Sunday, June 20, 2010

Rams O-Line Ranked 28th

Jason Cole of Yahoo Sports ranks the St. Louis Rams offensive line 28th in the NFL. While this is higher than the Rams have ranked in most stats of late it is still not the stat you want to see while thinking about starting a rookie QB in the NFL. Can the Rams afford to play Sam Bradford behind this offensive line? Can the Rams afford not to start Sam Bradford after only winning 6 games in three years? These are the decisions the Rams have to make. You need a solid offensive line to win in the NFL and it has been a long time since the Rams have even been steady. Years after Orlando Pace's best years the Rams have never been able to build the line back up. To compound matters in 2010 the St. Louis Rams will no longer have Guard Richie Incognito or Tackle Alex Barron, could things actually degrade?

David Leon from Bleacher Report points out that the St. Louis Rams have allowed more sacks over the last ten years of any team in the NFL. For a team that just lost their starting left tackle Alex Barron it is even more troubling. The Rams are looking to start Jason Smith at left tackle. Smith was a converted tight end while at Baylor who now has a fractured toe to compound things. We have yet to even see if Jason Smith can play left tackle in the NFL. The Rams will also be forced to start 2nd round draft pick Rodger Saffold at right tackle. There will be a ton of pressure on Smith and Saffold to perform well especially if the Rams go with Sam Bradford early in the season.

One of my favorite sites on the internet is Cold Hard Football Facts. In their final 2009 Offensive Hog Index they ranked the Rams offensive line 26th overall. Based on the 44 sacks allowed, and the offense only putting up 10.9 points per game I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to know the Rams O-line needs some help. Help it could have picked up by trading for Jammal Brown. Instead the Washington Redskins were able to trade for Brown this weekend. Jammal Brown is an excellent right tackle and was the 13th overall player chosen in the 2005 NFL draft. Prior to missing 2009 due to an injury Brown played in 58 games and started all of them at right tackle. The Redskins picked him up from the New Orleans Saints for a 3rd or 4th round draft pick. The Rams really could have used a player like Brown. We could then play Smith at left tackle, Brown at right tackle and move Saffold inside to play Guard. Without Brown we still have to hope that Smith and Saffold can produce at the NFL level and that is asking a lot.

By Stlvinnie - http://www.stlouisramfan.com/

Labels: , , , , , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home