Does Kathleen Nelson ever add anything to these questions? It seems like half the time she doesn’t even watch the sports and gives us a dumbdown answer like ‘Bulger isn’t playing up to a ProBowl level.’ The other half of the time she is sits on the fence.

Has anyone else noticed that the first 3 Quarterbacks coming to play in St. Louis are Favre, Manning and Brees? It’s bad enough when you’re a bad team, with bad players and poor coaching, but when you start throwing those guys in the mix, this team doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell. If they’re gonna win, this is going to be the week to do it!!

I usually don’t take the time to write back in but today is the last straw on reading about Mark Bulger and Pro Bowl. Do all of you realize that he never made it to the Pro Bowl on his own? He’s always been an alternate. The first time I think he was the fourth alternate. The second time I believe he was the third alternate. He’s not a Pro Bowl quarterback and being name MVP of the Pro Bowl is being name MVP of a tag football game. It has no real pertenence in the real football world.

This team as coach Spag’s put it “needs alot of work” and the play calls misuse of people is like putting a square peg in a round hole?? I think it’s both to the question….The bigger issue is what is being said at the staff meetings as to why the only thing consistant about The Rams is there inconsistancy every sunday????

3 coaches and another bad team. It is not the coaching it is the lack of talent. A decade of bad drafts thanks to Martz, Zygmunt and Shaw have contributed to that. Hopefully Devaney’s drafts will produce results, but I say bring Charley Armey back.

Look at our drafts for the last four years. Hopefully I have this right but our first two choices in those drafts are (06) Hill & Klofenstein, (07) Carriker & Leonard, (08) Long & Avery, (09) Smith & Laurinaitis. We have one player from those picks that’s making an impact. That’s the problem with this team. You can’t have a bad team and waste picks. I know the jury is still out on Carriker and Long, but we’re not getting any ROI from these two. Lets hope some of these picks start to come around next year because if not, it may be five years before we’re representative again.

With the Rams it’s all about talent level and as previously mentioned we have missed on so many 1st and 2nd rounders- these are the players that should be our core. The 2006 draft was a complete whiff.

The way to re-build is thru the draft and I trust Billy D’s instincts and agree with most of his moves so far but the 2010 draft is paramount for the future of this franchise.

I have been a loyal Rams fan for over 40 years and this last 2+ yr span is probably the worst I have ever seen and it all comes back to the draft.

The lack of talent crutch is getting old people, sometimes you just need to man up and beat the player in front of you. I like Spags, but he really does need to break a few chairs over a few select knotheads noggins to wake everyone up.

Marc Bulger is the least of the Rams’ problems. That D- grade, given by Bill Coats, was entirely undeserved.

His receivers either have drop-itis or aren’t even functioning at a game day level (Tim Carter), or are little wussies (Avery) who run to the sidelines with every boo-boo that comes to mind, they run the wrong routes or won’t go the extra mile (coming back on the hook route) (Burton), or aren’t even playing (Gibson and Martin, the latter due to hamstring ‘issues’). Amendola is giving his all, but Bulger needs another ‘go-to’ guy.

After one interception in the previous 125 passes, I think Bulger finally decided to ‘air it out’ and hope his receivers would get there in time.

What else would you have him do? After two quarters of futility — and playing it safe, passing wise — I think Bulger had finally had it and was reacting to it. . .

And I’m sure Shurmur’s game plan has Bulger scratching his head, as well.

Bulger had also been sacked three times — maybe his head wasn’t totally clear — or maybe he was just fed up after having his left tackle of the future, Jason Smith, be used like a revolving door by Dwight Freeney.

All of those factors, none of Bulger’s doing (except the interceptions, which he probably HOPED were passes that his receivers would FIGHT TO CATCH) would make any QB act a little squirrely.

Give the guy a break!

