Ron Borges

Change is everywhere in St. Louis.

There has been a major shakeup in the personnel department and gone are troubled coach Mike Martz and his high-flying aerial attack. Gone, too, is long-time backfield fixture Marshall Faulk after another knee surgery. Gone most of all is the idea that the Rams will win by outscoring their opponents every weekend.

New coach Scott Linehan favors the vertical passing game, but not the way Martz did. He'll ask quarterback Marc Bulger to take some shots deep, especially to Torry Holt, but not so many shots to the chest trying to do it. More often, Linehan will have the offense in a two-tight end, one back power running set designed to move the ball on the ground.

Linehan wants a simpler and more balanced attack with an emphasis on running back Steven Jackson getting the ball more often then he did a year ago, when he rushed for 1,046 yards. Jackson averaged 4.1 yards a carry and he'll get more chances than the 254 carries of a year ago to try to improve on that production.

This doesn't mean the Rams won't still throw the ball plenty to Holt, Isaac Bruce and Kevin Curtis. But Linehan wants a power running game and a more of a balance between throwing and moving the ball on the ground. It will bear watching how his group of high-strung wide receivers handle what is very likely to be reduced circumstances.

Defensively, new coordinator Jim Haslett has no use for the soft way the Rams played in recent years. He has installed a new attitude and a more attacking mentality. He favors an active front and an attacking style that may well see the Rams blitzing far more than under Martz.

Two key acquisitions designed to let him play his style are former Pro Bowl defensive tackle La'Roi Glover, who is undersized but perfect for what Haslett expects from his interior linemen and highly active linebacker Will Witherspoon, who was arguably the Carolina Panthers' best linebacker a year ago. Haslett intends to move him from weakside linebacker, where he was fast becoming known around the league, into the middle. Haslett will tell you it's not that different from what Witherspoon would be doing on the weakside but Witherspoon may disagree once he gets caught up in traffic a few times. On a team that was last in the league against the run a year ago, Witherspoon and Glover will be expected to plug a lot of holes even though he seems a bit undersized for the position.

Haslett also will emphasize ballhawking because the Rams forced only 42 takeaways the past two seasons. Haslett wants those numbers to increase markedly and the addition of Witherspoon, corner Fakhir Brown and free agent safety Corey Chavous, all moves designed to help make those kind of game-changing plays happen.

St. Louis may have as many as six new starters on defense, including potentially three in the secondary, and a changed approach on offense.

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Whether that's enough to be competitive with the NFC champion Seahawks and vastly improving Cardinals remains to be seen.

Hot seat
Jim Haslett. The former Saints coach has been brought in to remake a defense that finished 30th over all, 28th against the run and worst of all, 31st in points allowed. The defense he inherited was spriitless last season, allowing 429 points, a number not even Martz's high-octane offense could keep up with. Haslett is being seen as someone who will bring aggression and blitzing to a unit that had grown passive.

But does he have the talent to be successful?

Overheard
Free safety was a problem for the Rams last year, but Linehan and Haslett believe they found the answer in second year safety Oshimoghi Atogwe. Atogwe spent most of his rookie season in Martz's doghouse, making only five tackles on defense and seldom playing. But Haslett liked his speed and aggressiveness and named him the starter from the first day of camp. He's added speed and a physical presence to the Rams' back line. With Atogwe and Chavous St. Louis has a completely changed set of safeties the Rams feel are a major defensive upgrade from a year ago.

Outlook
There is talent here, both on offense and defense, but very likely not enough. The Rams may improve their 6-10 record but to be better than 8-8 would require a defensive transformation Haslett cannot perform on his own. There is not enough offense to outscore everybody any more and not enough defense to shut enough teams down. The Rams don't figure to give up 429 points again but they'll give up more than they'd like and more than the offense can make up for too much of the time.

Prediction
Third

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