Gordon: Benching Foles was a Must

[RamBill]

Gordon: Benching Foles was a must
• By Jeff Gordon

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_cfada009-264b-58b1-8f3f-44923fb1b358.html

Rams quarterback Nick Foles bottomed out in the fourth quarter Sunday, throwing the ball to Chicago Bears linebacker Willie Young instead of one of his clearly marked teammates.

During the ensuing interception return, guard Jamon Brown (broken leg) and tackle Darrell Williams (dislocated wrist) suffered season-ending injuries while trying to stop the runaway train, er, Young.

Now that was a craptastic pass. Not only did it seal an ugly 37-13 loss, it led to the eradication of two offensive linemen and further compromised a suspect unit.

Mercifully that was the last pass Foles will throw for the Rams for a while. Coach Jeff Fisher tossed the offensive keys to back-up quarterback Case Keenum on Monday and dispatched Foles to the scout team to regroup.

“You know what, Nick just needs a break,” Fisher said at his Monday news conference. “He just needs a break right now.”

And the Rams need a turning point. They are fading fast from the NFC playoff race.

Year 4 of the Fisher regime is shaping up like the first three. The Rams are 4-5 following disappointing finishes of 6-10 last year, 7-9 in 2013 and 7-8-1 in 2012.

They have been overdue to contend for a long, long time. Something had to change and quarterback was a good place to start. Foles fell flat after showing early promise this season.

Remember when he passed for 297 yards and produced two touchdowns — one passing, one rushing — in the thrilling 34-31 overtime victory over Seattle?

That season opener seems like a long time ago. So does his three-TD performance while leading the Rams past the Cardinals 24-22 in Arizona.

After a gruesome four-pick freakout at Green Bay, he stayed out of harm’s way during Todd Gurley-led victories over the Browns and 49ers. But Foles became a liability during the overtime loss at Minnesota last Sunday, and his struggle against the Bears began on the Rams’ opening 80-yard touchdown drive.

Foles sailed a throw over wide receiver Brian Quick on a first-and-10 play from the Rams’ 49. Later in the drive he overshot tight end Lance Kendricks while scrambling to his right on a first-and-goal play from the Bears’ 6.

The Rams shrugged off those misses and took a 7-0 lead, thanks to Gurley. But the incompletions kept coming and the TDs did not.

He missed Wes Welker on third-and-6 in the first quarter, Kenny Britt on third-and-9 in the second quarter, Welker third-and-5 in the second quarter, Kendricks on third-and-10 in the second quarter, Quick on second-and-11 in the fourth quarter and Quick on fourth-and-6 in the fourth quarter.

Afterward, Foles offered little in the way of an explanation.

“I was just high on a few throws,” he said. “I just have to be more accurate.”

And ...

“Sometimes things happen,” he said. “Sometimes guys get in and that’s part of football. That’s just stuff that we have to keep working on.”

The Rams will do so with Keenum at the helm.

“As I told Case, he doesn’t have a short leash,” Fisher said. “We’re going to let him play. We’re going to use his legs and let him make some plays.”

He impressed the coaching staff last season during his brief stint at Rams Park. Keenum returned to the Houston Texans as an emergency fill-in last year, but the Rams re-acquired him after the season for their seventh-round draft pick in 2016.

Foreshadowing the midseason change to come, the Keenum trade occurred the same day the Rams shipped Bradford to the Philadelphia Eagles for Foles.

“What we saw in Case here on the practice field was special,” Fisher said. “His instincts, his mobility, his arm strength, his anticipation. Mind you, it was just practice, he was running scout team. When he got to go two-minute against the defense, it was there.”

He is a classic back-up quarterback, undersized but resourceful. He displaced incumbent back-up Austin Davis in this summer’s training camp, thanks to his football acumen and those 10 games of experience with the Texans in 2013 and 2014.

“He’s won games,” Fisher said. “He’s proven it. He’s won games in Houston with a team that had significant injuries around him and he found ways to win games. We’re going to trust his mobility and his ability to extend plays and things, and just give us an offensive spark that we need.”