I’ve read all the articals and listened to the sports talk radio comments. My question to you learned folk is why hasn’t Spags and Company figured out that Marc Bulger is playing out the string? The preformance I watched Sunday was a shadow of his best. There is no fire or desire in his play or any sembelence of wanting. His timing is unbalenced and his reads are very poor. I played Div.1 ball for three years at the SAM. Studying QB’s they all have their tells just like poker players. Bulger’s are telling me he’s at the point where he thinks chuck and duck. He’s not going for the throat, just survival.

Ya’ll need to relax. THIS IS A REBUILDING YEAR. The Rams were never going to make the playoffs. The roster has been blown up and the only way we can evaluate the progress this team makes is who the team adds over the next two years. Spags and DeVaney inherited a complete mess. Yes, there have been mistakes made along the way, but what would you expect? They need to play Smith and draft quality players who can actually excel in the NFL for the next 2-3 years before this team can sniff a winning record.

At first I was angry to see that the Rams gave Witherspoon away for a rookie receiver and a fifth-round pick. But they freed up cap space, got an extra pick and a promising receiver. The Eagles tried to pawn Reggie Brown and Kevin Curtis off, but had to give up Gibson. That’s saying something. And, as much as I liked Witherspoon, his efforts were in vain this year. Use the extra cap room and sign some impact players next year!

Absolutely BOTH. Coaching has done nothing to take this team and have it compete. The talent level is awful. You can blame the draft picks, but you need to look at Devany too. It was his job to field a competitive unit. Nobody expected to win this year (although immediate turnarounds can and do happen in the NFL - see CIN this year, BAL and MIA last year and once upon a time STL), but to not compete is NOT acceptable. Devany seemingly ignored the WR issue. How could he allow a 1st year coach to use a 1st year OC?

I feel worse about the Rams than I ever have in the past! I’ve been following for 34 years and I am disgusted. The Tony Banks/Eddie Kennison/Lawrence Phillips Rams were better than this. I do not plan on traveling to see the team, like I do every year, I do not plan on renewing the NFL package on DirecTV. I am pretty close to done - which hurts to say.

More than 9 months into his Presidency, Barack Obama is still blaming everything on the past administration. More than 9 months into their tenure, Devaney and Spagnolo are still getting the benefit of the “bad players left by our predecessors” crutch. You aren’t really in the job until you make it yours by insisting that you be judged on the improvements you are bringing, and don’t use the prior administration as an excuse. So far, I’m not seeing any improvements in anything but attitude. The attitude improvements have not translated into anything on the field.

To Caliramfan - you can blame Martz in that group all you want-bottom line - you would kill to have him running a offense in St. Louis.He got us to the Super Bowl and into the playoffs,something the last 2 clowns could only dream of.Letting Martz go will forever be a black-eye on this franchise.The curse of Mike Martz lives on.

Maybe one of you can explain the following (I’m sincerely asking because I don’t know):

I often read that Zygmunt and Shaw (and sometime Martz) are the cause for the Rams’ current lack of talent. Who were the leaders who put the “greatest show on turf” talent together?

Boy Kathleen, you’re really going out on a limb. Good stuff.

Bad coaching, bad front office. The O-line is getting praise from outside the organization, Steven Jackson is the league’s best back, WR’s are young but look talented from an outside point of view anyway. Team seems unprepared week after week. The third down play calling is a joke. Steven Jackson is all world and doen’t have a TD? Coaching, coaching, coaching…should have kept Haslett. Couldn’t have been any worse this season.

Going to a Rams game is like death by paper cuts. Very slow and painful.

Kevin is correct. Talent wins in this League, not coaching. Coaching may mean the different between a play-off contender and an also ran with comparable talent, how many wins would this collection have with Belichick, Sean Payton, Tom Coughlin or Andy Reid, I would venture to say one (1), the Jacksonville game. Billy D. has been here two (2) years now and this team has gotten worse in those two (2) years!
We need talent, why didn’t they see that we had no talent or dept at WR or DB? Now they are signing people off of the street who don’t even belong in the League! Trading a starter at a thin position for a practice squad player, go figure!

