Posted: November 15, 2007
Rams linebacker Chris Draft, in his 10th NFL season, is writing an online column for Sporting News.
I think the movie "Waiting to Exhale" really embodies what this past Sunday was like for our team. Well, at least the title does. It's like all year we've just been waiting, saying, "It's gonna happen, it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen. We're going to be healthy, we're going to feel good, we're going to have fun. We're going to play like the team that everybody thought that we would be ... the team that, on paper, is supposed to be better than last year's."
And finally, last Sunday against the Saints, that's exactly what happened. We finally got the monkey off our back and got ourselves that first win.
I'll tell you, before the game, when we were out there running around and warming up, I could really sense a change for our team. Guys had a little more bounce to their step -- especially some of the guys who had been hurt. Drew Bennett and
Dane Looker come to mind. Drew had been dealing with a nagging leg injury, and Dane was in the hospital for a few days after the Dallas game in Week 4 and has taken a bit to get healthy. To see them running around and just having fun, you knew they were feeling good, and it really showed that we were actually getting healthy. Finally.
The week off was great for us, and Coach Linehan really did a great job of knowing what we needed.
Marc Bulger presented the game ball to coach after the win, and he hit it right on the head with his remarks. Basically, Marc said that some coaches would've said, "you guys aren't going anywhere during the bye" and had us practice pretty much all of that week, insisting the only way we were going to get better was through practice. Coach Linehan really understood that everyone needed to get away for a little while and rest, mentally and physically, to have the energy we needed to come back in the last eight games. A head coach's job is to do just that: have a finger on the pulse of the team and know what's needed. It proved huge for us.
Coach Haslett, our defensive coordinator, knew it, too. One of the big things he did was remind everybody to play fast, play physical and have fun. Maybe that sounds soft, just telling us to enjoy the game, but when you have a lot of people hurt, you don't enjoy the game the same way. And having that extra bounce and swagger you get when you're enjoying it makes a big impact.
Of course, it didn't come easy against the Saints. They'd been playing at a high level the previous four games, and they came right down and scored to open the game. But our offense went right back at 'em with a balanced attack. Too often this season, when the other team has gotten a big play and stolen momentum, we wouldn't respond well. But this week anytime the Saints came out and tried to gain momentum, we responded. All the units stepped up, and we fed off each other.
On defense we were able to make the Saints more one-dimensional by taking away their running game, and that allowed us to get after Drew Brees a bit with blitzes. Unfortunately, we let them off the hook a little at the end of the game and let them score some points and make the game look a lot closer than it was.
That's the thing: We still have a lot of work to do to get better. Winning is definitely great, but sometimes when you win you don't pay as much attention to the little things. That's something we really have to focus on this week. Because it's still just one win. It's a big win, sure, but it counts the same in the win column.
Looking at this week's game against the *****, I'm excited to get out on the field again and try to keep things going -- and to really show people how we can play. We've got a good team, but 1-8 does not sound good. We've gotta do a lot more before people will recognize that we've got a good team.
GO RAMS 
Linear Mode
