The "Greatest Show On Turf" died a long slow death. It was officially buried last season with the Rams firing of Mike Martz as head coach. The new seeds were planted when Scott Linehan was named as his replacement, and now those seedlings are beginning to grow into something nice to look at, again.

During Martz's final season in 2005, I thought that the Rams were the most dysfunctional organization in the entire National Football League. I mean, they should have sold tents at the team's facility in Earth City, there were so many different camps that people were forced to choose between. You were either a Martz guy, or a team president John Shaw guy. You had to decide whether the losses were caused by a reckless offense, or an inept defense.

Well, last year's firing of Martz and hiring of Linehan was the first step. It brought everyone in the organization under the same tent.

This year, it's all about winning football games and that's it. No hidden agendas, no trying to weed guys out and "change the culture," as was the case last season. Just winning football games.

The question now is, do they have enough pieces in place to do that?

Offensively, things aren't as explosive as they were back in the high flying days, but they still have weapons. It's now the second season that Marc Bulger will be taking plays from Linehan and offensive coordinator Greg Olson, and simply having gone through battle together should make them better.

"It wasn't really until the last three or four games that we were truly in sync," Linehan said. "It was like I was at the letter A, and he (Bulger) was at Z, and we had to meet in the middle. Now we're both on the same letter from day one. He knows how I think, how I like to call a play, what we're looking for in certain situations."

What Linehan didn't say, but I will, is that Bulger had to learn to simply be a quarterback.

Sure, he earned a lot of his just signed $60-plus million contract based on numbers put up while playing under Martz, but it wasn't until last year that Bulger got to be an all-around quarterback. He learned that it was not okay to turn the ball over, or waste timeouts. But that it was just fine to punt sometimes. to dump one off to your running back on a check down. That he wouldn't be derided in front of the entire team during meetings if he didn't try to hit the home run every single play. It actually made Bulger a better quarterback, and will eventually make the Rams a better team.

Having Steven Jackson finally unbridled also paid off. Jackson had a breakout season as the feature back, rushing for 1,528 yards, and totaling 2,334 combined yards, 5th most in NFL history.

The Rams finished last season winning their final three-games and averaging 33 points per game in the process. That doesn't mean that there aren't questions:

Can Orlando Pace come back physically and mentally from triceps surgery to be the player he used to be at left tackle? How much longer can you expect Issac Bruce (who'll turn 35 in November) to be a starter at wide receiver? If not much longer, then who replaces him? If Jackson goes down, or even misses a game, or two, who else can carry the running game?

The only one of those that can remotely be answered at this early stage is that the replacement for Bruce (who can't be expected to play 70-snaps a game anymore) would come in some combination of newly acquired Drew Bennett and TE Randy McMichael.

Bennett at 6-foot-5 gives the Rams a big wide receiver for a change. Something they haven't had in years. The kind of guy who can go up and get a jump ball. A skill that Linehan exploited in previous stops as offensive coordinator at Minnesota and Miami, with Randy Moss and Chris Chambers, respectively. That should help Bulger, as well.

Remember, St. Louis was ranked in the top-10 in the NFL in total offense, passing offense, and scoring, so it's not that far off.

Defensively was where the problems were.

The Rams are much improved on the defensive line, where they made an underrated move by picking up DE James Hall in a trade with the Lions. They also used their No. 1 pick to draft Adam Carriker out of Nebraska.

Every scout, or coach that I spoke with at Rams park was absolutely ga-ga over what Carriker can do. A defensive end in college, he has been moved inside to tackle for now. He'll probably start out by playing nose tackle before settling in as a "three technique" tackle down the road.

Linehan told me, "This guy is going to be great, a Howie Long type who has great hands, great leverage, and can play on the field every down."

Defensive line coach Brian Baker: "This rookie is special. In fact, he's not like a rookie, he's like a veteran in the way he plays, and his approach to the game. He's got great leverage, fantastic hands...I'm telling you, he's special."

Rams VP of Player Personnel Tony Softli: "He's got quick feet like a linebacker. When we conducted his workout, the moment we saw him, I turned to (Jim Haslett) and said 'shhh', we knew right then."

That's a lot for a rookie to live up to, but if he's simply good, that will help a Rams front that finished next to last in the league against the run in '06.

The linebacking corp, while undersized, definitely has speed in Will Witherspoon, Pisa Tinoisamoa, and former Panther Chris Draft, along with Brandon Chillar. No real superstars, but they are fine there as a unit.

Where I think the Rams have to be concerned the most is in the secondary. They finished 8th in the league against the pass last year, but that was because they couldn't stop the run, so no one threw the ball against them. This group appears to be average on it's best day and they'll have to start the season without their top corner, Fakhir Brown who'll be suspended by the league for the first 4-games for violating the substance policy. Maybe a better defensive line, and a second year under Haslett's system will allow them cover until he returns.

Overall, the Rams start the campaign with a better team than last year. They play in what I think may be the most competitive division, top to bottom, in the NFL, so the road won't be easy.

Yes, the fruits of their labor are beginning to show. We'll see if they're ready to be picked.