Damn... What else can go wrong this season??? I swear, in 30 years of watching the Rams, this is the worst season I have ever seen! Injuries galore, horrible QB play, just one WR who is a true #2, a psycho guard, and now the Swine Flu shuts down our practices for the Houston game! I am becoming certain that we will have the #1 pick this year. I have little reason to doubt that we will finish this year with just 1 victory. Tampa will probably win again before we do. This is truly dreadful.
If my Rams defeat Houston, Coach Kubiac will be fired that evening. He won't see the morning in as head coach of the Texans.
Have a look at our injured reserve list:
- Free Safety #21 Oshiomogho Atogwe
- Left Guard #63 Jacob Bell
- Wide Receiver #14 Keenan Burton,
- Defensive Tackle #90 Adam Carriker
- Wide Receiver #19 Laurent Robinson (who used to wear #11)
- Quarter Back #10 Marc Bulger (he is not actually on the IR but should be)
That is 6 key starters with a 7th (Incognito) just released this week. That is just about 32% of the starting lineup out with injuries as we face the Texans. Some of the best players on the team on that list; particularly Atogwe and Carriker.
And now the dreaded H1N1 Swine Flu! Horrible!
One thing we should be aware of and take into consideration is the conspiracy theory known as 'pack it in for the season'. There are people close to the NFL who will tell you that it is wise to pack it in for the season if you are suffering a massively botched loosing campaign as we are.
Under this policy, you place as many starters on the IR as you can. You release trouble makers. You bring in scrubs who won't be with the team next year. You start the worst and cheapest team you can. You salary cap is positively impacted by these moves. You don't waste good men wrecking your draft position in meaningless games. You effectively throw the rest of the season, guarantying your draft position, and enhancing your free-agency money pool.
If you need a franchise QB, you usually can't draft too high. Your season ticket holders may never forgive you for packing it in, and calling it quits, but if you are planning to move the team anyway...
As a quick aside, I personally don't believe we need a #1 pick to acquire a franchise QB in this 2010 draft, but it is nice to be certain you can get what you need. I think the best prospects are going to be found in the 2nd round or later. If Jevan Snead does not declare for the draft, I would not use my #1 for a QB if I am Devany. I might well take Ndamukong Suh.
There is another conspiracy theory out there which says the Rams are intentionally bad this season because:
- The Rams want to fall out of the top 25% of NFL stadium revenues so they can break the lease on the Edward Jones Dome.
- Georgia's kids have even less money that she did.
- Georgia's kids have more financial problems than she did.
- Devany knew he needed a total rebuild from scratch
The good Doctor on the NFL Network recently told us to blow up the ship. I think he didn't keep up with events during the off-season of 2009. We blew up the ship at that time. The explosion occurred sometime between March and April of 2009. What you are looking at is the aftermath of that explosion. This is the wreckage of the Titanic sitting on the bottom of the Atlantic.
We are going to try to raise the Titanic in 2010.
One final word: If the Rams really have confirmed cases of H1N1 on the team, why are we taking the field against the Texans? We could spread the virus to the entire NFL! We should just yield/concede the victory to Houston and not take the field. This is a situation where the health of the league is at stake as we move rapidly towards the playoffs. Certainly, we Rams have nothing to gain by taking the field against Houston, especially if we have already packed it in for the season.
