One thousand

[Honolulu Blue]

I never thought I'd get here, but here I am. Bring on the strippers.

[WSUCougar]

For 1000? Pah! No strippers for you!

Management will send you a fruit basket.

[Kodos]

I was surprised to see that ol' SkyDog has jumped ahead of me to number 3 in the post count sweepstakes. Soon, Fritz and maybe Shorty will overtake me.

Post count ranking falling... falling... falling... RISING! RISING! falling...

[primelord]

That's what married life will do to you. :)

[Kodos]

Married life and the fact that I have drastically cut back on the number of polls I post. ;)

[WSUCougar]

...and the fact that Dave Wanstedt didn't get fired.

[primelord]

..and the fact that Dan Marino sucks. :)

[Kodos]

That's seriously bumming me out. I've lost my will to post, eat, or create worthless polls...

[Kodos]

Originally posted by primelord
..and the fact that Dan Marino sucks. :)

He's no Marc Bulger... I'll give you that one. :)

[primelord]

Originally posted by Kodos
He's no Marc Bulger... I'll give you that one. :)

Yea at this point I wish the Rams would bring Marino out of retirement. Since they refuse to play Warner I wish they would do ANYTHING but keep playing Marc Bulger.

[Kodos]

I see doom in the Rams near future. And I like them.

I would love to see them beat the Pats in a rematch, but I can't imagine them even getting to the Big Game.

[Ksyrup]

It's not like Warner has shown much of anything when he has played. They certainly can't give him some reps now that they are in the playoffs.

[rkmsuf]

Warner and Bledsoe look a lot alike now...

[Ksyrup]

Except one of them got to make himself look bad on a weekly basis, while we had to imagine the other one doing the same.

[primelord]

Originally posted by Ksyrup
It's not like Warner has shown much of anything when he has played. They certainly can't give him some reps now that they are in the playoffs.

I don't agree with that at all. There is no question he looked bad in the first half of the Giants game this year. And whether or not a concussion contributed to that or not is really besides the point. He looked better in the second half of that game than Bulger has looked at any point this season.

And he looked very good for the few snaps he got in Detroit as well. I realize the Warner ship has sailed at this point. But that doesn't mean the Rams are making the right choice. Bulger has looked awful in every game since the Pittsburgh game in week 8. He was lucky in the games where he was at his worst they were playing a Ravens team that ended up having to play Chris Redmond for half the game, and playing the Bears and Cardinals. And in both the Bears and Cardinals games it took a 4th quarter come back and late FG to even get those wins.

In his last 9 games he has 11/16 TD to INT ratio. He just flat out hasn't been good. I think the Rams will be sorry when they deal Warner in the offseason and see he still has it for another team.

[Kodos]

I wouldn't mind seeing Warner go to the Fins. Of course, he'd have to change his number.... :D

[WSUCougar]

I heard an interesting comment about Bulger yesterday - the point being that he cannot throw very well to his right. He throws well to the middle of the field, and is okay to his left, but he is consistently inaccurate on anything to his right. Case in point was the wide-open Cam Cleeland miss at the goal line against Detroit, as well as the limited number of flares and outs he throws successfully to the right. Anyway, an interesting concept.

I heartily concur with primelord on this. Bulger has proven himself to be - at best - an average NFL quarterback this season. The Rams win in spite of his errors, and they often struggle because of them. Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce get great separation and are usually WIDE open, which gives Bulger a greater margin for error on his throws (which he needs - his accuracy is quite poor).

The thing that will make or break the Rams in the playoffs is their ability to pick up the blitz and protect Bulger in general. He cannot excel with the quick/hot reads that Warner could. The Lions simply pounded on him.

[Ksyrup]

The point is, they committed to Bulger, and couldn't very well bench him when they were winning even though he was playing poorly. Bulger played quite well, as I recall, immediately after Warner was benched. So going back to Warner was not really an option. And once he started playing poorly, it becomes very difficult to bench him when the team is winning.

