Aug. 9, 2012; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Washington Redskins wide receiver Pierre Garcon (88) does a flip in the end zone to celebrate a first half touchdown against the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-US PRESSWIRE

The game today is huge for RamsNation, as it will mark the first matchup against the player they could have taken with the 2nd overall pick in this years draft. St. Louis got a king’s ransom in return, including Washington’s first rounder in 2013. A win today bumps the Rams back to a respectable .500, while taking the wind out of the bloated NFC East hyperbole, and hiking the Redskins draft slot a little higher up the board. A loss means the Rams fall to 0-2, which is not atypical for the team, but also will add fuel to the already blazing love for the Washington Redskins  prodigal quarterback. We at Ramblin’ Fan predicted an “upset,” with a number of factors leading to the win. Here are our bold predictions for this weeks game…

1. Sam Bradford and Co. will combine for 350+ yards

St. Louis narrowly reached 250 yards last week against the Detroit Lions defense. Their defensive line push up front and pressure from the linebackers made it difficult for Bradford to get in rhythm, which attributed to only 14 first downs for the entire game. The Lions run a 4-3 base defense, with an aggressive, powerful front four that gets pressure on the quarterback without any extra rushers. Washington is a different monster, running out of a base 3-4 defense that it not nearly as aggressive. They rely on pressure from their front three and the other outside linebackers to get hits and hurries on the opposing quarterback. While the Redskins defense is nothing to be overlooked, Bradford has fared much better against teams that employ the base 3-4, at least in the past. In 2010, Bradford and Jackson’s numbers look like this,

Bradford’s completion percentage, yards, and record are all significantly higher against a 3-4 defense, primarily because of the Rams offensive scheme. The base 3-4 will typically allow the opposing quarterback an extra second or two or get the ball out of his hand. Less big bodies pushing up front will allow Bradford to see the receivers in the quick routes and get the ball out of his hands before Orakpo can break into the backfield. Bradford should have a must better game passing, and that could lead to a monster game from Steven Jackson.

2. Robert Quinn and Chris Long will combine for 2 or more sacks, Washington will get less than 2

Quinn was the only player to record a sack against the Lions, which was extremely disappointing given the hype about the defensive end duo of Long and Quinn. However, the Detroit offense is based out of the shotgun formation, with 3+ wide receivers outside, and bank on Stafford getting the ball out of his hands quickly to the open man. The Redskins run out of a more traditional offensive system, including a good number of snaps from under center. Not only that, but RGIII tends to run outside of the pocket to extend the play and allow the receivers to get some separation on the corners or find the hole in the coverage. Both of those do not bode well for the Redskins, especially flowing outside of the pocket. Quinn and Long should take full advantage of the extra couple of seconds that RGIII will give them and wrangle him down for at least 2 sacks this evening.

On the other side of the ball, the Redskins were able to take down Drew Brees twice last week, with sacks from both Kerrigan and Hall. However, Brees loves to take the 5 or 7-step drops, which will open up the floodgates for a well timed pass rush. Bradford takes little or no drops past 3-step. When he does take a longer drop, it is typically a result of play action, which should freeze the linebackers and blitzing secondary long enough to get the ball out of his hand. Regardless of the injuries to the Rams offensive line, the Lions front seven is superior to the Redskins, and they managed 3 sacks, one of which was Bradford eating the ball on a broken play. Redskins will be lucky to catch Bradford in the backfield at all given the offensive and defensive schemes.

3. RGIII will not throw for more then 250 yards

This week should be the largest, mass backtracking from writers that the world has ever seen. RGIII’s  performance in Week 1 crowning him as the next elite, future Hall-of-Fame quarterback of this generation. Even though it was a single game, his numbers were impressive, going 19 for 26 passing for 320 yards, on a 73.1% completion percentage! However, a majority of his numbers are heavily inflated by the spectacular run and catch by Pierre Garcon, which led to RGIII’s first touchdown pass in the NFL. That single catch accounted for 27.5% of Griffin passing yards for the game, which, minus the catch, would have thrown RGIII into the lower tier of passing performances in the NFL during Week 1.

