Warner-Martz divorce is just one of Week 2's delicious story lines

BY JEFF GORDON
Post-Dispatch Online Sports Columnist
Tuesday, Sep. 13 2005

We have but one regret about Week 2 of the NFL season: The Rams are visiting
Kurt Warner and Co., not the other way around.

Imagine if King Kurt was coming home to St. Louis with the Gridbirds on Sunday.
Imagine what the atmosphere inside the Edward Jones Dome would be like.

Imagine what the atmosphere at Rams Park would be like this week as the home
team prepared for the tilt. Wow!

Even though this spectacle will take place on the road, we’ll still have plenty
of fun this week. The Rams, coming off that maddening loss at San Francisco on
Sunday, will take that much more urgency into this game at Arizona.

Let us consider all the factors:


* Reporters get another chance to probe the Warner-Martz divorce. We’re
guessing Mad Mike will keep the lowest possible profile on this topic, but we
fully expect Kurt to talk it up.


* Bill Bidwill’s Gridbirds were a trendy pick to win the NFC Worst, er, West
this season, which must aggravate the Rams (and greater St. Louis) to no end.
If the football Cardinals ever pass the Rams in the standings, there will be
much angst in Mound City.


* The Giants absolutely flogged the Gridbirds in their season opener. So
Arizona coach Dennis Green will spend this week trying to build a strong
response to that fiasco. And Green is an awfully good coach. Don’t be surprised
if he whips his guys into a frenzy after their first-game embarrassment.

Reporters asked him where the Cardinals can go after losing.

“Play again,” Green said Sunday. "You guys keep talking about the running game.
The running game was one phase of the game and it wasn't a very good one.
Special-teams coverage was another phase of the game that was not a good one.
Pass defense was another phase of the game, particularly on third down, that
was not a good one.”


* The Rams certainly don’t want to start the season 0-2, even in this woeful
division. The schedule WILL get tougher as the season progresses. All along I
figured them for 1-1 after two weeks, although I did NOT expect the Niners to
beat them.


* After squandering a golden opportunity to win at San Francisco -- giving
away the game with horrible special teams play and feckless red-zone offense -–
the Rams’ margin for error is gone. They simply MUST respond with a clean,
hard-fought, smart performance.

They simply must finish off their drives with seven points instead of three.
What’s the point of battling all the way down the field if you’re not going to
score TDs?


* Warner actually could do some damage Sunday, if the Gridbirds can protect
him. (That is a big if, since Arizona’s offensive line buckled against the
Giants. Arizona’s overmatched offensive linemen couldn’t create running room
for their backs or passing time for King Kurt. The loss of ex-Rams fullback
James Hodgins to a another season-ending injury hurts, too.)

The Cardinals have big, skilled receivers that could create match-up problems
for the Rams. Larry Fitzgerald caught 13 passes against the Giants. Thirteen!
Niners quarterback Tim Rattay didn’t have the tools to exploit the young Rams
defensive backs, but No. 13 does.

On the other hand, if the Gridbirds can’t run the ball again, the Rams will get
to tee off on Warner.

“We have to be able to run the football,” Warner said Sunday. “It's tough
against a good defensive front to be sitting back there passing every snap.”


* Rams Nation will fret, again, about potential trouble with the Rams special
teams. Will these guys finally get through a game cleanly, with no game-turning
disasters? Could they actually have a big game against Arizona, a team that had
its own problems with those units Sunday?

“Everything kind of broke down,” Green said. “We had some pretty decent
coverage on kickoffs and punts at different times, but we didn't do it
consistently.”

That sure sounds familiar.


This match-up is delicious. Rams Nation is bitter about Week 1. The team is
eager to prove it really is a contender. The Rams face an intriguing opponent,
one with long-term and short-term emotional ties to St. Louis.

A few weeks ago I figured the Girdbirds would win this game. But after all that
went down Sunday at Monster Park, the Rams absolutely, positively cannot let
that happen.

Enjoy the build-up and the game!

It doesn't help that the Cards will be playing THEIR home opener this week. We have had to play 2 of those in a row. And with their loss, they don't want to go 0-2 either.

Wow, 0-2. how bad is that. One of these teams will be 0-2 come Monday.

Better not be us.

We are the better team on paper on the field you name it. It's up to MM to the guys motivated. Let me add that motivation shouldn't be a factor for Bulger. He has to show that MM made the right QB selection. On the reverse side Warner will be doing the same thing, trying to prove MM made a big mistake. Damn is it Sunday yet I'm gettin' all fired up about this match up !

Come on Rams lets fet er done !!!!:clanram:

:frown: :frown: :smoke: :<> :( :moon: