Rams WR Brian Quick (Courtesy STLouisRams.com)

The Rams rammed it to the Chiefs Saturday at the Dome giving The Stache his first victory as Rams’ head coach.  A stunning 17-31 win.  Yes, it’s just preseason and yes it technically doesn’t count.  But as with most things, it still matters.

It matters because the team made progress since week 1.  It matters because it shows there is life in this reincarnation of their beloved team.  It matters because this gives fans hope.

(I love modern technology – until it decides to fail on me.  I have family visiting for a week so I couldn’t watch the Rams game live.  Next best thing was to record it and view later.  Ah, even the best laid plans sometimes…)

I don’t want to write something I didn’t see myself but since you guys shouldn’t have togo without because my DVR pooped out on me, here are a few game recaps from last night.  My favorite one being first up right here.

Too bad it didn’t count: Rams dominate Chiefs in preseason home opener

To quote Sam Bradford, “Wow.” That was his response to Danny Amendola’s highlight-reel-worthy one-handed, no-look touchdown catch that put the Rams up 14-0. But it may as well extend to the whole game, a 180-degree turnaround from last week and one of those rare football days when every single thing seems to go right.

Last week’s Rams fan mantra, “It’s only the preseason, it’s only the preseason,” might fall on a few deaf ears tonight in the wake of a manful 31-17 tuneup of the Kansas City Chiefs. Everything clicked for Jeff Fisher’s team tonight, from start to finish, from first string to third, from Sam Bradford’s first pass (an absolute beauty) to the rarely-seen victory formation.

But.

It’s only the preseason. … Read more at Ramsherd.com >>>>

» Continue reading “Pigskin Cover 3: Sunday Edition”

#24 RB Isaiah Pead and #79 Barry Richardson (Courtesy STLouisRams.com)

It’s that way too familiar feeling as Rams fans wake up Monday morning.  I open up my laptop in the hopes that Sunday’s game didn’t really happen and that the game ended with a different outcome.

But as @Ramsherd said in his game recap, “At least it didn’t count.”

Aside from the scoreboard, which doesn’t count anyway, the game wasn’t all bad as an exhibition of some individual players and their skills. Unfortunately, this is an 11-on-11 game, and it’s plain to see that the Rams are still playing as a collection of parts, rather than a whole. Most of the game’s big breakdowns (even the ones involving my personal punching bag, Craig Dahl) didn’t fall on a single player. Breakdowns between players – missed assignments, missed handoffs, etc. – were much more prevalent.  … Read more at Ramsherd.com >>>>

Rams GM Les Snead and Turf Show Times’ Ryan Van Bibber (Personal Photo)

As I was saying yesterday the guys over at Turf Show Times arranged a rare opportunity for local Rams fans – a tweet up with the Rams front office.  A small group of us were able to pick the brains of Rams Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officier Kevin Demoff and the Rams General Manager Les Snead.

(A shorter but still stylin’ version of @LesSneadHair was also present.  See the above photo for visual evidence.)

I had been watching NFL Network’s coverage of other training camps Tuesday morning.  I noticed the New England Patriots and the New Orleans Saints having practices together.  The Arizona Cardinals and Kansas City Chiefs were also conducting a joint practice.   One thing I was able to ask Les Snead: Will the Rams think having a joint practice with another team?  Snead said he and Coach Fisher have discussed it and are considering it later in the preseason.  He did not specify whether he was referring to this year or in the future.  Personally, I’d love to see a practice with the Ravens just before the last preseason game on August 30 at the Edward Jones Dome.

» Continue reading “Pigskin Cover 3: Wednesday Edition”

Rams Training Camp 2012 (Courtesy STLouisRams.com)

Here are some morning news links for your reading pleasure.  I especially recommend the last link to Ramsherd.com.  Rams Fan Fest was an amazing experience.  I’ll have my own write up on it here soon.

