Each week, The Times asks the bloggers who cover opposing teams to break down the upcoming game for the Giants ¡ª in 100 words or less. (Give or take a few rants.) Previewing the Giants¡¯ game at the Rams (1 p.m. Eastern, on Fox) on Sunday are the Rams bloggers Jordan Davis, Vince Vitale and Ryan Van Bibber. Jordan P. Davis started writing for MVN.com on the St. Louis Rams blog RAMblings this summer.Cheap NFL Jerseys He loves the smell of freshly cut grass mingling with the scent of a new leather football on a hot and humid St. Louis afternoon. He hates dropped passes and fair-weather fans. So don¡¯t drop any passes.
Our guests focused on the Rams¡¯ apparently overwhelming problems, as evidenced by their flop in the opener against the Eagles. And no wonder. The Rams, with all their offensive firepower, failed to convert a single third down. In the end, our contributors were unanimous in their predictions: the Giants win.
Are the Giants for Real? Perhaps, but the Rams might be so terrible that it will be hard to get a read on the Giants. The Rams played awfully in every facet of the game against the Eagles last week, and one can only hope their performance was a fluke. With that said, the Rams look like a team in the midst of rebuilding. That is troubling news since this squad has a mostly veteran defense and multiple Pro Bowlers on offense. Hopefully, the Rams will exorcise last week¡¯s demons on Sunday, but in all likelihood the G-Men will roll over the Rams, delivering little clarity about their own prowess. Giants, 28-6.
Vince Vitale is a lead contributor of the Rams blog RamblinFan,NBA jerseys and the webmaster of St. Louis Ram Fan. He has lived in St. Louis his entire life. His football memories go back to Jim Hart, Jim Bakken, Mel Gray, Jim Otis, and others while watching them from the ice-cold bleachers at Busch Stadium. Four key matchups will kill the Rams again: Justin Tuck will turn Alex Barron inside out; the Giants will power-run left with Dan Diehl knocking Chris Long out of the way; Plaxico Burress is 7 inches taller than Tye Hill; and the beast, Brandon Jacobs, at 6 feet 4 inches and 265 pounds, will run right over the Rams. The Giants will make it 12 straight road victories. Giants, 23-10.
Since Super Bowl XXXVI, the St. Louis Rams have not played physical football well. The Rams are 44-53 since that horrible day. With the possible home opener blacked out, and Scott Linehan¡¯s future hanging in the balance, the Rams head into Week 2 against the world champion Giants. The Rams do not match up well with the N.F.C. East or the Giants in particular.
Ryan Van Bibber, a life-long supporter of lost causes, blogs about the Rams at the Turf Show Times.
Can the Rams withstand another loss this week? Beyond the X¡¯s and O¡¯s and the chance to get back to .500, a nagging meta-narrative sneaked into the Rams¡¯ home opener this week. This might be the season¡¯s last major opportunity to rekindle fan interest, sell some tickets and try to bolster Neilsen ratings evocative of Chris Elliot¡¯s last sitcom. Add to that whispers of the Rams being for sale and the possibility of a move when their lease hits an out clause in 2015. But, really, having to play the reigning Super Bowl champs on top of all that? Oh, cruel fate. Anything less than an all-out effort and a narrow final score means another lost season, on multiple fronts. The plan to salvage respectability starts with the running game, specifically using Steven Jackson on sly outside runs to take away the imposing N.Y. pass rush. Winning may be too much to ask, but the entire Rams franchise could really stand to land a Hail Mary. Giants, 21-14.
How scared should Marc Bulger be of the Giants¡¯ defensive line? Bulger was treated like a tackling dummy last season because of injuries to the offensive line. Even though the line was mostly healthy last week against the Eagles, Bulger faced a torrent of pressure and was on his heels most of the game. The Giants¡¯ defense will be more of the same (even if Mathias Kiwanuka is slowed by an ankle injury), but at least it should be familiar to St. Louis¡¯ offensive coordinator, Al Saunders, who spent the last two seasons with the Redskins. Of course, that was true last week, too ¡ Giants, 27-10
John Woods is not a guest blogger. He is a staff editor for The New York Times, a regular contributor to The Fifth Down and the guy who put this post together. He still remembers an unpleasant afternoon spent at the St. Louis Arch in a cramped, dryer-sized ¡°elevator.¡±
The Giants had the polish of a champion in their opener. And lucky for their undermanned defense, this challenge is no meaner. Greatest show on turf? Hardly. It¡¯s true that the versatile Stephen Jackson has a new contract and that the Rams have brought back an old hand in the coordinator Al Saunders, but they lack the depth in their passing game they will need to keep from really becoming a circus. The Rams are still the team that only interests people who play fantasy football. And it would be a fantasy indeed to imagine anything other than this: Giants, 21-10. Naila-Jean Meyers is not a guest blogger. She is a staff editor at The New York Times, a regular contributor to The Fifth Down and a former resident of St. Louis who has fond memories of Brenda Warner¡¯s boas and Mike Martz¡¯s madness.