It's time to talk about the St. Louis Rams.

	Rams receiver Isaac Bruce is off to a great start -- but he must stay healthy.

Let's start with what we know. At 6-0, the Rams are the only undefeated team in the NFL. Of their six victories, the closest game was their 27-10 win in Week 1 over the Ravens. The five clubs the Rams have defeated -- they've beaten the Falcons twice -- have a combined record of 8-32, and none has a winning record. Of the 10 games remaining on St. Louis' schedule, only three feature opponents with winning records (Titans, Lions and Giants). Coach Dick Vermeil has been to the Super Bowl, and he's not ashamed to cry in public. Which just goes to show that some real men do eat quiché.

Actually, I think there's even more we know for sure about this club. Vermeil's quarterback, Kurt Warner, was discovered hurling footballs for an old friend of mine, Jim Foster, the creator and founder of the Arena League who now owns and operates the Iowa franchise for which Warner once toiled. The quarterback's favorite targets, the "Warner Bros." (Isaac Bruce, Az-Zahir Hakim and Torry Holt), had a total of six years of NFL experience coming into this season, with almost all of it belonging to Bruce. And the fourth piece of Warner's weaponry, running back Marshall Faulk, led the league in total yards last season, when he went to the Pro Bowl for the Colts.

Are the Rams for real? I don't know, but let's check a few more facts. Three starters on offense (Faulk, Holt and Orlando Pace) and three more on defense (Kevin Carter, Grant Wistrom and Todd Lyght) were picked in the top 10 choices of the NFL draft. Three more starters (Bruce, Robert Holcombe and Dexter McCleon) were second-round picks. Ray Agnew is another former first-rounder acquired via free agency, and Todd Collins was drafted in the third round by New England. I don't believe the Rams are for real as in "undefeated real," or "Super Bowl real," but these guys do have some real talent.

What might we suspect about these Rams? For openers, Warner won't be able to maintain his incredibly high passer rating forever. You could probably even talk me into a wager that Warner won't finish the season leading the league in passing. But I'm not sure a trip to Hawaii is out of the question for the former Arena star.

	Marshall Faulk Running Back St. Louis Rams Profile
	1999 SEASON STATISTICS ATT YDS YDS/A TD LNG FUM 88 502 5.7 3 58 5

I suspect Faulk and Bruce will continue their high level of play as well. Both are proven, big-time talents who for the first time in their careers aren't being asked to handle the whole load. Complemented by the big-play ability of Holt and Hakim and the steady, tough play of Holcombe, these two should continue to produce -- if they stay healthy.

Ah, there's a rub. While one could argue that the Rams have already been dinged, losing their original starting quarterback, Trent Green, for the season and playing the season to date without tight end Ernie Conwell, St. Louis has been very lucky on the injury front beyond those two. We don't know if they'd be 6-0 with Green instead of Warner. But we can watch, out of the corner of our eye, for the sorts of injuries that have followed Faulk and Bruce throughout their careers. Neither is exactly durable.

How did the Rams offensive juggernaut truly evolve? With all the talk about the quarterback and his Warner Bros., the truth is that, as always, it starts up front. The Rams surprised people a few years back when they paid dearly to move up in the draft to take Pace. But that deal has really started to pay dividends, as Pace is now playing like the man-mountain he was projected to become. He is nicely complemented by Adam Timmerman, who was the best offensive lineman on a suspect Packers line when Green Bay unwisely allowed the Rams to steal him away via free agency. As unusual as it might sound, the arrival of the big offensive guard might be the biggest reason the Rams are suddenly lighting up scoreboards.

The defense is a bit more of a question mark. While it has played well, and does boast of some real talent, it has faced four of the league's worst offenses in Baltimore, Cincinnati, Atlanta (twice) and Cleveland, and the 49ers had Jeff Garcia at quarterback, not Steve Young.

Considering all of the above, I'd still have to guess that the Rams are not yet ready to keep regular company with clubs such as the Packers, Cowboys, Dolphins, Jaguars and Patriots. I suspect they'd struggle with the Buccaneers, Redskins, Chargers, Bills and Seahawks as well. But good news, Rams fans: Your club doesn't have to face any of them in the regular season. Only the Titans loom as a real test, and quite frankly, their 5-1 record is a bit shaky in its own right.

St. Louis is going to continue to win because their schedule will allow little else. And we all know how winning breeds confidence, and confidence breeds success. Anything less than an 11-5 or 12-4 finish for the Rams would be shocking. So you're looking at a playoff berth -- probably home-field advantage. But that's where the guessing game really will start. Even with a home-field edge, are these Rams ready to win in the playoffs?

Material from Pro Football Weekly.
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