The third week of the NFL pre-season is here, and it is called the week of “dress rehearsal” for teams as they get ready for the season. That is when you see the starters play much of the game.
The final week is more for guys who are competing for the final roster spot along with making sure none of the starters get hurt. So what do we have for the Rams? Improving on last year’s one win should not be that hard. After that is when the challenge may come.
In the first two games, there has been little to create excitement as there are many new faces. With all that said, the effort is there, as this is not a team that features malcontents, player that are looking to hang on for another paycheck or guys who are not good enough to play on a good team.
The head scratcher here is the Rams have so many questions that have yet to be answered. The biggest one is who will play running back after Steven Jackson? Jackson takes a pounding, as he gives out a few hits along the way. Playing 16 games has been a challenge the last couple of years, as injuries have cost him. So in an era where the successful teams are stacked with at least two legitimate runners, why do the Rams have no real proven commodities? That is a front office question.
Spare me of the notion that the guys that are here are the answer. They are trying, but you would hard-pressed to find a defensive coordinator that is wondering what to do when the Rams don’t have Jackson in the game. We saw first-hand how it worked out last year.
This year, the stakes are higher. If Sam Bradford is the answer to the future then he needs to be surrounded with talent that will not allow every defense to just tee off on him and his offfnesive linemen, knowing there is no real threat. If that is the case, then Sam Bradford will be the next Mark Bulger at a higher cost.
The problem is if you go the free agent route, you are normally signing a player who is looking for a big payday. If he were that good, someone else who is better than the Rams would sign him. There is no question that the Rams are at a disadvantage. They will have to overpay for some of the better offensive players as those players would be more mercenaries than contributors to the future.
We are also starting to realize that some of these young players are who they are going to be. They are taken high and you expect them to be a Pro-Bowler the next season. Let me remind you that they were taken that high because the team was terrible before they were drafted, so why should they be the miracle worker by themselves?
Brett Farce
I used to like Brett Favre. He was a fun guy to watch in Green Bay. The more you learn about him, the more you cannot wait to see him leave once and for all. If you do not want to go to training camp, then say so. Spare me the dramatics of the courtship that takes place every August. It is not fair to a lot of people, mainly the backup quarterbacks who have become caddies.
The fact that Favre is out for himself is obvious, much like it was in Green Bay when he turned his back on a young quarteback in Aaron Rogers who has now come into his own. I wonder how much instruction Travarous Jackson is getting these days as a backup to the annointed one?
