What a thrilling weekend to be a Rams fan. For those of you who don't know me, I am...extraordinarily passionate about football, and the Rams in particular. After last weekends loss to the Lions on a touchdown with 10 seconds remaining, I went and took a 4 hour nap. I went back and watched the other games afterwards, but I just couldn't handle watching anymore football after that letdown.
On Sunday, when Daryl Richardson fumbled near the end of the fourth quarter, I just knew the Rams were screwed. We've all seen it so many times over the years. The Rams get punched in the mouth one last time, and then they just fold. I would have laid ten-to-one odds that the Rams were going to lose at that point.
But this team showed me that they are different. Whether it is the steady-handed influence of Coach Fisher, or improved personnel, or just the maturation of a young team, they will punch back just as hard when they take a hit. Even when the Redskins appeared to be in the range of a field goal, the Rams never gave in. They kept their cool when the Redskins didn't, Shanahan tried an insane field goal, and the game was over. The Rams are 1-1, and suddenly the NFC West looks like one of the best divisions in the league.
What a thrilling weekend to be a Rams fan.
Alright, hit the jump for today's links, folks!
Rams News
Greg Salas has been cut by the Patriots - The Patriots have gotten the better of a LOT of teams over the years in trades, but this one has to be scored as a win for LesFish. They gave up a guy that can't even stick on the roster for a free draft pick. It's good to have a competent front office.
Austin Pettis is happy to be back - Absolutely love when he talks about staying in his playbook. After his poor season last year, plus the PED suspension, I was one who wanted to see Pettis cut. But he impressed me in the preseason, and with how he handled his suspension. Here's hoping I was wrong last year (when I wanted him cut) and right this year (when I picked him in the roundtable to be the biggest surprise of the season).
Chicago reporter does a comparison of this Sunday's QBs and, of course, picks...BRADFORD?! - Not a real in depth article, but those stats give you a warm tingly feeling inside.
Other NFL News
Steve Young finally says what we are all thinking - "Player safety? Doesn't matter in this case. Bringing in Division III officials? Doesn't matter. Because in the end, you're still going to watch the game." Just part of what Steve Young said on Monday night. Unbelievable. There is a reason guys like Young make the best commentators; if they say something too dumb and lose their jobs, it doesn't even matter. Hopefully we'll see the real refs back real soon.
The replacement refs are ripe for corruption - "There really is an economic model here that not only makes it possible, but very likely that someone will be corrupted." As the author says, these guys can't hope to make more than a few thousand dollars over the course of their entire NFL "career". If you offer 100 replacements refs $10,000 to change the outcome of a game, wouldn't at least one or two say yes? Remember, we are still just a few years removed from the Tim Donaghy incident.
One of the replacement refs was openly rooting for a player on his fantasy team - "One of the refs was talking about his fantasy team, like ‘McCoy, come on, I need you for my fantasy,’ ahhh, what?!", said LeSean McCoy. What more can be said about the replacement refs. I think Steve Young nailed it. They know we'll keep watching, so they just don't care that the product is garbage.
Alright, that's it for today. Sorry to hit you with the triple refs stories, but there is NO OTHER STORY worth talking about as long as this is as bad as it is.
Thanks for the read, as always, and have a Ramtastic Day!