Q & A with RamsHerd.com

Ramsherd.com, part of the Fanball network, joined me for a Q & A regarding the upcoming Jags/Rams game.

1. How do you feel about Rush Limbaugh not being able to buy the team?

RH. First of all, it’s a little embarrassing that your first question isn’t a “football” question, but it’s totally understandable. the Limbaugh hoopla has surrounded the team and overshadowed it for the past week and a half. And honestly, if he was the owner, that would continue. Wearing a Rams jersey would be synonymous with being a “dittohead.” I personally would hate to see that, and you would have a whole group of Rams fans who would either walk away from the team, or be constantly apologizing for their ownership situation — even more so than Raider fans do for Al Davis, or Redskins fans do for Dan Snyder. I also put up a post last week, detailing why Limbaugh would be a disaster from a football decision-making perspective:
http://ramsherd.com/2009/10/07/rational-reasons-to-stuff-rush/
But with that said, this whole saga is a major win for Rush. He gets mountains of free publicity, as well as a new reason to proclaim himself “too dangerous” for polite society or whatever his spiel is. He isn’t
losing out, not by a long shot. And I doubt we’ve heard the last of his efforts in this arena, as he now has a new personal controversy that he can milk for as long as possible.

And this last part is the real problem. The defense is playing well, but are getting stuck with too many short fields to defend. The offense is giving up tons of turnovers for points, and seemingly hits a force field
inside the ten yard line. Points are very, very hard to come by, no matter who is in at quarterback. And SJ has yet to cross the goal line… a very troubling stat that will hopefully turn around. That said, I think it’s a confidence issue. Once they get some points, I think this team is poised to take a quantum leap in competitiveness.

RH. There are a lot of causes, but the biggest one is a series of whiffs at the top rounds of the Rams drafts over the past 6 years or so, and nearly nothing from the bottom rounds. 2005 was our last decent draft year,
before this one, and that’s even with the stink of Alex Barron at the top. This lays at the feet of the previous regime, headed by the now-deposed GM Jay Zygmunt. He essentially poisoned the front office, dividing it along political lines (you see again why Limbaugh would be a disaster), and constantly overruled or undermined the few “football men” in the organization, in favor of drafting players that could be signed easily. And the coaches, Martz and then Linehan, acquiesced. It was the polar opposite of the way an organization should be run. The partnership of new GM Billy Devaney and coach Spagnuolo is one of the only things that gives Rams fans hope — the fact that we completely cleaned out the organizational mess, and now have people who are of a common mind. We have yet to see the impact in W/L, but we have seen it in a team that is willing to compete, if not always able to compete.

Good stuff! Good luck this week, but I’m hoping the Rams manage to pull a surprise win out of their hat! Their recent history against the AFC is not too good, though….

Will

Tags: ESPN, Football, Garrard, Jaguars, Jones-Drew, Limbaugh, NFL, QB, Rams, Receiver, Rush, sports