Fisher insisted the Rams haven’t given up on Foles, who signed a three-year contract extension, with nearly $14 million of the $26 million deal guaranteed.

(Foles also had incentives that could have boosted the deal to $39 million, but those just became moot. There are no clauses rewarding him for doing his Joe Flacco imitations for the scout team.)

Fisher also expressed no remorse over the Foles acquisition, since the Rams off-loaded the injury-plagued Bradford in that swap and got a second-round draft pick to boot.

“By no means do we regret the trade,” Fisher said. “By no means do we regret the extension. Nick is a good quarterback. He’s captain of this football team. But at this point right now, based on where we are offensively, I feel this is the direction we have to go.”

Really, now, what other choice did he have?

 

[maximus]

He missed Wes Welker on third-and-6 in the first quarter, Kenny Britt on third-and-9 in the second quarter, Welker third-and-5 in the second quarter, Kendricks on third-and-10 in the second quarter, Quick on second-and-11 in the fourth quarter and Quick on fourth-and-6 in the fourth quarter.

Foles missed throws and sailed some over Quick, but the throws to Britt and Kendricks on third down were dropped, the ball hit them in their hands. The 4th down to Quick was well defended by the CB, the ball was well thrown, the CB was right there to defend it.
One third down conversion to Austin was negated by a holding call.
When the Rams kicked the last FG, the 3rd down pass was dropped by Tavon, a well thrown pass, TA had it in his hands.
Cutler and the Bears were 3-12 on 3rd down, not better than the Rams.

Many drives were killed by holding calls, one by a blindside block, the refs really had it for the Rams, while they let the Bears get away with everything. Foles did not play well, but the penalties and the drops really made it worse.

 

[Boston Ram]

It's about time

 

[Ballhawk]

It is well past the time! The season is shot now.

 

[HometownBoy]

Foles missed throws and sailed some over Quick, but the throws to Britt and Kendricks on third down were dropped, the ball hit them in their hands. The 4th down to Quick was well defended by the CB, the ball was well thrown, the CB was right there to defend it.

Actually they didn't count a drop against Britt. Remember drops are based on how catchable the ball was, just saying it hit their hands and thus they have to catch it isn't the full story. There's a huge difference between dropping a ball that hits you right in the hands while you're running in stride and having to stop and spear a ball thrown at the dirt. Kendricks was the only drop, bringing the total to a whopping one.

Not much of an excuse for Foles.

 

[SuperMan28]

Let's name a few things that will get a QB benched.

-Consistently not reading the field well
-Turnovers
-Missing on throws a QB should make.
- Poor pocket awareness.

Unfortunately, Foles is has performed as such for multiple weeks now.

The one game Foles did an exceptional job reading the field was against SEA. The man truly shined that game and did a great job.

Ever since then, there's been a steep decline. The opportunities have been there.

I do believe Foles is inside his own head and giving him a break is absolutely the right decision. As is the case for any QB swap, if Keenum performs well there is no reason to bring Nick back in this year. There is nothing wrong with resigning Keenum to a 4-5 million dollar contract after the season if he performs well, either. Foles has been hurt in the past but he's been very tough this year. (Still can't believe his ribs are in tact after the dirty Mathews hit that went uncalled.) At best Keenum is a poor man's Drew Breese. He has the tools, but it's an NFL QB's wits that make them great.

One thing Foles has done a good job of is not taking sacks. He's been under fire all year but does a nice job of getting the ball out. However, I've noticed a case of happy feet lately, like others. He also runs away from pressure when he can step up.

Final Thought: I'm optimistic with Keenum starting. He knows this is a great opportunity for him and he has no reason to hold anything back. Fisher said he has "no leash." That's the green light to go out and do what you do with no limitations.

Really excited about the game Sunday.

