When Torry Holt made an offhand remark this summer about playing in Carolina when his contract with the Rams ended, a vocal contingent of Rams fans, er, spoke up, ready to cast off what they thought was an ungrateful Holt. It was nonsense. Regardless of what fans may have thought of Holt then, they can't be disappointed with his remarks yesterday, directly calling out the Rams offensive line, the thinly armored hull of the offense. To wit:
Those guys, the offensive line guys, have to continue to take more pride in what they’re doing to keep the quarterback clean. I can stand here and say what needs to be done and who needs to do what, but that’s not going to solve anything.
It’s going to come down to the guys up front that’s protecting Marc and giving Steven running lanes and giving us time to get open in the secondary to make things happen. They have to continue to take a stronger initiative, a more sense of urgency to keep No. 10 off his back. If he continues to get smacked around, we won’t be seeing No. 10 for long.
A effin men, Torry. Hearing this, I keep thinking back to the middle of the 2006 season, when an angry Bulger publicly called out the team's carbon blobs for barely even going through the motions, getting him sacked play after play and costing the team a shot at the title. It worked; remember how much better the team played down the stretch in 2006, finishing 8-8 within a toenail of the playoffs after looking like they'd be lucky to finish with four wins?
Will Holt's speechifying work? Who knows. It can't hurt. If that doesn't maybe Gus Frerotte's piling on will.
Brining in a healthy Fakhir Brown and Ron Bartell to start at corner is the best move the Rams can make right now; with Tye Hill struggling he'll be limited to playing at CB in nickel packages where Bartell will slide into the nickel spot. However, as 3k mentioned in the comments recently (can't find the link), benching him completely isn't the answer for a guy struggling with his confidence. Force him to watch game film a la Clockwork Orange, minimize his exposure, let him get his feel for the game back. As hard as it is to overlook his performance the last two weeks, the Rams need Hill to get it together.
The Rams probably won't have Leonard Little back in uniform this week. LG Jacob Bell could suit up, but Adam Goldberg is still expected to get the start.
Hopefully even without Leonard Little the defense can make Matt Hasselbeck pay for his hubris, a la the Seahawks 0-2 record not leading them to "make ridiculous statements and say things that are panic things to say" in reference to Linehan's remarks this week. Hasselbeck's had to eat his words before, if you'll recall.