Legendary O or Legendary D?

[HE WITH HORNS]

Offense all the way. That's why I became a Rams fan in 99. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen on a football field, haha.

 

[jap]

I stated this before last off-season, though I have thought about it for decades. I would love to see the Rams emerge with high ranked squads, say, top ten or top five, in offense, defense, and special teams. Ideally, I would love to see them hit the #1 ranking for all three. Why? because I'm greedy, damn it!, and I don't believe it's ever been done.

Nevertheless, you give an accurate QB like Sam the Ram a solid OL, some playmakers at WR, TE, and RB, and we are already talking about something potentially explosive. I have been salivating at what Sam would have accomplished with the team that emerged the second half of this season.

Defensively, The Mighty One has 7 forced fumbles, 'Tree has 6. Getting turnovers is a great key to becoming a dominant D. Wracking up tons of sacks helps a lot too. Quinn has 18 with a game to go. To break the official NFL record, he needs five sacks. To tie the unofficial record by the Deacon, he needs eight sacks. If the damn refs would called holding more, who knows how many sacks Robert would have now? We didn't have any INT leaders this year, but everyone in the NFL knows what Jenks can do.

We already have perhaps the league's top battery of special team players in Greg the Leg, Johnny Hekker, and long snapper Jake McQuaide. Then you add the explosive Tavon Austin on top of that and you have the opportunity for a squad that is simply off the charts. On the coverage side, with guys like Sted and Ray Ray terrorizing returners, who is safe from getting posterized?

Hell, yeah!!! I want a team that is dangerous no matter what squad is on the field.

 

[The Rammer]

Enjoying reading all the comments. I want a D that gets alot of take aways and scores by returning the ball the the endzone myself. We have played pretty decent recently like this just need to shore up the secondary a bit more.

 

[Alan]

Legendary O. More exciting to me. Whether you can keep one for a long period is beyond the scope of the question IMO.

 

[LosAngelesRams]

I'll take the Legendary D, I played DE in high school and have always been a defensive guy. I'll never forget when I popped the shit out of our rival schools QB (North view) when he was running this play action play in a big(big to us at least:roflmao varsity game.

 

[RamsFanCK]

Smash Mouth DDDDddDddDDDD any day. I like watching other teams squirm...honestly I tank that's the track we're on

 

[Alan]

Yeah, the D is sure in the process of getting pretty good. I wish the O would hurry up.

 

[RamzFanz]

You can't win championships without a big D. That's my motto.

Like I tell the girls, if the D is big enough, the O will come along.

 

[PressureD41]

I have always wanted a smash mouth defense that imposes its will and crushes the other teams will

 

[Ram Quixote]

There is no guarantee that a Legendary O or D will win SBs. The Rams of the Fearsome Foursome didn't win a playoff game. Air Coryell Cards didn't either. Air Coryell Chargers couldn't get past the AFC Championship game, twice.

What you must have is competence on both sides of the ball. IMO, the Baltimore Ravens of 2000 beat a severely inferior team in the Jim Fassel-led NY Giants (didn't the Rams bring a severe beat-down on those Giants during the regular season?). And the Oakland Raiders of 2002 self-destructed before the game.

 

[CGI_Ram]

I think both can be equally exciting and you can win with either style being dominant.

But; I pick legendary O.

It's hard to argue with jrry's logic; it's more sustainable long term. If you have a legendary O, you likely have an elite QB. That's the hard piece to find.

It's also is easier to keep your elite QB (plus WR's, etc) than keep a whole defense.

 

[Zaphod]

It's about balance to me, and I think what a coach can do on O, D and ST depends on the play of each other.

As an extreme example, I think of the Bills when they relentlessly ran the no huddle offense like no other team. Their defense is what made that possible.

Anyway, I think it's about two things really. The first is you find the identity of both your offense and defense, what makes them special, what do they do the best and how do they force their opposition to adjust on a more consistent basis, and then they find balance to that.

Then I think you have to look at how to financially make that happen, which to me points to the draft. And this is where I really think Fisher and Snead have excelled. Regardless of whether everyone agrees with their choices, and I definitely have not agreed with every choice to date, they've traded down and up to fill their needs reducing their need to overpay for UFA help as quickly as a team in their situation can while giving the fans something they want to watch and the owner something to support.

 

[LesBaker]

How many rings would Peyton have won with Bradshaw's team? :wink:

My point here is that with the salary cap in place, you never know how long you can keep a defense together. But you can keep a legendary QB and they'll typically keep you competitive for a decade or more.

About this many.