Maybe it's a by-product of being a Rams fan, but I have a love for home makeover shows, especially This Old House. The plot is always the same - a homeowner has a falling-down property, and the situation looks hopeless until a salty curmudgeon shows up with a team of expert carpenters, architects and designers. After an hour is over, you've got a completely rebuilt place, restored to its former grandeur and glory. 

The story of Jeff Fisher and the 2012 Rams, in other words. 

If you've watched these shows, you know the first thing these guys do before they lift a hammer is figure out what they've been given to work with. Some parts of the house are already sturdy and just need a coat of polish; others are obviously rotted and useless and need to be replaced. But there is always something tarnished that these guys take a chance on restoring, rather than replacing. 

When you look at the job that Fisher and Les Snead have done, there are key players that this team decided to take a chance on rehabbing rather than replacing, and those key players have made huge contributions to this team's resurgence. And each rehab story comes with a master architect.  

Here are the top five: 

We get it, the NFL Pro Bowl voting is more about having your name ring out for an extended period of time than anything else. And while the St Louis Rams have kicked and shoved their way back to respectability, they haven't had one transcendent player elevate his game to that superstar level. 

They may not have had one, but they have had parts of two. 

Aside from Steven Jackson, the names getting the most attention among Rams skill players are Danny Amendola ("Sam's security blanket") and Chris Givens ("the keeper league special"). The trouble is, thanks to the rookie learning curve and ever-present health issues, neither one has been able to put together a complete enough season to challenge the game's upper tier. 

Here's a look at the NFC Pro Bowl inductees at wide receiver, and how Amendola's and Givens' stats rank up in the NFL: 

Calvin Johnson (DET): 117 catches (1) on 188 targets (1), 1892 yds (1), 5 TDs (T-29) 

Brandon Marshall (CHI): 113 catches (2) on 169 targets (T-2), 1466 yds (2), 11 TDs (T-3)

Julio Jones (ATL): 76 catches (15) on 121 targets (15), 1142 yds (11), 10 TDs (6)

Victor Cruz (NYG): 82 catches (10) on 131 targets (9), 1040 yards (14), 9 TDs (7)

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Danny Amendola: 59 catches (33), 92 targets (39), 639 yards (50), 3 TDs (T-54)

Chris Givens: 40 catches (63), 75 targets (49), 644 yards (49), 3 TDs (T-54)

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Not so impressive. But here's the thing: each player alternated time as Sam's primary target, thanks mostly to the lingering effects of Amendola's heel injury and Givens' San Francisco curfew adventure.

If you go week to week (and we're cheating a little bit here by bringing in Brandon Gibson's huge game against Buffalo where both Givens and Amendola were gimpy), you can add up Sam's primary targets and get a pretty fine season: 

Sum total: better in every respect, save touchdowns, than Julio Jones or Victor Cruz. Can you say SNUBBED!?!?

Okay, so we're not really suggesting that Pro Bowl voters need to consider random bloggers' frankenstein creations, but hopefully what this gives us is an idea of what it could look like if either player (or both) put together a complete season. In Amendola's case, that might be hard to imagine given the reckless abandon that he plays with, and the punishment he takes accordingly. But for Givens, the future is quite bright.

It's also worth noting that these stats don't approach the superhuman levels of a Megatron or a Brandon Marshall. The Rams just don't have that kind of player on the roster. (Few teams do.)

But if you look at the Pro Bowl resumes of Julio Jones or Victor Cruz (or a more deserving snub in Dez Bryant), each one has a complementary threat on the roster to draw coverage away and create opportunities. That is the real hopeful takeaway here, as the entire roster of receivers continues to develop and improve. The more legitimate weapons that Sam Bradford has on the field, the less defenses can focus on trying to shut down any one, and the more potent our offense becomes. 

The St Louis Rams and the Tampa Bay Bucs were similar teams on paper, with the Bucs holding one huge advantage - a deadly efficiency when they get into the red zone. The Bucs were the league's fourth-best team in touchdown scoring, converting on 66% of their red zone possessions. 

Here's how the Bucs fared in their four red zone trips, thanks to the Rams defense: field goal, field goal, turnover on downs, turnover on downs. 

The Rams scored 21 points off Josh Freeman turnovers - including a brilliant pick-six runback by Janoris Jenkins that put the Rams on the scoreboard and gave them a lead they wouldn't surrender.

