago, and the idea of keeping things completely status quo and expecting different results in 2015 seems ludicrous.

Jim Harbaugh, of course, was a first-round pick of the Bears in 1985 and played quarterback for Mike Ditka. He would check a ton of boxes for what ails Chicago, including leadership in the locker room, a potential quarterback guru for Cutler and a wildly popular hire to feed to the fans and the media. But nobody seems to think Harbaugh wants to head back to the Bears, so their attention is likely to be unrequited. If he’s going to live and work in a cold-weather state, chances are Harbaugh is bound for Michigan and cult-like status with the Wolverines.

If Trestman leaves and Harbaugh isn’t an option, you could make a case for soon-to-be-ex-Jets-head-coach Rex Ryan in Chicago. The Bears’ defense has become completely toothless the past two seasons, and Ryan’s father, Buddy, was the successful and iconic defensive coordinator of those beloved Super Bowl-winning ’85 Bears (just as he was with the ’68 Jets, come to think of it). Ryan would be a hit with the fans and has the bravado and bluster that Chicagoans love.

After Emery chose Trestman over eventual Cardinals coach Bruce Arians two years ago, going with Ryan would be something of a make-up move for that blunder. But saddling Ryan with a team with quarterback issues would be all-too-familiar, and almost cruel. Would Ryan pick Chicago over an easy-money TV gig? The answer to that question is not known, and may not matter in the long run.

I could see Gase surfacing in a Chicago coaching search as well. He briefly worked with Cutler on McDaniels’ staff in early 2009, but that didn’t go too well. Still, having the Peyton Manning seal of approval will probably carry a lot of weight, given the Bears’ current quarterback predicament. And lastly, don’t forget about Mike Shanahan, the only coach seemingly to ever have a great relationship with Cutler, after drafting him for Denver out of Vanderbilt in 2006. Shanahan says he’s open to coaching again in the right situation, and who would be shocked if Chicago turned to him out of desperation with Cutler’s regression and high-salaried status?

• Atlanta — The Falcons’ situation didn’t look complicated for much of this season, but now it’s a little tricky. With Atlanta capable of winning the NFC South at 7-9 if it beats the visiting 6-8-1 Panthers on Sunday, is Falcons head coach Mike Smith safe if he delivers a playoff berth, no matter if it makes his club the best team in the worst division in NFL history? Or will it take more than just another one-and-done playoff trip — something the Falcons unfortunately know plenty about — to bring Smith back in 2015?

And what of general manager Thomas Dimitroff’s fate? Most observers seem to think he’s close to owner Arthur Blank and will survive a second consecutive disappointing season in Atlanta, but there’s no consensus on that front and some still believe he’s vulnerable. There’s been plenty of talk this season that the Falcons front office is a tense, volatile place to work, with something less than complete teamwork being exhibited. Blank could be angry enough to clean house, especially since he feels the pressure of negative fan reaction with a new $1.4 billion stadium under construction and some early cost overruns to the tune of $400 million.

“There have been some fireworks there this year,’’ one league source said. “You’ve got people paddling in a lot of different directions in Atlanta.’’

Unless Atlanta stages a deep playoff run — which seems wholly unlikely in a stacked NFC field — the well-liked and successful Smith is probably going to be out of a job at some point soon. Dimitroff is a respected general manager and Blank probably isn’t ready to sever that relationship. I would put McDaniels and Gase near the top of the Atlanta coaching search and leave them there, especially if former Patriots top personnel man Scott Pioli continues as the Falcons assistant general manager. With quarterback Matt Ryan and receiver Julio Jones on the roster, the Falcons will own one of the most attractive openings on the coaching market.

What else we’re hearing as Black Monday looms …

• New York Giants — As the Giants continued what became a seven-game losing streak, Tom Coughlin’s job security looked worse by the minute. But now that New York has won three in a row to get to 6-9, and showed signs of offensive prowess with rookie receiver Odell Beckham Jr. emerging as a clear-cut star, Coughlin will likely be given another chance in 2015 to break the franchise’s three-year playoff drought. Probably. The caveat is that Giants owners John Mara and Steve Tisch will meet to discuss the state of the team a day or two after the season ends. Until that confab occurs, nothing is set in stone.

