Good review.....or NOT!!!!!

[BEER]

Mike Franke
RamView, August 9, 2008
From The Couch
(Report and opinions on the game.)
Preseason Game #1: Titans 34, Rams 13

The Rams have been preparing for the 2008 season for eight months.
They’ve drafted players, signed free agents and shaken up the coaching
staff. They’ve been practicing hard in training camp for two weeks,
much of last week against another professional team. The regular
season’s a month away.


And after one preseason game, this squad looks worse in almost every
aspect than it did even in its 3-13 disaster of a season last year.
Last year’s preseason set a bad tone the team never shook. They can’t
possibly play the same tune, or worse, again this year… can they?
Because tonight? Set a bad, bad tone.


Position by position:
* QB: What kind of night was it in Tennessee? The best Ram player on
the field tonight was probably Brock Berlin (11-14-139). Yep, Brock
Berlin. Good for him, though. He looked better tonight than he ever
has as a Ram. He showed some composure, some ability to think on his
feet, and enough actual arm to throw sideline passes, all new
qualities for Berlin. His best play briefly kept the Rams in the game
in the 2nd. Berlin made a sweet pump fake that completely suckered
Reynaldo Hill, and then hit Dane Looker in stride up the sideline for
47 yards, setting up a TD. The best compliment I can pay Berlin is
that tonight’s Brock Berlin wouldn’t have lost in Cincinnati last
year. Tonight’s Marc Bulger, on the other hand – 3-9-29 and a passer
rating of 3.7 – might not have beaten Moeller High in Cincinnati last
year. He threw bad passes off his back foot under heavy pressure and
threw bad passes under very little pressure. He got a pass knocked
down and didn’t show much proclivity to make plays with pressure in
his face. His interception wasn’t his fault, it was brutally muffed by
the lamentable Brian Leonard, but we’re in the third year now of
Bulger being unable to come out of training camp and drive the
starting offense to a TD. After last year’s struggles, it’d be great
if Bulger shows he can play well against something other than a
vanilla four-man rush. He didn’t tonight. He didn’t show me anything
tonight to make me think it was time to pull him when Scott Linehan
did. Bulger has to play a lot better than this, or Linehan’s the one
who’ll be rolling his eyes on the sidelines. Trent Green (1-3-16, not
terribly accurate with the long ball) and Bruce Gradkowski (2-5-6) saw
just token work. Green’s going to be busier sooner then he’d ever
thought if Bulger doesn’t pick himself up.