The History of the Governor's Cup, as told by 3k

In 1764, two French fur traders, Pierre Laclède and René Auguste Chouteau, arrived on a junction of two mighty rivers, the Missouri and the Mississippi.

Pierre said to René, "My gud frien, we shall cull zeez pless 'St. Louis.'  And one day zey shall 'ave for zemselves a football teem.  Zey shall be zee 'Rams.'  And every yee-er, zey shall play a teem from zee oowest.  And we shall call zeez gehm zee 'Coupe du Duché.'"

"But Pierre," René said, "Certainement, zees is not zee American way, no?  I propose to name zee game, "La Coupe de la Gouverneur."

Twenty-five short years later, France went a little kooky and went from this:

  to this:  

I'm still not really sure if that counts as a victory.

And that was how we came to tonight.  Preview of the battle for the Governor's Cup after the fold.

For game-specific info, check out the SBN event page for this game.  For Chiefs news leading up the game, check out Arrowhead Pride.

  BTW, I'm going to be concise this time out.  Beware....KC

St. Louis Rams, 2-1, 3rd - NFC West

Kansas City Chiefs, 0-3, 4th -  AFC West

STL pass v. KC pass D

  KC doesn't have a whole lot to be worried about.  Brandon Flowers is decent, but the fact that he is IMO the best pass defender (along with Mike Brown) says a lot about KC's pass defense.  In short, it's exploitable.  Keep an eye on Keenan Burton who should get plenty of reps against a defense that is not top level.

STL run v. KC run D

  This is all about depth.  Samkon Gado?  Kenneth Darby?  Or even Antonio Pittman?  I don't have the answers.  What I do have is questions.  In between those questions and answers lies (or is it lay?) Derrick Johnson.  Johnson is a beast, but around him, it's pretty ugly.  Could ActionJackson take advantage of this matchup?  Easily.  Can the guys behind him?  We'll see.

STL O-line v. KC D-line

  I'll be concise: this is the weakest D-line the Rams have faced / will face all preseason.  Sure, Glenn Dorsey and Tamba Hali shows some promise.  But if our O-line doesn't dominate their D-line as long as the tops are in, it should be viewed as a failure.  Keep an eye on Tyson Jackson too see if he's a prospect or a nowspect.

KC pass v. STL pass D

  This is an interesting matchup.  I'm VERY high on Dwayne Bowe; at the same time, I'm very low on the rest of this passing attack.  With Tye Hill gone, can Jonathan Wade step up?  If not, who challenges him for PT?  There's a ton to pay attention to with these two units for both teams.  Keep an eye on the replays.

KC run v. STL run D

  Yeah, Larry Johnson is a beast.  But he won't get much of a look in this contest.  For Rams fans, this should be another examination of the James-es; Laurinatis and Butler.  Dealing with a team as poor as this (in all aspects) shouldn't be a barometer -- it should be a baseline for domination.  Anything less is a failure.

KC O-line v. STL D-line

  This is strange; for the Rams to see a unit that they can completely outplay is rare.  Enjoy it before the game.  If we don't see domination, we'll have something to yak on Wednesday on Turf Show Radio.

This week's top 3 storylines brought to you by famous people from St. Louis:

1.) Maya Angelou: Angelou famously penned I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.  It was soon followed by a sequel written by 3k titled I Don't Know Why the Tye Hill Sucked.  In any case, this is a chance for the rest of the CB corps to step up and earn the reps that Hill had been handed.

2.) T.S. Eliot: Eliot brought poetry into the 20th century with The Waste Land, which despite what you might assume is not a poem about the Edward Jones Dome from 2005-2008.  The pieces on offense will all be on the field in week 1 (barring anything wacky tonight); we could see an offense this season that deserves to don the blue and gold.

3.) Scott Bakula: Scott Bakula is widely regarded as the finest actor in human history.  Bakula played the fundamentally significant part of Dr. Sam Beckett in the popular tv show Quantum Leap.  To say this team has made a quantum leap from its dismal recent past would be premature.  To rule it out would be shortsighted.

Tonight's game closes out the first chapter of the 2009 season.  It's almost time to enjoy what drives Turf Show Times: regular season (and post-season, but let's not get ahead of ourselves) football.  GO RAMS!