Rams over Colts 33-10

So, my Rams looked pretty decent defeating the Colts [who were without Peyton Manning last night] by a score of 33-10. It's hard to quibble with statistical and scoreboard domination.

Just between you, me and the lamp-post: We know thing would have been different if the Colts had had a fresh and healthy Peyton Manning playing throughout the entire 1st quarter. They might well have had 14 more points by the final gun.

We need an honest assessment, folks.

I took just three things away from this game:

1. Ray Lewis is quite correct when he says that the Colts would be a below average football team without Peyton Manning. Just a few days ago, NFL Network analysts Jamie Dukes and Warren Sapp were speculating about whether Peyton's consecutive game iron-man streak would continue in game 1 of this 2011 season. Charles Davis asked them how the Colts would fare without Manning at the helm. Both agreed that the Colts would not make the playoffs without Manning, and they might not have a winning record. I concur.
2. Sam Bradford seems to be absorbing the Josh McDaniels version of the Spread pretty well. Earlier in the year, I reckoned that this was more of a home-coming than a brand-new system for Sam. My instincts may be right. The good news is that we looked pretty sharp, despite the lack of off-season training.
3. The defense continues to look sharper and sharper under Steve Spagnuolo. I would expect that given a defensive master as the head coach. These guys have bought into Steve Spagnuolo's system, and they are investing themselves deeply in it. Even though they are not the most talented crew around, they are playing very solid team defense. You can do a hell of a lot of damage with team defense. Just ask the No-Name Defense of 1972 Dolphins.

As I have said before, we may well win the NFC West this season, and obtain the 4th seed in the NFC side of the tournament. This has everything to do with the West being a mess this year. I think we're going to slug it out with the Cardinals for the title. The 49ers and the Seahawks should bring up the rear, with the Seahawks looking like front-runners in the Andrew Luck bowl.

Just understand one thing: we entered this off-season with just one super-agenda item. The one and the only thing we absolutely, categorically had to do was obtain a big-playmaker for Sam Bradford to work with. This might have been A.J. Green, this might have been Julio Jones, this might have been Reggie Bush. It might even have been Mark Ingram.

We just didn't get it done.

The lack of a big-time and unstoppable playmaker will place a hard-cap on what we are able to achieve this season.

I just can't seem to get excited about my Rams this year.

Call me a pessimist, but I just can't get excited about my Rams this year. You may say that I am busy with a lot of other subjects in my life right now, and you would be partially right, but don't fool yourself: If my boys had had a tremendous off-season, filled crucial holes with exciting players, and made most of the right moves, I would be off the hook with excitement about it.

The NFC West is an absolute mess this season with the last division champ, the Seahawks, on the short-short list of who may win the Andrew Luck bowl in 2011. The Cardinals have gotten a bit better, but don't fool yourself: They still haven't replaced Kurt Warner. The 49ers are on the short-short list of who was most severely compromised by the lockout. So are my Rams.

We might be the favorite to win the division, but don't kid yourself: nothing is in the bag, and if we win this sack of shit, it won't mean much. It simply means that we were the most buoyant turd in the toilet bowl.

At the root of my pessimism is Billy Devaney's handling of the draft and free-agency.

As you well know, I was ready to bury Devaney in an unmarked grave in the middle of Nevada desert immediately after the draft. As far as I am concerned, he made all the wrong moves, not all the right moves.

In free agency, we have done something close to nothing to plug out critical holes. Do you honestly expect me to be excited about the signing of Eagle safety Quentin Mikell? Do you expect me to be excited about the signing of ball-dropping wide-receiver Michael Sims-Walker from the Jaguars? If you do, you are crazy. Neither of these men are capable of changing the fate of the Rams organization.

Now, I hope they prove me wrong, but I seriously doubt they will.

You do know that Zac Diles is a cast-off from one of the worst defenses in the league? You do know that Al Harris, great as he once was, is 36 years of age, and might not make the team.

I like the signing of Harvey Dahl, but only up to a point. It would have been better if we had gotten Mike Pouncey and Harvey Dahl.

Rumor has it we are close to acquiring a running back. Unless that man is Ronnie Brown of the Dolphins, we will not obtain a man capable of changing the fate of the organization. Ronnie just might...

Bottom line is that we just didn't make much progress this season. Like the Bengals, we seem to be ballin' on a budget. We don't seem to be making any high-quality moves. We still don't have a playmaker for Sam Bradford to work with. This pisses me off and frustrates me in the extreme.

Because so many other good and exciting things seem to be happening in my life at this point, it has been easy to turn a deaf ear to the NFL Network, not that they have had much to say about my Rams lately. There has been virtually no coverage of the Rams lately, because there has been nothing to talk about. No story hear folks.

