Nice job rookie(subtle pat given on the back side).  However, one game- a season does not make.

Redskins' rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III's week one numbers are undeniably amazing.  320 yards passing, two touchdowns and no interceptions as Washington beat New Orleans 40-32.   Plus, he dizzied Saints' defenders like a piñata at a 3-year olds birthday party.

The Griffin hype train now makes a stop at the Edward Jones Dome for a tilt with the Rams this Sunday.  But Griffin's head coach Mike Shanahan is hardly the engineer of that iron horse isn't running full steam ahead with the hype.

"Let's not get carried away with all this.  It was his first game," Shanahan said.

No love for the rook's skills?

It's just that Shanahan knows a thing or two about quarterbacks.  He coached QB John Elway in Denver when the Broncos won back-to-back Super Bowls in 1997 and 1998, and also knows that excellence is defined over time.  

The simple fact is, Griffin is no longer playing at Baylor, and his Heisman Trophy won't help block a lightning-fast defensive end from taking his head off on a bull rush.  This is the NFL.  A league where even the brightest star can be eclipsed by a well-prepared defensive coordinator's game plan. 

Griffin is walking into his second road game in a row. Tough for a veteran let alone a newbie like him.  Not only did the Rams' defense send Lion's quarterback Matthew Stafford seeing Rams jerseys in his sleep, but they let Detroit grab a sure-victory out of their hands after three and a half quarters of tough play.  

But that all changed on the Lions' final two possessions of the day, both of which resulted in touchdowns and ultimately a 27-23 Detroit victory.

In those final two series, six of Stafford's completions went for 18 yards-plus. After averaging 5.9 yards per attempt on Detroit's first nine possessions, he doubled that on the final two series — averaging 11.8 yards per attempt.

With that painful memory still very fresh in their minds, don’t look for Chris Long, Robert Quinn and company to give Griffin more respect than he deserves. And you can bet head Coach Jeff Fisher made that a focus in practice this week.

Here is a snippet from the St. Louis Post Dispatches Jim Thomas about just that.

"Guys were dropping a little bit (too deep), too concerned about the big play down the field to Calvin," Fisher said. "As a result, we allowed some chunks. So, we got that corrected."

We'll see if that's the case Sunday when Robert Griffin III and the Washington Redskins present their own kind of challenge in the Rams' home opener. The Redskins put 40 points on New Orleans in their opener, with Griffin throwing for 320 yards and two TDs and rushing for 42 yards in his NFL debut.

"We've got our hands full," said head coach Jeff Fisher.  "But our defense's focus is on their whole offense and not just the quarterback."

If Griffin is going have success against the Rams, he'll have to add some new tricks to his scrambling repertoire.  Something the signal caller already understands.

"Every offense has to evolve," said Griffin.  "You just try not to show the same thing twice."

 The one thing the Rams can ill-afford to do Sunday, if it's close late in the game, is let Griffin lead a last- minute drive like the Lions did last week.  Otherwise Griffin could be thinking this NFL gig isn't too hard after all while taking any positives the Rams may have held on to.

Beware, adjective overload to follow shortly.

The St. Louis Rams played one of their most inspired, passionate, hard-nosed games fans have seen in a while in Motown this past Sunday. The final two minutes not withstanding. However, the defense of the St. Louis Rams made a statement that should not be ignored . 

The defense was in midseason form against Detroit. This is a unit that I believe was the best thing about this team headed into the opener. Even without coordinator Gregg Williams on the sideline, I was confident about this group because of their combination of mental toughness and speed in the secondary. 

All in all this was a statement game for St. Louis, and they came to play. Defense was the name of the game throughout, especially in the third quarter. Only three points were scored, and the St. Louis secondary shut down Stafford on a few key third downs. 

Rookie cornerback and steal of the draft, Janoris Jenkins set the tone in the first quarter. In what was looking like a dominating first drive from Matthew Stafford and the Lions offense, Detroit had the ball inside the Rams' 5-yard line. Stafford dropped back to throw, and immediately let one loose towards tight end Tony Scheffler. Scheffler was a step too far behind the ball, and Jenkins had his first interception in the NFL. 

