No. 1 pick Bradford faces tough test in debut

ST. LOUIS -- The Sam Bradford era trumpets at least a temporary end to fan indifference. The St. Louis Rams are a sellout for the season opener.

"We have a new face of the franchise," Rams defensive tackle Clifton Ryan said. "I think he's going to lead us in the right direction."

Starting Bradford in the opener against the two-time defending NFC West Arizona Cardinals appears to be a no-brainer for the Rams, even if A.J. Feeley hadn't injured his thumb in the preseason. It's a sign that the blahs have ended, plus they've spent a lot on an offensive line to protect an investment who has enthusiasm to match No. 1 pick talent.

"This is everything a kid dreams of," Bradford said. "To be able to do it as a rookie in Week 1, it's extremely exciting."

Of course, the Cardinals will try to turn Bradford's debut into a thrill ride. The Rams anticipate the rookie will get tested by exotic blitzing schemes from a team trying to make it seven in a row in a series that's been lopsided lately.

Bradford was at Rams Park on Tuesday, the players' lone day off, for extra preparation with quarterbacks coach Dick Curl. Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo spent an hour with the rookie, too, and only was joking when he said the two played backgammon.

Spagnuolo agreed that "diabolical" probably fit the Cardinals' likely defensive game plan.

"I think the mindset of any defensive coordinator that's going to face a rookie quarterback is to make it as tough and confusing as he can," Spagnuolo said. "Usually that means not doing things that they've already seen on film and make the quarterback make adjustments on the sideline during the game, so we've certainly anticipated that."

Like every other team, the Cardinals played generic vanilla defense in the preseason. Now the tricks come out.

"Whenever you have a young guy, you want to get to him early and try to get him off his game," Arizona safety Kerry Rhodes said. "So we want to do that for sure, disguise our looks, make him see some things he hasn't seen from us.

"We haven't showed a lot in preseason, so it's going to be new for him."

Bradford will bank on a successful preseason experience getting him through his debut. He was 21 of 28 for 257 yards and three touchdowns in his two starts, and he's the first rookie to start the opener for the Rams since Bill Munson in 1964.

"I imagine I'll sleep Saturday. How well I'll sleep, I'm not sure," Bradford said. "But I don't think the butterflies should be that bad. I expect once I hit the field and get that first snap under me, to treat it like any other game and be ready to go."

Going 3-1 in the preseason also helped drum up enthusiasm for a franchise that's been so bad it's drafted first, second and second the last three years, was 1-15 last year and has lost 13 in a row at home. Today's sellout ends a string of three straight home-field TV blackouts that also were the three worst crowds since the franchise relocated to the Midwest in 1995.

Players know better than to get too confident. The Rams were 3-1 in the preseason last year, too, and look what happened.

"You can't hang your hat on the preseason," Rams cornerback Ron Bartell said. "The Lions went 4-0 in preseason a couple years ago and finished 0-16, so you can't take much stock."

The Cardinals might be a bit of a mystery team early after making several personnel changes coming off a 10-6 year, including Derek Anderson, who makes his Arizona debut at quarterback. He beat out Matt Leinart, who left for Houston.

Anderson is trying to turn back the clock to 2007 when he made the Pro Bowl with Cleveland. Trying to forget last year when he lost his job to Brady Quinn, too.

The Cardinals envisioned Anderson as a backup when they signed him to a free agent deal, but found he fit the offense too well to leave him on the bench. Now he's the successor to the retired Kurt Warner.