October 4, 2012; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Rams head coach Jeff Fisher reacts to a penalty call during the second half against the Arizona Cardinals at the Edward Jones Dome. The Rams defeated the Cardinals 17-3. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Scott Rovak-US PRESSWIRE

Sport’s Illistrated’s Peter King published his weekly Monday Morning Quarterback this afternoon, filled with his take on the week of sports. Within the article, you can find weekly awards for players, breakdowns of the games, thoughts on the league and individual players, and other random bits, such as “Quotes of the Week.”

On the third page of MMQB, King always lists his “Fine Fifteen,” or his personal power rankings of the upper tier of the league. Understandably, the St. Louis Rams have not graced this list for a fair amount of time. As a matter of fact, the 2010 “playoff hunt” in Bradford’s rookie season was the last time a St. Louis team cracked the Top 15, and there is no telling how far you would have to search through the archives before you would see the Rams on the list before then.

After a trouncing of the Arizona Cardinals, St. Louis has finally squeaked back into the mix, directly ahead of the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks. Arizona had been gold in the eyes of King, but after a shaky offensive line performance, has fallen from grace, now sitting at the 14th spot. King also gives an interesting take on the Seattle Seahawks, who are anchoring the list in the 15th spot, claiming “Bruce Irvin’s on pace for a 14.5-sack season. His speed is impossible to handle for almost any tackle in the NFL. What a smart pick — assuming Irvin can stay on the field.” That is interesting! How many sacks did Irvin have against Wayne Hunter and/or Barry Richardson when they played the St. Louis Rams? Zero…

Anyways, the St. Louis Rams are above their two NFC West brother, chiming in at 13 in the “Fine Fifteen.” King had this to say about the Rams,

Used to be an easy day, playing the Rams secondary. Today? Rams are second in the league with a 66.6 defensive passer rating. That’s what signing Cortland Finnegan and drafting Janoris Jenkins will do for a team.

King also had this to say about Jeff Fisher, who he named the “Coach of the Week,”

In the span of five days, division rivals Seattle and Arizona went to St. Louis with a combined record of 6-1. Fisher’s preparation since camp has been a lot about the division, and here were the first two division games for them. After allowing a first-quarter touchdown run to Seattle, the Rams held the two teams to zero touchdowns and three field goals over the last seven quarters, with 11 sacks, and St. Louis won both to go to 3-2.

It is amazing to finally read something positive about the St. Louis Rams, especially when it is coming in the middle of the season instead of right after the NFL Draft. The St. Louis Rams play the Dolphins next Sunday in Miami, looking to tack on their first road win of the season. Miami has yet to make the Top 15 in the eye of King, or any sports analyst, and the  Rams hope to keep it that way.

I can’t say this comes as a huge surprise considering the situation we are in with the lockout and missing training camp time, but it still breaks my heart. If Hard Knocks isn’t the best show on TV these days, it is certainly my favorite show at the very least. It’s the kind of thing I look forward to every year, not only because of how riveting it is every week, but because it’s our first real taste of NFL football after several months away from the game. I guess it’s only fitting that in this disaster of an offseason we would lose one of the greatest parts of the offseason, but it’s still a huge bummer.
All I can say is that I hope Hard Knocks is back and better than ever in 2012, because I will eventually get over the lockout costing me this season of the show, but I will never forgive the NFL if the lockout costs me Hard Knocks for good.

In other bad NFL news of the day, apparently the Philadelphia Eagles are interested in bringing in Brett Favre as a backup to Mike Vick. Yeah, I really don’t know what to make of this either. I would be absolutely shocked if Favre played again, but I’d be even more surprised if he did it as a backup. I can’t imagine there’s any chance of this actually happening, but I learned a long time ago to never assume Favre is done.

When I see people who are in the know like Freeman and King sounding so optimistic, it really makes me think that things are starting to turn around. The meetings last week were reportedly positive, and if a deal is reached by July we should have no problems getting the season going without issue. I know I have been skeptical, so the fact that I’m starting to come around should be at least some indication that things are getting better. Again, I caution everyone to not to get too overly excited here, but you should certainly feel better about negotiations. Things are better