Rams vs. Packers Game Preview

The 0-4 St. Louis Rams will take on the 5-0 World Champion Green Bay Packers at historic Lambeau Field starting at noon on Sunday. The Green Bay Packers are an absolute buzzsaw. The Green Bay Packers have won the last 11 games they have played. Green
Bay's last loss came way back on 12/19/2010 when they lost 31-27 to the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium.

The Packers lead the league in scoring with almost 35 points per game. The Packers are 4th in total yards, 4th in passing and 22nd in rushing. Even though James Starks and Ryan Grant have only combined for 425 yards on the ground they have averaged 4.43
yards per carry. Aaron Rodgers is on fire going 129 of 180 for 1721 yards with 14 touchdowns and only 2 interceptions and a QB rating on 122.9!

This is an absolute terrible matchup for the St. Louis Rams. The Packers will throw the ball all over the lot while Justin King and Al Harris try to keep up. Josh Gordy is our #3 corner heading into this game. Don't kid yourself Green Bay will do what they want to do in this one.

On the bright side the Rams have already played two teams that play the 3-4. In addition Al Harris can give us some inside scoop on the Packers. Steven Jackson claims to be back to 100% but even that is tempered by the fact that the Packers are 3rd against the rush.

The Rams have just been terrible on offense. The Rams head into this one dead last in scoring, 31st in total yards, 28th in passing and 25th in rushing. Those numbers are just not good enough to play against a team like the Packers. My biggest concern is that Sam Bradford has completed less than 50% of his throws for the season. Sam Bradford is 75 of 151 for 849 yards with 3 td passes and only 1 interception while being sacked 18 times and has a QB rating of 70.8. The offensive line must improve and Sam must improve.

The Rams are coming off of a bye week so hopefully they worked on some fundamentals. The Rams O-line must have a tremendous game to stay in this one. With Jacob Bell hurt the Rams may start Tony Wragge at Left Guard. If that happens look for the Packers who only have 12 sacks and Clay Matthews who only has one sack to exploit that area.

There is really no way to sugar coat this one. The Rams will have to be at least +3 in the turnover margin to even compete in this game. The Packers are truly that good. We have to hope they overlook the Rams and come out a little sluggish. However even when they started slow in Atlanta they pulled away and won by 11. I just don't see anything good happening in this one.

Prediction St. Louis Rams 10 - Green Bay Packers 38

St. Louis Rams 2010 Season Preview

The St. Louis Rams were knocked out and finally fell to the mat in 2009 finishing 1-15 and were 6-42 over the last three years. I believe the St. Louis Rams have reached rock bottom. In 2010 the St. Louis Rams will have to crawl before they can walk. With the selection of Sam Bradford the Rams now have a face of the franchise and hope. It is time for the St. Louis Rams to start gathering the pieces to once again be successful.

Offense - The St. Louis Rams have to rebound from having one of the worst offenses in the history of football. The Rams were dead last in scoring in 2009 averaging only 10.9 points per game. In addition the Rams were 29th in total yards, 28th in passing and even with Steven Jackson they finished 20th in rushing. The Rams look to turn things around with the addition of Sam Bradford. The Rams made the correct choice in selecting Bradford over Ndamukong Suh. The Rams will continue to rely on Steven Jackson to run the ball and hopefully open up things for Bradford in the passing game. The Rams also drafted Mardy Gilyard to add to their attack. The Rams will need to acquire a top wide receiver within the next year to take this offense to the next level.

Defense - As anemic as the Rams offense has been you can argue that the defense has been even worse finishing in the bottom 5 in points allowed the previous five years! The numbers don't get much better from there as the Rams were 30th in sacks, tied for last in interceptions, and opposing QBs had a QB Rating of 97 against them. The Rams offense will have to find a way to keep this defense off the field more in 2010. The Rams have
found a great leader on the defensive side of the ball in James Laurinaitis. Chris Long will move over to LDE replacing Leonard Little and will need to have a year worthy of being the 2nd overall pick in the 2008 NFL draft. The Rams have high hopes for draft pick CB Jerome Murphy but did little else to bolster a defense in need of a real hammer. I look for the Rams to pick up a stud defensive end or safety in the next draft or free agent period.

