First here. Start venting now!

[steferfootball]

Yep, I'm first. Deal with it.

What makes me mad is that I think we are going to loose a good coach this year.

And the instability that Bradford will have. We are setting him up with Alex Smith-esk instability. (4 systems in 4 yerars? ouch)

So what ticks you off?

 

[-X-]

Yep, I'm first. Deal with it.

What makes me mad is that I think we are going to loose a good coach this year.

And the instability that Bradford will have. We are setting him up with Alex Smith-esk instability. (4 systems in 4 yerars? ouch)

So what ticks you off?

That's not necessarily venting, but I'll play along.

I agree. My biggest fear is that the departure of McDaniels after 2012 (he has a 2 year contract) is going to leave Bradford learning another new system. UNLESS - they can get him a coordinator from the McDaniels tree. If there's such a thing. Hopefully someone will come along with a very similar vertical style offense and the transition will be a little easier than a Shurmur-to-McDaniels transition.

 

[Anonymous]

Quinn is a project.

 

[-X-]

Quinn is a project.

 

[Anonymous]

Quinn is a project.

You're right...it is common knowledge. :hehe:

 

[steferfootball]

Yep, I'm first. Deal with it.

What makes me mad is that I think we are going to loose a good coach this year.

And the instability that Bradford will have. We are setting him up with Alex Smith-esk instability. (4 systems in 4 yerars? ouch)

So what ticks you off?

That's not necessarily venting, but I'll play along.

I agree. My biggest fear is that the departure of McDaniels after 2012 (he has a 2 year contract) is going to leave Bradford learning another new system. UNLESS - they can get him a coordinator from the McDaniels tree. If there's such a thing. Hopefully someone will come along with a very similar vertical style offense and the transition will be a little easier than a Shurmur-to-McDaniels transition.

Next time I will be sure to add some exclamation points, swear words, and describe my distaste for everyone in the Rams organization - even the dang ball boys.


Anyways I see two ways we could approach a new OC - West Coast or New England offense.

Ben McDaniels is a possible Josh McDaniels replacement. Or we could dip into the talent pool of New England coaches. Charlie Wiess or an up and commer.

Or just flat out switch back to the West Coast. All sorts of those guys floating around.

 

[-X-]

Yep, I'm first. Deal with it.

What makes me mad is that I think we are going to loose a good coach this year.

And the instability that Bradford will have. We are setting him up with Alex Smith-esk instability. (4 systems in 4 yerars? ouch)

So what ticks you off?

That's not necessarily venting, but I'll play along.

I agree. My biggest fear is that the departure of McDaniels after 2012 (he has a 2 year contract) is going to leave Bradford learning another new system. UNLESS - they can get him a coordinator from the McDaniels tree. If there's such a thing. Hopefully someone will come along with a very similar vertical style offense and the transition will be a little easier than a Shurmur-to-McDaniels transition.

Next time I will be sure to add some exclamation points, swear words, and describe my distaste for everyone in the Rams organization - even the dang ball boys.


Anyways I see two ways we could approach a new OC - West Coast or New England offense.

Ben McDaniels is a possible Josh McDaniels replacement. Or we could dip into the talent pool of New England coaches. Charlie Wiess or an up and commer.

Or just flat out switch back to the West Coast. All sorts of those guys floating around.

Fuckin A right you will.

I think it was a gamble switching systems the way they did. Obviously. Especially giving Bradford the added responsibility of line calls when he had never done that before either. With no OTA's and what, 6 weeks of actual camp? What we saw in preseason was very vanilla, and it worked. Pound the ball, pound the ball, pound the ball, throw in some play-action and some nice crossing patterns. Then Steven Jackson goes down and everything changes. I mean, there was more to it than that, but the foundation started crumbling right after that happened. Add in some mistakes that put you behind, forcing you to pass, and all of a sudden the passing game has to become a staple when it was originally designed to be a complement.

Bleh.

 

[bluecoconuts]

The switch from the West Coast to a more Spread Offense takes time to adjust, it's the same in every sport. That doesn't concern me nearly as much as the defense does with the run game. Right now a big part of that is the injuries, but we have limited time with Robbins because he's getting old, frankly we need an upgrade at DT.. Our OLB need an upgrade as well.. I like Poppinga a lot, but admittedly part of that has to do with the fact he's such a funny and wild guy.

I'm hoping that Lloyd, and Clayton have an impact, DX stays healthy, and Pettis/Salas become the receivers we know they can be. With Amendola coming back, assuming all of those guys are playing to their potential, I wont hate not getting a WR in the draft. DT, OLB, and DB's are all things we need to get fixed though. I feel we have good corners when healthy, but we need a better Safety next to Mikell though..

