The St. Louis Rams' offense and defense were both equally terrible in 2011, but the 2012 offseason was devoted primarily to renovation of the defense. To young stars James Laurinaitis and Chris Long, and 2011 first-rounder Robert Quinn, they added a big free agent acquisition, Cortland Finnegan, and two top draft picks, Michael Brockers and Janoris Jenkins. They also added Jeff Fisher, a famously cloud-of-dusty head coach.

So the defense has a lot to live up to, but also a lot of positive momentum heading into the 2012 season. The offense—well, it has to show us something before analysts are willing to assume the Rams will score any points at all. The picks the Rams made on that side of the ball were mostly looking to 2013, so most of that burden falls on third-year quarterback Sam Bradford's shoulders, and right now everyone's mostly just worrying about whether he's hurt.

But if he puts together a big preseason series or two fans might be able to resume expecting great things from the former No. 1 for the first time since that big first half against the New York Giants last year.