Farmers Field, the new football stadium in Downtown Los Angeles, from an artists rendering; courtesy ms-ent.net

With the news officially announced this past week that Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton has signed a bill that will authorize a partly bond-financed plan for a $975 million football stadium in the Twin Cities, it appears that the Minnesota Vikings are now off the table as a player in the Los Angeles NFL saga.  The Vikings seemed to be the franchise most-likely to move to SoCal as their lease with the aging Metrodome was coming to an end, another tradition-soaked victim of the modern era of sports economics doomed to move away from a region that helped build their legacy.  Now that the bill has been passed, the Vikings are set to begin a new chapter in Minnesota that will take them through a final season or two at the Metrodome, then a short stint at the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium, before finally moving to their new digs.  The Vikings have been dealing with the antiquated Metrodome for years, a building that has seemed to age in dog years.  A new stadium was key to keep the team in town, and if the deal hadn’t come together it was only a matter of time before the Los Angeles billionaires started throwing diamond and furs at team owner Zygi Wilf.

Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan area in the United States, and by far the largest without an NFL team.  The region is preparing to break ground on the $1.2 billion Farmers Field, a gigantic stadium that is tailor-made for attracting a professional football team.  As the plans for building Farmers Field have developed, owner Anschutz Entertainment Group has been quietly courting potential teams to make the move to Los Angeles.  The Vikings were very much on that list up until this week.  Who are the other possible teams that could legally make the move to the new stadium in Downtown Los Angeles – which could be ready as early as the start of the 2015 season and has plenty of temporary plans to house the new franchise until then?

courtesy chargers.com

.1  The San Diego Chargers – The Bolts were a charter member of the old AFL, and spent one season in Los Angeles before settling in permanently in San Diego.  The Chargers play in Qualcomm Stadium, known to most long-time sports fans as Jack Murphy Stadium.   As far as NFL facilities go, the “Q” is pretty close to the bottom of the list.  Old, run down, and only ascetically pleasing due to its location in the most beautiful city in the Country, Qualcomm Stadium is nearing the end of its usability for the league.  The team has had trouble selling tickets the past few seasons, despite a run of quality teams with numerous Pro Bowl players.  The Spanos Family, majority owners of the franchise, know the riches that await them just two hours down Interstate 5.  A move to L.A. would be a major step up for the team, and although they would lose some of their dedicated fanbase – for the most part if the people of San Diego still wanted to follow the Chargers, it wouldn’t be hard.  San Diego has gradually moved into the neighborhood of a decent sports town.  The Chargers have had some very good teams during their time there, and the baseball Padres are now playing in a brand new ballpark (PetCo Park) and trying to rebuild their club in the tough small-market climate.  Traditionally, San Diego has been more of a vacation spot than a hard-nosed sports town.  Moving the Chargers to L.A. would be one of the easiest transitions for an NFL team to make (not the easiest, that distinction falls to the Oakland Raiders, who we will get to shortly), and the move would not be considered a black mark on the legacy of the NFL.  The Chargers have to be considered the top option for moving to Los Angeles.

Oakland Raiders fans; courtesy prweb.com

2.  The Oakland Raiders – The Raiders spent 1982-1994 as the Los Angeles Raiders.  After a very successful 21-year run in Oakland, owner Al Davis spearheaded the move to L.A. with the idea that the Raiders would be more financially stable playing in the larger city, despite moving to the already outdated L.A. Memorial Coliseum.  The Los Angeles area had two NFL teams at that point, with the Raiders and the Rams playing their games down the road in Anaheim.  The Raiders won Super Bowl XVIII while representing the City of Angels, claiming their third Lombardi trophy.  In 1995 it was back to Oakland, as Al Davis signed a letter of intent to move his team back to the Bay Area once more, where they have remained ever since.  The team has had its share of glory years, but for the most part have been also-rans since returning to Oakland.  Furthermore, the stadium situation in Oakland is horrendous.  The Oakland Coliseum (or whatever it is called now) is a dump.  The Raiders are the last NFL team to share their stadium with a MLB team, and are unable to generate the type of ad revenue in Oakland that an NFL team should.  With their history in the Los Angeles market and the fan base the has maintained allegiance to the Raiders, this is a perfect scenario for the team to finally put their long nomad past behind them and become the sole proprietors of football in Los Angeles.  The Bay Area has the San Fransisco 49ers as the #1 team in the region, and moving the Raiders to L.A. would only help to further the fortunes of that franchise.  The Raiders should be considered the #2 option for moving to L.A., with only a very team-friendly stadium lease keeping them from being the top dog.

