The St. Louis Rams have lots of questions to answer, but one of the first is whether or not to hand the starting left tackle job back to Alex Barron after his unceremonious benching this week. The truth is, there should be no debate; Alex Barron needs to ride the pine for the rest of the season. It might be one of the few things the Rams can do to preserve a shred of credibility going into next year.
How can head coach Steve Spagnuolo look at the players who really do play their butts off and make the case for putting Barron back in as a starter? It's an affront to team and a sign that every game might be a blowout. He's arguably the most important part of the offensive line.
And what about the fans? How would you honestly feel if you buy your ticket next week and there's a guy playing who has/had talent but not a care in the world about using it.
Make Jason Smith the starting LT. The early returns on Smith have been positive. The former Baylor OT has shown improvement with each outing, before a knee strain last week. Go back to something 3k said about Smith in his post-game last night, "IMO, when he's not on the field, you can feel the lack of purpose." Smith represents the future of this team; Barron the past. Now seems like as good a time as any to start looking forward.
Maybe there's some case to be made for not benching Barron...a case that hasn't already been made over the last three seasons. I doubt it. Spagnuolo will have a credibility issue to deal with if Barron starts next week.