General manager Jerry Reese is thought to be safe as well, and with Eli Manning again playing like a franchise quarterback, chances are the Giants will keep things status quo and frame 2015 as a win-or-else type of season. The hope is that a second year under offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo, and an NFC East that is still devoid of a dominant team, will do the trick.

• Carolina — As strange as the season has been in Carolina — a 2-0 start, a 1-8-1 middle, and a 3-0 finish so far — you can’t rule anything out in terms of potential fallout. But the reality is the Panthers had no business contending for a second straight NFC South title this year, but here they are. If they win at Atlanta, they’ll have a home playoff game in the postseason’s first round, and that will be an improbable enough victory for a team that has endured a series of setbacks, challenges and obstacles this year.

If the Panthers don’t go to the playoffs and finish a dismal 6-9-1, head coach Ron Rivera may have to sweat out a few days of limbo and a year-end-review meeting with owner Jerry Richardson, who may make him squirm a bit in dissecting what went wrong. But I think Rivera has done enough to warrant further employment, and getting his players to finish strong with three December victories after sinking to 3-8-1 speaks well for him.

• Buffalo — Even with a disappointing loss at Oakland on Sunday, which might cost the Bills (8-7) a shot at their first winning season since 2004, head coach Doug Marrone has made progress this year and is not thought to be in danger of losing his job. But new ownership does tend to make changes upon assuming control, and Buffalo’s Terry Pegula had something of a reputation for shaking up the NHL Sabres’ front office fairly often.

Most sources I spoke with think Pegula will give Marrone and general manager Doug Whaley a full season of evaluation and learn more about the entire organization before contemplating any top-level moves. But there are those who believe Whaley could be vulnerable to be replaced this offseason, with the team’s overdrafting of quarterback EJ Manuel in 2013 and the steep cost of the first-round deal for receiver Sammy Watkins in a receiver-rich 2014 draft hurting Whaley’s cause dramatically. The Bills gave up their 2015 first-round pick to move up five spots and select Watkins, who has had a strong rookie season. But they could have stayed put and taken Odell Beckham Jr. or other standout rookie receivers, while retaining their No. 1 pick next season.

• Washington — While Jay Gruden won’t fall victim to the one-and-done treatment that the likes of Marty Schottenheimer received in Washington in 2001, the bigger question in D.C. is if the team will consider conducting a search for a top-level personnel executive to bring into the fold to work with team president/general manager Bruce Allen.

Some believe that move would give Gruden the best possible chance to succeed, adding a talented personnel evaluator to the mix, helping upgrade Washington’s front office and adding another strong voice in the room.

But Washington currently has former Chargers GM A.J. Smith in a senior executive advisory role on the personnel side, and if there are any changes to come, sources say it’ll be to promote Smith to general manager and let Allen retain his team presidency. Allen assumed personnel final authority after the firing of Mike Shanahan last year.

• Tennessee — Titans president/CEO Tommy Smith at midseason declared first-year head coach Ken Whisenhunt and third-year GM Ruston Webster both safe. And they most likely are. But the Titans’ record at that point was 2-6, and they’re now 2-13, with a galling nine-game losing streak that has remarkably come against teams that entered each of those games coming off a loss. The lack of competitiveness in the season’s second half might well induce Smith to rethink his vote of confidence, and even more concerning has been the total silence coming from Smith’s office in recent weeks. Whisenhunt’s standing after just one season is probably fairly secure, but if there is a change forthcoming in Nashville, it would likely be to Webster’s status.

• Cincinnati — With the big win at home over Denver on Monday — in prime time, no less — the Bengals have clinched their fourth consecutive trip to the playoffs at 10-4-1. A win at Pittsburgh on Sunday will bring a second straight AFC North title, and when you consider that Cincinnati had never gone to the postseason even two years in a row until 2011-12, the Marvin Lewis era has set the standard for success in the Queen City.

But what if the Bengals for the fourth year in a row go one-and-done in the playoffs? Would that affect Lewis’ job security? Wasn’t that the mantra in Cincinnati this season from the start, that just making the playoffs wouldn’t be enough in 2014?