Protecting Bradford is Rams’ top priority - Protect Sam Bradford by any means necessary. Do whatever it takes to keep Sam upright, safe from harm and out of the hospital.  It’s the No. 1 theme of Rams training camp. Head coach Jeff Fisher talks about it so much, you expect to see agents from the U.S. Secret Service standing in the Rams’ offensive huddle.  If the Rams had their way, blitzers and defensive ends would sack Bradford about as often as reporters get to trap team owner Stan Kroenke.  In his first two NFL seasons, Bradford has been hit more times than a hanging curveball. Sam has spent so much time on the ground, he can explain the difference between bluegrass and zoysia.  Read more from St. Louis Post-Dispatch >>>

Pads on, intensity up at Rams practice - When the pads go on, the intensity usually gets dialed up. Such was the case Thursday evening at Rams Park, the first full-squad practice in shoulder pads for the team.  There were no punches thrown, and nothing resembling a brawl. But it got chippy at times during the Rams’ 2-hour, 15-minute practice. Namely, some pushing and shoving, the occasional heated word, and plenty of contact.  One player who seemed to be in the thick of it every time was new outside linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar, a feisty free-agent pickup from New Orleans.  One example: Late in practice during 11-on-11 work, tight end Lance Kendricks caught a short pass over the middle and was absolutely drilled stopped in his tracks by cornerback Cortland Finnegan. Read more from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch >>>>

Rams Fan Fest 2012: Up Close and Personal (Photos) - A lot of things have changed over the past few years for the Rams, following Georgia Frontiere’s death. Even as questions remain over the team’s long-term future in St Louis, the Rams have been working to reconnect with the local fan base. The latest example of this comes in the form of the inaugural Rams Fan Fest at the Edward Jones Dome.  The effort to reconnect with fans started four years ago under Billy Devaney and interim owners Chip and Lucia Rodriguez by re-opening practices to fans after years of Martz’s cloak and dagger secrecy. At the same time, Rams fans (and players, like Steven Jackson) began taking to Twitter as social media began changing the landscape of fans interaction with each other, and with their teams. Read more from the Ramsherd.com >>>>

Doin' the discount double check? (Courtesy STLouisRams.com)

A bit of house keeping before we get the headlines for today.

1) TE Mike Hoomanawanui had surgery on his knee yesterday and is recovering by watching Telemundo.  Haha.

Haha!!! Mike cracks me up.

2) Rams injury report from Monday Night Football:

- QB Sam Bradford‘s (high) ankle (sprain) is “very sore” after Monday’s game.

- DE Chris Long is nursing a high ankle sprain and is also very sore.

- S Craig Dahl is struggling with a lateral ankle sprain.  They are waiting to see how he is tomorrow.

- QB A.J. Feeley: No real change in Feeley’s status. He is listed as day-to-day.

- CB Josh Gordy has an abdominal oblique strain.  At first it was thought to be a hip pointer.  He’ll be day-to-day.

- DE James Hall strained his pectoral muscle. “He’s going to have to battle with that,” Spags said.  He is listed as day-to-day.

- T Mark LeVoir is a groin injury. I don’t know whether we’ll get him during the week or not. That one we’ve got to keep an eye ball on.

- FB Brit Miller from “last week hasn’t really gotten any better. We have to see where we’re at there, may have to make a decision.”  This doesn’t sound promising.  Could this lead to player #15 to IR?

- TE Stephen Spach had minor symptoms of a concussion, so they’re treating it.

They hope to have RB Quinn Porter and DT Freddie Robbins back this week.

Okay, now on to today’s headlines:

ESPN’s NFL Power Rankings for Week 15

Thank goodness for Indianapolis?

For what it’s worth the Rams would probably still be at 31 even if they had won in Seattle.  May have moved up one but at this point does it really matter?  Rams should be grateful for the Colts though.  The thank you card is in the mail to Indianapolis.

St. Louis seems flustered in ragged loss to Seahawks

The Rams, who have the league’s worst offense, were seemingly on their way to squandering another golden touchdown opportunity. And they were doing it, inexplicably, without involving Jackson on five straight plays from the 1, three of them passes.

Here’s the opposition’s perspective of the ugly game.  I imagine this was written with a snide chuckle.

See, it was obvious to everyone except for Josh McDaniels it seems.  Yep, having your best player on the sideline is the way to win.