Despite allowing 370+ yards passing on the day, the defense picked off Josh Freeman four times on Sunday, and forced three more turnovers on downs. (Even the Rams offense got into the act, forcing a fumble of their own on a Bucs first-quarter fumble recovery that could have been a momentum-changer.) It was a classic bend-but-don't-break performance by Jeff Fisher's defense. But unlike the Detroit game, the Rams offense held up its end of the bargain. 

Meanwhile, for the Bucs, this was the second four-INT game in a row for Josh Freeman. Time and again, the Bucs offensive coordinator put the ball in his quarterback's hands with a mandate to make a play. Time and again, the Rams defense made one instead. 

Well, that didn’t go as planned.  The Rams were at home in a game with playoff significance, and they had one job: stop Adrian Peterson. Everything looked OK until 12:34 left in the second quarter. To be exact, at 12:31 AP made a cut that literally took three potential tacklers completely out of the play. No one could stop him from there and he had an 82-yard-touchdown. 

In case, you need a reminder, in the preceding drive, the Rams scored with a touchdown pass to … Brian Quick. Everyone that has been dying to see positives from Quick was stoked.  Minnesota took the kickoff back to the 18 yard line. With 12:34 left, in the 2^nd quarter, Minnesota had a 1^st down, and the rams called an overload blitz on Quinn’s side with a zone drop of the defensive tackle on Long’s side. What? Against Adrian Peterson, you drop one of four defensive lineman into coverage on 1^st and 10? Yes, that is exactly what the Rams called.

Notwithstanding the deranged play call, the run should not have gone for 82 yards. It was set up as draw play between the right tackle and right guard. Quinn set the edge and two blitzers came through the hole between the Quinn and Brockers. The guard blocked both with just a push and pick. Both blitzers were then completely out of the play because they were behind the running back and behind several offensive lineman.

Quinn set the end, so he was not out of it yet. However, he began to jog down field. If he was running at full speed, he could have met Adrian Peterson as he was making the fateful cut at 12:31. 

Michael Brockers took on his blocker well, but his right arm got trapped in on his body and the guard literally held on to the arm to keep Brockers connected to him as they both moved towards the running back. By the time Brockers dislodged himself, he was out of the play. Long set the edge as he was supposed to do, and then got blocked. He was out of the play from that second forward.

Now we get to the other defensive lineman. Kendall Langford, took on his blocker for a split second, but then dropped into pass coverage. It just so happens that Langford was in the hole where the run was designed to go. With Langford dropped and Long setting the edge, the full back ran through a gaping hole with no job other than blocking a linebacker. He took on James Laurinaitis at full speed. JL held his ground and bounced off the block a little. He saw Peterson start to go to the right and began to move in that direction. He was done from the point forward. Peterson made the cut to the left and JL was getting blocked to the right.

Langford had a chance to set another edge downfield. Instead, he took a very strange angle and then was blocked in the back right at James Laurinaitis. As this was going on, Peterson was making his cut to the left. Langford was now out of the play.

Now we get to my least favorite Ram, Craig Dahl.  He not only fell for the jab step to the right by Peterson, he continued to run forward and to the right.  It took him about five steps to stop.  While trying Dahl was trying to stop, Peterson made the jab step, cut to the left and was already by Dahl as he began to notice that Peterson was not going to the right.  Due to a faulty braking system, Dahl was now out of the play. 

The only guy a with a real chance at this point was Janoris Jenkins.  He was moving towards the play and had a blocker near him. If he would have continued running downfield, it is possible that he could have caught Peterson. However, as Peterson was running downfield with no one in front of him, Jenkins decided to do a back spin to set the edge. By the time he completed the move, Peterson was five yards past him. What you saw from there was Robert Quinn (now at full speed) chasing Peterson downfield. 

In the end, Quinn should have been at full speed the whole time.  If he was, I believe he would have been in a great position to stop the cutback. Dahl, as usual, took a bad angle and took himself out of the play. Langford did nothing right, and Jenkins made a very strange decision. 

James Laurinaitis maybe could have stopped it by throwing his blocker to one side, but if he threw the blocker out of the way in either direction, I suspect AP would have gone the other way. 

