St. Louis Rams vs. Ravens Preview

The fourth preseason game of the year is often as exciting as watching your grass grow and is one of the reason NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wants to expand the NFL season from 16 to 18 games. However, with both teams needing to trim their rosters from 75 to 53 players by Saturday night this game holds huge consequences for over 40 players that hope to make their teams or at least their practice squads. Don't look for many starters in this one, the Ravens have already stated they will not be playing any of their starters. Even our chance to serenade Marc Bulger will most likely not happen as the Ravens plan to play QB Troy Smith the entire game. On the Rams side it is unlikely that Steven Jackson will play however Sam Bradford may start and play a series or two before giving way to the Keith Null / Thaaddeus Lewis battle for the third QB spot on the roster.

Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post Dispatch has the following St. Louis Rams on the bubble: Kevin Dockery, Justin King, Thaaddeus Lewis, Keith Null, Marquis Johnson, Victor Adeyanju, C.J. Ah You, Kenneth Darby, Chris Ogbonnaya, Keith Tosten, Daniel Fells, John Greco, Bobby Carpenter, Chris Chamberlain, Josh Hull and David Vobora. Many of these players will make the St. Louis Rams but none are a lock at this point. Tonight’s game will hold the future for many.

I plan to watch many of the same things I have been focused on throughout the preseason and those are: How well will Sam Bradford play. With very little experience at receiver will anyone like Brandon Gibson or Jordan Kent step up to claim a roster spot. Can the Rams backups on the O-Line like John Greco, Hank Frayley, and Renardo Foster get the job done. Can anyone produce enough to be Steven Jackson’s backup, or will the Rams have to wait until roster cuts to pick up someone better from the waiver wire? This game may not be pretty or watched by many (game is blacked out in St. Louis area) but some important decisions will be made based off of it.

Is Sam Bradford an Elite NFL Quarterback

John Clayton of ESPN.com wrote an interesting piece ranking NFL quarterbacks. John tells us who he believes are the elite quarterbacks in the NFL and who he believes has a chance to become an elite quarterback. John's definition of an elite quarterback is; An elite quarterback is one who can complete better than 60 percent of his passes, has the potential to throw for 4,000 yards and has fourth-quarter comeback ability.

It appears it is not only Rams fans that are getting excited about the future of Sam Bradford after his great night against the New England Patriots, John Clayton is impressed as well. John Clayton gives Sam Bradford a 85% chance of becoming an elite QB in the NFL. Imagine that after only 3 preseason games and missing most of his 2009 college season Bradford is still held in high regard. How high, well ONLY Jay Cutler was ranked with a higher chance (95). That's right John Clayton prefers the potential of Sam Bradford over Mark Sanchez, Matt Stafford, and Kevin Kolb.

Click Here to Rank them.

St. Louis Ram Fan Fantasy Football Challenge

Bradford & Rams Shine Beat Patriots 36-35

After the New England Patriots Rod Owens returned the opening kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown the St. Louis Rams completely dominated the first half of play and led 20-14 at the half behind great play from Sam Bradford. Bradford who only played the first half was outstanding going 15 of 22 for 189 yards and two touchdowns, with a 125 QB rating. Both touchdown passes were to rookie TE Michael Hoomanawanui. Both teams played their starters during the first half and the Rams dominated leading 241-106 in total yards and had a 15-4 edge in first downs.

After taking a 27-14 lead in the 3rd quarter behind a Thaddeus Lewis touchdown pass to Brandon Gibson the Patriots scored 21 straight points to go up 35-27. The surprising part was that the New England Patriots played Tom Brady and Randy Moss into the 4th quarter. As usual the Patriots got away with this risky move and Rams fans had yet another reason to hate Bill Bilichick and the New England Patriots. The Rams still rallied late behind a Keith Toston touchdown run and a 37 yard Josh Brown field goal at the buzzer to beat the Patriots 36-35. Ah sweet revenge. We did not win a Super Bowl XXXVI ring on Thursday night but we may have gained a little respect and for the first time in a long time a little hope.