Perspective From Titletown: Could Patience On Spagnuolo Pay Off For The Rams?

Aaron Nagler, Founder of Cheesehead TV, weighs on the similarity between Spagnuolo and a certain Green Bay Packer head coach in his first three years.  Please read this nice write up by Ramsherd’s Will Horton on a different and more objective take on what the Rams should with Steve Spagnuolo.

Cardinals Lance Berkman and Steve Spagnuolo (Courtesy STLouisRams.com)

Is the Rams’ bad luck and negative joojoo to blame for the baseball Cardinals’ sudden downward spiral?  If I’m Tony La Russa I would have kept way the heck away from the Rams at all costs.  Now look where the Cardinals are – coming back to Busch Stadium a game down on the Rangers.

Okay, I’m trying to avoid the pain that has become trying to write about the Rams…  Can’t blame me for trying, right?  I mean week in and week out.  It’s finally starting to get to me.

Howard Balzer takes a look at how Rams are picking up the pieces and trying to move forward.  This includes injury updates from Monday’s practice.  It’s still quite the laundry list which isn’t helping the team.

Best line from the article is highlighted:

It’s another game we weren’t able to sustain drives. We couldn’t get any rhythm, leaving the defense on the field and when we would sustain drives, we weren’t coming out with points. It’s hard to overcome long drives and no points and/or turnovers and for whatever reason, it just keeps being the same old story.

Steven Jackson is probably having bad flashbacks just like the rest of Ramsnation.

Ramsherd has another great write up on Spags’ interview with D’Marco Farr.

DFarr asks one simple question: Are the players giving it all they’ve got?  Spags says yes, but it’s not what the rest of us are seeing.  The tape does lie.  Go back and watch the games…

I do. I’ve never questioned that, D’Marco. Now we go through some ups and downs but I truly believe, in the middle of these football games, they’re giving it everything they’ve got.

Jim Thomas just tells it like it is…

This just in (or not)…  The Rams running defense is horrible.

The most concerning part of the post is this:

Sam, in his mind, in his heart, he wanted to (play). But he knew that it wasn’t the right thing.  He’s kind of got it on shutdown right know. They put it in a firmer cast.

Doesn’t sound good for Bradford to play when they play New Orleans this weekend.

Jason Smith being carted off during Sunday's loss (Courtesy STLouisRams.com)

Wow, did yesterday’s beat down really happen to the Rams?  Yep, unfortunately for fans, it sure did.  St. Louis local media is having its own field day trying to figure out what and why it happened.  Scratching and shaking heads, anger and disbelief, with a big heaping of WTH…

But before we into the bad and the ugly here’s some good news this morning.

Rams OL Rodger Saffold just tweeted out the status of the injured Rams Jason Smith and Darrell Scott.  Thank goodness.  Gotta have some perspective, folks.  Here’s Jim Thomas’ write up on their injuries from yesterday.

Injury update

Now for the not so good news:

Ramsherd has a nice little recap of the game.  I’m sure it pained him just as much as it hurts us to read the content of the post.  Especially the part on DeMarco Murray.

This pretty much sums it all up:

Same old, same old. We’ve lived through it before. We didn’t think we’d be going through it again, so soon, and after a season with so much promise. But here we are.

Tickets available for next week. Something tells me you’ll be able to get quite a deal.

A Rams report card from Jeff Gordon.  It isn’t pretty.  Lots of bad letters – lots.  Pretty self-explanatory.

I can’t wait to hear Spags’ presser this afternoon.  Should be interesting to say the least.

What questions would you ask him?

Brand New Day (Courtesy didait: Flickr)

Just a quick post today because I have to take one of my kids to the doctor this morning.  Nothing like the start of the URI (Upper respiratory Illness/Infection) season.   Welcome to fall and winter.

It’s the day after “the morning after.”  I know I’ve simmered down a bit but not everyone has though.  I came down pretty hard on Coach Spags in yesterday’s post.  I still feel like those two main points needed to be said though.

Hopefully, we’re all breathing a little easier today and looking at what lies ahead.

1) Heading the move toward zen is Howard Balzer.

