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Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_ebedddef-4051-5bfa-a108-6205dc8c43af.html
As much as he'd like to shut off his brain and watch Sunday's NFC championship game as a fan, Sam Bradford knows that won't be possible.
"You watch San Fran and you know their scheme," Bradford told the Post-Dispatch. "You watch Seattle and you know their scheme. It's kind of interesting watching that, and their game plans, and how they feel they should attack them and what the best ways are to do it."
And while he's doing that, Bradford undoubtedly will be thinking to himself: "How are we going to be able to beat these guys next season?"
In 2010, Bradford's rookie season, the 7-8 Rams closed the regular season in a winner-take-all contest with the 6-9 Seahawks for the NFC West title. That's how weak the West was just three years ago. Seattle won that game 16-6, and because it had the tiebreaker edge over the Rams, the Seahawks became NFC West champions and earned a playoff berth with a 7-9 record.
"It's completely changed from when I first came in," Bradford said. "It's definitely tough. You look at Arizona goes _ what 10-6? _ and they're the third team in our division and don't make the playoffs. It's tough, but we believe that we can be the best team in this division and we can compete with everyone in our division.
"I think we showed it last year (2012) with what we were able to do against those teams. Even this year, playing Seattle the way we did at home, beating Arizona at home. We know we can do it. It's just a matter of getting to that point where we're playing consistent enough to do it."
The Rams went 4-1-1 against the NFC West in 2012. This past season the record was 1-5, but Bradford played in only two games against the West _ a victory over Arizona and a loss to San Francisco _ before suffering a season-ending knee injury in Game 7 against Carolina.
"I think Kellen did a great job," Bradford said, referring to backup quarterback Kellen Clemens, who started the final nine games following Bradford's injury. "Obviously that is not an easy situation to come into at all. Your first start being against Seattle on 'Monday Night Football' _ that's tough.
"And I thought he handled everything very well. Not just the on-the-field stuff. I thought he played tremendous, but just the way he carried himself in the locker room, the way he took over the offense and became a leader. I couldn't have been more proud of Kellen and the job he did this year."
Even though Bradford wasn't on the field to experience most of it first hand, he said he saw noticeable improvement over the final 12 games of the season after the team switched to a run-first approach on offense following the embarrassing 35-11 loss to San Francisco in Game 4.
"Oh absolutely," he said. "There's no doubt about it. When we started the 'new season' in Week 5, I think if you just look at what we were able to do from that point, and the mentality of this football team, you know it was completely changed."
After that disheartening loss to the 49ers dropped the Rams' record to 1-3, Fisher told the team _ in an effort to get their spirits up _ that those games were an extended preseason and the real season started in Game 5 against Jacksonville.
The Rams went 6-6 over the final 12 games, including resounding victories over AFC South champion Indianapolis, NFC wild-card team New Orleans, and playoff contender Chicago.
"The way that we were able to establish the run and get the running game going on offense, and then set up some of the play-action stuff," Bradford said. "I felt like our younger guys really came along, especially towards the end.
"You look at what Sted (Stedman Bailey) was able to do. You know, his role increased as the season went along. I think Tavon (Austin) became more comfortable, obviously before his injury.
"And Zac (Stacy) played tremendous, not only running the football but being able to come in and handle all the protections and being able to hold up on third down. That's not easy. That's tough on a young guy.
"So I definitely think that this football team made some strides and got better as the year went along."
Bradford doesn't think the Rams are that far off from being a legitimate playoff contender.
"I think we're close," he said. "Like I said earlier, I think it's a matter of us being more consistent and playing to our fullest potential each week, and not having those drops where we don't perform that way some weeks. But you look at some of our wins this year, some of the teams that we beat. Beat New Orleans who was a playoff team. Beat Indy who was a playoff team.
"So it's not far off. I think everyone saw that we have the talent to compete and to play with anyone. It's just a matter of us just finishing a few more games. I don't know how we do that, but we'll look at that in the offseason and figure out what we need to do. I think we're right there."
