St. Louis Rams Power Ranking Round-Up (Week 1)

There is no better signal to the start of the regular season than the release of the Week 1 NFL Power Rankings. While most claim to hate the general concept behind subjectively rankings teams with no set criteria, fans in the NFL still cling to these opinions as gospel, with some even deferring to the compilations as a genuine marker for “Top 10” lists.

For the most part, Rams Nation has never taken kindly to the idea of power rankings, having not been a team of prominence since that “style” of rating teams became popular over the last decade. However, rising from the depths of the rankings does give some fans hope that St. Louis may finally return to relevance in the league. Here is how the NFL media projects the St. Louis Rams heading into the season opener…

CBS Sports: 17th 

"Have they done enough on offense to take big steps forward? If they have, they could be the league’s surprise team."

Fox Sports: 14th 

"The Rams have shown they are willing to take risks on players with off-the-field concerns in the draft, and if those players stay clean they will have a solid foundation for Jeff Fisher to continue to build. For their sake, I hope it works out."

NFL.com: 17th

"The Rams drop one spot here, not because of personnel, injuries or a terrible preseason …… but because they made too many mistakes. You know, the stupid football kind. Penalties, fumbles, drops and more penalties found their way into Rams preseason football. The club seemed so undisciplined that you wonder if Jeff Fisher shouldn’t have locked half the team in a hotel room next to Lamar Odom.(For the record, we still believe in this team … mostly because of the defense.)"

Bleacher Report: 18th 

"The Rams will go as Sam Bradford goes, and there are really no more excuses with tight end Jared Cook and rookie receiver Tavon Austin in town.St. Louis showed well against the division last year at 4-1-1, but it’s still a brutal stretch for any team and will leave the franchise exhausted."

ESPN: 15th

"With upgrades at tackle, tight end and hopefully wide receiver, how long is Sam Bradford’s leash? Bradford has never finished a season above 21st in Total QBR."

SB Nation: 19th

"No more excuses for Sam Bradford. He has a legit offensive line and talented receivers around him. However, the receivers and running backs have fewer than 2,000 career yards from scrimmage between them. Jeff Fisher has built a defense capable of hanging with division rivals San Francisco and Seattle. Can the offense do the same?"