Double-edged sword

[Amitar]

Ray Ray's was not a mistake. I'd fine players for penalties like that.

 

[dieterbrock]

That's fine, but Bailey has the best hands on the team, and has since the middle of last season.

Bailey has some serious potential, I like the kid. Pettis made the biggest catch of the season so I cant just dismiss him over potential.
If they didnt dig a 34-7 hole, they wouldnt have had such a huge mountain to climb

 

[HometownBoy]

i agree with X here. if those two passes in the first drive are thrown well we are on the board and rolling. that has nothing to do with being prepared its execution. it changes the game when you miss opportunities

I feel that still falls on Fisher, because we're always down. You won't win consistently in the NFL if you don't show up for the first half of the game, trying to drag yourself back up only works so much. Fisher needs to find out what he's doing wrong and how to have the team come out less sluggish in the first half.

Catch up is killer for NFL teams, especially when like you said, missed opportunities are already killer in themselves. Don't let it get to the point where you have to pull every stop out cleanly in the second half or you're dead.

 

[Rambitious1]

So I watched the game again (ffw, rew, ffw, rew) and it occurred to me that there were just a few (5 or 6) plays that really attributed to the outcome of the game yesterday. Some mistakes, some penalties, and a few lapses in execution. Hell, the first two throws of the game were just a little off, but the plays were there for the taking. So all of the lamenting about the script to start the game is a little off-base to me. Had execution been on point, there would be no issues. If the false-starts didn't put us in bad down-n-go situations, then the game plan wouldn't have had to be adjusted. If pass-blocking was on point, then some of those throws wouldn't have had to be rushed. And if the turnovers that resulted in Eagles' points didn't take place, then the game plan wouldn't have had to be abandoned.

What's my point? Going into the third quarter, there was a ton of calls for Fisher's head yesterday. The team isn't prepared, they're sloppy, undisciplined, can't compete, and that's all on him. By the end of the game that kinda talk dissipated, but that's beside the point. Here's my question. What can he do? Does anyone honestly believe that they don't coach execution, preparedness and discipline all year long? And the follow-up question ... what's his recourse when things break down during the game? Replace all of the offenders? Well, okay then. Say he does that. Bench Kendricks, bench Armstrong, bench Daniels, bench Jake Long, Bench Cook (for his drop), Bench Wells, and play all of their substitutes. Now you have a weaker team.

Should he play with a weaker team to satisfy the masses? And what if he does that and they lose because of it?

Double-edged sword.

It may be cliche', but really all they can do is work on the problems. You can bench a repeat offender, like he said he was gonna do, but at some point the players have to hold themselves (and each other) accountable. Because none of them are ignorant to what constitutes a penalty. And all of them are being taught/coached to avoid them. I just don't see how it can ALL fall on Fisher when the game-plan going in is to execute and play smart football after weeks of preparation to do just that.

I think Fisher needs to start cracking down on repeat offenders.
By that I mean don't pull and bench someone for dropping one pass or a false start, but if they drop four passes, or commit three or four false starts in a game, then maybe it's time the team learns that will not be tolerated. I know the team would be lower in talent in some circumstances, but in the long run I think it helps the entire team learn discipline.
JMHO.

 

[Bildeaux]

Agree 100% We had 500 yards of offense and AD had a passer rating of over 103. On defense, only gave up, really, 20 points. And of you 5-6 plays, all we needed to do is reverse any 1 of them and we win. So, I'm optimistic.

The trade/cut/bench crowd are puzzling. The whole routine smacks of "cut the nose to spite the face" approach.

As far as Fisher, what do people want? Jim Harbaugh? Not me.

 

[RamzFanz]

That's fine, but Bailey has the best hands on the team, and has since the middle of last season.

You DO have a point. He is without a drop in his career thus far. I don't see anyone "pulling" AP for Bailey because AP also has good hands and has made several clutch plays this season, but targeting Bailey when you absolutely need a catch is a pretty solid idea.

 

[JIMERAMS]

I feel that still falls on Fisher, because we're always down. You won't win consistently in the NFL if you don't show up for the first half of the game, trying to drag yourself back up only works so much. Fisher needs to find out what he's doing wrong and how to have the team come out less sluggish in the first half.

Catch up is killer for NFL teams, especially when like you said, missed opportunities are already killer in themselves. Don't let it get to the point where you have to pull every stop out cleanly in the second half or you're dead.

i get what your saying but fisher is not the one who overthrew those first two passes to wide open recievers. if davis hits them we dont start slow. jmo

 

[Fatbot]

Bench Kendricks, bench Armstrong, bench Daniels, bench Jake Long, Bench Cook (for his drop), Bench Wells, and play all of their substitutes. Now you have a weaker team.

I don't agree it's necessarily a double-edge sword case. Why does benching a guy necessarily make the team weaker? This is the NFL, talent is found across the board, especially when we are talking replacing guys that are role players not stars.

