yeah. long and laurinaitis for sure. i think joyner will eventually be one. for sure. how could he not?

on offense? no clue. i don’t think bradford will ever be a leader. i think he’ll be an effective qb. but not a leader.

zac stacy? i could see it. not sure yet. but i could see it. i could see greg robinson becoming a leader. not a vocal leader. but he just comes across as a guy of such high character and work ethic and ability that i think he could eventually be a leader.

well what i think happens is that a bunch of young talented players start to figure it out at about the same time. stacy, austin, bailey, robinson, donald, brockers, ogletree, mcdonald, jenkins, and johnson are all young guys who could have very memorable seasons this year.

they haven’t done anything yet. but it could all happen at the same time. that’s pretty awesome when you think about it. kind of like what happened to the niners before.

hopefully this is the year.

i can’t wait to see this defense. especially the defensive line. the only thing keeping this defensive line from being special is dominant defensive tackle play. so far it’s been solid. but i think this season brockers steps up. and then aaron donald should be the final piece. i can’t wait.

i don’t necessarily see it as a running back by committee. i see it as two backs who are perfectly capable of carrying a running game on their own. and that should make the rams running game very dangerous. dare i say they have the potential to be the best running back duo in the nfl?

yeah. i don’t think throwing the ball has ever been a problem for bradford.

i think the running backs step up. i actually think the running game has the potential to be dominant. as a whole. i think austin and bailey make signficant progress. not superstars like rfl says. but solid significant contributors. kendricks and harkey will be doing a lot of dirty work.

So I personally don’t predict Bradford will break out…I think he will continue to be good. Maybe the national perception of him will change as a result, but I just think he was already pretty good and will stay good.

i agree with this.

did anyone find any official numbers posted from the workout?

i agree with wv. the offensive and defensive lines will be the bread and butter for this team. much like the secondary is for seattle. i think that alone is enough to get them to 8 wins.

how much of an impact can gregg williams make? especially on the secondary.

how much of an improvement can the wide receivers make?

can bradford stay healthy the whole season?

answers to those three questions will determine how much better than 0.500 the rams can get.

i just want to add that the interior of this oline is the best i’ve ever witnessed on a rams team. personally witnessed. i’m sure other “wiser” fans on this board will remember other ones. hehe!

and this is without robinson having played a down of professional football yet. but i am that convinced. this running game is gonna be powerful.

it’s true that they hit the lottery with quinn. i hope the same happens with brockers and donald. then we could really have something special here. rams could use some luck right about now.

zn wrote:

Where they need to improve the most…and it’s not just Bradford…is on 3rd down.

That’s their big Achilles heel.

I got that from looking at the numbers for the last 2 years. Bottom third of the league.

…

what were the 3rd down stats last season before and after zac stacy? just curious.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 2 months ago by InvaderRam.

trying not to dissect bradford’s play too much. just taking his career so far as a whole? he compares very favorably to eli manning. in fact. he rates better.

eli manning (first four years)
57 games 55 started 54.7% 11,385 yards 77 tds 64 ints 6.3 ypa 73.4 passer rating

sam bradford
49 games 49 started 58.6% 11,065 yards 59 tds 38 ints 6.3 ypa 79.3 passer rating

the one area where he pales is… durability.

i think he can be better than eli. i think numbers wise. even without considering all the circumstances under which bradford has had to play. the main thing holding sam back is his ability to stay healthy.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 2 months ago by InvaderRam.

i think improvement on defense could not only lower the points allowed but also potentially raise the points scored. add in a running game. and i could easily see this team increasing its point differential by 4 points. add improvement in the receivers and i could see an additional increase of 3 points.

i agree that bradford has the ability to be a solid tier 2 qb. my only question being can he stay healthy. these qb evals are so tricky though.