That kind of defense so close to the goal line is what the Rams needed to gain momentum. 

Moving on to the second quarter, Jo-Lonn Dunbar, the linebacker who signed with the Rams in April, and shortly thereafter earned himself a starting job on the weak side showed why. Dunbar and  the rams picked Stafford once again deep inside St. Louis territory. Stafford went back to throw, and looked towards Dunbar. The only problem was, he didn’t know it. Dunbar jumped the route near the sideline and intercepted the Lions QB for the Rams' second pick of the day. 

Interception No. 3 three was one to remember. Using St. Louis Rams recent history as a reference point for of course.

Heading into the matchup Calvin Johnson figured to have a Fantasy field day. Cortland Finnegan, who stands at 5'10", was slated to cover the All-Pro wide receiver. It was obvious to the Rams coaching staff that they would have to send double and sometimes triple coverage Johnson’s way. 

With just over a minute-and-a-half to go before halftime, the Lions had the ball at their own 23. Detroit led 7-6 and needed a quick spark before the half. Stafford dropped back in shotgun, just as apparently clairvoyant commentator Tim Ryan began to comment on Stafford’s accuracy issues on the day…he had some problems with his accuracy. 

The 2009 No. 1 overall pick out of Georgia fired one to the right sideline, where Johnson was seemingly uncovered. Finnegan was about five yards away from Johnson when the pass was thrown, but was able to sprint to the sideline and reel in his first interception as a Ram. He took the pick back 31 yards for the touchdown, and St. Louis led 13-7. 

It was the first pick-six on the road for the Rams since 1999. 

Finnegan was the star of the defense in this game, notching nine tackles and an assist. 

In the end, the defense was gassed by Stafford’s ability to force the ball down their throats on that final drive. However, the toughness and timeliness of the defense in certain spots kept this team in the game until the final seconds.

Ultimately, the Rams' upset bid of the Detroit Lions came down to this: a third-down and five play with 2:03 on the clock, just outside the red zone, tied up 20-all. Get the first down, and the Rams can control the clock and have the last shot at putting points on the board. But before we consider what the Rams did on that play, we have to consider everything that brought them to this point, standing on the brink of notching an improbable win against a playoff team. 

We have to consider a banged-up offensive line that lost Scott Wells (foot) and Rodger Saffold (head/neck) after finally being able to four of its ideal starting five on the field. We have to consider Sam Bradford's performance, who had to keep a cool head after taking a series of hits in the second half from an amped up Lions defense. We have to consider Brandon Gibson's redemptive performance after taking a boneheaded penalty in the first half. And we have to consider a series of shots to the gut delivered by the Rams defense to the Lions and their crowd.

Jeff Fisher made a statement to his defense from the start, putting them on the field to open the game against Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson. Naturally, Stafford put the offense in gear and motored them down the field, mixing runs and passes as they worked into goal-to-go territory. But Janoris Jenkins snuffed the drive with a brilliant little gamble, abandoning his trail position to step in front of a Stafford pass at the goal line, and claim it as his own.

Jenkins' pick was the first of three first-half interceptions that the Rams suckered Stafford into throwing. Jo-Lonn Dunbar and Cortland Finnegan provided the other two, with Finnegan running his in for a go-ahead touchdown that put the Rams in control of the game at halftime.

For most of the first half, a healthy offensive line featuring Robert Turner at left guard was able to fend off the Lions' vaunted front four and give Sam Bradford plenty of time to find receivers downfield. Bradford showed poise and efficiency, keying long point-scoring drives of 8 and 10 plays, but was unable to connect with rookie Chris Givens on his deepest strike of the day, and unable to get the Rams into the end zone.

Nevertheless, this was a game being patiently managed into a viable upset bid. But in the second half, things started to go haywire.

First, the Rams offense took the field without their starting center. Scott Wells was on the sideline with some sort of foot injury, putting Turner in the center spot and powerful-but-raw rookie Rokevious Watkins in at left guard. I'm a fan of Watkins, but the dropoff in pass protection against veteran DT Corey Williams was immediate and steep. Twice, Williams single-handedly blew up Bradford's protection to deliver a big hit, forcing a fumble on one that the Rams were lucky to recover.

