mwpike: I travelled from Ogdensburg New York to witness a near complete meltdown. Long played well as well as Carriker and Holt. As far as the rest, its time to clear out the locker with the possible exception of Dane Looker. The half time tribute was done tastefully as well as elegantly. I have but a couple of questions for debate. Can Marc Bulger even throw the ball remotely accurately anymore. He completely missed Dane Looker on a sandlot throw, and if Torry Holt was not the professional athlete he is, the ball should have been incomplete. I understand change takes time, however pro football is all about today. My question is will the new management realize this problem does not only apply to the HC or the defensive Coordinator but also to the front office management. It is truly time to re-evaluate this franchise from the top down

Jim Thomas: I believe Bulger completed 63 percent of his passes. That's a pretty good percentage in this league, and he had at least two passes dropped (Hall and McMichael). As for the deep ball to Looker, how do you know it's not Looker's fault? If Looker turns to the right (outside) instead of to the left (inside), it's a touchdown.

Gabriel 2 Snow: Hi Jim, it's so nice to be a Ram fan these days. But no matter how bad it gets, the miracle season of 1999 really did happen, and that's at least some comfort. As for this current group, there are too many problems to address here. I will focus on two.
1.) Marc Bulger... Yes, the entire supporting cast has been a no show. Much of this is not his fault, but I hope we rebuild with another QB. We need a FIELD LEADER at the most important position in the game. We need a QB who is physically & mentally TOUGH! I never ever agreed that we bail on Kurt Warner, & I was fine with Martz leaving for that alone. Warner & other QBs in the league stand in the face of the rush, take the hit to deliver the ball, then bounce up & get on with the next play. They don't get the yips, throw sidearm off their back foot, and continually portray an obvious lack of confidence. If we can bail on a two time MVP & Super Bowl winner, why now let our wagon continue to be pulled by a lame horse? Salary cap? Who cares? If it hurts the cap for a couple years to get new faces, new attitudes, and POSSIBLY new results, fine!
2.) My biggest disappointment has been Haslett. I always had small beefs with some coverage packages, but his boys played with passion. I see LBs overpursue & take bad angles over & over. Tye Hill was never THIS bad, but now he bites HARD on the first move CONSTANTLY! We all HOPED Saunders would turn the offense around, but we sort of counted on the D to be as good, probably better. The mistakes are mostly mental on D, and I know Haslett isn't teaching them wrong, so the've stopped listening and/or caring. Unacceptable. At least in Al's defense, he has played the first two games with inferior personnel against good defensive teams that are very familiar with him.
Your thoughts?

Jim Thomas: Why don't you direct some your ire on the pass blocking? The offensive line? The blitz pickup? I thought Bulger played pretty well Sunday when he wasn't getting his clock cleaned.

roger: I asked Bernie this but he didn't respond.didn't Vance Bedford(Charles Woodsons coach from Michigan,also the secondary coach who devised the plan to hold Tim Tebow in check in last years Bowl game)apply to be secondary coach here in St.Louis this year, get turned down because Linehan wanted to promote the asst.secondary coach to his First job as secondary coach?
Respond if you dare.I'll be watching

Jim Thomas: Wasn't aware that Bedford was in play here. Linehan felt Milus deserved a shot.

midnighter67: Some of the posts in the Rams Forum indicate that Zygmunt has veto power during the draft and has used it to prevent the Rams from picking certain players high in the draft on the basis that certain positions are not worth the money, such as safety Polamalu, now of the Steelers. It was stated that Martz really liked him but Zygmunt didn't think a safety was worth the money he would have gotten as a high draft pick. It seemed that this year the Rams were high on Dorsey up until the night before the draft and then they took Long. That may or may not have been a good decision; we probably won't know for a few years. My question is does Zygmunt have that kind of power and is the Polamalu story, or any others like it, true?

Jim Thomas: I'm not aware that Martz was particularly high on Polamalu. You can't tell me that upper management Shaw-Zygmunt haven't had some influence on the draft at times. The whole Dorsey thing comes to mind. How does a grade suddenly get changed on Thursday less than 48 hours before the draft? But in general, I say they probably should've used their veto power more _ say on Eric Crouch, Travis Scott, Jacoby Shepherd, etc.

rams26: Hello Jim -

How are you? I wrote you last week with regards to the team giving up on Linehan. While I feel the players have not quit, what is wrong with the defense?

Can you elaborate on Looker and Little addressing the team after the game? Also, have you ever seen Linehan so angry at his post game press conference?

Let's put this behind us and beat Seattle.

GO RAMS!!!!!!!!!!

Jim Thomas: I wish I knew what's wrong with the defense. As I mentioned before, to me, it's the most disppointing part of this trainwreck so far.
Never seen Linehan that worked up after a loss.
I'll try to find out more on Looker and Little.