2012 St. Louis Rams Preview

2012 St. Louis Rams

Ahhh, the final team preview. I’ve been busting my ass to finish all of these before the official kickoff of the 2012 NFL season, and I got them done. I just have to do my final standings and playoff predictions before tomorrow night and I’ll be good. I wanted to start this preview off by thanking everyone who has read these posts, it makes me feel good that people are interested in what I have to say and I’m not just talking to myself. Hopefully we can get some comments on the playoff predictions post tomorrow. I would love some feedback. Anyway, thank you so much, and I hope you all enjoy the football season, no matter who you root for.

Now, to the Rams. It’s no secret that they have been dreadful for the past few years. However, there is a new hope in St. Louis, as Jeff Fisher has returned to coaching, and can hopefully lead this team to great things. But all in due time. First off, this team has to get above five wins, which has been a challenge for them. They went 2-14 last season (with one win against the Saints), and can improve everywhere. Sam Bradford would love a bounce-back year after the goose egg he laid during last season. This team will not be made successful overnight, but little by little, Fisher and Bradford just might be able to lead St. Louis back into relevancy again.

Offense

This offense is brutally awful. But it might get better this year. One can only assume that Sam Bradford will play much better this year than he has been; he has too much talent to continue disappointing. He doesn’t have many viable targets on the outside, though, which will make things tougher. The Rams’ number one receiver is Danny Amendola, and although he should catch a lot of passes, St. Louis needs some better targets. They drafted Brian Quick in this year’s draft, who will hopefully develop into a playmaker, but for now the Rams are stuck with what they have. They also still have the relentless Steven Jackson, who has suffered through the agony of being stuck on an awful team for his whole career, but his being a class act about it, and just continues to produce year after year. However, he has a lot of wear and tear on his body, and it is unclear how much longer he will hold up. Also, he’s got to get in the end zone more. The Rams need his scoring potential. Besides Jackson, this team is woefully empty of skill position threats. Good luck, Sam.

Defense

The defense for St. Louis will be satisfactory again before the offense will. There is hope for this unit, with ability at every level. Young defensive ends Chris Long and Robert Quinn bookend the defensive line, and hopefully they will be able to provide pressure on the quarterback to take the stress off the rest of the defense. James Laurinaitis is a perennial beast at middle linebacker, and is one of the solid MLBs in the league. Rocky McIntosh is no slouch at outside linebacker either. In the secondary, the Rams have a couple of scrappers at corner, Cortland Finnegan and Janoris Jenkins, to go with Quentin Mikell at safety in what is not a bad defensive backfield. With the proper coaching and the addition of more talent, this defense can soon compete with the rest of the defenses in this division. They’re not there yet, though.

Schedule

I would say that the St. Louis Rams couldn’t possibly do worse than their 2-14 season last year, but we’ve seen them do that recently, so I won’t go there. But hopefully, unless St. Louis is the new Cleveland, the Rams can pull out a few wins this year and look better under Jeff Fisher. They do have a brutal schedule, but they wouldn’t get that many wins anyway with an easier schedule, so maybe its best that they are in this position. They can get beat by really good teams while they are rebuilding, so that they have better draft picks and can get better, faster. That way in a couple of years, they will have more talent and an easier schedule. But that’s way down the line. Let’s see what’s in store for them this year.

Week 1: L at DET

Week 2: W vs WAS
Week 3: L at CHI

Week 4: W vs SEA

Week 5: W vs ARI

Week 6: L at MIA

Week 7: L vs GB

Week 8: L vs NE

Week 9: Bye

Week 10: L at SF
Week 11: L vs NYJ

Week 12: L at ARI

Week 13: L vs SF

Week 14: L at BUF
Week 15: W vs MIN

Week 16: L at TB

Week 17: L at SEA

I can see the 2012 St. Louis Rams having a 4-12 season. Sure, they would still have a top five draft pick, but that’s ok. This team is rebuilding, and they need to go through a few bad years to reach their goals down the road. They key for the Rams is patience. That means you too, St. Louis fans. That’s all for my team previews, so after my bold prediction and my NFC West recap, I’ll work on my final standings and my playoff predictions, and award predictions, which will be put up tomorrow before the kickoff of the Cowboys and Giants. Hope you enjoyed my posts! Bye!

Bold Prediction: Danny Amendola will finish in the top 10 in the NFL in receptions.

NFC West recap:

SF: 10-6

SEA: 8-8

ARI: 6-10

STL: 4-12

• San Francisco continues their NFC West dominance
• Russell Wilson has an impressive rookie campaign
• Arizona needs a true franchise quarterback
• The Rams will need a while to rebuild