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Tipsheet: Beckham shows Rams what could have been
• By Jeff Gordon
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_f3b92899-7c47-56f9-a5a3-6b7db5c3a9cd.html
The Rams are thrilled to have defensive tackle Aaron Donald. His disruptive play inside -- quite unusual for a first-year player at this level -- has made a very good defensive line great.
Donald is one of the NFL's top rookies this season on either side of the ball. He has lived up to every positive projection.
Ah, but what if LSU wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. had fallen to the Rams instead?
You will recall that Beckham went to the New York Giants with the 12th overall pick, one ahead of the Rams' slot. He missed the first four games of the season with a hamstring muscle strain, then became the explosive receiving weapon the Rams have lacked since the great days of Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt.
Beckham makes some crazy catches on the field, turning bad throws into improbable completions. That skill would mean plenty to a team relying on Shaun Hill and Austin Davis to drive the offense.
The Rams took a step forward at wide receiver this season without him, getting a long-awaited breakout from Brian Quick and a consistently strong showing from free agent Kenny Britt.
After Quick went down with an arm injury. Stedman Bailey emerged nicely after working back from his earlier suspension. These three, plus slot receiver Tavon Austin create a nice receiving corps to take into future seasons.
That's all fine and good, but Beckham is budding superstar. The Rams currently have some very good receiving options, but nothing great.
New York Post columnist Steve Serby tells us that Beckham is great:
We have been awestruck by Odell Beckham Jr. We are a star town, and whenever we get the opportunity to catch a rising star, we never want to let him go.
OBJ caught our attention with his Greatest Catch Ever, and he hasn’t dropped it yet. He is the one shining beacon of light at the end of a dark New York football season, the most compelling reason to watch the New York Football Giants. Talk of the town. No. 13 . . . The 13th Wonder of the World.
He is arguably the most exciting rookie to wear a Giants uniform since Lawrence Taylor cut a tornadic swath of destruction through NFL quarterbacks and offenses in 1981.
Beckham is the latest phenom who will be asked to stay grounded and cope with the great expectations of a sports-crazed city that never sleeps.
He has 71 catches for 972 yards and nine touchdowns in 10 games this season. He just took down the Washington You Know Whos by catching 12 passes for 143 yards and three touchdowns.
“He feeds an entire team,” Giants star Antrel Rolle told the New York Daily News. “He fuels a stadium. He’s an exciting guy to watch. He’s a helluva player.”
MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE
Questions to ponder while wondering how history will remember the Case Keenum Era with the Rams:
So what is the fallout from Johnny Manziel's epic fail?
What is more fun than piling on Jay Cutler?
Don't you love how the NCAA comes down hard on SEMO, again, while the big money schools break rules with impunity?
QUIPS 'R US
Here is what some of America's leading sports pundits have been writing:
Robert Mays, ESPN.com: "Every so often, players come along who just look different: They move in a way others don’t, and they make plays that other can’t. Beckham is one of those guys. He hauled in three more touchdowns yesterday, and the trio seemed to be a presentation of every skill he possesses. There was a short throw taken 30 yards across the field for a score. There was a contested ball in the end zone. And there was a diving catch in the back corner. In the best class of rookie wide receivers ever, Beckham stands alone. Everyone has spent a Madden season force-feeding a single player to pile up earth-shattering numbers; Beckham is having that season in real life."
Pete Prisco, CBSSports.com: "It's hard to believe the 49ers are out of playoff contention with two weeks to go. Then again, is it? I thought they would take a step back this season. They've dealt with a lot of injuries, but the biggest problem is the head coach is one of those with a shelf life that expires, and he's past the expiration date. Then there's quarterback Colin Kaepernick. He has taken major steps in the wrong direction, and wasn't good in the 49ers' loss to the Seahawks on Sunday. He was 11 of 19 for 141 yards. He was harassed all day by the Seattle front, getting sacked six times and chased the entire game. It looks like Jim Harbaugh is on his way out, so it could be a major shakeup for the 49ers all the way around. Will a new coach want his own quarterback? What does that mean for Kaepernick? Oh, how the mighty have fallen."
Peter King, SI.com: "Buffalo, hosting Green Bay for the first time in Aaron Rodgers’ career, scored one touchdown Sunday. It came on a 75-yard punt return by the team’s sixth wide receiver and punt returner, Marcus Thigpen, who was cut by Tampa Bay last month. Tampa Bay is 2-12. Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the presumptive front-runner for his second MVP award, threw his fourth and fifth interceptions of the year at Buffalo on Sunday, both to safety Bacarri Rambo, cut by Washington three months ago. Washington is 3-11. Buffalo 21, Green Bay 13. Marcus Thigpen and Bacarri Rambo, men no one in Wisconsin had heard of at noon on Sunday, playing the big roles in sending the Packers trudging back to the Tundra."
