FanHouse RichieIncognito

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

The 2008 season was an unmitigated disaster for the Rams. They had their star running back hold out, only to be re-signed and get injured -- an injury which lingered far too long. They fired their coach after four embarrassing games, won two straight under his replacement, but then dropped their final 10.

It was hard to find a strength on this team. The offense ranked 27th in the league, while the defense was 28th. Then again, Donnie Jones was one of the best punters in the league. So there's that.

Leading up to a home game against the close-in-distance Chicago Bears, Richie Incognito fired a few pre-emptive words at St. Louis Rams fans. You know, the same fans who are watching an absolutely pathetic attempt at fielding a professional football team right now.

During the game, the Rams were booed a bit, but it wasn't overly obnoxious, for the most part, and it wasn't nearly as much as the team deserved, really. Incognito and his mates on the offensive line paved the way for 14 rushing yards on 19 attempts. They also allowed the Bears to notch five sacks, which is more than they had in the previous five games combined. Incognito himself even found time -- in the midst of being abused by Tommie Harris -- to throw in a false start penalty to boot.

So I guess, considering it was just last week that he said they needed to play better, that Incognito felt like the scattered boos were deserved? Um, not really.

Before stepping into the tunnel, Incognito cupped his hands to his ears, apparently egging on angry Rams fans to spew more venom his way.

The last time the Chicago Bears visited St. Louis, they were in the middle of a Super Bowl run. According to several reports, the Rams had to use a silent count -- again, at home -- because the Bears fans were overrunning the Edward Jones Dome. Considering the fact that the Bears are tied for first and the Rams are quite embarrassing right now, expect a repeat in the spectator department. I know Richie Incognito does:

"It seems like our fans aren't coming to the game, so it's fun when the other fans come in and start hooting and hollering - you know what I mean?" Incognito said Thursday. "At least someone is in the dome yelling. We don't worry about noise. (Bears fans) can be as loud as they want. We deal with noise on the road; we deal with noise at home."

So he's jabbing at the St. Louis fans for not attending games, and not making noise when they do. It didn't stop there.

Hey, NFL, Rams head coach Jim Haslett wants you to know that he knows that you know that the officials probably missed a call or 12 during Sunday's St. Louis-New England game. You see, the Rams lost 23-16 thanks, in part, to a late Marc Bulger interception, but the whopping zero flags thrown on the Patriots probably didn't help things.

Snyder touched on it in the latest Zebra Report: "I do wonder how it's possible for an NFL team to play 60 minutes of football and not be assessed any penalty yardage." Yeah, so does Haslett.

Which is why he's going through the weekly ritual of sending the game tape to the league.

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.

Welcome to another successful installment of Five Questions with an Enemy Blogger, where each week, via email, I will be exchanging hot questions and [sometimes] answers with a rival blogger about their team and the upcoming matchup.

This week I sat down with Brett Knight of RAMblings, a Most Valuable Network column that covers the St. Louis Rams.

Dan Benton: "For many, the Rams offseason expectations were extremely high. How frustrating has it been to watch your team struggle for the first quarter of the season?"

Brett Knight: "Obviously, with so many pundits picking the Rams as a darkhorse playoff team, it's been difficult to watch the team stumble thus far, with no end in sight. But I don't know what's been harder to deal with: all the forces that have been out of our control or all the blown opportunities. It's one thing to watch your offensive line crumble and your Pro Bowl backfield taken out of games by injury - it's tough, sure, but there's really nothing you can do about it. It's a whole different story, though, to sit through the sloppy play this team has been exhibiting this year: penalties, turnovers, blown coverages, missed tackles, awful play-calling. For all the talk of the talent on this team, it's really been a shock to see such a lack of fundamentals. It's been said that the mark of a good team is how it responds to adversity; with that in mind, I'm not sure how to respond to this team."

It's a very, very, very distant second to actually winning a game, but there's a bit of good news in St. Louis: at least they're getting healthier, at least in certain areas.

Linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa and guard Richie Incognito returned to practice on Wednesday. Tinoisamoa will return to the lineup Sunday, while Incognito is questionable. The Rams are being guarded with information Incognito's progress, lending validity to that awesome, awesome birthname (my first born shall be dubbed Incognito Mantzouranis), but it looks as if he'll sit one more game before returning in Week 5.

Getting both players back will be important, but Incognito's injury is certainly more detrimental. Actually, the Rams' run defense has been better without Tinoisamoa in the lineup. Chris Draft was signed in the offseason to help in that role, and Tinoisamoa's absence has led to more playing time for the former Panther.

Meanwhile, the Rams' offensive line currently consists of former first-round pick Alex Barron, Brett Romberg, and three guys that played offensive linemen in The Replacements. And things haven't been good. The litany of injuries on the offensive line have led to a couple of broken ribs for Marc Bulger and a torn groin for Steven Jackson, the two most important players on the team. It's also been a large part of the team's winless start, so, yeah, probably good to get all these guys back on the field.

Back in July, I noted that continuity on the offensive line was going to be crucial to the Rams this season. We've managed to make it through one week of the season, and any hope of that has been shot straight to hell.

Thanks to injuries to Orlando Pace and Richie Incognito, the Rams will most likely play the 49ers this Sunday with only two starters on the line in the same spot they were to open the season against Carolina. Alex Barron was moved to left tackle to replace Pace, Milford Brown slid over from right guard to take Barron's vacated tackle spot, and Claude Terrell is stepping in at right guard. Though Scott Linehan noted that he will test more line combinations before Sunday.

To give an idea of how important stability on the line is to the Rams -- since 2002, Marc Bulger has played with what will be his 20th offensive line combination. The only time he's spent an extensive period with the same group -- in 2003, when all five starters lasted the entire season -- the Rams won the division.

Fixing the line might not remain an in-house matter, either. This Sunday, their (sort of) solution might be on the other sideline in street clothes. It's been a long fall for 49er tackle Kwame Harris, who went from potential starter to deactivated. And with Harris expecting a trade sometime soon, St. Louis (who, with Washington, has lost its starting tackle for the season) seems like a pretty natural landing spot. Teams typically don't like trading in their own division, but apparently the 49ers don't view Harris as much of a threat, and probably aren't concerned about him going to a foe. As for the Rams, they should just hope that whoever they put on the line stays on the line for the rest of the season.