Second, Matthew Stafford made a simple adjustment - he stopped throwing the ball to the men in white jerseys. The Lions offense sputtered for several drives, but managed to tie the game on a short field goal drive set up by a brilliant punt return by Stefan Logan.

Danny Amendola returned the favor with a nice return of his own, setting up Bradford with a short field. Five plays later, Bradford took a quick step back from under center and launchd a snap throw down the sideline to a streaking Brandon Gibson, who had just enough separation on the Lions' rookie corner to make a brilliant catch in the end zone.

The 20-13 lead was the Rams' third of the game, and the biggest. However, it was also the shortest-lives, and it came at a high cost, as Rodger Saffold collapsed mid-block after taking an inadvertent shot to the crown of his helmet.  Stafford came roaring back to answer with a touchdown drive of his own, taking just five plays and 2:26 off the game clock.

Sam Bradford got the ball back with an improbable mission: bleed the remaining time off the clock with a wheezing offense that was now starting two of the game's pariahs in Barry Richardson and Wayne Hunter at tackles, a career backup at center, and a rookie beyond his depth at guard.

Amazingly, that's exactly what he did over the next eleven plays and five-plus minutes of game time. With the Lions defense keying on Steven Jackson (as they had all day), Bradford completed four of five passes, each one for a first down, moving the chains and bleeding the clock and sucking the life out of the Ford Field dome.

One more completion, one more pass on a third and five, and the Lions would be unable to stop the clock, and would no longer be in control of their fate. The Rams would have consummated their upset bid and given Jeff Fisher a rare commodity as St Louis coach - a first-game win. The last coach to do that in St Louis, Scott Linehan, now stood across the sideline hoping to get his offense on the field one last time.

As we know from the game's outcome, Bradford couldn't complete that pass. Greg Zuerlein was brought onto the field to give the Rams one last lead, but the Lions cruelly took it - and the rest of the clock - away.

Instead of a win, we got the wrong end of a thrilling game. We got 58 minutes of excitement followed by a two-minute flashback of the last five years of futility. We got a loss that almost, but not quite, feels like a victory.

Almost, but not quite.

The Rams will be counting on heavy doses of Steven Jackson against a fearsome Lions' front four.

The 2012 season kicks off with a rematch of two teams that met in a basement brawl three years ago. A young Matthew Stafford was outdueled by Marc Bulger, 176 passing yards to 168, and Steven Jackson had one of his best games a pro to single-handedly carry the Rams to a 17-10 victory. It was the Rams' sole win of that awful season, and one of fourteen losses for the luckless Lions. 

A lot has changed for Detroit since then, as Stafford and Calvin Johnson finally erupted with a fully healthy season together and tore apart the NFC for 10 wins and a playoff berth. The Rams, meanwhile, find themselves crawling out of that basement once again. With Jeff Fisher in charge, though, this is a very different team than last year, and hope is alive again in Rams land. 

The Lions are thinking of bigger and better things this season, but coach Jim Schwartz knows he cannot overlook any team coached by his former mentor Jeff Fisher. But how good can this Detroit team be? And are there any achilles heels that could be exposed by a young and hungry Rams team? Let's talk with Ty Schalter of TheLionsInWinter.com to find out.  

RamsHerd: The offseason punditry has had mixed reviews of the Lions so far, with Peter King calling for a 2,000 yard receiving season from Calvin Johnson, but many analysts thinking that the Bears will leapfrog Detroit this season. What's your thought on this team's upside, and are you afraid of any regression to the mean? 

Ty: Football fans (and pundits) tend to think in terms of "last season's team, plus the new guys, minus the old." The Bears get Jay Cutler and Matt Forte back (with a newfound appreciation for both players), and added Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffrey to a dire receiving corps. Naturally, the assumption is that their offense will be much better and their defense will stay the same.

The Lions returned 21 of 22 starters from last season, and the guy who left (cornerback Eric Wright) was likely to be replaced anyway. It's popularly assumed the Lions will be exactly as they were as they were in 2011, since they neither added or lost significant pieces.