Eric Adelson, Yahoo! Sports: "Eagles coach Chip Kelly called into a local sports radio program Monday morning and pleaded with fans: 'Don't give up on us.' Kind of crazy that it's come to that, considering his team is two weeks removed from a direct shot at having home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Now the Eagles could miss the playoffs altogether after home losses to the Seahawks and Cowboys. There's no reason to give up on a team with nine wins, two winnable games remaining (against Washington and the Giants), and a tiebreak against Dallas for the NFC East, but there is cause for concern beyond what happens during the rest of this month. To be blunt: the Chip Kelly revolution has run into some counterinsurgency issues."
Will Leitch, Sports on Earth: "Divisions and conferences matter because in every other realm other than this, we insist that they matter. You see this constantly in baseball, but you hear it everywhere: Winning your division should mean something. Divisions built around regional rivalries are organizing and clarifying: The Yankees and Red Sox have been constructing rosters to beat each other for years, and the Blue Jays, Orioles and Rays have been constructing rosters to beat them. This is how it works. You can only control what is right in front of you: You win your division, and then you worry about what comes next. If there's a Wild Card or something that allows you to advance, that's great, but what matters most is beating the teams closest to you -- the ones you know best. It's clarifying for players and coaches and owners and it's deeply satisfying for fans. And remember: These things always come back around. The most fair concept in the world is time: Time always makes it all even out. The NFC West this year has been the best division in football this year, and the NFC South has been the worst. In other words, the exact opposite of 2008, when the Arizona Cardinals won the NFC West with a 9-7 record and were widely considered the worst NFL playoff team in recent memory. The NFC South was fiercely contested all season, with the Panthers at 12-4 barely edging out the Falcons at 11-5. The Falcons were forced to play at Arizona ... and promptly lost; the Cardinals then beat the Panthers too, in Carolina. Was it 'fair' that Arizona made the playoffs over an 11-5 Patriots team that season? Probably not. But it all evens out: Maybe the Cardinals pay the price this year, or the Seahawks do. When you focus on what is most immediately fair, you miss how the Earth tends to smooth all this out on its own."
• By Jeff Gordon
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_f3b92899-7c47-56f9-a5a3-6b7db5c3a9cd.html
The Rams are thrilled to have defensive tackle Aaron Donald. His disruptive play inside -- quite unusual for a first-year player at this level -- has made a very good defensive line great.
Donald is one of the NFL's top rookies this season on either side of the ball. He has lived up to every positive projection.
Ah, but what if LSU wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. had fallen to the Rams instead?
You will recall that Beckham went to the New York Giants with the 12th overall pick, one ahead of the Rams' slot. He missed the first four games of the season with a hamstring muscle strain, then became the explosive receiving weapon the Rams have lacked since the great days of Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt.
Beckham makes some crazy catches on the field, turning bad throws into improbable completions. That skill would mean plenty to a team relying on Shaun Hill and Austin Davis to drive the offense.
The Rams took a step forward at wide receiver this season without him, getting a long-awaited breakout from Brian Quick and a consistently strong showing from free agent Kenny Britt.
After Quick went down with an arm injury. Stedman Bailey emerged nicely after working back from his earlier suspension. These three, plus slot receiver Tavon Austin create a nice receiving corps to take into future seasons.
That's all fine and good, but Beckham is budding superstar. The Rams currently have some very good receiving options, but nothing great.
New York Post columnist Steve Serby tells us that Beckham is great:
We have been awestruck by Odell Beckham Jr. We are a star town, and whenever we get the opportunity to catch a rising star, we never want to let him go.
OBJ caught our attention with his Greatest Catch Ever, and he hasn’t dropped it yet. He is the one shining beacon of light at the end of a dark New York football season, the most compelling reason to watch the New York Football Giants. Talk of the town. No. 13 . . . The 13th Wonder of the World.
He is arguably the most exciting rookie to wear a Giants uniform since Lawrence Taylor cut a tornadic swath of destruction through NFL quarterbacks and offenses in 1981.
Beckham is the latest phenom who will be asked to stay grounded and cope with the great expectations of a sports-crazed city that never sleeps.
He has 71 catches for 972 yards and nine touchdowns in 10 games this season. He just took down the Washington You Know Whos by catching 12 passes for 143 yards and three touchdowns.
