It's odd that this is the kind of two-step we have to do around the St. Louis Rams' futility every week, but here goes: They certainly could have been worse, Week 7, in losing to the Dallas Cowboys 34-7 with A.J. Feeley in for an injured Sam Bradford. Feeley was borderline competent after starting off really competent, finishing 20-for-33 with 196 yards and an interception; Brandon Lloyd was clearly ready to run Josh McDaniels's offense, catching six balls for 74 yards; Michael Hoomanawanui was healthy for once; Steven Jackson wasn't exactly dominant, but he was competent.
↵Now, meanwhile—the defense, last year's bright spot, is an unholy mess. DeMarco Murray had one of the best games imaginable, rushing 25 times for 253 yards, and he looked good enough (and the Rams bad enough) that if he'd rushed 50 times it seemed like he would have had 506. The only bright spot, if there was a bright spot on defense, was Tony Romo going down twice—but that wasn't enough to keep him from throwing two touchdowns in 24 pass attempts.
↵Things will get better this season—they've shown too many flashes to finish in Suck for Luck territory. But at this point "better" is looking like a few end-of-the-season wins to inspire the same misplaced confidence we saw this year, not an incoming NFC West championship.
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