'5 Questions' with Turf Show Times

by Ed Valentine on Sep 12, 2008 1:00 PM EDT in News Comment 9 comments

From my vantage point there is one nice thing about the New York Giants facing NFC West teams like the St. Louis Rams this season.

No, not that those teams stink. It's that I get to interact with some Sports Blogs Nation bloggers I rarely have contact with. This week provides such an opportunity, as I have exchanged '5 Questions' with Ryan Van Bibber, known as 'VanRam' at SBN's Rams blog, Turf Show Times.

The full interview is after the jump

1. Big Blue View: The Rams were, obviously, awful Sunday against Philadelphia. You've seen the news reports ripping their effort and saying they are the front-runner for the 2009 No. 1 pick. Are they really that bad? Or, are you optimistic despite the poor opening-game effort?

Turf Show Times: Nobody was under the illusion that these guys were Super Bowl contenders; in fact, I don't know anyone who thought this was a playoff team. However, they've got more talent than they showed in that debacle. Fans expect improvement.

2. BBV: The Rams took DE Chris Long with the second pick in the draft. Have you been happy with what you have seen from him thus far?

TST: Yes, he is a rookie at a position that has a learning curve. Remember what a joke it was when the Texans took Mario Williams...before he had 14 sacks in his second year? He played hard last week, one of a few Rams players that seemed to give a damn. Long's impact will be felt as the season moves along.

3. BBV: Giants' fans likely don't follow the Rams closely. Other than the big-name guys like Steven Jackson and Marc Bulger, tell us about a few players we should keep our eyes on.

TST: Well, Rams fans aren't going to follow the team too closely if the team plays D2 football in the home opener. This offense, led by OC Al Saunders, features Randy McMichael quite a bit. If the rest of the team gets it together, McMichael will have a productive season. Too bad OJ Atogwe looked so lost last week. I might have said his name. He led the NFC in INTs last year with 8 and was bright young star for the defense. I guess we'll see how well he does with the wrote star-overcoming-adversity storyline, with the adversity being mostly self-induced last week.

4. BBV: Tell us a little about Scott Linehan. Is he is over his head with this job? Does he just not have much to work with? Do you think he will eventually get the Rams turned around? Or, is he en route to getting himself canned?

His head coaching tenure seems more akin to Seymour Skinner's Vietnam experience than anything else. Fans and the press gave him the benefit of the doubt, but after last Sunday it became pretty clear that he lacks the leadership skills to be a head coach. The players don't seem to connect with him, either out of fear or loyalty. Last week he really failed in putting the various parts of a football team together to form a cohesive whole.

5. BBV: OK, time for my favorite question. (All together now, Big Blue View Nation, you know what is coming). If you could take one player off the Giants' roster and put him on your team who would it be? Why?

TST: Tom Coughlin. See above.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I'm going to try this as a new way of wrapping up these '5 questions' segments. I found 'VanRam's' answer to the 'take one player' answer to be a stunner. Tom Coughlin? Wow! That's a first as no one has ever answered the question that way. Guess it shows a complete lack of faith in Scott Linehan.

By the way, I'm hoping to see the Giants bury the Rams the same way the Eagles did. The Giants should have buried the Redskins last week, but didn't. They need to put teams away when they have the opportunity.

Anyway, thanks 'VanRam.' Be sure to check Turf Show Times for my answers to his questions.

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Comments

Excellent answers at TST

Especially number 5 was just dead on. One of my favorites too and was just a perfect analogy(even though this may get me and Cronin started again).
Who would have expected anyone picking TC as their choice a year ago when the Giants were 0-2 ?

We're only gonna score 17 points?

by big blue wrecking crew on Sep 12, 2008 2:20 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Cinderella Man

You liked that choice, eh? Good. It was the one sports movie I could think of that really nailed the story of the 2007 Giants.

by Ed Valentine on Sep 12, 2008 2:27 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Rams fan here dropping in from 'Turf Show Times'

I’m not surprised Van picked your HC…if we had Coughlin last year, I’m pretty sure we could have squeezed about 6-7 wins out of that injury riddled squad…Linehan seems to be a nice guy, but he is so in over his head, it’s not even funny…there are quite a few rumors around St. Louis that he has lost the team.

Anyway, I never did thank you guys for saving the world from Patriotmania last February…many of us are still smarting from the 2003 Super Bowl, so it felt good to see the Pats get it just like they gave it to us…LOL.

Good luck to the G-men AFTER this Sunday…we need this win more than you guys!!

by tbell61 on Sep 12, 2008 3:07 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

i agree

it would be great to have a coach that is completely the head of the team and able to get his players to play for him.

looks like linehan can’t quite cut it pulling together all the parts of a football team on gameday. or get the respect of his team (see: eye rolling incident, yelling incident(2x) from 2007).

who would have thought a few years ago that everyone would have wanted coughlin as a coach. what a difference a year can make.

Rams Gab!
www.ramsgab.com

by jroman on Sep 12, 2008 4:56 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks for dropping by

by Ed Valentine on Sep 12, 2008 3:31 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

tbeell61 and jroman

You guys seeem a lot more objective than a lot of other fans who check in here. Even if the Rams were much better this year a good intellegent (ok emotion gets us all occasionally ) debate can be a lot of fun if it’s more than just"you suck" and “we hate you”. Good luck in the future,just not Sunday.

We're only gonna score 17 points?

by big blue wrecking crew on Sep 12, 2008 5:09 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Thanks, Big Blue

I visit other teams sites a lot and I have never been into trolling…I do enjoy friendly banter, but I try to respect the other guys’ teams and I hope they can see some value in mine…wouldn’t blame anybody for thinking the Rams will be a pushover, because, disappointingly, they showed no fire, no emotion no sense of urgency against the Eagles last week…THAT’S what bothers me…if they show up and give the Giants a good game on Sunday, then I’ll feel better, though I feel they need to win to avoid Linehan getting the short hair cut before season’s end…After this game, the Rams play at Seattle (who we haven’t beaten in about three years) and then home against Buffalo, then the bye week…if they go to 0-4, and look bad doing it, then it becomes Al Saunders’ team during the off week…that’s just my opinion, mind you, but they cannot afford to go 0-8 again under Linehan.

by tbell61 on Sep 12, 2008 5:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

From the sounds of it

maybe you shouldn’t be too upset if the Rams fail early, so that Linehan will get the axe. I understand that as a fan you could never actively root for such a thing, but it sounds like regime change would be best to happen sooner than later.

by potroast on Sep 13, 2008 6:47 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

well, of course, I would never root for anyone to lose their job,

but this situation has an air of inevitability to it…the team has too many holes and the schedule is too difficult to expect this team to improve enough to save Linehan’s job…I mean they’d have to ratchet it up A LOT to keep this HC in his job…over at “Turf Show Times”, Van Ram and some of the other posters talk about the Rams being a victim of their own success in the early 2000’s…after six years of Mike Martz, and then we get this guy, with his very vanilla offense…let’s just say it ain’t real conducive to firing up the fan base and selling tickets.

Anyway, this is a Giants’ site and I do like what you guys have done in knocking off TWO evil empires last year…it’s always nice to win a Super Bowl, of course, but I would imagine that knocking off the Cowboys in the playoffs was especially sweet!!

by tbell61 on Sep 13, 2008 9:18 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs