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Minus Bradford, Rams still hope 3rd year is charm
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_7f986d21-3312-53e8-9034-b2a46ddfefd1.html
As the story goes, Jeff Fisher took one look at the returning Rams at his first team meeting in 2012 — the holdovers from the Steve Spagnuolo regime — and was taken aback. In terms of the eye test, they failed. And if you don’t look physically impressive, how are you going to play impressively?
Maybe this shouldn’t have been a surprise, considering the Rams program Fisher inherited was in the midst of a 15-65 stretch from 2007-2011. That’s an average yearly record of 3-13, and the worst five-year mark in NFL history.
No wonder then, that by the end of Fisher’s inaugural campaign only 21 of 69 players who finished the 2011 season with Spagnuolo on the active roster or injured reserve started and ended the 2012 season as Rams. That’s a 30.4 percent retention rate.
A staggering 28 of those 69 were not in the league at the end of the 2012 campaign; 26 didn’t play a down in 2012.
Such was the hole that Fisher and general manager Les Snead stepped into. Well, it was more than a hole — Earth City was the Death Valley of the NFL.
Today, as Fisher and Snead enter the third year of their rebuilding program, only 11 players remain who were with Spags in 2011. Listed alphabetically:
• Tim Barnes
• Sam Bradford
• Lance Kendricks
• James Laurinaitis
• Chris Long
• Jake McQuaide
• Austin Pettis
• Robert Quinn
• Chase Reynolds
• Rodger Saffold
• Eugene Sims
Of course, the most important name on that list, Bradford, won’t be around for the 2014 season after re-injuring the left knee that caused him to miss the final nine games of 2013. The latest injury was a blow to the gut, potentially a knockout punch to the franchise’s hopes of making the third year the charm under Fisher and Snead.
No one knows this more than the man who has spent as much time as anyone with Bradford over the past 2½ years, offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.
“No. 1, I’m sad because of how hard he worked to get back,” Schottenheimer said. “And No. 2, I know for a fact people outside of this building that haven’t seen him every day, they don’t realize how good he really is.
“He’s probably the most pure passer I’ve ever been around, and that’s including Drew (Brees), Brett (Favre), Philip (Rivers). And he’s an awesome, awesome person. He was doing everything right, and sometimes things don’t make sense. But in this business, you can’t look back. You have to move forward.”
So forward is where the Rams will go, hoping their rebuilding project moves forward with veteran Shaun Hill at quarterback.
Through the draft, free agency, undrafted rookies and one monster trade, Fisher and Snead have gotten the Rams back to respectability: 7-8-1 in 2012 and 7-9 in 2013, playing with one of the younger teams in perhaps the toughest division in football.
They’re not satisfied with simply getting the team back to mediocrity but note that it’s progress nonetheless.
“You look at the data, you had 15 wins in five years,” Snead said. “You were 10 games out of 31st place. Detroit had 25 wins (from 2007-11).”
The past two seasons under Fisher and Snead the Rams totaled 14 wins, almost matching the victory total of the previous five.
“Not the goal, never will be,” Snead said. “Not the standard.”
But after being 10 games out of 31st place from 2007-2011, the Rams were 10 games out of second place in terms of wins and losses in 2012-13.
No need to award medals for that, but the franchise has at least pulled itself out of the chasm. Entering 2014, the expectations have changed. The Rams want to start climbing the summit, to the top of the division and ultimately the top of the league — even if it’s with Hill.
In 2012, it was privately stated within the walls of Rams Park that the team was aiming for 2014 as the breakout year. As 2013 wound down, that goal was publicly stated. Well, here we are in Year 3. Will the third year be the turning point for a franchise that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2004 and hasn’t enjoyed a winning record since 2003?
Can this still be the long-awaited breakout season?
“The division’s very, very competitive,” Fisher said at the start of camp. “But we feel like we’re built now to compete week-in, week-out. The schedule is not easy. We expect significant improvement in our defense, particularly because of our personnel, but now the system with Gregg (Williams) running the show.”
“Offensively, we’ve got a backfield that’s loaded between Zac (Stacy) and Bennie (Cunningham) and Tre (Mason). Kenny (Britt) is really going to help us. And the younger guys have improved. Sted’s (Stedman Bailey) improved.
“We’re gonna be without him for four weeks. And I think we’re better equipped as we move forward to continue to keep Tavon (Austin) involved. Quickie’s (Brian Quick) coming on. ... So it’s a solid group.”
Perhaps the biggest gamble made by the team was basically standing pat at wide receiver. With the exception of Britt, it’s the same group as last season. Will they regret passing on Sammy Watkins in the draft? Or will their patience pay off with Austin, Quick, Bailey and Chris Givens — each of whom was taken in either the 2012 or 2013 draft?
Similarly on defense, the Rams didn’t bring in veteran help at either cornerback or safety. They are banking on youth, banking on marked improvement from cornerbacks Janoris Jenkins and Trumaine Johnson, and safeties T.J. McDonald and Rodney McLeod.
The Rams’ entire secondary has only 71 NFL career starts on its résumé. And 15 of those starts will be missing until Johnson returns from a knee injury that’s expected to sideline him for at least the first month of the season.
And if Hill struggles as Bradford’s replacement, the criticism will mount over not adding a more experienced quarterback in the offseason and not drafting a quarterback before Garrett Gilbert in Round 6.
Those are the kinds of decisions than can make or break a regime. So is the blockbuster RGIII trade in which the Rams sent the No. 2 overall pick in the 2012 draft to quarterback-needy Washington. In exchange for giving Washington the ability to draft Robert Griffin III, the Rams received multiple picks and parlayed those picks into eight players.
Of those eight, offensive guard Rokevious Watkins is out of the league. Running back Isaiah Pead is out for the year with a knee injury and looks very much like a busted pick.
The other six are all starters or starting-caliber players: wide receiver Bailey, cornerback Jenkins, defensive tackle Michael Brockers, linebacker Alec Ogletree, offensive lineman Greg Robinson and running back Zac Stacy. In varying degrees, those six all appear to have good futures ahead of them.
But the pressure is on them, and many of the team’s other players, to move on to bigger and better things. So far, the only Pro Bowler brought in by Fisher and Snead is punter Johnny Hekker, an undrafted rookie in 2012.
The Rams need more; they need to really hit on several of the youngsters. That’s how you reach the Super Bowls. If somehow it all falls apart, who knows what happens?
“Everybody’s on the same page,” Fisher said. “If we stay healthy and continue to develop the younger players, we’re gonna be productive.”
A tougher task to be sure without a healthy Bradford.
