The St. Louis Rams have not had a lot of good news come their way this season. In order of severity: Sam Bradford's long-awaited meetup with Josh McDaniels has been less Paul McCartney meets Michael Jackson and makes "Say Say Say" and more Michael Jackson meets Paul McCartney and makes "The Girl Is Mine"; Steve Spagnuolo's vaunted defense has lost most of its vaunt, and with it Spagnuolo's short-term job security; the active roster has reached the part in an Agatha Christie novel where people start dying every few pages, and Hercule Poirot doesn't have any leads. Aside from Brandon Lloyd, the offense has been a barren wasteland of bad news. The defense, if nothing else, has Chris Long.
↵That's right: I don't want to curse things prematurely, and since he's off to an outstanding start to the season it's likely I'll look like I'm doing it when he regresses a little, but right now Chris Long's 2010 breakout looks to have been more real than we could have reasonably expected. After earning 8.5 sacks in 2010 Long's got nine already in 2011, sixth in football.
↵The Rams' occasionally derided draft pick is finally paying off. Of course, there's additional good-bad news, too—Robert Quinn, Long's newly drafted partner in quarterback-terrorizing, is second on the team in sacks. With four. Despite having not yet made a single start.
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