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Published: July 21, 2010
It was another awful season for the St Louis Rams as they finished the 2009 regular season with a woeful 1-15 record. The Rams are now 6-42 over their past three seasons.
The Rams were sitting at 0-7 before beating the Detroit Lions on the road 17-10 for their lone win. The team was miserable at home with an 0-8 record.
The teams roster resembled that of an expansion team in most positions.
In 2009 the Rams ranked 29th in total offense and 29th in total defense.
The Rams were paper thin at wide receiver and the club finished 28th in passing by averaging just 167.9 yards through the air. At only 10.9 points per game the Rams were last in the league in scoring in 2009.
The lone bright spot on offense was the play of Steven Jackson who ran hard despite back problems late in the season. The veteran back ended up with 1416 yards on 324 carries for a 4.4 yards per carry average.
The Rams said goodbye to starting quarterback Marc Bulger as they drafted former Oklahoma Sooner Sam Bradford as the #1 pick in the NFL draft. Veteran A.J. Feeley was signed as his backup.
St Louis couldn’t stop the run or pass in 2009. They allowed 137.6 yards rushing and 235.3 through the air per game last season. The Rams were 31st in the league in scoring defense by allowing 27.3 points per game to their opponents.
Only 1 of the Rams first 5 picks in the draft were defensive players. The Rams went with defense in the third round with South Florida cornerback Jerome Murphy. The team has been very quiet in free agency with the club up for sale.
The Odds:
The season win total for the 2010 St Louis Rams has been set at 5 wins by Bodog sportsbook with under the -130 odds on favorite with over returning +100 odds.
Bodog has lined the St Louis Rams as 100-1 underdogs to win Super Bowl XLV. The team has been lined by Bodog at 60-1 odds to win the NFC Championship and +1200 odds to win the NFC West division.
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2010 St Louis Rams Regular Season Schedule:
As an NFC West participant the Rams will play a home and a road game against the Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals.
The NFC West will lock horns in 2010 against the NFC South and AFC West.
The Rams NFC South games will be at home to the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers with road games at the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
St Louis will play from the AFC West home tilts against the San Diego Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs with road games against the Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos.
As the last place team from the NFC West the Rams will play the two other NFC last place finishers from 2009 so that will deliver a home game against the Washington Redskins and a road contest at the Detroit Lions.
The Rams will play all their regular season football games this season on Sunday afternoons. The NFL has scheduled St Louis for no primetime appearances.
They have been hit with three consecutive road games this season from week 12-14. They will hit the highway with 3 straight road contests at the Denver Broncos, Arizona Cardinals and New Orleans Saints.
Offense:
The Rams would not have been in position to draft a quarterback in the first round had the teams offensive line done a better job of pass protection. Bulger took a complete beating over the past several years and mercifully have exited the club.
Sam Bradford played just 1 game in his final college football season after obtaining a season ending shoulder injury on a light hit by a BYU linebacker. Bradford benefited from nearly perfect pass protection during his entire Oklahoma career so he is really a question mark on how he will deal with the pressure of playing quarterback in the NFL where pass rushes are fierce.
A.J. Feeley has spent 10 years in the league in mostly back up role. He has a career 55.9% passing percentage which is extremely poor for NFL standards. He has passed for 27 touchdowns and 29 interceptions over his career which is not too encouraging.
This is the type of free agent QB you get as a backup when your offensive line destroys your former starting quarterback.
Running back Stephen Jackson had a pro bowl season in 2009. He had a 4.4 yards per carry average on 324 carries and played hard and broke as many tackles as he could as he fought for yardage. He did suffer a back problem during the year that forced him to miss a game last season. He wore down late with just a 3.4 yards per carry average combined in December and January.
Kenneth Darby backs up Jackson and the three year pro from Alabama had only 27 carries in 2009 and had an impressive 5.6 yards a carry average. With Jackson hurt in week 15 Darby received 11 carries but produced a mere 40 yards. A bad sign was the fact the young back got 0 carries in a week 17 meaningless game against the 49ers.
Second year back Chris Ogbonnaya spent most of the 2009 season on the practice squad as was activated in the week 16 game with Jackson hurt. The 2009 rookie produced 45 yards on 9 carries for a 5.0 yards a carry average in the game at Arizona in week 16.
The Rams paper thin receiver crew will feature Donnie Avery and Keenan Burton as the #1 and #2 with Danny Amendola and Mardy Gilyard as the #3 and #4. Gilyard is a rookie drafted out of Cincinnati in the fourth round. Avery led the receiving corps with just 47 catches for a 12.5 yards per catch average and 5 touchdowns. Amendola produced just 7.5 yards a catch last season. The Rams will feature Randy McMichael at tight end who had 34 catches with a 9.8 yards per catch average.
The Rams offensive line will feature Jason Brown at center with Jacob Bell and Adam Goldberg at the guards. The tackles are Rodger Saffold and Jason Smith. The Rams gave up an atrocious 54 sacks a season ago. The club drafted Rodger Saffold with their second pick out of Indiana. Center Hank Fraley was drafted from Cleveland to provide depth.
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Defense:
The Rams had 25 sacks last season finishing 30th in the league. The Rams 4-3 defense will line up with Victor Adeyanju and former first round pick Chris Long at the ends with Fred Robbins and Clifton Ryan as the tackles. Leonard Little was lost in free agency as the pass rusher was hindered by injuries the past few seasons. Little led the club in 2009 with 6 ½ sacks. Robbins comes to the team in free agency from the Giants. Long has been a complete bust for the Rams and 2010 may be his last as a starter if he cannot get a better rush on opposing quarterbacks and better play the run. The Rams spent three picks in rounds 5-7 to draft 3 defensive ends to groom Long’s replacement.
The linebackers feature James Laurinaitis at middle with David Vobora and Na’il Diggs on the outside. Laurinaitis had a good season in his rookie campaign with 120 tackles and 2 sacks. Diggs was signed from the Panthers in free agency. Bobby Carpenter comes over from the Cowboys to provided depth for the squad.
The secondary shapes up with Ronald Bartell and Justin King at the corners with James Butler and Oshiomogho Atogwe at the safeties. Jerome Murphy was drafted out of South Florida in the third round and free agent Kevin Dockery enters to compete for a starting corner position or to give the club solid backups. Safety Kevin Payne comes via trade from the Bears for depth.
And now to my Selection:
Rams fans should hold their breath as their quarterback of the future lines up under center against a suspect offensive line. They saw a pro bowl quality quarterback in Marc Bulger get ruined by awful protection right before their eyes. Steven Jackson’s health will be a concern with his back problems and lack of production late last season. The receiver position is not very encouraging.
On the defensive side the Rams pass rush is still in question and Chris Long hasn’t played up to expectations.
The Rams will be very active following the final preseason game when the final cuts are made and you may find the last cuts from opposing teams earning roster spots on the Rams. They don’t get to 5 wins this season.
Selection: Play Under 5 wins in 2010 Regular Season.