His column this morning tells us all to just take a deep breath.

*Inhale slowly…  I’m still working on the relaxing part.  That might take a while, Mr. Balzer, but I’m working on it.

2) The guys at Ramsherd share what they think the Rams should be focusing on in terms of those first few steps.

Luckily or unluckily depending on how you look at it there are plenty of things the Rams can improve upon.

3) And because we might need that extra chuckle today:

I found this on Turf Show Times.  An addendum to the Rams Rules.  Haha, well done, JoeSportsFans.

St. Louis “Ram Rules” Round Two from JoeSportsFan.com on Vimeo.

If you’re curious about the original Rams Rules that is played on the Jumbotron at the Edward Jones Dome, here it is:

Whoa, people are still hot under the collar about the Rams loss last night.

Danario Alexander (Courtesy STLouisRams.com)

I thought with a good night’s sleep and some coffee Rams fans would have calmed down a bit – but NOPE.

The biggest complaints I’m reading are the rookie mistakes, the swiss cheese secondary, the free agent linebacking corps and even some negativity towards QB Sam Bradford.

1) Here’s a peak from the other side of the field.  A recap from the Giants point of view.

Yeah, it’s even more ugly when you read it from their perspective.  The Rams were more of an afterthought.

Getting thank you’s from the Giants are Rams RB Cadillac Williams and CB Bradley Fletcher.

2) Howard Balzer has a recap through our eyes – not that it makes it any prettier.

3) Ramsherd has a good “the morning after” post. – the truth hurts…

The Rams seem kinda bipolar at times and it shows in this write up.  Is that poor coaching or poor execution?  Maybe a bit of both.

Must have been a fun ride back home last night…

Good morning!

Welcome back to civilization.  I was away all weekend with the family in a semi-log cabin and bulk made cafeteria food.  That was all tolerable.  The worst part?  Spending the entire three days with very limited WiFi.

All right, it was pretty much non-existent because EDGE coverage for AT&T was faster than the WiFi on camp grounds.  I kissed my phone as we drove towards a 3G region back to St. Louis.  Muah!  Love you!

I’ll trade you the in-ground plumbing for the kick butt internet connection any day.  Yes, I’m a city gal.

What time is it?  It’s time for Monday Night Football!!!!

T-minus roughly 11 hours until kick off and I already know Rams fans are itching to get this game going.  Can you imagine what the players are going through?

09/19/11 James Laurinaitis

See, we’re not the only ones.  I’m still waiting to hear from other players.  They are strangely quiet this morning.  I would have read at least a few “Rise and grind,” by now.  Athletes love to say that phrase.  Haha.

How about we go through a few articles while we wait for the 7:30 p.m. kick off time?

1) I think one of the biggest questions surrounding tonight’s game against the Giants is, “Will Steven Jackson play?”

Golic from “Mike and Mike” laments the absence of Steven Jackson and Danny Amendola in the starting line up and picks the Giants to win.  Greeny also likes the Giants.  So that might bode well for the Rams.  Greeny always has a reverse effect on the teams.

But for a more local and Rams-centric look here’s Ramsherd’s take on what might happen.

I’m not as optimistic as Ramsherd about Steven Jackson playing.  I hope the Rams and Steven Jackson realize he’ll be more important in week 3′s game against the Ravens and let him heal up this week.

#33 Cadillac Williams (Courtesy StLouisRams.com)

There’s a lot riding on Cadillac’s shoulders tonight.

2) The Rams are appearing in their first MNF game since 2006.  With most of the NFL world not knowing who the Rams really are besides the names Bradford and Jackson, how will they respond?

What does Howard Balzer think?

Let’s make the most of this prime time stage guys.  Man, I’m all nervous just thinking about it.

3) Here’s my MNF game preview from Friday.

“Battle of the Battered 0-1′s.”

I think we still have a great chance of pulling out a win tonight and get the Rams back on the NFL relevance map.

Join me and the other Rams fans on the Twitter as we try and distract ourselves until tonight.  I’ll be live tweeting the game from @ThePigskinArch, too.

I am ready for some FOOTBALL!