Oct 17th 2008 9:00AM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: 49ers, AZ Cardinals, Bears, Bengals, Bills, Broncos, Browns, Buccaneers, Chargers, Chiefs, Colts, Cowboys, Dolphins, Eagles, Falcons, Jaguars, Jets, Lions, Giants, Packers, Panthers, Patriots, Raiders, Rams, Ravens, Redskins, Saints, Seahawks, Steelers, Texans, Titans, Vikings, NFL Gambling, NFL Media Watch

Nothing like a week of mediocrity (8-6) mixed in with a season of, um, worse than mediocrity. And, such a stellar record brings our season total to 39-47-1. Simply. Stunning.

Stunning enough, in fact, that this particular column has been referred to as “Brinson’s Bad Picks” (which, in hindsight, is a much cooler name than anything else I’ve been able to offer).

The Titans are the “best” team in the NFL. The Chiefs are one of the worst. Larry Johnson is out. This should be easy.

Wow. I’m torn. On one hand, I have tremendous team crush on the Bills. On the other, Philip Rivers is your early season MVP. So, yeah. However, the Chargers are just better and they are favored on the road, so I see no reason to mess with what’s worked so well thus far into 2008.

It’s unconventional and stupid to take a team favored by 10 on the road. But not as unconventional and stupid as taking the Bengals.

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Oct 14th 2008 11:45AM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Rams, Redskins, NFL Fans, NFL Coaching I’ll admit to not watching the Rams-Redskins game in its entirety; the 50-point spread and the virtual guarantee that things would be unofficially decided by halftime didn’t really pique my interest. When I saw St. Louis was leading late in the fourth, it caught my attention, and I ended up watching the final six minutes or so.

Which included a Clinton Portis touchdown to give the ‘Skins a 17-16 lead, followed by Marc Bulger matriculating the ball up the field (no thanks to Richie Incognito) to set up a Josh Brown game-winning field goal as time expired.

This was Jim Haslett’s first game in the post-Scott Linehan reign of terror, and apparently, the former informant and Saints coach is serious about turning things around in St. Louis. You see, in addition to coaching up the troops, Haslett also leads by example.Continue Reading

Oct 11th 2008 1:00PM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: Rams, Redskins, NFC East, NFC West The Washington Redskins are 4-1. They have come off major road wins against Dallas and Philadelphia. The St. Louis Rams are 0-4. They are coming off a bye week which saw their head coach fired. Trap game alert!

The last time the Rams and Redskins shared a field together, Steven Jackson rushed for 150 yards and added another 102 yards receiving. He topped it off with a 21-yard touchdown run in overtime to give the Rams a 37-31 victory. Of course, the Rams were on their way to an 8-8 season while the Redskins bottomed out at 5-11.

That was 2006 and neither team resembles anything like that now.

The Redskins are the NFL’s buzz team after reeling off four straight wins and winning in Dallas and Philadelphia. The once-turnover laden Skins have committed just one this season and that was on a punt. The defense has slowed down each opponent they’ve played while the offense has come together to enforce their will.

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Oct 12th 2008 4:15PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Rams, Redskins This morning, NFL Network’s Adam Schefter reported that if interim Rams head coach Jim Haslett somehow found a way to win six games this season (which, honestly, is like asking a normal coach of a normal team to go undefeated) he would keep the Rams job.

But, hey, it’s good to have goals, I guess. Buried inside Haslett’s new Rams contract is a clause that says if he leads the teams to six wins this season - and it will not be easy with upcoming games at Washington, home against Dallas, at New England - then St. Louis will be obligated to keep him as its head coach for next season. …

Now, chances are, if Haslett wins four or five games, and shows the culture in St. Louis has changed, Rams management might retain him for next season anyway. But six wins makes it official - not an easy benchmark for an organization that has won only three of its past 20 games. Well, Haslett’s 17-25 percent of the way their, depending on the number of wins he needs to keep the gig for ‘09. Whatever, the Rams have their first victory of the season, defeating the Redskins in Seattle on a last-second Josh Brown 49-yard field goal.

Looking at the schedule, five (or, hell, three) more wins look tough to come by, but after watching Rams offensive lineman Richie Incognito singlehandly try to lose the game with various personal foul penalties today, I’d have to think benching him automatically increases St. Louis’ chances going forward.

Oct 10th 2008 10:35AM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: Bengals, Lions, Rams, Texans, NFL Fans The Bengals, Lions, Texans and Rams are the NFL’s winless teams. They are a combined 0-17 and all seem to be staring down another bad season. One team has already lost its GM while another has fired its coach.

But what if we brought the four teams together and picked off the best guys to form a new team? Maybe they could win a game or two this season. So here we go.