I guess we’ll see if owner Mike Brown is out of patience, if the Bengals lose their playoff-opener, dropping Lewis to 0-6 in the postseason in his 12-year career in Cincy. Most expect that Lewis would have to explain to Brown how 2015 will be a different story, but would survive yet another early playoff exit. But Lewis’ 196 career games without a playoff win are the most in NFL history for any coach serving with one team. And that glaring statistic gets more difficult to explain by the year.

• Dallas — All is hiccups and giggles in Dallas, where Jason Garrett’s surprising Cowboys (11-4) have won the NFC East and made the playoffs for the first time since 2009. The only rumbling I’ve heard is in regard to offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Bill Callahan, who, according to a league source, might be leaving Dallas by his own choice after the season.

Callahan had his playcalling duties taken away by Garrett last offseason, when Dallas hired Scott Linehan and gave him that responsibility as the team’s passing game coordinator. Under Callahan, the Cowboys offensive line and running game has blossomed into one of the NFL’s best, but Linehan has also received a good deal of credit for the unexpected success in Dallas this season.

RamView, December 11, 2014
From Row HH
(Report and opinions from the game.)
Game #14: Cardinals 12, Rams 6

The Ram offense and pass rush take Thursday night off, and guarantee they’ll get the postseason off, again. In a discouraging loss to Arizona, they seemed to remember nothing of what had made them effective in recent weeks. That’s not a sign of progress.

Position by position:
* Strategery: This week’s headline: another rough week for Brian Schottenheimer. The bad trends the Ram offense appeared to have shaken the past few weeks all came flooding back. This isn’t the first time Schottenheimer has struggled against a blitz-heavy defense. A tactic that failed for almost three quarters was sending the running backs out into the pattern. If you’re going to do that, you need to throw to those backs, but the Rams hardly did. Benny Cunningham popped a screen for 20 early and should have popped another but screwed it up. Those were about all the tries the RBs got as receivers. That wasn’t enough to get press coverage off the WRs, and the amount of zero protect Shaun Hill got exposed to wasn’t worth the investment. Would have been best had Schottenheimer just kept the RBs back in blitz protect all of the time, where they did strong work, especially Cunningham, who was terrific.

Schottenheimer adjusted for that in the 3rd, but for probably the 13th time in 14 games this season, the Ram offense was dreadful out of halftime, with five ugly three-and-outs. Schottenheimer’s inability to counter the blitz otherwise demanded the Rams establish the run, but here, he continued his nagging pattern of not letting his players do what they do best. Three times in the quarter, Tre Mason ran left for 6 or 7 yards behind Greg Robinson, and yet, the Rams still did not manage a first down, as Schottenheimer continues to insist on running the small Mason into the teeth of the defense behind Davin Joseph and Scott Wells, the line’s worst blockers. Early in the 3rd he even shifted Joseph Barksdale into a jumbo left formation outside Robinson… and ran right behind Joseph. A big loss there should have surprised no one. Greg Robinson was born to run block. Feel free to run behind him!

That wasn’t Schottenheimer’s only failure to exercise the Rams’ speed, another old pattern he slipped back into. Austin got a touch on the Rams’ opening play and didn’t get another on offense until the fourth quarter. You need to get him and Mason out to the edge to spread the Arizona defense out. A nice play sequence in the 4th helped set up the Rams’ 2nd FG. Austin ran an end-around that set up a reverse to Bailey the next play. 20 yards, just like that. As good as those plays were, the Rams needed significantly more of them, significantly earlier.

Rams Nation is livid about the 3rd-and-goal play from the 1 at the end of that drive. On its own, the call is actually pretty likeable. Both teams have all 11 men in the box. The Rams have a fullback and three tight ends, including Barnes eligible; it’s obviously a run, right? If Hill had rolled out of this formation like he did and hit a TE for a TD, we’d have all been jumping in glee. This play always works! It’s everything they didn’t do on the game-losing play in San Diego. They ran play-action, they had a blocker back for Hill, they were deceptive, they didn’t force a bad throw into the middle of the field. But Arizona was all over it. They went into the play thinking, stop the run but don’t forget they might pass. Todd Bowles has got a heck of a well-coached defense. Feel free to blame Schottenheimer if you feel Arizona was all over the play because the Rams run it down on the goal line too often. I’m not sure any run was going to work down there. Maybe if they had gone behind Robinson. Which they rarely do.

Bottom line is that the Rams lost to a better-coached team forced into playing a lot of second- and third-stringers. As deep as we are into the Fisher era, Bruce Arians has been in Arizona two years and they have passed us up like we’re a Ford Fiesta on the Autobahn, even though they’ve had a rash of injuries that would excuse any team having a bad season, let alone a bad night. Jeff Fisher has made a big difference over what the Rams had with Linehan and Spagnuolo, no doubt whatsoever. But the Ram coaches need to be a difference against the coaches they actually compete against. Schottenheimer’s been failing at the same kind of things as an OC for a long time now. He’s more of a hurdle than a help. The Rams don’t need to change their system. They need to call plays better. They can keep trying to jump the hurdle, and racking themselves, or they can remove the hurdle.

* QB: OK, I promise to be shorter with the other sections. Shaun Hill’s play wasn’t great, but it was better than his numbers (20-39-229, PR 58.6) may look. Despite heavy pressure in his face most of the game, he made a number of nice throws. He came out beating the Cardinal blitz with a lob over a LB to Tavon Austin and a screen to Benny Cunningham for 20. He made a nice pass to Corey Harkey down the left seam between two defenders for 20 to set up the opening FG. The only problem: Lance Kendricks had several steps on his man down the right seam and would have had a TD. That didn’t seem like a game-changer at the time, but the Rams struggled with the Arizona pass rush the rest of the game. Hill finally got them back to midfield before halftime with a nice sideline pass to Kendricks, 15 more to Stedman Bailey on a crossing route and then scrambling for 9 himself. The last two plays of the half, though, he probably held the ball too long, got sacked once and pummeled from behind another. Timing problems in the passing game really flared up in the 2nd half. Hill and Kenny Britt missed connections a number of times. Hill would have to try to beat a blitz by throwing deep but Britt either couldn’t get there because of coverage or didn’t get there because he’d broken off his route. That and Hill having to throw passes away under pressure hurt his numbers. There was a little bit of a deep game. In the 4th, Hill got a duck of a pass off to Bailey for 38 to set up the Rams’ 2nd FG. He got the Rams back out to midfield in the final 2:00 with a 22-yarder to Britt. The one time all night Hill had an open receiver and made a bad throw was the wrong time. From the Arizona 43, he had Bailey wide open in the slot. Hit him in stride and he is going a long way. No, Hill’s throw was high and behind Bailey and he couldn’t haul it in. Hill’s Hail Mary pass at the end of the game was laughable. Fisher should have put Johnny Hekker in; he would neither punt nor throw a ball that ugly. It looked end over end as Patrick Peterson fair-caught it to damage Hill’s passer rating. So no, it’s not like the Rams’ poor protection and play-calling is holding back the next Aaron Rodgers here or anything. We’d like it if he moved better in the pocket, showed better awareness, didn’t get so many passes knocked down for a man of 6’3” and didn’t throw deep passes that look like they’ve been shot right after they come out of his hand. But except for the two big missed plays with Bailey and Kendricks, Hill took what he could get without turning the ball over. I won’t hang much of this loss on him.

* RB: The Ram RBs had a more difficult night. Lousy blocking got Tre Mason (13-33) buried for a loss of 5 on his first carry, and it was an uphill climb even from there. He had a nice gain going on a wrap play in the 1st until future Hall of Famer Frostee Rucker dived and hacked him on the arm to force a fumble deep in Ram territory. That gave away a FG in a game where every scoring opportunity was big. This may remind Mason to carry the ball tighter to his body. The RBs also need a reminder that they’re not Barry Sanders. Benny Cunningham (2-4, 3-23 recv) took off with a well-setup screen for 20 early in the game, but given a similar splendid opportunity late in the half, he danced, tried to cut it inside instead of taking the easy 10+ he would have gotten outside and got two. Mason got some good gains behind Greg Robinson and Rodger Saffold in the 2nd half but the Ram staff seems to much prefer futile slams into backed-up blocking in the middle of the field. The Rams only ran twice near the goal line but neither time went well. Cunningham got stuffed on 3rd-and-1 in the 1st when, yep, Joseph and Wells got pushed backward on an off-tackle dive. Calais Campbell blew up a Mason run at the 7 late in the game. While Zac Stacy stayed quarantined on the bench, the Rams showed no power running game, to the point they wouldn’t even run needing a yard to score at the end of the game and settled for FGs. The Rams don’t field a RB who can move a pile right now but they sure call a lot of plays thinking they have one. It’s as bad a fit as hiring Adriana Lima to model biohazard suits. The results just aren’t that sexy.