If we assume the guy replacing him is almost as good, then factor in the replacement doesn't make boneheaded/drive killing mistakes -- doesn't that guy make the team stronger overall? Looking at your list:

-Bench Armstrong. Perhaps the Rams promote Denicos Allen to take his spot on special teams/backup OLB -- not to mention could have signed free agent Shayne Skov (Tampa Bay), or kept Kevin Reddick (San Diego). Is Denicos Allen worse than Ray Ray? Verdict: unknown if this makes the team weaker since we haven't seen Allen, but Ray Ray certainly isn't providing much other than the case for "addition by subtraction"

-Bench Wells, enter Barnes. Not even considering the bad snaps, Barnes is probably better than awful Wells. Verdict: probably not weaker

-Bench Kendricks & Cook. Enter Alex Bayer & Brad Smelley. Is the Harkey/Bayer/Smelley trio that much worse? Bayer sure lit it up in the preseason. Maybe Smelley can actually block someone. Now factor in if Bayer can make the clutch catches instead of drop them. But overall, the verdict: I think you are correct, here the team would be weaker

Not sure what bonehead thing Jake Long did due to lack of discipline, or which Daniels.

I think part of the frustration is the Rams have guys sitting there that could be just as good or better as some of these repeat offenders, and if they don't kill the team with mental mistakes, it's not a case of going forward "with a weaker team". Fisher shouldn't be afraid to take some action and enforce some discipline on repeat offenders.

 

[blackbart]

That's fine, but Bailey has the best hands on the team, and has since the middle of last season.

Still screwed himself and the team and we all know you don't just get a free pass from Fisher's dog house, nor should he.

 

[blackbart]

Armstrong needs to have a couple of weeks to stew. He has done the same stupid things for 3 years now I don't even know if I would give him another chance, I might just cut him and hope the rest of the team gets the message.

 

[bomebadeeda]

I like what X has put out there and for the most part agree w/ it.

And while everyone has their own opinion, it comes down to whether or not you believe the grass is greener effect. The next guy up maybe can take someone's place. But most of the time, there's a reason that guys are drafted before someone else. (Or not drafted at all.....) Yes, we are seeing a QB grow up before our eyes to turn into something no one expected. But would it happen w/ a LB? Or an Offensive lineman. Or a RB. It's easy to say this or that would be better but Fisher has to have all 22 in their correct place every week. And right now, we might not have the correct 22 on our team. (And then again we might......) but it's a trial and error thing that takes time to build upon. Watching Fisher's teams these past few years, it appears he tries to have the team peaking as the season winds down. But so far that doesn't work for most of us, because they can't go any farther w/o making the playoffs. So while the team moves forward.....there will be halves like we had against Dallas and Philly....and a lot of in between. And yeah...most of us might go mad before we get there......but it's going to be one hell of a ride............

 

[thirteen28]

I won't pretend to have all the answers (in large part, because if I did, I'd be an NFL head coach and not sitting here at a keyboard). But here's the rub: Fisher is the head coach. He's in charge. He's the leader. And that means the buck stops with him. Whether it seems fair or not, he is ultimately the one responsible, and thus ultimately the one who has to find a solution.

What is the solution? Hell if I know, again, if I did I would be where he is. But I do know this - we keep seeing stupid, game-killing mistakes week in and week out by this team, and it's not always the young guys either. Wells fumble against Dallas, Long's whiff on the Davis fumble that resulted in a TD, Cook's lack of concentration drops - those are not youthful mistakes of rookies or second year players.

At some point, when this pattern exists over an extended period of time, it's fair to ask if it's something systemic. And systemic or not, it's the coach's responsibility to fix it. The one thing I won't accept is that it cannot be fixed - it most certainly can (look how quickly the 49ers turned it around when they replaced Singletary with Harbaugh). I really hope Fisher is the guy that can do so. But don't blame me for having questions when we are 1-3 after four games of his 3rd season and keep seeing the same pattern as we saw in his first two seasons.

 

[-X-]

But don't blame me for having questions when we are 1-3 after four games of his 3rd season

Too late. I place the blame squarely on you now.

Fix it.

 

[thirteen28]

Too late. I place the blame squarely on you now.

Fix it.

Going through my closet now to locate my magic wand. By late Monday evening you should know if I've found it.

 

[Dodgersrf]

I think you start by separating mental mistakes from the deliberate mistakes.

There is no reason hit guys after the whistle because they got under your skin. The repeated personal fouls are a good start

False starts and other mental mistakes are tough, but at least they're not blatant.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

What can he do?

For starters release Armstrong. I can imagine if I was a Ram player that I would be sick of his act by now. It would send a message to the whole team, similar to sitting Jenkins against San Francisco a few years ago. This is a young team and they need some stern leadership.

Toughen up training camp. Since Fisher has been here the team is always slow to start out. The lines arent cohesive for the first few games, the communications are weak on the field. I can understand that there may be some strategy to trying to keep players fresh later in the season by not killing them in camp but giving up easy wins gets the team in a hole.

Identify the bad players and get the subs prepared during the weak. Have Greg Robinson ready to go in for Koseph for a few series. Have a short hook with special teamers.

