WV,

I’m seeing some media pundits this morning highlight the Pass Interference call on the Bengals, while ignoring the face-mask that led to the Cincy TD. I may be alone on this, but the replays of the one that was called look like the defender did get there too soon. If it had just been the “hold” before that, I would have said it’s a ticky-tack call, but I think the defender also bumped the receiver enough before he swatted down the pass to make a difference. So, again, it wasn’t the grabbing early on, IMO, but the significant bump right before he swats down the pass. Regardless, it was a tough call.

In general, though, the thing I think the NFL really needs to get right is calling the helmet to helmet stuff. That’s just deadly, and it needs to stop.

Are receivers now the most likely targets? It seemed like it used to be running backs. But Kupp, for instance, gets hit in the head a lot, and the non-call against OBJ a coupla weeks back looked really, really ugly.

If it were up to me, I’d throw the flag, give the player ONE warning. A second time, in that game or any other, he’s out of there. A third time, and he’s done for the season.

I can’t remember the exact game. But early in his career, AD tackled the running back on a play-action fake, and then tackled the QB who kept the ball. At the time, I was laughing and yelling at the screen that he just did the impossible. And if memory serves, the Rams had Quinn at the time who was breaking the laws of physics too. I seriously wanted to see those two stay with the Rams forever.

Any word on OBJ’s injury?

Obviously, I’m too close to the game to be objective. So, I wonder how football fans who weren’t fans of either team saw it.

My guess is they loved it — as a great football game. As a Rams fan since 1966, however, it was too close for comfort for me.

;>)

But it had a host of great moments, with a lot of surprises. Loved seeing Hopkins step up, for instance, and I think the Rams have something there. Jones, at linebacker: They don’t have to search for that position any more. Stafford improved throughout the playoffs, but made that one goof. He’s still the guy who can bring them back to another one next year, and there is no tougher QB.

A great win, and a lot of fun to watch. I really hope AD comes back!

Anyway, congrats to them and to all of us!!

Interesting idea, WV.

Never thought of that. He may want to reappear just for a playoff run.

In the NBA, some of the older stars do that, but without leaving the team. They borrowed a term from baseball, “pitch count,” and apply that to their elder statesmen. But I don’t recall the NFL having any such “program” for their stars. So it would have to be a weddle bit like the Rams situation at DB.

Of course, if they had drafted at the freakin position in recent years, perhaps they wouldn’t need to sweat the future.

:>)

The suggestion of trading Van Jefferson wasn’t because of cap issues. He’s likely on a very team-friendly contract for two more years. It was the potential of needed draft picks, and the crowded nature of the wide receiver room, if they bring back both OBJ and Woods.

I’m betting they wouldn’t do as I suggest, and that Woods may actually be the guy they let go, if OBJ stays. Though it’s probably most likely they can’t re-sign the latter, unfortunately.

Too early prediction for that room next season: Kupp, Woods, Jefferson, Skowronek, and Tutu — plus rookie, if they keep six.

(I have no real idea where they’ll put Harris. Depends on his recovery, success at adding weight, blocking, etc.)

zn wrote:

When the Rams built around a handful of A+ stars (Donald, Ramsey, Stafford, Kupp, Whitworth) it was legit to ask if that was enough. The answer was simple–if they could stock the team with decent to good players around the stars and do it cheaply, the fact that they dedicated a huge proportion of their cap to a handful of players is completely justifiable. And, it’s what happened. Next year for example it looks like the Rams starting safeties will be Fuller and Scott, and that will be about as good a tandem as they’ve had for years. It cost them 1 6th round and 1 7th round pick.

I agree with all of that. I like the Scott/Fuller tandem too. A lot. Excellent picks.

But I’m worried that cap issues will cull the talent once again. Can the Rams afford to re-sign SJD, for example? He was a gem of a pick, and has a strong combination of athleticism, size, and want-to, with the latter likely (again) at least partially the result of being next to AD, etc. Can they afford to re-sign Miller or OBJ? And the O-line? How will they make up for the loss at LT? They might not be able to re-sign Noteboom either.

