OT: Rams biggest improvement

[GOSLU68]

they look and taste as if they were well done the week before and held over for a micro wave

and it is not the way the defense or offense played.

It is definitely the new artifical turf and wide out white strip so you can see the out of bounds

[BLIKNS]

The best parts of the first 2 games,to me,(1)haven`t been on tv down here in SW Florida,and (2)they`re over.

[Box and Won]

The food at the dome is pretty bad in general. I just stick with the Kosher dogs, which are fresh and delicious, unlike the "Ram Dogs" they sell at the concession stands.

[Pistol]

they look and taste as if they were well done the week before and held over for a micro wave

and it is not the way the defense or offense played.

It is definitely the new artifical turf and wide out white strip so you can see the out of bounds

I have a Rams-related question for the board: Did anyone listen to KLOU 103.3 after the game yesterday? I was listening on my way back to Cincinnati from St. Louis until the signal faded, and one of the guys on their postgame show (I think his name is John) was absolutely lambasting the Rams' coaching staff and front offices, particularly for the "PATHETIC" (he said that, in caps, about 150 times) display honoring Georgia Frontiere. He also screamed that Jim Haslett should be fired immediately upon the lights coming on at Rams Park on Monday. It was entertaining stuff- who is that guy, anyway?

[Box and Won]

I have a Rams-related question for the board: Did anyone listen to KLOU 103.3 after the game yesterday? I was listening on my way back to Cincinnati from St. Louis until the signal faded, and one of the guys on their postgame show (I think his name is John) was absolutely lambasting the Rams' coaching staff and front offices, particularly for the "PATHETIC" (he said that, in caps, about 150 times) display honoring Georgia Frontiere. He also screamed that Jim Haslett should be fired immediately upon the lights coming on at Rams Park on Monday. It was entertaining stuff- who is that guy, anyway?

That was John Hadley. He's a doofus, but was correct about Haslett. I didn't think the tribute to Georgia was THAT bad; I'm not sure what you could really do in such a short amount of time. I heard Hadley say that they should have done video tributes, which they did, throughout the game - D'Marco Farr, Dick Vermeil, Trent Green, Linehan, etc. were featured. They also said that the choir was never introduced, which was incorrect - they were from St. Alphonsus "Rock" Church in North St. Louis and Charles Glenn - the best national anthem singer in town - was the lead vocalist.

[Cowboy]

That was John Hadley.

John Hadley was ripping the Rams?

While I haven't listened to 550 in a long time, I remember that he would never be critical of teams carried on 550, that is why I stopped listening, no objectivity.

Did he change? did I remember wrong? or did 550 change their policy?

[drkelsey55]

I was headed home later in the evening and heard how the team needed to learn how to become a "fourth quarter team".

I laughed my a## off at that one. They need to learn how to play in the first, second and third quarters before they get to the fourth.

[Guest BillikenReport]

John Hadley was ripping the Rams?

While I haven't listened to 550 in a long time, I remember that he would never be critical of teams carried on 550, that is why I stopped listening, no objectivity.

Did he change? did I remember wrong? or did 550 change their policy?

Hadley was also employed the the Rams a few years ago, wasn't he?

The Rams had plenty of time to come up with a better tribute for Georgia, but maybe what they ended up doing was what they felt would be fitting and something she would have liked and approved of.

For as bad as they played last week, I thought the Rams were OK yesterday. They were in the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter against a really tough team. I covered the game for one of the New York area papers, and Brandon Jacobs pointed out how little the Rams substituted on the defensive front seven and how that hurt them late.

I actually think the Rams have potential, with some of the talent they have. But there are so many problems with the team — including coaching, offensive line, the wide receivers (Dante Hall shouldn't even be on the field on third downs, let alone have passes thrown in his direction) and Tye Hill — that I don't see being fixed anytime soon.

[slufanskip]

The Ram's problem is simple ... DRAFT, and not Chris Draft. The top end of their drafts isn't bad, it's horrendous.

Name the last first round pick to make the Pro Bowl. I've give Long a break still, but the futility in the 1st round is ridiculously bad. How about the previous 3 ... Barron, Hill, and Carracker ... could any of them start, much less star for a decent team?

[Cowboy]

Hadley was also employed the the Rams a few years ago, wasn't he?

i had forgotten that, he was Martz' press relations asst or something like that

but not sure he was employed by the Blues and Cardinals also

Nate-did you have the game Friday where the kid ran for 323 yards or something like that? how good is he? headed to WI?

