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Rams must solve riddle of unfamiliar opponents
By Nick Wagoner
http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/22733/rams-must-solve-riddle-of-unfamiliar-opponents
EARTH CITY, Mo. -- To be sure, the St. Louis Rams' record since Jeff Fisher arrived as head coach in 2012 is below average.
The Rams have yet to reach even a .500 record under Fisher, let alone find themselves in the mix for a playoff spot. But there's also been a noticeable trend when it comes to how they perform against NFC West opponents and those from the league's seven other divisions. Familiarity has bred more success when playing Arizona, Seattle and San Francisco than it has when facing an unfamiliar opponent.
When facing NFC West teams under Fisher, the Rams are 9-10-1, a winning percentage of .475. Against teams from the other seven divisions the Rams are 13-20, a winning percentage of .394. Taking a deeper dive, the only AFC division Fisher's Rams has a winning record against -- we won't count the North, as they've only played one game against that division since 2012 -- is the AFC South.
That should be no surprise, given Fisher's familiarity with Jacksonville, Houston and Indianapolis from his time in Tennessee. Coincidentally, the only game the Rams lost when playing that division was the team Fisher knows best, the Titans. Of course, the Titans are also the team that knows Fisher the best.
Fisher's Rams are 1-6 against the NFC North and 2-5 against the NFC East. They have, however, had some success against the NFC South with a 4-2 record.
The difference in-division vs. out is substantial enough for the Rams to take notice as they prepare to play this week's opponent, the Cleveland Browns, for the first time under Fisher.
“I mean, the players understand the difference between the unfamiliar opponent vs. the familiar opponent and the extra time that’s involved," Fisher said. "So they’re going to have to put the extra time in.”
By extra time, Fisher is referring to the game preparation that goes into facing an unfamiliar team.
When preparing for a Seattle or Arizona, most Rams can lean on the knowledge they've gained from previous meetings. They know tendencies of the teams and even individual players. So when they sit down to study film, they look for new wrinkles, but they have a pretty good working knowledge of what an opponent will do schematically.
For example, Seattle will probably play a lot of Cover 3 on defense and run a lot of outside zone rushing plays on offense. While that knowledge works both ways, it makes for less guesswork when it comes to preparation.
When a team like Cleveland comes to town, it can be easy to look at its 2-4 record and see a possible pushover, but the unknown aspect of what the Browns do means longer days in meeting rooms and watching film, especially for the coaching staff.
"It feels like there’s a lot that are 2-3, 3-2 right now and are still trying to find their identity and really just looking to stack games and get on a roll," linebacker James Laurinaitis said. "You can either stack games and get on a roll or lose multiple games and start to sink. I really feel we are at a breaking point right now where we are at one of those moments -- let’s go out there, get our stuff together, let’s play good, consistent football and see if we can stack a couple together. It starts week by week. I’m sure Cleveland is saying the exact same thing. That’s the reality of the state of both teams and it’s going to be a good matchup on Sunday."
As the Rams prepare for Cleveland on Sunday, they at least have a few things working in their favor, things that mean there is no excuse for not being prepared to play the Browns.
First, the Rams are coming off their bye week, which means they had an extra week to pore over the tape and put together a solid game plan.
“What was unique for what we were doing is that our new schedule kind of fits very well with the bye-week schedule," Fisher said. "We’re just doing the same things. Now coaches have had a lot of extra time, a lot more time from a game planning standpoint. But no, we’re not changing anything this week.”
The Rams also will be seeing a base 3-4 defense for the fourth consecutive game and while Cleveland runs that defense a bit different from the game-heavy Packers, for example, it's still beneficial for the offense.
“It helps with different protections you’ve seen we’ve run," quarterback Nick Foles said. "Just calls up front. Recognizing what they’re doing with their 'backers and everything. Just going against that, we have some reps against it, so that will help us. At the same time, every week a team is going to show you something different that they haven’t shown before, so we’ve just got to be prepared for that.”
So far this season the Rams are 2-0 against NFC West foes and 0-3 in games against opponents from the AFC North, NFC East and NFC North. Perhaps it's just a coincidence, but considering that an NFL schedule is comprised of 10 games against non-division opponents, it's a coincidence that must come to an end if the Rams are going to make a push in 2015.
“I don’t think there’s anything there," Foles said. "We just didn’t execute well in those games. Defense gave us opportunities to win the games we lost. We’ve just got to put more points on the board and stop hurting ourselves, really.”