Marc Bulger (StL).
Steve Slaton (Hou), Rudi Johnson (Det)
Roy Williams (Det), Calvin Johnson (Det)
Randy McMichael (StL)
Alex Barron (StL), Eric Winston (Hou)
Chester Pitts (Hou)
Chris Myers (Hou)

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Oct 2nd 2008 2:01PM by Tom Mantzouranis (author feed)
Filed under: Colts, Eagles, Packers, Raiders, Rams, Redskins, Texans

Oh ye of little faith. The Texans won’t continue to slide into the 2008 twilight. While the Dolphins and Rams last year offered legitimate hope for an 0-16 season, the Texans are simply too talented to continue losing, and I think it comes together this week in what most would consider a shocker. Schaub did begin to harmonize last week, and though the Colts defense is offering a remarkably stout pass defense, they’re also now missing Bob Sanders, and if we’ve learned anything about the Colts it’s that their defense relies quite heavily on that tiny young man. Add in a remarkable Texans front four that will be playing against a Colts line that will be missing Tony Ugoh and Ryan Lilja (though the line has done a good patchwork job of protecting Peyton Manning, they’ve been awful on the ground, and they haven’t played a unit like this), and I like the increasingly-healthy Texans’ chances of getting in the win column this week. Added motivation? I don’t care what Bob McNair says, the Texans have a chip on their shoulder after Jerrah equated the fourth-largest city in America with Mayberry.Continue Reading

Sep 29th 2008 10:17AM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: Rams It didn’t take long for new Rams interim head coach Jim Haslett to reverse the biggest decision that the recently fired Scott Linehan made this season.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports that the Rams will put quarterback Marc Bulger back in the starting lineup and move Trent Green back to the bench.

Linehan made the surprise decision last week to replace Bulger with Green, a decision that was immediately ripped by many of the players in the locker room. Haslett apparently agrees with the dissent that was voiced by Rams players.

The bottom line, though, is that this is a bad football team for reasons other than the play of the quarterback position, and neither Bulger nor Green is going to make the Rams a good team. Haslett can put the deck chairs back where they were, but he’s still the captain of the Titanic.

Sep 28th 2008 8:30PM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: Bills, Rams, NFL Coaching, NFL Rumors
Scott Linehan began this afternoon’s game against the Bills with a career 11-24 record as an NFL head coach. He also began the game purportedly on the hot seat — rumor was that if he lost the game, he would be fired.

So, now, we just wait. We wait for Linehan to be fired, and we wait for the rest of the world to realize that the Buffalo Bills are locked into the playoffs and are a legitimate contender. Maybe. Even if they’re not the 2007 Patriots, they are overwhelmingly underrated.

Trent Edwards was again “quite solid”, coming on strong with a long strike to Lee Evans late in the game and ending up with a 15/25, 197, 1/1 line. Marshawn Lynch wasn’t even close to dominant, only picking up 57 yards on 19 carries, although his YPC average dipped significantly late in the game while the Bills tried to run clock. Fortunately — or unfortunately, depending on your fantasy situation — Fred Jackson was able to handle the end zone bid-ness, scoring on a 22 yard scramble.Continue Reading

Sep 29th 2008 7:19AM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: Raiders, Rams, NFL Coaching Today could be one of the biggest Mondays in recent NFL history, as not one but two head coaches are rumored to be in danger of losing their jobs.

A report prior to the Rams-Bills game said that Rams head coach Scott Linehan would be fired if the Rams lost. They did. And reports have been swirling for more than a week that Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin could be fired any day now.

For two head coaches to be fired on the same day this early in the season would be unprecedented: Only five head coaches have been fired this early in the season since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. None of those were during the same season, let alone on the same day.

But there’s a good chance of it happening today, thanks to the Rams looking absolutely horrible this season, Raiders owner Al Davis hating Kiffin, and the coincidence that the Rams and Raiders both have their bye weeks. For fans of both teams — and, of course, Linehan and Kiffin themselves — today will be a day of waiting for the ax to fall.

Sep 29th 2008 8:12AM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: Rams, NFL Coaching Scott Linehan has been fired as the head coach of the St. Louis Rams, and Jim Haslett has been hired as his replacement on an interim basis.

The firing was made early this morning, according to multiple media outlets. Adam Schefter of NFL Network reported that Haslett will get the top job.

After the Rams lost to the Bills yesterday, everyone — including Linehan himself — expected the firing to come today. The Rams are off to an 0-4 start and are almost universally regarded as the worst team in the league.

Linehan’s two-plus seasons as Rams head coach ends with an 11-25 record. Haslett, who has been the Rams’ defensive coordinator throughout Linehan’s tenure as head coach, had a 46-52 record as head coach of the New Orleans Saints from 2000 to 2005.