Last week I ended my column asking a question about which St. Louis Rams would show up for the upcoming game against NFC West division foe the Arizona Cardinals. The answer was loud and clear.
It was another one of those games that I’ve seen before. Excuse me. What I meant was it was one of those games we’ve seen before.
For the second week in a row, you have 11 penalties called against you. Last week the Rams said they were embarrassed after losing to the San Francisco 49ers. I wonder what the feeling is after this loss.
It couldn’t be embarrassed. Or is there a rule against using that two weeks in a row? The Rams just didn’t have it in a 30-10 loss against the Arizona Cardinals.
The heart and soul of the Rams, which is the defense, looked lost and unsure. They couldn’t get to Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer, who just wore the Rams secondary out. His favorite receiver, Larry Fitzgerald, was targeted 12 times by Palmer. And wouldn’t you know it? Fitzgerald caught all 12 passes.
So it has become official that Rams are eliminated from the playoffs, sporting a record of 5-8 and facing Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints this weekend.
Now that the Rams are out of the playoffs, it’s time to start looking ahead at what the Rams are going to need to make this team better for years to come.
And thanks to the Washington Redskins doing a great job of imploding, the Rams are still in good shape to add some more pieces.
They need help so badly in the secondary. Trumaine Johnson is their best player, no doubt. TJ McDonald is not far behind, and Roshod McCleod has shown some promising signs at both safety positions. Janoris Jenkins’ play this year has fallen off tremendously; he hasn’t been a real difference-maker.
What I’m saying isn’t groundbreaking, but the Rams’ biggest need in the off-season is cornerback. Grab a couple in the draft and add a season veteran. Just like pitching in baseball, where you can never have enough pitching – in football, the same applies with cornerbacks. Nobody knows if Courtland Finnegan will be back and whether the injury was a reason for his decline in play.
Next year will be Jeff Fisher’s third year as head coach. The expectation level will be even higher for him.
In Pete Carroll’s third year as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, he had them ready and they have taken off and not looked back. Jim Harbaugh got his team in the big game last season with the 49ers. We just saw what Bruce Arians is doing with the Arizona Cardinals, and this is his first year out there.
Will Fisher be next? I’ll address that and more on our weekly Rams Roundup on the St. Louis American YouTube channel. Please feel free to subscribe at http://www.youtube.com/user/stlamericanvideo.
