If you could have sat down two months ago and proposed the question regarding what the Rams need to do to get better, I guarantee 99 out of 100 people would say the same thing.

Shore up the defense. Duh!

Okay, but what about the offense?

Well there’s nothing wrong with the offense. We’ve got Holt, Bulger, Steven Jackson emerging, what more can you want?

Now while I remind you this is a couple months ago, the question here I’m wondering is how many “experts” would call the strategists at Rams Park crazy for going right out in the free agent market and picking up two more pieces for the offense? It sounds like the ghost of Mike Martz is sneaking into Scott Linehan’s bedroom and planting subliminal rants about his glory days into Linehan’s ear while he drearily drools on his Ram-head goose-down feather pillow.

But is it so crazy? How does the old cliché go … the best defense is a good offense?

Sure the Rams will address their needs for an effective run stopper to anchor the center of the line and yes there still is much speculation about possible trades and deals swirling around, and that’s besides the draft possibilities. But one thing that’s hard to deny is the evil little smirk that creeps in at the thought of going punching the pedal of an even faster hot-rod to the floor.

New cliché- rationalization: Why worry about having enough guns to defend the house, when you have enough horse-power to run the entire house out of reach on a regular basis?

Guess there’s a little Mike Martz in all of us. But it’s another boldly intriguing idea that’s emerging from the shadowy depths of Rams Park, where information is so secure and clouded, you might think they are doing genetic experiments instead of plotting for the new season.

One thing we already know, however, is that you don’t have to look far to find the way-to-early Greatest Show on Turf comparisons and analysis based on what Randy McMichaels and Drew Bennet could potentially add to the offense, and while that thought is intriguing, I’m sure that no matter how many weapons and options Marc Bulger has, we will never see balls flying around like they did in those days – and that’s okay. But what we can dream about is a more entertaining ‘what’s next’ as coordinators routinely get burned for attempted blitzes and mis-matches caused by three number one caliber receivers running out at the same time, along with Jackson and McMichaels underneath. Now that’s going to be a fun chess-match to watch unfold.

The simple fact is that if your opponent is under constant pressure just to keep up, the first thing that will go is most opponents methodical game plan, and as long as the offensive line holds up their end of the bargain, the same defense the Rams had last year would suddenly find itself ranked in the early teens.

So with much less fanfare than some of the teams in the NFC West, the Rams are using their sneaky sneaky to creep under the radar with what so far appears to be somewhat of an old familiar mindset, much like the one my dad taught me way back when I was dealing with bullies in grade-school.

Hit ‘em in the mouth fast -and hard … then run like hell!

GO RAMS!!!

~Mark Adams/The WatchDog~