St. Louis Rams: 'No heart, no guts, no pulse ... nothing'

by Ed Valentine on Sep 9, 2008 7:00 AM EDT in New York Giants News

So, just how bad are the St. Louis Rams? ESPN's NFL Nation Blog Network gathered up all the press reviews following Sunday's season-opening 38-3 loss to Philadelphia.

The short story? The Rams, who host our defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants Sunday, are bad. Really, really bad.

Here are a couple of examples of what the St. Louis area media is saying about the team.

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

It took two plays for their first penalty. Four plays for their first injury. Four of the five offensive line starters had false start penalties — before halftime.

They couldn't block. They sure couldn't cover. And boy, they really couldn't convert on third down.

Wait a minute. Wasn't the theme for the 2008 Rams that things would be different this season?

It sure looked a lot like the 3-13 Rams of a year ago, except maybe worse if you can believe that. Sunday's 38-3 loss to Philadelphia was the most lopsided opening-day defeat in 71 years of Rams football.

The 35-point margin of defeat was the worst for the club since Scott Linehan took over as head coach in 2006. It took a 46-yard field goal by Josh Brown with 9 minutes left in the game to avoid the franchise's first opening-day shutout since 1965.

Also from the Post-Dispatch, columnist Bernie Miklasz said it looked like the Rams didn't even try against the Eagles.

I don't understand how a team can prepare for months to play its first football game, only to emerge from the locker room looking like dead men walking.

No heart, no guts, no pulse ... nothing.

"To me, and I've been around here 10 years, and this is the most talented team I've ever been around as far as pure talent," defensive end Leonard Little said. "But we've got to find a way to take it to the field. And show more on the field. We needed to come out and win this game. And we'd better win right away and get on the right track, because we don't want to go down that same road that we took last year."

It was an appalling afternoon for a franchise that went 3-13 last season.

And it didn't take long for negative thoughts to metastasize.

Unless the Rams respond with a passionate statement about their competitiveness on Sunday when the New York Giants come to The Ed, how much longer will head coach Scott Linehan be able to keep his job?

Are the players trying to get Linehan fired?

How else do we interpret the dive we saw them take in Philadelphia?

So, Sunday should be a walk in the park for the Giants. Right? Shouldn't it?

We should all know better. The Giants will win, but this game will be much closer than it should. Just like the season-opener against Washington was much closer on the scoreboard than it should have been.

Even with a Super Bowl championship in their pockets, the Giants never make things easy.

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Comments

The Giants will make

this game tight. We all know it. Actually, I will be attending the game. Let’s hope that we do not lose it somehow. Is that possible??

By the way, congrats on your win, Ed. :)

We're gonna STOMP you out!

by NYERinKY on Sep 9, 2008 8:52 AM EDT reply actions

LOL!!

I wasn’t going to rub it in, but now that you’ve brought it up … nah, i’ll leave you in peace. I do want you to keep reading!

by Ed Valentine on Sep 9, 2008 9:00 AM EDT up reply actions

Hey,

you’re lucky I wasn’t smart enough to start Thomas Jones or Philip Rivers. ;)

We're gonna STOMP you out!

by NYERinKY on Sep 9, 2008 9:10 AM EDT up reply actions

If the Rams...

…have any semblance of pride, they’ll be flying all over the field for at least the first half of this game. The only way they can win, though, is if the Giants hand it to them. A couple of early turnovers leading to Rams points would be bad.

by drunkUncle on Sep 9, 2008 9:03 AM EDT reply actions

yea

similar to the Vikings game last year. I think Eli’s matured to a point where that won’t happen. Plus, this year, the Tight End might actually complete his routes and not just let the ball go by him for interceptions.

By the way, is Leonard Little on crack? This is the most talented team he’s been on? More talented than the ’99 & ’01 teams? You know, the ones that went a combined 27-5? The one with Trent Green as its backup QB, Issac Bruce and Tory Holt in their primes? Marshall Faulk at the absolute top of his game, maybe one of the top 5 RBs ever? Seriously?

by cjmulrain on Sep 9, 2008 9:08 AM EDT up reply actions

That's what I thought

Little has to be on crack. That’s just ridiculous.

As a lifetime Giants fan, this game has to worry me. The Ram’s heart is be called into question right now. Unless they really do want to get their coach fired (which seems pretty unreasonable that 52 guys are out to get their coach fired), then they are going to come out with a lot of fire.

by potroast on Sep 9, 2008 9:21 AM EDT up reply actions

look at the Mets

In retrospect, it looks like 25 guys wanted to get Willie fired. If 25 can do it, why not 52?

But actually, I don’t think it was the full 25. More like 5 or 6, but that was enough. So if there’s 5-10 guys on the Rams that really don’t care for Linehan, that can make a huge difference. And while I don’t think any athlete (or at least very few of them) would actually stoop to the level of not playing hard so his coach gets fired on purpose, I do think subconsciously they don’t train as hard and don’t play quite as well if they don’t connect with the coach.

by cjmulrain on Sep 9, 2008 9:26 AM EDT up reply actions

let's not fall into the trap

of the Giants “will” win. even with the Super Bowl victory, we all know better than to say the Giants “will” win against any opponent. if you’ve followed this team the last three years you know that every game is a toss-up.

“should” they win? yes. “will” they win? you never know. (see: vs. Redskins 2007, vs. Vikings 2005 and 2007, at Titans 2006.

by SBakerTheTouchdownMaker on Sep 9, 2008 9:39 AM EDT reply actions