* Receivers: Wish I had more to say here. I was surprised to see either Kenny Britt (5-65) or Stedman Bailey (5-74) had as many as five catches. Britt had a couple of catches over 20 yards, including a tough one while getting thumped by two guys late in the game, but it felt like he spent most of the night unable to get to deep balls Hill threw because Patrick Peterson had jammed him at the line. I like Britt and that he’ll make some tough, physical catches, but the Rams need a better deep threat than he is. Bailey helped spark them to their 2nd FG; he got behind Jarraud Powers and caught a 38-yard duck from Hill, then zipped down inside the 10 later on a reverse. A couple of plays later from the AZ7, though, it’s a Jeff Fisher WR playing Kevin Dyson, as Bailey caught a slant on 2nd-and-goal but got twisted down inside the 1. Barely a factor, Tavon Austin’s game (2-14, 1-8 rush) was disappointing compared to his last two. Same for Jared Cook, 3-22. Oh, Cook’s been able to get some separation lately; unfortunately it’s with two-handed shoves that draw flags from 40 yards away. Missed opportunities, one early for Kendricks, one for Bailey late, loom big. This receiving corps doesn’t have the talent to make up for those.

* Offensive line: The Rams need significant upgrades at right tackle and center and they’re welcome to start looking right now if they want to. Davin Joseph does not get the job done in any aspect of the blocking game, and Wells doesn’t appear to have it any more as a run-blocker. On the first run of the damn game, Joseph’s beaten badly by Frostee Rucker to dump Mason for a huge loss. In the red zone they tried to run behind him again. Nothing. 3rd-and-1 at the 7, they tried to run behind Rodger Saffold but Wells and Joseph got pushed into the hole faster than Cunningham could hit it. Send in the FG unit. The issue became almost comical in the 3rd. Greg Robinson and Saffold would lead Mason out for a nice gain one play, then the next, the Rams would run behind Joseph, who’d get knocked backward and get Mason stuffed. The ugliness spread into the passing game and across the line. In the 2nd, Joseph and Wells double-teamed Dan Williams and he still knocked down a pass. In the 3rd, with the Ram left side double-teaming Calais Campbell, Larry Foote looped around an unsuspecting Robinson for Arizona’s first sack. On 3rd-and-3 the next drive, they couldn’t even handle a 3-man rush; Wells got beat to flush Hill, who only picked up 2 on the scramble. Later, Joseph completely whiffed on Reggie White, ER, Frostee Rucker, and Mason failed in blitz pickup, to get Hill dropped for an especially ugly 13-yard loss. That was it for sacks but not giving up ground. Wells got beat by Tommy Kelly to get Hill creamed. The Rams used reverses and warded off rare straight-up rushes to get down to the 7 in the 4th, but run-blocking failed epically again. Mason immediately ended up with a lot of traffic at his feet in the form of Joseph Barksdale diving at Campbell blowing up the play. Two plays later, they decided they couldn’t trust their run blocking from a yard out. If they were thinking about running right, they were more than likely correct. Send in the FG unit. In full pass mode at the end of the game, what’s the first thing Wells does? Turn around, look at Hill lined up in shotgun, and still snap the ball halfway to him. Hill still got them to midfield, then had to fire incomplete after Joseph again completely whiffed a block. The Rams’ last three plays, Arizona blitzed a DB off RT THREE PLAYS IN A ROW and he was not blocked a single time, leading to Powers’ pass deflection that essentially ended the game. Fortunately for Hill, Arizona’s game-long blitz pressure is reflected much more in incomplete passes than it is in sacks. But Davin Joseph does nothing that helps this team, and if he’s still starting the last two meaningless weeks of the season, if the Rams don’t have another guard who’s even worth a look as opposed to this failure of a RG, they should cut all their guards except Saffold after the season and start over. Wells still gets out well ahead of screens, but he’s also starting to look like he’s on his last legs. Time to get Barrett Jones in there. The Rams cannot get worse play out of that part of the line than they got this week. Time for an extreme makeover.

