It was one of those Goddamn days...

As you all know, the Rams got mauled by the Lions 44-6. It was just one of those Goddamn days.

The Rams opened the game by attempting an on-side kick, which failed. The Lions immediately cashed it in for a field goal. I guess we thought we would one-up the New Orleans Saints or something. This set the stage for quite an ass-raping.

Then the Rams lost Mark Clayton when he injured his right knee in the 1st quarter. Right now, they are calling it a sprain, but it doesn't look good. I was greatly heartened to see that Mardy Gilyard finally caught a few passes (2 for 22 yards), but the entire game consisted of short check-downs to Danny Amendola (12 for 95). You just can't come from behind with a passing game that looks like that.

That was a very crushing defeat. Just when we thought we had it rolling, guess what? Nope. This is quite a reversal. I hope this does not trigger a lapse.

You can bet there will be a chorus of chanters calling for a trade with San Diego for Vincent Jackson now. My feelings on the subject are quite mixed. I think Vincent Jackson is a big target, but he is a hot and cold guy. I think people tend to be overwhelmed by his physical profile and don't look hard enough at his mixed production figures.

I think he is quite over-rated. He cannot be mentioned in the company of guys like Brandon Marshall, Larry Fitzgerald, Andre Johnson or Roddy White. I don't think he fits in the 2nd tier category with guys like T.O. and Randy Moss either.

Jackson would not be my top choice for a franchise wide receiver to build around. I would be looking for Leonard Hankerson of Miami, and possibly Julio Jones of Alabama, should he come out. However, with the brewing crisis at WR the Rams are suffering from now, a deal for Vincent Jackson may be compelling.

So did I hear that right? Did everybody pick my Rams to win this weekend?

I sit hear a bit dumbfounded at the moment. Jamie Dukes, who has a perfect record in upset specials this week, picked my Rams over Detroit as his upset special. Some may complain that this is cheating, as a Ram victory over Detroit may not actually constitute an upset victory. Why? Because Brian, Sterling and Joe all picked the Rams to defeat Detroit also. They did this right at the top of the show on this weeks NFC Matchup.

One of the reasons for their pick may actually be invalid. Joe noticed that the Rams like to throw to the outer flats. Detroit seems to have particular difficulty in covering this spot. Donnie Avery happens to run several different routs to this point, and he runs them extremely well. Joe and Sterling focused on how well Bulger throws to these two spots on the field.

As of this would be very well and good, except it would appear that Marc just might have had his last strike last week against the Colts. That failed 4th down conversion combined with with an utterly stupid pick-6 turned a modest loss into the worst blow-out of the day. Both plays were courtesy of Marc Bulger.

The current scuttlebutt says the following things:

1. Don't be surprised when you see Kyle Boller start on Sunday.
2. Don't be surprised when the Rams look around for a quality veteran free agent quarterback early in 2010. I haven't the slightest clue who that would or could be. There is no such critter scheduled to enter the market this off season. I only hope we don't bring in Jeff Garcia. Likewise, I hope it is not Chad Pennington. God forbid that Brett Favre should retire and un-retire again with the Rams. It would be best if simply stick with Kyle Boller. Regrettably, other teams may be smacking their chops in anticipation of acquiring Bulger, believing that they can protect him better than we can.
3. Don't be surprised at all when the Rams spend the #1 or #2 pick overall on a Quarterback. The presumptive favorite is Texas Longhorn QB Colt McCoy, although I would greatly prefer it to be Tim Tebow.

Ergo sum, Bulger will probably not be making throws to the outer flats this weekend. Hopefully, Boller will be making those throws to the outer flats where Donnie Avery will be waiting for the rock. Hopefully, we will prevail. It should be noted that Detroit is working a young and star studded offense right now. They have some really beautiful weapons in their offensive arsenal. The key issue is their defensive weakness, and in particular, the weakness of their secondary.

So if I were to write Bulger's epitaph with the Rams right now, how would I phrase it? I would say that Bulger was a fugacious epiphenomena of Mike Martz. Martz simplified the game enough for Bulger to be successful. He told him things like "I want you to count to five and throw to this spot here." Martz made the rest of the play work. The moment Bulger was called upon to read progressions of adaptive routes in a sophisticated ball control passing attack (one which may not actually work anymore) it all went to hell in a hand basket for him. Although the soft spoken Bulger comes off as a fairly intelligent chap, it is clear that he is not a thinking man's QB. This guy does not have the mind of Joe Montana, or even Jeff Garcia.

We also need to consider the proposition that the 49er West Coast offense doesn't actually work anymore. As Coach Brian Bilick says, everybody runs a little West Coast, and nobody runs it as Bill Walsh did. The reason is clear: Quick ball-control passes are still helpful in acquiring a few first downs, but you can't do that all game long. The counter measure is just too easy.

As I have said several times before, a certain dude by the name Belichick figured out how to stop this offense in 1980's when he was the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants. He invented a thing called the 40 yard box. The notions is simple. You defend 40 yards from the line of scrimmage and no more. The first 20 yards are called the Red Zone. The second are called the Yellow Zone. You defend the Red Zone with hard man-on press coverage. You defend the yellow zone with a soft-zone coverage, notorious for knocking teeth out of mouths, and creating major concussions. If a receiver goes outside the 40 box, you let him go. You dare them to wait for the long pass, because you have a blitz or two or three headed for the QB on every play. If the QB holds the ball, you will get a Leonard Marshall vs. Joe Montana situation soon.

