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http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/jeff-gordon/gordo-rams-giving-haters-plenty-of-reasons-to-smile/article_860be581-6fcc-5e83-ac75-c7f0b7b6a826.html
Rams giving haters plenty of reasons to smile
Jeff Gordon
Since St. Louis stole the Rams from Los Angeles, you can’t really complain that LA stole them back.

Because you welcomed Georgia Frontiere despite her many eccentricities, you shouldn’t begrudge the City of Angels the right to embrace land-hoarding recluse Stan Kroenke.

What goes around comes around, as Justin Timberlake would sing.

But as jilted fans you certainly can lash out against the sheer incompetence of Kroenke’s regime and his tactless departure. Cheering against the Rams is a healthy way to blow off steam and vent your spleen.

Fortunately they have looked like the Same Old Sorry (Act) Rams during their return to LA.

The problem starts at the top. Listen to Rams CEO Kevin Demoff rave about Kroenke to the Los Angeles Times:

“I’m fortunate to have the tutelage of Stan, who has really pioneered how you combine resources and sports in a way that has never been done before. I’m grateful for his mentorship. He pushes our team for greatness and challenges us to envision the impossible.”

Yes, well, Kroenke is quite the ground-breaker when it comes to converting billions in family wealth into steady sports failure. His Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche can’t keep pace with their NBA and NHL rivals and his Rams set modern standards for futility.

It’s extremely difficult to remain irrelevant in the parity-minded NFL, but, like Kevin says, Stan challenges his people to envision the impossible.

That explains how coach Jeff Fisher could be in line for a contract extension after guiding the Rams to four losing seasons. That explains how tag-along general manager Les Snead could still be employed despite wasting precious draft picks and blowing millions on useless free agents.

Impossible? With the Rams it’s surely not.

This season they may outshine the San Francisco 49ers — who are banking on the unlikely Chip Kelly-Blaine Gabbert collaboration — but they won’t seriously challenge the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals in the NFC West.

Recurring themes undermine this team. At quarterback the Rams pulled the reverse RGIII maneuver and spent multiple draft picks to select Jared Goff first overall in the draft.

Trouble was, Goff wasn’t a Robert Griffin III-caliber prospect and he certainly wasn’t another Andrew Luck. He was a middle to late first-round prospect who rose to the top during a down year at his position.

Like most young quarterbacks, he will need a few seasons to develop properly. Asking him to become the front man for a team moving back into the challenging LA market was absurd.

Look at the numbers Goff posted in the preseason: 55.8 passer rating with a 44.9 completion percentage, two interceptions, four sacks, three fumbles and an average gain of 4.7 yards per passing attempt.

If he serves as the face of the franchise, then the franchise wears a befuddled expression.

By default, pint-sized scrapper Case Keenum remained the starting quarterback. And after a messy preseason finale, Fisher suggested Goff could open the season at No. 3 behind Keenum and fringe prospect Sean Mannion.

Goff would become the first quarterback since, ahem, JaMarcus Russell to arrive as the first overall pick and not start in Week 1. That second overall pick Carson Wentz is the Philadelphia Eagles’ starting quarterback just adds to the disappointment.

Goff’s reserve role is probably for the best, because the Rams lack aerial firepower. Hapless Brian Quick dropped more passes this summer, leaving Kenny Britt, gadget player Tavon Austin and a bunch of rookies as the go-to targets.

The young offensive line remained unsteady, too, particularly with right tackle Rob Havenstein missing preseason time with an injury.

While elite running back Todd Gurley can move the chains, the Rams lack a change-of-pace back. Speedy Tre Mason, a former 75th overall draft pick, washed out of the NFL with some alarming mental health problems.

(After an offseason arrest, Mason told officers that “he was going to call the White House and we were all going to lose our jobs” and that “the police were responsible for teaching al-Qaida how to fly planes.”)

The Rams preseason included the usual special teams sloppiness and practice field chippiness Fisher-coached teams are known for. HBO’s “Hard Knocks” highlighted a brawl started by middle linebacker Alec Ogletree and escalated by Gurley.

Fisher lit into his players with a profanity-laced lecture. From the looks of things this summer, that won’t be the last time he addresses them in such coarse terms.

You should do the same if makes you feel better. Swear your lack of allegiance to the Rams again and again as their sacks, fumbles and interceptions mount.

Let go of it all, from Brian Quick to Jake Long to Jared Cook to the Kellen Shaun Austin Nick Clemens Hill Davis Foles mish-mash at quarterback. Yell loud enough and perhaps those blurred memories of one wobbly pass fading into the next incompletion will finally quit haunting you.

Yeah, a lot of heat in that analysis but very little light.

The jilted reporter syndrome.