One Two of these years are not like the others. 

The Rams (ranked 17th) have reached their highest point in the ESPN Power Rankings since 2010, and are knocking on the door of the upper bracket for only the second time in the last six years. Now, the worth of these kinds of rankings is next to none when it comes to matching up on the football field, but they provide an easy shorthand to describe our team's competitiveness. And it's hard to argue with the consensus opinion of our mostly-bedraggled teams of 2007-11. 

This is a case where I agree with the consensus. Are the Rams trending up? Absolutely. Are they ready to challenge the elites? Not on your life. 

In the short term, the Rams continue their regular-season playoff prep course with a matchup against the Minnesota Vikings (ranked 16th, while we're talking about it). Only one of these two teams' slim playoff hopes will remain alive after this matchup, making this the equivalent of a "win or go home" game in Week 15. Remaining opponents Tampa Bay (18th) and Seattle (10th) may also have playoff chances on the line. This is a worthy December challenge for a growing team. 

In the long term, this chart displays an ugly trend that Jeff Fisher and Les Snead are charged with correcting. In 2006, 2010 and now 2012, the Rams fought and clawed their way to a respectable season. In 2007 and 2011 (the purple and brown lines on the above chart), that respectability quickly fell out the window. The Rams, as a franchise, are not one that's known for sustaining success. That is the culture that must be changed here. 

To their credit, I believe Fisher and his staff are going about it the right way, going extremely young on the roster to breed out the memories of past failures, and going veteran on the coaching staff to coach good habits into the new stock. They also have a good shot at retaining their key players and coaching personnel, giving them a chance to sustain and build on their success so far. 

Sam Bradford and the St Louis Rams are growing up before our eyes. Once again they found themselves entering the halftime break, trailing on the road despite a strong defensive effort, trying to dig themselves out of a hole of their own making on offense. Once again, the Rams made adjustments to their gameplan, and got big plays from someone other than Danny Amendola to secure a win. 

Subtract the interception heroics of Janoris Jenkins in Week 12, and the story of the Rams win over the Buffalo Bills is a lot like the story of their win over the Arizona Cardinals two weeks earlier. Those two games sandwich a five-quarter gut-check win at home over the San Francisco 49ers, for a three game winning streak.

That this is the longest such streak in six years isn't much of a surprise for anyone who watched much of the last five years of football. But the character of these three wins belongs firmly to Jeff Fisher. He has coaxed suffocating performances by the defensive front seven, opportunistic ball by the secondary, and an clutch performances by the offense in the late going, and has brought this team back to playing meaningful games in December. 

A tale of two halves (Again)

The splits between the first half and the second are stunning. All credit to Buffalo's revitalized defensive front, which has been playing lights-out over the last month of football, but our offense could do nothing. However, the offensive line fixed its protection issues, and a few deep shots (and a passel of clear-out routes to follow) opened up room underneath for the pass and the run. 

Consider these stats: 

Total Rams Net Yards: First half - 71. Second half - 214. 

Total Bills Net Yards: First half - 174. Second half - 104. 

Rams Time of Possession: First half - 11:30. Second half - 17:54. 

Danny Amendola was an unexpected scratch after returning to practice this week, foretelling a day of offensive struggle. Naturally, Sam turned early to his new favorite target Chris Givens and to old standby Steven Jackson, but the Bills were well prepared for that on defense. Sam was only able to complete one of six passes thrown to those two players in the first half. 

That meant turning elsewhere, and relying on players that have had Rams fans reaching for pitchforks at various times earlier in the year. Today, though, the ne'er-do-wells actually did well, none more so than our favorite whipping boy, Brandon Gibson. 

Gibson had a career day with 100 receiving yards on six catches, including clutch grabs for 15 and 13 yards and a touchdown on the Rams' final drive. But Gibson doesn't get into the end zone unless fellow doghouse residents Austin Pettis and Lance Kendricks make up for an earlier drop with highlight-reel catches of their own. Kendricks with a one-hander up the seam, and Pettis with a pirouetting behind-the-back snag on fourth down. 

That's the way the game went in the second half, and the way this winning streak has been built - players picking each other up and doing their part when their number was called. Even Gibson, who hadn't been targeted in nearly six quarters of football prior to today, played a part in Lance Kendricks' must-have two-point conversion against the Niners last week. 

Credit where credit is due: in the trenches

Winning a game on the road is difficult enough. Winning on the road, facing a cantakerous referee crew that had previously flagged your team 13 times in your last meeting, playing without your best receiver on offense, outdoors in a slushy mix of rain and snow? That takes some gritty, gutty play by your linemen. 

The kind of grit and guts showed by Rodger Saffold, for one, who came back twice from getting his knees rolled up on and stepped on to complete a second-half shutout of Mario Williams and the Bills' pass rush. Bradford was sacked only once, early on, and the pressure all but disappeared in the final 30 minutes. 

On the defensive side, Michael Brockers made this a statement game, with 1.5 sacks to increase his rookie season total to four, doubling his LSU career total. As a draft pick, Brockers was all about projecting NFL coaching on an elite physical frame. Well, the coaching has set in, and that frame is starting to dominate inside.

Brockers' presence on interior rushes was a factor for Ryan Fitzpatrick all day, as he was often unable to step up to avoid pressure from the outside. The Rams got him for five sacks, a total not matched since the first five-quarter showdown with San Francisco. 

We could continue to heap additional praise in the trenches - and we will as the week goes on and game film comes online - but for now, let's just enjoy the road win and the happy flight, and prepare for another test against a team on the fringe of the playoff hunt - the Minnesota Vikings. 

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.