I wasn't so sanguine after taking a look at the Rams' wide receiving corps heading into 2010, but 16 weeks into the NFL season it's clear that Sam Bradford couldn't have come into the NFL under any better circumstances. The Rams are 7-8; they've been blown out and buckled under pressure; their top wide receivers are, still, a rookie working on knee surgery number five and an undersized slot receiver targeted so frequently that he's been locked down these last few weeks, as though he were Randy Moss. And they still find themselves one road win away from making the playoffs in Bradford's rookie season.
They've faced all the adversity and felt all the triumph of a season-for-the-ages, but they've done it on a miniature scale—it's been like a Bollywood remake of an old NFL Films special. When they've lost heartbreakingly, as against the 49ers in Week 10 or the Buccaneers in Week 8, the edge has been dulled by the team's bright future and low-risk present; when they've shown their edge, as in their two convincing late-season road wins, it's been against teams that occupy similar stations on the NFL totem pole.
All the sports movie tropes are present and subverted—they have an injury-plagued star in Danario Alexander, but he's not really a star; they have hardened, veteran rivals, the Seattle Seahawks, but they've proven just as prone to bumbling and uninspired play.
Sam Bradford has experienced—and thrived in—all the ups and downs of a dramatic NFL season, but he's always had the training wheels of his team and his division's ineptitude to lean against. Considering the rocky, slap-happy seasons of most rookie quarterbacks, things couldn't have gone much better.
