1st Down - NFC Review

NFC East
1. Dallas (3-3) - The Boys are truly the best team in the NFC on paper. Too bad all of the wheels fell off the bus at the same time. Adam Jones is joining Amy Whinehouse in rehab, not to mention the other half of the secondary is hurt, and Romo. The addition of Roy Williams (instead of say...Bolden) was puzzling and they gave up the house. Williams better start catching some balls or he will be unemployed.
2. Philadelphia (4-3) - Is it me, or has McNabb peaked for the year already? The absence of Westbrook really hurts the ground game. The good thing is that their are 2 WRs coming back, along with Westbrook in this tough division.
3. Washington (5-2) - Not the prettiest 5-2 team, especially considering they lost to the hapless Rams. This team still seems to be overachieving from last year. Good team, but we will see how long they can ride the Portis train to victory.
4. New York Giants (5-1) - Who says you can't be good after winning the Super Bowl? Well, the jury is still out. This is the same NY team that started 6-2 the last 2 years. Will the real Eli Manning please stand up?

NFC South
1. New Orleans (3-4) - The only way this team wins the division is if they spread out 5 guys and throw it 50 times a game. With Bush hurt, this might not be a bad idea. Wouldn't it be cool if they were the only pro team running the spread next year? They have the WR power. PS - This defense is atrocious.
2. Carolina (5-2) - Solid run game, great WR, good QB, decent defense. Yep sounds like a playoff team to me.
3. Atlanta (4-2) - Surprise of the year. Nobody picked them to do THIS good. I still wouldn't be surprised if they end up .500. But that running game along with Ryan to the Roddy Express, this team is 2 good years away. Maybe they can bring Vick back as a KR or CB.
4. Tampa Bay (5-2) - I just don't like this offense. Their defense is scary and is getting better with age. They retooled the LB/DB core with some savvy veterans still leading the way. I just dont see this team doing better than last year. Hats off to Warrick Dunn for still playing like he has for the last 5 years.
NFC West

1. Seattle (1-5) - I didn't even have to update this section, it reads the same: It's not that the Seahawks are that good, but more of saying that this could be the weakest division in football. Seattle may struggle early with a number of receivers out, but it should be better after the return of Branch and Engram that should lead them to their 6th consecutive conference title.
2. St. Louis (2-4) - The Haslett era is in full swing. Consider that an admiration after the bye week. The high is surely to wear off against the Pats this week.
3. Arizona (4-2) - This team will go as far as Kurt Warner can lead them. Keeping Kurt upright and on the field has always been his kryptonite. With a lot of division games coming up, this team could write its own ship by week 10.
4. San Francisco (2-5) - New Head Coach, same offensive coordinator. When will people realize that Mike Martz is as much poison as potent? Sure he increases your ppg by about 6, but he is a pour evaluator of talent. This team will be ok as long as he doesn't get to shop for the groceries.

NFC North
1. Green Bay (4-3) - Aaron Rodgers took a page out of the Brett Favre page and played through a significant injury. I just hope we don't hear about poor Aaron addicted to pain killers like a certain QB before him.
2. Minnesota (3-4) - The Jared Allen experiment is not working. Well, its not all his fault but you have to blame it on somebody. Allen was supposed to be the glue this defense needed, but the Vikes let up 48pts to the Bears with Kyle Orton at QB.
3. Detroit (0-6) - At least Matt Millen is gone.
4. Chicago (4-3) - Who knew that the Bears would be a potent offense? Forte sure, Hester, OK, but Orton for Most Improved Player? Who'd thunk it?

Playoffs
Dallas, Green Bay, Seattle, New Orleans, WC - Philadelphia, Minnesota

Marshall Plan - Blow up the Rams

Faulk suggested that the Rams should be better than they are:

“Decisions have to be made. Do you blow it up, where do you go, what do you do? I mean, players that have had big time success, we’re talking Pro Bowl caliber players: Marc Bulger, Torry Holt, Orlando Pace, Steven Jackson. They look like they don’t belong in the league. And it’s not because they can’t play. You’re not going to tell me that. I’m not believing that they all of a sudden can’t play in this league.”

Faulk contrasting the Bears’ upset of Indianapolis to the Rams’ poor play:

“You’re not going to tell me that the (Bears) offense that they put out there is more talented than the offense that the Rams put out. It’s preparation, it’s understanding what you have; it’s having guys that are reliable.”