We're close though, even if the scoreboard doesn't reflect it. If we have a good draft, and I think we will, along with a solid free agency period, the Rams will be fine. Just as long as everyone gets the scheme's down better so they're second nature.

 

[superfan24]

The switch from the West Coast to a more Spread Offense takes time to adjust, it's the same in every sport. That doesn't concern me nearly as much as the defense does with the run game. Right now a big part of that is the injuries, but we have limited time with Robbins because he's getting old, frankly we need an upgrade at DT.. Our OLB need an upgrade as well.. I like Poppinga a lot, but admittedly part of that has to do with the fact he's such a funny and wild guy.

I'm hoping that Lloyd, and Clayton have an impact, DX stays healthy, and Pettis/Salas become the receivers we know they can be. With Amendola coming back, assuming all of those guys are playing to their potential, I wont hate not getting a WR in the draft. DT, OLB, and DB's are all things we need to get fixed though. I feel we have good corners when healthy, but we need a better Safety next to Mikell though..

We're close though, even if the scoreboard doesn't reflect it. If we have a good draft, and I think we will, along with a solid free agency period, the Rams will be fine. Just as long as everyone gets the scheme's down better so they're second nature.

How has Stewart been playing? Haven't heard one way or the other, but considering how the D is playing...

 

[-X-]

The switch from the West Coast to a more Spread Offense takes time to adjust, it's the same in every sport. That doesn't concern me nearly as much as the defense does with the run game. Right now a big part of that is the injuries, but we have limited time with Robbins because he's getting old, frankly we need an upgrade at DT.. Our OLB need an upgrade as well.. I like Poppinga a lot, but admittedly part of that has to do with the fact he's such a funny and wild guy.

I'm hoping that Lloyd, and Clayton have an impact, DX stays healthy, and Pettis/Salas become the receivers we know they can be. With Amendola coming back, assuming all of those guys are playing to their potential, I wont hate not getting a WR in the draft. DT, OLB, and DB's are all things we need to get fixed though. I feel we have good corners when healthy, but we need a better Safety next to Mikell though..

We're close though, even if the scoreboard doesn't reflect it. If we have a good draft, and I think we will, along with a solid free agency period, the Rams will be fine. Just as long as everyone gets the scheme's down better so they're second nature.

How has Stewart been playing? Haven't heard one way or the other, but considering how the D is playing...

Inconsistent. I was just listening to Gus Frerotte breaking down the Dallas game, and he said on that one run by Murray that went for 90 yards, Stewart came screaming up to the line, but wasn't paying attention to where the ball carrier was going, and he slid right by him. Maybe if he wasn't so aggressive, he could have been in there for the tackle, and that play never happens. But then again, that's only one play. I've seen Stewart do some good things, and I've seen him do some bad things.

 

[bluecoconuts]

The switch from the West Coast to a more Spread Offense takes time to adjust, it's the same in every sport. That doesn't concern me nearly as much as the defense does with the run game. Right now a big part of that is the injuries, but we have limited time with Robbins because he's getting old, frankly we need an upgrade at DT.. Our OLB need an upgrade as well.. I like Poppinga a lot, but admittedly part of that has to do with the fact he's such a funny and wild guy.

I'm hoping that Lloyd, and Clayton have an impact, DX stays healthy, and Pettis/Salas become the receivers we know they can be. With Amendola coming back, assuming all of those guys are playing to their potential, I wont hate not getting a WR in the draft. DT, OLB, and DB's are all things we need to get fixed though. I feel we have good corners when healthy, but we need a better Safety next to Mikell though..

We're close though, even if the scoreboard doesn't reflect it. If we have a good draft, and I think we will, along with a solid free agency period, the Rams will be fine. Just as long as everyone gets the scheme's down better so they're second nature.

How has Stewart been playing? Haven't heard one way or the other, but considering how the D is playing...

Inconsistent. I was just listening to Gus Frerotte breaking down the Dallas game, and he said on that one run by Murray that went for 90 yards, Stewart came screaming up to the line, but wasn't paying attention to where the ball carrier was going, and he slid right by him. Maybe if he wasn't so aggressive, he could have been in there for the tackle, and that play never happens. But then again, that's only one play. I've seen Stewart do some good things, and I've seen him do some bad things.

That's the same thing I've seen, I don't know if it's part of being raw, part of not being as talented as we thought/want or a mixture of both.

