The St. Louis Rams' 2012 season is dependent almost entirely on a big improvement from Sam Bradford—which I introduce by way of expressing, again, my ambivalence about the idea that we'll know a big improvement from Bradford when we see it. The big problem: His ostensibly impressive 2010 season.
↵The solution: We should probably all admit that Sam Bradford wasn't an all-time-great rookie in 2010. He was an all-time-there quarterback—a guy who was impressive most of all because he stayed on the field and was given a ton of volume, if not a whole lot of responsibility per touch.
↵He was probably a little worse in 2011, but neither season is going to get the Rams into consistent contention or Bradford into a big contract to match the one he got as a rookie. If he improves he might still throw for something like 3500 yards, or even 18 touchdowns. But he'll do it without getting into 600-attempt range, and with well more than six yards per attempt.
↵The counting stats might not look much better—at least not right away—but if he's more efficient than he was in 2010, it might be time for Rams fans to finally get excited about Sam Bradford again.