St. Louis Rams 2012-2013 NFL Futures Lines & Predictions
The Rams had a forgettable 2011. The team won just two games, and the only thing that can make that worse, is the fact that things don’t look a whole lot better for the 2012 season either.
2012 St. Louis RamsTeam Preview/Predictions
2011 Record: 2-14
ATS Record: 3-12-1
2012 Rams Futures
Super Bowl Odds: 75/1
Conference Odds: 40/1
NFC West Odds: 9/1
Whether it be a sophomore slump or injury, Rams’ quarterback Sam Bradford did not have the season many expected of him last year. St. Louis went 1-9 with him under center in 2011, and his stats were not exactly encouraging.
And although Bradford had a QB rating of only 70.5, while throwing for over 2,100 yards in those 10 games, he completed just over 53 percent of his passes. Add to that a 1-to-1 touchdown to interception ratio, and there were not many reasons to be excited in St. Louis. He was however, sacked an alarming 36 times, so you have to give it up for the guy.
On the bright side, there’s really nowhere to go but up from here for Bradford, who has shown he has the makings of an NFL quarterback, and like most NFL quarterbacks, just had a miserable second year.
Meanwhile, the Rams will lean on running back Steven Jackson, who can put this team on his back when his body allows. He only scored six total touchdowns last year in his 15 contests, so that number will obviously have to go up if the Rams expect to compete for a postseason bid. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Besides Jackson’s ability to run the football, a pretty underappreciated and underused factor here, is his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. That can often be a quarterback’s best friend when he has the option to dump the ball off while still picking up some meaningful yards. To sum it up, if Jackson is healthy the running game, and short passing game, will be good enough to take some pressure off Bradford.
Finally, the Rams defense managed to hit both extremes last year. It was one of the best in defending the pass, allowing just over 200 yards per game (7th), but was just downright woeful when trying to stop the run (150 YPG). Only a tad better than the Tampa Bay Bucs. If they can somehow find the middle ground to balance their defense out, the Rams will see marked improvement in their overall results.
The team did make additions to improve its defense, and in an effort to shore up some of the defensive line woes, they used their first round pick on LSU defensive tackle Michael Brockers. The Rams also added defensive tackles Kendall Langford and Trevor Law, and end William Hayes. All who they will hope make a difference in helping to stop the run.
Overall, the Rams have a lot to work on, and in my opinion, very little reason to be too optimistic in 2012.
2012 Rams Predictions
Place they’ll finish in NFC West: 4th
Place they’ll finish in NFC Conference: 15th