With that great little memory, here is the review of the preview:

PREVIEW 1.     Control All Day All Game

REVIEW - Epic Fail

PREVIEW 2.     Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient (Turnovers)

We don’t need to win the turnover battle; we just need to stay even. Turnover differential has been proven to be a key factor in wins and losses in the NFL. If you don’t believe me try to read through all of this: http://www.scribd.com/doc/57023757/The-Correlation-Between-Turnover-Differential-and-Winning-in-the-National-Football-League .  To give you a preview of this fascinating reading: “The Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient of .646 obtained from the two-tailed p-test, suggest a strong positive correlation among turnover differential and winning percentage.”

REVIEW – Epic Fail.  Rams 2 turnovers – Minnesota 0

PREVIEW 3 - Pass/Run Ratio

The Vikings are fairly even on defense. They are 18^th against the pass and 14^th against the rush. For one of the first times this year, I do not care about the pass/run ratio. Everything will be dependent on the game circumstances. Some people may suggest that you have to run to keep Peterson off the field. I disagree. A short passing game also keeps the clock moving. The primary way to keep Peterson off the field is to keep moving the chains. Whatever is working to do that, I support it.

REVIEW – It didn’t matter.

PREVIEW 4 –PENALTIES

The Rams were amazing last week regarding penalties. They are at home this week, and they should be able to keep the penalties down. A key way to sustain drives is to avoid stupid penalties. Execution matters.

REVIEW – The Rams had 8 for 47, but the penalties themselves were horrible. How can a center get and/or cause 2 false start penalties.

A quick look around the league scoreboard revealed the nature of December football, of what happens when the playoffs loom large and the pressure ratchets up. Those teams that can handle the pressure have a huge advantage over those that cannot. And the result is, more often than not, a blowout. One team throws a big punch, and the other crumples to the mat. 

The Rams blew themselves out early on Sunday, cracking under the strain of carrying unexpected playoff expectations. A mistake-laden second quarter gifted the Vikings with 20 free points and turned a tightly competitive 7-7 home finale into a heart-guttering exhibition of "same old Rams" for the home crowd. That the Rams came back in the second half to give brief hope for an impossible comeback was good. It shows the competitive spirit of this team, the fight in this team that Jeff Fisher has instilled. But it wasn't enough to make up for these glaring mistakes: 

TD Vikings (14-7): Adrian Peterson takes a wicked inside cut on exactly the kind of running play that Paul warned us about in his preview, and races untouched for an 82-yard score. Coach Fisher said after the game that the Rams were in the wrong defense. 

FG Vikings (17-7): Scott Wells, who had a very uneven game at center, mishandles the snap on third down to Bradford deep in his own end, and the Vikings recover. This was in the dry, spotless surface of the climate-controlled Dome, with his quarterback directly under center. It's hard to imagine a player that cut his teeth on Green Bay's icy tundra botching a snap this badly, but he did. 

TD Vikings (24-7): Again on third down, Bradford and Wells spot what looks like an overload blitz on Barry Richardson's side of the field, which should have had sirens sounding. They call it out and try a blitz-beater to the other side of the field. However, Leslie Frazier pulled two of his rushers back, sending defensive end Everson Griffen looping all the way around the back of the formation, and directly in the path of Bradford's quick pass. It was a hell of a defensive call and play, but a huge costly mistake for our team nonetheless. 

All of that happened in less than five minutes of game time. And it was followed by yet another missed long field goal try from Greg Zuerlein -- new nickname: "Scott Norwood" -- that set up a 29-yard "drive" for another set of cheap points to close out the first half. 

I said before the game that it felt like the Rams were lining up against the 2010 version of themselves - facing a team with a superstar running back, a strong and inventive defense, and a quarterback on a very short leash from his coaches. They also faced off against the wall that the 2010 team ran into time and again. That team had multiple chances to get over the hump, to get over .500 and into a legitimate playoff conversation. They failed each time.

We think this 2012 team is much improved over that 2010 one in many ways. But in this test of December mettle in a win-or-go-home scenario between two teams with faint playoff hopes, the end result was disappointingly familiar.

It also underscores a hard truth about where we stand, one year into the FIsher-Snead rebuild. This is not a playoff-worthy team yet, playoff scenarios and "in the hunt" status be damned. The Rams have a strong genetic blueprint that is capable of putting up a fight for four quarters, and their second-half comeback attested to that. But they have more growing up to do, and more necessary sharpening of tools and minds to do, before they can take the next step. 