[Box and Won]

The Ram's problem is simple ... DRAFT, and not Chris Draft. The top end of their drafts isn't bad, it's horrendous.

Name the last first round pick to make the Pro Bowl. I've give Long a break still, but the futility in the 1st round is ridiculously bad. How about the previous 3 ... Barron, Hill, and Carracker ... could any of them start, much less star for a decent team?

Pace, Jackson and Holt were good first round picks, but other than that, our first round picks have been horrendous. Robert Thomas? Trung Canidate? Jimmy Kennedy? And you're definitely right about the last three - those guys are awful. I thought Carriker would be okay, but he's been dominated this year. I am optimistic about Chris Long though.

And as bad as our first round picks have been, our second and third rounders have been even worse. Guys like Klopfenstein, Brian Leonard, Claude Wroten, Eric Crouch, etc. are complete wastes, and it's all coming back to bite us in the azz.

Zygmunt needs to go.

[Pistol]

John Hadley was ripping the Rams?

While I haven't listened to 550 in a long time, I remember that he would never be critical of teams carried on 550, that is why I stopped listening, no objectivity.

Did he change? did I remember wrong? or did 550 change their policy?

He wasn't just ripping the Rams, he was letting forth a screaming tirade that lasted way longer than I expected (probably at least 10 minutes). I haven't heard anything like it on the radio in a long time. He was shouting, swearing, calling for the heads of anyone involved in the Georgia Frontiere memorial ceremony, calling Jim Haslett a two-faced jerk who has been trying to weasel his way into the head coaching gig while utterly failing at his current job, calling out the heart of the players, and so on. The words pathetic and embarrassment were probably the most frequently used. It was entertaining stuff; I felt bad for laughing, but it was a Network-like tirade with enough truth to keep listening to.

Also, I was listening to KLOU 103.3 for the postgame, not 550 (are these the ones that share the FM-AM broadcast, though?).

I was just surprised he didn't say much about Linehan outside of refuting his comments that the team showed marked improvement. I have to hand it to him for not just chasing the easiest targets. I didn't see the thing for Georgia or most of the game for that matter, but his comments seemed to be fair even if they were emotionally driven. The Rams' results speak for themselves.

Living in Cincinnati now, it's almost frightening to me to see the similarities between the Bengals and Rams these days- a lot of decent talent on paper, but collectively a group of losers. An ESPN commentator said it best a few days ago when he said, "There are no teams even close to the Rams and Bengals who manage to do so little with so much."

[billiken_roy]

i admit i am but a casual nfl/rams fan and will defer to most of you on football stuff, but for the life of me, i dont see the jackson love. seems like he is the definition of over rated imo. i sure dont see the reincarnation of walter payton or oj the times i have watched.

[brianstl]

i admit i am but a casual nfl/rams fan and will defer to most of you on football stuff, but for the life of me, i dont see the jackson love. seems like he is the definition of over rated imo. i sure dont see the reincarnation of walter payton or oj the times i have watched.

Missing camp has showed the last two games, the O line, and being forced to throw the ball because we have been in big holes in the second half hasn't help Jackson so far this season.

[Box and Won]

Living in Cincinnati now, it's almost frightening to me to see the similarities between the Bengals and Rams these days- a lot of decent talent on paper, but collectively a group of losers. An ESPN commentator said it best a few days ago when he said, "There are no teams even close to the Rams and Bengals who manage to do so little with so much."

It's scary. We were actually competing with the Bengals for "losingest team of the 90s" until 99 when we went 13-3 and won the Super Bowl. Now we've regressed back to the Rams' early days in St. Louis. Absolutely pathetic.

[Box and Won]

i admit i am but a casual nfl/rams fan and will defer to most of you on football stuff, but for the life of me, i dont see the jackson love. seems like he is the definition of over rated imo. i sure dont see the reincarnation of walter payton or oj the times i have watched.

I actually like him a lot. He's a load - he runs fast and he runs hard, and he's tough to bring down. He's also a capable pass receiver, so he has that extra added dimension to his game. He's no Faulk, but he's one of the best backs in the league. Last year, suffering from injuries and running behind a decimated offensive line, he still managed to rack up 100 yards.