 

[-X-]

The switch from the West Coast to a more Spread Offense takes time to adjust, it's the same in every sport. That doesn't concern me nearly as much as the defense does with the run game. Right now a big part of that is the injuries, but we have limited time with Robbins because he's getting old, frankly we need an upgrade at DT.. Our OLB need an upgrade as well.. I like Poppinga a lot, but admittedly part of that has to do with the fact he's such a funny and wild guy.

I'm hoping that Lloyd, and Clayton have an impact, DX stays healthy, and Pettis/Salas become the receivers we know they can be. With Amendola coming back, assuming all of those guys are playing to their potential, I wont hate not getting a WR in the draft. DT, OLB, and DB's are all things we need to get fixed though. I feel we have good corners when healthy, but we need a better Safety next to Mikell though..

We're close though, even if the scoreboard doesn't reflect it. If we have a good draft, and I think we will, along with a solid free agency period, the Rams will be fine. Just as long as everyone gets the scheme's down better so they're second nature.

How has Stewart been playing? Haven't heard one way or the other, but considering how the D is playing...

Inconsistent. I was just listening to Gus Frerotte breaking down the Dallas game, and he said on that one run by Murray that went for 90 yards, Stewart came screaming up to the line, but wasn't paying attention to where the ball carrier was going, and he slid right by him. Maybe if he wasn't so aggressive, he could have been in there for the tackle, and that play never happens. But then again, that's only one play. I've seen Stewart do some good things, and I've seen him do some bad things.

That's the same thing I've seen, I don't know if it's part of being raw, part of not being as talented as we thought/want or a mixture of both.

I think it's just being raw and overly anxious. But, that's just me.

I recently went through the Packers' roster and compared who's on their roster to where they picked in the draft. They've retained A LOT of their later round picks. Then I got to thinking. They can afford to do that when their starters are playing at a high level. You can afford to have backups on the roster for a couple of years and groom them methodically instead of having to throw them into the fire right away - sink or swim style. Man this team was behind the 8-ball right from jump street. Maybe Spagnuolo WAS crazy for taking on this task. It just seems like an impossibility given the circumstances. Maybe if he had very, very few injuries over the course of the last two years, things would have been much different. Seems like if we lose one or two key guys for a long time, then there's an immediate hole on the team. Whereas, teams with a lot of depth don't necessarily get impacted as hard.

 

[DR RAM]

The switch from the West Coast to a more Spread Offense takes time to adjust, it's the same in every sport. That doesn't concern me nearly as much as the defense does with the run game. Right now a big part of that is the injuries, but we have limited time with Robbins because he's getting old, frankly we need an upgrade at DT.. Our OLB need an upgrade as well.. I like Poppinga a lot, but admittedly part of that has to do with the fact he's such a funny and wild guy.

I'm hoping that Lloyd, and Clayton have an impact, DX stays healthy, and Pettis/Salas become the receivers we know they can be. With Amendola coming back, assuming all of those guys are playing to their potential, I wont hate not getting a WR in the draft. DT, OLB, and DB's are all things we need to get fixed though. I feel we have good corners when healthy, but we need a better Safety next to Mikell though..

We're close though, even if the scoreboard doesn't reflect it. If we have a good draft, and I think we will, along with a solid free agency period, the Rams will be fine. Just as long as everyone gets the scheme's down better so they're second nature.

How has Stewart been playing? Haven't heard one way or the other, but considering how the D is playing...

Inconsistent. I was just listening to Gus Frerotte breaking down the Dallas game, and he said on that one run by Murray that went for 90 yards, Stewart came screaming up to the line, but wasn't paying attention to where the ball carrier was going, and he slid right by him. Maybe if he wasn't so aggressive, he could have been in there for the tackle, and that play never happens. But then again, that's only one play. I've seen Stewart do some good things, and I've seen him do some bad things.

He did that, but he did that to the outside to contain, I've seen this all year with our safeties, on some sets that's their responsibility--outside contain. Several things go wrong. Robbins caused the initial problem by abandoning two gaps on the inside on a run play, you cannot do that...ever. Both backers were right in front of the play, and didn't fill at all, they waited and got blocked, they didn't even slow Murray down, they have to at least cause some traffic there and they did not. When Stewart's coming up, the whole outside is open, he is the left safety, and has contain, he's trying to cover the 8 hole for the bounce. Then what happened, where was Mikell? He should have rotated over and had middle run support. When he finally did enter the picture, he missed an open-field tackle. Lots of mistakes on one play.

 

[-X-]

You have to wonder if Robbins' back is anywhere near 100% right now. I was concerned when he had a 'flair up' during camp. Somehow I thought it was going to be a problem all year. And if Robbins isn't healthy, there's very little push on the inside. He was kind of the anchor last year.