The one guy that Fisher probably cannot afford to sit is Wells though. He calls the protections and I don't think anone else would be as good at it, especially Austin Davis.

 

[Rmfnlt]

And the follow-up question ... what's his recourse when things break down during the game? Replace all of the offenders? Well, okay then. Say he does that. Bench Kendricks, bench Armstrong, bench Daniels, bench Jake Long, Bench Cook (for his drop), Bench Wells, and play all of their substitutes. Now you have a weaker team.

Fisher said he was going to send any special teams player (some are valuable contributors on offense or defense) to the locker room to watch the game on TV if they commit another penalty.

What impact do you think that will have on:
1] The roster (some key contributors might be told to leave the field)
2] Morale

?

 

[RamFan503]

The buck does stop with Fish. Good or bad, he is the HC and what we see on the field is his responsibility. OK - now that I've stated the obvious, should we be calling for his head because of what we're seeing on the field? Personally, I say no.

We all would have liked and most of us expected a contender by now. I know I expected that. But maybe our expectations don't necessarily mesh with reality. And maybe Fish isn't the best coach in the NFL. In reality, there are probably only a handful of really good coaches in the NFL right now. And this is one of the reasons I am not on board with the fire Fish crowd.

We have a very young team - the youngest in the league. Why? Because we had shit for talent before and we kept bringing in retreads with a year or two left in their mediocre football careers. So rather than continue that with a Spagesque attempt to save his job, Fish and Snead, stayed with the youth movement with the direction of building this team through the draft. That takes time. More time than many of us have the stomach for apparently. And yes, maybe more time than a few other coaches have done it in. I'm not going to make excuses and say that Fish had a bigger project than some. Maybe he did and maybe he didn't. But I for one don't want to see us yank him for the next not best coach in the NFL

I would like to see some stability. I like a lot of what I see and cringe at a lot of what I see. Our offense is starting to look pretty good if our line can figure out how to pass block. How many of you were calling for Schotty's head? I know I was. But I'm not now. Our defense is struggling mightily and that is a real head scratcher with Fish's defensive mind and the addition of GW. But is that due to a new scheme or is it just bad coaching? I don't really know.

I would certainly like to see the penalties go down. Not only does it stall drives on offense and extend plays on defense, I think we will constantly be on the short end when it comes to questionable calls. We have definitely been the victim of some REALLY bad calls but how many of those get called on a team known for not committing those mistakes? That doesn't excuse the refs for making somewhat of a self fulfilling prophesy but when we do stupid shit like commit two horse collars practically back to back and Ray Ray comes down and pulls his stupid shit, it can't help our cause.

So all in all, I think X is right in that most of our problems are execution related. Be it missed assignments, stupid penalties, bad tackling, not getting off blocks, poor blocking up front, most of it comes down to the player doing his job. There's enough blame to go around with all these things. But I still see a better team on Sundays than I have for quite some time and I think they will continue to get better as the coaches ALSO start to mesh.

Let's not blow this thing up just yet. Building a team through the draft and within itself takes time but also should be a recipe for a team that is consistently in the playoff hunt.

 

[dieterbrock]

The buck does stop with Fish. Good or bad, he is the HC and what we see on the field is his responsibility. OK - now that I've stated the obvious, should we be calling for his head because of what we're seeing on the field? Personally, I say no.
*SNIP*
We all would have liked and most of us expected a contender by now. I know I expected that. But maybe our expectations don't necessarily mesh with reality.
*SNIP*
But I still see a better team on Sundays than I have for quite some time and I think they will continue to get better as the coaches ALSO start to mesh.
*SNIP*
Let's not blow this thing up just yet. Building a team through the draft and within itself takes time but also should be a recipe for a team that is consistently in the playoff hunt.

Let me just say I thought this was an awesome post, and I am in 100% agreeance. I sort of cut an pasted my favorite highlights

We came in to this year with all new players save, Bradford, Saffold, Kendricks, Pettis, C. Long and Quinn. Its a complete roster overhaul. Especially with #8 and #91 in street clothes.
If anything, this season makes me realize how great of a job Fisher has done in 12 and 13. Yeah, that was taken for granted.
I'm not giving up on this year, but if it does turn out to be a poor season, I'm good with seeing this crew back next year. For all the faults/flaws, I see a lot of promise. THAT is not something to be said of the Dark ages of Spags/Linehan

 

[Username]

Idk what he can do, but once again the team wasn't prepared to play a game from the get go. They completely gave the other team 13 points to start the game. You can't do that on the road and expect to win against anyone.

They looked sluggish, uninterested, and unorganized.

Like I said, Idk what he can do, but suggestions would be getting rid of Ray Ray, finding a way to get your 2nd overall pick on the field when your line is a fucking mess, and demoting Scott Wells to anything but starting center. Maybe he just needs to hire someone to come in and slap the players in the face before a game. Maybe if some of the aging players have no desire to play it should be suggested that they retire.

As it looks right now in year 3 of the Fisher era, we will be finishing .500 to sub .500 with a team that he has built himself from the ground up.