I'm not sure Coach Fisher is the answer because...

[-X-]

A few very candid thoughts:

1. Those that want an aggressive team need to stop whining about aggressive penalties. That's the way they play, and they're going to get calls playing that style. You can't have it both ways.
2. This team became a 6-win team the minute Sam Bradford crumpled to the ground in preseason Game 3.

 

[Thordaddy]

This will be the eleventh non-winning season and the 4th head coach in that span. Let's go ahead and make another change, because *that* has certainly proven to be the winning formula. Every time we look for a new head coach, we end up with the one everyone wants, or the one who's the most sought after. Then we get him, he gets 3 years to turn things around, doesn't, and we rinse and repeat. Love it. We should write a book on the Rams Way.

I hear all you're saying there X ,and I'm not on the fire Fisher bandwagon YET ,but I will say if we fired him and hired another guy, the new guy will have to be incompetent to not be able to win with the people we have assembled ,so the "rinse and repeat" might not be as it has been.

That said ,do you think he had control of his team yesterday ?

 

[badnews]

I would rather have Fisher and average .500 football with the leagues youngest team, year after year, playing one of the toughest schedules, year after year, than to watch another Linehan, Spagnuolo or Haslett coach this team.

Have you all forgotten how soft we were????

Losing sucks.
Losing BAD (2-14) while being soft.... infuckingtolerable.

 

[-X-]

I hear all you're saying there X ,and I'm not on the fire Fisher bandwagon YET ,but I will say if we fired him and hired another guy, the new guy will have to be incompetent to not be able to win with the people we have assembled ,so the "rinse and repeat" might not be as it has been.

That said ,do you think he had control of his team yesterday ?

Do I think he had control of the team? Yes. There was one shove after the play (by Ogletree), and the entire Giants team took exception. They had more players ejected than the Rams, so did Coughlin have control of his? I seem to recall him grabbing his players' facemasks quite often on the sideline for various reasons before and after that. Other than the melee, what else was uncontrollable?

And if we get a new coach, who's to say he keeps half of these players and/or coaches? I'm not down with another rebuild at all. I'm for seeing out the length of this head coach's contract, so I can actually see if his 5 year plan is a good one.

 

[Thordaddy]

Do I think he had control of the team? Yes. There was one shove after the play (by Ogletree), and the entire Giants team took exception. They had more players ejected than the Rams, so did Coughlin have control of his? I seem to recall him grabbing his players' facemasks quite often on the sideline for various reasons before and after that. Other than the melee, what else was uncontrollable?

And if we get a new coach, who's to say he keeps half of these players and/or coaches? I'm not down with another rebuild at all. I'm for seeing out the length of this head coach's contract, so I can actually see if his 5 year plan is a good one.

I don't care if Coughlin had control of his team. He isn't our coach. But if we were to fire Fish and they fired TC, I would be completely down with hiring him.

I too am tired of the revolving door and agree that a five year plan is the right way to go,but as far as whether there was only one shove constituting the extent of the thuggery I guess McDonalds shenanigans got past you.

FWIW I think we went out there yesterday intent upon putting Beckham out of the game and played on defense like that was all we had to do to win.
I never saw Fish say anything to any of the guys to calm them down by comparison though I did see TC tell his players to knock the extracurricular stuff off. I suspect he had plenty to say in the locker room about the lack of discipline ,he isn't prone to putting players in face saving positions.
We do disagree about the degree of control he had and IF what was going on yesterday is what he wanted from them it's not inspiring confidence from me .

 

[-X-]

FWIW I think we went out there yesterday intent upon putting Beckham out of the game

Nah. If that's the case, then we were intent on putting all of their players out of the game. Because that's how we were trying to tackle everyone who caught a ball in traffic. And you saw Coughlin telling his players to knock it off, because it was his players who were doing most of the extracurricular stuff. Starting from the opening salvo by OBJ in our endzone. We had one fight that was initiated by their players, and their players took the brunt of the ejections. Even Hayes, who was ejected himself, did nothing to warrant it.

Much ado about nothing, IMHO. But you're not in agreement with MHO, so that's that I guess.

 

[V3]

Do I think he had control of the team? Yes. There was one shove after the play (by Ogletree), and the entire Giants team took exception. They had more players ejected than the Rams, so did Coughlin have control of his? I seem to recall him grabbing his players' facemasks quite often on the sideline for various reasons before and after that. Other than the melee, what else was uncontrollable?

And if we get a new coach, who's to say he keeps half of these players and/or coaches? I'm not down with another rebuild at all. I'm for seeing out the length of this head coach's contract, so I can actually see if his 5 year plan is a good one.

