Schotty Apparently Not Going To Vandy.

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BigRamFan

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Nice!!! Very excited to have him coming back to The Lou!
 

CGI_Ram

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I believe this to be good news for us.
 

jrry32

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Double booooo. Because Mason was the guy I wanted the Rams to hire as DC(was never going to happen). And well...Schotty is...Schotty.
 

BigRamFan

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I know many of us questioned Schotty's performance/calls last year but I don't think the benefits of continuity with this young team can be over emphasized.
 

Ram_of_Old

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Not crazy about his calls as OC. But consistency is very important to a young team, like BRF says.
 

RamsOfCastamere

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I'm glad Schotty is back. His playcalling was improving towards the end of the season -- love the Bailey double reverse and Austin's fake reverse. He knows what he is working with now, in terms of Austin and the rushing attack.
 

V3

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I'm not buying the "being happy because we can keep it consistent" argument now that Schotty is staying. The Rams could have kept the offense the same if Schotty left. The more I've thought about it, the more I want Schotty out of here. He's mediocre and a team should always be trying to get better- that goes for players and coaches. If you could find someone that's better and could use the same offensive verbiage, then hire them. The Rams probably could have probably had that in Turner or Chudzinski. This just reinforces my concerns about Fisher being loyal to a fault. What Fisher does with Finnegan will be another test.
 

-X-

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I'm not buying the "being happy because we can keep it consistent" argument now that Schotty is staying. The Rams could have kept the offense the same if Schotty left.
You mean the way they kept the defense the same after Williiams Jr. left? The offense is going to change anyway, because by default they mix it up so as to erase all of the alignments and calls the opposing teams now have on tape. But the verbiage remaining consistent through the playbook is of pivotal importance - even if you don't buy it. You have a lot of players on record saying that they were feeling their way through the offense and learning the terminology as the season wore on. In no way would I like to throw all of that out and show them an entirely new set of things to learn. Just like the players, the OC has room for improvement and growth within the offense.
 

ChrisW

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I'm not buying the "being happy because we can keep it consistent" argument now that Schotty is staying. The Rams could have kept the offense the same if Schotty left. The more I've thought about it, the more I want Schotty out of here. He's mediocre and a team should always be trying to get better- that goes for players and coaches. If you could find someone that's better and could use the same offensive verbiage, then hire them. The Rams probably could have probably had that in Turner or Chudzinski. This just reinforces my concerns about Fisher being loyal to a fault. What Fisher does with Finnegan will be another test.

The consistency argument is tiring, I agree. With full offseason studying of a new offense (as long as the coordinator knows how to be creative), you can have successful teams.

Look at the Cardinals this year.
Look at the Chiefs this year.

The only thing that hurt Sam was the shortened offseason the year Mcdaniels was the OC. I believe that was the same year he didn't even have a QB coach as well.
 

A55VA6

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I'm fine with Schotty... just needs to be a little more creative. Hopefully this offseason he designs some more plays for Tavon.
 

V3

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You mean the way they kept the defense the same after Williiams Jr. left? The offense is going to change anyway, because by default they mix it up so as to erase all of the alignments and calls the opposing teams now have on tape. But the verbiage remaining consistent through the playbook is of pivotal importance - even if you don't buy it. You have a lot of players on record saying that they were feeling their way through the offense and learning the terminology as the season wore on. In no way would I like to throw all of that out and show them an entirely new set of things to learn. Just like the players, the OC has room for improvement and growth within the offense.

I'm not sure you read what I typed. I said I wanted the offense and verbiage to stay the same. I do feel that is important. I just want the person calling the plays to be different. Your Williams Jr example is perfect. They supposedly kept the D the same but look how different the results were because of the caller. Williams was much better than Walton.

I don't think that just because you change OC's that it means you can't use the same verbiage and offensive scheme. The new OC needs to adapt rather than the whole team having to adapt to him.
 

Thordaddy

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I'm glad Schotty is back. His playcalling was improving towards the end of the season -- love the Bailey double reverse and Austin's fake reverse. He knows what he is working with now, in terms of Austin and the rushing attack.
Yeah I think what is being "interpreted" as a lack of imagination on Shotty's part was IN FACT his realization that MAYBE he had gotten a little TOO imaginative with TOO MANY inexperienced players and the best laid plans for all that physical talent weren't doing as well as it looked in practice that MAYBE they should have been a little less concerned about revealing the double secret stuff in pre season.
They had to dial it back and re-open it up towards the end of the season and next year if we remain unacceptable to the naysayers MAYBE Shotty IS the stick in the mud, but I don't think he is,I just think the cats were harder to herd once it was for real.
 