Faulk, on the Rams’ decision to release WR Isaac Bruce to open a starting job for Drew Bennett:

“I’m sorry, I’m a little biased to Isaac Bruce. I love Isaac Bruce, and I’ll let facts be known that there’s no way — and I don’t dislike Drew Bennett — but there is no way that this guy is better than Isaac or belongs or should be on that team instead of Isaac. It’s things like that, it’s misjudgment of talent. The guy’s been hurt. He’s often hurt. No knock on him personally, but they needed (Bruce). They could have used him (Sunday).”

Faulk on Steven Jackson:

“I said this earlier in the year, and I think people took it wrong, because I heard a couple comments. I said the Rams shouldn’t pay Steven Jackson. I don’t understand why they’re going to pay him. And I think people took it, like, maybe Steven’s not good or not dynamic. When you can’t block, and when you can’t sack the quarterback and stop the run, there’s no need to have a running back like this. There’s no need to pay him what you’re going to pay him–you’re not going to get to use him. What was he, like, 11 (actually 14 carries) for 40 yards? That’s a lot of money sitting in the backfield, and not have it or be able to use it, or you fall behind by 20 points. Now he’s definitely out of the game. And his effectiveness and what you love about him and what you’re paying him for is no longer necessary. I only forecasted that the Rams would be playing from behind, and people thought I was taking a jab at Steven–it had nothing to do with Steven; it had more to do with the team.”

Faulk on Rams defensive coordinator Jim Haslett:

“I love Jim. I used to find his defenses to be the most complicated to play against. And now I look back and I say even at (age) 35 with a bum knee I might go for maybe a hundred yards rushing and another hundred receiving right now,” against the Rams defense.

Faulk continued talking about Haslett:

“I like Jim. I’ve always thought highly of him. And I don’t know, maybe he’s upset of the old Rams-Saints days and he’s throwing games or whatever. Some of the things I saw happening out there the other day, I wonder when he sat in his office yesterday morning, what was his mindset? Was he thinking, ‘I need to change it up.’ Was he thinking, ‘my players screwed it up.’ Or was he thinking that he messed it up. Because one of the three things happened, or needs to happen.”

(Note: I think Faulk was joking about Haslett throwing games).

Faulk said Rams coaches should avoid showing the players the game film from Philadelphia:

“I went through a rough patch like this with the Colts, and coaches often don’t even want to look at the film. You don’t want guys to look at the film because it can be so bad that when players notice that it’s that bad, it’s hard to recover from. So I’m hoping that he didn’t allow them to watch the film, the coaches watched it and they go out there and try to make corrections and try to get guys to move forward from the debacle that happened. Something like that can linger though out a whole season just like last year with the Dolphins. It’s tough to get over losses like that.”

If you’d like to listen to an audio of the entire Faulk interview, it is posted at Ben Boyd’s web site, www.STLsportsInsider.com

OK, a quick postscript from me on this:

* I know for a fact that Faulk wants to step in and do what he can to turn the Rams around … he is willing to come back as a personnel executive or possibly even as a head coach … but he will not do so as long as Scott Linehan is the coach. And he probably would stay away as long as Jay Zygmunt is the GM. Faulk has told me that he likes Zygmunt personally but isn’t sure how a working relationship would go.

* Faulk has a good rapport with Rams managing partner Chip Rosenbloom and Rams president John Shaw.

* I believe Marshall is being a little disingenuous about the Steven Jackson stuff. I don’t think he has a lot of love for Jackson. I don’t think Jackson has a lot of love for Marshall; let’s just be honest about this. And I know Faulk wants to see how Jackson competes after signing the big contract.

* Faulk has intense feelings about the Rams and is saddened and frustrated by their demise … after having the best and most successful years of his career in St. Louis, he is disgusted by the decline of the franchise, which he blames on many years of terrible mistakes made on personnel decisions. It kills him inside when he hears the Rams being the butt of jokes with analysts at the NFL Network, or elsewhere on TV. Some critics will say that Faulk should hold his comments instead of speaking up and possibly creating controversy … I disagree. He’s like anyone else who loves the Rams. He’s mad as Hell. And it’s hard to keep those feelings bottled up.

My TAKE: Marshall is absolutely correct. This is the same team that drafted Eric Crouch to play WR, not to mention the other 2 qbs they drafted that they wanted to convert to WR or DB(but didnt try to take Brad Smith, a local stud and do the same?). They brought in Drew Bennett (bust), never replaced the special teams that was in place during the Vermeil years (Az-Hakim and Tony Horne), and let go a number of great players and leaders (Dre Bly, London Fletcher, Isaac Bruce, Grant Wistrom, Kevin Carter, Kurt Warner, etc.). In return, they overpaid for Marc Bulger, Steven Jackson, Chris Long, and whoever they draft #1 overall next year.