dodgerram: Hi Jim,

what happened to Claude Wroten ? Is he still in the DT rotation ? Haven´t heard his name called in some time now.
Thanks.

Jim Thomas: Claude Wroten is a third-round draft pick playing like a seventh-rounder. He gets knocked off balance too easily, and doesn't seem all that quick coming off the ball to me. He's getting a regular turn in the rotation, seeing his most duty in 3-man fronts and in obvious passing situations. He has been a disappointment both on the field and off.

JC: Hello again, Jim.

How's Leonard Little recovering from his toe surgery? Do you think it's bad enough that the Rams will cut him rather than pay his huge roster bonus in March? And if he stays, can he be a rush LB in a 3-4 alignment?

Thanks.

Jim Thomas: I haven't seen Little since his surgery. I think what the Rams will do is re-work Little's contract so that the $7 million roster bonus he's due can be spread out over several years instead of just one for cap purposes. As for the 3-4, I don't know if Little can cover well enough to make that work, particularly after so many years as a down end. But the thought of Little and Witherspoon coming at QBs from the edge _ at the same time _ does sound appealing, doesn't it?

Cory- Parker Colorado: Jim,

All I see is the fan base and the media questioning Scott Linehans second half play calling this year. Could it be that it isn't the playcalling, but the play execution? I mean after all, the Rams are starting a lot of street free agents and backups at a lot of positions right now, especially on the offensive line. These players were conditioned in the off season to be backups and took 1/3 of the snaps that the first teamers did. Could it just be a lack of conditioning rather than the play calling?

Cory-Parker Colorado

Jim Thomas: The disparity is so great between first half and second half performance, particularly over the past five games, it's more than just one thing. I would say the play-calling has been conservative _ on both sides of the ball, not just offense _ once the Rams have gotten these double digit leads. I would say opposing defenses are adjusting on the fly to what Linehan is doing in the first half. And the same goes for opposing offenses. There's only so many ways you can blitz a quarterback. After a while, they are coping better with what Haslett is bringing. Conditioning could be a factor. And perhaps the players are easing up _ even if subconsciously _ with the lead.

James: Jim,
Even though Linehan couldn't call a good offensive game if his life depended on it, don't you believe the Rams could possibly be at .500 or a game better if they had experienced less injuries to key players? Which brings me to my question, shouldn't we blame the conditioning coach as much as the offensive cordinator. I mean if you put in a bunch of out of shape, overweight guys out against physical specimen that play in the NFL, you are going to experience a lot of injuries. Maybe the head that should roll should be the guy who lets these guys off easy on the conditioning. What do you think?

James Young

Jim Thomas: There's no doubt in my mind anyway that the strength and conditioning coaches will be under scrutiny by Linehan. But some of the injuries are so fluky, they cannot be explained away by fitness level. Orlando Pace blowing up his shoulder on a routine hand punch; Tye Hill hurting his back earlier in the season in a collision with teammate Oshiomogho Atogwe; Aaron Walker blowing out his shoulder striking a tackling dummy in practice; Frerotte hurts his shoulder on a borderline late hit; Bulger breaking his ribs; Setterstrom getting his knee squashed when about half a ton of opposining linemen fall on him funny on a PAT _ all the wind sprints and weight lifting are going to do nothing to prevent those injuries. It's just been a strange year _ injury-wise _ and one that I think defies explanation to a large degree.

Scott S: Hi Jim
Season ticket holder, since the beginning (95). How good do you think our offense would have been this year, if the Oline protected Bulger in each of their games? Do you think the head coach would have still had the same overly conservative (scared) approach?

Regarding the dome atmosphere, Wallace stated they play the same number of commercials as other venues. Obviously, he is not including all of the times they have Jim Holder make commercial type announcements, like selling swim suit calendars. All of these interruptions, including the loud music at times, prevents the crowd from creating that football atmosphere. All commercials, and announcements should only be done in between quarters, and at half time, not in-between plays and not during a change of possession. Wallace’s comments about the commercials just reiterates the fact that the Rams care more about the revenue than the football atmosphere. He said the problem is the team's record. Even though the Big Red were losers most years, there still was a decent football atmosphere at Busch, in my opinion. The crowd was given the chance to create that atmosphere. You travel on the road with the Rams, what are the other stadiums like, regarding this topic?

Jim Thomas: Two things happened in the first half of the season opener that had a dramatic impact on the season:
_ LT Orlando Pace goes does with a season-ending shoulder injury, on what really was a fluke injury.
_ Bulger took a shot to the ribs. The ribs may not have been broken until the following week against SF, but the injury originally occurred fairly early in the Carolina game.
Who knows how the season unfolds if those two things don't happen? But that's football.

In terms of stadium atmosphere, I would rate the Edward Jones Dome near the bottom. Get a mascot, get a pep band, do something. About 45,000-50,000 die-hard fans are going to be in there cheering on the Rams every week whether they're good or bad _ because it's their team. I think anything that can be done to make the atmosphere more entertaining would help the diehards get through the down times.
I always use the example of Minnesota, where the Rams played their '06 season finale. The Vikings were going nowhere. They had a lackluster offense. But the atmosphere was very good. They had the Viking mascot guy riding in a motorcyle, that incessant Viking hard, the place was much better lit than the Edward Jones Dome. They had a kiss-cam during TV timeouts, livelier music, T-shirts hurled into the stands, etc. Now sooner or later, the play begins and all the other stuff is forgotten, but it was still a better atmosphere. There are only 16 games in the NFL and each game should be an event.