It's been a long road since last season's finale against the Seattle Seahawks. Since then, the St. Louis Rams have added some good players, and they have released some good players. They even went 4-0 to get to this point. It's week one of the NFL season, a week of great games and high expectations.
The Rams are playing the "Dream Team" this week. Do they have a lot of talent on their roster? Hell yeah, but that's why the games are played on the field and not on pieces of paper. Maybe if this was week 7, you could say the Eagles would blow out the Rams, but you can't really say that going into week 1. Last time I checked, every team starts the season 0-0.
With all that being said, this week will be a difficult one for the Rams. It takes a team to win games, but in this series we will look at four players or matchups that will be key for the Rams to win.
Over the summer the Rams decided it was time to part ways with O.J Atowge their former underrated safety. He wasn't the best safety in the league, but besides Ed Reed and that guy with the million dollar hair, there weren't many more safeties that you would rather have.
Luckily, the Rams decided to bring in Quintin Mikell to fill in the void left by O.J. It wasn't a surprising move at all. Mikell and Spags were on the Eagles together, and he has become a good safety. It was a marriage waiting to happen, and it did.
This week Mikell will be facing his old team, and you have to think he would like to hand them a loss, as a belated farewell gift.
Yes, Quintin Mikell is a pretty good safety. He might not make the flashy plays like other safeties, or have lots of interceptions, but that's not his style. He is one of those guys that you can depend on week to week. When he is in the game he helps make the defense better, he hardly ever misses games so that's a good thing.
Having Mikell on the Rams will give their defense a great chance to have a good game. He started there for years, so he has to know the Eagles offenses plays/tendencies. Of course, the Eagles know this, and will most likely try to disguise their offense as much as they can. However, how much change can you do in a shortened offseason?
Not only will Mikell be able to help the other players and coaches with knowledge of the Eagles offense, he also is a smart veteran who will help the secondary on the field. With the shortened year, it will be helpful to have another "coach" who is on the field, plus it doesn't hurt that he should have a feel for the offense.
So what should you expect from Quintin Mikell this week? Well he should be playing at an high level, since he will be facing against his old team. The Rams will have him blitz some this week, to hopefully rattle Michael Vick. Also don't be surprised to see him holding players on deep routes, he is the best cover safety for the Rams right now. Hopefully he held the Eagles offensive players good in practices over the years. Also, let's not forget that he does help out on run plays also.
This is a short comment that JimmyK said in his ask questions about the Eagles thread.
I always thought of Q as a decent tackler. He doesn’t have great speed and he’s not going to make a ton of big plays, but you simply won’t see any mistakes. Always where he should be. Extremely intelligent guy. Leader. He’ll make your corners better.
Quintin Mikell will be the x-factor for the Rams defense this week. If he has a good game the Rams defense will have a better chance against Vick and the rest of their offense.