Back at the site of last season’s greatest success, the St. Louis Rams are hoping for more of the same.
The Rams will be looking to maintain their surprising grip on the NFC West lead when they visit the winless Detroit Lions on Sunday.
Widely viewed as the worst team in the NFL entering the season, St. Louis (2-2) looked like it was living down to those expectations with losses in the first two weeks to Arizona and Oakland. But something happened in Week 3, when the offense woke up with a 30-16 victory over the Washington Redskins that snapped a 14-game home losing streak.
Sam Bradford, the No. 1 overall pick in last April’s draft, completed over 60 percent of his passes for the first time and Steven Jackson and Kenneth Darby took some of the pressure off with a rushing touchdown apiece in the victory, creating the blueprint for any success this season.
The Rams used that plan again last week, when Bradford threw for a career-high 289 yards and added two touchdowns to end a 15-game losing streak against NFC West opponents and post back-to-back wins for the first time in two seasons with a 20-3 victory over the Seattle Seahawks.
Jackson recorded 70 yards on 22 carries and added 54 receiving yards despite playing through a groin injury. His 15-yard gain in the fourth quarter moved him past Marshall Faulk for second place on St. Louis’ all-time rushing list, trailing only Eric Dickerson.
With the NFC West the consensus weakest division in the league, the Rams actually have a legitimate shot at holding on at the top if Bradford continues to improve and Jackson stays healthy. A .500 record or even 7-9 might be good enough in the West.
The Rams won only once in 2009, with that victory coming against the Lions at Ford Field on Nov. 1. Jackson carried the team that day, rushing for 149 yards and scoring the go-ahead touchdown with less than two minutes remaining.
That proved to be the highlight of the 2009 campaign for St. Louis and one of the lowlights for Detroit as the teams combined for just three wins.
The Lions (0-4) actually had some promise coming into 2010 with the expected maturation of former No. 1 overall pick Matthew Stafford at quarterback and a rebuilt defense. But Stafford went down with an injury in Week 1 and has watched from the sidelines as his teammates have suffered a series of tough losses.
The Lions got 331 yards and two touchdowns from backup quarterback Shaun Hill against the Green Bay Packers last week but ran out of time in 28-26 setback. That was the third close loss of the season for Detroit, which has also lost by five points at Chicago in Week 1 and by three points to Philadelphia in a Week 2 shootout.
The offense has not been the problem, with the Lions putting up over 400 yards per game behind Hill, Calvin Johnson and rookie running back Jahvid Best. But Detroit ranks 26th in the NFL in total defense, yielding over 375 yards per game.