Ah…now, that’s just awful. I’m very sorry to hear that. I’ve always respected Jim, not only because of his valuable football insight, but just because he always came across as a decent man, with integrity and honor. And I hope he continues to make the best of an already magnificent life.

So…I’m thinking…Dickerson?….Faulk?…Hirsch?….

Marie Antoinette passed through my mind, too. That’s pretty funny.

Did you read Taibi’s bit on this? I agree with him. I think the whole thing is despicable, really. It compromises the media. These rich assholes go to a swanky dinner, and suck up to power. Their desire to be “insiders” compromises their objectivity. Like Taibi said, they are courtiers to power instead of adversaries who challenge it.

And it is telling that all the whining about Wolf’s speech has to do with HOW she said it, not WHAT she said. If it had been false, that’s what they would complain about. But what she said is true. And that’s why they’re pissed.

Yes, the odds of landing players is increased the more picks one has. I think this was smart strategy…whether or not it works this particular time.

I don’t really trust rankings at this point, anyway. I think the guys in the Top 100 are pretty well looked at, but after that, my guess is most of these sites are kind of throwing darts based on statistics and combine numbers rather than actual football play.

I have no reason at this point to seriously question the Les Snead Senior Bowl. Looks to me like his method has worked pretty well, better than average.

zn wrote:

In the chat room for Rams pick

Join.

It’s free. http://theramshuddle.com/game-day-chat/

Ya git whatcha pay fer.

nittany ram wrote:

Zooey wrote:

Well, this is the same god who turned a woman into a statue of salt just because she felt remorse at seeing the city of her childhood burned to the ground.

Whenever I hear the story of Lot’s wife I am reminded of this exchange on ‘All in the Family’…

Archie: Oh, shut up! You atheist you! The Bible is filled miracles, no magic. God didn’t fool around with no magic.
Mike: What about Sodom and Gomorrah? When Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt?
Archie: That’s because when she was running away from them two dirty cities, she stopped to take a look at her behind.

A stunned Mike slams his head against the table.

It is possibly the worst story in the bible. Certainly Top Ten.

Well, this is the same god who turned a woman into a statue of salt just because she felt remorse at seeing the city of her childhood burned to the ground.

I heard part of this story on NPR yesterday…the part where his church split, and started a new church somewhere else…where they could continue believing that they were special, and other people would burn in hell. And I had heard enough.

It’s tough. I’m sorry.

I don’t know what’s REALLY going on. I read somewhere that Europe wants an gas pipeline from the Middle East as an alternative to the Russian gas pipeline, and it would have to go through Syria. That could be part of it. I’m sure there is much more to it than that.

The problem is that there really are too many catastrophes to keep up on.

Boston doesn’t belong in the Top 100, let alone the Top 10.

The White Album seems overrated to me, too. There was some crap on that album. There is an awful lot of good stuff, but there is some crap. And a Top 10 album should be crap-free.

That list is interesting. It has Sweet – Desolation Blvd well above Prince – Purple Rain. And I don’t know how Bob Seger gets rated. Nirvana clocks in at 407 – well back of Journey, and Heart, and Pat Benatar, and Kansas, and Joan Jett, FFS.

Could go on all day with that list, I guess.

I agree with Invader. There’s a salary cap. And the Rams weren’t the only team with room under the cap. Besides which… most of the additions to the players they drafted were via trade, not FA. Who was a FA? Suh?

That doesn’t resemble the Steinbrenner Yankees.

https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/04/05/sean-mcvay-los-angeles-rams-trades-brandin-cooks-ndamukong-suh-marcus-peters-aqib-talib?utm_campaign=themmqb&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social

QUICKLY
The 32-year-old head coach will work with a team big on talent, but big on potential problems too. Why he’s confident it will work. Also, Dez Bryant on the brink, Lamar Jackson’s strange draft season decision-making, what RG3 brings to Baltimore, a draft prospect drawing Ray Lewis comps, high praise for Baker Mayfield and what Johnny Manziel is doing right
By ALBERT BREER April 05, 2018
Ten months ago, Sean McVay was still a 31-year-old curiosity, the Rams were coming off their 10th consecutive sub-.500 season, and the NFL’s return to L.A. was barely registering in the city’s crowded entertainment marketplace. And yet, it was right then and there, at OTAs’ end, that the stage was set for this year’s splash.

The coaching staff was running a scored offense vs. defense drill—first side to five wins; the defense won, and that meant the offense had to take a lap around the Oxnard, Calif. practice field. That’s when something funny happened. As the offensive players went to pay off the loss, the defensive players turned around too, running with guys they beat when they didn’t have to.

“You want those sorts of things to organically happen,” McVay said Wednesday evening, over his cell on his drive home. “It wasn’t something that had to be motivated by a coach—Hey, you should run, too. This goes back to where my grandfather’s history has an effect on some of the core beliefs and values that we preach day-in and day-out with the Rams.”