The one aspect of his game that I think needs improvement is picking up the blitz - something that's proving to be VERY important these days.

[slufanskip]

Pace, Jackson and Holt were good first round picks, but other than that, our first round picks have been horrendous. Robert Thomas? Trung Canidate? Jimmy Kennedy? And you're definitely right about the last three - those guys are awful. I thought Carriker would be okay, but he's been dominated this year. I am optimistic about Chris Long though.

And as bad as our first round picks have been, our second and third rounders have been even worse. Guys like Klopfenstein, Brian Leonard, Claude Wroten, Eric Crouch, etc. are complete wastes, and it's all coming back to bite us in the azz.

Zygmunt needs to go.

I forgot about Jackson, you can't blame me though .... has he played this year? He's a good back, but he's about 65% as good as he thinks he is.

I wasn't going as far back as Pace and Holt.

How many first round picks have we had on the D Line? 5 maybe 6 in the last 6 or 7 years. There are so many I can't even remember them. One year we had 2 first round D lineman, that were both busts in Stl. One went to GB and played well, but didn't do a damn thing for us.

[Majerus Magic]

I forgot about Jackson, you can't blame me though .... has he played this year? He's a good back, but he's about 65% as good as he thinks he is.

I wasn't going as far back as Pace and Holt.

How many first round picks have we had on the D Line? 5 maybe 6 in the last 6 or 7 years. There are so many I can't even remember them. One year we had 2 first round D lineman, that were both busts in Stl. One went to GB and played well, but didn't do a damn thing for us.

I think the moment Martz drafted Trung Candidate is when I knew this franchise was screwed....

I seriously think they got a monkey in the back throwing darts and where it hits is who they draft. Its pathetic.

[courtside]

The Rams have problems with talent evaluation combined with decision making of that talent evaluation.

Jay Zygmunt is a money guy, a salary cap guy who wanted and received power in player personnel decisions. The results speak for themselves combined with the coaches inability to evaluate talent from Martz to Linehan.

1) Draft. You simply cannot miss that badly year after year after year in the draft. The good teams not only land first round players but the next several rounds as well, consistently.

2) Free Agents. Rams have had a disturbing long pattern of overpaying aging and/or injury riddled free agents on the heavy decline in their careers. Chavous, Claibourne, Bennett, and a long list of others. There are reasons others don't want these players at that cost.

3) Tying up too much money into only a small handful of players. And, often times after the reward they haven't produced.

The offensive line hasn't been addressed in several years. The Rams think you can put anyone out there on the O-line. This has once again damaged another QB. That QB happens to make lots of cash. The inability to address the D-line at the point of attack and get front four pressure.

The Rams have made tons and tons of mistakes that will not be fixed overnight.

They aren't strong at any position on the field. None except kicker.

Combine that with a group that won't play hard for this coach.

[Guest BillikenReport]

Here's a list of the Rams first-round draft picks after the 1999 season (when they took Torry Holt in the first round and Dre Bly in the second round):

2000 - Trung Canidate

2001 - Damione Lewis, Adam Archuleta and Ryan Pickett

2002 - Robert Thomas

2003 - Jimmy Kennedy

2004 - Steve Jackson

2005 - Alex Barron

2006 - Tye Hill

2007 - Adam Carriker

2008 - Chris Long

On this list, you have one proven, but injury-risk player (Steven Jackson), two guys who the jury is still out on (Adam Carriker and Chris Long) and EIGHT busts.

The 2001 draft should have provided the Rams a foundation for the future, but it hurt them. Here's some guys who were picked after the Rams picks: DT Marcus Stroud, WR Santana Moss, G Steve Hutchinson (after Lewis), CB Nate Clements, RB Deuce McAllister (after Archuleta) and WR Reggie Wayne and TE Todd Heap (were the next two picks after Pickett). Second round picks that year included QB Drew Brees, WR Chad Johnson, TE Alge Crumpler, DT Kris Jenkins, LB Kendrell Bell, T Matt Light, WR Chris Chambers, DT Shaun Rogers. WR Steve Smith was a third-round pick. RB Rudi Johnson was a fourth-round pick. WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh was a seventh round pick.

