Good morning everybody! The Saint's Bounty Scandal has gotten out of control. Former Ram and suspended player Tony Hargrove says the NFL's evidence against him is wrong. Drew Brees compared the scandal to the WMD mess in Iraq and then apologized. Pro Football Talks says there's a technicality in the CBA which may help the players.
My head hurts. What the hell is going on?! This scandal will not go away any time soon and it is only becoming more compelling. It may be outlandish, but I can't wait to see what happens next.
On to the links!!
A reminder of how sad Steven Jackson's talent has been wasted
Here's a great piece from Sando about Steven Jackson's career so far. All the man does is rack up the yards and TDs, but he never get the wins. Jackson is often compared to Barry Sanders in this sense, but Steven has never had a winning season while Sanders' Lions went to the playoffs 50% of the time. There may be no player as good as Steven Jackson who has lost as much, but never once has he complained or spoken badly about his teammates. He is one of the most high character players in the entire NFL and no one deserves a winning season more.
Who is calling the plays on defense?
The Rams are going with a "defense by committee" this season. Jeff Fisher, Chuck Cecil and Dave McGinnis will have the most input, but it has yet to be decided who will call plays on gameday. Fisher said that maybe they don't need one guy with that responsibility.
Fisher believes if the game plan is sound, it doesn't matter who makes the calls.
There's one big problem with that; game plans fail. Adjustments need to be made over the course of a game as the lead changes and different situations arise. These adjustments need to be made rapidly. With multiple people in charge of making these changes, precious time could be wasted and the opposing offense could be at an advantage.
I believe the Rams will pick someone to eventually call the defense on game day, probably McGinnis. It's almost impossible to see a defense without one.
If you haven't read Ryan's piece from yesterday, do so. The Rams are one of the worst play-action offensive teams. Sam Bradford was the worst QB at fakes last season. This came from a combination of having a horrible offensive line, thus being scared shitless, and not having a QB coach. Brain Schottenheimer's offense calls for a lot of play-action. This is one of the biggest areas that needs to be improves with Sam and the offense.
Funny video of the week
I want to start having some more fun with these post. I like many 19 year olds watch way too many internet videos. I can keep this up for years.
There is nothing better to start with than this...