I’ll tell you what I think the challenges will be for the Rams this week. I’ll make some sense, and I’ll be dead wrong about everything.

Anyway, here we go…

Andy Reid teams are the best in the NFL at running screens. I expect to see several against the Rams this Sunday. Pretty good chance one of them hits for a very big play.

Alex Smith is a dink and dunk, West Coast, QB. He’s nothing special, but he’s good at running that offense. It took him 6 years to be above average, but Smith doesn’t make a lot of mistakes.

The Chiefs wide receivers are nothing special either, but the Rams secondary is prone to giving up a big play. 3rd and 4, no problem, that’s a stop. 3rd and 17, that’s a problem.

Alex Smith has been sacked 16 times in 6 games. That’s nothing to be proud of. The Rams D line should get a couple of sacks.

Smith can run. He’s way better at scrambling than people realize. That does not bode well for the Rams.

Charles or Davis will probably hit at least one big run. Could be a TD. The Rams will stuff the run game all day, then give up a 60 yard jaunt. Typical.

Knile Davis is a fumbler.

They’re about a 50/50 run/pass ratio team. The Rams gotta stop the run.

The Chiefs run D is nothing special. 4.7 yards per attempt.

The Chiefs have 17 sacks. Their pass rush is not to be toyed with.

Seconday? Not bad.

My main concern is the Rams coming out flat. It’s a road game, after a big win against Seattle. KC is gonna smell blood in the water pretty quick if the Rams don’t come out fighting for their lives.

The Rams can’t ease into this street fight. 🙂

My guess, Rams lose 24-17.

wv wrote:

For me the most positive change
this season has been the
play of the receivers — they
have become…respectable.
Not great or excellent
but…respectable.

If Greg Robinson continues to
improve, it may be that Snisher
made the right choice of GR
over Watkins. Too soon to tell.

w
v

Yep. The WR’s are respectable, which is a tremendous leap forward compared to where they were just two seasons ago.

In 2012 this team was starting Danny Amendola and Brandon Gibson.

Brandon

F#^@%*$

Gibson

Wow.

wv wrote:

Agreed.

I’m a little disappointed in Britt though.
I was hoping he’d be more of an impact player.

w
v

Me too. I didn’t think he would be a high volume guy, but I was hoping for a big play every other week or so. Not even a TD, just a big, physical play.

He’s being held. He’s either got to “flop” better and get the holding call, or he’s got to improve at breaking the hold.

wv wrote:

Well, im skeptical. If the league’s Refs were
trying to keep games interesting, why did Seattle Blow
out Denver in the Super Bowl? Why didnt
the Refs keep it close for the ratings?
Etc.

w
v

Yeah, I know. Lots of exceptions. Even if the refs were trying to keep a game close, there are still so many variables in a football game that can’t be controlled by them. Injuries, play-calling, execution, or like last night’s Eagles/Giants game – an O-line that can’t block. 🙂

Who knows?

I don’t know if the league cares about the Rams or Niners winning. I think they do care that it’s a national game, and they don’t want another blowout. Especially after the blowout last night (Giants – Eagles).

TV ad money is everything to this league, and blowouts are bad for business. Local games? Eh. But national games need to be competitive and entertaining to keep the ad numbers up.

If one team falls far behind in this one I wouldn’t be surprised if the losing team got a little “help”. Kind of like what we saw Thursday night with the Colts – Texans. Once Texas fell behind it seemed clear to me that the Texas O-line could have stabbed a Colt defender without a flag being thrown. There was a whole lot of holding going on, and magically holes opened up for the Texans running game. Foster looked like the All Pro he used to be.

Next thing you know, it’s a close game.

I have no proof of anything, just mentioning what my eyeballs saw. But money is the great motivator in this league, and people changing the channel in the first quarter of a nationally televised game is bad for business.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by Winnbrad.

5 penalties or less. No turnovers.

Legalized holding.

People are impatient. They’re forgetting how far this team has had to come since 2011. The stench from that season still lingers with me. The team we have now is far superior to anything we’ve seen in several years.

Goodell has no authority, other than what the owners give him. The NFL is owned and managed by 31 wealthy white guys, and the Green Bay packers Inc. They make every decision they want to make.

In my opinion, Goodell, and the owners, have been far better than they have ever been before in managing the NFL. Not that long ago nobody cared about player safety, domestic violence, drunk driving, drug abuse, steroids, etc. Slowly but surely, Goodell and the owners have cracked down on all of that.

The league is not perfect, but it is far better than it has ever been in dealing with those problems. The players union, which Goodell works very well with, and always has throughout his career in the front office, has also helped.

I see lots of people on the web calling for Goodell to resign or be fired. That would be throwing the baby out with the bath water, in my opinion. The NFL is improving. It has a long way to go, sure, but the owners and the commissioner had a lot of ground to make up to begin with. For a long time this league didn’t give a shit about anything except growing their market share and making money. Player safety and conduct be damned.

At least in the last few years they’ve addressed those issues and made the league much better than it has ever been.

I think Goodell should stay, and keep doing what he’s doing. He’s not gonna get everything right, but he’s way better than anyone we’ve had before.

wv wrote:

Well if Spags won Seven games
with No talent,
and Fisher only wins Seven games
with lots of talent…
what does that mean?

w
v

The NFC West was much different back in Spags day. Probably the weakest division in football. Now it’s the toughest.

Dak wrote:

Is that a legal play? I don’t think I’d be sharing your tricks so readily.

Probably not. But apparently it is legal to hold Quinn, so I guess our guys can do some holding too.

In your opinion, should the Rams have drafted a qb high in the last draft? No.

Did they seem set with a rehabbed Bradford and with Hill? Yes.

Would you have drafted a qb high in the last draft anyway? No.

The Rams did the best they could at QB. Bradford was on track, he looked sharp in preseason. The team got it right.

There’s another side to this QB issue, though. Maybe people are discussing it, and I just haven’t seen it. But the people complaining about the Rams not drafting QBs are forgetting some things that are very important.

This team was VERY BAD for a long time. Draft picks had to be used over the last few years at almost every position, just to field a .500 team. Every draft pick mattered. Developmental picks are great, for teams that can afford that luxury. The Rams couldn’t. They needed every pick to stick, and contribute to the team getting better right away. The team also needed depth, but QB wasn’t a position they could focus on for that.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 3 months ago by Winnbrad.

nittany ram wrote:

Yeah, at least public opinion can have some impact on NFL policy.

But even if Goodell takes the fall for his role in all of this, the ultimate responsibility rests with the owners. Goodell is their representative. They will remain untouched by the fallout though.

Yep. The only authority Goodell has is what’s given to him by the owners. Goodell is just another protective layer in front of them. He can easily be replaced, and the owners get to keep their hands clean.

Head and gut say win. The Vikes are a bad team. They have one great player, a future HOF running back. That’s it.