With the 1st overall pick, the St. Louis Rams select...

[CGI_Ram]

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_0c05da89-72af-5681-9716-8f117e07484c.html

With the first pick in the 2014 draft, the St. Louis Rams select ...

While not necessarily likely, it is certainly within the realm of possibility that the Rams will have the No. 1 overall draft pick following Sunday’s games — the final games of the 2013 NFL regular season.

If that were the case, it would represent one final parting gift from the Washington Redskins coming out of the 2012 draft deal that sent a bevy of picks to the Rams and allowed the Redskins to select quarterback Robert Griffin III.

Plain and simple, if Houston (2-13) wins at Tennessee (6-9), and Washington (3-12) loses at the New York Giants (6-9), the Rams will have the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming draft — the last of three first-round picks the Rams received in the RGIII trade.

Should the Rams pick first it should give them increased opportunities to trade down, although it’s unclear who they might take if they stayed at No. 1.

Keeping in mind that it’s still early — extremely early — many of the media mock drafts have Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, Texas A&M offensive tackle Jake Matthews, South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, UCLA outside linebacker Anthony Barr, and either Central Florida quarterback Blake Bortles or Fresno State quarterback Derek Carr in their top five.

A Houston victory and a Washington loss would leave both teams at 3-13. But St. Louis, with Washington’s pick, would get the No. 1 overall pick because of the strength of schedule tie-breaker. By virtue of Washington playing a softer schedule than Houston, St. Louis would get the No. 1 spot and Houston the No. 2 pick.

Here are the three other scenarios at play for the Rams involving that Washington pick:

If Houston and Washington both lose Sunday, the Texans get the No. 1 overall pick, and the Rams pick No. 2.

If Houston and Washington both win Sunday, the Texans get the No. 1 overall pick, and the Rams could pick anywhere from second to fifth depending on how five teams fare that enter Sunday with a 4-11 record: Atlanta, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Oakland, and Tampa Bay.

Similarly, if Houston loses and Washington wins, the Texans go No. 1 overall and the Rams would pick anywhere from second to fifth.

The Houston-Tennessee and Washington-New York Giants games are noon starts (St. Louis time), so those contests should be over by the time the Rams take on the Seahawks in Seattle in a 3:25 p.m. kickoff (St. Louis time).

Will coach Jeff Fisher be watching the scoreboard at CenturyLink Field for the Houston and Washington finals?

“No,” Fisher said after Wednesday’s Christmas practice at Rams Park. He then added with a straight face: “Why would that be?”

In other words, why should he have to pay attention to those scores.

When reminded that the Rams had a chance for the No. 1 overall pick, pending the results of those two games, Fisher replied, “Well, those things take care of themselves. I’m not going to be too awfully concerned about it. I’ll be more focused on the Seattle game.”

The Rams do have plenty to play for against their NFC West rivals. An upset victory by the Rams would give them an 8-8 record, for their first non-losing season since 2006. It would also surpass last season’s victory total, when the Rams finished 7-8-1 in Fisher’s inaugural season in St. Louis.

A Rams victory would give them 15 triumphs in Fisher’s two seasons here — matching the combined victory total in the five seasons prior to his arrival. (The Rams went 15-65 from 2007-11.)

And lastly, the Rams could cost Seattle the No. 1 overall seed in the NFL with an upset. Had San Francisco lost on Monday night to Atlanta, Seattle would’ve clinched the No. 1 seed in the NFC right there and then and might have rested some of their starters against the Rams.

Before that game kicked off, Fisher said Monday afternoon that he’d rather the 49ers win, meaning the Seahawks would have to try to clinch against the Rams.

“Yeah, we’d much prefer that because in a lot of ways, if it didn’t and they locked up home field throughout and everything, then you guys put the little asterisk by the (Rams) win if that happens,” Fisher said. “We’d rather have it mean something.”

Fisher got his wish Monday night when San Francisco held off the pesky Falcons 34-24. The Seahawks still haven’t clinched the NFC West title, much less the No. 1 overall seed. So there will be a lot on the line for them Sunday.

While Fisher will be occupied with the Seahawks on Sunday afternoon, just about everyone else in Rams Nation will be curious to see if the Rams come up with the No. 1 overall pick for the second time in five drafts.

Although Houston is in the midst of a franchise-record 13-game losing streak, the Texans did defeat Tennessee 30-24 in overtime at Reliant Stadium in Week 2 of the season. And the Titans have been anything but invincible at home, losing five of seven at LP Field entering Sunday’s finale.

The Texans, however, are minus their top two ballcarriers with Arian Foster and Ben Taint both on injured reserve. Quarterback Case Keenum missed last week’s game with a thumb injury, and there is some speculation that T.J. Yates will make his first start since 2011.

Washington, meanwhile, is trying to avoid its eighth consecutive loss. The Redskins lost to the Giants four weeks ago at home 24-17.

In addition to that pick from Washington, the Rams also have their original first-round pick. As things currently stand, the Rams would get the 15th overall pick with that selection, but it could change up or down several spots depending on whether the Rams win or lose against Seattle. And depending on how 12 other teams with records ranging from 6-9 through 8-7 do in their finales.

 

[CGI_Ram]

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_09eaabb7-5cca-5ed8-8281-bf3509677cf2.html

There are few circumstances in the intensely grinding world of pro football in which the devastating news of a Pro Bowl offensive tackle’s season-wrecking knee injury ever can be viewed as something bordering on positive.

But the Rams are in the rarest circumstances of them all, possessed with the good fortune of owning enough riches in the upcoming NFL draft to actually withstand the hardship of waiting for Jake Long’s gimpy knee to heal in its own due time.

