With the No. 1 pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, the St. Louis Rams drafted Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford to be their future.
That future
could be the present as starting quarterback, A.J. Feeley, has a swollen thumb
on his throwing hand and is out for Week 3 of the preseason.
What better place for a rookie to get his feet wet then
in New England against a Bill Belichick defense? Expect an ugly night for
Bradford and for the Rams to keep Feeley as the starter as long as possible.
St. Louis Rams @
New England Patriots
2010 NFL Preseason Odds: Patriots -7.5 which you can find at TheGreek
Quarterback
Rotations
The St Louis Rams quarterback rotation will take a hit - at least
in preseason terms - now that Feeley has been declared out. Normally, if Feeley
doesn't play a regular season game, nobody cares. In the preseason, it will
make a difference.
Without Feeley, it means that Bradford gets thrown into
the fire and that's not exactly reassuring if you plan to bet the Rams in this game.
So far this preseason, Bradford has completed 12-of-27 passes for 81 yards. As
you can tell, the 81 yards over 12 completions indicates that he's trying to
get the ball out of his hands quickly and made short passes to build
confidence. Right now, he doesn't have the feel to throw deep yet.
Behind Bradford, Keith Null will come in followed by
Thaddeus Lewis.
For New England, the skies are far sunnier. Tom Brady will
start and he should have a field day against the Rams. Brian Hoyer will follow
suit along with Zac Robinson.
Roster
Competitions & Team Depth
The Rams roster is one of the thinnest in the league,
which is why they only won one game last year and had the first pick in the draft.
They have plenty of competition across the roster, from wide receiver, to
backup running back, to the aforementioned quarterback battles, to the defense
line, to the secondary. There are very few positions on this roster that are
set. For betting purposes, though, there isn't a whole lot of five-star
prospects, so to speak, battling for these jobs.
For New England, they are a veteran team that knows its
identity and you can count on Bill Belichick to always have some depth. They
may be short on the offensive line but they have lots of weapons at wide
receiver and running back that should still be going strong in the second and
third teams.
Defense is more of a question mark for the Patriots. But
the good news is that they get the Rams this week. The Pats defense held the
Falcons to 10 points on the road last week so a shutout is conceivable this
week.
Motivation
The Rams would love to have this game but the problem is
that it is Week 3 of the preseason: the one week New England - and many other
teams across the league - are more interested in winning.
On top of that, Belichick is 24-18 in the preseason, so
clearly he doesn't like to give an inch even in the preseason.
Outlook:
The Rams are the definition of hapless. Outside of Steven
Jackson going buck wild, this team won't be winning many games in 2010. That
includes the preseason, where Bradford has to make his first start.
The Patriots are humming right along, averaging 27.5
points per game through two weeks of the preseason. They should have no problem
hitting that number and keep the Rams close to zero in this one.
NFL Preseason
Betting Prediction: Patriots
What do you think of this prediction? Get involved in NFL chat at the forum