Chris Long Signs With Rams

Chris Long, the second overall pick in the NFL draft, reached agreement with the St. Louis Rams on Saturday night.

The financial terms of the five-year deal, with the option for a sixth, were not available. The Rams report to training camp at Concordia University in Mequon, Wis., on Thursday.

The Rams have signed half of their eight picks.

Rams first-round pick Long agrees to six-year deal - ESPN

Our 2008 NFL Running Back Fantasy Football Rankings

We would like to give a shout out to our fellow Fansided Blog Network partner Brian Miller lead blogger for Phinphanatic.com. Brian is going to start bringing you our networks top fantasy players for 2008 by position. Today Brian has released our 2008 RB fantasy football rankings. Below you can find my thoughts on Steven Jackson’s potential for a huge 2008 season for the St. Louis Rams. I want everyone to go check out Brian’s full analysis of the running back position here.

This is a no brainer. Steven Jackson is considered a top 10 draft pick in all fantasy leagues. In 2007 while only playing 12 games behind an awful offensive line Jackson still managed 1273 total yards. Projected through 16 games that is 1697 total yards. Orlando Pace, who only played one half of football last year, should be healthy for the start of training camp. In addition the Rams grabbed Jacob Bell as their top pick up and they now have Al Saunders as their offensive coordinator. Saunders is the man who has been the offensive coordinator behind the career years of Marshall Faulk, Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson. Look for Jackson to catch a ton more balls than the 38 he was able to grab in 07. Jackson is in the last year of his contract and is going to go out and have a huge year. I see Jackson putting up 2000 total yards with at least 10 total touchdowns.

Where In The World Is Waldo (Chris Long)?

I know that only three 2008 1st round NFL draft picks have signed a contract with their teams. However those three were the #1,3, and 4 picks in the draft. Dollar amounts range from 58-70 million so you should already have a feel for what you are going to pay Chris Long. The 2008 St. Louis Rams training camp will open on July 24th (17 days from now) in Concordia College in Mequon, Wisconsin. The Rams coming off of a terrible season and already with a question mark, not knowing how many games they will get out of Orlando Pace this year, need Chris Long, and need him there to start camp. It may be too early to panic, but with this franchise nothing is a certainty. Chris Long being the son of Howie Long should be a pros pro, so hopefully this deal will get done soon. Are you worried? let us know.

Stlvinnie’s Top 10 Power Rankings - Week Of July 7th

Our Fansided Network thinks that it is never too early to get NFL Power Rankings started. Below you will find mine for this week. If you want to see the culmination of all the Fansided Blogging Network added together for our total power rankings check here. As I am a Patriot hater it pains me to place them at #1, however we will start them there for now and hope for some bad luck for the red, white, and cheaters. Send in your top 10!

#	+/-		Team	Comment
1	–		New England Patriots	Loaded on offense and only 1 loss in 07′
2	–		San Diego Chargers	Phillip Rivers and Norv Turner, what am I thinking?
3	–		Indianapolis Colts	Peyton, Peyton, Peyton. If Harrison stays out of jail they ae solid again in 08′
4	–		Pittsburgh Steelers	I love the pick up of Mendenhall. Look for the Steelers to go back to 15 passes a game for Big Ben and some power running.
5	–		Jacksonville Jaguars	David Garrard is fun to watch and ready for prime time. I worry about Del Rio holding this team back come playoff time, ala Marty?
6	–		Dallas Cowboys	As we know I hate the Cowgirls. Hopefully the Eagles will stay healthy and beat up on the girls.
7	–		Cleveland Browns	Team made a lot of moves to compete now. They were fun to watch in 07′ time will tell if they get enough D to compete.
8	–		Philadelphia Eagles	McNabb will be healthy to start the season, Westbrook is only 28, and Johnson will throw the sink at opposing QBs with Asante Samuel in the fold.
9	–		Green Bay Packers	Hard to tell without Favre around. Maybe the team will improve without the distractions and his mouth? Power running game and great home field advantage will keep them in the hunt.
10	–		Seattle Seahawks	These birds take advantage of the weak NFC West

What Is Your Dream Doubleheader?

Zach and Adam over at Fan-Sided Blogs, FSB for short, asked all of us lead bloggers “what would be your dream double header?“ The only caveat is that it has to be possible and within reason of actually happening. Below you will see my answer to this wonderful discussion starter.

I travel out to San Francisco to start the new year. I go to Monster Park to watch the St. Louis Rams beat the living sh** out of the 49ers in the NFC Wild Card Playoff game.

I then make my way to the Rose Bowl (238 miles away). Since money is no option, I must take a small plane or helicopter to make it there on time. I also go old school and the National Chamionship game is actually played on a Sunday. I proceed to watch the USC Trojans beat the sh** out of whoever, but it would be outstanding to hammer on Notre Dame for the National Chamionship.

Where Are They Now - Jeff Smoker

Jeff Smoker the St. Louis Rams 6^th round draft pick in the 2004 NFL Draft, and 201^st pick overall now plays in the Arena Football League for the Arizona Rattlers. Jeff is now the starting QB for the Arizona Rattlers. Jeff led the Rattlers to a 8-8 record and a playoff appearance. The Rattlers were eliminated against the Grand Rapids Rampage 48-41. Jeff became the Rattlers starter during the season and was able to put up some great numbers going 177 for 294, with 32 TD passes. Jeff was most recently on the Kansas City Chiefs roster during 2006 season before being cut. Jeff has also been on the St. Louis Rams and Philadelphia Eagles practice squad. Hopefully Jeff will one day get a chance back in the NFL.

