With the win only hours old, fans are still celebrating in the bars of downtown St. Louis, and in living rooms and sports bars around the world. Fans are celebrating a sweet victory over the visiting division rival - the Seattle Seahawks. The Rams might not have gotten a sexy win, but they got a gritty one. I wasn't fortunate enough to be in the building tonight, but I could still feel the energy in the dome shift with every hard play the Rams made. It got me to thinking about people's expectations of this team. Then that got me thinking of what we don't have in order to meet those expectations.
We don't have an Aaron Rodgers, a guy who can slip through a pass rush, and sling a ball side arm 30 yards down the field. We don't have a Justin Tuck, who can execute the perfect swim move on any tackle, and get to the quarterback nearly every play. We don't have a Megatron, who can simply leap over the defender for a ball thrown in his general direction and score touchdowns at will. We don't have a clutch tight end like Tony Gonzalez, who can grab a back shoulder throw in the flat, while sneaking out of bounds to pick up the first down. We don't have a Darelle Revis, a man who literally put opposing receivers on a desolate receiving island.
What we do have is a team full of players who are not afraid to hit you in the mouth- every down - every snap of the game! We have a young core group of players - youngest in the league as a matter of fact - whose ceiling is greater than any team in the game. We have a crusty, cunning, and crafty coach who is proving every week just what a sage, master of the game he is. We have a quarterback who showed that when it counted, he could lead his team down the field. We have a slippery young backup running back, who is culpable in spelling the old workhorse starter. We have a defense, with two book-end corners and defensive ends, who are slowly becoming the identity, the calling card of this team. We even have a kicker that plays with attitude.
The same old, sorry old Rams are gone. Doubters, pull up a chair and watch for a while. Believers, revel in the win against a tough, talented team. Next week we've got the Arizona Cardinals coming into town; and you can bet Jeff Fisher and the St. Louis Rams are going to hit them in the mouth too.
Go Rams!