Whenever someone calls people out without naming names the first reaction is to figure out just who they were talking about. And why not? Not only do we want to see the issue addressed, we like a little gossip on side.
I pointed directly to the o-line in my post yesterday, and the fickle fingers of the media looked that way too. In today's headline story on the Post-Dispatch web site, Barron (who won wondered about yesterday) and Incognito got called out based on a string of bad penalties and some issues with pass protection. Linehan himself noted their need to "grow up fast."
Not as entertaining as the gossipy task of figuring out who's to blame, is deciding whether or not Bulger's tirade will work AND if the players fingered in it, anonymously, can/will improve. Longtime TST reader Big Red pointed out in the comments yesterday that he personally felt that Incognito, for his mistakes still does pretty well and shows some emotion down in the trenches. Big Red notes:
Ultimately, that's the most important thing about this whole flap, can these guys overcome their troubles. Personally, I'd like to see Barron overcome them as well. He's got raw talent, and if develops, the Rams could have a solid O-line for seasons to come.
Linehan's riff off Bulger's remarks that concerns me the most. His passive agreement was not reassuring. It almost seemed like he was content to let Bulger's words stand on their own, rather than really building on them and taking a, mostly, nonchalant team to task over a piss poor outing. We'll see how Linehan responds on Monday.
On another note, it's worth pointing out that Setterstrom and Steussie have played well as fill-ins.