A Random Excursion to the Rams-Bucs Thursday Night Condiment Game
I’m heading to Memphis for a mini reunion with old friends from summer camp this weekend, and a couple of us decided to stop in St. Louis on the way to go to the Rams-Bucs game on Thursday night. This wasn’t the most eventful occasion — it’s obviously not a game anybody circled on the calendar before or during the season — but I had a few observations that feel worth jotting down:
1) The crowd was only about half-full, but Case Keenum wasn’t just being polite when he said the ones who were there were incredible. I have zero idea how much of this has to do with the physics of being enclosed in a dome, but this inconsequential Thursday night teams between non-playoff contenders, with tens of thousands of empty seats, felt about as loud as most games at Lambeau.
2) The Edward Jones Dome is one of those buildings where even the seats that are far away and up in the corner have a good vantage. I guess I can understand why an owner would want to tear down that stadium because it doesn’t have enough real estate for luxury suites, but from my perspective as a fan it’s more than fine.
3) Case Keenum made some throws that I’m not sure if I would’ve been able to tell how impressive they were on television. I have no idea whether he will eventually be a viable starter or not, but he has tremendous physical gifts.
4) Jameis Winston did not have a lot to work with. It’s not profound to say that Vincent Jackson is crucial to what the Bucs do on offense, both because of his own production, and what he opens up for Mike Evans, but there was nobody getting separation. If Winston can make it through 7+ month offseasons without winding up on the police blotter, I expect him to be a top flight NFL QB in two or three years.
5) The KEEP THE RAMS and KROENKE SUCKS chants were loud at the time, but they weren’t constant throughout the game.
6) This didn’t have a major sense of finality, to me at least. Part of that could be that I’m not emotionally invested in the Rams, but the amount of public funding that St. Louis is offering makes it hard to believe they’ll be without a team. Now, maybe there will be some chicanery where the Rams move to LA and St. Louis gets something else, or maybe there will be a trade of sorts where Stan Kroenke owns a different franchise. However, I’d bet on St. Louis having an NFL franchise in 2020 regardless of what happens between now and then.
7) It’s fun to watch Tavon Austin in space with a bird’s eye view.