bnw wrote:

What if it ends like last season with the Patriots winning the super bowl?

Half way through the first quarter of last year’s Super Bowl, I realized that I wanted the Seahawks to lose that game. I got exactly what I wanted. I don’t remember anything else about the result.

Havenstein had a solid year. That pick was panned, or at least questioned by most of the experts that I read or listened to after the draft. Having a reliable, mainstay type of guy at RT would be nice. Since Ryan Tucker departed the RT position has had a Spinal Tap drummer feel to it.

Whatever is decided I just hope that it’s finalized quickly. For the sake of the nice people that I’ve met from St. Louis I would like to see the Rams remain in their current home. Ultimately I just need horns on the helmets and I’ll be happy.

After tomorrow both Seahawks players and actual ospreys will weep uncontrollably and soil themselves on every Sunday for all of eternity.

Aaron Donald — the one that got away — haunts Lions (article from Detroit Free Press)

Jeff Seidel

http://www.freep.com/story/sports/columnists/jeff-seidel/2015/12/13/detroit-lions-st-louis-rams-aaron-donald/77267884/

ST. LOUIS – This was cruel and unusual punishment.

It’s one thing that the St. Louis Rams beat the Detroit Lions on Sunday, 21-14.

But how they did it was especially cruel for fans.

Because Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald just destroyed the Lions. He turned into a one-man wrecking crew who hit quarterback Matthew Stafford six times and finished with three sacks.

Remember, the Lions could have drafted Donald in 2014 — as if you could ever forget. But after they picked tight end Eric Ebron instead, many fans were outraged. And on Sunday, that decision to pass on Donald came back to haunt the Lions.

“He was certainly disruptive — the tackles for losses and the sacks and the hurries and things,” St. Louis coach Jeff Fisher said. “There’s nothing against them, but they’ve had 10 days to prepare for Aaron Donald, and that just shows you the type of player he is. They’re double-teaming him. He’s breaking double teams. We created some one-on-one matchups for him by call design, and when you do that, he usually wins.”

That’s putting it nicely.

“You’re supposed to win one-on-ones,” Donald said. “That’s why they brought me here. When I get (a one-on-one opportunity), I’m supposed to win it. I’m just doing my job.”

His job is pretty simple. Go destroy the offense. And that’s what he did Sunday.

Donald was a beast, continuously blowing through the line, disrupting the offense.

“Quite a bit, he was an issue,” Lions coach Jim Caldwell said. “He made a lot of plays for them. Quick. Just the type of things you anticipate from him. He did a nice job.”

Stafford agreed.

“I was trying to slide the line if I could, but they do a good job of showing blitz, so I’ve got to respect the fact that they might bring blitz and pick them up, and they may have to be one-on-one,” Stafford said. “They’ve got a great front four, especially 99 (Donald); 98 (Rams DT and former Lion Nick Fairley) played good today, so they’re good up front.”

Meanwhile, Ebron caught three passes for 27 yards.

And the link between these players, at least in the minds of the Lions’ fans, will never go away.

“Man, that’s one of my good friends,” Ebron said. “I’m happy for his success. I’m happy for the scheme he’s in. I’m happy they are giving him the opportunity to shine. I’m not upset. You guys are upset. The media is upset. The fans are upset. I don’t care. I didn’t choose myself to come here. They chose me to come here. There is nothing I can do about it.”

After the game, Donald was asked if he is the best pass rusher in the league.

“I’ve still got work to do,” he said. “I’m not satisfied yet, so I’ve got to just keep working.”

Hardworking. Unstoppable. Disruptive.

Donald would look amazing in a Lions’ uniform.

And that’s the cruelest part of all.

Donald and his cronies made it difficult for Stafford. This really helped Johnson keep Megatron under off of the radar. Johnson played well too though.

I guess when you are on the field for such a high percentage of the minutes the likelihood of injury increases.

The Rams play a couple of those 3 win teams in the last month of the season. Depending on how tie-breakers play out the Rams could end up controlling their own draft destiny. Well, I guess they always control their own draft destiny, but you know what I mean. They really need to find a QB, so losses could be helpful to the cause. No guarantees of course.

Pretty difficult to imagine a scenario where a person takes two bullets to the head and is still able to have a conversation before having surgery to deal with the wounds. What a crazy story.

Maybe having a first year play caller in Cignetti mixed in with all this personnel upheaval isn’t all that helpful either. Pointing at the ineffectiveness of the QB position is easy when diagnosing the overall ineptness of most NFL offenses, but the Rams truly have a perfect storm of factors to include in the diagnosing of their problems this year.

I caught he end of Jim Miller discussing the Rams offense yesterday on Sirius and he pointed to the static nature of the Rams offense. He was noting a lack of pre-snap reads by both QBs and pointed to a lack of shifts and motion as evidence. He was adamant that both Foles and Keenum were missing the most basic of personal reads. He was also speculating about Cignetti being a first year NFL play caller and the overall impact that is having.

Sure made wonder how they have the spotter do his/her job. Does this person sit up in a booth with binoculars? Are they on the sideline? There was a Rams game early in the season where a timeout was called by the ATC spotter and to me the injury was far less obvious. It’s a big area that the spotter has to cover with his or her eyes. So I can see how some instances could go unnoticed. Having the benefit of a tv camera pointed right at Keenum made yesterday’s example obvious for viewers. Still, given Case’s reaction it’s surprising that he stayed out there, or was allowed to stay out there.

No. All losses to division opponents are in the running for first as most disappointing for me. This was a brutal loss, no doubt, but John Fox has a history of getting a lot out of his teams. Cutler has had his struggles during his career, but he’s also had some pretty respectable seasons and in recent weeks he’s been stringing together some solid moments. In the Fisher era last year’s Monday nighter vs the Niners is probably my most disappointing loss. This year the loss to Washington is my most disappointing.

Cutler has been playing well in recent weeks, Foles has been playing poorly since week one. Given that and the fact that the Bears have a good defense would normally be enough for me to say with confidence that the Bears will win this game. Add in that the dome will be full of Bears fans and it is even more incentive to pick the Chicago. However, the Bears are coming off of a short week and had to travel to and from San Diego in that time. Also, Quinn is returning and Havenstein will be back at RT and Reynolds will be a guard and Donnal will not be playing. Those facts at least offer a glimmer of hope.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 5 months ago by canadaram.