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Washington Redskins at St. Louis Rams 8:00 PM ET
St. Louis Rams –3 +100 (2 Units)
We look to get some value here as the public is well aware of the Rams performance on Monday night against the Chiefs and I’m sure they want no part of this team. That’s fine by us. According to offshore reports, we are exactly right as Washington is getting heavy action as of this morning. Starters will get a longer look and returning home after that disaster on Monday night can only help things. Washington is coming off a shutout at Miami but trying to win two straight on the road might be too much too ask, especially with the second coming against a hungry squad.
As bad as the Rams and QB Marc Bulger looked against the Chiefs, Bulger had several factors working against him: a patchwork offensive line; a blitz-heavy defensive plan by Kansas City; and consistently poor field position. The Rams' six first-half drives had an average starting point of just past the 20-yard line. Excessive blitzing used to be frowned upon in preseason games, but that unwritten rule apparently doesn't apply anymore. "We didn't expect that much pressure, but we got it," Bulger said. "It wasn't completely out of the ordinary, though. It was working, and they stuck with it. ... When you play Kansas City it's almost like a regular-season atmosphere." The Rams should be more focused heading into this game against the Redskins. "We're upset," Bulger said. "We're embarrassed with the way we played, but at the same time, we didn't game plan." The game plans begin this weekend. "I did a very poor job getting this football team ready to play," coach Mike Martz said. "This is my fault as a head coach. We came out here and flopped around and acted like we didn't know where we were. And that's a coaching issue. Always is. Always will be. You can blame the players, but that's my responsibility. That won't happen again. We'll make sure these guys are ready to play." Martz said Bulger and Chris Chandler probably will handle the quarterback duties the rest of the preseason, even though rookie Jeff Smoker was much improved Monday against Kansas City. Having veterans play this whole game is a nice edge.
Patrick Ramsey gets the start tonight against the Rams. Because Mark Brunell (a 71.9 rating on 17 completions in 32 attempts) has performed better than Ramsey (35.5 rating on 10 of 27), there is a presumption that Ramsey has one more shot to win the job. Not a good spot to do it on the road in a loud environment with a lot of pressure on his shoulders. "I'm just going to try to run our offense efficiently," said Ramsey, who was only 3 for 8 against Miami after taking over in the waning moments of the first half. There is no real indication of how long the starters will go for Washington. "We're going to go hard the next two weeks and we'll just see what happens," Gibbs said, adding he will continue to rotate players based on feel and with no predetermined playing time. Washington rushed for 181 yards and compiled a nearly 23-minute edge in time of possession against the Dolphins. While that sounds good, the Dolphins weren’t able to keep the offense on the field as they gained under 100 yards of offense. Good Washington defense or bad Miami offense? We’ll go with the latter.
Starting linebackers Mike Barrow and LaVar Arrington will both be out for this game. The Rams fit into a very solid preseason situation. Since 1994, teams in Week 3 coming off two consecutive losses (both SU and ATS) and return home after an away loss are 14-5-2 (73.7%).
St. Louis Rams –3 +100 (2 Units)
We look to get some value here as the public is well aware of the Rams performance on Monday night against the Chiefs and I’m sure they want no part of this team. That’s fine by us. According to offshore reports, we are exactly right as Washington is getting heavy action as of this morning. Starters will get a longer look and returning home after that disaster on Monday night can only help things. Washington is coming off a shutout at Miami but trying to win two straight on the road might be too much too ask, especially with the second coming against a hungry squad.
As bad as the Rams and QB Marc Bulger looked against the Chiefs, Bulger had several factors working against him: a patchwork offensive line; a blitz-heavy defensive plan by Kansas City; and consistently poor field position. The Rams' six first-half drives had an average starting point of just past the 20-yard line. Excessive blitzing used to be frowned upon in preseason games, but that unwritten rule apparently doesn't apply anymore. "We didn't expect that much pressure, but we got it," Bulger said. "It wasn't completely out of the ordinary, though. It was working, and they stuck with it. ... When you play Kansas City it's almost like a regular-season atmosphere." The Rams should be more focused heading into this game against the Redskins. "We're upset," Bulger said. "We're embarrassed with the way we played, but at the same time, we didn't game plan." The game plans begin this weekend. "I did a very poor job getting this football team ready to play," coach Mike Martz said. "This is my fault as a head coach. We came out here and flopped around and acted like we didn't know where we were. And that's a coaching issue. Always is. Always will be. You can blame the players, but that's my responsibility. That won't happen again. We'll make sure these guys are ready to play." Martz said Bulger and Chris Chandler probably will handle the quarterback duties the rest of the preseason, even though rookie Jeff Smoker was much improved Monday against Kansas City. Having veterans play this whole game is a nice edge.
Patrick Ramsey gets the start tonight against the Rams. Because Mark Brunell (a 71.9 rating on 17 completions in 32 attempts) has performed better than Ramsey (35.5 rating on 10 of 27), there is a presumption that Ramsey has one more shot to win the job. Not a good spot to do it on the road in a loud environment with a lot of pressure on his shoulders. "I'm just going to try to run our offense efficiently," said Ramsey, who was only 3 for 8 against Miami after taking over in the waning moments of the first half. There is no real indication of how long the starters will go for Washington. "We're going to go hard the next two weeks and we'll just see what happens," Gibbs said, adding he will continue to rotate players based on feel and with no predetermined playing time. Washington rushed for 181 yards and compiled a nearly 23-minute edge in time of possession against the Dolphins. While that sounds good, the Dolphins weren’t able to keep the offense on the field as they gained under 100 yards of offense. Good Washington defense or bad Miami offense? We’ll go with the latter.
Starting linebackers Mike Barrow and LaVar Arrington will both be out for this game. The Rams fit into a very solid preseason situation. Since 1994, teams in Week 3 coming off two consecutive losses (both SU and ATS) and return home after an away loss are 14-5-2 (73.7%).