Alright dudes.....there are a few glaring facts about this years St Louis Rams team that cannot be denied in this game and they will surely be exposed by the Panthers.....
ANYTIME the Rams played a team that has great pass rushers or gameplan to get to the quarterback, they have been successful. For example......
All the way back in Week 1, Giants 23 Rams 13. Warner was demolished by the Giants pass rush and the Rams offense could not get going. Giants are the Number 2 ranked team at getting to the quarterback.
Week 2 they faced the 49ers (The #5 ranked team at sacking the quarterback) at home they won 27-24. But again.....Bulger this time was sacked 5 times in this game, but uncharacteristically did not throw an interception which gave his team the chance to pull out the win in overtime.
Week 3 they faced Seattle (The #7 ranked team in sacks) on the road. They lose 24-23. Not sacked....BUT does lose a key fumble in the first quarter returned for a touchdown, and was intercepted 2 times.
The Rams run off 4 straight home games, including a nice win against Green Bay at home, in which Green Bay turned the ball over 4 times.
The Rams meet San Fran again this time on the road, and again is sacked 5 times and throws 2 inteceptions. They lose 30-10 in a rout.
Then on Sunday night they face Baltimore at home, in a game that many of you will remember as the last NFL game for Chris Redman. St Louis was stymied all night long and if it werent for the 7 sacks and 7 turnovers committed by Baltimore that game would have been won outright by Baltimore. Bulger sacked 4 times, 2 fumbles and 2 interceptions. The defense of the Rams scores a touchdown for the difference in the cover, and is responsible for winning the game.
The Rams then run off 6 in a row......but dont be taken by those 6 wins.....The streak starts with a couple of scares on the road at Arizona and at Chicago, then a convincing win at home against the Vikings (Very convincing might I add) They then struggle on Monday night at the Mighty Cleveland Browns. They play a nice first half, but costly mistakes lead to the Browns falling just short at the end. Bulger sacked another 3 times and throws another pick. However...yet again the Ram defense bails them out again.....sacking Cleveland 5 times and intercepting 2 passes.
The Rams then play a pretty decent game at home against the Seahags winning 27-22...only sacked 1 time and threw 1 interception. However...the 1 sack resulted in a safety, which ultimately resulted in a non-cover the the Ram bettors. But, all in all....a good game for Bulger, but Faulk stymied for only 3 yards a carry.
Then the Rams play possibly their best game of the season....efficient, against a despirate Bengal team. Once again....the Rams defense forces 3 interceptions and 3 sacks. Kitna was pressured all day. The Rams go on to win 27-10. And we all know how they followed that up with a great performance at Detroit....so we wont go into that.
Point being......after all of this is.....the Rams offense has had a lot to be desired this year. The offensive line has had a lot of the same problems of last years bad squad. The ends are not good, and that is where Carolina ia strong. If they decide to double Peppers...Rucker should be single covered. This game is intriging as it is the defensive mind of John Fox against the offensive mind of Mike Martz. It will be a chess match all day as far as how much protection Mike Martz will lay out for Mark Bulger.
My opinion is I will take John Fox in this battle of wits all year. Mike Martz is stubborn and I would not be surprised to see Carolina set the tone early by getting to Bulger. Carolina will have to get to Bulger often because the weak secondary of Carolina cannot be left out to dry for very long. I dont look for this to come into play very often.
Now on to the Vegas portion of this.......Vegas has been throwing out this "7" line on Ram home game for awhile now......Rams -7 at home against Cinci. Rams -7 at home against Seattle....Rams -6.5 at home against the Vikings. Now the line is 7 and in some places 7.5. I use a set of rankings that has a power ranking of teams only in their performance on the road. The Bengals, Seahags and Vikings are all ranked below 20th on their away performance this year. The Panthers are 5-3 on the road and are ranked 8th. So Vegas is going to give them the same amount of points as poor road teams? I will take it.
Give me the Panthers +7.5....and I dont see this line being a problem as long as the Panthers do not allow the Rams to dictate their offense by sacking them or forcing turnovers. That is very possible......but I will take my chances.
With all of the turnovers that are possible in this game....I cannot possibly have a great opinion on the total, as turnovers can happen anywhere on the field. Turnovers can help a total go way over or it can prevent a team from scoring. I can see this game being a bit like the Rams-Ravens game a couple months back, but we will see about that.
