Looking only at the Bills statistics for 2012, this game would appear to set up very well for a Rams’ victory. Over the full season, the Bills rank 24^th in total defense allowing 368.5 yards a game, 13^th in passing defense allowing 229.8 yards per game and 30^th against the run allowing 139.2 yards per game (4.9 yard average). If I believed these stats were legitimate, I would recommend a run focused offense. Unfortunately, the season long statistics are misleading.

In the last five games, these are the Bills’ defensive statistics:

Clearly, the Bills have improved on defense. Therefore, we will look at the real stats in this preview. The Rams are facing a team that allows 219 passing yards a game, with a 55% completion percentage, and 86.4 rushing yards a game. With the real stats in mind, here is my strategy for a Rams victory.

This week we look at a pivotal two-point conversion by tight end Lance Kendricks.  My initial thought when I first saw the play was that is was an old Bill Walsh drive concept play.  Walsh used to use this play by sending Jerry Rice in motion toward the formation and at the snap he would be full speed running a shallow crossing route.  Behind Rice, the tight end would be running a dig.  If it was man, it was awful tough to cover Rice by chasing him all the way across the formation.  If zone, the tight end was suppose to fill in a hole in the defense where they were jumping the crossing Rice.

However, with Jackson there was another shallow crossing route.  Two shallow crossing routes run together are known as a mesh concept, made popular by Mike Leach’s Air Raid attack.  Determined to come to some conclusion on this play, I reached out to an expert on the field, Bruce Eien.  

By all reckoning, the Rams were fortunate to come away with a win against the 49ers. If not for eight points put on the board by an opportunistic defense - with help from the referees, the NFL's arcane challenge rules, and a bizarre and poorly executed option play - the Rams lose. And if that had happened, one play would have stood out above all others as the crux of the loss:

Here, with a brief rant on the play, is new writer Chad Yuhnke (@squick3n on Twitter). 

Please forgive but it's been awhile since I did one of these little rant things.  So this is the Rams lone TD opportunity.  4th down and a yard to go after Austin Pettis comes up short on a third-down pass. 

To start, bad personnel group.  Jackson is the lone back that can pass protect.  For some reason they took him out of the game once they got inside the 10.  With Pead in the game, if he's in the backfield, it means run. 

Which leads to the bad play call.  Schotty decides to pass, so Pead must be sent out of the backfield.  If he stays in, it's just another pass rusher, only he will not be blocked.  They ran this exact play earlier in the year on a failed goal line play.  If I remember it then I'm sure the SF coaches and players knew of it too.  And as you can see, they all react to Pead. 

You could argue that had Bradford immediately targeted Gibson, there could have been a score.  But watch the play.  A stacked group, they switch on release, then Gibson turns toward Pettis cutting him off a bit.  You could say Gibson is open, but watch Navarro Bowman (53).  He's jogging under the route playing possum and he brings his hands up as Bradford throws, thinking he's got a pick 6 coming. 

So the read is to Pettis, but he has no separation of course.  

It actually still ends up almost being a score.  You see Pead raise his arms because the pass hits Pettis in his hands, only Tarell Brown rakes it out.  Some were saying lol Bradford run it in, but it's not there.  If he steps up Bowman and Brooks are right there.  I really have no problem here.  Three step drop, goes through his full progression, and puts the ball where the WR can make a play. 

It's the league's worst WR corps w/o Amendola playing.  Whatever you think of Sam, the next guy in will still not succeed with these guys.  The only Rams WR that I have seen win a contested pass was Danario Alexander, and he could never stay healthy.  Probably the Rams' biggest curse is that only the good players get hurt.  The bad ones never get hurt and continue to inflict their awfulness.

Bills fans will have to excuse us our enthusiasm over a 5-6-1 record. Yes, it's only a few percentage points better than Buffalo's 5-7 mark, but for us it represents a staggering infusion of hope and optimism. These five wins carry with them the official stamp of Progress, and allow fans to chuck each other on the shoulder and say We're Heading In The Right Direction, and How About That Jeff Fisher. 

For Buffalo, carrying five wins into December is just a sad same-old same-old, a stagnant cloud that stands between the Bills fan and any vision of playoff contention in the near future. The Bills have had exactly six or seven wins in six of the last seven seasons, a sluggish sameness that belies multiple changes at head coach, quarterback, and running back. Or perhaps we should step back and let Joe Pinzone of BuffaloWins.com tell it: 

It is just painfully boring. It is a world without color. A world where we get up and put on a suit. Walk to work. Stare at a computer screen. Bring a Ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. Get yelled at by our boss. Clock out. Walk home in the rain without an umbrella. And during this entire day, we have a look of detachment. I picture what Neo's life was like before he was unplugged from The Matrix.

Does this fan malaise make the Bills a less-dangerous team for the Rams? No. Does it make a December trip to the frigid great lakes any less formidable? Certainly not. Despite a certain fatigue, Joe was able to give us some clear-eyed insights to his team, and provide a nice scouting report for Rams fans. 

