no one else could have done a better job this year?

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Anonymous

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Could anyone have done a better job this year with the hand Spags was dealt?

Short answer:

SPAGS would have done better if he had hired a WCO coach like Bevell.

Long answer, in the form of a wandering meditation:

First, "doing better" is relative because injuries to CB and OT just demolished the season. No one would have coped with that.

If someone disagrees with that, name the guy who DID cope with that. And it has to be equal to the Rams injuries. 4 OTs have been injured. They reshuffled the entire OL--several times. Right now their best tackle is Dahl and they signed him as a guard. Their guards are Brown and Mattison, and Mattison has been on the team for what? 4 weeks? In fact when you factor in Le Voir, Wragge, and Mattison, that's 3 starters who were not with the team in August. Then of course there's the qbs. The WRs. Jackson missing time. Now both Hall and Long are hurting.

My bet is, no one can name a guy who did well with that list of injuries.

Back to Bevell.

I was one of those who positively hailed the McD signing and I even went out of my way to learn more about his system and post about it.

It wasn't till the season started that I said he was throwing the entire offense off balance. It wasn't the system so much as his absolutely clueless understanding of who his players are and what they could do.

I always said that in the longrun they would catch on to the offense and do better and that it was a good system.

NOW, recently, when he has even less to work with, we see that McD can also be a poor playcaller under certain conditions. That shows up sporadically. Often he is the opposite--the run game, when they had their real OL from the summer, has not been this good since Olson called the plays in 06.

But the shellshock, out of sync start was bad enough; injuries made it all worse. An easier transition would have been just to hire Bevell.

The run defense got derailed by Robbins and his decline. Yes the LBs were part of it, but, they did better last year with an arguably worse situation at OLB. This year, whenever BOTH Bannan and Robbins can't go--they are just sitting ducks against the run. Even a diminished Robbins is better than nothing and he is better with Bannan in there.

Anyway.

No coach would have done better with these conditions...unless they too brought in a good WCO coordinator for continuity. Even then the injuries would have kicked his ass--no matter who it was (and, again, if you doubt that, then name a guy who did well with equivalent injuries...and that includes 4 OTs. Heck Green Bay fell apart in the first half of 09 after losing 2 OTs). (And I will want exact numbers! :cheese: )

People like me thought that hiring McD was a big corner turner. We said, he can make more out of lesser receivers. We said his system fit Bradford. We said signing Dahl stabilized the OL and things would be fine, in spite of the schedule.

Turns out that after injuries McD was their biggest problem. I was completely wrong about Mcd and all my off-season enthusiasm was wasted. McD was Spags's biggest mistake.

All the other stuff people name strikes me as minor. The kind of things that get magnified when a team is losing and forgotten when it is winning.

They would be better off keeping Spags, but it won't happen it looks like. With Spags here and the injured back they're fine. If the next coach is a good hire (which is not the Rams track record as a rule) chances are he has a setback year but is still positioned to be further along than they were in 09. They may lose Jackson (will he want to start over with someone else?) and guys like Mikell who fit the system could be wasted, and someone like Kendricks who had value in a 2 TE offense may be waste (unless they draft or sign an in-line TE and stick with the 2 TE plan), but they will have several offensive linemen, Bradford, a couple of young receivers who fill #2 and #3 roles, Long, Quinn, Stewart, and Laurenaitis. They also have some decent depth/role player/ grade B acceptable starter guys like Chamberlain and Bannan. They didn't have half of that in 09.

In terms of fighting over this, it will always be a value judgement. I will always say that they should have kept Spags, and my bet is the rest of his career bears me out on that. If his replacement is a good coach, then I can both say "hey his replacement is a good coach but they still shoulda kept Spags." No one wins that fight, since it's a value judgement.
 

-X-

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Sure. Of course. I mean, naturally.

And you're right. The things that he's being criticized for, are for the most part insignificant. How he talks, his mannerisms, etc. His game-day decisions that evoke ire are few and far between, and they're nothing out of the ordinary. Check any fan forum after a game in which their team lost, and one of the topics will invariably something about a call that went the wrong way or a red flag that either stayed in the pocket or was wasted. Even Martz was shellacked for time-outs and game day decisions and they were winning. It's just the nature of the beast.

I don't think enough people (not pointing out anyone here) take the time to really evaluate things. I mean REALLY evaluate them. Which is fine. Not everyone is interested in taking the time. They just wanna tune in on Sundays and see a win. If it's not there, then it's somebody's fault. A flavor of the day thing, or in this case, the head coach. That's evident. Look at the PD during (and after) a game and look at all the threads with players' names spelled wrong or tirades about one play. Re-the hell-lax already.

