I know it was Denver and the whole NFC West, seems to want to keep things close to the vest and all, but I really think SF’s D is kinda in trouble without Aldon Smith, Navarro Bowman, with an aging DE and the NT out for the year who they haven’t yet been able to replace. I fully expect them to sign someone if they can swing it.

Btw, did we ever hear about the length of Aldon Smith’s suspension? I keep hoping 7 or 8 games so we don’t see him. I don’t care at this point. Let the other teams deal without their best players for a change…

Also…Langford. The key to our stout run D was the TANDEM of Brockers and Langford. People forget how good Langford is against the run.

I really don’t think that guy gets his due…

Still watching, but did m Sam play at all?

My take is relax. In years past across MANY organizations, I’ve seen tremendous changes in various units just between Preseason games 1 and 2 because once the rookies have seen that first game… they KNOW. Before that first game, the rookie from Podunk U has no idea what it will be like. It’s all abstract. Now it’s not. He can relate EVERYTHING the coaches and vets are saying to that game. It’s an entirely different experience.

It’s usually why coaches expect to see much better performances in that 2nd game and often do.

Plus, as we get to preseason games 2 and 3, we’ll see more of the coherent starting and 2nd team units so guys will feel comfortable with the guys next to them and we KNOW how important it is to trust the guy next to you.

Having just 11 guys out there is like playing a pickup game. Very tough to call that a “team” in any real way. That first game I wasn’t sweating at all. I just wanted to see some guys make plays and I did.

Donald, Joyner, Alexander, Sam, Blake and ALEX BAYER!!! and a few others all really showed up and that’s good news for the Rams. Plus vets like Cook, Chase Reynolds, Kendricks and a few others showed up like I hoped for as well. Shaun Hill showed us why we should be excited for him.

The game showed us why we should be excited while also grounding this team to KEEP that underdog spirit. Frankly, I’m glad they had limited success. They’ll only work that much harder in practice.

All you casual football fans…

We didn’t have our #1 Long Snapper in there… the man who has the name of a Cowboy hero, Jake McQuaide.

He’s the guy who is so good, he displaced a dang LEGEND… the ever revered, Chris Massey…all hail Massey!

Now, if you casuals watched, every snap from Hus… the OTHER guy in there… was in the body of Hekker and completely screwed up the machinery.

Once our Long Snapping Cowboy hero returns, we’ll round up all those kicks and get them to market before they foreclose on the farm.

No problem.

Or something like that…

Well, firstly, I don’t tend to judge people any which way. I experience them for myself or at the very least, let their actions inform me.

So, I don’t know who or what Greg Williams is…NOW.

He may very well have been every kind of sonuvabitch and the worst sort of egomaniac. I dunno.

Is he that, now?

I dunno. I have no idea what this very humbling process that the NFL has put him through has yielded.

He doesn’t seem to have lost much passion for the game, but we certainly aren’t seeing or hearing much about Williams being a “mad dog” or any of that and you know the local reporters would be on that if there were any of that because it would be red meat to report. Just as much, if Williams were engaging in any of the behaviors that Vitt complained about, that would be news as well.

So, is he still…THAT guy? I dunno. I really don’t.

I tend to doubt it only because that would mean he’s learned nothing and not grown at all from his experiences. That doesn’t jibe with Fisher hiring him (why sign up for that kind of drama or even actions that may damage the franchise?), the NFL endorsing his being hired or pretty much every report from players and direct contact with reporters as well as observations during OTAs and Camp thus far.

So, while it’s entirely possible he’s the same guy, I don’t think it’s very probable. I think he’s changed and the events of Bountygate and the aftermath and subsequent events including his stint in Tennessee changed him.

I’m GLAD we hired Williams because he’s an aggressive DC who understands how to develop a secondary while getting pressure not only with base sets, but also with exotic blitz packages. And with our base DL, good Lord….

I truly hope that he’s NOT the same guy he was in New Orleans. I honestly can’t imagine how that’s possible, although I acknowledge that it is possible. I expect that he understands things he didn’t understand before and has a perspective that he didn’t have before. I expect he also has a humility that he didn’t have before.

That said, I don’t think he’s lost his edge as far as his passion for football, defenses or getting after the QB and after last season, that’s just what we needed. That and a DC who won’t have our CBs playing 11 yards off…

Truer words may not have ever been spoken… about Fisher AND now Williams…

THEY are now our sunsobitches…

Saw it and responded, thx.

As for this thread, I really believe that this league DESERVES an actual NFL Commissioner. Being held accountable is important.

We see how Wall Street fails its core mission when left unchecked. We see how power, money, influence…anything, unchecked… gets out of control.

It’s not like the owners couldn’t and wouldn’t make scads of money if the Commissioner told them NO once in a while. Actually, they’d probably make MORE money because not every idea is a GOOD idea.