Rams Lose Avery For The Season

Donnie Avery will miss the 2010 season with a torn ACL, which will require surgery. Avery hurt his knee while going up for a long pass from Sam Bradford Thursday night during the Rams 36-35 victory over the New England Patriots. This is a devastating blow to the Rams receiving core which is already the weakest in the NFL. Donnie Avery is the Rams top explosive receiver and with only 100 catches in his career is also the most experienced.

The St. Louis Rams will desperately need to pick up one or two veteran receivers before the start of the season. The Rams made the correct move in drafting Sam Bradford in the 2010 NFL Draft but they did not make the right move by not getting him more weapons to succeed. A few weeks ago they possibly had a chance to bring in a Hall of Fame receiver in Terrell Owens but were not able to sign him. Maybe Owens was never going to play for a 1-15 team but we should have done what it took to try and get him here. Now that Stan Kronke is the St. Louis Rams owner look for the Rams to be more aggressive collecting talent.

How inexperienced are the Rams heading into the season? Laurent Robinson leads all Rams receivers with 55 catches in the NFL. The Rams have nine receivers left in camp and of those 9 4 of them have no catches in the NFL and Jordan Kent has one. That is correct folks the Rams have basically only four receivers on the roster that have produced in the NFL. Below are their totals.

19 Robinson, Laurent - 55
16 Amendola, Danny - 43
14 Burton, Keenan - 38
11 Gibson, Brandon - 34
82 Kent, Jordan - 1
15 Curry, Dominique - 0
81 Gilyard, Mardy - 0
83 McRae, Brandon - 0
84 Alexander, Denario - 0

Stan Kronke Approved To Purchase Rams

Rams @ Patriots: What To Watch For

1 - How will Sam Bradford perform with the starting offensive line and Steven Jackson in the game. Sam is 12 of 27 for 81 yards so far in the preseason and we need to see more progress tonight.

2 - The starting offensive line. The offensive line has to have pride with Sam Bradford on the field and must protect him. The starting five should finally get a large amount of playing time in this one.

3 - The Rams secondary may go up against Tom Brady, Randy Moss, and Wes Welker for some time tonight. It will be interesting to see if Bartell, Fletcher, Atogwe, and Dahl can hold their own against the Patriots.

4 - The Rams offensive play calling. The play calling is the elephant in every Rams forum. It is the chicken or the egg theory. Is Pat Shurmur call conservative plays because he has no confidence in the QB, is afraid the O-line can't block long enough, does not believe the receiving core can get separation or other. Let's see if the Rams can throw some passes over 10 yards tonight.

5 - The Rams receiving core needs to step up. Will we get to see a lot of Mardy Gilyard and newly signed Denario Alexander, we hope so. Will past draft picks Donnie Avery and Keenan Burton step up and show they can start in this league. The Rams still have 10 players competing for 5 or 6 roster spots.

Q&A Session With Foxboro Blog

1. What team is the Patriots biggest current rival?

While the Patriots and Colts have had some epic yearly battles and a handful of contests to determine who goes to the Super Bowl, the Patriots biggest rivals will always be the Jets. There's just so much bad blood and history between the teams, from our coaching drama (Parcells, Belichick, Mangini), to Spygate, to the natural New York/Boston rivalry. The battles against the Jets may not be as dramatic or important as some of the ones with Indy, but even when New York has been horrible, that's still a game the Patriots always get up for.

2. What 2010 Draft Pick are you most interested in watching Thursday?

I'm a big "defense" guy, so even though watching rookie tight end Aaron Hernandez snag a touch down throw might be more exciting, I'm really looking forward to seeing how ILB, Brandon Spikes, performs on Thursday. He's had a big training camp and has looked great in his other pre-season games. Belichick seems to be very high on him and will likely have him in a starting role in Week 1. I'm hoping to see another big game out of him tomorrow.