 

[DR RAM]

You have to wonder if Robbins' back is anywhere near 100% right now. I was concerned when he had a 'flair up' during camp. Somehow I thought it was going to be a problem all year. And if Robbins isn't healthy, there's very little push on the inside. He was kind of the anchor last year.

He was a way different player first half last year. What he did on that play is considered "cheating", it's OK on a pass play, but never on a run play. A lot of people think that d-lineman are supposed to not get blocked, when what their job is on a running play is to block themselves and fight against where the o-lineman wants to take you, and maintain your gap at all times.

 

[bluecoconuts]

The switch from the West Coast to a more Spread Offense takes time to adjust, it's the same in every sport. That doesn't concern me nearly as much as the defense does with the run game. Right now a big part of that is the injuries, but we have limited time with Robbins because he's getting old, frankly we need an upgrade at DT.. Our OLB need an upgrade as well.. I like Poppinga a lot, but admittedly part of that has to do with the fact he's such a funny and wild guy.

I'm hoping that Lloyd, and Clayton have an impact, DX stays healthy, and Pettis/Salas become the receivers we know they can be. With Amendola coming back, assuming all of those guys are playing to their potential, I wont hate not getting a WR in the draft. DT, OLB, and DB's are all things we need to get fixed though. I feel we have good corners when healthy, but we need a better Safety next to Mikell though..

We're close though, even if the scoreboard doesn't reflect it. If we have a good draft, and I think we will, along with a solid free agency period, the Rams will be fine. Just as long as everyone gets the scheme's down better so they're second nature.

How has Stewart been playing? Haven't heard one way or the other, but considering how the D is playing...

Inconsistent. I was just listening to Gus Frerotte breaking down the Dallas game, and he said on that one run by Murray that went for 90 yards, Stewart came screaming up to the line, but wasn't paying attention to where the ball carrier was going, and he slid right by him. Maybe if he wasn't so aggressive, he could have been in there for the tackle, and that play never happens. But then again, that's only one play. I've seen Stewart do some good things, and I've seen him do some bad things.

That's the same thing I've seen, I don't know if it's part of being raw, part of not being as talented as we thought/want or a mixture of both.

I think it's just being raw and overly anxious. But, that's just me.

I recently went through the Packers' roster and compared who's on their roster to where they picked in the draft. They've retained A LOT of their later round picks. Then I got to thinking. They can afford to do that when their starters are playing at a high level. You can afford to have backups on the roster for a couple of years and groom them methodically instead of having to throw them into the fire right away - sink or swim style. Man this team was behind the 8-ball right from jump street. Maybe Spagnuolo WAS crazy for taking on this task. It just seems like an impossibility given the circumstances. Maybe if he had very, very few injuries over the course of the last two years, things would have been much different. Seems like if we lose one or two key guys for a long time, then there's an immediate hole on the team. Whereas, teams with a lot of depth don't necessarily get impacted as hard.

Depth is a big thing that the Rams are lacking right now. I think that last year's free agency, getting a lot of veteran guys and dumping young raw guys was a result of having a good year, and fans being impatient. The Rams tried to skip a step with the developmental of young players and as a result they're paying the price. Going back to the Kings, they did the same thing, but now they have so much depth they have Defesemen that are so skilled they would be a top 4 D-Man on most NHL rosters, but on the Kings not only are they not Top 4, but they're in the minors because of all the depth.. And when their best D-Man (one of the best young guys in the league actually) goes down with injury this rookie can come in for his first games, and the Kings actually haven't allowed a goal since he stepped onto the ice (3 games and one period now). Part of that is his skill, but a lot of that speaks to how good of depth the Kings have at their position... Goalie is another strong position for LA, they have an All-Star (and Olympic Team USA) goalie as their starter, and another guy who's probably going to be traded in the upcoming offseason and become a starter, and has a high chance of being Team Canada's Olympic goalie.. The depth is something LA has lacked for years, but being patient they were able to get to this level.

That's something the Rams need to do, I think they got away from that a little last season wanting to give a boost to speed it up, but you can't really do that. We want to have players that are of starting quality sitting on the sidelines because of our depth. Then we can consistently win, because there's always a player ready to come in and not skip a beat, which allows us to develop the young players instead of trying to stockpile a bunch of young players to find someone who can at least play and not be a liability. It takes time, but the Rams are going to get there, and I think they get there soon. It's not something they'll get next year, but I think they're going to have most of their roster set after next year, which allows them to add those depth players, and they'll be a top team in the NFL year in and year out. I knew it was going eventually with the Kings, I know it's going to happen with the Rams. I honestly believe Bradford will hold a Lombardi trophy over his head by 2015.