[Majerus Magic]

Here's a list of the Rams first-round draft picks after the 1999 season (when they took Torry Holt in the first round and Dre Bly in the second round):

2000 - Trung Canidate

2001 - Damione Lewis, Adam Archuleta and Ryan Pickett

2002 - Robert Thomas

2003 - Jimmy Kennedy

2004 - Steve Jackson

2005 - Alex Barron

2006 - Tye Hill

2007 - Adam Carriker

2008 - Chris Long

On this list, you have one proven, but injury-risk player (Steven Jackson), two guys who the jury is still out on (Adam Carriker and Chris Long) and EIGHT busts.

The 2001 draft should have provided the Rams a foundation for the future, but it hurt them. Here's some guys who were picked after the Rams picks: DT Marcus Stroud, WR Santana Moss, G Steve Hutchinson (after Lewis), CB Nate Clements, RB Deuce McAllister (after Archuleta) and WR Reggie Wayne and TE Todd Heap (were the next two picks after Pickett). Second round picks that year included QB Drew Brees, WR Chad Johnson, TE Alge Crumpler, DT Kris Jenkins, LB Kendrell Bell, T Matt Light, WR Chris Chambers, DT Shaun Rogers. WR Steve Smith was a third-round pick. RB Rudi Johnson was a fourth-round pick. WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh was a seventh round pick.

Thanks Nate....

That was painful reading that.

[brianstl]

Here's a list of the Rams first-round draft picks after the 1999 season (when they took Torry Holt in the first round and Dre Bly in the second round):

2000 - Trung Canidate

2001 - Damione Lewis, Adam Archuleta and Ryan Pickett

2002 - Robert Thomas

2003 - Jimmy Kennedy

2004 - Steve Jackson

2005 - Alex Barron

2006 - Tye Hill

2007 - Adam Carriker

2008 - Chris Long

On this list, you have one proven, but injury-risk player (Steven Jackson), two guys who the jury is still out on (Adam Carriker and Chris Long) and EIGHT busts.

The 2001 draft should have provided the Rams a foundation for the future, but it hurt them. Here's some guys who were picked after the Rams picks: DT Marcus Stroud, WR Santana Moss, G Steve Hutchinson (after Lewis), CB Nate Clements, RB Deuce McAllister (after Archuleta) and WR Reggie Wayne and TE Todd Heap (were the next two picks after Pickett). Second round picks that year included QB Drew Brees, WR Chad Johnson, TE Alge Crumpler, DT Kris Jenkins, LB Kendrell Bell, T Matt Light, WR Chris Chambers, DT Shaun Rogers. WR Steve Smith was a third-round pick. RB Rudi Johnson was a fourth-round pick. WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh was a seventh round pick.

Ryan Pickett has turned out to be a pretty good player up in Green Bay. Pickett would be the best player on the Rams defensive line right now. I don't know if I would call him a bust.

[Guest BillikenReport]

Ryan Pickett has turned out to be a pretty good player up in Green Bay. Pickett would be the best player on the Rams defensive line right now. I don't know if I would call him a bust.

Brian, I'll give you Pickett as an NFL starter. Though if you remember, his time in St. Louis was so up and down that the Rams didn't consider him a priority and allowed him to leave as a free agent.

[brianstl]

Brian, I'll give you Pickett as an NFL starter. Though if you remember, his time in St. Louis was so up and down that the Rams didn't consider him a priority and allowed him to leave as a free agent.

I think that Pickett's problems had more to do with the coaching here than anything else and then the Rams coaching staff and pro personal dept blew it on which guy was the right one to keep when he left. He was the one guy out of the three that ended up panning out. He is still an example of the Ram's years of coaching and pro personal decision failures. The mistakes made on the pro personal level might be just as bad as the mistakes made in the draft. The Rams have been brutal in both areas.

[Box and Won]

I think that Pickett's problems had more to do with the coaching here than anything else and then the Rams coaching staff and pro personal dept blew it on which guy was the right one to keep when he left. He was the one guy out of the three that ended up panning out. He is still an example of the Ram's years of coaching and pro personal decision failures. The mistakes made on the pro personal level might be just as bad as the mistakes made in the draft. The Rams have been brutal in both areas.

++

Needed to keep Big Grease.

Going back a little further in the drafts, how about the 1996 draft where we had two first round picks and took Lawrence Phillips and Eddie Kennison over Marvin Harrison and some guy named Ray Lewis. Ugh. Zach Thomas, Teddy Bruschi, Brian Dawkins, etc. were taken in the later rounds too.