can’t say enough how excited i am about gurley. not just because he’s a running back but because he’s potentially a guy you can build an offense around like the article says. he’s the type who can make everyone around him better. the type defenses have to scheme for. it’s been awhile since the rams had anyone with that potential.

Zooey wrote:

wv wrote:

I’m not even sure I understand the principle
behind the “relocation fee.” Why, exactly
does one owner have to pay the other owners money
in order to move a team? Whats the logic there?
I mean if the League makes a bit ‘more’ money
with a team in LA — then shouldnt ‘they’
pay Kroenke to move to LA ?

w
v

From JT:

The relocation fee is designed to compensate club owners for allowing another team to move into a new, lucrative market and basically gets split up among the other teams

“Compensation.” So…extortion, basically.

I haven’t thought much about this before, but now that it has been brought up, I’m stumped. How do Spanos and Davis pay this?

goldman sachs somehow finances it. don’t ask me how. there’s a rumor floating around that spanos with the help of goldman sachs would be able to do the move himself. but then why include oakland in the first place? sounds fishy.

it does make a lot of sense.

just from an alignment point of view it creates a divisional rivalry between kansas city and st louis. and while the broncos raiders rivalry isn’t what it once was there is a bigger geographical tie between the 2 under that scenario.

i’m reading now that rumors of a forced davis sale are slightly exaggerated but might that also be a factor? maybe a group of investors offers to help davis out while still being able to have majority ownership.

but also a scenario in which the raiders and chargers move to carson my preference would be to see the rams move to the afc west. a st louis kansas city rivalry would be the bee’s knees.

i was wrong about tavon. i predicted he’d take a big step forward this year.

zac stacy. i thought he and mason would provide a great running back tandem.

sam bradford. i thought 2014 would finally be the year he would put it all together.

they’re going to make a documentary about this someday. all the rumors, conspiracy theories, backroom dealings, politics…

should be entertaining.

wv wrote:

InvaderRam wrote:

13. The NFL has long held the belief that the LA market is a crowned jewel, a holy grail waiting for the bravest knight to pull the sword from the stone. They have held onto this treasure for 20 years, and it has served the NFL very well, getting new stadiums built in various cites around the league. It strikes me as odd that the NFL will now give this prized treasure to two owners, Spanos and Davis, who have so little means that they both need league support just to get their stadium built, and have flailed in their own markets without any hint of a move to LA until Kroenke made his play. Why reward these two owners for their apparent incompetence, sitting on their hands for years but accomplishing nothing? What did they do to deserve the LA market? Fortune favors the bold.

this. if the league were fair and just, the rams would stay in st. louis. the chargers and raiders would move to los angeles…

we should know better than this.

Well, if the league were fair and just, the Rams wouldnt
have moved away from LA.

Then again, if the league were fair and just, maybe
they wouldnt have moved out of Cleveland.

Then again….etc, and so forth.

w
v

yup. i agree.

13. The NFL has long held the belief that the LA market is a crowned jewel, a holy grail waiting for the bravest knight to pull the sword from the stone. They have held onto this treasure for 20 years, and it has served the NFL very well, getting new stadiums built in various cites around the league. It strikes me as odd that the NFL will now give this prized treasure to two owners, Spanos and Davis, who have so little means that they both need league support just to get their stadium built, and have flailed in their own markets without any hint of a move to LA until Kroenke made his play. Why reward these two owners for their apparent incompetence, sitting on their hands for years but accomplishing nothing? What did they do to deserve the LA market? Fortune favors the bold.

this. if the league were fair and just, the rams would stay in st. louis. the chargers and raiders would move to los angeles…

we should know better than this.

there is very much an amusement park type feel to the inglewood stadium.

obviously it’s not set in stone but it feels like the momentum is heading this way especially with the situation the raiders are in.

yeah. it’s all pretty obscene. but that’s what the nfl wants.