St. Louis Rams fans,; courtesy prlog.com

3.  The St. Louis Rams – Another former L.A. tenant, the Rams moved to St. Louis in 1995 and within four years were competing in a Super Bowl and seemed to be on pace to build quite a legacy in the Midwest.  Their fortunes went south after that, and attendance has become a serious issue for the team in the immense Edward Jones Dome.  The year to watch in 2015, the year the Rams lease with the dome expires.  If the team does not have a legitimate stadium plan in place by 2013, the relocation bounds will be barking loudly in St. Louis.  The team seems to be heading in the right direction on the field, with new head coach Jeff Fisher crafting a young, talented team.  It could be a perfect storm for the NFL to move an up-and-coming team with many marketable pieces into the second-largest city in the country.  Keep an eye on the Rams and their stadium situation in St. Louis, if they are unable to secure a new stadium chances are good the Rams are going to be out of Missouri and heading somewhere – L.A. Toronto, maybe even London – and obviously Los Angeles would top that list.

4.  The Jacksonville Jaguars – The Jaguars were on every list of potential teams heading to L.A. up until this past year, when the ownership team led by Shahid Khan purchased the franchise.  Now the Jaguars appear to be setting down permanent roots in Florida.  Jacksonville was a heavy gamble for expansion by the NFL in the mid 90′s and for a while it appeared that the gamble would pay off.  Then the lean years came and the fans stopped buying tickets, causing the team to have most of its home games blacked out in the Jacksonville area.  The team tarped off a huge section of seats at EverBank Field to avoid those blackouts and have a lease that binds them to the stadium – a fine NFL facility – until 2027.  With new ownership committed to the Northern Florida area and the lease in place, the Jaguars can be officially taken off the list of potential Los Angeles suitors.

Buffalo Bills fan; courtesy sportsillustrated.cnn.com

5.  The Buffalo Bills – Oh, the poor Bills.  Rabid fans, great football area, storied history, and absolutely no respect for any of it by the league.  Playing home games in Toronto wasn’t bad enough, having their franchise named as a possibility to move across country to Los Angeles is a sick, twisted, way to treat a fan base that has supported their team despite terrible coaching and player management decisions over the years.  For me – a Steelers fan – I believe football is a game that should be played outdoors in cold weather.  The more snow, the more wind, the better.  Buffalo is a fine NFL city, and a unique small town that loves its Bills, not quite as small as Green Bay – but frankly, very similar in many ways.  The Bills were a founding member of the AFL, they have played in four Super Bowls, they have many Hall of Famers that played their careers in Buffalo, and they sell out their stadium.  Ralph Wilson Stadium is old and needs updated, something that the people of Buffalo will have to deal with soon if they want their team taken off this list.  Owner Ralph Wilson is 92-years old and when he passes, the last connection to that city and that stadium will be gone.  The city and its fans need to work out a lucrative stadium deal to keep the Bills in Upstate New York, where they belong.  Until then, the unfortunate reality is that the Buffalo Bills will be courted to move to L.A..  Here is hoping the franchise gets it all sorted out and remains where they belong, just like the Vikings did in Minnesota.

Is Las Vegas, NV ready for an NFL expansion team?

6.  An Expansion Team – The probability of another NFL expansion seems dim under the leadership of Roger Goodell.  Any expansion plan would need to include two new teams to keep the league balanced.  So where would the second team land?  Is Las Vegas ready for a professional sports team?  Has the financial success of the Toronto Raptors and Blue Jays proven that American professional sports work in the gigantic Toronto Metropolitan area?  Would the league consider setting up shop in another large Florida market like Orlando – a city with a major powerhouse company in its back pocket (Disney)?  How about San Antonio, TX?  At one point it seemed the New Orleans Saints could have been permanent residents there and a team in San Antonio would further the league advances into the Mexican-American community.  How about a SECOND team in Chicago, a city that has two distinct towns (north side and south side) and already supports two major league baseball teams with a similar setup?  Could the Windy City sustain a second NFL team?  Finally, what about another college football crazed town – Omaha, Nebraska or Columbus, Ohio.  Do either have the population to support a team in their city?

Expansion would be the safest and quickest way to get a team into Los Angeles, and with no limit on the amount of investors that would line up to finance a team, it is a very real possibility.

One way or another, the National Football League is going to get a franchise in Los Angeles by 2015.  Whether it be by moving ans established team or expansion, the wheels are already in motion and the league is not going to turn away from the economic boom a team could provide for them in the Los Angeles region.  If put together correctly, a team in L.A. could immediately become one of the most valuable professional sports teams in the country.  It will be interesting to see where this goes from here.

