New Coaching Staff's Mistakes

[1maGoh]

I think if we're honest here and remember back to early 2012, we were pretty happy with the way the new regime did things. Jo-Lonn Dunbar, Cortland Finnegan, William Hayes, Kendall Langford, Robert Turner and Scott Wells in free agency (as well as a few who didn't make the final cut). In the draft it was Brockers, Quick, JJ, Pead, TruJo, Givens, Watkins, Zuerlein, Aaron Brown and Daryl Richardson. UDFA's included Rodney McLeod, Corey Harkey and Austin Davis. Plus we grabbed Joe Barksdale off of waivers in early September. Of all their moves the one questioned the most at the time was Brian Quick. Pead turned out worse. And then we went from 2-14 to 7-8-1, so we were pretty confident the arrow was pointing up.

I'm happy with what the current regime has done. I'll be really happy if it translates to the same improvement Fisher brought us. +5 wins would put us at 9-7. With Fisher I thought we'd have a better defense and we did despite Greg Williams getting suspended. Obviously Fisher played more of a role with GW gone. But Wade Phillips is every bit as good, if not better than both of them. And he won't have the distraction of having to be a head coach also. And there's all hope we will have a modernized offense under McVay but he will be in the position of head coach AND running the offense. Having said that, we probably could improve on offense if McVay hired the deceased Sid Gillman as OC.

But let's remain grounded. We were happy in 2012 too. Maybe what works better now is what McVay took over isn't half as bad as what Fisher took over.

I have to somewhat disagree. The only board I visited at the time was the post dispatch, but Quick, Pead, Wells, Langford, and Finnegan were all hotly contested over there. I think even Hayes was thought of as just another guy coming over from Tennessee. There was a lot of, "Trust Fisher" going around, but a whole lot of doubt as well considering his career record, the age/injury history of players, and the fact that many of them came from Tennessee.

Maybe it's just being on ROD, but this feels way different to me. And I'll say this, although it means nothing, anytime I can remember a lot of the fan base having doubts about decisions being made, those decisions didn't turn out well. We're seeing (almost) complete support for everything being done. It gives me hope.

 

[PARAM]

I'm sure there were a lot of dissenters over at the PD. You could give away vacation cruises and there would be a page and a half of dissenter threads over there. Either the wrong ports of call. The length of the cruise. The cruiseline. The time of year. Etc. JMHO.

Having said that, there should be questions whenever there's a regime change. For instance with the free agents this group signed. Logically:

Whitworth: A pro bowl LT but 35. How much does he have left?
Woods: Young at 24 but has a career average of 12 yards per catch. Misses time
Webster: Hasn't been a starter
Barwin: Good pickup
Dunbar: Injury concerns
Walker: Lost his starting job
Sullivan: Missed all of 2015 with back problems; had 2 "procedures"; started 1 game with Washington last year
Robey: Smallish.

How's the draft going to go?

FWIW, I like what they've done. Maybe a little more but no less than Fisher & Co. in their first year. I also think this regime is more "in touch" with all things NFL in the 21st century.

 

[Ramlock]

I'm sure there were a lot of dissenters over at the PD. You could give away vacation cruises and there would be a page and a half of dissenter threads over there. Either the wrong ports of call. The length of the cruise. The cruiseline. The time of year. Etc. JMHO.

Liked both of your posts here.

Count me as one who was pretty happy going into 2012 with the changes and acquisitions of the Fisher regime.

Not all perfect but.....

 

[Corbin]

The only thing I can somewhat poke criticism at is they should of tendered the back up from Buffalo at a million more if they wanted a real shot at him. I am a bit skeptical of Sullivan's health now and hope that it's just me being overly cautious and he is good to go!

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

I think that McVay has underestimated the value of Benny Cunningham as a third down back.

Hiring Phillips should yield long term dividends but it really created a lot more instant holes that were not necessary if they stuck with a 4/3 guy.

 

[yrba1]

Just find handling the Trumaine situation seemingly questionable at the moment. Other than that, it's hard to really find any glaring mistakes this FO does. I'll reserve judgment until the end of the season because I've been disappointed numerous times in the past.

 

[OldSchool]

The original post was for the Coaching staff I presume and with the staff comparing it to last year the only area that IMO is a downgrade is Defensive Line Coach. IMHO, MIke Waufle trumped Bill Johnson, now, Johnson was in New Orleans where defense was always a challenge and Johnson worked with Phillips in Denver so Wade is very comfortable with him so that should make all of us feel somewhat warm and fuzzy, but unlike some of the Millennials, Waufle's "tough love." did not bother me and seemed to be well received by the unit.

Johnson is more of the pat you on the back type and fits into more of the scheme of a teacher not a driller if you will and many of us in business who came from that background have evolved into more of a "Self Discovery" approach that is better received by the younger generation. So I will be focused on this unit as well as the secondary too because CB Coach Aubrey Pleasant & Safety Coach Ejiro Evero do not have a plethora of experience, however, neither did Dennard Wilson or Brandon Fisher of the last regime, but they had Chuck Cecil overseeing them.

The thing with Wauffle is I don't think his style meshes with Wades style. From what we've seen and heard of him I don't think he would sign off on a coach going on rants like Waufle did on hard knocks. While he may end up being a downgrade I think the change was better for the overall staff and the locker room.

 

[1maGoh]

@PARAM Yeah, I know the PD was sketchy at best. It was all I knew at the time. But I'll be dammed if all those Debbie Downers weren't right. And yeah, we have questions now. And some people are saying that they're worried a move or two might now work out. But I've yet to hear anyone predict absolute failure. It feels different to me. Maybe it was the same here on ROD last time. I don't know. I didn't really visit here then. I'm just glad to be in a more positive environment with a more positive vibe about this coaching change. You guys make this place the best place to be.

 

[ramsplaya16]

But weren't we rightfully so being happy with the changes that the Fisher regime brought? Seeing as how we jumped to 7 wins from the absolute abysmal football team we had been for the prior 7ish years.. so he took a terrible team to average... so who's to say that these acquisitions and coaching staff won't bring an average team to good/great?

 

[PARAM]

But weren't we rightfully so being happy with the changes that the Fisher regime brought? Seeing as how we jumped to 7 wins from the absolute abysmal football team we had been for the prior 7ish years.. so he took a terrible team to average... so who's to say that these acquisitions and coaching staff won't bring an average team to good/great?

From 2 wins to 7? Who really wants to bitch about that? Or more accurately....from 10 wins in 3 years to 7 wins? Hell we had 10 wins in 22 weeks. Yeah some of those moves worked out. Fisher took over an abysmal team. Now the Rams are a mediocre team so if McVay can get us to relevant....and 5 more wins in year one could do that.....it'll be because some of his moves worked out. Let's hope.

 

[Zero]

Waufle's "tough love." did not bother me and seemed to be well received by the unit.

Just wish the rest of the old staff had used this method.

 

[wolfdogg]

Well, since no one else is gonna say it, I guess I will. At the new staff mixer where McVay officially introduced himself to everyone at the same time, the pizza selection was abominable.

Other than that, I'd say the closest thing I would call a mistake is letting benny jet out of town. I think they already had eyes for Dunbar and I wouldn't be surprised if he does well, although I doubt he'd return kicks as well as Cunningham.

At first I didn't agree with letting britt go either but after reading about him trash talking ,I guess his attitude was one of those things we don't get to see much and I can now understand why they didn't resign him. They do need to replace him though, so the jury is still out as with all these decisions. All in all, I love this off season so far and where some people will usually look to the negative aspects of a player, which every player has, I think the potential for our new guys to succeed is very, very good.