I really can’t totally buy in to this shallow talent rationale. Yes we should have kept some proven WR’s and TE’s, but the whole team seems to be playing very hard. The cuts of Orlando and Pisa were good business. I think it starts with the play calling and coaching, and moving out players not producing for ones that can. Instead we try to force our draft picks, its all about money and not acknowledging that a draft pick isn’t panning out already. And what would you Bulger bashers have him do, throw every ball away because there’s no on to throw to?

I feel like we are beating a dead horse, but I do have concerns about some of the choices that Spags has made in his first year. The first was to select an OC with no experience. The Broncos are way ahead of the Rams in talent but look what their first time head coach did in the area that his was not an expert. Hired Mike Nolan, who was a former DC and head coach. The result is that a defense that was pretty poor last year has been a bright spot this year. By hiring a OC with no experience and having none himself has made me question Spags insecurities. Like wise, Denver’s new coach was willing to take Orten when his “Pro Bowl” QB had a hissy fit, yet Spags has held on to an image of Bulger that is no longer reality. Once Bulger was injured in preseason the staff should have gone full steam ahead on installing Boller as the starter. They should have been developing a game plan that would feature his advantages. If Boller was ineffective after the first four games you could always go back to Bulger. At that point he was completely healthy and you would’ve determined that Boller was nothing more than an emergency back-up.

I also question Billy’s draft strategy, with so many positions lacking talent or depth the team should’ve exclusively drafted on the defensive side of the ball. If they would have taken Curry first and JL was still there in the second round the fan base could at least be exited about two great LBs to build the defense around. With players in rounds 3-7 they could have built some depth and try to establish a top 5 defense like the Ravens. You may not win many games but you are in every game.

I think avery broke his umbilical cord.Thats why hes not up to par.

I’m sick and tired of “relax, it’s just a rebuilding year” crud. If the prior talent was so bad you’d think that we’d have won something along the way with the “influx of new blood”. But no, we’re regressing. Get rid of Shurmur NOW!

just stick with bulger, any day now he’s gonna bust through bigtime, any day now

Greatest Show on Turf was Charley Armey and Dick Vermeil, more Armey. Shaw fased oput Charley Armey when they started giving Martz more control early in the decade.

And read the 3rd paragraph from bottom about Martz.

By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

After nearly a decade on the job with the Rams, Charley Armey is nearing the finish line. In June, when Tony Softli was hired as vice president of player personnel, the Rams also quietly announced that Armey was being reassigned.

Armey has run the Rams’ personnel department since 1998, including the past six seasons as general manager. But with the arrival of Softli, Armey’s new job description in this, the final year of his contract with the club, is vice president of pro personnel.

No matter how you look at it, it’s a demotion for Armey. Those close to Armey say he briefly considered retiring or resigning after the Softli hire was finalized in June. But he decided to stay on for what looks very much like his final year.

“They asked me to stay, and I feel very, very loyal to the Rams and the city of St. Louis,” Armey said.

Armey doesn’t give many interviews these days, a far cry from the heyday of the Greatest Show on Turf when he seemed to show up everywhere in newspaper, radio and TV reports. But in a recent interview with the Post-Dispatch, Armey said he holds no ill will toward the organization over the restructuring in the personnel department.

“I’ve been treated fairly here,” Armey said. “John Shaw has been tremendous to work for. He’s always been honest and open. Everyone knows we’ve had a rough run here lately. But I’ve always tried to put the organization and winning first. Nobody’s more important than what your team objectives and goals are.”

Immediately following the 2006 draft, there were signals from Rams management that the organization might stand pat for at least another year in the personnel department. New coach Scott Linehan was pleased with how the draft process went, and at least some of that credit went to Armey.

Perhaps Armey would run yet another draft in St. Louis, as he had done for nine consecutive seasons, from 1998 through 2006. But that all changed with Softli’s hiring.

“I anticipated that there was a possibility that it could happen,” Armey said. “There was no surprise. The team was going through a reorganization, and it maybe was time for me to cut back. And I think it’s important that the new coach and his staff have the people in place that they feel they need to win.

“Whatever your job is — coach, president, player — there always comes a time when it’s time for somebody new to come in because they feel they can do a better job than you do.”

