How much of it is Kool-Aid, and...

[VegasRam]

how much of it is warranted.

There seems to be (read IS), a tremendous feeling of excitement and expectationn among Rams fans this year. But then, isn't that true every year? You know, football's back (thank God), and we get to live and die with the team yet again, etc., but this year vs. last year are world's apart.

So first, we'll analyse the drafts:

Hill, Klop, Wroten, Alston, Byrd, Adeyanju, Hagans, McGarigle, Setterstrom and Palmer.

Let's face it, no one expected ANY of these guys to play last year, except for Klop, and were it not for injury, Hill and Setterstrom probably wouldn't have.

Carraker, Leonard, Wade, Fry Ryan, Shackleford, Jackson and Stanley. We KNOW Carracker and Leonard are going to play, and pretty sure Wade and Ryan will as well. And by all accounts, (not just Rams fans), deserve to.

We are also getting more players from last year's draft this year, than we got last year from the year before's draft.

Last year we got a new coaching staff, we all had mixed feelings on both sides of the ball, and from their stanpoint, they needed time to figure out what they had, (and didn't), in terms of players.

I would say 80-90% of Rams fans are very pleased with our coaches at this point.

We are hearing many more (positive) stories about attitude, character and chemistry (Brown notwithstanding) than last year, and you can't help getting the feeling that the herd has been culled somewhat, (pun intended).

Last year we brought in Witherspoon, Brown, Chavous and Smith - all good picks. This year we got Hall, Draft, Johnson, Bennet and Walls, and based on last year's success, I have no reason to think these guy's won't be great additions as well.

Last year's record was what it should have been - we COULD have beaten the 'hawks twice, but we SHOULD have lost to the Cards and Packers. We go into this year on a higher note, based on the previous season finish.

From all reports, Al Robert's the real deal, (and yes, we HAVE heard that before), and Hall may be older, but ther's no question, period, that he's better than anything we've had since Horne.

And...last but certainly not least, there's definitely a little different opinion of Jackson now than there was last year, not to mention Bulger's having had a stellar (injury free) year, and now being under contract.

Can't help it guys, the planets are lining up. Not to say there aren't still some question, but that's questions as opposed to n the definitive negatives that we had last tyear goin' in.

Come on in...the Kool-Aid's fine.

[suhpr3me]

If our new additions can prove themselves, HERE WE COME SUPERBOWLLLL.

[MauiRam]

Last year we finished strong. True we didn't beat the Patriots 3 times in a row, but we were a dangerous team that nobody wanted to play. This year with the coaching staff settled in and the influx of draft choices and free agents it appears the sky is the limit. One thing that really stands out from my perspective is that the overall depth of the team on both sides of the ball has really increased. Many teams would love to have our O-line depth. (Wasn't it just a couple of years ago when our depth there was mainly bandaids and chewing gum?) Qb -- Frerotte is solid, and Harvard could fill in in a pinch as well. Suddenly we appear to have a plethora of running backs behind SJ, and what a nice problem to have for the coaches in trying to decide which receivers make the final roster.

On defense: sure we have alot to prove. Seems that the Rams braintrust earned their paychecks in providing many of the tools to help the D finally turn the corner. We won't know until the real bullets start flying, but from all accounts so far, we should be much better. Carriker, Cliff Ryan, James Hall, Chris Draft, Walls and Wade are all new faces who stand to contribute significantly, particularly as they will get help from veterans who have an all important year under their belts in Haslett's system.

Special teams were addressed as well, and likely will see improvement with the additions of D. Jones and D. Hall. We should get a surge from some of our rookies there as well. Brian Leonard and Jonathan Wade to name a couple.

This year I am really excited about the teams post-season chances, as opposed to last year at this time when I was just hoping we would improve a little and not get worse ... Pour me another mug of that great Koolaide and bring on the real games !!!

[RAMMAN68]

I Believe!

[bruce4life]

i like kool-aid

[Flaw]

Drinking that kool-aide like I'm 12 years old again, and I'm feeling like it too!

I believe!

[RAMFANRAIDERHATER]

It's been years since I've had Kool-aid. But someone must be slipping it to me, cuz I was just talking to my brother this morning during our weekly round of golf, and I told him I've got this feeling that this year is going to be special.

I always go into the new season filled with hope and dreams, as I'm sure every Ram fan does. I'm realistic though. I know when my team is limited in talent and i always temper my enthusiasm and optimisim with a dose of reality. Of course, every once in a while, I miss badly, like in 1999. Didn't see that one coming... But I figured last year's squad to be around a .500 team, and it was. This is what I posted last August...

