Like a lot of things I don't think it's black and white.
What I BELIEVE happened was:
1) Fisher thought having Bradford and Shotty together for a 2nd year coupled with the addition of Austin and Cook and the development of Givens, Quick, and Kendricks, would allow the Rams to play a more wide-open Offense and have Defenses pick their poison. The addition of Long gave the Rams what looked like a solid OL with Saffold and Long at Tackles, Dahl playing steady, Wells healthy and able to begin the season with the team, and Williams and Smith battling it out for the other Guard spot. I think he saw Richardson as a change of pace back with Pead spelling him.
We all know that didn't happen and all the events that led to that; injuries to the OL, lack of development and impact by players, and frankly a weird offensive flow that's hard to describe.
2) Fisher thought that once he had his hand-picked DC he could run the type of D he wanted. He had a good/great front 4 with nice depth. He had JL keeping stuff together at LBer allowing Ogletree to learn on the job. He had returning CBs in vet Finnegan, and developing Jenkins and Johnson. He definitely wanted to protect the Safeties but probably thought that the combination of Def front 4 pressure and the ability to play versions of bend/don't break last year would suffice while they rookies found their stride.
The more general assumption was that first year solid players would become above average second year players, new additions (Long, Cook, Austin) would provide the missing offensive ingredients combined with more continuity offensively while the D would be the difference maker in shutting down opposing teams.
Now that we've had a chance to see what has actually transpired we are left with this:
1) Will the Rams now become a run-first ball control offense as they changed to Stacy and found success with that formula? If so, doesn't that somewhat negate having an alleged franchise QB in Bradford who would appear, if that were the case, to just be a distributor? Does that scheme best utilize the skill sets of Austin and Cook?
This offseason he is going to need to decide what offense they are going to run in 2014 and if the pieces fit to do it. In some ways he has a lot of square pegs trying to fit into round holes IMO. Also, is BS the best person to run said offense? Has he, and the staff, overestimated player development (ala Givens, Quick) or is this just a glitch and part of the overall growing process? Is Bradford the guy to run his offense given the injury and contract status or do they look for a cheaper, QB whose job is to just not turn the ball over or LOSE games?
2) Who are they Defensively? They run a passive D that is scorched when there is no front 4 pressure. They don't seem effective when they blitz. They are weak vs the run. The developmental players (Jenkins) hasn't moved forward and the vet you counted on (Finnegan) is a bust. They are a poor tackling team and their once promising secondary looks horrible and in need of probably 2-3 players in 2014. Finally, is Walton running Fisher's D? If not then he has to evaluate Walton obviously but what if Walton is just carrying out the game plan? Then isn't that on Fisher. And btw, don't Walton and BS work FOR Fisher? Because at some point Fisher needs to alter or correct things that aren't working like I believe he did when they switched to power running with Stacy.
Fisher needs to harshly evaluate himself and his staff and figure out who the Rams want to be in 2014. Frankly all I've seen is a mismash of offensive and defensive philosophies that generally have failed. Once he does that he needs to evaluate his staff from the obvious DC and OC all the way down to position coaches. He then needs to harshly evaluate his players and how they fit into the scheme he wants to run. If the player is not a fit or does not appear to be developing as they wanted they need to cut the strings. Fisher also has to determine why his teams continue to lack playing discipline in things like gap containment, backside support etc as well as penalty discipline whether it be from selfish cheap fouls to the inability to line up right.
Fisher was probably too confident in himself, his staff, his system, and his player's development and it bit him hard. He HAS done a piss poor job this year IMO. However, I actually like Fisher and will judge him on his ability to adjust and determine what he has and what he wants next year given what he has seen this season. I think he is a bright guy and I think the team has talent but lacks continuity and discipline and that ultimately falls on the HC IMO. I want to hear Fisher take responsibility and be accountable and not deflect. As has been pointed out, there are several rebuild teams who seem to "get it" better than the Rams and several teams with young players in key spots doing their job effectively.
Sorry for the treatise for such a "simple" original post Max (lol).