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_ebedddef-4051-5bfa-a108-6205dc8c43af.html
As much as he'd like to shut off his brain and watch Sunday's NFC championship game as a fan, Sam Bradford knows that won't be possible.
"You watch San Fran and you know their scheme," Bradford told the Post-Dispatch. "You watch Seattle and you know their scheme. It's kind of interesting watching that, and their game plans, and how they feel they should attack them and what the best ways are to do it."
And while he's doing that, Bradford undoubtedly will be thinking to himself: "How are we going to be able to beat these guys next season?"
In 2010, Bradford's rookie season, the 7-8 Rams closed the regular season in a winner-take-all contest with the 6-9 Seahawks for the NFC West title. That's how weak the West was just three years ago. Seattle won that game 16-6, and because it had the tiebreaker edge over the Rams, the Seahawks became NFC West champions and earned a playoff berth with a 7-9 record.
"It's completely changed from when I first came in," Bradford said. "It's definitely tough. You look at Arizona goes _ what 10-6? _ and they're the third team in our division and don't make the playoffs. It's tough, but we believe that we can be the best team in this division and we can compete with everyone in our division.
"I think we showed it last year (2012) with what we were able to do against those teams. Even this year, playing Seattle the way we did at home, beating Arizona at home. We know we can do it. It's just a matter of getting to that point where we're playing consistent enough to do it."
The Rams went 4-1-1 against the NFC West in 2012. This past season the record was 1-5, but Bradford played in only two games against the West _ a victory over Arizona and a loss to San Francisco _ before suffering a season-ending knee injury in Game 7 against Carolina.
"I think Kellen did a great job," Bradford said, referring to backup quarterback Kellen Clemens, who started the final nine games following Bradford's injury. "Obviously that is not an easy situation to come into at all. Your first start being against Seattle on 'Monday Night Football' _ that's tough.
"And I thought he handled everything very well. Not just the on-the-field stuff. I thought he played tremendous, but just the way he carried himself in the locker room, the way he took over the offense and became a leader. I couldn't have been more proud of Kellen and the job he did this year."
Even though Bradford wasn't on the field to experience most of it first hand, he said he saw noticeable improvement over the final 12 games of the season after the team switched to a run-first approach on offense following the embarrassing 35-11 loss to San Francisco in Game 4.
"Oh absolutely," he said. "There's no doubt about it. When we started the 'new season' in Week 5, I think if you just look at what we were able to do from that point, and the mentality of this football team, you know it was completely changed."
After that disheartening loss to the 49ers dropped the Rams' record to 1-3, Fisher told the team _ in an effort to get their spirits up _ that those games were an extended preseason and the real season started in Game 5 against Jacksonville.
The Rams went 6-6 over the final 12 games, including resounding victories over AFC South champion Indianapolis, NFC wild-card team New Orleans, and playoff contender Chicago.
"The way that we were able to establish the run and get the running game going on offense, and then set up some of the play-action stuff," Bradford said. "I felt like our younger guys really came along, especially towards the end.
"You look at what Sted (Stedman Bailey) was able to do. You know, his role increased as the season went along. I think Tavon (Austin) became more comfortable, obviously before his injury.
"And Zac (Stacy) played tremendous, not only running the football but being able to come in and handle all the protections and being able to hold up on third down. That's not easy. That's tough on a young guy.
"So I definitely think that this football team made some strides and got better as the year went along."
Bradford doesn't think the Rams are that far off from being a legitimate playoff contender.
"I think we're close," he said. "Like I said earlier, I think it's a matter of us being more consistent and playing to our fullest potential each week, and not having those drops where we don't perform that way some weeks. But you look at some of our wins this year, some of the teams that we beat. Beat New Orleans who was a playoff team. Beat Indy who was a playoff team.
"So it's not far off. I think everyone saw that we have the talent to compete and to play with anyone. It's just a matter of us just finishing a few more games. I don't know how we do that, but we'll look at that in the offseason and figure out what we need to do. I think we're right there."
