The Next Six Weeks Will be Very Interesting

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Medium-sized Lebowski
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Jun 20, 2010
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Name
The Dude
D'Marco Farr
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.101espn.com/category/dfarr-blogs/20111122/The-Next-Six-Weeks-Will-be-Very-Interesting/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.101espn.com/category/dfarr-b ... teresting/</a>

[wrapimg=left]http://www.101espn.com/images/authors/medium/dfarr.jpg[/wrapimg]You've got to hand it Steve Spagnuolo. He's not going to surrender. Even though his football team is about as beaten up as Herman Cain's reputation, Spagnuolo refuses to be discouraged. If a head coach is evaluated solely on stick-to-itiveness, then he should be in St. Louis for the next 10 years. Through all the penalties and blown opportunities that have ultimately added up to eight losses in 10 games, Spags still believes in his guys. Unfortunately in the NFL, loyalty doesn't guarantee job security. What people want to see is results. They want evidence that proves he's taking the team in the right direction in the final six weeks of the season. People need to believe that last season's 7-9 record wasn't a fluke or a product of weak scheduling.

As far as questionable personnel decisions and overreacting to young players taking longer than expected to develop, I believe that question should be left to another office down the hall. The direction of the team is Spagnuolo's responsibility and some of the fans are starting to think the team is beginning to chase its own tail. It won't be long until we reach three full years under this current regime, and if things keep going the way they have been we won't have to wonder what the new identity of the team will be. Is this roster too fragmented to compete for a championship? Does this team have enough talent to win a division? All good questions, but who has time to talk about that now? The Arizona Cardinals are still coming to town this weekend regardless.

Right now, the Rams' offense is awful and the defense is respectably average, but that's what makes the next six weeks so interesting. We can forget about standings and playoffs and just focus on determining whether this team can get better and show major improvement statistically. It's easy to say the team is flawed. My dog can see that! But that's no excuse for not playing hard. There is no law against playing fast. Stop worrying about how young or old the player is and start focusing on just playing smart football. A dumb play is not age discriminant. Consistency is universal. Or at least it should be.

No NFL team should be able to just easily blow out another. In the age of parity, there's far too much talent on both sides for teams not to be at least competitive on Sundays. You can't debate that the Rams have failed in that regard at various points this season. If the Rams show up, they can compete with the league's best teams. If not then teams like Baltimore, Green Bay and Dallas will continue to run by them. I don't think anyone was expecting Spagnuolo to make this team a Super Bowl contender this quickly; the roster just needed too much work back in 2009. But a direction should be easily recognized at this point and he's got six more weeks to prove it.

Large investments in the offensive line haven't paid off and now are going to be reshuffled again due to injuries. The cornerback position is a mess. Franchise quarterback Sam Bradford is taking a beating to the point where you hope it doesn't ruin his future. If someone asked me to identify the Rams offense, I don't think I could. I'm not positive the skill players tell me enough information so I can make that type of determination. The team is last in the league in scoring, and there are a few names inherently attached to that. But there's still six weeks left. Six weeks to prove that this team is close to breaking through.

We are all watching.