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After the St. Louis Rams won the Super Bowl, their plan for the future was set. Dick Vermeil would retire so they would hand the reigns over to Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz. Martz served as a QB coach/offensive assistant to the Redskins the year before and helped turn them into one of the league’s most explosive offenses. When he took over the Rams offense, it quickly became known as “The Greatest Show on Turf.”

But, as everybody knows, in life there are no guarantees when you use the drive-thru and there are no guarantees in the NFL. The supposedly perfect marriage between Martz and St. Louis was never consummated. They reached the Super Bowl two seasons later and, despite being 17 point favorites, they wound up losing. Many fans never forgave Martz for that. And the team started to regress due to flaws in Martz’s coaching philosophies and by 2005 the relationship had deteriorated worse than Hulk and Linda Hogan’s, brother. Thus, out went Double M and in came former Vikings and Dolphins OC Scott Linehan.

Linehan isn’t as innovative or wide-open as Martz, but he’s definitely one of the better offensive minds in football. The Rams hoped to keep their explosive offense but couple that with a stout defense, often neglected under Martz. To that end, they hired former Steelers Defensive Coordinator, free from the hell that is being the head coach of the New Orleans Saints, Jim Haslett. This was supposed to be a big year for St. Louis. Unfortunately, a combination of aging stars, coaching errors, and tons of key injuries have made this a year to forget.

While the Rams go back to the drawing board this off-season, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin must go back to the drawing board IMMEDIATELY. Myself, amongst others, have been noticing some serious fundamental flaws in this team for awhile now but those flaws were ignored when the team kept winning (against mostly inferior opposition). However, the past two weeks, both convincing losses to quality, PLAYOFF-BOUND, teams shows these flaws need to be addressed if we have any hope of doing anything come January.

Steelers Defense vs. Rams Offense

Unbelievably, the Rams had a hard time scoring points for most of this season. Of course, they haven’t had their full compliment of healthy offensive starters most of this season, either. Those starters are pretty much all back now which means don’t let the record fool you, this team can do some damage.

The offense is led by Central Catholic product, Marc Bulger. The Rams like to throw the ball deep and Bulger, when he’s on, has the arm strength and accuracy of a top-flight NFL quarterback. In the last two seasons, he’s completed 66% of his passes while averaging 8.12 yards per attempt, which is outstanding. His main problem is that he’s fragile and doesn’t like to be hit. If we can get in his face and knock him around, he will get rattled.

WRs Issac Bruce, Tory Holt, and Drew Bennett are all known for their deep play capabilities. Bruce isn’t the deep threat he once was and drops more passes now, but has shown he can still be a playmaker. Holt has some decent intermediate pass route skills, although you don’t see him go over the middle very often. Bennett has superb deep speed and either splits time with Bruce or serves as the slot in three and four wideout sets.

The big threat on offense will be RB Stephen Jackson. He’s a big load who’s had some shoulder and knee issues this year. When healthy, Jackson is one of the best tailbacks in the game. Last week, he rushed for 143 yards against a very tough Green Bay defense. And this week he faces a Steeler team that has suddenly become unable to stop the run.

Of course, “suddenly” should be translated as “Since DE Aaron Smith was lost for the season.” This is Item #1 on Tomlin’s drawing board: find a way to fix the run defense. I can’t believe one player makes THAT much difference but look at the rushing yards allowed with Smith vs. without him and even a blind man, or Bryant Gumbel, can see the difference. The law firm of Kirschke, Eason, and Hoke just can’t get the job done. They were getting blown off the line left and right against Jacksonville. It got so bad, they were bringing S Troy Polamalu up to support the run but if you depend on your safety to tackle the running back, that’s not good.

The Three Amigos of Bryant McFadden, Ike Taylor, and Deshea Townshend have the speed and coverage skills to deal with the St. Louis receivers. And James Harrison and our other linebackers should be able to get pressure on Bulger as their o-line is nowhere near as big and physical as Jacksonville or New England’s. Granted, this won’t mean much if Jackson is ripping off 8 yards per carry…

Steelers Offense vs. Rams Defense

Jim Haslett utilized the standard issue 3-4 Blitzburgh scheme while here but has since converted to the more widely accepted 4-3. Anthony Hargrove is probably too small to be a 4-3 DE and not agile enough to be a 3-4 OLB. He’s not a bad player by any means, just not a big threat in either position. Leonard Little is getting up there in years and pretty much running on fumes now. Jimmy Kennedy is slow and lazy and doesn’t really seem to do much. La’Roi Glover is another veteran that probably has only a couple season left and tends to tire because he just can handle that much of a load anymore. Because of these factors, the Rams have been fairly susceptible to the run this year.