Have never been a cap expert, but it doesn’t look good on those fronts. IMO, that’s due to being far too quick to extend Goff, Gurley, and a few others, before they had to. And that kind of thing doesn’t just hurt them in retaining their front tier guys. It hurts depth.

Anyway, I’m being too negative in a Super Bowl week. Gotta enjoy this now and worry about next season — next season. This week is for splurging, celebration, once in a blue moon stuff.

I still can’t forgive them for drafting Tutu in the 2nd round. Again, he’s fast, he’s very tough for his size, but it was . . . . one of the most baffling picks in Rams history . . . right up there with Trung.

Tiny, speedy receivers tend to be available much later, even as UDFAs, if that was the criterion. But you almost never find receivers with size/speed/hands/physicality boxes checked late. Speedy smurfs — you can. I would have taken Creed Humphreys instead.

I think they can do their “all in now” strategy and make better draft picks when they have them. I also think they tend to dump players too quickly and for too little. Example Kenny Young, who was actually their best linebacker when they traded him. He’d help them right now, I’d bet.

Anyway . . . they’ve made this route work, obviously, and I’m a fan of their drive and courage to go against the grain. But there are some tweaks to it all I wish they’d make . . . and they’re going to run into cap issues all too soon.

In short, I want what may be impossible: Win now and build for the future. But I’ll settle for the former with a little more emphasis on the latter than is the Rams current MO.

It’s already been mentioned, of course. But anyone else worried about the Bengals receivers and the match-ups with our DBs?

I am. They may be the best trio the Rams have faced all year, and Burrows is exceptionally accurate.

Don’t know if the Rams have considered this, but it might be more effective to play Scott as another corner, rather than at safety. He’s their best (DB) athlete, after Ramsey, and has decent size. Not so confident in Williams or Deayon going up against the tall trees on the Bengals. Ramsey can handle Chase, but after that?

Overall, I like the Rams chances, but I don’t think this is a lock, by any means. It’s likely going to come down to Stafford playing mistake-free, and the Rams D getting to Burrow early and often. The latter can not let Burrow get comfortable in the pocket.

Oh, and the Rams need to run the ball.

Going in, I thought the Rams had this. But I was in a hopeless land later on, thinking the Niners curse was still in effect. Rams made mistakes and let the game get away from them. But they wouldn’t quit, and reversed the narrative. They reversed the sense that the Niners were the team of destiny this year, albeit via their late-in-the-season wins.

Very proud of this team. Whether it was “win one for AD,” or however they managed to dig deep and deeper, they earned this win. Not through “finesse,” but grit.

Have no idea who should get the game ball, but I do think OBJ came up huge, and, surprisingly, Blanton. Of course, the D did what it needed to do, when it needed to do it, and I think it gets some reinforcements for the Super Bowl, like SJD.

Great win, in a very tough game.

It goes without saying that the Rams can’t turn over the football against the Niners. They can’t. And, at the same time, they need to cause the Niners to turn the ball over. The Rams’ D obviously has the personnel for that.

Too many people are calling the Niners the Team of Destiny, and that kind of fiction can take hold of a squad and spur them on. The Rams can not play into those fictions.

Shocking turnover by Kupp. I don’t worry about him for Sunday. But they need to work with Akers all this week. Have him walk everywhere with the football, morning, noon, and night, etc.

Observation from the last game, and the season overall. I think Jefferson is the best #3 in football, and he needs to be used more. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough footballs to go around. And, while it’s not likely the Rams can afford to keep OBJ and Miller, if I have to choose between the two, I go with OBJ. He’s been exceptionally good, and will give the Rams easily the best top four receivers of any team.

Stafford needs to play next Sunday like he’s played the last two weekends. That’s the guy they hope they had traded for.

One regret from the weekend: I didn’t watch the other games, and it sounds like this may have been the greatest playoff weekend in NFL history.

wv wrote:

Also, I think their window is still open for a couple more
years or so. I just think what they need to do is simply
add a couple god-dam OLineman. Instead of tutus.

w
v

It was crazy not to take Creed Humphries in the last draft. Or pretty much any of the O-line guys rated in that range. Tiny receivers with speed, who likely won’t be higher on the depth chart than #4? Um, smart front offices don’t do that.

