Hakim dropped the football!!!! Whenever the Saints play the Rams I remember that radio call by Jim Henderson. Granted I didn't hear that audio clip until after the game, because I attended that fateful contest in person. This of course is a reference to the Saints' first playoff win in franchise history, at home in the Dome at the hand's of the St. Louis Rams. Az Hakim's fumble would secure the Saints' win in a very tight football game. There's a Rams blogger on the Bloguin Network, so OBVIOUSLY I was going to get some intel for you. This time I connected with Will from Rams Herd, which is a great website to get information on our St. Louis counterparts from. Thanks a lot to Will for dealing with my barrage of questions, and please check them out on twitter as well. Enjoy our Q&A below:
The Saints Nation: I write a 1st round draft pick weekly review for This Given Sunday and Alec Ogletree has been in the top 5 all season (currently up to #2 overall, and Vaccaro is #3 by the way). Tavon Austin is not quite as high, but he's definitely had his moments this year too. Do you feel like these were both home run selections? It sure feels like it.
Rams Herd: I liked the Rams’ overall approach to the draft, going and getting athletic playmakers at a bunch of positions. First round picks always carry a heavier burden of judgment, though. Ogletree will have an easier time living up to his billing, slotting in as an every-down player and immediately becoming one of the team’s leading tacklers. He can improve his run defense, but I think that definitely rates an A. Tavon seems more like a boom-or-bust player right now, and it’s hard for that kind of guy to justify a top-ten draft slot.
This is the time of year where the good teams start to separate from the bad, and the effort starts to drop a little from the teams that are eliminated. What kind of effort should we expect from the Rams on Sunday?
With a team this young, effort really shouldn’t be in question. Attrition is always factor in the long NFL season, though. The Rams have lost their starting QB, center, and primary slot corner for the season, and that affects their ability to stay in games. You’ve seen in their blowout wins, when they have some early breaks go their way they still have the talent and mindset that they can pile on and build on a lead. But if they fall behind, this isn’t a team that is well-built for a shootout comeback.
For some reason the Saints have a recent history of being a much better team than the Rams, come into St. Louis, and have trouble. Do you guys practice voodoo in that stadium or something? You beat us in 2011 which was shocking (Saints went 13-3 that year, Rams 2-14).
I think you might credit that to institutional memory. The Rams and Saints had a bitter rivalry when they were in the same division, and had some noteworthy battles, including that loss in your dome in 2000 that killed our chances of a Super Bowl repeat. Even though literally no one in the building now was with the team then, there may still be some ghosts of that game hanging around.
Does Kellen Clemens suck as bad as I think he does? Any chance we could be in for a turnover binge in this one? Please?
Clemens does suck. There’s no getting around it. But he has actually sucked a lot less than I thought he would. He is a very good fit in a run-first offense, and has a little Trent Dilfer to his game when things are going well. He is never going to take credit for a win, but he is capable of playing well enough to not lose a game all by himself. And frankly, I’ve been a little surprised by that.
I'm in the semi finals of both of my fantasy leagues and a little of that can be attributed to the midseason Zac Stacy pickup in both leagues. As bad as this season has been, do you feel like you've at least got your star back of the future out of him? He seems like a great player and he's been a really nice surprise.
Kudos to you for braving the Rams depth chart in fantasy. I really like Stacy’s ability to read and make a decisive cut. I don’t know if he’ll ever be a “star” running back a la Adrian Peterson or Jamaal Charles, but he fits nicely into the Alfred Morris role of being a guy who can do his job and help out his team. More importantly, he fits Jeff Fisher’s draft philosophy of building platoons of runners. The Rams drafted Isaiah Pead last year in the 2nd round, but the continued to invest in RBs like Stacy, Daryl Richardson and Benny Cunningham after that. The Rams will probably add one or two more next year, too.
Speaking of the future, Sam Bradford is hurt… AGAIN. You're going to have a decent pick with your finish, plus the Redskins pick which will be ridiculous. Time to go for another quarterback? The narrative has always been "Bradford has no help", but at what point do you think it's him?
This is the biggest and most important question for the Rams, no question. The team has been wanting to rebuild around Bradford with an eye toward 2014 as the beginning of true contention. But the massive difference between Bradford’s salary and his win totals will always nag at some people. The Rams no longer owe him any guaranteed money on his contract, meaning he could be cut with no cap penalty. This provides a furnace full of fuel for armchair GMs. You can certainly make an argument that cutting Bradford and drafting a new player, particularly from a QB-rich draft, gives you the best chance to improve the whole roster. Regardless of what I think, I believe the Rams are still committed to Bradford. They wanted to extend his deal back in September. They’ll probably approach him and his agents again after the season. And he was on pace for a 30-TD, 10-INT season, which is a rare feat in the NFL. Last year, Drew Brees became one of only 15 QBs to ever do that. Finding a quarterback you can win with is the single-hardest thing to do in the NFL. As far as I can tell, Fisher and Snead think they’ve found one in Sam.
How scared should I be of this Rams defense? I actually know Chris Long (he lives in the building I work in in the offseason) and he's a fantastic player and an all around great guy. You've got Quinn, you've got Brockers. You've got a great young corner in Janoris Jenkins. Are the Saints going to have trouble scoring?
I’m a big Chris Long fan, have his jersey and all, but Robert Quinn is now the most dominant force on the Rams defense. If you can contain him or neutralize him with quick passes (and a referee crew that ignores holding penalties), you can pick apart the rest of the Rams defense through the air relatively easily. Our secondary is coached to sit back in a soft Cover-two zone, basically playing prevent defense all game long. A well-coached, mistake-free passing game can basically rip it to shreds.
How do you beat the Rams? If you're the Saints, what is your game plan and how do you attack St. Louis?
Last week the Cardinals emphasized quick passes and lots of them. Carson Palmer was getting rid of the ball in under 2.5 seconds on nearly every throw, and completed 27 of 32 throws while only getting sacked once. Not only was he getting completions, he was getting yards after the catch – 139 of the Cardinals’ 269 passing yards came after the catch. That’s unforgivable in the kind of zone that the Rams play. Also, while the Rams have improved their run defense this year, you can still catch them with delayed draws to expose the aggressive pass rush, or stretch runs to take advantage of our inexperienced safeties and small corners. On defense, just stop the run and force Kellen Clemens to beat you. It’s that simple.
How long until Greg Zuerlein breaks that new 64 yard field goal record?
I honestly thought he was going to get a shot earlier this year, but Jeff Fisher decided to kneel on the ball at the midfield stripe at halftime of the Houston game. Zuerlein has not had many deep shots this season, and there was concern that he might have outkicked himself last year. That said, he’s got the leg and I’d like to see him get a shot.
Score prediction?
If the Rams get an early lead, they could be in this all game long. But I’m not optimistic in this one. I think it will be on the order of 33-13, Saints.
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