FanHouse JoshBrown

Training camps have wrapped up, the NFL season is right around the corner, and it's still hot as sin outside. But instead of cooling you off with a warm island song, FanHouse break out ye old heat check for our 2009 NFL Season Previews. We'll rate each club in 5 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

The Rams enter the 2009 season in full-on rebuilding mode. Another bad season wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing for the future of the franchise as a whole, as they need to continue to grow their young players. The remnants of the strong Rams rosters from earlier this decade are either gone or aging quickly. New head coach Steve Spagnuolo will look to mold the next generation his way, starting immediately.

The Rams were a significantly better team on Sunday than they had been the past three games. That team was easily worse than the Detroit Lions, but it seemed like Steven Jackson being back changed the complexion of everything, including the defense and special teams. Well, everything except the man taking snaps.

Jackson ran the ball 21 times and gained 94 yards. Josh Brown and Donnie Jones were excellent kicking and punting, and the defense held the Miami Dolphins to only 16 points. Alas, it still wasn't enough for a Rams victory. Marc Bulger -- despite good run support from Jackson and Antonio Pittman -- was simply dreadful. He connected on less than half his pass attempts and was intercepted three times -- including a game-ender on their last-gasp attempt, when he badly overthrew Derek Stanley.

A head-to-head battle between the top two draft picks was also of interest. Jake Long was squaring off against Chris Long. Considering Chris didn't record a single stat, it would appear Jake got the best of Howie's kid. It was a close matchup, though, as Chris wasn't severely abused by any means. Both have worlds of potential in this league moving forward.

Just one week after dropping a head-scratching, last-second loss to the Arizona Cardinals, the 49ers responded on Sunday as they pounded the Rams into submission, 35-16, giving Mike Singletary his first win as an NFL head coach. With the win, the 49ers improve to 3-7, which is good enough for second place in the NFC West. That's just crazy. It also snapped what had been a six-game losing streak.

San Francisco blew the game open with 28 second quarter points, as Shaun Hill completed 15-of-20 passes for 213 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He connected with Vernon Davis and Bryant Johnson for scores in the second quarter onslaught.

Frank Gore led the 49ers with 106 yards on 18 carries, while also scoring on runs of one and five yards. So, what was the difference between this week's game and the meltdown in the final minutes of this past Monday's game? Obviously it was Singletary's five-point plan for success. For the most part, the 49ers were successful in nearly all areas of the plan, so, hip-hip-hurray for progress.

I'll admit to not watching the Rams-Redskins game in its entirety; the 50-point spread and the virtual guarantee that things would be unofficially decided by halftime didn't really pique my interest. When I saw St. Louis was leading late in the fourth, it caught my attention, and I ended up watching the final six minutes or so.

Which included a Clinton Portis touchdown to give the 'Skins a 17-16 lead, followed by Marc Bulger matriculating the ball up the field (no thanks to Richie Incognito) to set up a Josh Brown game-winning field goal as time expired.

This was Jim Haslett's first game in the post-Scott Linehan reign of terror, and apparently, the former informant and Saints coach is serious about turning things around in St. Louis. You see, in addition to coaching up the troops, Haslett also leads by example.

Each week in the NFL, there are players that impress and players that distress. One week a certain quarterback might toss four touchdowns and run around with his finger in the air while the next he's laying on his back, holding his facemask as the other team returns one of his three interceptions for the game-winning score. With that in mind, here's Studs and Duds.

Here's Week 6 at a glance, where we point out the horses destined for the Kentucky Derby and jeer those headed to the glue factory.

Studs

Drew Brees, QB NO (26-30, 320 yards, three touchdowns) -- Brees is slowly become the elite of the elite at his position, carding his fifth game in six weeks with at least 320 passing yards. The Purdue graduate is basically picking apart opposing defenses week in and week out and is on pace to eclipse Dan Marino's single season passing yardage record set in 1984. After the game, new head coach Tom Cable of Oakland said, "You have to use him as a model if you are the Oakland Raiders." Now 3-3, Brees and the Saints will face an exposed Panthers defense next week and then host a Chargers secondary that gave up 350 yards to Jay Cutler in Week 2. Needless to say, don't expect his numbers to drop.

This morning, NFL Network's Adam Schefter reported that if interim Rams head coach Jim Haslett somehow found a way to win six games this season (which, honestly, is like asking a normal coach of a normal team to go undefeated) he would keep the Rams job.

But, hey, it's good to have goals, I guess.

Buried inside Haslett's new Rams contract is a clause that says if he leads the teams to six wins this season - and it will not be easy with upcoming games at Washington, home against Dallas, at New England - then St. Louis will be obligated to keep him as its head coach for next season. ...

Now, chances are, if Haslett wins four or five games, and shows the culture in St. Louis has changed, Rams management might retain him for next season anyway. But six wins makes it official - not an easy benchmark for an organization that has won only three of its past 20 games.

Well, Haslett's 17-25 percent of the way their, depending on the number of wins he needs to keep the gig for '09. Whatever, the Rams have their first victory of the season, defeating the Redskins in Seattle Washington on a last-second Josh Brown 49-yard field goal.