Special Teams - The St. Louis Rams special teams should be very solid with one of the best punters in football Donnie Jones, and Josh Brown looking stronger than ever as the place kicker. Danny Amendola will be the threat returning punts, and explosive Mardy Gilyard will take over the kickoff return duties. I would also like to welcome back Chris Massey the best long snapper in the business from his 2009 season-ending knee injury.

Coaching - I must admit I am still not sold on the coaching staff. Sure they are all very nice guys but do they have what it takes to return the St. Louis Rams to their glory? Steve Spagnuolo was never a head coach at any level prior to getting the head coaching job with the Rams. His claim to fame was being the Defensive Coordinator on the New York Giants when they shut down the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. Coach Spagnuolo has only two years experience as a DC in the NFL and has never been on the offensive side of coaching in his 25+ years in the business. I have yet to see any schemes or coaching philosophy changes to improve the Rams, it could simply be because he does not have the horses yet. In Pat Shurmur the Rams have an unproven and totally inexperience offensive coordinator. Shurmur was the tight ends coach for three years and then quarterbacks coach for five years with the Philadelphia Eagles. Shurmur has no offensive coordinator experience and it showed in 2009 as the Rams offense was about as vanilla as you can get. On the defensive side of the ball the Rams have inexperienced Ken Flajole who has never been a defensive coordinator at the NFL level. Will Ken be able to turn around a defense that has been bad for so long? If the Rams have a poor season look for Owner Stan Kronke to clean house.

Intangibles - One word "Inexperienced." The 2010 St. Louis Rams will experience growing pains. The Rams have 14 rookies on their 53 man roster which comes out to 26% of the roster. Not only are the Rams inexperienced they are inexperienced at key positions. The Rams are not only starting rookie QB Sam Bradford but they are also protecting him with rookie left tackle Rodger Saffold and second year right tackle Jason Smith. In addition the Rams starting wide receivers Laurent Robinson and Danny Amendola have a total of 98 NFL receptions between then and really pose no threat to opposing defenses.

Schedule - Based on 2009 results the St. Louis Rams 2010 strength of schedule (SOS) is .449, 31st overall, or the second easiest schedule in the NFL. On paper the Rams finally catch a break and a big break at that. The Rams have early season match-ups against Oakland, Detroit & Tampa Bay. After starting the past 3 seasons 0-4 the Rams need some success early to build some confidence and their fan base.

My thoughts - While I am very excited to watch Sam Bradford take over as the Rams quarterback the Rams are still a couple years away. From 1 through 22 the Rams should be able to stay in games for quite a while but this team is just super thin and super young. A key injury at almost any position will cripple this team. There are still not enough weapons but they are heading in the right direction. With the early season schedule if they catch a couple breaks you never know, but I just don't see it happening yet. The inexperience factor has to cost them quiet a lot. A rookie QB in the NFL has a very tough time out of the blocks and to be starting on the worst team in the NFL will make it that much harder for Sam Bradford.

Prediction - (3 - 13) With some early season breaks and some Sam Bradford magic 6 wins is possible.

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

Week 5 – Vikings @ Rams Matchup

Well normally I do my weekly analysis of the St. Louis Rams matchup. This week I am not going to bother to give you tons of information about the game against the Minnesota Vikings. I will simply say this is a complete miss-match. Sure Minnesota played an emotional game Monday Night against the Green Bay Packers, and their next two games are against the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers, but this is NOT a trap game. The Rams would be lucky to trap a mouse between them using all 53 players on the roster. Sure I watched Any Given Sunday and have seen many upsets in the NFL but this will not be one of them. Stating this by the way does not make me a bad fan but a realist and there is a difference. I will be there early, cheer for my team and hope for a victory but at the moment I give them zero percent chance of being in this game. Hopefully the Rams can thrill me with a win but how?

The Rams are last in points scored, and 30th in total yards and passing yards in the NFL. The Vikings 118 points scored, are third most in the NFL, while the Rams have only scored 26. Brett Favre alone has 8 TD passes. The Rams are still looking for their first rushing TD, while Adrian Peterson has racked up 5 already. Adrian Peterson has 92 touches on the year and look for him to have a great game against the Rams on Sunday.

