I've been lurking around the STLToday lamb forums, and I found that a lot of them sincerely believe that the Rams are a much improved team this season, and that the Seahawks regressed a bit.We, of course, know better about the Seahawks. The steady purging of malcontents and additions of good character guys is improving the Seahawks as a team from the inside out.
But what gives with the St. Loser Lambs? I posted this topic in an effort to find out. I linked to it here because I thought it would be interesting and informative to read and comment on from a distance.
I think its interesting how so many people overlook our offseason
ReplyDeleteFirst...our defense should be healthier then last year, automatically making us better (and remember...we were the #1 defense through 3 3/4 games)...that may not sound like much in terms of length, but put it in this perspective: 1/4th of the season we were on top...
Second...regardless of popular opinion, I think we improved this year...I rather have two good CBs then one great CB simply because it adds depth...plus we have 3 different versions of the corner: Physical (Herndon), Speed (Dyson), and Instinct (Trufant)...not to mention they are all young
I think our draft was pretty good...amazing how so many 'experts' are starting to jump on the 'we had a good draft' bandwagon after looking into how our rookies are doing so far...
Also, our character on defense should improve the happiness overall, and the team chemistry...these guys will want to be around each other, and therefore will be willing to learn to coexist...making the chemistry through the roof (look at the Patriots)...
if we get Boulware, the Seahawks will automatically be my preseason pick for the Super Bowl...the Eagles have always been overrated and just 'popular' and not 'great'...if we had half as less injuries this coming year, we will be at least a top 15 defense...our secondary is set
i cant say how annoyed i am that the Panthers got to use the injury excuse all year last year, but our team wasn't allowed...both easily topped the NFL in worst injuries possible, and it killed both our teams...now everyone thinks Carolina will rebound because they are healthier whereas we will suck because we struggled last year (ignoring the injuries)...interesting...
the Rams didn't have a great team going into the offseason, and they still dont have much...their WRs improved behind Holt and Bruce...while Bruce WILL decline with the age...their QB still sucks ass under pressure...and throws an interception at the slightest scent of a sweat stain from an opposing player...their defense is crinkly like its always beens...and just because the saying goes 'work from the front back'...that doesn't mean work on the front and let the secondary suck...they'll win by outscoring teams only
Seahawks wild card: Ray Rhodes
Rams wild card: luck
OK Thank YOU very much, Mr. Foot!
ReplyDeleteI'm already risking my job and family with the Seahawks boards I'm participating in, and NOW you want me to get hooked on a RAMS Board too??
(actually, it'll be fun to see what kind of trouble this stirs up. I like the way you put it out there all factual and low key, instead of the standard "we're gonna kick your asses!!" bomb that most fans drop when infiltrating the enemy forums!!)
ADP said" I rather have two good CBs then one great CB simply because it adds depth..."
ReplyDeleteI get what you mean and I agree except that I am so sick of hearing how much of a downgrade Dyson is over Lucas. Why was everyone suddenly saying Lucas is so great? because he had one good year? Big deal! Dyson has had great years every year, before last season I would've traded 3 Lucas's straight up for Dyson a hundred times over. I am sick to tears of hearing how great Lucas is. As of now, Ken Lucas is one of the most overpaid players in the entire NFL, the Panthers were retarded to pay him that kind of money, and we got Dyson, a better CB anyway, for a song.
I don't get the perception that we haven't clearly upgraded at all! We replaced an overrated ALWAYS injured whinny complaining malcontent like SImmons with one of the best tackling LB's in the league.
You could say that we lost Brown too, but really what did we lose? He hadn't played in two years anyway! Niether Brown or Simmons had been on the field enough to count as losses, they never played.
What about Okeafor, you ask? What about him, he's too small and while he got the most sacks for us last year, he almost always got shut down when it counted most, on third downs. Okeafor is no big loss at all, and Fisher is a guy who last year, had a breakthrough season while playing injured and had as many sacks as Okeafor. At worst you could call this a wash, but since Fisher will now be healthy and since he's bigger and younger than Okeafor, I would say we upgraded, even more so if we add Boulware to the mix.
I have bitched about Terry for two years now, don't even get me started on whether I think that was a loss, just getting rid of him automatically makes us better! His head was never in the game, it was somewhere else smoking dope or something. Not to mentione that for the last three years now we have drafted guys who can play that position. Also sitting Gray down and replacing him with Floyd helps as well GRAY SUCKS!