GOOD LUCK!!!!
ANYTIME the Rams played a team that has great pass rushers or gameplan to get to the quarterback, they have been successful. For example......
All the way back in Week 1, Giants 23 Rams 13. Warner was demolished by the Giants pass rush and the Rams offense could not get going. Giants are the Number 2 ranked team at getting to the quarterback.
Week 2 they faced the 49ers (The #5 ranked team at sacking the quarterback) at home they won 27-24. But again.....Bulger this time was sacked 5 times in this game, but uncharacteristically did not throw an interception which gave his team the chance to pull out the win in overtime.
Week 3 they faced Seattle (The #7 ranked team in sacks) on the road. They lose 24-23. Not sacked....BUT does lose a key fumble in the first quarter returned for a touchdown, and was intercepted 2 times.
The Rams run off 4 straight home games, including a nice win against Green Bay at home, in which Green Bay turned the ball over 4 times.
The Rams meet San Fran again this time on the road, and again is sacked 5 times and throws 2 inteceptions. They lose 30-10 in a rout.
Then on Sunday night they face Baltimore at home, in a game that many of you will remember as the last NFL game for Chris Redman. St Louis was stymied all night long and if it werent for the 7 sacks and 7 turnovers committed by Baltimore that game would have been won outright by Baltimore. Bulger sacked 4 times, 2 fumbles and 2 interceptions. The defense of the Rams scores a touchdown for the difference in the cover, and is responsible for winning the game.
The Rams then run off 6 in a row......but dont be taken by those 6 wins.....The streak starts with a couple of scares on the road at Arizona and at Chicago, then a convincing win at home against the Vikings (Very convincing might I add) They then struggle on Monday night at the Mighty Cleveland Browns. They play a nice first half, but costly mistakes lead to the Browns falling just short at the end. Bulger sacked another 3 times and throws another pick. However...yet again the Ram defense bails them out again.....sacking Cleveland 5 times and intercepting 2 passes.
The Rams then play a pretty decent game at home against the Seahags winning 27-22...only sacked 1 time and threw 1 interception. However...the 1 sack resulted in a safety, which ultimately resulted in a non-cover the the Ram bettors. But, all in all....a good game for Bulger, but Faulk stymied for only 3 yards a carry.
Then the Rams play possibly their best game of the season....efficient, against a despirate Bengal team. Once again....the Rams defense forces 3 interceptions and 3 sacks. Kitna was pressured all day. The Rams go on to win 27-10. And we all know how they followed that up with a great performance at Detroit....so we wont go into that.
Point being......after all of this is.....the Rams offense has had a lot to be desired this year. The offensive line has had a lot of the same problems of last years bad squad. The ends are not good, and that is where Carolina ia strong. If they decide to double Peppers...Rucker should be single covered. This game is intriging as it is the defensive mind of John Fox against the offensive mind of Mike Martz. It will be a chess match all day as far as how much protection Mike Martz will lay out for Mark Bulger.
My opinion is I will take John Fox in this battle of wits all year. Mike Martz is stubborn and I would not be surprised to see Carolina set the tone early by getting to Bulger. Carolina will have to get to Bulger often because the weak secondary of Carolina cannot be left out to dry for very long. I dont look for this to come into play very often.
Now on to the Vegas portion of this.......Vegas has been throwing out this "7" line on Ram home game for awhile now......Rams -7 at home against Cinci. Rams -7 at home against Seattle....Rams -6.5 at home against the Vikings. Now the line is 7 and in some places 7.5. I use a set of rankings that has a power ranking of teams only in their performance on the road. The Bengals, Seahags and Vikings are all ranked below 20th on their away performance this year. The Panthers are 5-3 on the road and are ranked 8th. So Vegas is going to give them the same amount of points as poor road teams? I will take it.
Give me the Panthers +7.5....and I dont see this line being a problem as long as the Panthers do not allow the Rams to dictate their offense by sacking them or forcing turnovers. That is very possible......but I will take my chances.
With all of the turnovers that are possible in this game....I cannot possibly have a great opinion on the total, as turnovers can happen anywhere on the field. Turnovers can help a total go way over or it can prevent a team from scoring. I can see this game being a bit like the Rams-Ravens game a couple months back, but we will see about that.
GOOD LUCK!!!!
