Why the Rams Will Not Be the Worst Team in the NFL This Year
by Carneros on Jul 19, 2010 12:17 AM CDT
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Everyone is writing the Rams off as the worse team in the league. I don’t think that is the case. I think the team that is most likely to pick ahead of us next year is the Buffalo Bills. Here’s why:
QB-
No matter who plays QB for the Rams this season might still be better than or at least equal to the Bills QB. If Sam Bradford is the starter we definitely win this category, at least for the games he is playing. The Bills will either have Trent Edwards, Ryan Fitzpatrick, or Brian Brohm as their starting QB. I’d say Sam beats any of those three by a good margin. If AJ Feeley is the QB, I’m not sure which team is better off at the position. But Bradford will eventually be playing in some games this year so I say we definitely have the leg up here.
Winner: Rams
WR-
The Bills have one better receiver than us. Lee Evans is better than everyone on the Rams. However, they have no one after that. The next three on the depth chart are umm… Roscoe Parrish, the return specialist, ummm… Marcus Easley and ummmm…….. James Hardy? Well, needless to say I don’t know much about these guys, so I’ll let Madden evaluate. Those last three overall scores are 64, 62, and 61 respectively. While we are pretty deep at #2 and slot receivers. We have Donnie Avery, Brandon Gibson, Laurent Robinson, and Mardy Gilyard, none below 70 overall. Both teams lack a #1 receiver, Evans is more of an Avery type, but a better, more reliable target. So the Rams have more targets to go to, and that can’t be said about many teams. "The Buffalo Bills, the Buffalo Bills, is that a wide receiver corps or a witness protection program?"
Winner: Rams
HB-
This is a tough one to rate. The Rams clearly have the best running back, but the Bills have better running back depth. So it comes down to if you would rather have 85% Steven Jackson, 15% Ogbannaya/Darby/Toston, or 100% of some combination of Fred Jackson, Marshawn Lynch, or CJ Spiller. I’d have to say we win 85% of the time, but having all those guys being well rested and in the game at different times could be dangerous. I’ll leave this one to a poll. But I’d have to say Rams win on account of only one can make an impact at a time and because of our:
O-line-
I honestly don’t know a lot about the Bills O-line, but I know they are not very good. Again, I’ll turn to Madden. There best O-lineman is a 81 overall rated guard. They have no tackles and have average at best guards and centers. Rams have a 2nd year, 2nd overall LT, big free agent signing of a LG and C, and a 2nd round rookie RT, and plenty of options at right guard no worse than anything the Bills have.
Winner: Rams
TE-
Neither team really has any established TEs. I think Hooman will be better than anything the Bills have. And we also have the potential of Antonio Gates on our sidelines, but there is really nothing here to distinguish between the teams, since there is no proven talent at all.
Winner: Push
Offense seems to clearly favor the Rams to me; defense is where things start to balance out a little.
Front 7-
Bills are transitioning to a 3-4 this year so its hard to rate them. I think both teams are pretty even in this category. They were one of the few teams that were worse in run D last year. They added a nose tackle in the 2nd round in Torrell Troup which seemed like a reach and also added Alex Carrington to play 3-4 DE. They also added veteran MLB Andra Davis to help the transition. So there are plenty of question marks there. But the Rams aren’t much different. We have some big question marks with the veteran OLB, Darrell Scott and Hall Davis. So the front sevens are by no means established in stopping the run.
Winner: Push
Secondary-
Bills have the slight advantage here. I’d say Atogwe and Jairus Byrd cancel out. The probably have better strong safeties. The difference really comes in the CBs. Terrence McGee and Leodis McKelvin are stronger than Bartell and Fletcher/Murphy at least this early in Fletcher and Murphy’s career.. The depth after that is also pretty equal. Winner: Bills So, Rams definitely has an offensive advantage, with a much better QB and O-line. I think our running game will be better since we have the better line. The Bills had a worse offense than us last year and didn’t do much to improve it. Run defense is a push, and pass defense goes to the Bills. Overall I’d say the Rams are definitely better than the Bills. Marc Bulger would be a clear cut starter in Buffalo.
That is why we are not the worst team in the league.
Also another reason, there is already talk of Joe Haden being a bust.
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well considering nobody has played a down
this is hard to judge…. based on principle alone, we aren’t going to be the worst team in the league… principle as in im a rams fan and optimism (:D!!!)
i think we’ll get 3-4 wins and somebody has to worse than that!
Rasmus can hit lefties
cardinalred
St. Louis Sports blog
our front seven is better
merely because we are being coached by Spags and we have a deep DT rotation with Ryan, Robbins, Hovan and Scott. at DE we are lacking but they don’t have anyone on defensive line. AT ALL, Schobel retired and he was the only good thing they’ve had for a very long time.
in addition we have Laurinaitis who is going to be the next most dominant MLB in the NFL, just get the Rams some wins and he will get his recognition.