* Defensive line: The Rams may not have allowed a TD for three games now, but this wasn’t a satisfying performance up front. It’s a battle to decide what was more disappointing: pass rush (only 1 sack) or run defense (143 yards to complete scrubs). Somebody named Stepfan Taylor gashed them for 17 on the opening play after Michael Brockers got double-teamed out of the hole and Mark Barron couldn’t fill it after getting crunched by Larry Fitzgerald. They held Arizona to 3 after the Mason fumble, but Robert Quinn started badly overpursuing at this point, giving up a couple of big holes, one that who? Ask Kerwynn Williams took for 10. A good run stop by Kendall Langford at the 5 helped save the Rams points. Pass rush died off in the 2nd. No one got close to Drew Stanton to prevent a 49-yard bomb to set up the 2nd Arizona FG. Quinn got pushed five yards past him. Stanton threw three times from the Ram 26 and wasn’t pressured at all on two of them, but the Rams got help from John Brown dropping a wide open pass. The front four continued to accomplish little in the 2nd while the secondary got the Cardinals off the field. They did prove able to get gashed by who? Ask Kerwynn Williams some more, though, once for 8 through a huge gap they left on purpose so Chris Long could get wide-9 leverage. No amount of leverage was helping the very quiet Long in this one. Lack of pass rush continued to kill the Rams in the 3rd. No one close to Stanton again as Michael Floyd drew a long DPI. They did sack Arizona out of FG range there. Aaron Donald and Eugene Sims stunted, and Donald not only got there for the sack, for the second time this season, the Rams knocked out Arizona’s starting QB. So what happens the next play? No rush at all, and somebody named Ryan Lindley hits Floyd to get Arizona back in FG range and then up 9-3. The Rams needed to stop the run to win the field position battle in the 2nd half but lost badly. Arizona opened one drive by trucking William Hayes and Alec Ogletree inside to blow open a 19-yard run for who? Ask Kerwynn Williams again. He opened the next drive with a 12-yard run. This consistently let Arizona get far enough downfield to pin the Ram offense deep with punts. Ottis Anderson, ER, Taylor, set up Arizona’s last FG with a 21-yard run. A stunt took Quinn right to him and he still whiffed. It was as bad a game as Quinn’s had all year. He got close to the QB maybe twice and overran a lot of plays. Long, who’ll I’ll grant is coming off a long-term injury, contributed little. Donald had several nice run-stuffs but Arizona still ran successfully double-teaming Brockers. The Rams lost this game big on both sides of the line.

* Linebackers: The LBs made some good plays but not enough to help the struggling front four. The Ram blitz was not especially effective, and that’s mostly James Laurinaitis, Alec Ogletree and Mark Barron, who we might as well call a LB for this game. Barron blitzed and Fitzgerald wiped him out in the hole to spring Williams for 19 on the opening play, but Laurinaitis flushed Stanton on an A-gap blitz to shut down that drive. With Williams on the verge of catching a pass near the goal line in the 2nd, little doubt that Laurinaitis’ footsteps prevented the completion and forced a FG. Laurinaitis had some iffy run plays. Rob Housler deked him on a gimmicky pitch to keep a FG drive alive, and Williams ran through him (and T.J. McDonald and Rodney McLeod) for 6 to burn precious time off the clock at the end of the game. Alec Ogletree had some run fails of his own, getting blocked out of three of Arizona’s big second half runs, Williams’ 19 and 12 and Taylor’s 21. He did kill a drive in the 2nd with a good open-field stop of Fitzgerald and a play that should just be called an “Ogletree” because he does it so often, batting a pass down on a blitz. Ogletree was in on the Rams’ only sack, and run-blitzed Taylor for a big loss right before that, but it wasn’t enough to save the Rams another FG. Barron probably pressured Lindley when Jenkins nearly picked him off in the 3rd, but the bottom line is the LBs didn’t produce enough on the blitz and gave up too many big runs.