As vice president of pro personnel, Armey will organize the team’s pro personnel department, which had been all but nonexistent in recent years. He will do advance scouting; evaluate players on opposing teams from week to week; and evaluate players scheduled to be unrestricted and restricted free agents at the end of this season. Throughout the season, he’ll keep a “disaster” list of possible players the Rams can pick up in case one of their own is injured.

“It’s an important part of the organization,” Armey said.

But it’s not the same as running the entire show in personnel. That job now belongs to Softli.

Softli says: “Charley Armey is going to be my left hand; he’s going to run the pro stuff. Lawrence McCutcheon is going to continue to run the college stuff; he’s my right hand.

“I’ve always admired Charley from afar, what he has done. Charley is another one of those guys that helped me out when I was a young scout. We’ve got a good relationship, and that’s not going to change.

“Charley’s going to have a lot of responsibility in advance scouting and helping Scott Linehan and this organization get to where we want to be.”

But it figures to be a short-lived working relationship. All indications are that Armey’s contract will not be renewed after this season. In contrast, McCutcheon received a three-year contract extension shortly before the offseason.

For Armey, it’s a far cry from a few years ago, when the Rams were demanding draft-pick compensation when teams such as Atlanta and Detroit sought permission to talk to Armey about running their personnel departments. But in the wake of the Mike Martz firing in January, the Rams organization sought a fresh start on several levels — coaching staff, players, marketing … and player personnel.

“Charley’s a team player,” Linehan said. “Charley’s done a great job for this organization. This whole restructuring has really nothing to do with Charley’s ability. I think Charley would be the first one to tell you that he would love to see us have a great year, and then he would like to ride off in the sunset and enjoy the rest of his life.”

Armey won’t close the door if a job offer materializes from another team. But at the moment, he’s planning for life after football.

“Right now, I plan on retiring at the end of the year,” said Armey, who celebrated his 67th birthday July 16. “I’m pretty proud of everything that happened here … that I was lucky enough to be part of a Super Bowl win. I was extremely happy working for (Dick) Vermeil.”

By omission, that’s a not-so-veiled shot at Martz, Vermeil’s coaching successor. Vermeil trusted and cultivated Armey’s views and recommendations. That wasn’t always the case with Martz, particularly in the later stages of Martz’s coaching tenure in St. Louis.

So how should Armey’s Rams tenure be remembered? For the most part it will be judged by the nine drafts he oversaw in St. Louis from 1998 through 2006.

The Post-Dispatch studied the NFL draft league-wide from 1998 through 2005. The ‘06 draft was omitted because those players have yet to play in the regular season, and many are still trying to make their clubs.

So the NFL wants football in Europe…..Move the St. Louis Rams to London and call them the Lambs. The London Lambs lose again……it at least would have a nice ring to it…hahaha

Rest of article and based on passed articles, it is hard to know how many of the picks made when Martz took over were Martz’ selections or Armeys, but it was thought Martz had final say for most of his tenure.

Three categories were analyzed:

— Players from the drafts still on NFL rosters as of last season.

— Players from the drafts who started at least one NFL game last season.

— Pro Bowl players who were drafted in the period.

When it comes to the first two categories, the Rams have done surprisingly well given the attention paid to well-publicized draft busts such as Jacoby Shepherd, Travis Scott, Trung Canidate and Eric Crouch.

A total of 43 players drafted by the Rams from 1998 through 2005 were in the NFL last season, either with the Rams or other teams. According to the Post-Dispatch study, that’s the third-highest total in the league, topped only by Tennessee (51) and San Francisco (47).

A total of 35 players drafted by the Rams in that same period started at least one NFL game last season, either with the Rams or other teams. That’s the third-highest total in the league, again trailing only Tennessee (40) and San Francisco (37).

The third category, Pro Bowl players, is where the Rams have been lacking during Armey’s tenure. Rams drafts from 1998 through 2005 have produced only three Pro Bowl players, a figure that’s tied for 19th (with five other clubs). The lack of Pro Bowlers didn’t escape notice by Rams management in considering possible changes in the personnel department.