By Nick Wagoner
http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/22733/rams-must-solve-riddle-of-unfamiliar-opponents
EARTH CITY, Mo. -- To be sure, the St. Louis Rams' record since Jeff Fisher arrived as head coach in 2012 is below average.
The Rams have yet to reach even a .500 record under Fisher, let alone find themselves in the mix for a playoff spot. But there's also been a noticeable trend when it comes to how they perform against NFC West opponents and those from the league's seven other divisions. Familiarity has bred more success when playing Arizona, Seattle and San Francisco than it has when facing an unfamiliar opponent.
When facing NFC West teams under Fisher, the Rams are 9-10-1, a winning percentage of .475. Against teams from the other seven divisions the Rams are 13-20, a winning percentage of .394. Taking a deeper dive, the only AFC division Fisher's Rams has a winning record against -- we won't count the North, as they've only played one game against that division since 2012 -- is the AFC South.
That should be no surprise, given Fisher's familiarity with Jacksonville, Houston and Indianapolis from his time in Tennessee. Coincidentally, the only game the Rams lost when playing that division was the team Fisher knows best, the Titans. Of course, the Titans are also the team that knows Fisher the best.
Fisher's Rams are 1-6 against the NFC North and 2-5 against the NFC East. They have, however, had some success against the NFC South with a 4-2 record.
The difference in-division vs. out is substantial enough for the Rams to take notice as they prepare to play this week's opponent, the Cleveland Browns, for the first time under Fisher.
“I mean, the players understand the difference between the unfamiliar opponent vs. the familiar opponent and the extra time that’s involved," Fisher said. "So they’re going to have to put the extra time in.”
By extra time, Fisher is referring to the game preparation that goes into facing an unfamiliar team.
When preparing for a Seattle or Arizona, most Rams can lean on the knowledge they've gained from previous meetings. They know tendencies of the teams and even individual players. So when they sit down to study film, they look for new wrinkles, but they have a pretty good working knowledge of what an opponent will do schematically.
For example, Seattle will probably play a lot of Cover 3 on defense and run a lot of outside zone rushing plays on offense. While that knowledge works both ways, it makes for less guesswork when it comes to preparation.
When a team like Cleveland comes to town, it can be easy to look at its 2-4 record and see a possible pushover, but the unknown aspect of what the Browns do means longer days in meeting rooms and watching film, especially for the coaching staff.
"It feels like there’s a lot that are 2-3, 3-2 right now and are still trying to find their identity and really just looking to stack games and get on a roll," linebacker James Laurinaitis said. "You can either stack games and get on a roll or lose multiple games and start to sink. I really feel we are at a breaking point right now where we are at one of those moments -- let’s go out there, get our stuff together, let’s play good, consistent football and see if we can stack a couple together. It starts week by week. I’m sure Cleveland is saying the exact same thing. That’s the reality of the state of both teams and it’s going to be a good matchup on Sunday."
As the Rams prepare for Cleveland on Sunday, they at least have a few things working in their favor, things that mean there is no excuse for not being prepared to play the Browns.
First, the Rams are coming off their bye week, which means they had an extra week to pore over the tape and put together a solid game plan.
“What was unique for what we were doing is that our new schedule kind of fits very well with the bye-week schedule," Fisher said. "We’re just doing the same things. Now coaches have had a lot of extra time, a lot more time from a game planning standpoint. But no, we’re not changing anything this week.”
The Rams also will be seeing a base 3-4 defense for the fourth consecutive game and while Cleveland runs that defense a bit different from the game-heavy Packers, for example, it's still beneficial for the offense.
“It helps with different protections you’ve seen we’ve run," quarterback Nick Foles said. "Just calls up front. Recognizing what they’re doing with their 'backers and everything. Just going against that, we have some reps against it, so that will help us. At the same time, every week a team is going to show you something different that they haven’t shown before, so we’ve just got to be prepared for that.”
So far this season the Rams are 2-0 against NFC West foes and 0-3 in games against opponents from the AFC North, NFC East and NFC North. Perhaps it's just a coincidence, but considering that an NFL schedule is comprised of 10 games against non-division opponents, it's a coincidence that must come to an end if the Rams are going to make a push in 2015.
“I don’t think there’s anything there," Foles said. "We just didn’t execute well in those games. Defense gave us opportunities to win the games we lost. We’ve just got to put more points on the board and stop hurting ourselves, really.”
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