* Secondary: Where have we heard this before? Janoris Jenkins gets burned deep twice and the Rams lose the game. In the 2nd, Michael Floyd just ran by him, and Rodney McLeod was well late to show up as usual, to burn the Rams for 49 and set up a precious FG. Jenkins helped give up another FG in the 3rd, getting beaten deep again by Floyd and contacting him well before looking back for the ball for a 36-yard penalty. Jenkins getting burned deep has become one of this season’s themes. I’ll just say I’m in no hurry to re-up his contract. Sadly for Jenkins, he had several near-misses trying to make up for those plays. In the 2nd, Stanton stared down Larry Fitzgerald and Jenkins jumped the route perfectly. A catch would have been a pick-six but he couldn’t make it. He nearly made a diving pick of a terrible Lindley overthrow in the 3rd but the ball came out ever so briefly. Late in the 4th, Jenkins even forced a Williams fumble that would have teed the Rams up for the winning TD but he whiffed on the recovery. The shame is that if you could take away the big plays, Jenkins had an excellent game and the Ram secondary had a brilliant game. They were all over every quick screen to Fitzgerald and held the admittedly-injured WR to a harmless 30 yards, probably the best game they’ve ever had against him. E.J. Gaines, Trumaine Johnson and Jenkins stuffed him on various plays. TruJo also tipped away a TD pass attempt in the 4th. Gaines did some hitting: he flipped Jaron Brown head over heels on an early crossing route and back body-dropped Taylor after a short gain in the 3rd. My favorite play of the night might have been when Stanton went into the end zone for Fitzgerald but he was stymied by not one, not two but THREE defenders. For once the Rams had a plan to stop Larry Fitzgerald, and executed it, and it was a major reason Arizona threw for only 139 yards and couldn’t dent the end zone. They got everything right but two plays. It’s a shame the rest of the team couldn’t provide them a larger margin of error.

* Special teams: The punters were the stars of this show. Johnny Hekker (50.5) launched a bunch of near-60-yard blasts but tended to outkick coverage, which hurt when Ted Ginn returned one 41 yards in the 3rd. Will Herring saved a TD after Chase Reynolds and Daren Bates got wiped out by ONE blocker and Ginn embarrassed Cunningham in the open field. The good news is Arizona didn’t score off that. Drew Butler’s average was meager (36.5) in comparison, but he got so much hang time on his punts that he rendered Austin useless as a returner and repeatedly pinned the Rams deep in their end. I think Greg Zuerlein has his head (and leg) screwed back on straight, though the FGs he hit were glorified extra points. Keep crossing your fingers when he’s kicking from beyond 30.

* Upon further review: Walt Coleman and crew got several calls right that the crowd booed very hard, but that doesn’t mean we got a well-called game. They called Barron offside on the opening series when he’d clearly gotten back, so the crowd went nuts in the 2nd when a Cardinal appeared to jump into the neutral zone without a call. We weren’t alone – Hill thought he had a free play and chucked a deep ball on 3rd down. I’ll be darned, though, if TV didn’t show the Cardinal stopping a fraction short of the line. Downfield OPI calls against Britt and Cook were unpopular but right, as was the long DPI on Jenkins. But Coleman let Arizona slide on a couple of calls you KNOW the Rams would get hammered on. They wasted time before the half reviewing whether Hill had thrown or fumble after getting whacked by Powers on 3rd down, but the detail of Powers striking Hill on the helmet went completely by everyone. Put the Rams in long FG range at the end of the half and this game feels a lot different. On the final punt return, Austin got CLOBBERED on the ground WELL after he was down with no call. That’s another 15 yards that would have made a big difference in the end game. Grade: C-minus

* Cheers: The crowd was not bad for a stupid Thursday night game, around 50,000, and for once, I didn’t notice a ton of fans of the road team in the stands. We came across good and loud on TV but couldn’t draw more than one false start. The crowd’s hottest reactions were to some of Coleman’s calls, which turned out to be right, so that may not have left us looking like the world’s savviest fans. Phil Simms’ playing experience really shone through analyzing Hill’s play. I’m not a big fan, but we rarely if ever hear him do a Rams game, and it sounded like he really knew what he was talking about. And I beat Jim Nantz to the Kevin Dyson reference on Bailey’s goal line catch, so I’m keeping it. I think I may have mentioned before that I hate Thursday night games, but it was great to watch the Rams game again (artist suffering for art, remember?) with prime time production values like great camera angles and plentiful replays. I wonder how much prime time exposure we should expect for the Rams next year.