I wish this was the incident, the straw, if you will, that broke the camel’s back, but I think the camel’s been dead under a massive haystack for quite awhile now…

• This reply was modified 10 years, 4 months ago by Mackeyser.

As someone who’s actively fought this fight personally…who’s lived the fight to stay off of opiates while suffering from daily migraines and cluster headaches since 2000 and experienced chronic pain from migraines and Crohns since 1992 and seen the wide path of destruction caused by opiates…

It is CRIMINAL that marijuana is still a Schedule I drug and as such is denied even the ability to conduct research into the medical benefits of THC based therapies.

The definition according to the DEA website of a Schedule I drug is this:

Schedule I drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Schedule I drugs are the most dangerous drugs of all the drug schedules with potentially severe psychological or physical dependence.

Marijuana fits NONE of those criteria. Absolutely none. And if the studies out of Israel tell us anything, it’s proof that the Schedule I classification is scientifically refuted.

Funnily enough, Alcohol STRONGLY fits the definition of a Schedule II drug:

Schedule II drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with a high potential for abuse, less abuse potential than Schedule I drugs, with use potentially leading to severe psychological or physical dependence. These drugs are also considered dangerous.

And now that we’re seeing the beginnings of results in other countries as well as legalization happening here, at the very least, there is absolutely NO reason that marijuana shouldn’t be reclassified a Schedule III or IV based on those definitions:

Schedule III drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence. Schedule III drugs abuse potential is less than Schedule I and Schedule II drugs but more than Schedule IV.

Schedule IV drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with a low potential for abuse and low risk of dependence.

As someone with skin in this, I get emotional about it. I think how many years I’ve lost to this and how many people have died to the politics of this bullshit and it’s hard. I can’t help, but think of the Duerson family and the Seau family and all the NFL players who’ve killed themselves over the years with pills and booze or because of them and then to the bigger number of Vets who did that… because of this damned Reefer Madness.

It’s time for the madness to stop.

If Britt and Quick really are stepping up like they look to be doing and we have Bailey and Austin also only looking to improve on their production, probably significantly, then slots 5 and 6 aren’t going to be prime slots.

Frankly, I think Quick has ripped the starting job out of Givens’ hands and may have put him off the team since Givens doesn’t play special teams. I think those last two slots go to special teamers. Or maybe Pettis and a special teamer. I dunno.

Preseason will count more for this WR corps than other units, I think…

One of my very good friends who’s a Bronco fan did the “Pickem” for the entire league and has the Rams going 6-10. Normally, he’s really in touch, but I told him he’s cracked and that he’s overestimating the Seahawks and 9ers and WAAAY underestimating the Rams.

I also told him that I hoped the rest of the league felt as he did.

Several things I let him in on:

1) Aaron Donald would be the Defensive Rookie of the Year.
2) Kenny Britt and Brian Quick would have breakout years.
3) Tavon Austin is going to blow up this year.
4) Our defense is going to be a top 5 defense.
5) If we have the same kind of health we did in ’99, this team is just as capable of winning 12-13 games even with our wickedly tough schedule.

If we stay healthy and execute, there are few teams in this league that can beat us, even as young as we are and we are primed to break out.

I’ve told my boys in no uncertain terms that I love them and I’ll stand behind them no matter what.

That said, if they EVER put their hands on a woman, whatever they do to the women, I do to them. Plain and simple. Knock out, get knocked out. Break something, get broke.

After that, I’d stand with them to get whatever help they need and deal with whatever consequences they face.

As soon as I saw this Ray Rice story I thought of Josh Gordon and the bullshit priorities of the NFL.

I mean, corporations already fucking hate women as evidenced by so many that spend money to control their lives via legislative efforts. So, I’m not surprised that no corporations are protesting the Ray Rice suspension.

However, even with most of the country being in favor of Pot legalization, the people who run corporations still believe for the most part in Reefer Madness and thus think the only legal drugs should be pills and booze.

So, for the corporate hack lawyer, ERRR, NFL Commish Roger Goodell, it’s NO SURPRISE AT ALL that Ray Rice knocking his fiance the fuck out netted him a 2 game suspension (because after all, he made it a point to also kiss the ring. That’s very important), but people who use pot are SERIOUS rule breakers who are damaging the game (read: they are mostly brown people who make the corporate money types uncomfortable because they don’t want their kids relating to brown people who use pot and are still productive.)

So… violence against women? Meh. Do the mea culpas, miss a little time and as long as the victim goes along to get along, then yes harm, but only minor foul.

However… use pot? BOOM! Go directly to Jail. Do not pass Go. Do not Collect $200. Mandatory sentences are in effect. Mandatory entrance into drug program.

Joyner is my kind of Ram. I liked him the moment I saw his interview. I think I posted that he sounded like a vet from the first.

mwahahahahaha….

Let them continue to underestimate our Rams…

We will rally around Sam Bradford and we will play good football.