St. Louis Rams Information
The St. Louis Rams have been playing professional football since the 1937 season but they’ve traveled quite a bit to get to the St. Louis area. The team originally played their games as the Cleveland Rams from 1937-1945. The team had to shut down during the 1943 season because most of their players were called into duty during WWII, but in 1945, the team won the first of their three NFL championships. The team moved west to play in Los Angeles from 1946-1993 and for much of that time, they shared the city with the Los Angeles Raiders, now playing their games in Oakland. The Rams won their second championship in 1951 and moved to St. Louis before the 1994 season. The team finished 4-12 in 1998 and saw their starting QB suffer a season-ending injury in training camp, but as most football fans know, that injury to Trent Green made way for Kurt Warner to excel. Warner, previously employed as a shopping mart bagboy, led the team to a Super Bowl victory over the Tennessee Titans and earned a spot in the memories of many fans. The team went 12-4 in 2003 under Coach Mike Martz, who will enter his fifth season as leader of the team. The Rams have one of the top offenses in the league and are one of the more entertaining teams to watch in person and on television.
Marc Bulger has taken over as starting quarterback for the St. Louis Rams and with the team releasing Kurt Warner in the off-season, Bulger looks to be the QB in St. Louis for a long time. Bulger threw for nearly 4,000 yards last season and completed more than 63% of his passes but had 22 interceptions to go along with his 22 touchdowns. Running Back Marshall Faulk was hurt for part of the 2003 season but still ran for more than 800 yards and ten scores. Torry Holt has established himself as a top three receiver in the league, joining the likes of Marvin Harrison and Randy Moss. Holt almost reached the 1,700 receiving yards mark, a number few have ever reached, and he also helped the team by catching 12 touchdown passes. He’ll team up with veteran Isaac Bruce and the duo will likely put up similar numbers to the past few seasons when they were both top receivers in the league. Jeff Wilkins, the place-kicker for the Rams, scored 163 points last season by converting 39-42 field goals (long of 53) and going a perfect 46-46 on PATs.
Adam Archuleta and Pisa Tinoisamoa tied for the team lead with 78 tackles. Leonard Little led the team with 12.5 sacks and six forced fumbles while Robert Thomas led the team with 6.5 tackles for loss. Four players recorded at least five sacks in 2003 and ten players had at least 40 tackles on the season. Seven defenders had at least 3.5 tackles for loss and 11 different players forced at least one fumble, one reason why the Rams had 22 forced fumbles, near the top of the list in that category. The Rams also had four different players with four interceptions on the season.
The Rams had seven draft picks in 2004 and used their first round pick on Steven Jackson, a running back widely regarded as the best in the draft. Jackson has the capabilities to be a special back in the league and will also come in handy should Faulk suffer another injury. The Rams used their next three picks to take defensive players before selecting QB Jeff Smoker from Michigan State in the seventh round. Smoker was a good college player before being diagnosed with problems related to alcohol. Smoker took some time away from the game but came back last season to lead Michigan State to another solid season.