 

[maximus]

Actually they didn't count a drop against Britt. Remember drops are based on how catchable the ball was, just saying it hit their hands and thus they have to catch it isn't the full story. There's a huge difference between dropping a ball that hits you right in the hands while you're running in stride and having to stop and spear a ball thrown at the dirt. Kendricks was the only drop, bringing the total to a whopping one.

Not much of an excuse for Foles.

The ball went right through Britt hands. That's a drop any way you look at it. Then there was Tavon's drop in the redzone, when Foles hit him right in the hands, Tavon caught it then dropped it, the commentators were trying to figure out whether it was a fumble or not because Tavon had it right in his hands. If Tavon holds onto that ball, they are close to the 10 yards line with a 1st down. They score a TD there, the Bears are within a score, and that's a whole different ball game, Fisher would not have gone for the fake punt or for 4 downs later which put the game away for good.

That's 3 drops, in addition to the multitude of holding calls which really killed the offense. BS holding calls which erased a TD and completely changed the game.

 

[HometownBoy]

The ball went right through Britt hands. That's a drop any way you look at it. Then there was Tavon's drop in the redzone, when Foles hit him right in the hands, Tavon caught it then dropped it, the commentators were trying to figure out whether it was a fumble or not because Tavon had it right in his hands. If Tavon holds onto that ball, they are close to the 10 yards line with a 1st down. They score a TD there, the Bears are within a score, and that's a whole different ball game, Fisher would not have gone for the fake punt or for 4 downs later which put the game away for good.

Yeah, it hit him in the hand, but like the NFL does you have to take into the circumstances in which the ball hit him in the hands. Saying oh the ball hit him in the hands makes it sound like it hit him in the hands in stride and he just flummoxed it. Not that Foles was throwing errant passes and even the balls in the general vicinity of people weren't all that good. The NFL takes everything into account because just blaming a person solely without any thought on anybody else in a team sport is such a fruitless and pointless endeavor, why stress that QBs throw catchable balls if any shitty pass that gets near a guy should be. Meanwhile with Tavon he was going through his process, he HAD caught it, but then the hit jarred it lose and it was regarded as an incompletion. He didn't make a football move, so when it popped out it counted as an incompletion instead of a fumble, but to say he didn't catch it is false. It did not hit the ground until powers ulterior to his own forced it to.

Foles was not throwing catchable balls out there, the announcers agreed, the NFL agreed, the stat keepers agreed. One drop, not 3.

 

[maximus]

Yeah, it hit him in the hand, but like the NFL does you have to take into the circumstances in which the ball hit him in the hands. Saying oh the ball hit him in the hands makes it sound like it hit him in the hands in stride and he just flummoxed it. Not that Foles was throwing errant passes and even the balls in the general vicinity of people weren't all that good. The NFL takes everything into account because just blaming a person solely without any thought on anybody else in a team sport is such a fruitless and pointless endeavor, why stress that QBs throw catchable balls if any crappy pass that gets near a guy should be. Meanwhile with Tavon he was going through his process, he HAD caught it, but then the hit jarred it lose and it was regarded as an incompletion. He didn't make a football move, so when it popped out it counted as an incompletion instead of a fumble, but to say he didn't catch it is false. It did not hit the ground until powers ulterior to his own forced it to.

Foles was not throwing catchable balls out there, the announcers agreed, the NFL agreed, the stat keepers agreed. One drop, not 3.

3 drops, ball goes right between Britt's hands, that is a drop. On some of the throws Foles was not throwing catchable balls, that is true, to claim that he did it on all of them is an outright lie. Plenty of Cutler's passes were also not catchable. That is why he was 3-12 on 3rd down without drops.

Tavon was clearly a drop, he had it in his hands but did not protect it. To claim that is not a drop really shows the need to scapegoat Foles for all the problems in the game.

 

[DaveFan'51]

Fisher said in his presser that he had been thinking about a change for 4 or 5 weeks now, so yes it's about time!! I think he should have done it at least 2 weeks ago!!

 

[BonifayRam]

.........Year 4 of the Fisher regime is shaping up like the first three. The Rams are 4-5 following disappointing finishes of 6-10 last year, 7-9 in 2013 and 7-8-1 in 2012. They have been overdue to contend for a long, long time.......

