(On Schottenheimer HC rumors)
After Pat Shurmur, nothing would surprise me anymore. It was very surprising to me that sources say Brian could be in demand. There was no elaboration when I saw it on the TV copy. There potentially could be a lot of coaching changes depending on how teams finish. He did interview for the Jacksonville job. If you look at face value numbers, they're in the low 20's on offense. Those aren't normally the numbers that get you a head coaching job.
(Any matchups that worry you?)
They look pretty evenly matched going in. There have been some illnesses running through the team (flu), but now Finnegan is the only one listed as doubtful. Laurinaitis had a painful back injury, and you could tell it was bothering him in that Minnesota game, but he's probable. He'll play, he never misses a snap. Their injuries this year, compared to last year, are minuscule. They have 4 players on IR this year, last year it was 19. Amendola is good to go, and that's good news against the league's worst pass defense.
(continuance of this from later in the audio)
If the Rams can establish the run, and get to their play-action game, they oughta be able to have a field day. They're down to 4 cornerbacks. They're like 27th in the league in sacks. If they can get that going, they can put some points up against these guys. Maybe come out and throw the ball right away. I don't think Brian was too hot about the line of questioning he got about the up-tempo offense, but the best offenses maximize what their best players do well, and minimize what they don't. This is what Bradford does best though (no huddle). Look what Carolina did with Cam Newton. THEY added college plays, and RGIII is running a college scheme. Even with Shurmur, everyone kept asking him to put in the no huddle. Bradford is getting better and better at studying defense, and he was talking about his more responsibility there is for him, and how it's night and day compared to years past, so maybe he's ready for that.
(on Steven Jackson)
2500, 3000 yards left in him. There are a lot of guys very closely bunched. With 1000 yards this year, he moves into the teens. The upper teens. With this milestone he's about to get, it's really impressive. When you look at the list of guys who have 8 consecutive 1000 yard season, there are 4 hall of famers. I think we can agree LT will be there too. It really puts into perspective what he's about to accomplish. This is the top run defense in Tampa, and Seattle has a good defense, and Jackson has a foot injury, so these last 91 yards are going to be hard to get. The O-line over years have really hurt him getting into the endzone. When people are looking at the HOF, the lack of TDs are going to hurt him. Some of the coordinators were hesitant to run the ball down there by the endzone because of that weakness.
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Let's go over the calls and texts that came in.
Ron (who was clearly drunk):
With, uh, college, and uh, NFL, uhh, Did they outlaw barefooted kickers in the NFL?
JT: I don't think so. During Jeff Wilkins' slump he used to kick barefooted to try and pull out of that. I don't think I can recall seeing another one since. He could be the last one who even tried to do it that way. It was 2002 that he did that. Mike Martz once said he was tired of all this "kicking the ground" stuff, and was getting frustrated with Wilkins.
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Heath: I think the Rams have really, uh, should be proud of themselves this season. Think of what they've been through for the past 4 of 5 years. Going forward, it makes us wanna look forward to next year. I think we kinda opened the door to compete for the NFC West, and the NFC West seems like, the couple last years, we were the laughing stock of the division. With Pete Carrol and the uh uh Seahawks, and Harbaugh with the uh uh 49ers, I think the NFC West is gonna be one of the best divisions in football over the years. My question (thank God), what do you think we need in the draft to keep pace with the rest of the uh uh 49ers and the uh uh uh Seahawks and uh uh uh the rest of the division. We open the door to be a good team, but we need some good drafts.
JT: How about Heath - the voice of reason. There have only been 2 games where the Rams have either not been leading, or not been behind by a TD or more. The NE game and the Minnesota game. The other games, they were within a score in the 4th quarter. It looks like they had a good year in the draft and FA, but they need one more offseason like that to be a bonafide contender. I still think they need to look for a game breaking wide receiver, unless they believe Quick is that guy. Amendola and Gibson are both unrestricted. Say what you want about Gibson, but he's come on lately. I'll bet a week's salary that both will be back, and I hope one of them will be back (Amendola). Offensive Tackle. Maybe one more LB. Dunbar was a great LB, Laurinaitis (despite the season) is a very good LB. Fletcher may not be back. It's possible Quintin Mikell and Craig Dahl will be gone. So those are all areas that they need to work on.
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Host: In my opinion, first and foremost, You GOTTA fix the OL. And you GOTTA get someone out there in center-field. But I'd start with the OL. If you're gonna get Bradford, in his 4th season some help, now's the time to start out getting him some protection up front and get him another WR.
JT: Yeah. Keep trying until you get it right at WR. You gotta get some tackle help. Maybe you look for an interior guy too. Rok Watkins is the guy they took to fill the inside at LG, but he showed out of shape and had an ankle injury, and it was one that forced him to miss half the season. You had the situation to Wells, the injury to Saffold (who they kept on the active roster), and they didn't want to carry another injured OL on that designated IR list, so they put him on perma-IR. He was out there during practice working with Rok Gullickson. He's a big man and looked like an enormous bag of potatoes when he first got here, but he started to get some muscle tone to him, and he can be a heck of a guard. But at tackle, yeah - you gotta get some help out there.
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Alright. That's enough.
JT predicts 27-23 Rams.