Looking at the schedule, five (or, hell, three) more wins look tough to come by, but after watching Rams offensive lineman Richie Incognito singlehandly try to lose the game with various personal foul penalties today, I'd have to think benching him automatically increases St. Louis' chances going forward.

FanHouse fantasy positional rankings are compiled weekly by the staff in order to provide answers to possible lineup questions. These are assuming most leagues use Fleaflicker's standard scoring structure. If you need clarification, or have funky league rules, feel free to shoot us an email question.

More Rankings: OVER/UNDER | Quarterbacks | Running Backs | Wide Receivers | Tight Ends | DSTs

Last week I ranted about every outlet in the world ranking Nick Folk number one. This week I just can't justify putting anyone else there ... so I guess I'm no better.

Still, generally, kickers are better if you expect their teams to get in field goal range, but not necessarily the end-zone ... from which theory I bring you Rob Bironas and Robbie Gould this week.

More notes:

- People still love Shayne Graham, but I'm not so sure the Bengals can even score against the mighty Giants' defense.

- Don't sleep on Josh Brown if you need a pickup. Sure, the Rams suck ... but they should be able to get in field goal range several times against Seattle. Oh, and Brown's a bit familiar with that stadium.

1. Nick Folk, Cowboys, @ GB
2. Rob Bironas, Titans, vs. HOU
3. Stephen Gostkowski, Patriots, vs. MIA
4. Mason Crosby, Packers, vs. DAL
5. Robbie Gould, Bears, vs. TB

So it's come to this: things are so desperate in Kansas City that the team worked out Mike Vanderjagt yesterday. Worse, they might consider signing him. I know the draft is a crap shoot, particularly when you're talking about place kickers, but the Chiefs probably wish they could have 2007 draft do-over.

They selected Justin Medlock with the 160th pick, and Nick Folk and Mason Crosby were still available. You certainly can't blame Kansas City for taking Medlock, arguably college's best kicker in 2006, but it didn't work out and things have kind of snowballed from there.

Last month, the Chiefs lost out on Josh Brown because, well, they followed the rules against tampering with soon-to-be free agents, apparently. And that, people, is how you end up giving Vanderjagt a tryout, who after being released by the Cowboys in November 2006, was out of football last season.

But, oddly, he's in demand now (I'm guessing his agent has something to do with the perceived sudden interest):

Working on conditioning and kicking, Vanderjagt, 38, didn't give up on his hopes of getting back into the NFL. The Broncos, who lost Jason Elam to Atlanta, are debating whether to bring him in for a workout. First, though, Vanderjagt will see if he gets an offer from the Chiefs.

I suppose the kicking game is important enough to actually have someone on the roster designated to do it full time, I'm just not convinced Vanderjagt's that guy. That said, the Chiefs aren't really in a position to be picky.

Good news: linebacker Lofa Tatupu will be in Seattle through 2015 after signing a six-year, $40 million deal last week. More good news: the team also inked cornerback Marcus Trufant to a six-year, $50 million contract. Bad news: the Seahawks have decided to replace Josh Brown, one of the league's best kickers, with Olindo Mare, one of the league's worst kickers.

Okay, that's probably an overstatement, but there's no disputing that Mare had an embarrassingly awful 2007 season with the Saints. It was so bad, in fact, that New Orleans released Mare a year after trading for him. And that was after they had signed Martin Gramatica as insurance. If a team has to bring in "Automatica," your job's probably up for grabs. Which shouldn't have been completely unexpected since Mare converted a whopping 59 percent of his kicks last year, and eight of those games were played indoors.

What does this mean for the Seahawks? Well, they better score a lot of points, because Mare is nowhere near the player he was in Miami. Or the player that Josh Brown is in St. Louis. Which makes you wonder why Seattle didn't make more of an effort to keep him.

Hat tip: ProFootballTalk.com

The Rams official talking to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Jim Thomas makes a good point: the team is trying to get better; trading wideout Torry Holt would actually accomplish the opposite. Still, rumors persist: Holt could be on his way to Philly or Cincy or anywhere other than St. Louis. It ain't happenin' though:

"There's no interest, no discussions about trading Torry Holt," [head coach Scott] Linehan said. "He's on our team, we want him on our team, and I hope he feels the same way."

Besides, it simply makes no sense to move Holt. The release of Isaac Bruce leaves Holt, Drew Bennett and Dante Hall as the Rams' top three wide receivers. The team needs to add another quality body at receiver, not subtract one.

First, I'm glad to see Linehan and Holt have patched things up. Second, if Holt was shipped elsewhere, I can't imagine a wide receiver corps "featuring" a former college quarterback and a return guy. Not to mention the possibility of Trent Green serving as the backup quarterback. That, along with all the offensive line issues, would pretty much guarantee 2008 to be worse than 2007. No easy task for a team that won just three games last season.

On the upside, with the addition of Josh Brown, the Rams could just field-goal teams to death next season, which suggests that maybe there isn't really a need for a traditional NFL offense in St. Louis. Or something.