This should be music to the ears of RB Willie Parker, who once again rushed for 100 yards last week in a losing effort. Time was, a 100 yard rushing day by a Pittsburgh back meant ball control and time of possession and a win for the Steelers. For some reason, we’re still running the ball effectively, at least on paper, but this hasn’t been translating to wins.

Item #2 on Tomlin’s drawing board will definitely be the play of the offensive line. Last week, it was painfully apparent that LT Marvel Smith is still in tremendous pain from the back injury that caused him to miss a couple games earlier this year. Two weeks ago, Mike Vrabel blew by him like he was standing still and last week Paul Spicer abused him. The Steelers have no choice but to start Max Starks and hope he can anchor the line like he did in back to back games where they only gave up 4 sacks total. C Sean Mahan was also whipped like a rented mule last week but I don’t think we have any other options at center. I can understand we have high expectations given we used to have names like Dawson, Hartings, and Webster at the position but I’d take AVERAGE at this point.

If we can keep QB Ben Roethlisberger upright, a pretty big “if,” he should be able to find some open receivers as the St. Louis secondary is nothing to write home about. The Steelers shouldn’t have any problems putting up points this week. The key will be, and I can’t believe I’m typing these words, if our defense can hold up their end of the bargain.

In Coach Mike Tomlin’s post-game conference, he was forthright in saying that the team simply did not play well in all areas and needed to improve. And he was largely right, but he failed to publicly place blame in one area where it is sorely needed. Himself. Fortunately, guys on the internet like me exist to do that. When Tomlin started this season with early success the fans were ready to embrace him as the savior of the Pittsburgh Steelers after last year’s post-Super Bowl meltdown. But the Steelers haven’t played well in over a month now, barely squeaking out wins or losing in disappointing fashion of late. A pattern in Tomlin’s coaching style has started to emerge over this season that is frightening in its Cowherness: failure to make adjustments. Not just at halftime, but the game plan doesn’t seem to change that much from week to week either. The only recent exception would be the Cincinnati Bengals game, where the defense played a little bit more cover 2 than normal, which probably indirectly led young and foolish Anthony Smith to conclude that the Bengals have better wide receivers than the New England Patriots. At the start of the Season, Ben was airing the ball out a lot more than is typical in Steelers football, passing on first downs and sometimes passing on every down, to a wider variety of receivers than normal. But after the loss to the Denver Broncos, they went back to the old Steelers style of run on first, run on second, pass on third. The only time the Steelers tend to deviate from this plan now is when they feel they can’t execute, not when they want to mix up the play-calling. When the rest of the NFL is trying to move forward every week, standing still is just not enough.

Special teams is the one area that has showed signs of improvement. Najeh Davenport returning punts seems to be an admission that Allen Rossum hasn’t panned out. Why not deactivate Rossum and activate Willie Reid? Rossum didn’t do anything anyway, and this team needs all the receivers it can get. The team may not have a choice, as Nate Washington went out with an injury and may not be ready to play the St. Louis Rams on Thursday. Honestly, even though Washington caught a touchdown pass, given his play this year, he might be helping the Steelers more by not playing on Thursday.

Ben Roethlisberger definitely didn’t play his best game this week, but despite lackluster play, he’s far from the reason for the Steelers loss. Any game in which the quarterback throws three touchdowns and no interceptions should be enough. The offensive line has continued to play terribly; giving up five sacks today, as well as making Ben throw on third and long too many times. Alan Faneca has been as lousy as the rest of the line all season long, and he would be vindicating the Rooneys’ decision to not resign him, but the problem is who is out there to replace him with? Even if the Rooneys were willing to sign a big-time free agent in the off-season, offensive linemen of quality usually don’t go on the market. They can and should address that need in the draft, but the need is probably greater than the draft can fill.

As lackluster as the offense was today, they did put 22 points on the board, and that should have gotten the win. The greatest problem with the Pittsburgh Steelers right now is what used to be its greatest strength: the defense. The collapse against the Patriots last week was distressing, but the Steelers have always been particularly vulnerable to a strong passing team. However, the Steelers’ D has prided itself on stopping the run, and they completely failed to do that today. The failure was so complete that it’s hard to even understand or analyze the reasons why a defense could go from the best in the league to what we saw today.

They better figure out the reasons quickly, because the Cleveland Browns won against the Buffalo Bills today, tying Pittsburgh for first place in the AFC North. (Pittsburgh does, however, own the tiebreaker with the head-to-head record). Playoffs still seem to be on the horizon, but nothing is as safe as the Steelers thought it was a month ago.