The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Dear Editor,
How about those Rams! It is apparent everyone, including players, coaches and other personnel gave a very good team effort. We die hard Rams fans probably shouldn't be second guessing a NFC championship team but we will anyway.
Coach Martz apparently has the philosophy to let offensive players play the full game, regardless of the score. This year they brought in Jamie Martin (who?) as a backup QB.
How do you think the Rams would have done if Warner went out with injury this year, when Martin had only thrown three passes during the regular season?
This is why Kurt Warner is MVP in football this year. To remain at the top you need two good QBs (ex. Brady and Bledsoe of Patriots).
How about choosing someone like Kurt Kittner (U. of IL) as first choice in the draft and give him some playing time so he is ready if Warner goes down again.
That is why no one realized what a talent Warner was, since they didn't give him a chance to play in his early years. The main areas needing improvement are turnover ratio and special teams play.
Randall El would also make an excellent additional draft pick as an all around athlete.
Most people agree that Faulk is the best all around player in football. He has some good backups at RB in Candidate, Holcomb, and Watson, so why not get him out in lop-sided games?
Running backs have the shortest careers so why not extend his career?
Coach Hanifan also keeps his huge offensive linemen in for extensive playing time.
It is important to have precision timing for the entire offense, but other players would feel more a part of the team if they were more involved.
It is almost miraculous what Coaches Smith and Fraley and new players have done for the defense.
They keep huge fresh defensive bodies rotated, with little difference in performances.
Wistrom is probably the best, but there are a lot of almost equally talented defensive linemen.
Their linebackers, especially Fletcher and Polley, had outstanding seasons.
When rookie Tommy Polley was given a chance (because of injury) he made 16 tackles at OLB in the first game he started.
Their other outstanding rookie was safety Archuleta, who started all season and played like a veteran.
Like Martz predicted, Aeneas Williams did for the defense what Faulk does for the offense. Besides being a very effective CB, he is the hardest worker on the team and thus, is a very good leader. Most of all, like Kurt Warner, he is an outstanding citizen.
Congratulations are deserved by all Rams personnel. We are very much looking forward to a return to Macomb for training camp this summer.
Weyman George,
Macomb