3. How bad do the Patriots miss Scott Pioli?

When Pioli left, I wondered if it would be a devastating blow. Many people hailed him as the true "genius" behind the Patriots' success last decade. However, I've been pretty impressed with Belichick's drafting without Pioli in 2009 and 2010. He seems to have snagged some real gems like Patrick Chung, Sebastian Vollmer, Aaron Hernandez, and Brandon Spikes. The Patriots drafting was actually fairly weak in Pioli's final seasons, which I believe attributed to the little bit of a slump we've seen from the Patriots the past two seasons. I honestly believe that they're going to do just fine without him.

4. What do Patriots fans truly think of the devil, Bill Belichick?

If Belichick is a devil, then I don't want to be good. Patriots fans, almost universally, love Bill Belichick. How can you not love a coach who took a last place team and transformed them into a dynasty? Yes, there was the whole "Spygate" issue, but I think people chose to make a bigger deal out of that controvesy than it actually was. Stealing signals is not illegal in the NFL. Using a video camera to steal signals is. If Belichick had sent a guy with a still-photo camera to snap pictures, or had a guy in the stands with a pair of binoculars and a pad and pencil, it would have been totally within the rules. He wasn't penalized for what he did, just how he did it. I think a lot of people miss that.

Otherwise, Belichick is simply a great coach, probably the best in the NFL. The media likes to hate on him because he's very tight lipped and not the most interesting or personable person to cover. Fans love to loathe him because he so often beats their team. However, I'd much rather have a coach like Belichick who preaches fundamentals and teamwork and does his talking on the football field, than a loud-mouth like Rex Ryan. Ryan seems to mostly get a free pass, where Belichick would be crucified for pulling the same stunts.

5. If you could have one player off the Rams roster who would you take?

The easy answer would be Sam Bradford. Not because we need a quarterback, but because we could probably flip him in a trade for the most value. I'll admit that I'm not super-educated about the Rams, so I'd have a tough time making a legit answer. From a pure needs perspective, I would probably take one of your outside line backers or guards.

6. What is your prediction for the Rams this season?

I'll actually be a little more optimistic than you. A 1-15 season is actually a difficult thing to repeat, so I'm expecting some decent improvement. You have games against Oakland, Washington, Detroit, Tampa, Carolina, Kansas City, and your annual two against Seattle. Those are all fairly "winnable" games. I'll pencil the Rams in for 3-13.

7. What is your prediction for the Patriots this year?

They have Brady. They have Belichick. That automatically makes them contenders. However, if the Colts are as good as they were last year, I have a hard time seeing this young team defeat Indy in the playoffs. I say the Pats take the AFC East, they win their home wild card round game, and then they fall in the divisional round.

Click this link to check out my responses about the Rams over at Foxboro Blog!

Sam Bradford Will Start Against New England

In less than 72 hours the St. Louis Rams will take the field against the New England Patriots with Sam Bradford as the starting quarterback. No, Sam has not won the job yet but A.J. Feeley was injured against the Cleveland Browns Saturday night and will be unable to play against the Patriots. Feeley has a sprained thumb and also hurt his elbow during his only series against Cleveland.

This is a huge opportunity for Sam Bradford to win the starting quarterback job. So far Bradford has been far from stellar only completing 44% of his passes going 12 of 27 for 81 yards while being sacked four times during the Rams first two preseason games against Minnesota and Cleveland. In fairness to Sam this will be the first time he will be on the field with the starting O-line and Steven Jackson at the same time. The rainy conditions in Cleveland Saturday night made it very hard to judge how well Sam played, and the utter lack of any blocking against the Vikings also gave him little chance to succeed. This will be a great test and opportunity against New England who will play their starters for much of the game on Thursday.

The Patriots are 2-0 in the preseason with wins over the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons. Tom Brady is red hot so far going 15 of 20 for 152 yards and a TD. The young inexperienced, beat up Rams secondary will be tested by Tom Brady, Randy Moss, and rookie tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. The Patriots are 7.5 favorites.

Rams Sign Danario Alexander

The St. Louis Rams have announced that they have signed free agent wide receiver Danario Alexander to a contract on Sunday. Last years 5th round draft pick Brooks Foster was released to make room for Alexander. With the Rams wide-outs only making three catches Saturday night against the Cleveland Browns the Rams are in need of some additional talent at the WR position. Last season at Mizzou Alexander caught 113 passes for 1,781 yards and 14 touchdowns. During his career Alexander had 191 receptions for 2,778 yards and 22 touchdowns.

