The NFL preseason gets into full swing this weekend, and it's about time that I start previewing each team and give you all my outlook and predictions for the upcoming season. I want to take a pretty extensive look at all 32 teams before the season officially begins, so I'm going to write about two teams each day. Therefore, it will be pretty much all football from now until Week 1, but there will still be time to address other stories that might come up in the sports world.
I'm going to start on the west coast with the two last place teams in the AFC West and NFC West, and then work my way east. Why did I decide to do it that way? I have no idea. I suppose it was so I could do the Giants last but it doesn't really matter because I'll write about all 32 teams no matter the order. I'll look at how each team fared last season, what their schedules look like this season, look at offseason changes, and give you my thoughts on a best and worst case scenario for each team. So without further ado, now begins my preview of the 2012-13 NFL season. Today we'll look at the Rams and the Chiefs, and we will begin in St. Louis.
St. Louis Rams
There is a reason we are starting in St. Louis. They finished last in the NFC West with a record of 2-14, and the stats make it look even worse. The Rams were dead last in the NFL in scoring, averaging only an anemic 12 points per game. They were 31st in total yards, and 30th in passing yards. Defensively, they were 26th in scoring defense and 31st in rushing defense. The only bright spot was a good passing defense, as St. Louis was 7th in the league in pass yards allowed. Overall though, they were just not good enough to compete, as their 2-14 record showed.
Non-divisional games: Detroit, Washington, Chicago, Miami, Green Bay, New England, NY Jets, Buffalo, Minnesota, Tampa Bay
The Rams come into the 2012 season with, obviously, pretty low expectations. After going a combined 6-48 from 2007 to 2009, St. Louis made a positive leap forward in 2010, winning 7 games. However, for a few different reasons (mostly just poor play), the Rams fell back to 2-14 in 2011. That poor record meant the end for head coach Steve Spagnuolo, and the Rams were able to hire Jeff Fisher, a coach with a long and somewhat impressive track record.
St. Louis was also able to add some solid free agents on defense, including Kendall Langford, Jo-Lonn Dunbar, and Cortland Finnegan. They also took defensive tackle Michael Brockers with their first round pick, and added cornerback Janoris Jenkins in the second round. Brockers is young, big, and talented, and Jenkins has a lot of talent but his stock dropped due to multiple off-field problems. With those additions and some holdovers from last season, the Rams defense has the potential to improve upon their 2011 showing.
The problem with this team, as the numbers clearly showed last season, is the offense. Sam Bradford missed some time last year, but even when he did play, he wasn't exactly great. Steven Jackson is clearly the best player on this offense, and he has been the definition of a workhorse back for his entire career in St. Louis. He has rushed for over 1,000 yards in seven of his eight seasons in the NFL, and is approaching 10,000 career rushing yards. So obviously, Jackson is a stud. However, the same cannot be said for anyone surrounding him on offense. Bradford has shown flashes of greatness from time to time, but injuries and inconsistency have marred him throughout his career. Whether that is due to the lack of talent around him, his own poor play, or a combination of both is up for debate, but the fact is, Bradford has thus far not lived up to the expectations of a number one overall draft pick.
The Rams did little to improve their offense during the offseason, as their only free agent addition of note was Steve Smith, who spent much of last season on the sidelines, and is far from a sure thing to be healthy this year. They lost their best wide receiver in Brandon Lloyd, and along with Smith, added wide receivers Brian Quick and Chris Givens in the draft. Quick has the potential to be somewhat intriguing, but without anything resembling a number one receiver, the Rams have not done much to improve the cast around Bradford. Lance Kendricks is a respectable tight end, but the offensive line is mediocre as well. All of this adds up to an offense that will probably struggle to score points again this season.
A final note to consider here is that the Rams brought in Gregg Williams to be their defensive coordinator, and he is facing a lengthy suspension due to his involvement in the bounty scandal in New Orleans. This could potentially hurt the defense and its ability to grow as a unit because of uncertainty with the coaching staff.
As far as the schedule goes, the first six weeks are not too bad, but since this is one of the worst teams in the league, they will be challenged to win any given game. Following those six games, the Rams face a murderer's row of Green Bay, New England, and San Francisco in the following three games (with a bye week sandwiched in there). If the Rams can stay somewhat afloat before these three games, they have a shot at respectability, but I'm not sure if that is possible.
Best-case scenario: Bradford stays healthy and finally starts to consistently demonstrate why the Rams drafted him number one overall in 2010, Steven Jackson puts up another 1,000 yard season, one of the young receivers shows some promise, a defense that seems to be improved on paper also improves on the field, and the Rams go 6-10.