Here we are in week 15 and the Rams are still in the playoff hunt. I can honestly say that this was not on my radar screen at the beginning of the season. Under the coach favorite “take one game at a time” theory, this is an important one game. Currently there are nine teams with a better record than the Rams and only six teams make the playoffs. Minnesota is one of those teams. Therefore, a win today, moves us up one in the playoff position and that is all we can control.

Without looking ahead in any fashion, it should be noted that two of the teams ahead of the Rams in the playoff race play each other (Washington and Dallas). Barring a tie, that would be another team the Rams will pass by winning out. Finally, the last game against the season is against Seattle, who currently has a two game lead on the Rams in the playoff race. If they lose one game against San Francisco or the Bills, then there is a possibility of a “Win & UR In” situation in the last game of the season. 

So what do the Rams need to do to win? This is one of the easier previews to write:

1.         Control All Day All Game

We have played Frank Gore and Jackson/Spiller in the last two weeks and still controlled the run. However, Adrian Peterson is on another level this year. Moreover, there is no other team in the NFL that needs their running back as much as Minnesota. How important is Adrian Peterson? Minnesota is 3^rd in the NFL in rushing yards per game, and Adrian Peterson has almost all of the rushing yards. The only two teams above Minnesota in total rushing yards are the two teams that have a rushing game and a rushing quarterback.

When Minnesota isn’t rushing they are not doing much. They are last in the NFL in passing offense. They average 172.6 yards a game passing, which is only 16 yards a game above their rushing average.

Thus, the plan is simple. If we keep AP to 100 yards or less, the Vikings should end up with less than 300 total yards.  This should lead to a victory as long as we don’t blow any of the following factors.

As a final note, I will ask all fans to watch our tackles. The Vikings have run the same play for a large gain in each of the last three games. It looks like a sweep, but Peterson cuts back through a hole that is generally created inside the tackle. The best way to stop that play is to have the end keep contain and have the tackles get off the block to stop Peterson as he is cutting back through the hole.

2.         Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient (Turnovers)

We don’t need to win the turnover battle; we just need to stay even. Turnover differential has been proven to be a key factor in wins and losses in the NFL. If you don’t believe me try to read through all of this: http://www.scribd.com/doc/57023757/The-Correlation-Between-Turnover-Differential-and-Winning-in-the-National-Football-League .  To give you a preview of this fascinating reading: “The Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient of .646 obtained from the two-tailed p-test, suggest a strong positive correlation among turnover differential and winning percentage.”

3.         Pass/Run Ratio

The Vikings are fairly even on defense. They are 18^th against the pass and 14^th against the rush. For one of the first times this year, I do not care about the pass/run ratio. Everything will be dependent on the game circumstances. Some people may suggest that you have to run to keep Peterson off the field. I disagree. A short passing game also keeps the clock moving. The primary way to keep Peterson off the field is to keep moving the chains. Whatever is working to do that, I support it.

4.         PENALTIES

The Rams were amazing last week regarding penalties. They are at home this week, and they should be able to keep the penalties down. A key way to sustain drives is to avoid stupid penalties. Execution matters.

My God, these Rams are looking more and more like Jeff Fisher’s teams from Tennessee every day. No doubt about it, the Rams victory over Buffalo was ugly. Many of Fisher’s victories over time have been ugly. However, I am so happy to see an ugly victory instead of an ugly loss.

Some of you may be expecting another exaltation of Bradford. If I thought he had great game after a 222 yard no touchdown performance against the 49ers, then I should be jumping for joy after the 200+ yard 1 touchdown game against Buffalo.  Sorry to disappoint, but Sam had his issues in this game. I give him tremendous credit for the last drive, but his overall performance was acceptable, not great.

There was one player who was great. I watched the game twice now and Michael Brockers looks better each time. He is occupying blockers, pushing them deep, and even getting pressure on the quarterback. Anyone who still complains about the RGIII trade is blind. We got Bradford instead of Suh, and then we got a Suh replica. Brockers is becoming a beast inside. Plus, we still have two more first round picks courtesy of the trade. 

Let’s take a look at the preview and see if anything I thought would matter actually mattered.