How about the play on the field? For example, Fisher said he told them to not jump offsides on that 4th down hard count and they still did. How is that possible? That's just one play. There was confusion all over the field, especially with our secondary. They KNEW OBJ was going to get a lot of passes and there were many times the defense only had one guy on him and/or little to no safety help. This team just doesn't look prepared many games.

I'm not calling for Fisher's head or anything but I don't see him as some savior, either, like some people do.

 

[-X-]

How about the play on the field? For example, Fisher said he told them to not jump offsides on that 4th down hard count and they still did. How is that possible? That's just one play. There was confusion all over the field, especially with our secondary. They KNEW OBJ was going to get a lot of passes and there were many times the defense only had one guy on him and/or little to no safety help. This team just doesn't look prepared many games.

I'm not calling for Fisher's head or anything but I don't see him as some savior, either, like some people do.

Shit happens. Carroll told his players to stop lining up in the neutral zone and to stop jumping the count, but they still did and won by over 4 TDs. I don't think Fisher is a "savior" by any stretch of the imagination, but he is the first in a long line of coaches over the past 11 years who has this team competing in every game, despite not having the single most important player on the field for most of his 3 years here.

 

[Thordaddy]

How about the play on the field? For example, Fisher said he told them to not jump offsides on that 4th down hard count and they still did. How is that possible? That's just one play. There was confusion all over the field, especially with our secondary. They KNEW OBJ was going to get a lot of passes and there were many times the defense only had one guy on him and/or little to no safety help. This team just doesn't look prepared many games.

I'm not calling for Fisher's head or anything but I don't see him as some savior, either, like some people do.

I'm not calling for Fishers head either but I know what I saw and when that defense can shut PManning down and give up what it did to his brother , it goes way deeper than just having a bad game .
Like I said before they tried to rough up Becham so much it was clear he was in their head to the degree they lost composure

 

[WoodsideRam]

When they hired him I had mixed feelings about it. I wanted him as a coach, only because the Rams were coming off two first time coaches in Linehan and Spags. And they didn’t work out. So, I wanted a guy who had done it before. But I also knew what we were getting. A coach who is right around .500 and an undisciplined brand of football. I figured maybe Fisher had some insights during his year off and would be better for it. Well, we’re moving into year 4 of the rebuild and I’m starting to think he hasn’t learned anything. He still coaches an undisciplined brand of football, and his record with the Rams is right around .500. The Schotty hire was strike one for me. But I still looked past it hoping it would work out eventually. And maybe it still can. Trying to stay positive about the whole thing.


We’ll see what happens in the off season with the upgrades this team will need. Particularly the offensive line. But for me, Fisher is officially on the clock. That game yesterday reminded me of the opener. Guys just not ready to play. And I don’t care what he says to the contrary, that team was not ready to play.

 

[rams2050]

I do not think Fisher felt complacent, by any means, with what was going on with the Rams yesterday. To me he looked frustrated, at best, and some of the time downright angry. He even told the woman reporter that they had to (and I'm paraphrasing here) clean up their acts. A couple of shots showed him shaking his head in disbelief, and I know I saw him angrily talking to some of the players.

The Rams, for whatever reasons, were sick of hearing about Beckham. But don't make fools of yourselves; prove yourselves ON THE FIELD by stopping him from making catches.

This foolishness is the hallmark of a young, inexperienced, and immature team. I think when they review the tape there will be a lot of young -- and not so young -- men who will be feeling more than a little ashamed of their performances yesterday. Will they repeat this ridiculous posturing in the future? Who knows? But I'll bet that most of them will at least THINK about it for a moment or two before making fools of themselves again. Especially in light of what that terrible announcer was saying yesterday about how 'dirty' the Rams play (something that I don't agree with, although they were giving tit for tat for the Giants' dirty play yesterday). But it takes a REAL man not to fight back or retaliate. Any gomer can commit penalty after penalty and do stupid things to try to hurt the other team (only, in one notable instance, to hurt one of their own teammates).

That being said, how much of the foolishness is a direct result of Greg Williams's attitude and what he is transmitting to the players? That is something to consider. I mean, we want them playing with 'an edge,' but there is a fine line between that edge and penalties galore, meaning downright unsportsmanlike performances. We have to be careful what we wish for.

In conclusion, in Fisher's favor he is a coach that players want to play for, a coach that players are willing to take pay cuts in order to continue playing for him. I think we have to give him another year or two or even three. We are better, by far, than we were just recently. We have to let him show what he can do once he gets a real QB in place.

Although judging from Kroenke's body language and expression yesterday, when the camera caught him, I'm not sure Fisher will get more than one more year, at most.

