Larry Brown Sports

It has been more than five years since the New England Patriots were caught videotaping their opponents’ signals, but there are plenty of people who are not ready to let it go. Marshall Faulk is one of those people, as the former St. Louis Rams running back feels he was personally affected by the spygate scandal.

On Tuesday, Faulk spoke with CSNNE.com’s Tom E. Curran and said he is never going to be over getting “cheated” out of a championship.

“Am I over the loss?” Faulk asked. “Yeah, I’m over the loss. But I’ll never be over being cheated out of the Super Bowl. That’s a different story. I can understand losing a Super Bowl, that’s fine … But how things happened and what took place. Obviously, the commissioner gets to handle things how he wants to handle them but if they wanted us to shut up about what happened, show us the tapes. Don’t burn ‘em.”

Members of the media were shown the tapes before they were destroyed, and from what we hear they were exactly what you might think — the Patriots videotaping opposing coaches giving signals. The more Faulk ranted, the more it became clear that he still believes the Patriots taped the Rams’ walkthrough prior to the Super Bowl back in 2002.

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There has been speculation over the past year that the St. Louis Rams could eventually move back to Los Angeles. The agency that operates the Edward Jones Dome rejected a proposal for improvements that was submitted by the team. The two sides are beginning arbitration and, if improvements are not made to the stadium, the team could break its lease and move.

Rams players were well aware of the possibility that the team could be moving to Los Angeles, and wide receiver Steve Smith says he and other teammates would be excited to see that happen.

While speaking on a “Blogs with Balls” panel Friday about the possibility of the NFL returning to LA, Smith was asked if Rams players would be interested in playing in LA. He said with certainty that they would want to.

“Oh I know so,” said Smith. “We talked about it all season long. We would be out literally in practice — during practice — talking about playing in LA. Honestly.”

A candid Smith revealed the types of things teammates would say to each other.

“How nice would it be to be practicing in LA? Just go to the mall after practice in LA. It’s such a beautiful day in LA all the time.”

Early in the panel discussion, Smith spoke in reverential terms about LA when asked what would make the city so attractive to a football player.

“Los Angeles is so attractive. All the people that are out here, all the celebrities. The celebrity that you get from playing for the LA team. All the hookups that you’re going to get — you’re going to go to restaurants and clubs, get clothes. I played in New York, so I saw the big town, the media. There are so many eyes on you it’s a great opportunity.”

Yes, Steve Smith is all about the hookups. But don’t you worry — he certainly did NOT ever capitalize on any hookups while attending USC! Rams fans have to be thrilled to hear this from one of their players.

One of the many changes we have seen across the NFL as a result of the replacement officiating crews is players complaining about dirty play. Rookies typically don’t say much during their first professional season, but Robert Griffin III apparently felt as though the Rams threw enough cheap shots at him last Sunday that saying something was warranted.

“I remember one play,” Griffin said according to an Associated Press report. “After the play, the guy said, ‘We’re going to hit you every play.’ I said, ‘Isn’t this football?’ It’s nothing that I’m not used to. It was extremely weird the way they went about it, though.

“They were doing a lot of dirty things. I still think they have an extremely good team, that doesn’t take anything away from them, but the game was unprofessional. Who am I to talk? I’ve barely been a pro for very long, but from what I experienced against the Saints compared to that game, it was definitely unprofessional and it does need to be cleaned up.”

RG3 thought the Rams had made it a plan to target him in their practices all week, but he stopped short of getting into any talk about bounties.

“I don’t want to tip-toe the lines of anything that’s happened with bounties or anything like that, but they were definitely going after me,” he said. “They made it a point, obviously, all week to hit me. Some of the shots were cheap of that nature. But it’s nothing I can control. Teams are going to try to hit me because they don’t think I can take a hit. I think I’ve proved over my career that I can.”

Trying to hit a rookie quarterback early and often is not a new strategy. Griffin has the ball in his hands for a number of run plays as well as throws, so the Rams likely wanted to do anything they could to rattle him and make his inexperience show through. Veterans have also complained about their opponents playing dirty this year, so perhaps it is the result of the replacement officials not having control over the games. Still, it’s surprising to hear a rookie speak so candidly about it.