Inept management is the story line here. If he were doing good things, Devaney would have one hell of an advocate in me. However, that just isn't the case.

Bottom line is this: I believe 2011 will be a lost season for the Rams, just as it will be for a whole bunch of NFL teams damaged by the recent labor strife.

The Hall of Fame Game has been officially canceled

Well, well, well, son of a bitch in hell. We have the first [and hopefully the last] casualty of this long-hot summer lockout. My Rams will not play the Bears in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton Ohio. The 2011 Hall of Fame Game has been officially canceled. That link comes straight off the official NFL Website.

I suspected that this was going to happen when they failed to come up with the document Wednesday. This was also complicated by the continuing schism inside the player's camp regarding whether anti-trust litigation should go forward or be put to sleep. We heard enough reports regarding Wednesday being the drop-dead date for the HOF Game that I expected this announcement today.

I can't tell you I'm not disappointed. This sucks for Marhall Faulk, and for all the fans who view the HOF Game as the unofficial start of the bacchanalia we know as football season. If memory serves, this is the first time the HOF game has ever been canceled. In the prior two work-stoppages(1982 and 1987), play wasn't halted until the regular season was already in progress.

On the other hand, I am glad that my poorly conditioned, non-warm and un-stretched Rams won't suffer a slew of injuries in a bad scrimmage that won't mean anything on the official books. Believe me, I get it. I totally get it. This is probably for the best in the long run.

Throughout the course of this summer, we have heard a constant mantra from both the NFL Network and ESPN: as long as we settle this thing before any cancellations happen, no one will even remember that there was a lockout 3 years from now. Conversely, if games are canceled, there will be a collective memory, and there will be a backlash.

We'll have to wait and see. This isn't a good thing, but it is only the first preseason game. We shouldn't hit the panic button just yet.

Rich Eisen was close to flipping out yesterday when the baby wasn't born just yet. I think his (very inside) sources warned him that the HOF Game was at death's door. I think he was very concerned about the collective memory of this affair. Rightly so.

The good news is that the owners have approved the new deal. Now we just need the players to do the same thing. Let's hope that the more fractious members will stand down, and the anti-trust lawsuits can be put to sleep for the duration.

As much as I would like to see Vincent Jackson a free agent (the Rams' very last shot at getting a franchise receiver this season), I would like to see some actual football games this year even more. A free agent Vincent Jackson isn't going to do the 2011 Rams much good if the 2011 season is held hostage by anti-trust litigation.

Here we go, boys!

So unless you've been buried under a rock for the last couple hours, you know that U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson has ruled in favor of the former player's union. You can read about it here.

You can see more here.

She has ruled that the decertification of the union is more than just a legal fiction, that federal labor law permitting the lockout of union workers does not apply to the former NFLPA, ergo sum the NFL Owner's lockout of NFL players is an illegal action under anti-trust law.

Now the owners have already filed for a stay of execution pending an appeal to the 8th circuit court, but this has to be seen as a pretty ripping victory for the players. The NFLPA's legal strategy is working. The owners have already lost their lockout insurance, and now they have lost the lockout.

It may take a day or two to get the verdict on the stay of execution, but I happen to think the owners are unlikely to win that one. It is the role of the appeal court to uphold the rulings of the lower court unless gross errors were made.

Folks, I'm going on the record with this one: Trades and free agency can begin as early as Wednesday. The league will need to implement player rules for 2011, but they will have to implement those rules, lest they be held in contempt of court. The judge has the power to throw people in jail for contempt, you know. The excitement of the Draft may be amplified about a hundred fold, folk. We could see some real wicked deal making in the prelude to the draft, and during the draft. I sure hope so.

What are the potential ramifications of this decision for the simple GM who would just want to stock his football team with the talent it needs to win?

1. Those veteran QBs just might move out of limbo quick.
2. We might not see a bunch of GMs hit the chicken switch and reach for 2nd round QBs in the first round.
3. Players can be bundled with picks, meaning we can see more draft day trades.
4. We might see my Rams answer some defensive needs through free agency rather than the draft.
5. Given the ability to package players with picks, my Rams just might move up and take that WR we are all begging for.

I am not going to play games with you guys, I love this decision to death. We going to see such a frenzy of activity it is going to be amazing. Most GMs will have to pull a 72 hour red-eye bender starting this Wednesday. This is going to be pretty exciting. This is going to be balls-out chaos.

Chris Mortensen even suggested that Peyton Manning may become an all-out free-agent here. Boy! What the 49ers would do to get him.