Beautiful garden, zn.  I do perennials too.

My dream is to someday make my entire backyard into a Japanese garden comprised of native plants.

If they stay healthy there is still enough talent on offense to carry the team to 9 or so wins.

I’ve only seen Stetson Bennett a couple times but each time he was brilliant and it was against great competition.

Yeah he’s short and doesm’t have the strongest arm, but he’s mature, can already read defenses, and is familiar with the Shanahan offense.  In other words, he’s the closest thing to a plug n’ play QB the Rams could hope for in the draft.

I like the pick, and I don’t mind taking him in the 3rd.  Maybe they could have gotten him later, maybe not.  When there is a guy you really want you take him. Don’t risk letting him get away.

JackPMiller wrote:

https://www.pff.com/draft/nfl-mock-draft-simulator?ref=a1f16a28-05b8-40d8-b560-f82b870845fa I did a what if we traded Stafford, the Jets is the team that keeps coming up, if Aaron Rogers trade, does not happen. I’m not saying Stafford will be going, but it is, what if it happens scenario? In the trade, we get the Jet’s 13th pick, plus the Jets 1st and 2nd picks round next year. This is the draft I got, R1-13: Broderick Jones OT Georgia R2-36: Steve Availa OC/OG TCU R3-69: Zach Harrison Edge OSU R3-77: Eli Ricks CB Alabama R5-167: Kendra Miller RB TCU R5-171: Aiden O’Connell QB Purdue R6-177: Davis Allen TE Clemson R6-182: Aubrey Jackson LB Jackson State R6-189: Dylan Horton Edge TCU R7-191: Quindell Johnson S Memphis R7-223: Elijah Higgins WR Stanford R7-251: Brayden Willis TE Oklahoma I doubled up on Edge, and TE.

I don’t think anyone is giving up a 1st for Matt Stafford at this point…

And now, the Larch.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by nittany ram.

Zooey wrote:

This is a bad sign, imo. Looks like Rams insiders (including Wagner) don’t think the Rams have enough to compete for a championship. And that they don’t think they can address their needs this year.

Wagner’s leaving makes me sad.

And it certainly could mean the Rams don’t see themselves as contenders this season.

However, there is a simpler explanation than to claim the best team on the planet isn’t ready to return to title contention a mere single season after the flukiest, injury-riddled year in league history.  A claim that any hopefull Seattle or SF fan would make, btw, which is why you undoubtedly made it.

I submit that the Rams wanted to keep Wagner and would have if not for the residual  Seahawk stench that must be emanating from every pore of his body.

Think about it – he was a Seahawk for OVER A DECADE. With that length of exposure, there isn’t going to be enough Rightguard on the planet to mask the resulting odor.  He was immersed in the combined fetor of Wilson, Sherman, Lynch, and Carrol for years and years.

And Tate.  Don’t forget that f’***ing Tate.

Imagine what it must have been like for Rams players to share the cramped quarters of a locker room, team bus, and team plane with him (I speculate a similar experience could be had by spending several hours in wv’s living room).

That could also explain the rash of “injuries”.  Players faking or purposely injuring themselves to get away from the smell.

It also probably fueled the rumors of McVay’s and Donald’s retirements.  I’m surprised they were the only ones included in this speculation.

Anyway, I bet they never sign another longtime Seahawk ever again.  And don’t even consider a**holes like Kittle and Deebo when their current contracts expire.  That would be several orders of magnitude worse.

Shame about the 9’ers.

Yet another wasted season.  Next year all those talented players will be another year older, another year closer to the end of their contracts, another year closer to the end of their competitive window.  Another year closer to the end.

If they had just blocked better on that play in which Purdy got hurt.   If their vaunted front 7 just hadn’t been dominated by the Eagles’ o-line which allowed them to run at will and control the game…

There’s nothing as agonizing as potential unfulfilled. “For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, ‘it might have been.”

I feel terrible for all those 9’er fans out there.  I wish there was something I could do to relieve their suffering.

Yup, it’s a damn shame.

Rest in peace, Ag. The board won’t be the same without you.

Relieved that you are ok.

The only bright spot for Russell Wilson is that he won’t have to face a Rams defense again for four years.   It’s not like he was having a banner year, but has any defense ever made a star QB look like a chump as routinely as the Rams defense has made Wilson look over the past 8 seasons?  Doesn’t matter who the coordinator is, what scheme they run, who the players are…

I agree with wv.  The Broncos didn’t look like they wanted to be playing on Xmas- especially their defense which has been stout all season.  Could be they weren’t ready for the Rams’ heavy use of two tight ends and couldn’t adjust, but to me it looked like they weren’t giving their best effort either.

Akers finally looked like the back they drafted him to be.

I suppose it depends  on whether Donald and Stafford retire.

Obviously replacing the greatest defensive player that ever lived with similar talent is impossible for all practical  purposes, and when Donald leaves you might see that the d-lineman and edge rushers that lined up next to him aren’t as good as they looked.  So, a tune-up becomes a major overhaul.

And losing Stafford would set this team’s ability to compete for a Super Bowl back years.

Lost season due to injuries. I’m not sure this team would have been good enough to  ‘run it back’ anyway given the personnel losses over the offseason, but it’s the injuries that keep them from being competitive.  I see lots of people blaming McVay for poor play calling, not running enough…meh.  I think it’s hard to call a game when the available personnel limits you to about 10% of your playbook.

On another note, Wolford does not look like he belongs on an NFL roster.  Of course, he’s stuck behind the same woeful o-line that has made Stafford look horrid, but he hasn’t  looked good in preseason or any other time since that “gritty but not pretty” performance in the playoffs two seasons ago.  I don’t think developing QBs is something McVay is good at or has the patience for.

Last night’s outcome in SF is typical for when the Rams are healthy.  It doesn’t surprise me that playing that game down a bunch of o-linemen, WRs, and DB’s didn’t improve their fortunes.

I knew that pick six was coming. You can’t target the same receiver every play against a defense of that caliber without them making you pay.  Not that I blame Stafford. He’s got no running game, no protection, and only two serviceable receivers (Kupp and Higbee).

O-line played well today, which tells me that they may not be able to handle the good defensive fronts they’ll face, but at least they can handle the fair to middling ones.  That’s something, isn’t it?

If you didn’t see the game and looked at the box score, Powell’s rushing average of -26 yards is a good reminder of the danger inherent in presenting statistics without context.

Screw the 72 Dolphins and 85 Bears.  If the Rams repeat after going through that meat grinder then they are the greatest team of all time.

I will never complain about drafting an o-lineman in the third round, especially if that o-lineman is from UW.