Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Summer days

With Summer here and the most exciting news in Rams camp being OTA's, news is at a premium.

It is very encouraging thus far that Marc Bulger and the Rams seem intent on working out a contract extension. Rams fans are very well aware of how talented Bulger is. Bulger had the misfortune of replacing a very popular QB in Kurt Warner. Still to this day most Rams' fans have tremendous affection for Warner. Marc Bulger is a quiet, unassuming, hard worker that often gets over looked in the national media. It is truly a shame since statistically he trumps almost all his peers.

I'm not sure why this is the case, but certainly the media and fans alike should be more aware of how talented Marc Bulger really is.

On a sad note my condolences to the family of former LSU Tiger, and New England Patriot Marquis Hill who tragically drowned in Louisiana over the weekend.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Minicamp, OTA's, Football almost here!

The draft is over, free agency for the most past is over, and we as fans envision greater things for this years version of the Rams. What a difference a year makes. The roster turnover wasn't massive ala the Miami Dolphins who cleaned house, but key areas that have been areas of concern for far too long seem on paper to be cleaned up.

Vermeil and Martz long had neglected the offensive & defensive lines. Not surprisingly those have been two areas that have cost us recently. Sure Pace & Barron, and free agents have been added but we all know that players like McCollum & Timmerman can get old or injured in a hurry, and if they had young players behind them they would be ready to fill in. Unfortunately, the Rams never really likes to commit high draft picks to these areas. There have been exceptions but I mean a real commitment. The uglies, guards, centers etc.

This year outside of Carriker, everyone else will provide depth and hopefully pan out in a few years should the need arise. Pace is coming off significant surgery, and into double digits in the NFL, McCollum has his hands full rehabbing an ACL, and Romberg, and draft pick Fry to contend with.

Linehan continues to preach the benefits of competition, with the draft and free agency there will be competition on the lines and elsewhere.

Some key matchups to look forward to"

Chris Draft and Brandon Chiller
Setterstrom and Terrell
Romberg/McCollum and Fry
Kennedy and Carriker
Wroten and Glover
Bartell, Wade, Rumpf, Walls, Butler (Nickel CB)


How ever it pans out this team has addressed key areas long forgotten about and added some depth and hopefully some playmakers and starters for years to come.

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Draft Rewind

Well the draft is over for 2007, and yours truly watch every minute of it. Exciting, not really. Regrets maybe a few. So what did we learn? Are we better? On paper yes. Did we draft playmakers? Hopefully although this was a meat and potatoes kinda draft.

If you rewind a few years ago to Jim Haslett's draft in New Orleans, one may think that he had considerable input on the Rams 2007 draft. Haslett loves to draft linemen, both offense and defensive. For the most part that is what the Rams did. Certainly not sexy, but necessary. When the pundits last year talked about the Rams being "pushed around", this draft coupled with free agency I believe will help fix that.

Also all of the guys drafted love football. Lunch pail tough kinda guys that have clean backgrounds. I like the draft personally, and think that the Rams have improved. Again it wasn't sexy, bunch of DL, OL, a RB/FB, and a CB but hey if we get 2-3 more wins next year we'll be playoff bound.

Lastly my rant on ESPN. Each year I watch these fools talk forever, hoping they mention the Rams. Again and again we see interviews with Jerry Jones, Andy Reid, hear abut how much Cris Berman's Bills, 9ers, and Bucs are Superbowl bound. Never do they spend anytime whatsoever talking about the Rams. I'm tired of it. What does Andy Reid have left to say? Does most of the country care about the Buffalo Bills? When announcers lose their objectivity it stinks for the rest of us. We watch to hear how players will help/hurt all of the teams, not just the ones that we always hear about. Also could the Randy Moss trade be talked about anymore. Jeez!!! WHO CARES? He's a punk that quit on two teams, but the Patriots are the best NFL organization that ever was, so they'll fix him, and win the next four SuperBowls. Is the entire country Patriots fans, or Randy Moss fans. How about Mike Vick and all his wonderful citizenship accolades lately? But he gets a free ride because he's such a talent that the highlight shows dare not offend him. I guess I'm switching to NFL Network where they actually talk about players drafted during the draft. Hmm what a novel idea.