St. Louis Rams Struggles In Preseason Somewhat Irrelevant
If one thing has been proven year after year in the NFL it is that the results of preseason games mean absolutely nothing. Obviously players are evaluated by the coaches in these contests but whether the team wins or not is irrelevant. The St Louis Rams found that out the hard way in 2011 when the team went 4-0 in the preseason only to struggle through a 2-14 mess when the real thing began. Losing the opening game to the Indianapolis Colts by a decisive margin was humbling, sure, but really meaningless otherwise.
Another prime example of the preseason’s insignificance was with the winless Detroit Lions in 2008. They too completed a 4-0 preseason that year only to fail to win a single contest when the real games started.
None of this may comfort the Rams and their new regime of Jeff Fisher at head coach and Les Snead as general manager, but it should. This team was abysmal a year ago and had so many holes on its roster heading into the offseason. Asking anyone to fix that many issues in just a few short months is impossible.
The good news is that this team has plenty of young promise and a stockpile of draft choices to utilize in the future. Sure, there will be growing pains along the way, but it appears that the newest additions to the roster are good ones. Janoris Jenkins can play at a Pro Bowl level as long as he stays out of trouble away from the field. Isaiah Pead has the potential to be a human joystick and can thrive in today’s NFL.
A simple way to put this is to say that the Rams lack of success in the first preseason game really isn’t even a blip on the radar. The vanilla looks on defense combined with the relatively subdued gameplan on offense led to exactly what the coaching staff wanted: a look at their young players in a real game situation with pads on. Don’t let the score line worry you, the Rams are building the right way.
Follow Anthony Blake on Twitter @AnthonyMBlake or on Facebook at Anthony Mizarkus Blake
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