Patriots vs. Rams, Week 8: St. Louis fans searching for positives

The St. Louis Rams took an early lead in London yet quickly fell apart, losing to the New England Patriots 45-7 at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.

The Rams have now lost three games in a row after starting the season 3-2 and appeared helpless to stop the Patriots on Sunday, as Tom Brady and company amassed 473 yards of total offense on their way to a relatively easy victory. St. Louis appeared prepared to shock the Patriots when Chris Givens took a Sam Bradford pass 50 yards to give the Rams an early 7-0 lead, yet New England would reel off 28 points to ensure the game was fully out of reach by halftime.

With St. Louis struggling in the first year under coach Jeff Fisher and rumors of an impending Steven Jackson trade swirling, it's tough to find positives about the Rams as they travel back across the Atlantic. Yet Tevin Broner of Turf Show Times does just that, stating that he is encouraged by the progress of Bradford under center:

Sam Bradford, played a hell of a game. It didn't show in points, or even passing yards, but he's showing that he's steadily improving. For those who followed me on twitter during the off-season, you know that I was critical of Bradford, really critical. But, how can I be critical when he's improved on the things that I wanted him to improve the most and the team is still losing.

Sam has improved in the pocket, he hasn't been shying away from hits, he goes through his reads, sometimes too quick, but he's not always staring down his primary read, Sam has shown his athletic ability to move away from pressure and to extend the play, hell even his usually pitiful deep pass has gotten better. Man, that play action isn't so obvious anymore.

The Rams will have a bye in Week 9 before traveling to San Francisco to take on the 49ers on Nov. 11.