I should remind you that Marshall's hit on Montana effectively terminated Joe's career with the 49ers. It was more or less Steve Young's show after that play.

There is no way to solve the Belichick 40 yard Box unless you have all three of following elements:

1. An extremely mobile QB who can run for good yardage, just like Steve Young, Randell Cunningham or maybe Michael Vick.
2. An all-pro offensive line that can really defend the QB.
3. A deep-strike speed burner who can get out of the box in big hurry. Torry Holt was precisely this sort of man, which makes his release even more inexplicable this season. Marshall Faulk was also this sort of player.

Absent these features, I see no reason to believe Coach Walsh's masterpiece system will work in the modern league against a fully-modern 3-4 defense. Furthermore, we can say that its success is entirely dependant upon the bomb. If you can't nail a few good bombs per game, you cannot force the defense out of the Belichick Box. This is why Dan Fouts says that the first precept of the Don Coryal offense is the Bomb. The bomb is that which makes everything else possible.

Should we pick a QB this season, and I have every reason to believe we will, we need to keep in mind Coach Bill Parcell's super formula for selecting a Quarterback. The guy had almost matchless success in finding these guys through all of his many travels. Let's pay close attention to the Big Tuna. When selecting a QB, the Tuna demands all of the following criteria be fulfilled:

1. The candidate must have graduated from college
2. The candidate must have been a 3 year starter in college
3. The candidate must have made a minimum of 3o starts as the first string QB of his college team.
4. The candidate must have won a minimum of 23 games as the starter in college
5. Candidates who did some graduate course work after receiving a Bachelor's and before entering the draft will be preferred.
6. The candidate cannot have had any run-ins with the Police blotter.
7. The candidate must come highly recommended by his college coach.
8. Character issues are paramount, and the candidate must impress us as a leader figure.

Fortunately, I do believe that both Colt McCoy and Tim Tebow will be able to fulfill these criteria. Much depends upon whether these guys graduate on-schedule academically. I believe they are on course to do so. We need to make sure that this is true.

So if I was Responsible for Rebuilding the Detroit Lions, What Would I do?

This morning, the NFL network was replaying portions of the NFL combine, which is now history. A very interesting question got raised during the segment I watched: If you were the GM responsible for rebuilding the Detroit Lions, what would you do? Do you take Matthew Stafford, as they are expected to do? Do you go in a different direction?

First, let's admit one thing: The roster is currently a disaster. They have exactly one piece of championship material on the roster. That is Charles Johnson. Everybody else is meat for the grinder. As the panel of experts observed, the team can draft at any and all positions and make improvements. I concur, but I wouldn't do another wide receiver right now.

Mike Mayock is probably correct when he says that Detroit will follow the Atlanta model for rebuilding. This means drafting a QB high and an offensive lineman lower. This is one of the key reasons Atlanta turned it around last year. Michael Turner also had a lot to do with it. I believe Mayock called it right. Detroit will follow this model. Whether it is right or wrong for Detroit's situation is immaterial. It is a copycat league. People emulate success and anti-emulate failure. Atlanta and Miami showed us how to get out of a jam quickly last year. Most people believe Miami got lucky scoring Chad Pennington at the last second... and let's not mention Tom Brady's knee injury. For this reason Atlanta is viewed as the better model.

What would I do? I wouldn't draft a quarterback this year. Detroit is not Atlanta. They have not been to the playoffs in a decade. Atlanta had been to playoffs several times this decade. Detroit in 2009 is far more poor in terms of roster talent than Atlanta in 2008. We are looking at 3 hard years of austerity and loss before things turn around. With that in mind, I am going to avoid the thin crop of quarterbacks in 2009 and wait for the bumper crop in 2010. I going to exploit the rich crop of offensive linemen in 2009, taking three or four of them. I am going to have a talent rich sophomore offensive line {and Charles Johnson} ready in 2010 when I draft a QB from the bumper crop. The table will be set. Tim Tebow will be comfortable when we take him.

Remember, the Lions are very likely to have a poor loosing record in 2009. We're talking about 3 to 6 wins, depending upon the breaks. Tim Tebow is probably not going to be the #1 ranked QB in 2010. Some foolish idiots question whether he will make it as QB in the NFL. They questioned Dan Marino also. Tebow will be around when the Lions draft. He is obtainable. He has the talent and the mentality that the Lions require to turn the ship around. He will be the next Bobby Layne in Detroit, if the organization is smart enough to select him.

So who should the Lion's select?
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1. #1 overall Jason Smith LOT Baylor
1. #20 overall Andre Smith LOT Alabama
2. #33 overall Eric Wood C Louisville

After this, they can do as they please. Basically, with two guys named Smith and one guy named Wood, they would lay in the foundation of an all-pro offensive line.

Do you really think they can get Jason Smith and Andre Smith in the same draft? Yep, I do. The market for Andre has gone cold in the aftermath of his no show. He has many problems. A lot of offensive linemen impressed the scouts this year. It is a bumper crop. Left tack is a thick position this year. They aren't scarce this time. The no-show at the combine is going to hurt him, especially when Jason Smith and Eugene Monroe lit it up. Andre Smith may very well be hanging around at #20 when the Lions select again.

I like the notion of lining all three of them up on the same side. Slot Jason at the LOT. Slot Andre at the LOG. Slot Eric Wood at the Center. That could be the best young left side since the Raiders had Shell, Upshaw and Dalby together in the Early 1970s. That offensive line won some Super Bowls for the Raiders. Jim Plunket really apreciated having those guys around.