Every NFL team and every NFL player will gladly cop to “having something to prove” or carrying a chip on its/his shoulder. Permanent grievance is the coin of the realm in the NFL, and while there are presumably other ways to motivate players — money seems kind of both too uncouth and too obvious to mention; “just having fun” somehow doesn’t seem like it would work so well with, say, Joey Porter — it seems to work, for the most part. But both the Rams and the Eagles do have things to prove after 2007 seasons that were, respectively, putrid and moribund.

On both sides of the ball, but especially on offense, the Rams were an absolute mess last year and earned every one of their 13 losses. The Rams’ two best offensive players, RB Steven Jackson and LT Orlando Pace, were out of commission for most of ’07; the offensive line featured 13 different players starting at 18 different positions, which doesn’t really seem possible; typically efficient QB Marc Bulger threw a bunch of picks because of the pressure that resulted. And yet…they don’t seem quite that bad going into Week 1. St. Louis enters ’08 with a new offensive coordinator in Al Saunders and all their starters back in good health, and just like that seem to have what it takes to score a lot of points again.

There are still plenty of problems on defense, where a much-improved pass rush is still backed up by a run defense that has a really hard time defending…against the run. Which is generally not what one looks for in a run defense. Especially considering that the Eagles offense was only able to do one thing really well last year, which is — wait for it — run the ball.

That’s still the province of do-it-all RB Brian Westbrook, and he should put up good numbers here. The real problem will be what happens when Westbrook doesn’t have the ball: Donovan McNabb had a rough go of it last year, and the loss of top pass-catching option Kevin Curtis isn’t going to make things much easier for him. New number one WR Reggie Brown is questionable for Sunday, leaving rookie WR DeSean Jackson — who’s probably the most explosive receiver on the team, anyway — front and center. Another reason to be nervous.

The Eagles defense will be the key to their success or lack thereof in this one, though. Their veteran secondary still hits hard, but also gets burned and didn’t get any takeaways last year — new CB Asante Samuel should help with both, but the secondary will be tested by the Rams throughout this one, especially if the stepped-up pass rush can’t keep Bulger at least a little bit nervous. If the Rams are in sync, they should be able to control the ball pretty well.

That seems a lot to ask of any team in Week 1, though, especially on the road and with centerpiece stars returning from injuries and, in Jackson’s case, a 27-day holdout. Both teams want to prove something in this game, and both could. What seems most likely, though, is that the Eagles will prove something everyone already knows: that it’s not easy to win on the road.

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