The interim coach is now 2-0 and obviously has the minds and ear’s open from his over achieving players. Though we have all seen this offense be potent in the past it is really the defense that is now overachieving. “It was short and sweet,” quarterback Marc Bulger said of Haslett’s pre-game speech when he thought his team was too nervous. “But it was full of explicit words.”

Scott Linehan got his first shot at head coach and failed even worse than his predecessor Mike Martz. I hated Martz but at least Martz failed in the Super Bowl once. Even more stunning is the St. Louis Haslett’s won consecutive games for the first time since Mike Martz (2004). So not to over analyze how big of a loser Linehan was I’ll leave it to Steven Jackson, “We’re having fun now.

Haslett history shows Mike Ditka left a 3-13 New Orleans team in 2000 to Haslett and he turned it around to a 10-6 playoff team the following year. Haslett lasted 5 years in New Orleans and was kind of disenfranchised when he was fired after the crazy Hurricane Katrina team went 3-13 that played without a home stadium.

The changed attitude on the Rams doesn’t surprise me considering Jim Haslett doesn’t understand the notion of pressure as evident from his pre-game speech (chairs were thrown). Apparently in the fourth quarter after a FG gave them 34 points Haslett was running up and down the sidelines yelling “40!” over and over again. I love that mentality (coming from the guy who loves to tell the Woody Hayes “because I couldn’t go for three” story). A fresh feeling from the first four games in which the Rams lost by a 26 point average.

Another good feeling is Issac Bruce’s replacement is now a rookie WR coming into his own, Donnie Avery. The speedster from Houston had a 42 yard TD catch and ended up with 5 catches for 65 yards. He also had a clutch long ball catch at Washington the previous week which set up the game winning FG.

And now? One week at a time so all I can say is, bring on the Patriots. Or as Haslett will probably put it, bring on the f*cking Patriots.

Side note: Steven Jackson (with T Orlando Pace out) had 25 carries for 160 yards and 3 TD’s while playing with a deep thigh bruise. An MRI today will confirm if he must miss any games.

[tags]st. louis rams, jim haslett, dallas cowboys, nfl, football[/tags]