inglewood is also undergoing mass gentrification. you got santa monica, venice, marina del rey, and manhattan beach to the west. beverly hills and west los angeles are less than 30 minutes to the north. it would be an absolute spectacle during super bowls and possible pro bowls. and like you said with all the hotels, shopping, and other venues. there’d definitely be that hollywood party atmosphere. plus nfl network would be based there. a kind of second home base. i also see the nfl draft being held there. it’d be a prime spot for celebrities to be seen being so close to the airport and beaches.

carson? it’s kind of a dump. redondo beach and long beach aren’t so happening. inglewood is a dump too. but like i said. real estate developers in california see a lot of potential there.

i should also add. the raiders would have denver, another storied rivalry, a little further to the west.

and the rams reestablish their geographical rivalry with san francisco. arizona lying 6 hours east with seattle to the north.

on the other hand the rams history in los angeles and even in st louis with the gsot. maybe kroenke feels he needs to hold onto that to maximize his brand capital when trying to establish the team in los angeles especially with the chargers looming.

i just want to say again. i think gurley has the ability to be the best back fisher has ever coached.

he’s got the power of eddie george. but combines that with the big play ability of chris johnson. and he has the ability to be a better receiver than both.

steven jackson played for fisher in the twilight of his career. so that works to his disadvantage.

combine that with mason and fisher could have the best running attack he’s ever had at his disposal.

wv wrote:

Zooey wrote:

InvaderRam wrote:

wv wrote:

The question is Why? What is he up to?

i believe he’s trying to give me diarrhea.

That’s Wagoner’s take on all this.

Wagoner has never been a voice of reason though;
Lets wait for Bernie to weigh in
before we start speculating wildly
about Invaders evacuation crisis.

Greg Robinson at LT, The Rookie Frankenstein at RT.
Could be pretty entertaining. Kinda. In a way.

w
v

entertaining for my bowels…

i blame snisher.

wv wrote:

Agamemnon wrote:

“Base minimum, $350K to sign, $1M more available in incentives.”

WOW, Joe lost some big money somewhere. He needs a different agent.

That cant be right.
There is no way he is valued by NFL teams at
that low a price.

That would really surprise me.

w
v

i agree. if rams couldn’t beat that, i don’t know what to say. unless barksdale was just so pissed off that he refused to re-sign with the rams.

Dak wrote:

Austin will never be as good as I hoped, I fear, because of a number of factors. He has shown that he cannot bounce off a hit or even break an arm tackle. He’s too easy to bring down once contacted. He isn’t as instinctive a football player as I hoped. It takes him time to understand the offense and his role, and it’s taken him too long to adjust to the speed of the NFL. The injuries have hurt his progress, too. I don’t know if he’s “injury prone” but I underestimated how much his small stature may lead to injuries. That has nothing to do with his height, but his build and strength. Where his size does hurt is that he’s so small on the outside that most QBs are going to have a hard time seeing him and dropping the ball to him between the safety and the corner. They’re not going to try to throw high to him along the sideline.

Yet, despite all of that, he’s made some amazing plays. Just not consistently enough. I also think he’s done a good job running the ball out of the backfield, much better than I ever anticipated. He’s just more of a situational type of guy. On a wide open offense, he’d be hell to cover, but I do agree with RFL to an extent that he doesn’t really fit with this offense … not enough to justify what they gave up for him. You don’t take the type of player that we collectively described here in the Top 10, and you sure don’t trade up for him. I was excited to get him, and surprised when the Rams traded up for him. But, I think the Rams missed the boat on what he could be on this team. I’m sure they thought he could make a major impact immediately. Now, you have to game plan just to try to get him involved. This is definitely going to be a telling year as to whether Austin can take a step forward. If he doesn’t, I could see this team trading him next offseason.

i agree with a lot of that. at this point i’d say he’s a fourth wide receiver on this team at best. i do think, however, he can have a fit on this offense. a change of pace if you will. like i said you could pound a team with gurley and mason and then hit them with a change of pace running a jet sweep with austin. i could see that being effective. again. not on a regular basis but every once in awhile to keep the defense honest. and then finding him deep every now and then for a quick strike.

i think he’d be a nice contrast to the featured players on offense.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 1 month ago by InvaderRam.