Rams update, 2/2

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Rams news:Since it's been a couple of monthssince he's had any surgery, Scott Wells has recently had his rightknee scoped. He missed all of training camp after having surgery onthat same knee last spring, then broke his foot his second game backfrom that, missing over half the regular season as a result. Thefirst practice heparticipated in coming back from that, he tore cartilage in the kneeagain. To his credit, he played the rest of the season with thatinjury. All the same, Wells is fortunate the Rams didn't stink lastseason; a big-ticket signing who was on the field less in 2012 thanDanario Alexander would have been a giant electromagnet forcriticism. With luck, Wells will heal up well here in the offseason, give the Rams a full season in 2013, and the offensive line will be that much more cohesive and effective.
SuperBowl:Thereis not a big ex-Rams contingent in Super Bowl XLVII. The 49ers havelinebacker Larry Grant; the Ravens have tight end Billy Bajema,corner Chris Johnson (yes, the guy who stepped out of bounds at the 1with the 2005 Opening Day kickoff) and running backs coach WilbertMontgomery.

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A more interesting angle for the biggame Sunday involves the refereeing. The game will in fact berefereed by Jerome Boger, which RamView still finds unbelievable.Having watched him mangle Rams games the past two seasons, Boger'sabout the last referee I'd pick to do a game of any importance. Turnsout my uninformed fan opinion is a pretty damn good one – some ofBoger's own refereeing colleagues question what he's doing there, andhave accused the NFL's whole selection process of being rigged. Bogerwas downgraded 8 times for mistakes during the regular season, butthey were all magically reversed later at league offices. In fact,Boger and two other members of the Super Bowl officiating crew didn'teven qualify to work last year's playoffs. Boger's never worked aconference championship game, either, which is supposed to be arequirement for a ref to work a Super Bowl.
The excellent Football Zebras site hasdone great work reporting this controversy; have a good look at theirwork and hope Boger doesn't butcher Sunday's game too badly.
RamView's taking a sure-fire losing proposition for Sunday: 49ers to win, Ravens to cover, take the over. I expect Kaepernick to tie Terrell Suggs in knots like RGIII did to Demarcus Ware on Thanksgiving, and I'm suspicious of Baltimore's run defense in general. That's putting a lot of faith in a young QB on the biggest stage, though, and I've underestimated Baltimore's secondary all postseason. They could easily trigger a rout with a pick-six. I expect the Niners to put a lot of heat on Joe Flacco and get him off his game, but that's the same line that did squat two weeks ago in Atlanta. And if Jim Harbaugh needs David Akers to make a clutch kick, he's not going to get it. Baltimore's special teams have issues, too, though. The 49ers could easily trigger a rout with a big return. Baltimore manhandled the 49ers last Thanksgiving, though. That was the 49ers with Alex Smith, though. I'm expecting a game as back-and-forth as my thought processes. 28-26, San Francisco.
Belated Pro Bowl update:Thanks to the need to replace playersappearing in the Super Bowl, two ex-Rams did play in last week's ProBowl: London Fletcher, and, yes, Richie Incognito. Had I known soonerthat Richie was in, I might actually have watched the game to see ifhe could become the first player ever thrown out of the Pro Bowl.Didn't happen, though. The NFC won this year's farce, 62-35.
Hall of Fame update: This year's Pro Football Hall of Fameclass will be announced Saturday. Former Rams Aeneas Williams, JeromeBettis and Kevin Greene are finalists. I do not expect any of them togain admission tomorrow, even though all three should have by now.Amending my prediction from last month, I think both veterans'selections, Curley Culp and Dave Robinson, will join Larry Allen,Jonathan Ogden, Michael Strahan, Charles Haley and Cris Carter inthis year's class. I think Allen is the closest thing to a lock inthis year's class. Strahan is almost surely in thanks to an all-NewYork NFL career and his current show-biz career. Ogden and Haley will be helpedby their teams playing in the Super Bowl Sunday. I get the sinkingfeeling, though, that the person who's really going to be helped isNFL rulebreaker and criminal Eddie DeBartolo. I can see him and AndreReed in those last two spots, and I think I've been underestimatingWarren Sapp's chances, too. I think the voters go with the maximumclass of seven in part to tweak the Baseball Hall of Fame foradmitting nobody this year.
Ex-Rams updates:He's not going into the Hall of Fame,but Mike Jones was recently featured in an ESPN article about “lostheroes” of the Super Bowl:http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/page/lost-heroes/lost-heroes-super-bowl
In other ex-Rams news:- You already know Marshall Faulk,justifiably, is still not happy about the way Super Bowl XXXVI wentdown. You may not have heard that Marshall is going to participate inwhat may be the biggest reclamation project in NFL history, whichwould be resurrecting the career of Jamarcus Russell. He's going to bepart of a group of advisors helping the 27-year-old draft megabustmake a comeback. Specifically, Marshall is going to tutor Russell onhow to read defenses. In preparation to make a run at a second chancein the NFL, Russell has his weight down to 308 pounds. You read thatright. 308.
God help you, Marshall.
- Steve Spagnuolo and Ken Flajole were bothfired by New Orleans. Spags “led” the Saints to the worst seasonever by a defense; they allowed a league-record 7,042 total yards.But hey, they did finish ahead of the Titans in scoring defense.Unfortunately, that's the only team they finished ahead of. Spags wasalso ripped in local press by an anonymous player who called him acontrol freak and a phony, and said he had no personality, treatedplayers like crap and was poor at adjusting during games.
Well, Spagnuolo is nothing if notconsistent in a couple of those areas, at least.
Hey, you don't suppose Jeff Fisherwould.... Um, NO.
- Al Harris has joined Andy Reid in Kansas City as asecondary coach.
- Ron Milus, who was just fired inDenver, joined San Diego's staff as secondary coach, rejoining Chargers head coach Mike McCoy, also plucked from Denver's staff.
- Adam Schefter reported last weekendthat Gregg Williams could be reinstated by commissioner Roger Goodellbefore the Super Bowl. Whenever it happens, he's expected to joinTennessee's staff as assistant head coach.
In ex-player news, Jamie Childers was signed by the Giants toa reserve/future contract. Justin Medlock also tried out there butwas not signed.
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