-X-

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I'm not sure you read what I typed. I said I wanted the offense and verbiage to stay the same. I do feel that is important. I just want the person calling the plays to be different. Your Williams Jr example is perfect. They supposedly kept the D the same but look how different the results were because of the caller. Williams was much better than Walton.

I don't think that just because you change OC's that it means you can't use the same verbiage and offensive scheme. The new OC needs to adapt rather than the whole team having to adapt to him.
The veterans on defense said it was different, but the PC deflection was to say it's an easy adjustment. Clearly it wasn't. They can't keep the same verbiage on offense if they brought in a new coordinator. The philosophy may remain consistent, but the plays themselves wouldn't be. Coordinators never adopt the previous OC's terminology or plays. At least to my recollection, I can't think of a single instance where a new OC (on any team) came in and just took over the previous guy's playbook. That goes with the OC from my understanding. Martz didn't leave his playbook behind.

If it's just a matter of the play calling being unimaginative, I still have to ask how anyone knows how to differentiate between bad play calling and bad execution. How do we know that Tavon (for example) was supposed to be in one place, but the ball didn't arrive in time, or a defender threw him off course, or he didn't run the right route, or pressure forced an early throw or different decision with the ball? Does anyone really know how the offense is designed to attack a specific defense?

I dunno. I guess I'm prone to defend Fisher's choice to keep a guy who went to back-to-back AFC Championship games with Mark Sanchez and not a wealth of receiving talent.
 

Alan

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BigRamFan pointing out the crux:
I know many of us questioned Schotty's performance/calls last year but I don't think the benefits of continuity with this young team can be over emphasized.
That's the main reason I'm only lukewarm about replacing him.
 

tonyl711

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I am glad he is back, am I happy with the offense yet? no, but you also have to take into account what he has had to work with. he was in his second year on the job and not one of his WRs had more than 3 years experience, same with the RBs, I don't see how anyone can expect much more than what we got, are all the dropped passes on Shotty? is Sam going down and having to rely on a career BU QB on Shotty? and as Tavon learned the game didn't he figure out more ways to use him? we played more than half as season with a back up QB and a bunch of rookies and still found ways to win games we should win, and a few we shouldn't have won (NO and Colts). and we also played about 8 or 9 of our games against top 10 defenses.

continuity is key (ask Sam if he wants Shotty gone). I believe that if we go into next season with a healthy Bradford, the WRs and RBs all having at least a year under their belts and a healthy Oline this offense will be a very good offense.
 

blackbart

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I am in the good for the team camp here and believe changing the offense affects a lot more than just the QB. There are still a lot of moving pieces and young players on this team. They tried a more open style and then change because it did not seem to be working, whether it was the young player or play calling that was the problem none of us here know the answer. Then Sam went down and you have to integrate a new QB who can't make all the same throws or reads, so they change up again. Now the offensive line is in flux and you can't get everything blocked the way you would like so again changes. Next TA goes down for the last three games so more changes.

With all of that to consider I think Schotty did pretty well and keeping him and the team together for longer goes a long way toward developing the players and being able to use more of the playbook.
 

V3

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The veterans on defense said it was different, but the PC deflection was to say it's an easy adjustment. Clearly it wasn't. They can't keep the same verbiage on offense if they brought in a new coordinator. The philosophy may remain consistent, but the plays themselves wouldn't be. Coordinators never adopt the previous OC's terminology or plays. At least to my recollection, I can't think of a single instance where a new OC (on any team) came in and just took over the previous guy's playbook. That goes with the OC from my understanding. Martz didn't leave his playbook behind.

If it's just a matter of the play calling being unimaginative, I still have to ask how anyone knows how to differentiate between bad play calling and bad execution. How do we know that Tavon (for example) was supposed to be in one place, but the ball didn't arrive in time, or a defender threw him off course, or he didn't run the right route, or pressure forced an early throw or different decision with the ball? Does anyone really know how the offense is designed to attack a specific defense?

I dunno. I guess I'm prone to defend Fisher's choice to keep a guy who went to back-to-back AFC Championship games with Mark Sanchez and not a wealth of receiving talent.

I heard on the radio that they could. I'm not a player or coach so I just believed them. I don't see why it would be so difficult to do. The playbook may change a little but as long as the philosophy and verbiage stays the same, it shouldn't be an issue IMO.