Photo credit: Matthew Emmons-USPRESSWIRE

When we saw the Ram Rules video that the St. Louis Rams released a couple weeks ago, we were shocked at how stupid a team can consider its fan base to be.  The guys over at JoeSportsFan.com have first-hand knowledge of what life is like as a sports fan in St. Louis, and the video didn’t seem to surprise them.  In fact, they thought it was lacking a bit.  Fortunately, they decided to add rules 6-10 to the Ram Rules video. Check it out:

Phenomenal. The Rams made a huge mistake when they missed all of these rules.  How could they forget about the produce rule? Thank goodness we have bloggers out there to make things right in the world.

You can file this one under lamest things we have ever seen in the history of the NFL. Part of what makes sports traditions so special at given venues is its history. Chants like “J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets!” were not learned during a corny video presentation. They were started by maniacal fans who have a passion for their team. Apparently the St. Louis Rams can’t grasp that concept. Have a look at this Ram Rules video that teaches Rams fans how to cheer:

If I were a Rams fan, I would want to do the opposite of everything they say in this video just on principle. You don’t tell people when to cheer and when not to cheer. It’s a natural reaction. And you certainly don’t try to create traditions like yelling “sack!” Some drunk guy has to come to every home game for 15 years to do that and then it will catch on.  Want to have your fans cheer their asses off and come up with creative chants? Assemble a winning team.

Chest bump to Deadspin for the video.

They did it to us. We said they might, but hoped they wouldn’t — they did. For anyone intrested in watching two terrible teams this Sunday night, the NFC West-leading St. Louis Rams (7-8) will take on the second place Seattle Seahawks (6-9) for the division title and the four seed in the NFC playoffs.

The NFL had 16 games to choose from for the primetime slot, and while this game is the only one that will decide a division, it’s not the only one with playoff implications. The difference is the other obvious options — the Giants at the Redskins and the Bears at the Packers — each involve at least one team better than either of the teams playing Sunday night. Honestly, the only game on Sunday that doesn’t fit that criteria is the other NFC West game between Arizona and San Francisco.

Presumably, the NFL wanted to keep both the Packers and Giants at 4:15 EST in order to sustain some drama. If they moved the Packers to Sunday night, and the Giants and Buccaneers lost earlier in the day, the night game would feature two teams that had nothing to play for. This way, the Giants and Packers will be playing simultaneously, with the last Wild-Card spot on-the-line.

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After watching the Rams beat the Redskins 30-16 last weekend, we recognized that rookie quarterback Sam Bradford gives his fans reason for hope. On Sunday, the Rams handled the Seahawks 20-3 for their first divisional win since week 11 of 2007. The back-to-back wins gives them their first winning streak since week 6 and 7 in 2008 (their only wins that season) and it ended a 10-game losing streak to Seattle. Now it may be time to raise the stakes: does Sam Bradford and the improved defense give Rams fans reasons to believe the team can win the NFC West? Sure does.

A big reason why the Rams are in contention to win the NFC West is the poor quality of teams in the division. Although Arizona is 2-2, the Cardinals barely won their two games and were blown out in their losses. They’ve changed from Derek Anderson to Max Hall twice during games because of pathetic quarterback play and they lack an offensive identity. If Sebastian Janikowski could kick, they’d be 1-3.

Seattle looked great in a 31-6 season-opening win over the 49ers, but they’ve been brutal on the road and only beat the Chargers at home because of two Leon Washington kickoffs returned for touchdowns. The Rams just got done dominating Seattle 20-3 and appear to be much better. That Seattle beat San Francisco 31-6 tells you all you need to know about the hopeless 0-4 Niners. Even a change at offensive coordinator couldn’t give them a boost.

You could knock the Rams by saying that they could win this division by default, but I’ll prop them up citing their solid defense and improved quarterback play. They haven’t allowed more than 17 points in a game and the defense seems to be getting better each week. Ditto for Sam Bradford — the rookie quarterback has thrown for 944 yards and six touchdowns in his first four games. He may be on pace for the most productive rookie season by a quarterback since Peyton Manning in 1998. At this point, they look like the best team in the NFC West.

Photo Credit: Elsa/Getty Images