The St. Louis Rams are relevant again. They have a defined, feisty personality under Jeff Fisher. And for the first time in 93 games, since November of 2006, the Rams are a winning team.
St. Louis' defense steamrolled Arizona 17-3 Thursday night in a game typical of this new NFC West. It wasn't pretty. The defenses dominated, with the Rams racking up nine sacks. Saying that Arizona's offensive line struggled is like saying Jeff Fisher's mustache is kind of full.
Sam Bradford completed only 7 of 21 passes during the win, including 10 straight incompletions at one point. And yet we never felt like the Rams were going to lose this one, and it was because of their dominating pass rush.
Defensive end Robert Quinn got three of the sacks. His pass-rushing bookend Chris Long gave Cardinals right tackle Bobby Massie fits all night. Cornerback Cortland Finnegan finished off the fun with a fourth-down sack on a well-timed blitz.
We've watched every Rams game this season and they are as consistent as any team in the league -- in both strengths and weaknesses. They battle each week on defense and aren't too pretty on offense. They take a lot of penalties for being too aggressive. Their passing game is streaky at best and they get better running the ball as the game wears on.
This is not a Super Bowl-contending team. They are going to have to rely on their defense even more after a potentially serious injury to wide receiver Danny Amendola.
Getting to the playoffs may even be a stretch, but Fisher has the Rams fighting again. They compete each week.
Considering where this franchise is coming from, that's an enormous amount of progress in five weeks.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.
