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Well, actually they were a 6-10 team last year. But Banks has a point. The Rams have the players, and in new hire Dick Vermeil they seem to have the coach. All they need now are some victories.

"There has been talk around here before about potential, but that doesn't mean a thing," says fourth-year defensive tackle D'Marco Farr. "All that matters now is winning football games."

The development of Banks, who as a rookie started the final 13 games last season, will be the key. Though his rating of 71.0 was better than the first-year marks of Troy Aikman, John Elway or Steve Young, St. Louis finished 27th in the NFL in total offense. "I learned a lot of things the hard way last year," says Banks, who set a league record with 21 fumbles. "Now I'm ready to apply those lessons." In 1996, Banks, a former outfielder in the Minnesota Twins organization, displayed a rocket right arm, fearless (some say ill-advised) scrambling and the brashness of a successful leader. "If I have a good year," he says, "the team's going to have a good year."

If only it were that simple. To be sure, Banks has a terrific trio to throw to. Isaac Bruce led the NFL in receiving yards, with 1,338, and was selected to the Pro Bowl. On the other side is Eddie Kennison, who scored a team-leading 11 touchdowns as a rookie and was sensational on punt returns. The third wideout is free-agent signee Torrance Small, who had 50 catches in '96 for the Saints. The rest of the offense is up in the air, beginning with the melodrama that is running back Lawrence Phillips.

After a mediocre rookie year, Phillips crammed one arrest (for disorderly conduct—he is to enter a plea on June 26), two civil suits, one 23-day jail term and minor knee surgery into his off-season. Taking the long view of his turbulent first year, Phillips says, "There's a lot of pressure on me to perform now. I like that because I know I'm going to get it done." Last year he showed up at training camp weighing a pudgy 230 pounds, but at minicamp in May he was down to 218 (perhaps the result of the bad chow in Nebraska's Lancaster County Correctional Facility, where he did time for violating probation) and wowed the Rams. Says running backs coach Wilbert Montgomery, "I have no doubt that Lawrence is going to emerge this year as one of the best backs in the league, if not the best."

For that to happen the Rams will need improvement from the offensive line, which was the most porous unit in football, allowing 57 sacks. Orlando Pace, the first pick in the draft, figures to help immediately at left tackle. The line will be bolstered by the return of 32-year-old left guard Gerald Perry, who says he's rejuvenated after a year's retirement, and the arrival of Ryan Tucker. The Rams rated Tucker as the third-best lineman in the draft but were able to nab him in the fourth round; it seems other teams were scared off by the three barroom brawls Tucker got into at TCU.

On defense the Rams would do well to show a little fight; they finished 26th in the league in total defense. "We didn't make the most of our talent," understates right end Leslie O'Neal, who was disappointing in his first season in St. Louis after nine in San Diego. "There were many times when we needed someone to step up and make a play, and no one did. And I deserve some of the blame." The defensive line is counting on both O'Neal and Farr, who slumped from 11 1/2 sacks in '95 to 4 1/2 last year, to get after opposing quarterbacks, because left end Kevin Carter and right tackle Jon Kirksey specialize in stopping the run.

The linebacking corps is anchored by the underrated Roman Phifer, who had a team-high 122 tackles last season despite missing the better part of the final two games. A key player in new defensive coordinator Bud Carson's scheme will be middle linebacker Robert Jones, who didn't show much spunk last season after coming over from Dallas as a free agent.

The defensive backfield is strong with All-Pro-to-be Todd Lyght at left corner, body-rocking Toby Wright at strong safety and sticky-fingered Keith Lyle at free safety. Lyle led the NFC in interceptions last season, with nine.

"People who don't know the league, they're like, Oh, your team is a joke," says Carter. "Puh-leeze. We got horses in the stable." Banks is just as confident. "Remember," he says, "when we get to the playoffs, you heard it here first."

—by Alan Shipnuck