Wide receiver Torry Holt, defensive end Leonard Little and cornerback Dre Bly are the only Pro Bowlers drafted by the Rams so far in Armey’s tenure. (Bly made the Pro Bowl after he left the Rams — as a Detroit Lion.)

Holt was one of the most highly criticized first-round draft picks in Armey’s tenure. Most observers, at least in the local media, expected and wanted the Rams to take a cornerback that year, particularly Champ Bailey.

Drafted one spot after Holt at No. 7 overall, Bailey has had a fine career. He’s made six Pro Bowls to Holt’s five. But the addition of Holt to the St. Louis roster in 1999 helped turn what would have been a very good offense into one of the greatest in NFL history, an offense that scored an unprecedented 500-plus points in three consecutive seasons from 1999 through 2001.

And besides, Armey notes, “Torry’s still got one more (Super Bowl) ring than Champ Bailey does.”

The Rams are terrible and the problems go back to very poor ownership and lawyers & accountants running the front office versus good football people. We got lucky with the hire of Vermeil and Charley Armey in one window over the past 20 years. They fired the right guys, finally, last year after Georgia couldn’t stop it. The current front office and coach are competent and will be accountable. But, the players just are not there to compete. The 2nd half of this season should prove to be better than this dismal first half. It isn’t pretty right now - but, give the coach some time.

How can anyone say that it is all talent and not coaching? Ever play a sport? Ever heard of the word “Project”? Jason Smith will flop unless he gets great coaching and reps. We have several Projects on this team. Fletcher, Long, Carricker, Wade, All of the WR’s, The backup RB’s, etc., etc. Coaches are responsible to get them ready to play relatively mistake free, disciplined football and talent is where they make some great plays and become better than average players. We have a lack of talent AND a lack of a cohesive or coherent game plan and player management. It looks like just about EVERY person in the Org. is on the “LEARN WHILE YOU EARN PLAN”. The Coaches need to have some extra meetings and film time to catch up so that we may find a way to devise a play or two to actually cross that little white line called the end zone a little more often. A big part of that is using the players correctly. 3 man rotation at OT??? Is that from Pop Warner? I will get better…soon I hope.

Hey its the experts again.

Hey Chad, You figured it out. Thay really arnt experts.

I cant spell.

I like Spags. Give him more than five minutes. Idiots.

Does this person named Kathleen Nelson have an ounce of sports knowledge in her or does she read the recaps from the web? I would lump her together with Burwell who has no sports knowledge and no writing talent. That stuff he wrote today sounds like he took a correspondence course.

To get back to the point at hand, I have noticed a definite improvement on the defensive side of the ball from last year. They have improved on stopping the run, but not to the point of defense like Pittsburgh, NYG, or the Ravens of last year. The pass defense still nneds a lot more work especially in the secondary and the front line with no push to the QB.

This offense stinks from top to bottom. I get tired of Jackson dancing all over the place in order to find a place to run. Bulger is no QB or leader on this team. At least he doesn’t show it on Sunday. The playcalling shows no imagination or wanting to take some risks. I still say put Null in there to see what he can do instead of deactivating him on Sunday’s. Maybe the reserves have more fire in their belly than the starters do.

I like what Spags has done so far, BUT WE NEED A WIN SOON!!!!!

It’s a team thin on talent, but at the same time the Rams have already played Seattle, Frisco, Washington and Jacksonville. There’s no excuse for the Rams not to have at least 2 wins by now. As for Devaney, he was absolutely foolish to believe that Bulger was salvageable. He truly believed Bulger was an upper echelon talent and he wanted to believe that so he could simulate a quick fix. Devaney can say what he wants and put a spin on it however he likes, but I do remember last off-season he said he wanted the Rams to turn things around this year and take a step forward, and that the following year he wanted the Rams to be competing for the playoffs from then on out. Okay, that’s what he said. And that’s because he foolishly thought he could rebuild a team around Bulger. Instead of steering Spags in the right direction and moving forward, he’s got Spags spinning his wheels this year hopelessly devoted to Marc as his starter. Instead of having someone like Sanchez to offer life and hope to this franchise, this team is destined to sink deeper and deeper as the year goes on. How many Marc Bulger low lights do the fans in St. Louis need to keep seeing? Nice work Billy. According to Devaney’s calendar last off-season, the Rams would be playoff contenders next year, and that still may be the case if he hits the jackpot in the draft and comes up with another Matt Ryan or Mark Sanchez, but you really got to wonder what effect an 0-16 season will have on this team and franchise, not too mention the job security at stake for both Devaney and Spags………..do you still like Marc Bulger Billy?

