Ramblin’ Fans’ Monday Morning Links: Greatest Uniforms, Defensive POY Candidates, and Tavon Austin’s “Toy” Status

Hope everyone had an amazing holiday weekend, filled with mountains of burgers, ice-cold refreshments, and plenty of “grand finales.” Even if you didn’t celebrate the Fourth of July, there was plenty of news to keep you preoccupied this weekend. Plane crashes in San Francisco and the Dwight Howard saga manned the front-page of most cites. However, that doesn’t mean there weren’t a handful of Rams’ related articles dropped along the way. Here is the best stuff from the weekend…

Dome talks head to new stage after Rams’ proposal is rejected

Talks between the St. Louis Rams and the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission (CVC) had been fairly stagnant for a number of months, but have finally been reignited. When we left off, there was only about $500 million separating the two sides’ idea of the “upgrades” necessary to make the Edward Jones Dome a top-tier stadium. Where are the talks now?

Greatest Uniform in NFL History: Round 2

Somehow, the San Francisco 49ers disgusting, barely-changed uniforms beat out the St. Louis Rams new-age, hint-of-retro style jerseys. It happens… However, the 1973 Los Angeles Rams throwbacks did advance to the second round, beating out the drab 1990s New York Giants. Now, they face-off against the 1965 Washington Redskins; essentially a maroon t-shirt with a arrowhead spear on the plain helmet. Should be an easy victory, but make sure you go and vote anyways!

Tavon Austin: I’m one of Sam Bradford’s ‘new toys’

Ever wondered if an NFL player making millions of dollars would be offended by being called a “toy”? Well, apparently not! Austin has embraced the idea of being a new weapon in the St. Louis Rams offense, and has clearly grown fond of Sam Bradford and the way that he is being utilized in the offense. Lets hope they are as in-sync as Austin is professing.

Ranking the Top 25 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Candidates

Ever think that a St. Louis Ram would be mentioned among the elite defensive players in the NFL? Bleacher Report recently listed their top candidates for Defensive Player of the Year in 2013. The list is littered with Pro Bowlers, All-Pros, and future Hall-of-Famers. The only one without any of those honors… Chris Long, ranked No. 21 on the list. For Long to win the DPOY hardware, it would take a “career-season,” surpassing his previous high of 13.0 sacks set back in the 2011 season. Leading the league in sacks would not only potentially slot him atop the defensive rankings, it would also send him home as the first recipient of the Deacon Jones award… that is what I call a fairy tale ending.

Who Are the NFL’s Most Injury-Prone Players?

Most in the New England area have raved about the acquisition of Danny Amendola, some even claiming that he could be more lethal than Wes Welker, considering Amendola’s dominance in a less-than-stellar St. Louis Rams’ offense. However, outside of those in Rams Nation, no one to this point had made much mention of the fact that the famed slot receiver has only played 8 of 32 games in the last two seasons. With Rob Gronkowski’s health in question, Brandon Lloyd’s departure, and Aaron Hernandez facing a murder charge(s), Amendola will be the focal point of the passing attack in New England. Danny being the highlight of the offense has not worked out well in the past, to say the least…