ST. LOUIS — I'd like to see the Rams win some football games, and the sooner they can get it done, the better. Does this make me a homer? Well, not really. It makes me selfish. When a St. Louis team competes for the playoffs, it leads to suspense, drama and a lot of entertainment.

And I miss those happy days, when the Rams were shooting for the Super Bowl, and their fans were fired up, and The Ed was rocking, and the city united behind the franchise.

That sure beats a 5-27 record the past two seasons.

So I am impatient to turn back the clock.

And that's the operative word here: impatience.

I want to see the Rams do more. I want to see the GM bring some wide receivers in here. I want them to find a legitimate No. 2 running back in the event of another Steven Jackson breakdown.

Give me a quarterback who will take charge, break the malaise and lead the Rams into an upbeat future. Go haul in another offensive tackle, and a proven return man, and a young tight end who has the hands and range to make a difference.

I want more wide, tough guys to weigh in at defensive tackle and bulk up a pathetically thin interior. I want a couple of defensive ends with locomotive breath to put the heat on the quarterback, and a couple of add-ons at linebacker who won't be trampled in the running game. The Rams require better depth at safety. They can always use an extra cornerback.

And here is another word, to describe my wish list: insane.

Several days after the completion of an NFL draft that didn't come close to filling all of the cavities and fissures in the Rams' roster, I'm starting to come to grips with an obvious reality.

It's going to take a long time for general manager Billy Devaney to fix the problems and restore the talent base.

Devaney is basically a rookie GM. The Rams also have a rookie head coach in Steve Spagnuolo, who seems awfully uptight as he tries to grow into the top job. These are capable football men, but they've never run a franchise before.

So I have to factor that in. I can't expect Devaney and Spagnuolo to solve everything right away. They're still finding their way. And I'm trying to remind myself of that.

Sure, I have concerns. Reflecting on the 2009 draft, it seems to me that the Rams could have done more. They could have at least tried a more creative, long-range, forward-thinking approach by trying to stock up with as many draft picks as possible.

Two rebuilding division rivals, Seattle and San Francisco, each maneuvered to come up with an extra No. 1 draft pick in 2010. And the early line on the 2010 draft is that it's deeper and better than 2009. Seattle and San Francisco picked up an additional No. 1 that could be a tremendous asset for an organization seeking to move up to land one of the top prizes in the 2010 draft.

For instance, consider this hypothetical: Can you imagine the horror of a Seattle or San Francisco, armed with two No. 1 picks, moving ahead of the Rams in 2010 to snatch a potential franchise quarterback such as Oklahoma's Sam Bradford?

New England coach Bill Belichick is another who correctly evaluated the relatively low overall quality of the 2009 draft. Belichick avoided picking players who didn't represent good value, made a bunch of trade-down moves and gathered two additional second-round picks for the bountiful 2010 draft. And if the Patriots are determined to move up to land a special talent in the top half of 2010's first round, Belichick has extra poker chips in hand.

There was nothing wrong with the Rams draft. I'm not sure that the Rams found better players than their competitors in the NFC West; the Seahawks, 49ers and Cardinals managed to land instant impact with their first-round selections.

If the Rams draft was a little boring, that's OK, as long as the chosen players develop into starters or contributors who solidify the team's skeletal depth.

So as much as I am inclined to seriously second-guess Devaney, it's not the fairest thing to do. There are no shortcuts for Devaney and Spagnuolo. The Rams can't expect a Marshall Faulk or a Kurt Warner to suddenly appear in the huddle, the way it happened before that dream of a 1999 season.

The stark truth:

The rebuilding of the Rams will be a slow, methodical and painful process.