In reality, young "bench" players like defensive tackle Nick Fairley, wide receivers Titus Young and Ryan Broyles, running back Mikel Leshoure, and defensive linemen Willie Young, Sammie Hill and Lawrence Jackson are going to be key contributors in 2012, and some will surpass the veterans ahead of them. 

There are 17 rookies on the St. Louis Rams’ opening day roster, seven more players age 24 or younger and 31 in all on the 53-man roster who were not with the franchise last season.

It’s the youngest team in the NFL, with an average age under 26. A lot of kids for new coach Jeff Fisher to keep tabs on.

Fisher and new general manager Les Snead are prepared to live with the mistakes and they’ll have to. Fisher was at his sarcastic best when the topic came up after practice Wednesday.

“Well, look, I’m going to cut the cartoons off at the hotel,” Fisher joked. “Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Have Froot Loops for the pregame meal. How’s that?”

Beyond the sarcasm, it’s clear the new regime has embraced an overhaul so extensive that the so-called crusty veteran has become an endangered species. There are just five players over 30, compared with 13 for the season opener last year.

The 52-year-old Fisher was out of the NFL last year before tackling the task of transforming a franchise that was just 15-65 the previous five years — the worst five-year stretch for any franchise since the AFL-NFL merger. He has a five-year contract and can afford to build from the ground up.

“Well, it’s exciting. These guys are anxious and eager,” Fisher said. “I’d much rather coach a young team than an old team.”

All but one of the team’s 10 draft picks made the team, a new concept to Rams fans. Cornerback Janoris Jenkins and guard Rokevious Watkins are likely starters, kicker Greg Zuerlein won his job on draft day and defensive tackle Michael Brockers was set to start before sustaining what’s believed to be a high right ankle sprain in the preseason finale.

Wide receivers Brian Quick and Chris Givens will be in the mix for quarterback Sam Bradford, the first pick of the 2010 draft and already an elder statesman (and already on his 3^rd OC is three seasons). Bradford said he didn’t realize how many rookies were on the roster until Fisher spoke at a luncheon attended by the entire team earlier in the week. 

“I was like ‘Oh my god, that seems extremely high,” Bradford said. “But looking around, I think we’ve got a lot of young guys, a lot of rookies in this locker room who are going to help us.

“We’re better because they’re here.”

Defensive end Chris Long, entering his fifth season and just 26, likes the injection of enthusiasm and optimism. He remembers feeling that way after the Rams drafted him second overall in 2008, not knowing he’d be a part of only 12 wins his first four seasons. 

“One thing about being young is you’re not afraid of anything. You’re not afraid of losing,” Long said. “They haven’t been through the downs, so that’s kind of nice.

“We’re going into this thing fearlessly in Week 1.”

Entering his 17th season as an NFL head coach, Fisher said there’s no doubt that he’s never had a team so young.

“No ... Not even close.”

Fisher insists he didn’t have to alter his coaching style to fit the personnel.

“Nothing changes. You take the same approach preparation-wise, you just have to maybe spend a little extra time with the younger guys to let them know what the regular season is all about,” Fisher said. “With 17 rookies on this roster, there’s a good chance that quite a few of them are going to be in this ballgame.”

Certainly, one big positive is there’s no element of greed. Just kids waiting for their shot.

The cyrstal ball on this year's Rams team is awful cloudy. I am pretty sure that this isn't a Super Bowl team, and I'm fairly confident that we won't earn a top-five pick in the draft this year (unless it's the Redskins'). Beyond that, while I have certain expectations that I call "realistic," I'm not willing to count anything out.

Three things are clear: this is a very new team, a very green team, and a very young team. Those might all sounds like the same thing, but they're not. 

Let's start with the obvious: this is not anything close to the same team that the Rams fielded a year ago, from top to bottom. Stan Kroenke cleaned house after his first season as full owner of the Rams, and wooed Jeff Fisher by promising to stay out of his way while he hired a coaching staff and general manager that fit his vision.

In fact, the Rams are almost a mirror image in 2012 of their 2011 squad.

2011: we had a pretty old roster coached by a very inexperienced coaching staff entering a season filled with playoff expectations.

2012: we have a very young roster coached by an extremely experienced staff playing with almost no expectations at all. (Except for a certain quarterback, perhaps...)