That being said, this week Griffin will likely be without his big star this week against the Rams. Garcon is the only “threatening” receiver on the Redskins offense, accounting for 21% of the completion from Griffin, and 34% of his total yards. The aging Santana Moss and Aldrick Robinson will now be his primary targets, both of which should be easily controlled by Cortland Finnegan and Janoris Jenkins, who succeeded, for the most part, is keeping Calvin Johnson out of the game when the Rams played the Lions. They both are aggressive corners that love to jump the routes for the big play or make the big hits, which is exemplified by their combined 16 tackles, 3 pass deflections, 2 interceptions, 65 interception return yards, and capped off with a defensive touchdown in Week 1. Between the lack of offensive weapons and the pressure that the Rams defense will put on Washington’s receiving core, RGIII will be lucky if he can tally 250 yards passing in this game.

4. Steven Jackson will have more rushing yards than Alfred Morris

This may not seem bold to Rams fans, but after then magnification of Morris’ 96 yard game against the Saints, you would think he was the next coming of Walter Payton. Morris averaged 3.4 yards per carry against a defense that has been historically bad against the run, and was without their best defensive player in Jonathan Vilma. James Laurinaitis and Jo-Lonn Dunbar will be running a spy on RGIII and the backfield personnel for most of the game, which will not bode well for the rushing game. On the other side, Jckson barely hammered away for 2.5 yards per carry against the Lions, which was the result of a combination of poor blocking and a dominate front four. This week, the holes should be much larger for the Rams all-time leading rusher, with only 3 down lineman and, hopefully, much better play calling on the part of Marty Schottenheimer.

5. Zuerlein will finally get his 50+ yard field goal

This is more of a hope than a prediction, but after two 40-yarders against the Lions, he should be primed for the big one. During the FanFest scrimmage in the preseason, Zuerlein wowed the St. Louis crowd with a couple of boots from the 55+ range. He should get at least a couple of opportunities in this game, and with Coach Fisher trusting his leg, would probably allow some attempted from distance that would typically send the punting unit onto the field.

Sep 9, 2012; Detroit, MI, USA; St. Louis Rams offensive tackle Barry Richardson (79), offensive guard Harvey Dahl (62), and quarterback Sam Bradford (8) during the first half against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-US PRESSWIRE

Sunday marks the season home opener for the St. Louis Rams, which will be marked by a non-blacked out crowd, and thousands of fans wearing their fake Jeff Fisher mustaches. The Rams played extremely well at home in the preseason, going 2-0 when playing in the Edwards Jones dome. This may have been the luck of the draw, considering the one of those was a fourth preseason game that saw only one Baltimore starter, but I digress. This week’s game is one that is extremely important for the franchise, not only for this outcome of this season, but for this year’s coming draft. A win against the ‘Skins tomorrow means that the Rams improve to .500 on the season, but also boosts the Redskins draft slot, which will be handed to St. Louis as a result of  the trade for the rights to Robert Griffin III in the 2012 draft. Washington got a huge boost in the “power rankings” after their upset of the New Orleans Saints in Week 1. Many are prematurely touting the team as the next, worst-to-first squad in the league, even though we are only one game into the season. Thus, few have given the Rams a chance in this ball game…

Sport’s Illistrated’s Peter King in on the RGIII bandwagon, which is highlighted in his in depth analysis of St. Louis game against Washington. He hands the game ball to the rookie quarterback with this brilliant explanation,

All those who thought the Redskins would start 2-0 with a rookie quarterback, raise your hands in a Griffining pose.

