Football Is Here....Sort Of

  So much talk.  So much promise.  So much hype.  So little to show.  Yep, that pretty much sums up the start to the St. Louis Rams season.  After a 31-13 blowout, fans can only sit back and hold their breath.  Sorry folks, it looks like it's going to be a loooooong season.

  After a great showing by the defense on the Eagles opening drive, stopping the "Mighty Vick" from scoring, one could not have asked for a better start from the offense.  I'm at my usual bar, Truman's Place, watching the Rams come up to the line of scrimmage.  As I often do with my friends, I'll give the Steve Savard-like play-by-play of what ensued on the first offensive play of the season:

  Rams come to the line of scrimmage, Gibson and Amendola the receivers on the far side, Steven Jackson in the backfield.  Sam takes the snap, hands off to Steven running left, finds a hole, picks up the first down, and more!  25-20....Steven Jackson takes it 47 yards to the end zone, TOUCHDOWN! ST. LOUIS RAMS!

 It appeared the buzz during pre-season was coming to fruition; the Rams were back!  Not so fast, though.  One more carry by Jackson and he was gone with a quad strain.  This seemed to create a domino effect of not just injuries, but bad play all around on both sides of the ball.  With Danario Alexander deactivated, the offense looked EXACTLY like last year.  Short routes and no deep threat.  Rams wide receivers hardly got any separation and were dropping passes left and right....and also down the middle.  Danny Amendola ended up leaving the game with a separated shoulder after actually making a catch, Jason Smith left with an ankle sprain (again) and Sam Bradford missed several snaps, tending to his injured throwing hand.

The defense, well, the 31 points should tell the story.  Vick ended up eluding the pass rush just fine.  DeSean Jackson got down field and burned the secondary for a touchdown, and LeSean McCoy was able to bust loose for a touchdown as well.  Rookie Robert Quinn was nowhere to be found, as he was deactivated as well.  By the end of the game, Ron Bartell left with a stinger and Quintin Mikell left in the third quarter and did not return.

  Let's sum up, shall we?  Steven Jackson scored the only touchdown, the Rams wide receivers were ineffective, and key injuries caused the Rams to sputter on both sides of the ball.  The result...a Rams loss and a lot of wondering.  Does any of this sound familiar?  As stated in my title, football is back....sort of.  However, we might be in for more of the same, but with 15 games left, anything can happen and lets hope it does.