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Columnist Dean Juipe: Others Pale as St. Louis Erupts Again

At first it was a statement weighted more by fact than casual opinion: These two teams are Super Bowl contenders.

But by the end of the day, the line had been somewhat quizzically altered. It became: These two teams are Super Bowl contenders?

Maybe it was because their televised game followed one involving the St. Louis Rams, but Sunday's showdown between alleged NFC powers Washington and Tampa Bay did little but reinforce the belief that neither has the offense or the spunk to contend with the Rams.

Add in the dog-eat-dog melee in the AFC in which no single team has yet to emerge as a true power, and it's getting easier by the week to picture St. Louis reprising its championship season and once again winning the Super Bowl.

The Rams are killing their opponents and rewriting gambling history in Las Vegas as well. Their 57-31 victory over San Diego upped their record to 5-0 with five "overs" for those inclined to bet on the point total; pity the well-known and often quoted local expert who said beforehand that no team can be involved in five straight games that either all go over or all go under the bookies' totals.

The Rams are easily the most exciting team in the league.

But it is only the first week of October and little can be said with certainty about the National Football League except that the Rams have separated themselves from the pack and made many a hopeful team appear little more than a pretender.

This is where the Bucs and the Redskins fit in.

One, the Bucs, were Sports Illustrated's pick to win the Super Bowl. The other, the 'Skins, were the "futures" betting favorite in Las Vegas after breaking all spending records in the offseason.

If given the chance today, S.I. would revise its prediction and Redskins owner Daniel Snyder -- as well as any number of bettors -- might very well ask for a refund, Deion Sanders' crucial overtime punt return in a 20-17 win over Tampa Bay notwithstanding.

Snyder is paying a record $80 million in player salaries this season, which is $18 million over the cap. If all seven of the prominent free agents he signed in the summer play through the length of their contracts, he will owe those players $142 million.

He's looking for a Super Bowl victory as a dividend.

"Snyder's got the dice in his hand, he's on the pass line and he's going for it," said former Las Vegas resident and coach Ron Meyer on CNN. "In this country, it's win now."

But as another commentator said, Snyder is paying extravagantly for "a 1996 Pro Bowl team."

The contrast between seeing the Bucs and Redskins joust for field position and the rare score, and the all-out assault on the scoreboard by the Rams was simply too stupefying to ignore. When a team scores on all seven of its first-half possessions, as the Rams did against the Chargers, there are not enough exclamation points to do it justice.

They're overshadowing what's going on in the rest of the league.

They're even making it difficult to watch teams like Washington and Tampa Bay, let alone have an interest in tonight's game between Seattle and Kansas City.

They're ruining the NFL. Or saving it from a terrible malaise.

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