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RENTON, Wash. -- Thoughts and observations after watching the Seattle Seahawks open their rookie camp Friday: First-round pick Bruce Irvin impressed coaches with his ability to grasp defensive concepts. That can be a concern for any rookie and p...

Torry Holt's formal retirement from the NFL -- as a St. Louis Ram, fittingly -- will touch off the usual discussions about Hall of Fame worthiness. In the meantime, consider this an appreciation. Holt was the NFC West wide receiver opponents fe...

The NFC West rivalry between the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers hasn't been much of a rivalry lately. The Cardinals last defeated the 49ers on Nov. 10, 2008. That was 1,124 days ago. Darren Urban of azcardinals.com says the Cardinals...

The facts: The St. Louis Rams fell to 2-10 with a 26-0 road defeat to the San Francisco 49ers in Week 13. The upside: Even the worst defeats tend to feature a bright spot or two. Chris Long collected two more sacks, giving him 12 for the seaso...

Sunday was not a good day in the NFC South. The Buccaneers and Falcons were on bye and the Panthers and Saints each lost. The Saints lot to a previously winless St. Louis team and the Panthers lost by a field goal to a Minnesota team that came in ...

About those quarter-by-quarter sack numbers discussed here earlier: The St. Louis Rams had at least twice as many fourth-quarter sacks (16) as any other team in the division. Defensive tackle Fred Robbins had four of his six sacks in fourth qua...

FORT WORTH, Texas -- The Pittsburgh Steelers appeared loose and comfortable during their first Super Bowl 45 media session. They've been in big games before, and frequently, thanks largely to shrewd drafting. This is the Steelers' third Super B...

Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic says Larry Fitzgerald wants to win more than he wants to make another dollar. These comments are relevant given that the Cardinals are not winning and Fitzgerald's contract expires after next season. The deal featu...

The Seattle Seahawks' decision to unveil Walter Jones' already retired jersey number (71) during their game against Carolina in Week 13 seems fitting. Jones, whose number was retired when he announced his retirement April 29, turned in one of his ...

Multiple factors affect a team's sack totals over the course of a season. For the St. Louis Rams, having a more competitive team overall has created more favorable situations to rush opposing quarterbacks. And the team has probably done a better j...

St. Louis Rams quarterback Sam Bradford makes his NFL regular-season debut against some rough-and-tumble Arizona Cardinals defenders. The chart, put together with information from Hank Gargiulo of ESPN Stats & Information, shows NFC West defen...

Roster turnover is a leading topic for discussion in Seattle following the release of T.J. Houshmandzadeh in particular. I've addressed the subject in depth across the division -- first May 26 and again July 30 -- and it's worth another look now t...

I just caught up with Matt Williamson of Scouts Inc. to discuss how the Denver Broncos will handle the loss of Elvis Dumervil. Dumervil is expected to be out for four months with a ton pectoral muscle. The linebacker led the NFL with 17 sacks last se...

Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com says 49ers quarterback Alex Smith was particularly sharp in practice Wednesday. Maiocco: "Smith could not have thrown the deep ball better when he put four consecutive passes on the money during a passing drill. On c...

Some of free agency's biggest names have found new teams in the past few weeks, but there are still a few left unsigned who could contribute in a big way for a team next season. Football Outsiders breaks down their prospects going forward.

Story | Conversation | August 03, 2010

Jesper from Denmark graced the NFC West mailbag with a position-by-position evaluation of the St. Louis Rams. He thinks the team has gotten worse at several positions. He also thinks I've been a little too optimistic in my assessments of the team's p...