“He feeds an entire team,” Giants star Antrel Rolle told the New York Daily News. “He fuels a stadium. He’s an exciting guy to watch. He’s a helluva player.”
MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE
Questions to ponder while wondering how history will remember the Case Keenum Era with the Rams:
So what is the fallout from Johnny Manziel's epic fail?
What is more fun than piling on Jay Cutler?
Don't you love how the NCAA comes down hard on SEMO, again, while the big money schools break rules with impunity?
QUIPS 'R US
Here is what some of America's leading sports pundits have been writing:
Robert Mays, ESPN.com: "Every so often, players come along who just look different: They move in a way others don’t, and they make plays that other can’t. Beckham is one of those guys. He hauled in three more touchdowns yesterday, and the trio seemed to be a presentation of every skill he possesses. There was a short throw taken 30 yards across the field for a score. There was a contested ball in the end zone. And there was a diving catch in the back corner. In the best class of rookie wide receivers ever, Beckham stands alone. Everyone has spent a Madden season force-feeding a single player to pile up earth-shattering numbers; Beckham is having that season in real life."
Pete Prisco, CBSSports.com: "It's hard to believe the 49ers are out of playoff contention with two weeks to go. Then again, is it? I thought they would take a step back this season. They've dealt with a lot of injuries, but the biggest problem is the head coach is one of those with a shelf life that expires, and he's past the expiration date. Then there's quarterback Colin Kaepernick. He has taken major steps in the wrong direction, and wasn't good in the 49ers' loss to the Seahawks on Sunday. He was 11 of 19 for 141 yards. He was harassed all day by the Seattle front, getting sacked six times and chased the entire game. It looks like Jim Harbaugh is on his way out, so it could be a major shakeup for the 49ers all the way around. Will a new coach want his own quarterback? What does that mean for Kaepernick? Oh, how the mighty have fallen."
Peter King, SI.com: "Buffalo, hosting Green Bay for the first time in Aaron Rodgers’ career, scored one touchdown Sunday. It came on a 75-yard punt return by the team’s sixth wide receiver and punt returner, Marcus Thigpen, who was cut by Tampa Bay last month. Tampa Bay is 2-12. Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the presumptive front-runner for his second MVP award, threw his fourth and fifth interceptions of the year at Buffalo on Sunday, both to safety Bacarri Rambo, cut by Washington three months ago. Washington is 3-11. Buffalo 21, Green Bay 13. Marcus Thigpen and Bacarri Rambo, men no one in Wisconsin had heard of at noon on Sunday, playing the big roles in sending the Packers trudging back to the Tundra."
Eric Adelson, Yahoo! Sports: "Eagles coach Chip Kelly called into a local sports radio program Monday morning and pleaded with fans: 'Don't give up on us.' Kind of crazy that it's come to that, considering his team is two weeks removed from a direct shot at having home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Now the Eagles could miss the playoffs altogether after home losses to the Seahawks and Cowboys. There's no reason to give up on a team with nine wins, two winnable games remaining (against Washington and the Giants), and a tiebreak against Dallas for the NFC East, but there is cause for concern beyond what happens during the rest of this month. To be blunt: the Chip Kelly revolution has run into some counterinsurgency issues."
Will Leitch, Sports on Earth: "Divisions and conferences matter because in every other realm other than this, we insist that they matter. You see this constantly in baseball, but you hear it everywhere: Winning your division should mean something. Divisions built around regional rivalries are organizing and clarifying: The Yankees and Red Sox have been constructing rosters to beat each other for years, and the Blue Jays, Orioles and Rays have been constructing rosters to beat them. This is how it works. You can only control what is right in front of you: You win your division, and then you worry about what comes next. If there's a Wild Card or something that allows you to advance, that's great, but what matters most is beating the teams closest to you -- the ones you know best. It's clarifying for players and coaches and owners and it's deeply satisfying for fans. And remember: These things always come back around. The most fair concept in the world is time: Time always makes it all even out. The NFC West this year has been the best division in football this year, and the NFC South has been the worst. In other words, the exact opposite of 2008, when the Arizona Cardinals won the NFC West with a 9-7 record and were widely considered the worst NFL playoff team in recent memory. The NFC South was fiercely contested all season, with the Panthers at 12-4 barely edging out the Falcons at 11-5. The Falcons were forced to play at Arizona ... and promptly lost; the Cardinals then beat the Panthers too, in Carolina. Was it 'fair' that Arizona made the playoffs over an 11-5 Patriots team that season? Probably not. But it all evens out: Maybe the Cardinals pay the price this year, or the Seahawks do. When you focus on what is most immediately fair, you miss how the Earth tends to smooth all this out on its own."