Making his way through traffic, the coach recalled asking his grandfather, long-time San Francisco 49ers personnel czar John McVay, what made the dynastic Niners of the 1980s so different. The elder McVay brought up Bill Walsh and George Seifert—and all the help they had, and how it related to that June day in L.A.

“Their best players were the best examples of what it looks like to do things right day-in and day-out,” Sean McVay says. “Those were the standards. Nobody was above those standards because these were the guys that led the way. Everybody followed. When your best players are coachable, receptive, accountable on a daily basis, and all your guys demonstrate what it means to do right on the practice field, in the meeting room, and they have a selfless mindset and mentality. That’s when good things can happen.”

The Rams acquired Marcus Peters five-and-a-half weeks ago from the Chiefs. They then dealt for Broncos corner Aqib Talib, before signing Dolphins castoff Ndamukong Suh, a move followed by Tuesday’s trade for receiver Brandin Cooks. Each player has had his problems, and each was let go for a reason—this isn’t the first time for three of the four.

And somehow, the Rams are confident this will be different, largely because of what they’ve established over the last year. It’s in that scene from last June, and what it represents. And it’s in their best players not just being the right kind of athletes, but the right kind of people.

In this week’s GamePlan, we’ll look at why Dez Bryant is on thin ice in Dallas, check out the Lamar Jackson weirdness, check in on Robert Griffin III, explain why NFL business is still robust, and dive into the importance of knowing who will throw the ball for your team, courtesy Jay Gruden, coach of the suddenly quarterback-stable Redskins.

But we start with the biggest story of the week, and that’s the Rams (again) and their big trade (again), and maybe the most important question for this team: Given the egos, varied personalities, expectations, and contract situations, how in the world are they going to make it work?

We’ve seen this fail before. The Eagles won their division in 2010, and hatched the Dream Team in 2011. The Cowboys had big years in 2007 and 2014, and dice-roll acquisitions (Pacman Jones in 2008, Greg Hardy in 2015) took down an all-in Jerry Jones in the years to follow.

So one more time: How does this work where the others didn’t? As McVay sees it, it starts with guys like Aaron Donald, Jared Goff and Todd Gurley, their experience during last year’s turnaround, and their willingness to repeat what it took to get to a division title and fight the temptation to feel like they’re starting this year where they left off last year.

“One of the things I’ve heard Coach Belichick say, when you look at the consistency the Patriots have had over a handful of years, ‘You wipe the slate clean,’” McVay says. “What we did last year won’t do anything for us. We’ve gotta recommit and focus on building from where we left off while understanding that what we did last year won’t get us any yards, won’t get us any sacks. You’ve gotta earn it every day.”

Still, these are individual people coming in, and as such each had to have his tires kicked before the Rams took them on. What eventually made McVay and GM Les Snead comfortable with injecting these newcomers into what they believe has become a pretty good mix was a tie binding the four—their passion for football. That showed up in the research the team did. For example:

• In tape study of Peters, coaches noticed how positively he responded to bad plays, and his concept recognition, which could only be the result of hard study.

• Talib was with McVay in Tampa in 2008 and, of course, Wade Phillips in Denver, and he was a Broncos team captain last year. So the Rams know him, and feel like, at 32, he should be a positive influence on Peters and others.

• Rams strength coach Ted Rath was with Suh for six years in Detroit, and he vouched for the maniacal manner in which the former All-Pro takes care of himself. The Dolphins had issues with his selfishness at times, and the Lions with his temper, but he does seem to still love football.

• McVay called around on Cooks, and heard that he’s universally liked off the field, and relentless on the practice field. Then, just after the deal went down, a Patriots assistant texted the Rams coach and told him Cooks didn’t miss a single practice rep in 2017.

There’s no assurance, of course, that all of it will hold up; McVay will be first to tell you that. There’s also risk involved in depleting the team’s war chest of draft picks. The Rams don’t pick until 87, haven’t had a first-round pick since taking Goff first overall two years ago, and are already out their second-round pick for 2019.

The team’s counter on this front is in its ability to make more out of third- and fourth-round picks, which it believes is a product of McVay’s clarity in what he’s looking for. Three major contributors in 2017 were rookies drafted in that range (WR Cooper Kupp, OLB Samson Ebukam and S John Johnson), where a team that already has blue-chippers can find its middle-of-the-roster talent.

Given that he’s armed with a third-rounder and three fourth-rounders, Snead will have a chance to go looking again in that area. And the team expects to get a couple comp third-rounders next year to add to its 2019 haul, which should help to make up for the ’19 second-rounder dealt as part of the Peters deal.

For now, the focus is back where it was last year at this time, and that’s on building and bonding.