Bring It In 2008 With The St. Louis Rams

The St. Louis Rams new slogan for 2008 is “Bring It”. The Rams have finally announced that single tickets to the St. Louis Rams 2008 home games will go on-sale Friday, August 1, 2008 at 10:00 AM. In addition the Rams are also selling flex plans which are on sale now! The Rams have released an interesting video to inspire you to bring it this upcoming season. The Rams do at least have a nice schedule of games to go to this year with the Cowgirls, World Champion New York Giants, and Da Bears! Stlvinnie hopes to see you there.

Blogging Dirty

As part of the Fansided Network Ramblin’ Fan would like to welcome our newest lead blogger, James Deckard of Blogging Dirty our Atlanta Falcons member. James already has a couple of new articles up and I believe you will like his style. Check out his bio below:

James Deckard, lead blogger, I am a current college student at Wichita State University in Kansas.  I don’t do any major writing, but see this as a fun hobby and I’m looking to see where it goes.  I’m studying to be a History Teacher and in my free time I spend quite a lot of time making Mock Drafts, and evaluating offseason moves.

Welcome James!

Steven Jackson Leader Or Just Loud Mouth?

Steven Jackson did an interesting interview with Michael Silver of Yahoo Sports this week, called Down and dirty. Within this interview Steven Jackson once again spoke his mind. Love him or hate him, as he says we all do, a part of you has to love that he actually tells you what is on his mind. The below quotes from Jackson are in the article by Silver.

“It’s a one-year bid for everybody,” Jackson says. “It could be Scott’s last year, and my last year, and even the franchise is in jeopardy – the team could get sold and leave St. Louis. There’s a lot riding on this year, and we all know that. Just as much as the Rams need me, I need them.”

“I predicted a number based off of a perfect season,” Jackson says. “I learned something – things will come up. Two things killed me: My offensive line was just decimated, and our receivers didn’t block. You look at Adrian Peterson, LaDainian Tomlinson or anyone who has a ton of yards, and those guys on the perimeter block. For me, I wasn’t only looking at eight in the box, but if I happened to get through the line and out to the perimeter, the defenders were all over me.”

When Jackson flashes back to a pair of dismal defeats to Green Bay and Pittsburgh last December at the Edward Jones Dome, he doesn’t hold back, saying, “You’ve got to love those Rams fans who showed their loyalty by selling their tickets to Packers and Steelers fans, so half the people in the stadium were rooting against us. It was like playing road games. We ran out of the tunnel and got booed. It was ridiculous. I was livid. In St. Louis, it’s one of two things. They either love me or they (expletive) hate me. I’m not a diva, but if I’m pissed, (the Rams’ PR staff) won’t let me talk, ’cause they’re scared of what might come out of my mouth.”

So let’s see, Jackson is not happy with the O-line, the receivers blocking, or the fans, and believes everyone on the team including even the team may be leaving St. Louis soon. There is a lot to tackle here. I put Steven Jackson on the same list of players as Curt Schilling, Brett Hull, and Jeremy Roenick. We all want players and coaches to just tell it like it is but when these players are outspoken we chastise them. Why is this? Would you rather Steven Jackson just keep his mouth shut and play football?

As for Steven’s first point all items are true. This should be Scott Linehan’s last year, he does not appear to be a quality NFL coach. The St. Louis Rams could quite possibly be sold this year, and Steven Jackson is in the last year of his contract. If Steven Jackson puts up 1500+ yards he will likely become the top paid back in the NFL in 2009. Will the St. Louis Rams spend that kind of money to keep him? Will the Rams regret passing up Darren McFadden with their first round pick in the 2008 NFL draft? 

Jackson’s second point about the receivers blocking and the problems with the O-line are probably just an excuse and him also trying to tell the players on the Rams that if they perform better he can be even greater. It should be easy for fans to believe the lack of receiver blocking since for years when they catch the ball they just fall down on the ground or run out of bounds. That has to improve for the Rams to get better.

The clinching statement that will once again get fans in an uproar is Jackson’s problem with the fans selling their tickets to Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers fans. This is an easy one but fans need to think about both sides of the issue. I believe Jackson always wants the fans to be supportive. However…St. Louis Rams fans will NOT allow a multi-million dollar athlete to tell them what to do with their money and tickets. When you are 3-10 and 3-11 heading into these games true fans will still show up, but we owe Steven nothing! If you are making 10-20$ an hour and using your money to see this product, and help to pay his salary and you want to sell your tickets for a $100+ dollars to Packers and Steelers fans than so be it. The fans bought PSLs, paid extra taxes for a stadium, help pay player salaries, and purchase merchandise, you will NEVER be able to tell us what to do with our money.

Overall I believe Steven Jackson is a very good player, that wants to be a team leader, and just wants to win. He may not go about it the correct way, or the way you would like him to go about it. However I do believe if the Rams had 53 players that cared about winning as much as Jackson they would be a much better team. What are your thoughts?

 

St. Louis Rams Lose To The Seahawks Again!

If you like mascots there is a pretty cool mascot competition going on over at CBS Sports. However if you are a St. Louis Rams fan then you must know that the Rams do not even have a mascot! According to Forbes the St. Louis Rams are worth about $908 million dollars. You think for that kind of scratch we could pay some fan a few bucks an hour to dress up in a Rams suit, hell fans pay to get in and dress up already. Let’s get a mascot, this is sad. However Seattle Seahawk fans may find it sad that the Rams were able to get 36% of the vote over their sorry bird. We received 36% of the vote and we don’t even have a mascot!

 

 

 

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