Are The St. Louis Rams Getting Better

First off this is not a chicken little article with me in panic over a Rams preseason loss to the Minnesota Vikings. The Rams were 3-1 in the 2009 preseason and it meant nothing. However my premise is are the St. Louis Rams getting any better? Sure it is early and Steven Spagnuolo and crew have only had 16 games to turn things around and it is just not going to happen that fast. However just like under Scott Linehan and Jim Haslett I do not see improvement or change.

I want to hang my hat on the Sam Bradford express as much as anyone else but a ton of other things have to improve for him to be allowed to make a difference. The Rams had injuries in the O-line and secondary last night that caused them to shuffle some players and play a lot of young players for extended periods of time and I understand that. However the Rams offensive line can not seem to block no matter what players are out there. The Rams continue to miss assignments and fail to block from the inside out. You thought if they would ever block they would at least try to keep Sam Bradford clean. Nope four sacks while Sam was in there in only 20+ plays. The Rams running backs continue to be the worst in the league in blitz pickup. The Rams linebackers have been beaten down the seem over the past few years by every no name TE in the game. The players and coaches have changed but the culture and results have not. Something or someone has to be able to get through to this group of players. The Rams only have three more preseason games to iron out these issues and improve.

While it may take 2-3 more years to get the right personnel to be seriously successful it is hard to watch bad teams like the Cleveland Browns and Oakland Raiders still manage five wins in 2009 while the Rams have only won six games in three years. Steve Loney has to get the Rams offensive line to be able to block. Pat Shurmer has to have the confidence that the Rams O-line can block long enough for him to actually install an NFL game plan. Steve Spagnuolo has to get players to step up and play above their abilities. Coach Spagnuolo needs to bring the aggressive pass rushing of the NFC East to the Rams. Even if we do not have the same personnel put them in positions to succeed with scheme and game plan. I am still concerned that over the past few years players have left the Rams and started on other teams while not playing well with the Rams. In addition current players like Laurent Robinson and Danny Amendola continue to be the best Rams after being taken from other teams. Why can't we turn our own draft picks like Donnie Avery and Keenan Burton into stars?

By Stlvinnie - http://www.stlouisramfan.com