Alright RamsNation, round 2 of the Favorite Rams Bracket is underway. After over hundreds of total votes half the field has been eliminated and we are now down to the top 32 favorite Rams!
Much like how the NCAA tournament has gone so far, the bracket has been pretty chalky as there were only 4 first round upsets. The four upsets were as follows.
- 9 Gerald Everett over 8 Tyler Higbee
- 9 Leonard Little over 8 Marc Bulger
- 10 Robert Quinn over 7 Aeneas Williams
- 13 Kevin Greene over 4 Merlin Olsen
The biggest upset in this round was Kevin Greene over Merlin Olsen but the most surprising might’ve been Leonard Little over Marc Bulger. The winner itself wasn’t as surprising as by how much Little won by. Little received 63% of the votes and handily moved on past Bulger. This was a little surprising since Marc Bulger played 8 seasons for the Rams with 2 pro bowls and 122 touchdowns. However, Bulger was much better at the start of his career than the end of it as he had an atrocious record of 5-30 in his last 3 seasons.
The other upsets were not as surprising. Quinn over Williams was almost expected since Robert Quinn is a household name to many Rams fans now and Aeneas Williams only played 4 of his 14 years with the Rams. The final upset was Kevin Greene over Merlin Olsen. The voting was very close on this one but Greene edged out Olsen. Unfortunately, since he played in the 60s-70s many Rams fans have no idea who Olsen was. Olsen was an offensive tackle who was a 14 time pro bowler and 5 time all pro in his 15 season career with the Rams. Olsen had arguably one of the most successful careers of any Ram of all time but due to playing a less flashy position (OT) and playing 50 years ago it hurt his votes.
Besides upsets, another result that stood out was the unanimous selections. Each of the players listed below won the voting by 100% meaning every single Rams fan that voted chose them. Although the majority that won unanimously were very high seeds, we don’t expect this pattern to continue as we get deeper into the bracket.
- 3 Robert Woods over 14 JoJo Natson (24 votes)
- 2 Jared Goff over 15 Sean Mannion (24 votes)
- 1 Aaron Donald over 16 Marqui Christian (24 votes)
- 3 Aqib Talib over 14 John Franklin Myers (22 votes)
- 1 Kurt Warner over 16 Sam Bradford (21 votes)
- 5 Steven Jackson over 12 Az-Zahir Hakim (20 votes)
- 4 Torry Holt over 13 Dre Bly (21 votes)
- 3 Marshall Faulk over 14 James Lauriniatis (21 votes)
- 1 Eric Dickerson over 16 Jack Reynolds (18 votes)
Finally, we have some intriguing match-ups for this coming week. Cooper Kupp vs Robert Woods is definitely one we are going to keep a close eye on. Both guys are fan favorite players who have been equally successful as WRs in the Rams offense. Another match-up that will be fun is Marcus Peters vs Cory Littleton. Peters is either loved or hated by most with his big play ability and fearlessness to speak his mind whether it’s good or bad. He’ll go up against Cory Littleton who has steadily improved year after year with the Rams and had a career year last year as a full time starter. Lastly, the match-up we are looking most forward to seeing the results from is Torry Holt vs Steven Jackson. Both players were fan favorites throughout their Rams career and were very successful. With 10 pro bowls, 24,000 yards, and 140+ touchdowns combined both Holt and Jackson make a strong case to go far in this bracket but only one can move on!
Once again RamsNation we ask that you stay active and keep voting for who you want to move on to the round of 16! Like last week, the votes will be on a thread posted below this article on twitter and if you haven’t done so already make sure to follow @RamsNationLAX on twitter to vote for who you want to move on!
Featured Image: Matt Bartel/Prime Time Sports Talk
