St. Louis Rams Real Talk Week 8: International Beatdown

Sorry, England.

If you brought your kids out to that nice little football tutorial session last week, please instruct your little ones to forget every single thing they were told. Better yet, if you can find Will Smith and a neuralizer, do so.

If you want the more positive view, well—at least the St. Louis Rams are now an international embarrassment, no longer constrained by the borders of the US.

The St. Louis Football Rams surrendered a home game in 2012 to play in the United Kingdom. And they used this opportunity to "grow the Rams brand" to open up a fresh round of questions:

Like, for instance: Were the Rams a 3-2 fraud? Are the younger players actually getting better? Was the cash grab worth it? Are these such things as football gods and, if so, why the hell do they hate St. Louis so very much?

Oh, and Steven Jackson? He's pretty much all but done as a Ram according to PFT and Adam Schefter.

Just a spectacular flop for the Rams. Really.

They took the worse case scenario and laughed in its face. They made the Patriots look like the Super Bowl contenders everyone thought they were 8 weeks ago.

Sam Bradford. Barely cracks 200 yards.

This isn't news. He's the kind of QB that treats 300 yard games like a venereal disease he's trying to avoid catching. But the Pats. The Pats had the worst secondary in the NFL. So you figure that even in a mauling, he'd get 300 in the air.

Nope.

Take away (a very nice) deep ball to Givens on the first drive and he's looking at about a buck fifty for the remaining 57 minutes of play. And in case you were wondering, yes, the Rams did lead in time of possession (31:06 to 28:54).

May I repeat: the Patriots had the WORST secondary in the NFL.

What do you even say at this point? We're half way through year 3 of the Bradford era and he's yet to emerge as a player that can rise above bad circumstances and lift the play of his offensive teammates. I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet, but how long should we wait?

Steven Jackson is probably done as a Ram.

If the Rams are going to make a move, it's going to be done this week while they're on the bye.

SJ39 has had a year voided (mutually) off his contract to make him a free agent after the season. He had a mysterious injury/benching. He's been taking every third series completely off so Daryl Richardson can get more PT. The Rams have made it clear that he's not in their long-term plans at his current pay rate.

Long story short: It's over.

Jackson is a borderline Hall of Fame RB that has put up sick numbers for terrible teams. He deserves a chance at winning something in his career. So it's the right thing to do. Many national media outlets are circling this story, so rather than endure 2 weeks of chatter around Rams Park... it's time to move on.

Many in St. Louis will be shocked with what the Rams get for Jackson. A 4th round pick might be too much.

Still won't help the bigger problem.

The Rams have to get a stadium deal done. Speaking as a fan, why would I endure the grossness of Sunday if I don't know that better days lie ahead.

Better days in St. Louis, that is.

The Rams are 3-5 and still have some games on the schedule that are pretty sure losses. They're going to finish under .500. And the Rams will be asking for a little more time, pointing out all the improvements in 2012.

Problem, though, is that we're really not ready to emotionally invest enough to endure this crap unless we're sure that the Rams are in it for St. Louis.

Worst, we thought all this was over.

That's why Coach Fisher is in St. Louis. No more 45-7 blowouts. He was the guy that kept teams in games no matter what. And when the odds looked stacked against him, he came out with some of his best efforts. The 35 point thrashings were left in the epitaphs of Scott Linehan and Steve Spanuolo.

Here we are, though. Swallowing hard at another sinister beating.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. The first few weeks were going to suck, then the Rams were going to coalesce and build for a great 2013 season. Instead, these guys appear to have peaked in Week 5. And since have regressed mightily.

Twitter Reacts:

I mean, it's funny. But on a serious note, there are people in England that don't know anything about our city but that Rams game. That's what they have to go on. Think about that.

By the way, 12 flags for 102 yards? That's an INSANE amount of penalty yards for the Rams. It's almost as if the Patriots are this golden team that gets preferred treatment from the refs or something.

I never liked Oasis. I was out on Wonderwall before you were. I promise you that.

That wont guarantee any more wins, just ask Gary Pinkel. HIIIIYYOOOOO!

These are the kind of Tweets you did up when 45-7 games happen. This girl has no interest in football. Whatsoever. But the Rams are an easy punchline again. Just when you think things are going in the right direction...

BTW, how do people put little images in their names? Like that yin and yang sign? I never trust people that have them in their handle, but on the other hand, am impressed they've worked the system to get them in there.

Record: 3-5

Real Meter: (Where we project the Rams win total for the year): 4-12