The Rams are a bit of an enigma, aren’t they? It seems like they make some really inspired moves, bringing in key players like Ramsey, for instance. But then botch draft picks and get far too clever with other trades. They seem like gambling addicts at times. Just can’t help but stay at the tables too long.

I still like their chances. But they should be even better than they are.

wv wrote:

Billy_T wrote:

One major problem with naming capitalism as the issue — and it is — is that most people don’t know what the word means..

=============

Yup. Absolutely. And of course, that is not an accident.

Capitalism dums the population down ‘politically.’

It would have to, in order to survive. So it does.

One of the 5 gazillion reasons, we are totally F’d.

w
v

That dumbing down part. I think it’s fair to say it’s the first economic system in world history with its own, dedicated, self-renewing PR wing. And that PR wing “colonizes” the mind, along with the body, and the macro and micro, domestically and overseas. It’s also fair to say it’s the first economic system in world history with its own “imperialist” laws of motion, baked in. It doesn’t require Napoleons in the political or royal realm for this to keep going; it colonizes everything with or without them — forcing that upon “the state,” or bypassing it if need be.

Of course, it would rather “the state” pay for all or most of that, and it mostly does in the modern era. But it doesn’t require endless wars to unify the people any longer, as Hegel said the Greek State did. Before, during, and after wars it keeps on chugging, imperialistically.

A lot more to it, of course, as far as the way it “naturalizes” the sense that it’s always been our one and only system, and nothing else can or should replace it. But, again, there has never been another mode of production with this kind of appalling stranglehold on hearts and minds . . . and, given its history of atrocity and exploitation, and it’s ongoing inability to “deliver the goods” to more than a small percentage of the populace, plus its planet-killing effects . . . Well, it’s just insane that the world hasn’t cast off its chains by now.

In-sane.

One major problem with naming capitalism as the issue — and it is — is that most people don’t know what the word means. I’ve had a gazillion conversations about that in the real world and online, and it’s pretty clear that the word has morphed into far too broad a sense of economics to be easily discussed.

Especially with those on the right and the center. Most just see it as a synonym for trade, commerce, and business more broadly, and all too many think of it as something that has always existed . . . not as something with an actual beginning, middle, late period and hopefully an end.

In short, when I espouse anticapitalism and alternatives to capitalism, all too many people immediately assume I’m against all forms of trade, commerce, etc. And I’m not. They don’t get that I’m opposed to our current mode of production, the one specifically that began roughly 4 to 5 centuries ago (depending upon the scholar or scholarly school one sees as authoritative on the matter). I tell them why, but I’ve already lost them by simply opposing “capitalism,” which they see as synonymous with all trade, commerce, Mom, Apple Pie, and the flag, etc. etc.

The nationalistic aspect of this religious love of “capitalism” is yet another major obstacle, of course. Ironically, America wasn’t a capitalist nation until after the Civil War. We had pockets of the nascent economic system prior to that, but most people lived outside of it.

WV,

I can’t remember if any comments were made directly about capitalism, but it’s pretty obvious that the writers and director see capitalism as the biggest hurdle in the way of solving the climate crisis. They also make it clear that financial elites, along with political and media elites, own the vast majority of the blame. It’s not a “blame stupid average Joe and Jane” film.

Btw, David Sirota was one of the two writers on the project. Some would put him in the leftist category.

Also, leftists have defended the movie from mainstream attacks. I posted Nathan Robinson’s review. Here’s one from Jacobin:

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2022/01/adam-mckay-dont-look-up-climate-change-review

Thom Hartman has a good review as well, over at Salon. Will post the link in another post, to avoid the moderator queue.

Chase is the kind of size/speed athlete that tends to only be there in the First Round. A legit 6 footer, at 200 pounds, he ran a 4.3, with a 41 vert and an 11 foot broad. And to make it all the more impressive, he’s only 21.

Rams don’t have a shot at players like that. The guys who check all the boxes at their respective positions are gonna be gone by the time the Rams get back into Round One . . . in 2025?

Also, I always thought the Rams gave up too soon on Quinn. Glad to see him do so well. Just wish it had been for the Rams still.