Rams News Recap: Jan. 17-18

[RamBill]

Jerry Jones interview with Times Took Place in Irving, not Green Bay –PD
NFL executive Eric Grubman mistakenly thought a New York Times interview with Dallas owner Jerry Jones took place minutes after the Green Bay-Dallas divisional round playoff game Jan. 11.

Rams Mailbag: Offseason Underway –Wagoner

Rams-Related Notes: Championship Round –Wagoner
We are down to the Final Four, and once again, the NFC West division and a two-time St. Louis Rams opponent is still standing and the prohibitive favorite to win the whole thing.

Is It Too Little Too Late for the Rams and St. Louis? –Bernie Audio

Benny Cunningham: We need to have a tremendous offseason –Video

William Hayes: “We finally jelled as a unit.” –Video

T.J. McDonald: “We can go toe-to-toe with anybody” –Video

 

[RamBill]

Morning Ram-blings: Rooney weighs in on Rams
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/15529/morning-ram-blings-rooney-weighs-in-on-rams

EARTH CITY, Mo. -- In the apparently never-ending cycle of NFL power brokers weighing in on the future of the Rams in St. Louis, another important voice made his thoughts known Friday.

Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II, who doubles as the chairman of the NFL's stadium committee, spoke to the Los Angeles Times and came strong with his words on the Rams' potential move to Los Angeles.

"I think we're comfortable that we could stop a team legally from moving if it didn't go through the process," Rooney told the Times.

Those words come on the heels of last week's comments from Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in which he said Rams owner Stan Kroenke could find a way to move even if the league didn't give him its approval. NFL executive Eric Grubman denied those claims to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, but Rooney doubled down on Friday.

As the Times piece points out, though, the NFL's track record of denying teams attempting to move isn't all that strong. There's plenty more to chew on in the article, including discussion of what would happen if the Rams are joined by the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers in applying for relocation next year.

For what it's worth, there's been no indication from the Rams or Kroenke that they intend to "go rogue" and not go through the proper avenues of making a move. But they might not have to. If Kroenke's Los Angeles plan is the most appealing to the league and the owners in terms of setting up shop in the country's second-biggest market, then that's what's going to happen. As always, there's still a long way to go in all of this.

The Times also had this piece on Kroenke's history and efforts to get a stadium built in Los Angeles.

I.C.Y.M.I.

A roundup of the weekend's Rams stories appearing on ESPN.com. ... On Friday, we examined Rams general manager Les Snead's comments that the Rams have no regrets about not drafting a receiver in last year's historic draft class. ... We then took a closer look at Grubman's comments from his visits with St. Louis media. ... Mel Kiper Jr. offered his first mock draft and we took a closer look at his choice for the Rams. ... In this week's edition of playoff notes, we took a closer look at the championship round from a Rams' perspective. ... Finally, we closed the weekend with our first Rams' Twitter mailbag.

Elsewhere:

Great read from Ian O'Connor on the man who pushed for the Patriots to draft Tom Brady.

For those with ESPN Insider access, here's Kiper's full first mock draft Insider.

At 101sports.com, Bernie Miklasz says the idea that the St. Louis stadium plan is "too little, too late" is absurd.

At stltoday.com, Miklasz writes that St. Louis political leaders have been noticeably quiet.

Tim Bryant and David Hunn look at some of the obstacles to getting a stadium built in St. Louis.