Predictions for St. Louis Rams Remainder of 2014 Season

Austin Davis continues to make progress as the starting quarterback of the St. Louis Rams. Davis has started to develop a solid working relationship with a veteran receiver like Kenny Britt. You could tell that the Rams would have to make some adjustments this season after they lost defensive end Chris Long to a foot injury early in the season.

Injuries

You have to have people like Long and Robert Quinn at full strength if you want to beat a team like the San Francisco 49ers, by chasing down a quality quarterback like Colin Kaepernick. The Rams are still trying to replace the loss of Geno Hayes in free agency as well, the linebacker corps is starting to find their feet without Hayes, but the defensive coaching staff would admit that there is a learning curve there. 

Tavon Austin has only five catches for a little over sixty yards this season. Stedman Bailey has to work hard in order to get into game shape after facing a four game suspension earlier this season. Stedman Bailey is working extremely hard in order to catch a lot of the different bubble screen and gadget plays that they like Bailey to run.

Running Game

Can Zac Stacy continue to find the holes in the defensive line of the Seattle Seahawks? It will be extremely difficult for the team to find success running the ball if they have to take on defensive linemen like Kevin Williams and Cliff Avril.

Scott Wells and Rodger Saffold are going to continue to create some holes for the Rams with their aggressive blocking on the offensive line. If Wells and Saffold are able to stay healthy, the aggressive and diehard attitude that the Rams bring to the table could get seven wins for the team. 

Schedule

One of the questions that you have to ask if you look at the Rams schedule is how beat up will the Rams opponents be by the time you have the Rams squaring off against them? The Arizona Cardinals have lost two major defensive linemen for the season. Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton have also faced injury problems at the quarterback position for the Cardinals. The Rams faced their own troubles at this position when they lost Sam Bradford for the season due to personal injury; no telling if lawyers are involved.

The Rams have to get a number of well placed, successful safety blitzes if the team hopes to defeat Eli Manning and the New York Giants in St. Louis. You have to see some good play out of T.J. McDonald and Rodney McLeod if the Rams are going to pull what would be an upset in the eyes of most prognosticators at this juncture. You also have to see Janoris Jenkins dealing with Victor Cruz and Odell Beckham well. Jenkins is a shutdown corner in many ways.

Scheme

You have to say that the mainstays on the Rams defense are still getting accustomed to the scheme devised by defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. Williams is in his second season with the Rams and you can see the exotic blitz packages he requires his players to execute.

You have to pay a certain amount of attention to detail in order to find your niche within Williams’ defense. At the end of the season, the Rams can end up being 7-9. You have realize that the Rams participate in the very competitive NFC West, this makes the team prepared to deal with a lot of complex game plans and you can also see the Rams overall toughness.

Brian Quick has truly begun to develop a good working relationship with quarterback Austin Davis. If Davis and Quick continue to connect on deep balls, you will see the Rams put some points on the board and win football games. You could see Lance Kendricks catching 70 passes at the tight end position, given his athleticism.