Danario Alexander hurt his knee while participating at the Senior Bowl in January and was unable to participate at the combine or pro-day, and was not drafted by any team in April due to the serious knee issues he has had the last few years. Alexander however is a excellent athlete who has been timed in the 4.4 second range, has broad jumped 11-feet, 1-inch and has a 43 inch vertical jump. Doctors stated Alexander would be ready by training camp and he passed a physical in St. Louis back in early August. The only question is what took the Rams so long to take a chance on Danario.

Rams Beat Browns 19-17

Despite only 172 yards of total offense (only 107 after the first drive) the St. Louis Rams managed to beat the Cleveland Browns 19-17 behind 4 short field goals by Josh Brown. The Rams took advantage of early turnovers to go up 13-0 13 minutes and 25 seconds into the contest. The NFL is all about winning but in preseason sometimes how the team plays can be even more important, however it was nice to see the Rams put one in the win column.

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Rams Browns Preseason Preview

Well things could not have went much worse for the St. Louis Rams last week against the Minnesota Vikings. Even Danny Amendola who had the Rams only touchdown fumbled a punt and cost the Rams 7 points. The Rams will try to turn things around tonight at Cleveland Browns stadium starting at 6:30. The Cleveland Browns were 27-24 winners over the Green Bay Packers in week 1 action.

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St. Louis Rams Sign Safety Brett Johnson

The St. Louis Rams who are having injury problems in the secondary have now released Free Safety David Roach. Shortly after releasing Roach the Rams picked up rookie free agent Brett Johnson an undrafted Free Safety from California University. Johnson signed with the Buffalo Bills following the 2010 NFL draft. The Philadelphia Eagles signed Johnson after he was waived by the Bills. The Eagles released Johnson while he was injured in camp.

Brett Johnson is a small safety at 6'1", 195 pounds from the University of California. At California Johnson was a two-year starter at free safety, he finished his college career with 107 tackles along with three interceptions. In 2009 Johnson recorded a career-high 52 tackles to lead all Bears defensive backs.

Johnson was not invited to the NFL Combine so he performed at a pro day for scouts back in March. Per Scout.com Johnson posted an eye-popping 43-inch vertical leap, and a 40-yard dash time in the 4.3 range. I like the athletic ability Brett Johnson brings to the table but I worry about his size. The Rams are in need of some hammers and Johnson is not likely to be one.

David Roach has more size at 6'2" and 215 pounds but he has never played well on the Rams. I thought in the 2009 preseason David Roach was often the worst player on the field however the Rams like to use him on special teams. The Rams have more players to choose from for special teams this year so Roach became expendable.

Are The St. Louis Rams Getting Better

St. Louis Rams Tickets On Sale

St. Louis Rams single game tickets are now on sale. The Rams have sold quite a lot of season tickets this year so the single game tickets will go fast. With opening day just a little over a month away it is time to get the tickets you will need to see the St. Louis Rams in 2010.

St Louis Rams vs. Arizona Cardinals – Sept. 12
St Louis Rams vs. Washington Redskins – Sept. 26
St Louis Rams vs. Seattle Seahawks – Oct. 3
St Louis Rams vs. San Diego Chargers – Oct. 17
St Louis Rams vs. Carolina Panthers – Oct. 31
St Louis Rams vs. Atlanta Falcons – Nov. 21
St Louis Rams vs. Kansas City Chiefs – Dec. 19
St Louis Rams vs. San Francisco 49ers – Dec. 26

Are St. Louis Rams Fans Apathetic

I started to think about this issue this morning as I was listening to sports talk radio. I found it absolutely amazing and sad that shows were talking more about Jake Westbrook a 32 year old pitcher on the Cleveland Indians with 13 wins in the last 4 years and a 69-71 lifetime win/loss record and career ERA of 4.34 than talking about the upcoming signings of Rodger Saffold and Sam Bradford. With Training camp starting tomorrow where was the football talk, the excitement, the anticipation?

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