I think we will be better than the Browns (still look like a shambles), Bills (picking 1st overall), Broncos (especially if Teblow starts), Bucs (Gerald McCoy in my eyes has bust potential), Skins (besides McNabb and Brown they haven’t added much, our WR corps is better lol and defensively the 3-4 looks like garbage) and a surprise team that will totally fall off with injuries and poor performances but I won’t hazard a guess at who that may be.
hate to be pessimistic
but we had spags last year and just because you’re “deep” doesn’t make it good
Rasmus can hit lefties
cardinalred
St. Louis Sports blog
by stlcardsfan4 on Jul 21, 2010 1:30 AM CDT up reply actions
however
the defense didn’t play SO bad until the 4th quarter, these linemen weren’t as deep and were on the field WAY too long so they got run all over in the 4th qtr (Jacksonville game I’m looking at you)
one thing you could not take away from our defense last year was the effort and that was all down to Spags, now we have a bit more talent at OLB, CB and DT we can see the fruits of that effort?
Bradford to Onobun!
i just don't see the same talent you did
we got fred robbins, an older FA, and a bunch of 5th-7th rounders…. we’re just praying here that spags has magical powers because that’s barely more talented than what we had last year
by the way, im talking strictly defensive line….
Rasmus can hit lefties
cardinalred
St. Louis Sports blog
by stlcardsfan4 on Jul 21, 2010 4:57 PM CDT up reply actions
glass half full or empty? lol
Robbins and Hovan in my opinion is an upgrade over Cliff Ryan and Darrell Scott
although I still like those guys, I think more depth and experience (and size) is a good thing on the D Line.
not necessarily magic powers, I don’t expect the Rams to blow people with a Vikingsesque D Line but I feel we won’t drop off so much in the 4th because players will stay fresher for longer…
Bradford to Onobun!
If the teams are evenly matched we will do better
They have three play off contenders in their division, and then play the north divisions where there are another 5 (Ravens, Bengals, Steelers, Vikings and Packers) play off contenders. The Lions and Bears are not push overs either. That’s a tough schedule.
If they don’t get anything out of the Browns, Jags or Chiefs, they could go winless.
Our schedule is much easier and we have far more winable games. In my opinion, if we are picking higher than the Bills, this season will be more of a disappointment then last.
I love the Rams too....
But that does not mean that Bradford has shown anything at all. Edwards was highly touted as were JP Losman and Rob Johnson. For all we know he could be worse than that bunch, you just don’t know. So I would say that the Bills have us at QB, Edwards will put up better numbers than all 3 of our QB’s this season.
There isn’t much to speak of when you talk about WR’s for either team but, when he was a number one for the Bill’s Evans went over 1,000 and Avery hasn’t proven anything but that he can drop balls and stay covered. The Bills also drafted 3 WR’s which is what you are supposed to do when your WR’s suck, so any one of them has a chance to be better or worse than ours. I give it to the Bill’s because they have one proven good WR.
Defense is somewhat of a wash but, last year showed that the Bill’s defense was better than ours in pts, yards allowed and Td’s given up.
The one that I have the biggest problem with is the RB situation. Steven Jackson is a top ten RB, yes but he is getting older, is coming off of surgery and we do not have a serviceable RB behind him at all. The Bills have 3 good RB’s, Taylor and Lynch are both 1,000 yard RB’s and I think that Spiller will be named the starter either day one or shortly there after. He was very good in college and RB’s are much more the sure thing when it comes to production in the NFL. So three good backs vs. one back that had a great year and several productive years? I will take 3 good runners any day of the week. Teams that rely on the run always have at least two better than average RB’s in their backfields (Panthers, Ravens, Jets, Dolphins…) and a couple have a third scat back. IMO advantage Bills.
Give Bradford, Spiller and the Bills WR’s a year or two and we will have a better picture of who comes out on top. I think your article could have been this sentence only…The Rams will have a better record than the Bills because of strength of schedule. Go Rams!
Ignorance is bliss and way too many people are happy.
So...
You’re argument for RB, a position that generally only has one player contributing at a time, is that they have more players that can contribute. But you’re argument for receiver is that, even though they have no one else behind him, they have the best receiver. But we have 3-4 receivers better than anyone on the rest of the depth chart. That’s the exact opposite argument you just made for running back. And it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Bradford had more yards than Edwards next year. They have a worse O-line and only one receiver. We at least have a couple of #2 slot type guys and a good O-line if healthy. Also, only one RB can run the ball at a time, and despite having Lynch and F. Jackson last year, the Bills and Rams finished within 80 yards of the Rams, an 80 yards that may have been closer to 30-50 is Jackson played all 16 games. So while I agree they are better off if injuries strike, I think we are better off in the running game. Let me ask you this, would you rather have CJ Spiller or Steven Jackson? Would you rather have Fred or Steven Jackson? Would you rather have Marshawn Lynch or Steven Jackson? For me, the answer is always Steven Jackson. Since only one player can run at a time we seemingly always win. Jackson almost singehandedly matched the Bills two-headed attacks running game. No reason to think differently this year, other than injury, especially with their line.