I think they are in a catch-22 on this issue, but honestly, I think the system has more to do with both QBs successes and failures. I don't think a change at QB would change the outcome for this team - both QBs turn the ball over way too much to be successful.

I really want Warner to go somewhere else, simply because I want to see whether it was him or the system. I think he's better (was better?) than Bulger, but I think the system made him super-human. Once defenses adjusted, he's never recovered. Once they adjusted to Bulger, look what's happened.

[Kodos]

Just to add to my earlier comment, it would have to be an incentive-laced deal for Warner. I think he has to prove that he hasn't lost the ability to play well.

[WSUCougar]

True, Ksyrup. Martz and the team publically threw their lot in with Bulger. But then it became the Catch-22 you mentioned - I think Martz painted himself into a corner because of the perceptions regarding the QB situation. And the public outcry in St. Louis was remarkable...the city was split between Bulger and Warner camps, each very passionate in their support of their guy.

As for the system, IMO if Warner was healthy and confident, he would have had huge numbers again this season. The guy is razor-sharp accurate and a lightning-quick reader of defenses, neither of which are Bulger strengths. The plays and patterns are there, Holt and Bruce get open (and Faulk, and Looker, etc.).

I guess we'll see when he goes elsewhere.

[Kodos]

I would have loved to have seen Marino in the Rams' system. Imagine what he could have done with them in his prime....

[Wasabiak]

Originally posted by primelord
I think the Rams will be sorry when they deal Warner in the offseason and see he still has it for another team.

Yeah, just ask the Steelers. (A little eNFL inside joke there)

[The_herd]

I think Warner was a great QB in a system that took full advantage of his abilities. The Ram's offense is suited perfectly for Warner and vice versa. But right now, Warner looks like a punch-drunk fighter in pocket. He's slow to react and looks like he's afraid of the next big hit. He's been hit too many times because when he was on, he would hold on to the ball until the absolute last second, and its clearly taken its toll on him. I'm hoping he gets back to the Warner of old, because that, quite simply, was the best I've ever seen the QB position played.

[WSUCougar]

I think he's also a bit gun-shy because of the situation he's been put in. Think about it: an MVP-caliber player riding the ultimate dream wave falls from grace (so to speak) and bottoms out to the point where he is supplanted as a starter and many of the fans that would have frikkin' DIED FOR HIM two years ago are suddenly calling for his head. His teammates support the other QB. He takes it all in stride and is a great team guy, supporting his rival. Yet if he ever gets the chance to play...

The pressure on him to be perfect is very palpable.

[primelord]

But Bulger didn't play exceptionally well after Warner was benched. He was terrible in the first half of his first game in San Francisco. And only Cedric Wilson pulling a bone head plan and not getting down saved the Rams in that game. He didn't look much better against Seattle the next week. He then had a good 4 game run, but has been awful in every game since.

I don't see how it is difficult to bench the starting QB even if you are winning. Everyone here likes to point out the number of 4th quarter comebacks Bulger already has in his career. They point to that as a good thing and make comparisons to John Elway. However they fail to realize that the only reason the Rams needed so many 4th quarter come backs is because Bulger had them down early in the game.

There is no question having the weapons around your QB like the Rams do is going to inflate your QB's numbers. However if you have watched every game Warner and Bulger have played there just is no question who the better QB is. Bulger flat out can not throw a deep ball accurately. I keep hearing about what a strong arm he has, but what good does it do when he just keeps under or over throwing Holt down field? He also has an awful problem with locking on to Torry Holt and not going anywhere else with the ball. That alone has led to several of his ints this year.

Another very telling stat to me is that the Rams WR's YAC numbers are way down with Bulger than they were with warner. That is because he can't hit a receiver in stride they are always having to reach back to catch the ball.

So are the Rams garaunteed super bowl winners with Warner at the helm? No. Considering it looks like they will have to go to Philly for the NFC championship game I am not certain it will matter who the QB is. But does Warner give them the best chance to win? Absolutely.