CBSSports has ironically give the St. Louis Rams a 5-versus-4 nod against the Redskins, which is surprising given their blowout prediction from last Sunday when the Rams played the Lions. Larry Hartstein, who rights a majority of the game previews for CBSSports.com, gave a breakdown of all the important factors in the game, from injuries to the key players to watch,

 RB Steven Jackson must get going. He carried 21 times for 53 yards against a mediocre Lions run defense. Daryl Richardson supplied a nice change of pace with 20 yards on two carries, but the entire offense starts with S-Jax. Washington held New Orleans to 32 yards on 10 rushes last week. Defensively, the Rams need better coverage from safeties Quintin Mikell and Cragi Dahl. They allowed all 10 passes in their coverage to be completed, for 159 yards. Bradford targeted WR Danny Amendola nine times last week, more than double that of any other Rams wideout. He caught five balls for 70 yards. Look for rookie Chris Givens to run a few deep routes; he got way behind Detroit’s secondary once but Bradford underthrew him. Also look for TE Lance Kendricks to be more involved after catching just two balls for 16 yards. 23-20, Rams 

Unsurprisingly, Bleacher Report’s Jason Amareld was delsuion about the Washingskins abilities after Week 1. According to Amareld, the Redskins proven ability to stop the run, the Rams “terrible” pass defense, and Alfred Morris will win the game… he clearly has no clue about the NFL, especially after picking his Buffalo Bills to beat the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Redskins’ ability to stop the run will put pressure on Rams quarterback Sam Bradford for the entire game. With that pressure will come turnovers and a lot of three-and-out series’.If the Rams have any chance of winning, Bradford is going to have to have a huge game. Griffin will shine against the Ram’s terrible pass defense in a big way and running back Alfred Morris will have another big game. Watch him break 100 yards rushing this weekend. 27-10, Redskins

Bleacher Report wasn’t all hype and hyperbole, with Vincent Frank making a pretty sensible piece about the Rams, although the outcome is the same,

St. Louis Rams nearly pulled off an amazing upset at Ford Field against the Detroit Lions. Relying on three timely interceptions of Matthew Stafford, the Rams defense was able to keep it close until Detroit broke through in the last minute. Sam Bradford managed the game extremely well, but he didn’t overly impress against what has been a weak Detroit pass defense. Instead, St. Louis relied mostly on intermediate routes. This won’t work against a Redskins team that is, all of a sudden, as dynamic as they come on the offensive side of the ball. I have Washington taking its second consecutive road game to start the season 2-0, while St. Louis drops another competitive game. 31-20, Redskins

ESPN NFC West blogger Mike Sando surprisingly is going with the Rams this week over the Redskins, which is atypical given his usual negative take on all things not related to the Seattle Seahawks. He is banking on the defensive planning of head coach Jeff Fisher to stop the dynamic RGIII,

The Rams’ defensive staff should benefit from having seen how the Redskins planned to use Robert Griffin III this season. I’ll go out on a limb and say the Rams, armed with a smart defensive plan and opportunistic cornerbacks, find a way to win their home opener under Jeff Fisher. Sando’s best guess: Rams 20, Redskins 17

The online Washington Times posted a collection of predictions from all around the Washington area. As would be expected, a majority of the media have the Redskins over the Rams, with the exception of NBC4′s Dan Hellie, who predicted a 24-17 St. Louis victory. The other 17 members of the media have the Rams dropping to 0-2 this season, although most have the game within a single score.

Elsewhere, all of the writers over at SB Nations Hogs Heaven, the fan site dedicated to the Washington Redskins, have chosen the Redskins over the Rams, which is too be expected given the outrage they would get in the comment section if they picked against the ‘Skins.

Lastly, we at Ramblin’ Fan are still betting on St. Louis this week, with 3 out of 4 of our writers picking the Rams to “upset” the Redskins. Make sure to check out our previews and key to the game, and tune in before the game to see our bold predictions for St. Louis vs. Washington!

Cincinnati Bengals

Green Bay Packers

Washington Redskins

Kansas City Chiefs

Carolina Panthers

New York Giants

Jacksonville Jaguars

Minnesota Vikings

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Arizona Cardinals

Denver Broncos

Houston Texans

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

Dallas Cowgirls

Last Weeks Results -11- 5

Year-To-Date Results – 11-5