COACH Fisher

[Alan]

Debacled looking at only part of the story:
Yet again the Rams are fielding an extremely young team. It isn't the vets that need to knock off the rust, its the younger guys. One thing you will see with younger players is more thinking than feeling, and that will slow them down. Once the young guys get more comfortable with what they are doing or what they are expected to do you will see less thinking and more feeling. That would improve overall play a TON.

Look at Quick for a great example of this. Took him a couple years to connect the dots, but we are watching it all come together now. Same can be said about McDonald, he appears to be a quick learner and is making a fantastic impact thus far this year.

A few things here:

Football is a team sport and I never meant to imply that the lack of practice by the vets was the only reason but what are we talking about here? "Since being here it seems like the Rams take 4-5 weeks to find that edge and get going." Quick would not be an example of what we're talking about.

Fish considers anyone not in his first year a vet (although the longer you've been in the league, up to a point, the more latitude he gives you) and we only started two rookies in Gaines and Joyner. They weren't the reason for our poor showing IMO.

I agree with you about the young guys needing to "stop thinking" and that played its part for sure.

 

[AZRamsFan93]

This year, the D is functioning from a new system. They're doing better in Pass D, but still finding their way in Run D. Some plays, they get it and get the TFL. Others, they get gashed a bit. With this DL, the Williams D has the potential to be outrageously stingy as a Run D.

While I agree that the D is 5th overall in yards surrendered through the air, I think that is largely due to their opponents not needing to pass. They are ranked very poorly when you consider opponent's passer rating (almost 100) and completion percentage (almost 72%). If they concentrate on playing disciplined run defense this week (which they really need to do) I am concerned that the pass defense may not hold up.

I sincerely hope this is all about getting comfortable in a new system and not an indication of an overall lack of quality talent on the field. We should learn more against a higher quality offense in Dallas than we did against TB.

 

[RamBall]

I've heard a few people make the statement about the change to Williams system. I was under the impression that they were running his system basically from year one, especially with Blake making the calls. I also thought Fisher and Williams were pretty much on the same.page as to how the D was going to be ran before Williams got suspended.

@Allan I wonder about the camps as well.

I think Fisher created the scheme and GW has tweeked it over the years. Kinda like how different OCs have tweeked the west coast O, its the same but different so to speak. And if I remember correctly Fisher's D has a lot of Buddy Ryan influences to it, but Fisher had stated in an interveiw when GW was first suspended that he wrote the D playbook and the staff would be able to install and run the same D that GW was expected to be installing and running. But GW has created wrinkles in his time not working with JF. GW has also stated that the scheme evolves or changes slightly based on the strengths of the players he has at his disposal.

 

[RamBall]

Last play of the game Fisher stated he was thinking of a different formation but yelled out the three DL formation.instead of the formation he was thinking

That is very intersting, I was kinda pissed when I saw the 3 man rush, first thing I thought was here we go again.

 

[RamWoodie]

I know this...Fisher better be coaching tackling...because even though they got better against Tampa...the defense has to tackle better...PERIOD!!!

 

[Rmfnlt]

I think Fisher created the scheme and GW has tweeked it over the years. Kinda like how different OCs have tweeked the west coast O, its the same but different so to speak. And if I remember correctly Fisher's D has a lot of Buddy Ryan influences to it, but Fisher had stated in an interveiw when GW was first suspended that he wrote the D playbook and the staff would be able to install and run the same D that GW was expected to be installing and running. But GW has created wrinkles in his time not working with JF. GW has also stated that the scheme evolves or changes slightly based on the strengths of the players he has at his disposal.

If I'm reading you correctly, the changes wouldn't be that significant (tweaks and wrinkles).

So, I'm still wondering why the slow start?

 

[the zohan]

They slow start every year. I think it has to do with how nonchalant Fisher is with preseason. If Fisher openly talks about preseason not mattering how can you expect the vets to amp up for it and get cohesion. Its like the entire staff and team think the first few weeks of the season are for gelling and cohesion while the playoff teams come out swinging for the fences.

 

[RamBall]

If I'm reading you correctly, the changes wouldn't be that significant (tweaks and wrinkles).

So, I'm still wondering why the slow start?

The slow starts are baffling, its not like there have been major changes in the front 7 over the past 3 seasons. Ogletree, Donald, Carrington and Westbrooks are the only additions and IMO they arent a drop off from the talent they are replacing in the rotation. I know JF likes to ramp things up as the preseason goes along, but it seems like the D doesnt start hitting their stride til week 4 or 5.

Being a Rams fan sure has been frustrating again.

 

[Thordaddy]

They slow start every year. I think it has to do with how nonchalant Fisher is with preseason. If Fisher openly talks about preseason not mattering how can you expect the vets to amp up for it and get cohesion. Its like the entire staff and team think the first few weeks of the season are for gelling and cohesion while the playoff teams come out swinging for the fences.

I understand your opinion is what it is, but IMO the slow starts if indeed that's WHAT they are aren't IMO due to anything but massive roster turnover, BTW we did lose our number one QB so that could account for some of the "slow start".
I don't think Fisher is at all nonchalant about the preseason ,he prefers to play the 2's and 3's so he can evaluate who to keep rather than beat the piss out of 2'and 3's to amass a record that doesn't count and risk injury to people he knows are making the team.
And he's right they don't matter as far as score goes ,never have.

 

[brokeu91]

I think the slow starts are a combination of three things:
1. The Rams have the youngest team in the NFL, with young players playing key positions all over the field. Those teams always start out slowly until they get more experience
2. The decrease in preseason contact adversely effects young teams with high turnover. This is because without the extra practice time together that teams had in the past, young teams with turnover every year have less time to get acquainted. That's why veteran teams without much turnover will have an advantage since these rule changes came into effect. Add in the fact that the defense has to learn a new system this problem becomes worsened
3. Fisher's nonchalant attitude about preseason also adds to the above two problems. Without as much pushing in the preseason to get as much work in as possible, the previous two problems become magnified. I think his attitude worked great when two-a-days were common practice, but now who knows.

I think now that we are done with the RGIII trade the first two issues won't be that much, and Fisher's attitude will eventually become a good thing for us. But right now it's makes the team look bad right out of the gate.