Good morning.

1. The Rams Weren’t Ready to Play: I do not hesitate to praise the Rams for effort and intensity. It isn’t easy to compete for a rebuilding team that doesn’t have much of a chance to win, and for the most part the guys have played hard for head coach Steve Spagnuolo. They’ve tried to make the best of it. A startling shortfall in talent is the issue here, not the effort. But the Rams weren’t ready to go Sunday against Arizona. The front seven of the Rams defense didn’t stand up to a mediocre Arizona running game. Rams defenders were scattered all over the turf. On the other side of the ball, the Rams offensive line got handled pretty easily by Arizona. “We came out flat,” Rams defensive end Chris Long said. “And that’s what happens when you come out flat. You can’t recover.”

The Rams gave up 327 yards and 21 points in the first half. They were pushed around. It was a no-contest affair. But after the game, Spagnuolo said he was “proud” of the way the Rams came out in the second half. “That I know is a good thing,” Spagnuolo said. “They were fiery in the locker room at halftime. They were determined to do something when we were down 21-3.”

Why weren’t the boys fiery in the locker room before the game? Why weren’t they determined to do something as they started the game? And let’s not delude ourselves. This contest tightened up in the second half only because the Cardinals offense went into a shell after the departure of starting quarterback Kurt Warner. And Warner, who experienced dizziness after being hit, could have played in an urgent situaton. But without Warner, the Cardinals went into the snooze-button mode on offense.

I’m sorry, I can’t praise a team’s effort when it decides to play only one half of football. Especially on a day when the Oakland Raiders played hard for 60 minutes to upset the Cincinnati Bengals, and the Kansas City Chiefs refused to surrender in scoring an upset over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

2. Marc Bulger and the Young Receivers: The young wideouts, particularly Brandon Gibson, didn’t help the QB out as much as they could have. Clearly there were timing issues, and route-running issues, and communication issues. It happens; the Rams have a young group. And I’m taking that into account. Mistakes will be made. And sure, the veteran QB will be frustrated. But that said, is it really necessary for Bulger to openly show his disdain the way he did several times yesterday? When an inexperienced kid like Gibson — who is new to the league, new to the team — makes an honest error, does Bulger really have to shake his fists and hang his head and let everyone in the stadium know he’s ticked off? Why not do something constructive, like take the young wideout to the bench and talk about the play and review the mistakes and offer advice on corrections? Bulger has made plenty of bad throws this season. He’s had a lot of poor moments in games over the last three seasons. But I don’t see his teammates trying to show him up. They’ve remained supportive. Can’t Bulger do the same for inexperienced wide receivers?

3. Putting Steven Jackson’s 1,000-yard Seasons in Perspective: I’ve gotten some e-mails from Jackson critics, and I’ve listened to some critics. And one of the points they often make to discredit Jackson is the length of the NFL schedule. In other words, getting 1,000 yards isn’t a big deal because there are 16 games now, compared to the 14 or 12 games that NFL used to play in a season in previous eras. This can be debunked with simple math. During his five-season streak of 1,000 yards, Jackson has averaged 87 yards per game. If you compute that over a 16-game season, it comes to 1,392 yards. If we’re talking about a 14-game season, it’s 1,218 yards. And over a 12-game season, the Jackson average would produce 1,044 yards. I think Jackson’s 1,000-yard seasons carry sufficient credibility. Especially over the last three seasons when defenses are ganging up on him with eight-man fronts.

4. Chris Carpenter, Joe Mauer and the Shifting Standards: OK, let’s switch to baseball for a moment. Last week, when Carpenter finished second in the voting for the NL Cy Young award, he received only nine first-place votes. Some of the voters said that while they greatly respected Carpenter’s season, they couldn’t get past the fact that he spent time on the DL, and ended up pitching fewer than 200 innings. I agree that Carpenter’s IP total was a detriment to his case; it was something I wrestled in deciding how to cast a vote.

But the double standards among voters is very interesting. Today, it is expected that Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer will be named Most Valuable Player in the American League. I’m a Mauer honk, so this pleases me. This should have been the second or third MVP for Mauer in his career; voters inexplicably overlooked him until now. I think Mauer is a worthy MVP after leading the AL in batting average (.365), OBP (.444) and slugging (.587), driving in 96 runs, and playing exceptional defense. He is a rare talent. But Mauer also missed the first month of the season while recuperating from kidney surgery. He didn’t play his first game until May 1. He had 606 plate appearances in 2009, which was only 43rd on the AL list for most PA.

