By the end of the evening, the only thing left for Steve Spagnuolo to do was play it coy. He already knows the answer. He already knows we know the answer. He already knows we know he knows the answer, too. Yet just when everyone was waiting for him to confirm that Sam Bradford has done more than enough in this 3-1 preseason to earn the right to be the Rams' starting quarterback, the coach gave us a sly grin.

So when he was asked if Bradford's perfect night (6-for-6 passing, 68 yards, 1 TD) in Thursday night's 27-21 victory over the Baltimore Ravens was just what the coach was looking for to lock down that starting QB job, Spagnuolo couldn't help himself but to play out the inevitable a little bit longer.

"Soooooooo," he said, dragging out the word endlessly. "We'll have a day off tomorrow and get treatment and move on from there."

Oh, he wants to make this a mystery, but this is already like one of those movies where you figure out whodunit five minutes into a three-hour movie.

"It looks like you guys have found yourselves a quarterback," said Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome, one of the shrewdest talent scouts in the business, after getting his first up-close view of the kid from Oklahoma.

Whether Spagnuolo makes the decision official today or strings it out until after the weekend, there no longer is any question that the Rams' No. 1 draft pick is ready to take on the daunting task of becoming an immediate NFL starting quarterback.

In the span of a few short months, this 22-year-old kid has answered every question thrown his way. He proved with a sensational pre-draft workout that displayed a spectacular show of arm strength and accuracy that the Rams had to take him as the No.1 overall pick. And no sooner than he was taken with that first pick, an entirely new set of Q&As popped up.

This time it was pondering what method was best for preparing Bradford to become a starting QB: slow and easy or fast and furious?

Now here are the Rams, with the preseason finally behind them and the regular season nine days away, and a lot of those questions have been answered rather emphatically. If you were among those who believed that Bradford needed a lengthy apprenticeship on the sidelines, with his strong training camp and impressive preseason, it's difficult to imagine anyone thinking that the Rams would be better served with him coming off the bench.

The future is now for Bradford and the Rams.

Now, there seems to be only one question left.

Is the kid really going to be that good?

Every time you see him on the football field, Bradford keeps finding new ways to impress. Bradford took the field for only one series against the Ravens, but it was more than enough time to cement his place in the starting lineup, leading the Rams offense straight down the field on a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive.

It's not just the fact that Bradford continues to prove he can thread passes into the tightest, most difficult places imaginable. It's not just because he seems so darned composed. It's not even because he's as quietly confident an athlete as you'll ever meet.

I've seen a lot of players who possess those talents.

I just haven't seen all of them rolled into one rookie quarterback who has yet to play his first regular-season game in the NFL.

But every time you see this kid practice or play, you see something that makes you believe that the future for the Rams is in very good hands. No matter what test the opposing defense puts in front of him and no matter what expectations the Rams coaches apply to him, he keeps on passing tests and surpassing expectations.

I know it's early. I know he did this Thursday night against a Ravens defense that was loaded with second-teamers. I know that there is no way this kid will continue to look this darned good once the games start to count. Once the games start counting, a lot of things change. The intensity of the game will rise and the opposing defenses will be throwing things at him he's never seen before.

I know, I know, I know, I know.

But geez, every time I see him play, I can't help but think that he sure is making it look awfully easy.

Bradford gives you confidence that this year the Rams offense will actually be able to move downfield and get into the end zone on a semi-regular basis. Against the New England Patriots last week, he helped produce 20 first-half points. He followed that up with that near-perfect drive against Baltimore.

But the thing that sticks out the most is how Bradford seems to react to all of this amazing stuff he's doing.

He barely shows a hint of anything that even remotely appears to be over-exuberance. Even as everyone around him is wowed by the things he does, he borders on cool nonchalance. He'll give you a little fist pump, but that's about it.

His actions and reactions let you know why it is going to be fun watching the Rams again, even as they are sure to struggle.

Bradford isn't the least bit surprised that he's doing this.

It reminds me of something his college coach, Bob Stoops, once told me about him.

"Sam's cool," said Stoops. "He knows what he can do. He knows what he always does."