And now... the pressure shifts to Fisher and staff

[CGI_Ram]

Okay, there is still some roster tweaking... but it's mostly in place.

There is little doubt the Rams will have one of the youngest rosters.

When you look at the construction of our team, no question the workload has now shifted to the coaches;

Quick and Pead... both 2nd round investments... both expected to contribute significantly after limited roles in 2012. With Pead, you could argue the spotlight is more intense with SJ moving on.

Who's at LG? It could be Rok. Will he take the next step?

At safety... McDonald, a somewhat controversial pick, is expected to start as a rookie. Also at this position; youngsters McLeod, Stewart, McGee, and Daniels have less than a dozen starts between them.

From the 2013 draft; the "show piece" Austin needs to contribute right away for this offense to reach it's potential.

Ogletree another rookie from the 2013 class is expected to start.

Our new TE Cook, while experienced, needs to get up to speed on a new offense.

Our season is banking on these young players!

Time for the coaches to go to work!

 

[Faceplant]

Good stuff. And I agree that our coaches have their work cut out for them this year. The fact is that I just trust Fisher more than any head coach we have had since... well.... Robinson pretty much. Dick was an old school coach who nearly lost his team, then was forced to hire Martz. It turned out to be the best year of his coaching career. From a coaching standpoint, I would argue that most of the Rams success was due to Martz, Hanny and the combined staff effort rather than DV himself. I think Fisher has put together a similarly experienced and competent staff here. Schotty is the one big question mark in my eyes.

 

[RamFan503]

I would agree that Schotty is my big question mark as well. Our defense will make some noise. We finally have what would look like real weapons on offense. Now he needs to put them in position and game plan for success. Dump offs and jamming the five yard pass into coverage with the occasional deep ball isn't going to cut it.

 

[iBruce]

That Safety position... still has to be the weakest starting group we have now. Really hoping a couple of our WRs take off this year, or we have Cook/Kendricks just explode for TDs.

 

[RamFan503]

That Safety position... still has to be the weakest starting group we have now. Really hoping a couple of our WRs take off this year, or we have Cook/Kendricks just explode for TDs.

I guess I'm just not as worried about the Safety position. I think with the players we have throughout the D and a healthy Darian combined with the rookies and 2nd year guys, we will actually be better at Safety than we were last season.

We need to score points in order to really think of ourselves as playoff contenders. We don't have to be great in every position group but we need a very good defense, good special teams play, and an offense that can score and get leads. If our offense can get leads in games, it makes them more difficult to predict and allows our defense to fly.

 

[Warner4Prez]

Agree %100 CGI. It seems folks want to make Bradford the focal point right now, but to me it seems the coaches will have to develop a game plan that suits his strengths. I thought they were on the right track after the bye last year, lets hope they keep turning the page.

 

[nighttrain]

Okay, there is still some roster tweaking... but it's mostly in place.

There is little doubt the Rams will have one of the youngest rosters.

When you look at the construction of our team, no question the workload has now shifted to the coaches;

Quick and Pead... both 2nd round investments... both expected to contribute significantly after limited roles in 2012. With Pead, you could argue the spotlight is more intense with SJ moving on.

Who's at LG? It could be Rok. Will he take the next step?

At safety... McDonald, a somewhat controversial pick, is expected to start as a rookie. Also at this position; youngsters McLeod, Stewart, McGee, and Daniels have less than a dozen starts between them.

From the 2013 draft; the "show piece" Austin needs to contribute right away for this offense to reach it's potential.

Ogletree another rookie from the 2013 class is expected to start.

Our new TE Cook, while experienced, needs to get up to speed on a new offense.

Our season is banking on these young players!

Time for the coaches to go to work!

Never in all my years as a Ram fan have I been as confident as I am now in the coaching and mgt. Long run
train

 

[ReddingRam]

Okay, there is still some roster tweaking... but it's mostly in place.

There is little doubt the Rams will have one of the youngest rosters.

When you look at the construction of our team, no question the workload has now shifted to the coaches;

Quick and Pead... both 2nd round investments... both expected to contribute significantly after limited roles in 2012. With Pead, you could argue the spotlight is more intense with SJ moving on.

Who's at LG? It could be Rok. Will he take the next step?

At safety... McDonald, a somewhat controversial pick, is expected to start as a rookie. Also at this position; youngsters McLeod, Stewart, McGee, and Daniels have less than a dozen starts between them.

From the 2013 draft; the "show piece" Austin needs to contribute right away for this offense to reach it's potential.

Ogletree another rookie from the 2013 class is expected to start.

Our new TE Cook, while experienced, needs to get up to speed on a new offense.

Our season is banking on these young players!

Time for the coaches to go to work!

Never in all my years as a Ram fan have I been as confident as I am now in the coaching and mgt. Long run
train

I agree Train ... .and Fisher mentioned how much trust he has in his staff in the article about him dealing with the younger players. This staff is as at least as competent as the on DV had ... if not more. Respected, trusted and proven coaches. I have no doubt they will mold these youngsters into something special ... .the rest is up to the players to "listen" and "follow"

 

[Thordaddy]

Okay, there is still some roster tweaking... but it's mostly in place.