* Who’s next?: Can it really be here already? Time has flown, and the next game up is the final home game of the season, and the Rams’ lease agreement, a throwback game against the New York Giants. You have to throw back a ways to the last time the Rams beat the Giants, too – 2001. The Rams may be 2-2 lifetime against Peyton Manning, but they’re 0-3 against brother Eli, who’s thrown 9 TDs in those games. The Giants have won the last five meetings.

Rams fans still having nightmares of Plaxico Burress cruising through the Ram secondary may be forced to re-live them in the form of rookie wideout Odell Beckham Jr. Beckham has gone nuts the past six weeks, with 4 100-yard games and none under 90. The Giants are doing everything possible to get the ball in Beckham’s hands: end-arounds, quick screens, quick outs, comebacks, deep balls, punt returns, letting him throw… the Giant offense is bending for Beckham. Beckham has almost all the Giants’ offensive speed. That’s not to say they’re not balanced; Rashad Jennings gives them a good running game. 29 but without heavy mileage, Jennings is a smart, patient runner who will break a lot of tackles. The offensive line has struggled with injuries and inexperience all season, but may have gotten its act together the past couple of games. They look like a well-coached unit right now and they run-block well. They established Jennings early against Jacksonville, and with the Jagwires playing very vanilla soft zone defense in the first half, Eli Manning pitch-and-catched and play-actioned them to death on the way to a 21-3 lead. The Giants played like that for all four quarters in a blowout win at Tennessee, where the o-line was fantastic run-blocking and pass-protecting. The Giants convert 70% of their 3rd-and-short situations; this is an offense that can sustain drives. Eli’s still as accurate a passer as ever, he’s clicking with Beckham as well as he has clicked with any receiver and he is running things quite efficiently. The Giants will use a lot of no-huddle and quick, short-range passing, just the kind of attack that gives the Rams fits. Eli’s bugaboo has been turnovers; he has 20 this season. It will be imperative for the Rams to get in his face or get him running, which shoots the likelihood of a dumb play by Eli way up. Jacksonville got to him in the 2nd half of their game, which the Jagwires won, by press-covering Beckham and getting creative up front with stunts, twists, blitzes and unusual alignments. The Ram defense will be a big step up in competition, especially with Gregg Williams plotting schemes to confuse the Giants up front.

The Giants have EIGHTEEN players on I.R., including two defensive ends, but that hasn’t kept them from getting after the passer; they’ve still got team sack leader Jason Pierre-Paul (7) and Damontre Moore (5), a very thunder-and-lightning combination. The Quinn-like Pierre-Paul has elite cornering speed and lean. He’ll line up just about anywhere and is a bad matchup for either Ram tackle. He’s hard enough to get hands on, then the Giants will line him up wide-nine and also make him hard to find with stunts. Moore plays like a force at times. He’s a strong bull-rusher and is good at knocking down passes. The Rams also need to keep a hat on LB Devon Kennard. He has four sacks the past two weeks, two of them coming completely unblocked on blitzes. Safety Stevie Brown is also an effective blitzer from out of a very hard-hitting secondary, though there’s a big drop-off at corner after Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. The Giants’ weakness is run D, where they’re 30th in the NFL. Their LBs don’t make a ton of plays. Watching Denard Robinson run on them a couple of weeks ago makes me think they will be very worried about the speed of Tre Mason and Tavon Austin. At the same time, Pierre-Paul and budding star DT Jonathan Hankins have been solid on their side of the line, and Moore has been a pretty undisciplined run defender, which means the Rams will want to run… right. If that continues to mean Davin Joseph, so help me…

So, welcome to the Better Than Their Record Bowl. The Giants have looked a lot better than 4-9 lately. The Rams looked better than 6-8 up to Thursday night. Concerns about Joseph aside, it’s up to Sack City to prove they’re better than 6-8 after this week. Will they run over the Giant o-line like they should, or will they let Eli pick them apart? The Rams are built around their pass rush winning them games. This one’s up to them to win.

— Mike
Game stats from espn.com