I'm one of the minority that thinks Spagnuolo is a good coach in a really bad situation. Not one I'd want to be in, that's for damn sure. He knows X's and O's and players love the guy. No matter where he coached, he was very well respected and liked by everyone. Guys play hard for him and he can scheme the hell out of a defense. Everything that happened against New Orleans was the result of good execution. Meaning, the plan was there, and all that was needed was for the players to do their part. I firmly believe that if there was an off-season and OTA's, that this team would be more prepared. But there simply is no compensating for the amount of injuries this team endured. All teams have them, yadda yadda, but not all teams experience such a dramatic drop-off in talent after starters go down.

Anyway. Preacher, choir, blah blah blah. We're on the same page here mostly.
 

JdashSTL

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Just to play devils advocate, I could make the argument that some other coach could have done a better job with roster decisions. Weve talked about this before on this site. Maybe some other HC opts to keep Fendi over Bajema simply based on upside, the same can be said for other young guys we cut. Im not saying that would have made much of a difference. I dont see these players in practice. This is just one area where a different HC could have done stuff differently.

If we do bring Spags back, is this "lame duck" deal gonna be a problem? I listened to an interview with Mike Florio the other day and he was asked about the next HCs that could get fired and he said Spags because of the bad season and we would have to resign him because of his contract situation. I dont see how this would be an issue with Spags. We saw this problem last year with John Fox. Everyone knew he was leaving, and he just rode the season out, but looking at that team this year it doesnt make Fox look so bad. They imporved on offense but the results havent been a lot better. Our team team plays hard for Spags. I dont think were gonna see the team tune him out like the Cowboys did with Wade Phillips last year.
 

Anonymous

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JdashSTL said:
Just to play devils advocate, I could make the argument that some other coach could have done a better job with roster decisions. Weve talked about this before on this site. Maybe some other HC opts to keep Fendi over Bajema simply based on upside, the same can be said for other young guys we cut. Im not saying that would have made much of a difference. I dont see these players in practice. This is just one area where a different HC could have done stuff differently.

If we do bring Spags back, is this "lame duck" deal gonna be a problem? I listened to an interview with Mike Florio the other day and he was asked about the next HCs that could get fired and he said Spags because of the bad season and we would have to resign him because of his contract situation. I dont see how this would be an issue with Spags. We saw this problem last year with John Fox. Everyone knew he was leaving, and he just rode the season out, but looking at that team this year it doesnt make Fox look so bad. They imporved on offense but the results havent been a lot better. Our team team plays hard for Spags. I dont think were gonna see the team tune him out like the Cowboys did with Wade Phillips last year.

I don't like Spags on roster decisions.

But arguably, they even mattered in the first place when they reached the point where their injuries were beyond description.
 

-X-

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zn said:
JdashSTL said:
Just to play devils advocate, I could make the argument that some other coach could have done a better job with roster decisions. Weve talked about this before on this site. Maybe some other HC opts to keep Fendi over Bajema simply based on upside, the same can be said for other young guys we cut. Im not saying that would have made much of a difference. I dont see these players in practice. This is just one area where a different HC could have done stuff differently.

If we do bring Spags back, is this "lame duck" deal gonna be a problem? I listened to an interview with Mike Florio the other day and he was asked about the next HCs that could get fired and he said Spags because of the bad season and we would have to resign him because of his contract situation. I dont see how this would be an issue with Spags. We saw this problem last year with John Fox. Everyone knew he was leaving, and he just rode the season out, but looking at that team this year it doesnt make Fox look so bad. They imporved on offense but the results havent been a lot better. Our team team plays hard for Spags. I dont think were gonna see the team tune him out like the Cowboys did with Wade Phillips last year.

I don't like Spags on roster decisions.

But arguably, they even mattered in the first place when they reached the point where their injuries were beyond description.
I don't like those decisions either. But then I asked myself. "The hell do I know?" I mean, really, what experience can I draw upon to say what he's doing is wrong? It's all a matter of perception, IMO. We can sit here and say that Gilyard, Avery, Jabara Williams, Jonathan Nelson, and whoever else COULD have been good players if they were just given the opportunity to sit around for a couple of years and learn. But do we really know that? The league is filled with guys who were drafted late and bounce around from team to team. Ultimately the better, deeper teams can afford to keep their 7th rounders around and develop them. Particularly if they don't experience a lot of injuries. But when your players (especially younger players) end up on IR, and you have to start signing guys off the street to fill in immediately (because they have prior experience), then you're going to have to cut guys to get them on the 53 - and then ultimately the 46. You hope they clear waivers and you can get them back, but that's not always the case.

My point?

I don't have one.

Just sayin'.
 

Anonymous

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X said:
You hope they clear waivers and you can get them back, but that's not always the case.

My point?

I don't have one.

Just sayin'.

You're a happy man, I can tell. Your joy is contagious. :cool:

You also make a good point.

IE. that the roster issue isn't simple.
 

NI Ram Fam

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Zn,

I agree entirely.
I said when we still had Pat that we really needed to get a OC with WCO experience and I think it has really hurt Sams and the teams development. We will need to get back to it next year. I like Spags and I actually hope he gets another year to sort out the McDaniels mess.
http://ramsondemand.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3046