One of the marked differences between the 2011 and 2012 versions of the Rams is in their offensive approach. We are transitioning from Josh McDaniels' supposed mad genius (we got the "mad" part) to a ground-and-pound philosophy coordinated by Brian Schottenheimer. In a way, we're waging an AFC East rivalry in our backyard, pitting the Patriots against the Jets in a sort of fantasy role-playing game.

And the Rams have fully embraced their Jets' role in this game, injecting a lot of green into the blue and gold offense. Even pariahs like Wayne Hunter can find a trade here, peddling their knowledge of the offense for the time being.

However, even among the seemingly favored free agent acquisitions, youth is pushing age of the roster. You need look no further than the decision to release former Jet Kellen Clemens, a de facto second quarterback coach for Bradford, and go into the season with only undrafted rookie Austin Davis in the backup job.

Let's look further at the shocking youth of this team - the Rams have transformed from one of the oldest to the very youngest roster in the NFL. 16 rookies are on this team, five of them slated as full time starters (counting special teams) and six more slated for a heavy workload. And of the "veterans" on this team, many are still playing on their rookie contracts. 

Jeff Fisher already letting his players and fans know - this many be a strange season, but it will never be boring. Photo by Getty Images.

Bill Parcells once told Peter King that he spends 50% of his time worrying about the bottom five guys on the roster. So too Jeff Fisher, who on the eve of the regular season has just cut the man slated to start Game 1 at left guard, and one of his quarterback's comfortable targets in TE Michael Hoomanawanui, in order to sign a pair of higher-potential unknowns for his offensive line. 

It is still early in the get-to-know-you process for Rams fans and their new coach, but we're learning a few things about him already:

Fisher cares about talent over continuity. "Continuity" is one of football's sacred cows, particularly on the offensive line. Any disruption in continuity appears to us outside observers as a sign of imminent disaster, as obvious and terrifying as a solar eclipse to a medieval farm boy.

Continuity also has a pernicious internal gravity that allows coaches to keep guys in their jobs long after their sell-by date. Even for an interim starter like Quinn Ojinnaka, holding his place in line for a physically gifted but raw rookie like Rokevious Watkins, the general coaching tendency is to keep the guy in place until the youngster has definitively won the job. The promotion can then be handled with all formal pomp and ceremony necessary to ensure the team and its fans that Continuity has indeed been preserved.

Ojinnaka was released in the middle of an informal team barbecue. Hey kid, wipe your hands and come over here, you're one step closer to a starting job.  

Fisher cares about talent over scheme fit. Not to say that Fisher is going to bring in obviously odd parts, but unlike the Spagnuolo world, we don't have guys clinging to the bottom of the roster for years on end based on their ability to do one thing well. (But then again, we do still have Craig Dahl on this team, so take this with a grain of salt.)

Mike Hoomanawanui appeared to be a perfect scheme fit for Brian Schottenheimer, a block-first tight end who can release and rumble upfield, carrying a soft pair of hands with him to be a safety valve in the passing game. And while Big Mike didn't have an astounding camp, he was as comfortable as an old shoe for Sam Bradford. However, the coaching staff found other players in Matthew Mulligan (blocking) and Mike McNeill (hands), and Bradford to his credit immediately made himself comfortable with them as well.

Hoomanawanui's injury history - particularly his concussion history - puts a big damper on his upside, particularly when taking crushing hits over the middle is a natural part of the job description. Being able to fit the scheme for just a few games out of the year isn't that appealing to any coach.

Fisher cares about talent, period. This is a full-on rebuild, and the Rams have been refocused on a mission that has been largely neglected, if we're being honest, since 1998. That mission: restocking the shelves with as much talent as you can find. They know, as we know, that this team is far from being "one player away" from anywhere.

Fisher isn't willing to concede wins, but neither is he willing to get trapped by bad roster habits spawned from the "win-now" mentality. Get younger, get faster, get stronger, period. Get fresh wood and lean heavily on a well-salted coaching staff to carve it into the likeness of a winning football player. Get enough of them, and you've got a winning football program.

At least, that's what I think I know, after watching his team for just a few weeks.