Hello my fellow TSTers!

I'm finally back! I just graduated from Basic Training for the USAF and am finally back in the fold. I apologize for the lack of input I have given over the last few draft months. Don't get me wrong, you are my favorite and only sports community! I appreciate all the articles Van and the others write to keep people with not much time (like myself) a big chunk of Rams goodness. Unfortunately, I missed the NFL Draft but I was caught up due to the excellent TST analysis of all the picks. I look forward to sharing my opinion with you all over this next (hopefully) NFL season!

First off, let's get this out of the way. The officiating was horrendous. Yes, we all know. But that wasn't the reason the Rams lost. But now, the debate will rage for months about firing Pat Shurmur. His vanilla playcalling style is a bastardized version of, what I think is, a west coast offense. Again, this has been going on since week 1.

But, I'm going to play a little bit of devil's advocate here.

What do you expect the guy to do? The offense is horrendous. The Rams don't have any superstars (other than S-Jax and hopefully Bradford.) We have a group of practice squad receivers. That's it. DX is a bright spot? Maybe. Certainly not tonight. Missed huge catches tonight. Laurent Robinson? Atrocious. Absolutely atrocious. He should, and probably will, be cut this offseason. Danny Amendola? He's a B player at best. But a slot receiver DOES NOT function well as the star. Look what happened tonight? Brandon Gibson? Wildly inconsistent. Shows flashes of talent but can't seem to pull it together (or a ball in for that matter). 

That brings me to the offensive line. The interior run blocking was..... just.... terrible. Why wasn't Greco dressed out? Goldberg, Bell, Brown, were not getting it done. The fact that Steven Jackson did not have WAY more yards is disgusting to me. Smith struggled immensely in pass coverage all season. His run blocking was great, but a great lineman excels at both. Saffold was the lone bright spot on the offensive line this season.

Blame the OC all you want (because he does deserve part of the blame), but the fact that the Rams offense did as well as they did this season, is a miracle. So, hopefully Devaney and Co. can hook the Rams up with some playmakers and stars so they can make another run.

Ah.... Preseason for the Rams kicks off tonight. Great isn't it? I can't wait to see how we fair against the Jets. But some of us do not live in or even near St. Louis. Which leads me into my next question....

For those of us not fortunate enough to live in St. Louis or have NFL Network, is there any other media available to watch of listen to the game? I live in Montana and am FAAARRR away from my team. I have been checking out radio sites but it seems the NFL has a lockdown on everything. Is there any other way to listen to them without buying the NFL Field Pass?