2015-16 NFL Preview: St. Louis Rams

The Ultimate Sports Blog's

2015-16 NFL Preview

2014-15 Record: 6-10

Last Playoff Win: 2004 Wildcard vs. Seattle Seahawks

Last Playoff Appearance: 2004 Divisional vs. Atlanta Falcons

Last Super Bowl Win: Super Bowl XXXIV vs. Tennessee Titans (1999)

Last Super Bowl Appearance: Super Bowl XXXVI vs. New England Patriots (2001)

Head Coach:

Jeff Fisher (162-147-1 all-time as NFL head coach; 20-27-1 all-time in St. Louis, 5-6 in playoffs)

Assistant Head Coach: Dave McGinnis

Offensive Coordinator: Frank Cignetti Jr.

Defensive Coordinator: Gregg Williams

2014-15 Team Leaders:

Passing Yards: Austin Davis (2,001 passing yards, 63.4% completions, 12 TD's, 9 INT's, 85.1 QB rating)

Rushing Yards: Tre Mason (179 attempts, 765 yards, 4 TD's)

Receiving Yards: Kenny Britt (48 receptions, 748 yards, 3 TD's)

Tackles: Alec Ogletree (111 tackles)

Interceptions: Trumaine Johnson (3 interceptions)

2014-15 Team Rankings:

Passing Offense: 23rd in NFL

Rushing Offense: 20th in NFL

Points Per Game: 21st in NFL

Least Points Allowed Per Game: 16th in NFL

2015-16 Potential Starters:

Player Guide:

Purpe - Elite Starter
Blue - Above Average Starter
Green - Average Starter
Orange - Below Average Starter
Grey - Rookie
Red - Disgusting, Awful, Horrible, E.J. Manuel


Offense:

QB: Nick Foles

RB: Tre Mason

WR: Kenny Britt

WR: Brian Quick

TE: Jared Cook

C: Tim Barnes

OG: Rodger Saffold

OG: Jamon Brown

OT: Greg Robinson

OT: Rob Havenstein


Defense:

DE: Chris Long

DE: Robert Quinn

DT: Michael Brockers

DT: Aaron Donald

LB: Alec Ogletree

LB: Akeem Ayers

LB: James Laurinaitis

CB: Janoris Jenkins

CB: Trumaine Johnson

FS: Rodney McLeod

SS: T.J. McDonald

2015-16 Schedule:

(September 13) vs. Seattle Seahawks

(September 20) vs. @ Washington Redskins

(September 27) vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

(October 4) vs. @ Arizona Cardinals

(October 11) vs. @ Green Bay Packers

(October 18) BYE WEEK

(October 25) vs. Cleveland Browns

(November 1) vs. San Francisco 49ers

(November 8) vs. @ Minnesota Vikings

(November 15) vs. Chicago Bears

(November 22) vs. @ Baltimore Ravens

(November 29) vs. @ Cincinnati Bengals

(December 6) vs. Arizona Cardinals

(December 13) vs. Detroit Lions

(December 17) vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

(December 27) vs. @ Seattle Seahawks

(January 3) vs. @ San Francisco 49ers

Final Prediction: 8-8 (2-4)


Overlook: The St. Louis Rams are a hard team to get a read on this season. There are some parts of the roster that I absolutely love and there are some parts where I just shake my head and wonder if the Rams have a plan of any kind or are they just winging things as they go? First and foremost? The quarterback position. I understand people in St. Louis were tired of Sam Bradford and his injury-prone ways and most everyone was ready to move on from him. However, anyone who thinks the Rams significantly upgraded the position by adding Nick Foles to the mix is in for a serious rude awakening this year. Foles is a less-than-average NFL QB who looked spectacular at times in Chip Kelly's offense (Kelly has a great way of hiding a QB's weaknesses), but I'm extremely worried about his long-term future in the NFL and Rams fans should be as well. The Rams signed Foles to a long-term extension this off-season and are really banking on him turning into a franchise QB. This has the makings of something that could turn really ugly, really quick though.

Offensively, the Rams don't have a whole lot of weapons to surround Foles with. The running back position is a bit of a question mark heading into the season. There is tons of talent there, but no one knows who's going to step up and take the starter position. Will it be Tre Mason? Will it be the explosive rookie Todd Gurley? Hopefully for Rams fans, Gurley will be 100% healthy by mid-season and will be taking the league over like a lot of NFL experts think he can. The Rams are really lacking elite/really good players on the offensive side of the ball and Gurley has the talent to become the primary focus of St. Louis' offense. If Gurley turns into a great player, that would really help with Foles' development considering he's not going to get much help elsewhere. The Rams' wide receivers are horrible and the offensive line is a pretty young group that features two rookies and one guy going into his second year. Something tells me this could be a looooooooooong year for St. Louis on the offensive side of the ball. This is just not a very good overall unit.

Defense is definitely the strength of this Rams team. If this team is going to get to a .500 record like I predicted, it's going to stop and begin with how the defense performs this year. Last season the Rams had a middle of the pack defense, but this year they should get some improvement with players getting some more time to get comfortable in the system. There aren't a lot of teams in the NFL with a scarier defensive line than St. Louis has this season. Rookie Aaron Donald exploded onto the NFL scene last season and was surprisingly dominating. I expect him to be even better this year and that's scary. This kid has the potential to become the best defensive tackle in the league and if you don't know who he is, shame on you. Overall, there aren't any real weaknesses on the Rams defense and there's a lot to like here. They are a mostly young unit that should continue to grow together and should improve significantly. If not, it's going to be a long season in St. Louis.

So what should we expect from the Rams this season? Perhaps my prediction of an 8-8 season is a little much considering St. Louis doesn't have a lot to offer offensively. However, I expect two other teams in the Rams' division to take pretty big steps backwards this season and that could help St. Louis as they try and return their football program back into the "greatest show on turf".