Bernie,

How many games do you think “the worst roster in football” should have won by now or even been competitive in?

No single phase of the Rams is very solid, but at the most important single position, quarterback, we have a guy who simply is not a difference maker. Put Bulger on the Colts and they’re worse for it. Put him on the ‘Skins and they’re still lousy. He doesn’t throw a particularly accurate deep ball. He can’t scramble for a first down and is relatively fragile. And he’s horse feathers in the red zone.

Then there’s Jackson. He takes himself out of more plays than any big back I’ve ever seen. Sunday, he was an absolute stud for 3 straight running plays that produced 35+ yards, but then had to come out of the game for a blow. What’s with that? And why can’t the Rams run inside the red zone?

Then there’s our drafting. Well, I don’t need to say more, do I?

It’s the coaching, they need more of it.–
New system will take time.–
It’ll get better.–
Go Rams go!

Bill, probably? Wow! What insight, thanks!

Every team has great athletes, yes boys and girls, including the rams.
We are not asking that we go undefeated. HOWEVER, A COACH CAN WIN A GAME AND A COACH CAN LOOSE A GAME. A GOOD COACH WOULD HAVE WON IN WASHINGTON AND JACKSONVILLE. SPAGS IS A BAD COACH.

ANYONE WHO SAYS SPAGS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH 0-7 DOESNT KNOW A THING ABOUT FOOTBALL. JIMMY JOHNSON WAS 1-15 HIS FIRST YEAR, IS SPAGS THE NEXT JIMMY JOHNSON? OH YEA, SPAGS DIDNT WIN A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP AS COACH IN COLLEGE.

This team will go 0-16 and have it’s normal lousy draft.I really don’t think Spagnuolo really realizes what he has gotten himself and his family into.

I like Spagnola’s personality, I think he is a winner. I’m not sure they have much talent, but I would like to see what happens this next year. Since they are going younger, and building - the coaching will come into play in how this team goes next year. Otherwise, he might need to start replacing some of the coaches that we aren’t seeing any improvement from in their areas.

I rate it 70% talent, 30% coaching. The coaching doesn’t cause Avery to fumble against the Skins when we were driving to take the lead. Coaching didn’t cause the dropped passes or fumbles that killed drives and took away chances to put points on the board. Where coaching has killed us has mostly been on the offensive side of the ball and the poor play calling. The defense does a decent job given the lack of offense.

The time to evalute this coaching staff is in year 3. By then they will have had a few drafts and will have the roster that they desire. Till then, I don’t blame the current group. Just as I didn’t grade Linehan or Vermeil.

The Rams players are dealt to the coaching staff, it is up to the coaches to use the players talent the best way, and so far this is the worst team I have seen since I been a Ram fan from the days of Roman Gabriel, Merlin, the Deacon ext,
Find a way to move this offence coaches or I hope your fired soon!

By the way JEFF. Since when does the major league rules superceded the laws of the land. Steroids are illeagal. WOW.

It is not our WRs inexperience……did everyone see who the Colts played at WR? It was rookies and 2nd year people….and yet they played great! So sto blaming things on young players…..it’s really as simple as :Who has been the QB of this team for the past 3 years? Marc Bulger. Once that is recognized and we move on to a better QB we will begin to win…..it is a shame that Spagnoulo never relized that before the season….or during the draft! Difference last Sunday? Manning vs. Bulger…..no contest!