On Monday, Rams coach Jeff Fisher received the final medical confirmation of what was suspected 24 hours earlier when Long was carted off the Edward Jones Dome field during his team’s victory over Tampa Bay: a right knee with a torn anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament damage.

That’s bad news no matter how you slice it. Long was the anchor of the Rams’ offensive line, a special Pro Bowl talent. In the short term — this Sunday’s regular-season finale in Seattle — the Rams simply will reshuffle their available talent and make do.

In the long term, the last thing the Rams want to do is make do. Fisher wants to make sure that he has a solid and talented offensive line in place next season to protect his franchise quarterback, Sam Bradford, who will be returning from his own knee surgery. Even with a healthy Long, restocking the O-line already was an offseason need. With a rehabilitating Long, that need has been upgraded dramatically to a priority that Fisher and general manager Les Snead can’t ignore.


“We’ll address that once we’re finished with this season,” Fisher told reporters Monday. “But I would have confidence in (Long) coming back. He’s an exceptional athlete, takes care of himself, understands rehab and he’ll get himself back and ready to play.”

That is not only ambitious thinking, but incredibly wishful thinking, too. With damage to both his ACL and MCL, and with doctors advising to hold off on surgery for four to six weeks, that means Long will have six months of recovery before the start of the next regular season. That’s really pushing it. That’s not only optimistic, it’s borderline pie-in-the-sky hoping. And the one thing this new Rams regime isn’t big on is preferring hope to intelligent design.

If the organization quietly is hopeful that Bradford will be up and fully operational by the start of the season, it would have to be looking for a miracle to expect Long to be 100 percent by September.

Instead of relying on miracles, though, I suspect the Rams will rely on a smart plan.

Luckily for them, the roots of a darned good plan already in place are about to pay off in ways they couldn’t have imagined two years ago when it was first hatched.

But the residue of the trade that landed Robert Griffin III with the Washington Redskins is the plan that keeps on giving. Two seasons ago when the Rams traded the No. 2 pick in the first round, they collected a bevy of draft choices from the Redskins that they already have parlayed into the foundations of their rebuilding plan.

The final piece of that trade, Washington’s first-round pick next spring – right now the No.2 pick — means if the season was over now, the Rams would own the second and 12th picks (the latter their own) in the first round.

A week ago, it looked as if the Rams were the luckiest (smartest?) team in the draft. A week ago, it seemed likely that Fisher and Snead would try to barter the pick from Washington for more draft picks. They still might be thinking that way. But now that pick could be even more valuable, because there just happen to be three giant offensive tackles most draft experts evaluate as Top 15 talent on the board. We’re a long way from individual workouts, pro days and the exhaustive NFL draft combines. But as it stands today, Texas A&M senior Jake Matthews, Michigan’s Taylor Lewan and Alabama’s junior Cyrus Kouandjio have almost can’t-miss grades.

Fisher’s draft history suggests he doesn’t particularly like to spend first-round picks on offensive linemen. In his entire history as an NFL head coach, Fisher never has used a draft pick higher than in the second round on an offensive lineman. In fact, since becoming a head coach in 1994, Fisher only twice has used a pick higher than the third round on an offensive lineman.

But he’s spent a lot of time fortifying his defense in his first two seasons with the Rams, and now the circumstances might allow him to change his habits, particularly because of the rare combination of necessity and tempting available talent.

It’s still too early to tell what he’s going to do. There still might be a way to trade out of that pick from Washington, cash in on a deal that could produce a similar wealth of draft choices such as the celebrated 2012 trade and still be in a position to find strong O-line help later in the first or early second rounds. There certainly will be a few more first-round worthy talents who could be sitting further down the line, such as Virginia’s Morgan Moses, Notre Dame’s Zack Martin or Baylor guard Cyril Richardson.

Once again, these are good problems to have, because the Rams do have plenty of options. And that’s a result of smart thinking. When it comes to trades of the magnitude of the Rams’ deal with Washington, it isn’t all that unusual for a lot of organizations to attempt to collect as many of the draft picks in a one- or two-year cluster. Sometimes, the urgency of collecting as many players as possible as immediately as possible is a lure almost impossible to resist.

But Fisher and Snead did resist that urge, choosing to spread out the RGIII deal over three drafts, which suddenly is providing them with the perfect Christmas gift for a coach and GM who suddenly are in the market for immediate O-line help.

Some people might call that darned good luck.

Smarter people would call it exceptionally wise planning.

Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together?

 

[Rams and Gators]

"the Rams could pick anywhere from second to fifth depending on how five teams fare that enter Sunday with a 4-11 record: Atlanta, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Oakland, and Tampa Bay."



I like the new smileys by the way, hopefully we'll be using this one :number1: on Sunday

 

[RFIP]

There is virtually no way they pick loser than 3rd, almost "locked" in to 2nd, with a "chance" @ #1 overall.

 

[den-the-coach]

The New York Giants have come through for the Rams before defeating the Patriots in two Superbowls especially denying them of an unblemished record so go Giants beat those Redskins.

The Tennesse Titans and their coaching staff will not be back in 2014 and many of them have worked for Jeff Fisher in the past. All we are asking is to lose your final game and give your former boss a gift that will last for many years to come and lose to the Texans. Come on former Ram Ryan Fitzpatrick fumble a couple of times when Watt sacks you and thus giving the Rams the number one pick overall and the opportunity to trade down ensuring the RGIII trade is the gift that keeps on giving!

 

[RamzFanz]

If they parlay a #1 or #2 into another blockbuster deal...OMG.

AND if they deal down just enough to still grab Clowney and a LT...