As far as SP teams, we added more depth through the draft and through free agency, and we get back Bannister, upgrade there. WE also added Herndon to upgrade our nickel D. So how is it we didn't upgrade? I don't get the perception, is it because we didn't add a whole lot of sexier names? Who cares! WE're clearly a better team right now personnel wise than we were last year, not even mentioning the whole character thing which is the really big issue.
YES!!!! It's been awhile since I saw a nine-banana rant from monkey. Thanks, in a strange way you made my day!
ReplyDeleteAlso, ADPRamsfan and SFcheck... You guys killed me on that STL thread! You HAD to be giggling to yourself.
ADP said" I can"t say how annoyed i am that the Panthers got to use the injury excuse all year last year, but our team wasn't allowed...both easily topped the NFL in worst injuries possible, and it killed both our teams...now everyone thinks Carolina will rebound because they are healthier whereas we will suck because we struggled last year (ignoring the injuries)...interesting..."
ReplyDeleteGreat point!!! I coudn't have said it better myself! The Panthers are getting picked to rebound because the media said their problems came from injuries, well what about our entire LB core going down not to mention our biggest free agency pickup last year and our guy we were counting on to pass rush? What about Bobby Taylor, who we picked up thinking he'd be our starting CB? (Which just shows how great we thought Lucas was back then, not that great, we didn't think we could count on him to start so we brought in Taylor.)
We had just as many, just as devistating injuries last year as Carolina but no one mentions that when looking at teams that will bounce back. We still managed to win our division even with those injuries, so how are we not the NFC west favorites?
I'll say this, if you had asked me last season before the year began if I would trade Simmons, Brown, Lucas, and Okeafor straight up for Dyson, Herndon, Sharper, and Fisher I would have said yes very quickly, becuase Lucas until last season was no better than Herndon, and not nearly as good as Dyson, FIsher and Okeafor were basically the same thing and Brown and Simmons with thier huge salaries and constant injuries were about the same thing together as just one Sharper who is never hurt and leads every team he plays for in tackles just about every year, and is versatile, can play inside and out.
It just amazes me that even some of our own fans have bought into the media stupidity about the Cardinals and about how we didn't do much this offseason. Give me a break! The Cardinals will NEVER be a good team, write it down, NEVER! They will still finish third behind us and the loser Rams.ANd they always will.
Want to get a TRULY good and impartial view of how we will do this season? Look at the Vegas odds, Vegas never loses money, and they don't buy into media hype because their money is on the line, they don't have favorites they have hunches or knowledge. That being said, Vegas odds have us at 10:1 to win our division ahead of the ButtRams then the Tardinals then the Whiners. They have the Eagles Favored to go to the super bowl (slightly) then it's Altlanta Minnesota and Seattle all at the same odds, the rest of the West they have further down the list.
Vegas knows what they are doing, and they see through the media crap, they are saying that we will repeat, and I for one would put my money on it.
Monkey, I'm not sure if you were talking about my post in the STL board, but remember I was baiting them. I thin k you know how I REALLY feel.
ReplyDeleteSTL is going to crap, and SEA is going to be the league surprise.
No BLuefoot I wasn't alking about your post, just this general down in the mouth attitude about our offseason that persists, mostly on other boards (ST site for example). Here at 12SS we know what's up, we know better than to but into the media hype about the Cardinals etc...
ReplyDeleteActually, it's funny that the Tardinal hype reminds me very much of the hype that surrpounded the Hawks last season. Funny how quickly the media all broke their ankles jumping off that bandwagon, they'll do the same with the Tardinads after they begin their anuual losing streak.
Remember, monkey, that Vegas sets the line to split the money on each side, taking in a nice commission for themselves. So, the lines aren't so much what some "Vegas experts" think as they are an amalgam of what the public thinks (because they place bets), what pro sports bettors think etc. Having said that, I've actually seen a bit of economic research indicating that the "Vegas line" is a better predictor than anything else. The intuition being that if it weren't, people could use that alternative information (i.e. ESPN's power rankings or some other set of rankings or whatever) to determine who to bet on and would make money. So, I wholeheartedly support your point that the "Vegas line" is the best indicator of how good a team is, but keep in mind that it is derived from the thoughts of the many people who place sports bets, including many "homers".
