Looking back at Isaac Bruce and the greatest players of the Greatest Show on Turf

He ran into opponents so hard his own shoulders couldn't take it. Some of his collisions with Atlanta’s Craig "Ironhead" Heyward make people cringe to this day. In 42 starts, he picked off seven passes, forced three fumbles and totaled two sacks along with 216 tackles. Painful tackles. He once compared his game to Picasso, the painter: "He'd paint with his emotions. That's how I play the game."

If you were an NFL quarterback throwing passes between 1996 and 1997, Lyle was your worst nightmare. He had 17 interceptions through those two seasons, tying for the league-high with nine in '96. He picked off 26 passes as a St. Louis Ram. He also forced six fumbles and compiled 354 tackles. If that wasn’t enough, he could hold for field goal attempts, too.

The one-time Pro-Bowler did more than pick off Tampa Bay quarterback Shaun King in the NFC Championship. Lyght, a converted Los Angeles Ram, started 92 games, grabbed 24 interceptions (three of which he returned for scores), forced six fumbles, totaled six sacks and made 369 tackles.

He was a six-time Pro-Bowler and two-time All-Pro when he became a Ram. But he wasn’t done yet. He played corner and safety, but his 2001 season at corner jumps out. The Hall of Famer grabbed four interceptions — three of which came in the playoffs, two of which he returned for scores — and recovered four fumbles. He earned another Pro-Bowl, All-Pro combo, then returned to the Pro Bowl in 2003.

No. 55 started every single game since he arrived as a second-round draft pick in 2009. He moved to Los Angeles as the franchise's all-time tackle leader (852). He's compiled 100-plus tackles for seven straight seasons, along with 16.5 sacks, 34 passes defended, 10 interceptions, eight forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. “James Laurinaitis is the epitome of ‘tackler,’” Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams once said.

Before ankle surgery stopped his hot start to 2015 (42 tackles, two sacks) after just four games, people were predicting Pro Bowl. And why not? Ogletree led the Rams in tackles his first two seasons, and had clearly taken another step. His best records are yet to come, but one cool one is already in the bag: his 98-yard pick-six as a rookie was the longest return by a rookie linebacker in NFL history.

The veteran of 16 years spent his first four as a hard-hitting, snarly Ram who enjoyed stirring the pot for a Super-Bowl winner. He was everything you would want in the middle of your defense. During his three seasons as a starter, he totaled 261 tackles, 13 sacks, six interceptions and five forced fumbles. Fletcher flew around. He once had 21 tackles in one game.

Talk about production. The stats from Pickett's five years in St. Louis, only four of which he started full-time: 173 tackles, 12 passes defended, six sacks. He averaged 96 tackles a season from 2002 through 2005. Yet, for some reason, the Rams didn’t try to re-sign Pickett. "I thought I would play all my years there in St. Louis," he said once. "They didn't think I was worth keeping."

That the soft-spoken phenomenon appears here after just two seasons speaks to his stellar start. After breaking a Rams’ rookie record with nine sacks in 2014, the 2014 defensive rookie of the year totaled 11 sacks, 22 tackles for loss, 49 quarterback pressures and 29 quarterback hits in 2015. He became the first Rams rookie picked for the Pro Bowl since Jerome Bettis in 1993. 

The St. Louis Rams' best pure pass rusher racked up 87.5 sacks and forced 31 fumbles. The third-round pick in the 1998 draft led the Rams in sacks in six seasons and managed to score two touchdowns during his 147 games. A Pro-Bowler and All-Pro in 2003, his legacy will always be impacted by the drunken-driving fatality he was responsible for as a rookie.

You can get away with calling yourself “Black Lightning” when you set the franchise’s single-season record for sacks. Quinn’s 19 in 2013 beat Kevin Carter’s 17 in 1999. Despite the back injury that cut his 2015 season short, Quinn already has 50 sacks in 54 starts through his first five seasons. The two-time Pro-Bowler was an All-Pro selection in 2013, the same year Pro Football Writers of America named him defensive player of the year.