It is simple, we lack skill, talent, and playmakers. In this game the Rams are facing a Vikings team that is loaded with playmakers. On offense the Vikings have all world QB Brett Favre, Adrian Peterson, Sidney Rice, Bernard Berrian, Percy Harvin, Chester Taylor & Visanthe Shiancoe. I can't even count the amount of bad matchups this causes for the Rams. The offensive line features great blocking on the left side by Steve Hutchinson and Bryant McKinnie. When the Rams go to run the ball they will face the wall of Pat and Kevin Williams inside. When the Rams go to pass they will need to find a way to block the NFC sack leader Jared Allen, and get the ball past one of the best cornerbacks in the league Antoine Winfield.

Hopefully the Rams front office will get a good look at a team that is loaded with playmakers, and see that they are needed to compete and win in the NFL. Nate Jones, Keenan Burton, Donnie Avery, and Danny Amendola are not the answer and an absolute joke that in week 5 of an NFL season they are the only receivers on the roster.


Prediction Vikings over the Rams 30-6

St. Louis Rams Season Preview

Offense - Change is the word for the Rams offense. New head coach Steve Spagnuolo is defensive minded. The Rams also brought in Pat Shurmur who runs a West Coast offense, so expect a lot of quick dink and dunk passes from Marc Bulger, and a heavy dose of Steven Jackson. I expect Jackson to get 25 touches every week, hopefully he can take the punishment. The Rams Will go with Samkon Gado and Kenneth Darby to back up Jackson. At receiver Torry Holt is gone and Donnie Avery is the #1. Avery has more receptions (53) in the NFL than any other receiver on the Rams roster. Their lack of experience is sure to show. Expect every team to key on Jackson and put 8 in the box. The Rams did draft OT Jason Smith from Baylor and picked up massive Center Jason Brown as a free agent to help restore the offensive line. The biggest question will be the leadership and ability for Marc Bulger to make positive plays and stay away from turnovers and sacks.

Defense - The Rams have been in the bottom 5 in points allowed the previous four years! It is hard to win many games that way. Steve Spagnuolo is going to look to build the defense around youngsters Chris Long and James Laurinaitis. The Rams must have a much better defense against the rush and generate a much better pass rush. The Rams are very young at defensive tackle, in addition Adam Carriker is out for the year with an injury. Spagnuolo has chosen to go very young with the roster. The Rams have chosen to release Tye Hill and Chris Draft and will start Jonathan Wade and David Vabora. The cornerbacks are super inexperienced with Ron Bartell leading the group with only four years of service. The lack of quality depth at cornerback will show against teams like Green Bay, Indy, and Arizona.

Special Teams - It does not get any better than Josh Brown and Donnie Jones. Some of the Rams best drives will be to play it safe get a few yards and let Donnie boot it 50 yards down field to help out the defense. The kick returns will be handled by Derek Stanley and Kenneth Darby, not much of a threat. With the new rule of only two players allowed on the kickoff wedge I am not expecting much on kickoff returns. We need the Rams to improve on kick coverage as well. Players like Chamberlain, Vobara and Culberson will be expected to make a lot of tackles.

Schedule - After starting the last 2 years 0-4 and 0-8 I am very worried about the Rams first 7 games on this years schedule. There is a good chance the Rams will get off to a slow start again. The Rams will play four 2008 playoff teams in 2009. The records of the Rams 2009 opponents were 119-137 in 2008. That is a winning percentage of only .464. The Rams have very hard games against the Tennessee Titans and Indianapolis Colts in 09. If you throw out those two games Rams opponents were 94-130 for a .419 winning percentage. The Rams play in the worst division in football and need to find a way to start winning division games again.

Our Thoughts - The offense will have a very hard time moving the ball and putting up points. They have the least experienced group of receivers in the NFL. They have a QB that has had two awful years in a row, and comes into the season with a broken pinkie. Marc needs to stand in the pocket and make good decisions. Steven Jackson will have every defense focused on stopping him. The defense is very young and I can't believe they are going into the season with this group of 5 cornerbacks. I expect them to get burnt early and often at the beginning of the season. James Laurinaitis is a great anchor to build around. I believe you will see the Rams manufacture a better pass rush with more blitzing and they will also swarm to the ball in an attempt to create a lot of turnovers. Overall the squad is in rebuilding mode and is just too young and inexperienced to expect much this year. The lack of star power and depth will hurt the Rams as well. The bottom line is going into a season with an offensive line that has never played a game together is just not good in the NFL. They have turned the corner with a new front office and head coach but they are still a few players away.

Prediction - (3 - 13) Early season schedule is way to hard