Below are some good information about the Rams from the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Jim Thomas. This entry is from Tuesday and today (Wednesday)). His overall theme is how conservative the play calling is, however he never can reconcile how one calls for long pass plays with a swiss cheese offensive line.

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Derrelle: Hi Jim last week I sent you a message about how the Rams need to start enjoying football well that hasn't happened yet this team is so separated you could park a train between them. Remember when Linehan was first hired and he was preaching about how this will be a family type team what happened to that. Jim did you see when he was trying to hype the team up and the players were like "yeah whatever man" it is clearly animosity somewhere on this team, also remember you said that Bulger takes the O line out for dinner from time to time well it's about that time because he really dont trust the O line right now that's the reason for the interceptions. Why in the world does olson wait till the fourth quarter to throw the ball to Mc Michael. I would like to say in closing that the Rams need to have a team dinner and come together to solve this thing
 
Jim Thomas: How do you come to the conclusion that this team is "so separated you could park a train between them?" I think it's a fairly close team _ but perhaps no closer or no farther apart than others of recent years.

I thought the offensive line played all right against Tampa, all things considered. The reasons for Bulger's interceptions:

_ A poor attempt by Bulger at throwing the ball away on the sideline pass to Bruce.

_ An underthrown fade pattern by Bulger in the end zone to Drew Bennett. (Bulger claims it was a miscommunication, but it doesn't sound like Linehan is buying that.)

_ A miscommunication with Brian Leonard. Bulger thought Leonard was turning one way on the pattern; Leonard turned the other way.

As for the delay in throwing to McMichael, I'll just say this. The play-calling in general especially in Games 1 and 3 _ has been a befuddling mystery

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Murat: Hello Jim;

Last year when the offense was struggling, Linehan and Olson incorporated some plays from Martz's offense. I do not understand why Linehan is expecting a different outcome this year when the plays they call are completely anti-Martz. How many weeks should we suffer before we see a gutsy play from the offense instead of those line of scrimmage passes? By the way, are the plays getting dumb as we get close to the goal line?

Thanks.
 
Jim Thomas: The Rams actually called a lot of Martz-like plays against San Francisco the dig patterns and deep ins that were a staple of the Martz offense. The Rams had seven pass plays of 20 yards or more in that game a good day's work for any offense (even with the failure to convert those plays into touchdowns). But I agree with you about the very conservative play-calling against Carolina and Tampa Bay. You cannot play a game as if you are afraid to lose, or afraid to make a mistake. You have all these accomplished veteran receivers Holt, Bruce, Bennett, McMichael and you've got to find a way to get them involved while not ignoring the run. Although improved, the Rams defense isn't nearly good enough to hold up in games where the offensive game plan is so convservative.
As for the red zone offense, as I pointed out in Tuesday's "Tuesday Morning Quarterback Story" the Rams have a meager 30 yards in 21 red zone plays this season. I don't think there has been a single red zone pass thrown to McMichael in that setting.