• End: Kevin Carter, Grant Wistrom, Chris Long

• Tackle: D'Marco Farr, Michael Brockers

This half of Mike Martz’s “Doughnut Brothers” started 109 games, including six full seasons in a row between 2000-05. He logged nine of his 14 years in the league with the Rams, a pretty good run for an undrafted free agent. He pushed around opponents, overcame injuries and mentored younger players. “Andy’s a warrior,” Brett Romberg once said, after he beat out McCollum for the starting center job before the 2007 season.

The other half of the “Doughnut Brothers”, a name Martz issued to Timmerman and McCollum because the pals lamented the lack of pastry shops near training camp headquarters, started 124 games for the Rams. Six times, he started every game of the season. In 2001, the former seventh-round draft pick made the Pro Bowl.

The 6-foot-7, 320-pounder the Rams selected in the fifth round of the 1996 draft turned into a powerful, mauling starter by the time the Rams won their Super Bowl. He started every game in ’98 and ’99 before he moved on to the Titans, then the Bears. The prototypical right tackle made no Pro Bowls, but he did a fine job for a famous offense.

The pass-blocking specialist who grew up in Germany made 69 starts as a Ram. His best work was shutting down Tampa Bay’s Warren Sapp in the Rams’ 11-6 win in the 1999 NFC Championship game. “I think I was a decent athlete, certainly average of strength and size,” the 6-foot-5, 280-pounder once said. “But I relied a lot on my technique ... Technique will get you from a good player to a great player.”

If only all No. 1 draft picks turned out like this. He started 154 games and anchored an offense that finished among the league’s top-five in passing yards for eight consecutive seasons, from 1999-2006. The Rams finished in the league’s top-10 for total offense seven times during his career. The Hall of Famer was a seven-time Pro-Bowler and a three-time All-Pro.

The second-round draft pick in 1996 became the Rams' best player at this position, but that’s not saying too much. The Rams never got much going in the tight-end department. Conwell, a 255-pound tank, was one of the team's fastest, strongest players until a severe knee injury in 1998 slowed him down. Still, he caught 146 passes for 1,574 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Without his touchdown grab that helped beat Tampa Bay in the 1999 NFC Championship, there might not have been a Super Bowl win to celebrate. And while it was spoiled by Adam Vinatieri’s game-winning field goal, his Super-Bowl-tying touchdown against the Patriots will never be forgotten. Proehl’s totals as a Ram: 207 catches, 2,590 yards, 16 touchdowns. And he never fumbled.

When your nickname is Big Game, you better deliver. He did, totaling 869 catches, 12,660 yards and 74 touchdowns as a Ram. The Hall of Fame semifinalist sits behind only Bruce in terms of franchise career records for receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. His average of 80.1 receiving yards per game ranks first. Don’t forget seven Pro Bowls, and the All-Pro season in 2003. "I loved everything about being a Ram," Holt said when he retired.

Bruuuuuuce. He arrived a Los Angeles Ram, then became a St. Louis legend. His numbers in St. Louis: 921 receptions, 13,837 receiving yards, 81 touchdowns (the most thrilling the 73-yard dash that beat the Titans in Atlanta). The newest member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame holds career franchise records in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. No Rams receiver has scored more than his 510 points. Oh, No. 80 went to four Pro Bowls, too, and now the Hall of Fame.

The New Orleans kid who once sold popcorn in the Superdome shattered records, won a Super Bowl and cemented a Hall of Fame legacy here. His rushes and receptions produced 11,030 yards and 85 touchdowns. No. 28 became a four-time Pro-Bowler, a three-time All-Pro and the league MVP (2000) as a Ram. He holds franchise career records for rushing touchdowns and points scored by a running back.

One of the game’s best stories went from stocking grocery shelves, to backing up Trent Green, to starring in two Super Bowls as a St. Louis Ram. The Hall of Famer was a three-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro here. He holds franchise records for career passer rating and career completion percentage. No one since has since claimed both league and Super Bowl MVP in the same season.

• Quarterbacks: Marc Bulger, Trent Green

• Running backs: Steven Jackson, Todd Gurley, FB James "The Hammer" Hodgins, FB Cory Harkey

• Punt returner: Az Hakim

• Kickoff returner: Tony Horne

• Head coach: Dick Vermeil

• Offensive coordinator: Mike Martz