Wishing this team to get 11 or 12 wins is what we all do, because we love our Rams, but realistically, I expect to see an improvement overall and a record of no better then 8-8. I hope I'm wrong.

I knew we had offensive talent, and I was anxious to see what Haslett could do with our defense. But I also figured it would be a "get to know each other" kinda year, and we'd struggle at times, and against good teams.
But when I look at this team on paper, I see some really good things coming together. Of course, nobody can foresee major injuries and other "distractions" like 4-game suspensions, but I think Ram fans will have a lot of fun this season. This team can do it. I honestly believe that. The NFC is ripe for the taking. No team is so good that we should just write an "L" next to the to win loss column, not yet.

Pass the Kool-aid fella's! I'm buyin'...

[Guam rammer]

We coulda, shoulda, and woulda, had 3 to 4 losses go our way easily but Costly mistakes, player wise and coaching altogether played a role. Those mistakes are usually a given in new systems and we were one game shy of making the playoffs. We were 1 to 2 men short of greatness last year, but this year i don't think thats the case. Kool-aid for everyone.

[VegasRam]

RFRH - that's quite a sig, both the photo and text. Who's the Ram, is it a real photo, and who's the (I assume) Seahawk, Hasslebeck?

[GreatCowGuru]

This is NOT kool-aid. This is a fine, smoky scotch.

I can tell you, my children, that this season we shall see things that we have never witnessed before. Among them are these:

Frank Gore shall be introduced to a brick wall at full speed. We call this brick wall Adam Carriker. After the impact, while Gore is being carted from the field, Carriker shall say "I think I made him crap himself!"

Alex Smith shall be welcomed to the EJD by Leonard Little and James Hall, who will gladly serve him with pancakes.

Matt Hasselbeck will cry (already seen) as Reverend Ike lays claim to Qwest Field with his helmet (already seen) after Marc has his first 6 passing TD game...and SJ and Brian Leonard add a couple of more on the ground.

The Stealers shall finally recieve something we have been waiting to give them since SB XIV....a shutout win for the Rams.

Matt Leinart shall complete 75% of his passes....all of them caught by Tye Hill and OJ Atogwe.

Drew Bennett shall take Steve Smith to school....and prove that Smith isn't as good as he thought he was.

Steven Jackson will break 4 bones...all attached to the whiner's defense.

Children, you cannot argue these prophecies, for the Great Cow Guru has spoken!

[ramsbruce]

Originally Posted by VegasRam

Last year's record was what it should have been - we COULD have beaten the 'hawks twice, but we SHOULD have lost to the Cards and Packers. We go into this year on a higher note, based on the previous season finish.

Good post, interesting read, and the only thing I will disagree with is saying we "should" have lost to the Packers. Little caused Favre to fumble so it wasn't a gimme like the fumble fest between Bulger and Warner in the Arizona game, we should have lost that Arizona game but I don't buy into the we "should" have lost to Green Bay. We won that game because of a great play by Little (and Butler). Woulda shoulda coulda, let's drink some 2007 Rams Kool Aid. :l

[RamOfDenmark]

I don't dare to believe too much in our defense this year, remember a few years ago when we added Chris Claiborne and Dexter Coakley to our defense? I, among quite a few others, thought they would both be solid additions and help return us to respectability, but we all know how that turned out. Then we have the whole debacle with our 3 previous 1st round DT's, didn't we hear pretty similar reports coming out of camp about each of them compared to what we hear of Carriker now? It's not that I don't want to believe Carriker and Ryan will be two solid DT's in their rookie years, but based on how well rookie DT's usually play and our history drafting them, I don't dare to set the goal very high. This is how camp season always is, you hear fantastic enthusiastic reports coming out on almost every player, I wish there would be a negative report or two in there too, not that I don't want *all* our players to succeed, I do, but I know all of them won't and I'd like to know that when I read a positive report that means something, but when all the reports coming out are awesome it really doesn't. So I guess I'm not really on the Kool-Aid drinkers bandwagon yet. I'll just lay low until the real games begin, a few good performances from our defense and I'll be all over the Kool-Aid like the rest of ya

[ramsanddodgers]

Just curious.. if the season starts to turn sour, due to circumstances out of our control, which is looking unlikely from my mountaintop chalet while looking out upon my minions and enjoying the view through my rose colored glasses....... does Kool-Aide spike well?

[RAMFANRAIDERHATER]

Originally Posted by VegasRam

RFRH - that's quite a sig, both the photo and text. Who's the Ram, is it a real photo, and who's the (I assume) Seahawk, Hasslebeck?

Text is from Star Trek's "Wraith of Khan", it IS Hasselbeck, and the Ram is Kevin Curtis, I think... Photoshop is great, isn't it?