So the 2015 season philosophy is...

[Robocop]

...pound the ball with Mason and Cunningham/Stacy about 50-60% of the time behind I'm assuming a reinforced line. Foles in play-action with the arm to go downfield to our 'Bigs' and our Mountaineers. Defense is just sack city Dline/big nickel style smash mouth football. And lets not forget our VERY special teams compliments of Hekker, Tavon and Sted. Not to state the obvious and put up a pointless thread but is everyone on the same page here as to what we expect this season? Because I'm predicting possibly a double digit close record with Seattle with AZ and SF bringing up the rear. Thoughts?

 

[MarkMyWords]

I think it ALL depends on how well we fill the 3 open OL spots.

 

[ram007]

Hit(defense )and run

 

[Jorgeh0605]

This would be my plan.

 

[mr.stlouis]

You will find that we had the same plan last year, but you know what happened. Having Foles alone is a breath of fresh air. Bradford is bad for the anxiety level. And just going to the Playoffs isn't enough. If you do not win the SB then you are better off staying home and getting a top ten pick. So things worked out pretty well, IMO.

 

[psxpaul]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I don't think Mason, Cunningham, and Stacy are a talented enough RB corps to go with the ground and pound strategy. If you look at teams that have been successful with that mindset, its because they had all-pro level talent at RB. SF had Gore in his prime a few years ago, Seattle has Lynch, and the 2000 Ravens had Jamal Lewis.

The Buccaneers of the early 2000s conversely, had Warrick Dunn. While he was a good back, I don't think anyone would have called him an all pro. That team didn't win a Super Bowl until Gruden came in and got the passing game going.

IMO, if the Rams want to be really successful, they need to either grab a true all-pro RB, or air it out a bit more. Mason is not a bell cow back, and if you try to make him one, you're looking at 8-8.

 

[-X-]

Yes. Definitely a run-heavy mentality. Fisher assigned Boras to oversee the run game, presumably to make it an emphasis. But I think they have to take advantage of Foles' arm to loosen up the defense with more deep shots than we've seen in a while. If that's successful more often than not, then I can see a shift to more of a pass oriented offense. Coordinators get too giddy when that stuff works.

 

[yrba1]

I seriously hope it's a balanced offense that exploits weaknesses in opposing defenses.

 

[Dodgersrf]

Idk.
The past couple years we've been pass heavy. Fisher's reputation for running the ball has been mia.

 

[Mojo Ram]

All i know is that the entire team needs to be ready to play and win games week 1
No excuses. Start fast.

 

[snackdaddy]

I think Fisher runs the ball till they gear up to stop the run. Then he runs some more. And he asks Foles not to screw it up. Same plan he had for Bradford.

 

[Fatbot]

Mason is not a bell cow back, and if you try to make him one, you're looking at 8-8.

Good point. For a team that wants to rely so heavy on running there's some odd choices. Go cheap on RB, kind of cross the fingers on the OL, and spend more money than anyone else on TEs that are just ok blockers. So yeah, feel free to raise an eyebrow, but somehow it seems the sum is greater than the parts.

Also there is the RB committee approach, like the NY Giants "thunder & lightning" concept. Seems to me Fisher's going for a poor man's version of that. Or maybe Mason can become the bell cow, 4.3 ypc is not too shabby and as good or better than what those guys you listed often managed in their career. He just needs to get fed the ball more, and it's going to come down to the OL whether that can happen.

 

[Boston Ram]

Hard to say until we round out the roster. But based on what we have right now, I think we will throw more than we expect. We have Britt, Cooke, Bailey, Austin which are some decent weapon to go along with some pretty good backs. Once we attempt to fix the oline we might have a better idea of the offensive identity of this team.

 

[dieterbrock]

I think the motto is going to be, "We're going to crush them when they try to sling it"

 

[Big Game]

Idk.
The past couple years we've been pass heavy. Fisher's reputation for running the ball has been mia.

Exactly he wants to run the ball and be able to do it at will. But the pass couple years Fisher has exactly thrown the ball more then run it.