Thoughts & Questions for 08

[BIG-BLUE]

With the 07 season now in the books for the Rams, I have some thoughts & questions for the 08 season.

1) Don't know if this has really been touched on yet here in the forums, but with all the injuries the Rams have suffered this year, do we take a serious look at the off season strength & conditioning program? Is the Linehan regime producing a bunch of soft out of condition linemen that can't hold up to the pounding a true linemen needs to? It seems to me that the OL is weak & undisciplined both physically & mentally.

Bottom line here to many injuries & to many mistakes that kill a drive.

2) Coaching staff, simply horrible IMHO. Play calling was some of the worst I've seen since the Rich Brooks era. Now I know there are some fellow members who will remind me of the injuries, but sorry I will not fall from my opinion.

With that said I do believe that we will have Linehan back in 08. With our present owner's uncertain health issues I don't see any changes happen anytime quick.
Best case scenario for SLOP members is Linehan is let go & Haslett is given a chance.

3) Sir Isaac Bruce: Will he be back for another year with the Rams?
I for 1 would love him back. He's just to dam gifted. Would love to see him as a 3rd wr though, because we need someone with speed to stretch the field again.

4) How will the draft & FA be addressed. With today's lost it looks like we will wind up with #2 pick. This puts the Rams in a great spot if handled well. A stud DE like Long would be sweet if Parcells doesnt nab him 1st, or do we trade down & pick up extra picks to fill up all the holes & add serious depth? We truly have so many needs that I would even listen to trade offers for SJ. Not that I want Jackson any where but St. Louis, but he will be entering a contract year & will command a hefty price tag to keep him happy. Are we in position to do that with the cap or is there an offer out there that's to good to pass up?

Well these are just some of the thoughts running through my head as the season has come to a close for the Rams in 07.

Would love to hear your comments or any thoughts you may want to add.

[39thebeast]

I cant see an offer being to good to pass up for SJ he means so much to our team and if we dont sign him this year the worse case scenario is hitting him with the franchise tag next year

[stlramman]

Originally Posted by BIG-BLUE

With the 07 season now in the books for the Rams, I have some thoughts & questions for the 08 season.



3) Sir Isaac Bruce: Will he be back for another year with the Rams?
I for 1 would love him back. He's just to dam gifted. Would love to see him as a 3rd wr though, because we need someone with speed to stretch the field again.

4) How will the draft & FA be addressed. With today's lost it looks like we will wind up with #2 pick. This puts the Rams in a great spot if handled well. A stud DE like Long would be sweet if Parcells doesnt nab him 1st, or do we trade down & pick up extra picks to fill up all the holes & add serious depth?

3] I hope Ike comes back. It will be a sad day if he is let go.IMO he is CLEARLY better than ButterFingersBennett.
4] Hard to say what will transpire in FA with the ownership situation will the Rams be active? As far as the draft I would be happy with Chris Long or a trade down that nets more picks and possibly Ghoulston from Ohio State. I know the O-Line needs to be addressed depth wise but i really hope the Rams use their 1st pick on a impact Defensive player.The defense made some great strides and with a couple key players could be a top 10 D IMO.Chris Long/Ghoulston would be a great addition to a core of Witherspoon,Atogwe,Carriker,Ryan,Victor.A,Tye and perhaps Culberson.Dreaming here but wouldnt it be something if they could get Mario Manningham with their 2nd rounder?

[RealRam]

Great questions BB.

1) Surely the strength & conditioning program will be reviewed closely with a magnifying glass. I don't think this was main cause and factor for the incredible number of injuries in 07 but I'm sure it will be improved overall. I look forward to a stronger OL in particular or as you put it, pounding!

That, even if indirectly, should help avoid your bottom line here:

...too many injuries and too many mistakes that kill a drive.

2) Since it is settled that Coach SL is returning -- although I wouldn't be surprised if the FO somehow "changes it's mind" -- then we certainly need to acquire a new OC (Ellard?) and make ammends in other areas of the offense. And these changes MUST be significant in order to start 08 with the right foot. ...Hmm, forget about the right foot, we are going to have to start winning!


3) Isaac Bruce. Absouletly, Sir Isaac needs to be back for the Rams in 08? He's among the elite WRs in the NFL and can strongly contribute to our offense, just as he did this year -- and that's saying a lot!


4) Draft at #2. Although our top priority is at OL, we should be able to afford going for DE Chris Long (Miami has other preferences, I hope).


Will the above 4 agenda points and other, extended issues that will necessarily derive from them (free agency, drafted players, returning / non returning Rams), I want to, at this very, very early stage say,

..."9-7! GO RAMS in 2008!" :bash:

[39thebeast]

i want to see what we do in FA with a new GM coming in 3 main players needing to be resigned ( Steven Jackson, OJ, Chillar) with only 9 million in cap space. Whoever it is were not giving them allot to work with

[Mooselini]

If we lost Bruce we better be getting a big named star coming in return for his loss. We would be losing the only player keeping defensive backs off of Holt constantly. Having Bruce on our line ensures that the opposing defense must cover him, because left unattended to Bruce can make that play most of the time.

We do need to sign Jackson most definately. He kept the team's spirits high (or seemed that way seeming it looked like he was the only one scoring this freaking year). Losing Jackson would be mistake number 2 if the Rams lose Bruce.

For the draft, Chris Long would be the best choice as of now. If Miami gets Long, we could get another high impact defensive player and get a good OL.