After that read this morning :coffee:the above words is what sticks out in mind now. Snead/Fisher/Demoff have placed some excellent special overall grouping of young talent on this 2015 master roster. Snead has done a very good job here with a few misses figured in too.

But for some reason this young outstanding team on paper has zero traction in producing wins. Fisher has NOT got the job done here. Could you imagine what that sorry cheating HC of the hated Patriots could do with this roster? Fisher's team yr after yr under-performs very BIG!

 

[Psycho_X]

We’re going to use his legs and let him make some plays.”

That right there is all there is to say at this point. Fisher knows our o-line is a hot mess and the loss of Brown and one of our primary backups in one play (an interception by Foles) has made it even more so. A QB with mobile ability is the only person who's not going to get crushed back there going forward.

 

[classicpony]

why did it take so long?

 

[Athos]

Fisher said in his presser that he had been thinking about a change for 4 or 5 weeks now, so yes it's about time!! I think he should have done it at least 2 weeks ago!!

Ouch....

Once again with this regime....

Why take so long to make the change? Keenum could have been building a rapport with WRs and the offense, etc.... Should have happened at the very least after the GB game. Maybe sooner. When your QB can't find the EZ, or WRs on 3rd down all season long to historically bad levels....Waiting this long was insanity.

 

[RamBill]

Nick Wagoner talks about the change at QB for the Rams and says Case Keenum can extend plays that Nick Foles can’t. He talks with Randy K. and D’Marco Farr.

Listen to Wagoner Talk Keenum/Rams

 

[LACHAMP46]

@maximus

 

[Selassie I]

Many times the Backup QBs are the most popular player on a football team... most popular with the fan base anyway.

Foles will be the Backup now.

 

[CoachO]

Foles missed throws and sailed some over Quick, but the throws to Britt and Kendricks on third down were dropped, the ball hit them in their hands. The 4th down to Quick was well defended by the CB, the ball was well thrown, the CB was right there to defend it.
One third down conversion to Austin was negated by a holding call.
When the Rams kicked the last FG, the 3rd down pass was dropped by Tavon, a well thrown pass, TA had it in his hands.
Cutler and the Bears were 3-12 on 3rd down, not better than the Rams.

Many drives were killed by holding calls, one by a blindside block, the refs really had it for the Rams, while they let the Bears get away with everything. Foles did not play well, but the penalties and the drops really made it worse.

Keep making excuses. What you fail to acknowledge in the bolded part of your commentary above is that every single one of those throws as is the case with MOST...... Were late. He continually tries to force throws and when he is late it gives the defender plenty of time to close on the receiver.

How many times does he attempt to throw an simple out route from the far hash mark? The problem isn't that he lacks the arm strength to make the throw. It's that he needs to have the ball gone as the receiver starts his break. Instead he waits too long and give the CB time to contest the throw.

People like to flame on the receivers for their inability to get separation. But more often than not, they are open. But by the time the ball arrives they aren't any longer.

What you call drops are quite often contested balls made so much more difficult because the BALL IS LATE!

 

[DCH]

I hope Keenum can hit guys in stride running crossing/slant routs attacking the middle of the field. Cut down on the passes outside the hashes where the WR is standing there waiting for the ball to arrive.

 

[DaveFan'51]

After that read this morning :coffee:the above words is what sticks out in mind now. Snead/Fisher/Demoff have placed some excellent special overall grouping of young talent on this 2015 master roster. Snead has done a very good job here with a few misses figured in too.

But for some reason this young outstanding team on paper has zero traction in producing wins. Fisher has NOT got the job done here. Could you imagine what that sorry cheating HC of the hated Patriots could do with this roster? Fisher's team yr after yr under-performs very BIG!

I'm just not sure the problem is in the HC or a couple of his assistants! ie The QB Coach or the WR Coach!!
I wish we had Henry Ellard Back for one name to drop!!