Anyway, I think we win in both the RB and WR category, if Jackson stays healthy, and the main point is that with your logic, we should be winning at least one of the two categories. Since you used opposite logic to make us lose in both categories. Of course there’s always the unknown of their rookies, but I feel more comfortable with our receivers than I would with theirs, although I wouldn’t complain if we had Lee Evans.
Onubon > Gates
I guess I will have to clarify what I was thinking. There isn’t a coach in the NFL (besides maybe Spags which is strange because that’s how he got to the Super Bowl) that wouldn’t rather have a young bull of a runner with huge potential and two proven 1,000 yard backs over one aging power back coming off of surgery. IMO that gives Buffalo the edge, it’s really that simple. One for our future and two to come in fresh and beat down defenses.
As for the WR’s…Evans is a good (not great) wideout and our WR’s are garbage with exception of the unknown (Gilyard). They couldn’t get open when Bulger had time, dropped passes and showed no promise of being anything more than a filled roster spot. If you have one good WR and a bunch of guys filling roster spots, then you have one good guy and that’s better than none. Not one of our guys has broken the 700 yard mark and all but Avery have yet to break the 400 yard mark. Are you kidding me?
Ignorance is bliss and way too many people are happy.
It's always interesting to watch the debate
between those who see the Rams glass as half empty and those who see it as half full. They can look at the same facts and reach totally different conclusions.
What’s funny is that the glass half empty people have been right for 6 seasons. I don’t see it as a glass half full or empty, I see it as reality.
Ignorance is bliss and way too many people are happy.
There's a difference between now and the last 6 seasons.
The glass is finally starting to gain water instead of losing it.
Onubon > Gates
Like I said before, the glass half full people were saying that we would be 8-8 last year. People write with their heart and not logic. Right now all I see are possible improvements. Is Saffold better than Barron? Is Jason Smith going to stay healthy enough or be talented enough to live up to Pace? Can Bradford stay healthy, is he a bust? There are no true solid certainties about our rebuilding like there would have been if we had been more aggressive during free agency. When you pick up a good free agent or make a trade for a good player well, you know what you are getting and it will be an instant improvement. Other than our schedule maybe saving us from 0-16, I don’t see a lot to cheer about. We have yet to add a single game breaker to the roster during the Spags/Devaney reign. Sorry man I just don’t see it. Go Rams!
Ignorance is bliss and way too many people are happy.
I see what you are saying but...
You can’t use examples of players possibly getting injured and then go on to suggest that signing free agents brings certainties that rookies don’t. Granted talent wise there are alot less question marks but injuries can hit ANY player. Also did the redskins expect Haynesworth to play as badly as he did last year? There are no certainties which ever way a team goes about rebuilding. I would love to see more game breakers on this team but i’m also not gonna write anyone off before they have been given the chance to show everyone what they can do. Who knows a few might surprise you.
by Stonedtodeath on Jul 22, 2010 11:08 AM CDT up reply actions
I can say that players will get injured because that is inevitable and will happen! You have seen what happens when our mediocre starters get hurt…the guy behind them is garbage. Free agents have a proven history, whether it’s durable, good stats, good hands, fumble prone and so on and that is how you see into the future my son. : ) How do you think the Patriots have done it? Fill holes with sure things (Moss, Taylor, Seau Harrison and so on…) You are correct in saying that nothing is a lock. But you have to play the statistics and probabilities, because that’s all that you can do.
Ignorance is bliss and way too many people are happy.
I never thought 8 wins last year was possible.
I thought 3 was reasonable, which we may have gotten with a better coaching decision in the Jacksonville game and a better play call in I think one of the Arizona games, then we have 3 wins. But I’m not saying we’ll be a great team this year, I’m just saying we won’t be the worst. 8-8 would be an absolute best case scenario this year. I think 5 is reasonable.
Onubon > Gates
i second that
i looked at our roster and saw a lot of old people and the only two that i thought were gonna have big years were SJ, Robinson and Atogwe, this past season has added more proven NFL talent in JL and CL and this offseason Robbins I expect to make an impact despite age, other than a few rookies and I will still tip Robinson for a good year.
i agree it’s not a vast improvement but players in their second year in the system should up their game a little and rookies can make impacts (Gilyard and Bradford look most likely)…
it’s all opinion and outlook now anyway, who knows what happens maybe Jared Allen gets pissed with the Vikings and the Rams get him or something akin to the Cutler scenario last year, in the NFL nothing is a lock (except for SJ beastin’! lol)
Bradford to Onobun!
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