 

[Corbin]

As much as I hate Bellicheck he has the same idea. Build the team with high character, .

This will be the eleventh non-winning season and the 4th head coach in that span. Let's go ahead and make another change, because *that* has certainly proven to be the winning formula. Every time we look for a new head coach, we end up with the one everyone wants, or the one who's the most sought after. Then we get him, he gets 3 years to turn things around, doesn't, and we rinse and repeat. Love it. We should write a book on the Rams Way.

Absolute great post X. Replacing Fisher would be a disaster and the same old crap we been doing since Martz left to lead to yearly regime failures. We need to keep some consistency but now for me to be a hypocrite. It might be time we come up with a better OC. I can't tell if it's the players not executing or Schotty is just poor after his scripting is done and doesn't adjust. Or both. Obviously I know our QB is average at best and two of our O-Line get beat like a war drum. I think a good OC should play to the strengths and weaknesses his players have and to realize what those are. Maybe im just off here....

I would rather have Fisher and average .500 football with the leagues youngest team, year after year, playing one of the toughest schedules, year after year, than to watch another Linehan, Spagnuolo or Haslett coach this team.

Have you all forgotten how soft we were????

Losing sucks.
Losing BAD (2-14) while being soft.... infuckingtolerable.

A FREAKING MEN!!

If we are going to lose it better be like this not that crap we had With Spags or Linaquack.

 

[Rams43]

Why does the choice have to be either a mediocre record under Fisher or a 2-14 type record under a Linehan/Spags?

Why not curtain #3? An Arians/Carroll type coach?

Trust me, they are out there and just waiting for their opportunity.

There is now considerable talent assembled on this team. Hell, it's a playoff quality roster with a QB, C, and OG added.

So why tolerate continued losing of winnable games?

We don't need a Walsh, Johnson, Belichek, or Parcells. We just need a HC that can put a consistent team on the field that doesn't beat themselves all too often. A team that is fundamentally sound, consistent, and with reasonably low penalties and turnovers.

One that beats the snot out of inferior teams and wins it's share against the superior teams in the league. Finding such a HC seems very doable to me.

They need to do their research, find him, and hire him.

They owe it to the players and the fans, don't you think?

 

[rams56]

I feel like Fisher is every bit as good as any coach in our division and our best days are ahead and very very close.....so all the over reaction is just that. ....over reaction.

Go Rams...............

 

[yrba1]

I agree with those that say Fisher is an average coach... he's been a head coach for 18 years (throwing out that first year in Houston). During that time, he's had:
6 winning seasons
5 - .500 seasons
7 losing seasons

Not that impressive IMO.

But forgetting history, it's the lack of discipline that's really annoying. He keeps saying they'll fix it, but - yesterday - 8 penalties for -119 yards. I know a couple were very questionable, but that still leaves ~6 and probably a fair amount of yards. And, it's the timing of them.... seem to always come at the most inopportune times.

This team just doesn't seem to be well coached. Like a CEO of a company, the man in charge is responsible.

This team plays with discipline at times (see Broncos, Seahawks, Raiders, Redskins games) but once they start playing with a vendetta, things get ugly real fast. I get that this team is young but I expect the veterans to keep their cool. Chris Long was just as guilty for jumping in to a pile after the play was over.

 

[dieterbrock]

Bringing this thread back up from September.
What does everyone think now? Have you changed your opinion of Fisher's coaching ability since then (for better or for worse)?

Where were you 2 weeks ago coming off back to back shut outs?

 

[DR RAM]

I like Fisher, I don't think we are dirty. I don't remember hitting someone in the back of the head, when he's defending his own player on an opponents sideline. I don't remember kicking someone in the face, after the play. I don't remember any dirty hits. Ogletree initiated contact in the field of play, or damn close to it. He was going full speed, and should have let up once on the sideline, but the shove came after OBJ threw the ball at him, and after all the the other bullcrap they did preceding it. I've never seen a player more pumped up about NOT getting a first down.

If we wanted to take him out of the game, illegally, or cheaply, we would have. Did we want to shut his running mouth off, or stop him from killing us? Yes. Did we play the defense to do that? No.

They came into the game running their mouths, we didn't shut them up. I wish we would have. I am glad that both of the teams played less with their mouths in the 2nd half.

 

[Boffo97]

I don't know yet whether Fisher is the answer, but I will say the idea that there's something intrinsic to him that he can't get beyond 8-8 is rather silly.

 

[CGI_Ram]

I'm all in with Fisher.

 

[VegasRam]

Sigh...
Actually, double sigh.
Quick, name all the brilliant coaches went to the playoffs with 3rd string QBs.

I'm waiting...