There is little doubt the Rams will have one of the youngest rosters.

When you look at the construction of our team, no question the workload has now shifted to the coaches;

Quick and Pead... both 2nd round investments... both expected to contribute significantly after limited roles in 2012. With Pead, you could argue the spotlight is more intense with SJ moving on.

Who's at LG? It could be Rok. Will he take the next step?

At safety... McDonald, a somewhat controversial pick, is expected to start as a rookie. Also at this position; youngsters McLeod, Stewart, McGee, and Daniels have less than a dozen starts between them.

From the 2013 draft; the "show piece" Austin needs to contribute right away for this offense to reach it's potential.

Ogletree another rookie from the 2013 class is expected to start.

Our new TE Cook, while experienced, needs to get up to speed on a new offense.

Our season is banking on these young players!

Time for the coaches to go to work!

CG I agree that from a fan perspective expectations of this coaching staff are "you got the horses ,now lets see this wagon roll" .
Not this fan though and I'll get back to this later ,but IMO the "pressure" was the same for Fisher day one as it will be day one of SB week when we are playing the Broncos year after this. That IS why I am so confident , because he is a pro through and through ,so experienced seldom is he ever at a loss for what to do in a situation because he's seen everything.

JMO but we have too much talent in our rookies,they are almost all gonna stick and many will see considerable playing time which mean MORE vets hit the bricks and a lot of experience with them so the brain farts are gonna prevent us from realizing 100% of our potential but I hear ya,we aught to be more than just competitive this year .
I Doubt we lose any games like the Jet game last year or even the Vikings ,IMO we lose to no one who doesn't make the playoffs and we spank some people big,which damnit I miss,I love a blowout once in a while.

 

[F. Mulder]

I think the pressure is the optimal balancing act of having last year's rookies continue to develop (Fisher said the development from 1st to 2nd year was often great (and I think critical)) while still getting production from at least some key rookies.

The thing is that not all 2nd year guys are going to develop but taking quick look at them:

Givens- really surprised me. Saw him (and still do) as somewhat as a one-trick pony who can only do it on the outside. He needs to show me he can run precise intermediate and short routes and be willing to go inside the hash marks.

Quick- the staff treated him like a red-shirt rookie IMO. How well he improves is really totally up to Quick. He has all the tools in the world. What will make or break him is if he is willing and able to be a professional NFL player. Know the play book. Totally committ to the demands and nuances at the WR and NFL position and let your talent show. I for one am really high on him FWIW

Pead-Just never seemed to get going. Early on seemed to want to take everything east/west, seemed hesitant and seemed to be thinking way to much. The Pead we briefly saw towards the end of the year seemed more confident. Sometimes these faster backs have to be willing to take a 1-2 yard gain when there is nothing there. He is a big Q for me.

Richardson-here was a guy who got a chance and went with it. For a smallish runner he was willing to go inside. However despite his speed he was often easily tackled by contact (he obviously is not a body tackle breaker) but get him in the open field--look out. I frankly think the guy just burned out towards the end and lost a bit of his juice.

Brockers- nicely surprised by him. Good anchor, athletic, clogged the middle. Could chase. For him it is staying healthy and continuing to work on technique.

Jenkins- He is who I thought he'd be. He is a gambler, has a ton of confidence in his game. Has a short memory when beaten. Up and down tackler. Pure playmaker. I think you will see him more up on the LOS and I think he will be even more of a gambler IF he knows he has Safety help which remains in question this year. He'll never be a sure tackler but did make some nice ones and was willing to try to lay the lumber which is more than I thought he'd do.

Johnson-A good learning situaton for him. Able to increase playing tme as seaso went on. Still learning but has the physical length to match up with bigger WR. Tackling was spotty. Still gets caught on double moves, fakes etc. That's the type of thing he needs to improve on.

Greg Z needs to get more 30-45 yard chances and not so many 70 yarders. He will be judged on his consitency to make the one he should make. The long ones are bonuses.

Johnny H- Just more consistency. That was his MO in college, 1-2 boomers and one shank. Reduce to the shanks.

I may have missed 1-2 since I'm doing this off the top of my head but if the WRs can take the next step and the RBs can provide solid play via rotation it really opens up guys like Austin, and Bailey to add value to the offense just like Ogletree can hopefully do at LBer

I think the pressure on the staff is to make it simple for Ogletree and just let him attack and not think. McDonald needs to avoid being exposed by playing up in the box IMO until they know what they have. Austin has no real limitations and I think Bailey is almost NFL ready.

Stacy just needs to do what he did in college, make one cut and go. McGhee is pure special teams to me. If we see him at CB this year that scares me. Jones will become an OL leader once healthy. This year he will be Robert Turner ll IMO but will be our center next year.

I think this is a great staff of position coaches but like everything the pressure is as much on the player to take to the coaching, committ, not be overwhelmed, and hopefully stay healthy. The coaches need to know their limitations and put them in positions where they won't fail while they continue to develop.

Sorry for the babble. :boing:

 

[Thordaddy]

Yeah Frank I see things pretty well that way,the Jenkins comments ,ya know one of the problems with pot smokers is if theystart too young ,it retards and sometimes prevents the development of impulse control .
I wonder about that with him