Like their cross-state rivals, the Rams are having a little trouble scoring this preseason. The first team has yet to score a TD. There’s another similarity between the two Gubner’s Cup rivals, both teams have a new head coach and offensive coordinator. My theory holds that a team with turnover at the top like that spends the better part of preseason focused on learning the new offensive schemes, ironing out their roles, and mapping out adaptations to the various types of defenses they’ll see. With that much on you mind, it can be hard to shutoff the background noise and go all out during a preseason game.

That’s my theory, and stickin’ to it got a little easier today as I read something Torry Holt said in today’s Post-Dispatch.

“[Linehan has] implemented his offense, and we’ve done a good job of learning it and applying it. We just haven’t been able to punch the ball in.”

Okay, so it’s not exactly the Rosetta Stone for preseason football, but it speaks to the tasks of learning and adapting to new ways of running the game that is as important of a preseason task as getting conditioned for the regular season.

The important thing to watch with this theory is whether or not the preseason is enough time to adjust to a new offense.

Live by theory, die by the theory.