Carpenter, meanwhile, finished 26th in the NL in innnings pitched. I’m not sure I understand. If Mauer missed a month and still be MVP, why can’t Carpenter miss four starts and still be the Cy Young winner? Carpenter posted the NL’s lowest ERA, had the best winning percentage, finished second in wins, and ranked second or third in several other categories. He lost out to Tim Lincecum, who had a higher ERA and fewer wins. Lincecum had around 33 more innings pitched that Carpenter and that undoubtedly was a big factor in the vote. But using this logic, shouldn’t Mauer lose out to, say, Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira? Not counting DH time, Teixeira played 365 more innings than Mauer this season. Or what about the Yankees’ Derek Jeter? He’s a Gold Glove shortstop (a demanding position) and he played 322 more innings than Mauer.

Again, I think Mauer is the MVP. I would have voted for him. But I just wanted to point out how easily and conveniently the standards are shifted among voters, pundits and sabermetricians. It’s pretty amusing, actually, to observe their contortions in logic.

5. Checking the Blues: The Blues are 3-2 on their homestand and it would be nice to finish things off with a win over Boston tonight. But even in winning their last two games, the Blues are still in 13th place and six points out of eighth place in the Western Conference. The West is really strong, with 11 teams over .500. The point is, the Blues just can’t afford to fall too far off the pace. I don’t think it will be as easy to make a comeback in the standings this season … the Blues are dead last in the NHL in power-play percentage (12.7) having converted only 10 of 79. But it’s worse than that, really; the Blues are 6 for 70 on the power play since returning from the season-opening two-game trip to Sweden…

6. And yes, that goal by David Perron Saturday was spectacular. I must have played it back 25 times on Saturday night. Perron is not only skilled, but the kid has no shortage of testosterone. He plays the game with imagination and edge and wants to take chances. On a team with too many uptight players, Perron’s looseness is welcome. I appreciate that coach Andy Murray feels the need to ride Perron and keep him in check, but sometimes you just have to let a kid play. You can’t harness him all the time.

7. It’s nice that Rams MLB James Laurinaitis made 16 tackles Sunday, but the idea that he played a good game is laughable. Launrinaitis fell down and opened the gates for a 50-yard run by Tim Hightower in the first half, and Arizona averaged 6.1 yards per carry in rushing for 183 yards overall. Laurinaitis is a keeper, a really good player. But he and the other Rams LBs were on the ground all afternoon. The losing football has really impacted the standards around here … the Rams need to upgrade their talent at OLB; it’s a glaring weakness …

8. Missouri can’t lose to Kansas on Saturday. This would be unacceptable. KU has lost six in a row, having gotten outscored 210-111. Coach Mark Mangino is embroiled in controversy and the Jayhawks’ morale is low. The Tigers can’t blow this one. They owe their fans a makeup from that hideous loss to KU last season.

9. If the price falls on Matt Holliday … that isn’t necessarily good news for the Cardinals. If Holliday doesn’t get the kind of $100 million-plus offers envisioned by wily agent Scott Boras, it will give the Cardinals a better chance to keep him. But the scenario would also give other teams a reason to get involved in the discussions, too. The lower market price will attract more browsers and shoppers.

10. Bernie Bytes: I simply cannot comprehend why offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur does not always use fullback Mike Karney as a lead blocker for Jackson in short-yardage situations … the most amazing thing about Brett Favre’s season is that he’s only thrown 3 interceptions… would Oklahoma State WR Dez Bryant make a good first-round draft pick for the Rams? Some scouts say he’s better than Michael Crabtree… Jay Cutler apparently is the new Jeff George … rookie Detroit Lions QB Matthew Stafford has certainly had his share of what-is-he-doing? moments, but the kid was nails Sunday in a 38-37 win over Cleveland. Stafford passed for 422 yards and 5 TDs and made the game-winning TD pass with a damaged shoulder that had him grimacing in pain. That’s the thing about talented rookie QBs like Stafford and the NY Jets’ Mark Sanchez. The rookie QBs look terrible at times, but they’re clearly talented, and they’re getting valuable experience, and they’ll be in position to play more consistently better in 2010. The growth process can be difficult. But you have to keep it in perspective.

Thanks for reading …

-Bernie