Worst-case scenario: Bradford either gets hurt again, or struggles and questions arise as to whether he is worthy of being a franchise quarterback, Jackson is the only weapon on offense that teams have to worry about and therefore are able to keep the Rams from scoring many points, the defense doesn't get any better, and the Rams struggle to win more than 4 games.
Realistic prediction: The Seattle Seahawks will be better this year, and the San Francisco 49ers are a legitimate Super Bowl contender, so I think the Rams should be happy to go 2-4 in the division, but that is by no means a certainty. Simply because they were so bad last year, I think the Rams will be marginally better, but I'm going to say 4-12 is my prediction for them this season.
Kansas City Chiefs
This is a team that I have heard multiple people mention as a sleeper team to make a leap forward this season, and I can see why they would think that. After winning the AFC West in 2010, injuries really hurt the Chiefs last year and they finished last in a competitive (but not exactly stellar) division. Head coach Todd Haley was fired after 13 games last season, and Romeo Crennel seemed to inject some life into the team, as they won two of their final three games, and handed the Packers their first loss of the season. However, losing their star running back Jamaal Charles and young and talented safety Eric Berry to season ending injuries within the first two weeks of the season, as well as losing quarterback Matt Cassel for some time was too much to overcome, and the Chiefs finished 7-9 one year after winning the division.
Non-divisional games: Atlanta, Buffalo, New Orleans, Baltimore, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Carolina, Cleveland, Indianapolis
The Chiefs have the potential to improve this year. Jamaal Charles, Tony Moeaki, and Eric Berry will all be returning from injuries, and Matt Cassel will be ready to go as well. The Chiefs also added Peyton Hillis to take some of the running load off the back of Charles, and have a very good number one receiving threat in Dwayne Bowe. I'm still not totally convinced that Matt Cassel can lead a team to any postseason wins, but he has support around him on the offense that will take the pressure off of him and allow him to manage the game and not have to go out and throw for 300 yards every week. The offensive line is also above average, so I think this offense has the potential to be pretty good as long as they can avoid more injuries.
As far as the defense goes, there is a lot of talent here. Derrick Johnson and Tamba Hali are legitimate studs, Brandon Flowers and Eric Berry are good in the secondary, and if first round draft pick Dontari Poe can use his big body to occupy blockers in the middle of the field, the Chiefs could be able to put some pressure on opposing quarterbacks. The Chiefs also have an above average special teams unit, and Javier Arenas is a threat to run kicks back for touchdowns every time he touches the ball.
The biggest key here is health though. A lot of Kansas City's key players are coming back from serious injuries, and no matter how long they have had to recover, you can never predict how their bodies will react to a full 16 game schedule. If the Chiefs can stay healthy, I think those people calling this team a possible sleeper to contend could be proven correct.
The schedule is very tough at the start, but gets considerably easier for the final month of the season. Their first five opponents are Atlanta, Buffalo, New Orleans, San Diego, and Baltimore. If they can go at least 3-2 over that span, I think they have a chance to have a pretty good record. If not, they will be in a hole that may be tough to dig out of in a very competitive AFC.
Best-case scenario: All of the players they lost to injury last season come back strong, Matt Cassel has a good year, Peyton Hillis is able to return to his 2010 form and lighten the load on Jamaal Charles, Dontari Poe pans out and opens up lanes for the talented pass rushers of Kansas City, Derrick Johnson is up near the top of the AFC in tackles, and the Chiefs are able to win the division.
Worst-case scenario: Matt Cassel has a below-average season, Jamaal Charles is unable to return to his pre-injury form, a defensive line full of high draft picks fails to live up to its potential, a tough first half schedule dooms the Chiefs, and they are out of realistic playoff contention by Thanksgiving.
Realistic prediction: I think the Chiefs will definitely improve this year, as they have so many talented players coming back from injury that they almost have to get better. The AFC West could potentially be a tough division this year, but I think the Chiefs have a shot to at least be in contention for a spot in the postseason. My prediction is 9-7.
So that ends day one of my look at the upcoming NFL season. There will be plenty more to come, and tomorrow I'll look at the Indianapolis Colts and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Daily Giants Update: The first preseason game is only two days away now, as the season is getting closer and closer and we can officially defend our Super Bowl title.
Daily Diamondbacks Update: A 4-3 deficit after 7 innings last night turned into a 10-4 win following an offensive explosion in the final two innings. Paul Goldschmidt is still hitting, Chris Johnson seems unable to make an out ever since he has arrived from Houston, and Stephen Drew has shown some promising signs of improvement over the past few days. We are in the 4th inning tonight and down 4-2. Ian Kennedy has not pitched very well, but there is still time to score plenty of runs and continue to try to trim the deficit in the division. Let's go DBacks!
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