ReplyDeleteAlso, I found their odds of winning the division to be 13:10, which indicates they are "expected" to win the division 39.8% of the time compared to 28.6% for both AZ and STL and 3% for poor SF. (Note: the odds indicate they should win 10 out of 23 times which is not 39.8%. This is due to Vegas' juice. I've appropriately corrected the percentages so that they add up to 100.)
Posted by mfan
Great post, mfan... That seems about right. The Lambs appear to have regressed, and the Tards have taked a step up. There are about even at this point, in my book.
ReplyDeleteThis comments in this thread are SO MUCH MORE informed than in the STL thread, it's rediculous.
Thanks mfan, you are right of course. Good response BTW. Where have you been lately mfan? I haven't seen you around much and when are you going to become a contributor here? It's well past time, I mean you go all the way back to the old P-I blog site with us, cm'on mfan, I want to see more of your input here, I'vealways enjoyed reading the things you have to say!
ReplyDeleteDITTO
ReplyDeleteYou'd make a great contributor, evan on a part-time basis.
Whaddya say? Drop me an email. It's in my profile.
monkey -
ReplyDeletei just want to make it clear i agree with you with Dyson...the only thing Lucas has over him is size...but Dyson is faster, and he had the same picks (imagine how many picks we could have if we had a pass rush)
and with the Panthers/rebound/injuries thing...they are my 2nd favorite team in the NFL...so you know something is wrong if i would talk bad about them...
Blue and Check - lmao...thats funny stuff...glad you could join me Check...I plan on annoying them constantly in a 'calm laid back manner'...it really killed me to say 'whole hearted Rams fan though'...im not putting that anymore
i just added a realatively funny post...nice shoutouts to the ppl over here
ReplyDeletei can tell they are bitter, crumply, sensitive, fans in denial...i actually made some good points...
amazing, they compliment Blue for having an intelligent post, and for me, posing as a Rams fan...gets my head bit off for saying I dont think they can win the division
I feel like I'm watching a movie with my favorite actors in it, but they're all playing characters that I hate!
ReplyDeleteYou guys are cracking me up over there.
And thanks for the shout out ADP...although I'm sure the Lamb fans are all scratching their heads wondering just who or what an Alba is!!!
speaking of that, Rev...ironic they havent noticed i have only 2 or 3 posts total on there...and check has only a couple
ReplyDeleteyou'd think that would be suspicious out of the erm...Blue...
Hey, they're lamb fans...how smart can they be?
ReplyDeleteI was thinking that when you guys get done toying with them, like a cat with a field mouse, you may want to refer to a post on this site to see how long it takes them to realize who you guys REALLY are!
Of course, that would invite a bunch of irate lamb fans to our doorstep, which probably would be bad.
Oh well, it was a good thought for a moment there!
NO!!! This is a great tool we could use later... We've only begun to mess with these guys.
ReplyDeleteThis is the funnest thread in a looong time.
ADP, I just saw you signature over there:
ReplyDelete**-~must resist eating grass for the rest of my life**-~
ROFLWTRDMF!!!!
it wasnt my signature lol...i just decorated with the **-~ crap to make it look like one, so they would think its something from a song or such...
ReplyDeleteit was actually just part of my post lol
it is funny...but i dunno if it tops the Homozona Modeling Rocky Horror thread yet...but it has potential
Alba - you're right...they are just too dumb...its amazing how we always knew they were dumb...and now we have proof!
this guy thinks Archuleta is better then Boulware!!!! and Bulger better then Hasselbeck!!!!
ReplyDeleteI promised i would mind my tongue in that thread...so fhioejhreoitghrfrenfiornfriofvgnreuiofnreouifgugiofhrbguioreero[ihreoifgnfio[fnrjfio4nfcrackhead
I'm getting into it now with one of those pedomorphic quasimodos in the STL thread. It's kind of fun, but thay are so mentally challenged sometimes I feel like I'm throwing rocks at a kindergarten class.
ReplyDeleteyeh, i want to beat a few against a rock right now...
ReplyDeletei cannot believe how stupid they are...seriously...at least mentally challenged people have an excuse
oh...and funny comment on pedomorphic quasimodos...thats good stuff
ADP if you get a chance, get in there and apologize for ramfan7's post and assure me that there are a few good posters in there. That will really screw with their heads!
ReplyDeletenot sure how exactly you wanted it...but i went with it...
ReplyDeleteits hard being on the border line...if they figure out im not a Rams fan...(in the next 5 years)...i still have a way to annoy them without giving up my true roots