After the win against San Francisco, I would have expected numerous positive tweets and message board posts about Bradford’s play in the game. However, I saw something entirely different. The STLtoday Rams board was full of negative Bradford posts. People on twitter were wondering about the lack of touchdowns. Other fans saw Russell Wilson throw a touchdown pass to win the game, they saw Andrew Luck throw a touchdown pass to win a game and they saw Robert Griffin III hailed as the next big thing on Monday night football (notwithstanding his college offense and non-impressive throwing stats). Those fans were asking why Bradford couldn’t throw a touchdown pass in the game, or why he couldn’t be the hero in the spotlight as opposed to the kicker. 

This article is directed at those fans that are disillusioned, disappointed or even angry regarding Sam Bradford’s play. Last week, I asked for perspective. I noted all of the issues, in detail, that are holding back Sam Bradford. This week, I intend to illustrate how the Arizona game and more specifically the San Francisco game are signs of tremendous improvement and growth for Sam Bradford.

One of the biggest issues/excuses for Sam Bradford in the past was the lack of any truly elite targets on the team. The argument was he can’t play well because his wide receivers, tight ends, and/or running backs cannot do what they need to do for him to succeed. His detractors argued that Bradford should make the players around him better. I tended to argue against that point because there is very little you can do when they can’t get open, they drop the ball at crucial times, or they are not where they are supposed to be.

The San Francisco game has ended the argument.

It's December and the Rams are officially being listed as "in the hunt" for the NFL Playoffs. This is a stunning development for a team whose Super Bowl odds, as of two weeks ago, was side-by-side with the wretched Oakland Raiders at 750/1. It's also a sign that the Rams might be becoming a much more dangerous team than we had expected, this quickly into a rebuild. 

It is not a sign - not yet - that the Rams are ready to anoint themselves a playoff-caliber team. "This young team believes we can go in and play with anybody," as Jeff Fisher told Yahoo's Mike Silver. And over the next month of games, they'll get to prove that as they face off against four teams who are just as much "in the hunt" as themselves. The 5-7 Bills, 6-6 Vikings, 6-6 Bucs and 7-5 Seahawks give us a series of opponents with a steadily escalating degree of difficulty. And they'll have to finish on the road. 

When I sat back at the last high point of the Rams' season, after their 3-2 start, I saw a lot of winnable games on their schedule. Then we lost to the Dolphins and the Jets, but balanced that out with huge wins (and a tie) against our division foes.

That run of games shows the truth of most teams that hover around .500 - this isn't a bland, mediocre team that goes out and gives a bland mediocre effort every week. This team of developing young talent and well-fit spare parts is capable of highs that rival those of a ten- or twelve-win team, and equally capable of dismal embarrassments that hearken back to our own awful past. 

It shows that this team is still learning its process, to borrow a term from Nick Saban, but if it needs a blueprint it doesn't have to look much farther than Sunday's gritty win over the Niners. We'd love to see more downfield offense, but what we will see is Bradford being careful and efficient with the football and looking for mismatches. We'd love to see a defense that is shutdown-caliber week in and week out, but what we will see is more of this "soft" play in the secondary designed to keep scores close and take advantage of opportunities for ball-hawking.

We'd love to see our team go on the road and establish itself against premier weapons like CJ Spiller, Marshawn Lynch and Doug "Muscle Hamster" Martin. We'd love to see the Rams defend the Dome in their final home game, and finish with a winning home record for the first time since the soft-scheduled 2010 season.

We'd love - more than anything else - to finish the season with a win in Seattle that knocked those accursed Seahawks out of the playoffs. 

Being a pragmatist (a fancy word for 'pessimist'), I don't expect we'll get everything we'd love to happen. But if this Rams team is going to deserve to be considered a team "in the hunt," these next four weeks are our playoffs. And if they take care of business, at that point, who knows? 

Wow, what a game. It may not have been the prettiest St. Louis Rams win ever, but it certainly was the grittiest. Notwithstanding all of the things that did not go well for the Rams, they still found a way to pull out a victory over the hated San Francisco 49ers. I realize that many Bradford bashers are all over him for failing to score a touchdown, but I plan to write an article this week suggesting it may have been one of his best game in the pros. Before calling me insane, please wait and read the article before you form a conclusion.

I want to note all of the factors that the Rams overcame to win this game.  1) We did not get past the 50 yard line until the last drive in the 2^nd quarter which began with 1 minute and 43 seconds left in the half. 2) We averaged 3.1 yards rushing with Bradford averaging 10 yards a carry.  3) The wide receivers dropped five passes, three on third down.  4) We survived one of the worst rushing the passer calls against the Rams ever.  5) A ridiculous false start on a two point conversion.  6) A shank punt in overtime.  7) Our best wide receiver was missing.  8) Our other “starter” Gibbons could not get open enough to even get a single target.  9) Other than Givens, our other receivers could not beat press coverage. Nevertheless, we won the game.

Let’s take a look at the preview to see if any of the factors I highlighted meant anything.