Week 8 – Rams @ Lions Matchup

Well today is the day we have been forced to wait for. Are the St. Louis Rams really worse than the Detroit Lions? The Rams have lost 17 straight games, but are still not quite the laughing stock of the league thanks to the Lions going 0-16 in 2008. Prior to the Lions greatness in 2008 it seemed impossible for a non-expansion team, during the salary cap era to lose every game. The Lions losers of 22 of their last 23 games will want this one bad. A Lions win over the Rams on Sunday would give them two victories on the year and put the Rams at 0-8 heading into the bye week. A loss to the Lions would make the Rams the current laughing stock of the league for sure. Nobody takes the Oakland Raiders seriously and they actually already have a win on the season. The Tennessee Titans won 13 games last year, and the Cleveland Browns even have a victory this year. Hands down the Rams are going to be in mocking territory if they can not manage a win today at Ford Field against the Lions.

Don't expect much in the way of great football today, these teams are just looking for a victory. The Rams are coming off of a 42-6 defeat to the Indianapolis Colts and the Detroit Lions lost 26-0 to the Green Bay Packers prior to their bye week. These teams have been awful on offense. The Rams have a league low 60 points scored and have yet to score a rushing touchdown. The Lions are not much better as they are 23rd in points scored, and 25th in total yards. Whoever makes less mistakes should be the winner in this one.

Injuries could be the story of the day. The Rams will be without Richie Incognito, which will force Adam Goldberg to play inside at tackle with Jason Smith coming off injuries playing right tackle. If Donnie Avery is healthy enough to play a whole game he should be able to put a ton of pressure on a very suspect Lions secondary. The Lions desperately need Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson on the field on Sunday. Both are listed as questionable and without them the Lions offense is awful.

Intangibles - Scott Linehan loser of 17 of his last 20 as Rams head coach is now the offensive coordinator of the Lions. If he is ever going to have a good game plan going into a game it will probably be today against the Rams. You know Linehan wants this one bad. Likewise the Rams should really want to take it out on Linehan and the Lions today. This is a game Steven Jackson should be able to dominate. If the Rams are 53 playing as one they should win today, but can we believe in them?

I hope Marc Bulger read the quote from Derek Anderson this week when talking about his stats "Honestly, they are garbage," he said Wednesday. "I haven't looked at them since I started playing." Marc needs to take responsibility for his poor play and the Rams continual losing and lack of offense. Bulger should play better than Stafford, and Steven Jackson should play better than Kevin Smith. This is a game the Rams should win. I am going to stick by my word and pick Detroit today based on the fact I believe they will want it more and make the plays to win it. The Rams still do not seem to know how to win. Until they can turn their culture around I am going to pick their opponent.

Prediction Lions over Rams 20-16