Someone Explain Our Offense To Me

[TXRams86]

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an offensive guru, just an avid Rams fan.
I understand that an NFL offense is difficult to learn and can take years to fully master.
What I fail to understand, strictly from a QB perspective, is how/why our seemingly simplistic offense is so hard to grasp?
Play calling seems pretty difficult, having to learn the verbage and "wordiness" of the play.
But seriously, how much is there to really learn to call a 3 yard out (which we seem to run a LOT) or a handoff to Gurley?
What I'm getting at is why the hell is our elementary offense so god damned complicated when it doesn't appear that it needs to be?
New England's offense seems WAY more intricate and complex than ours is.

Maybe I'm completely off base because I've never called, designed or ran an offensive play in the NFL.
There just seems to be a lot going on for a whole lot of nothing...

 

[SteezyEndo]

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an offensive guru, just an avid Rams fan.
I understand that an NFL offense is difficult to learn and can take years to fully master.
What I fail to understand, strictly from a QB perspective, is how/why our seemingly simplistic offense is so hard to grasp?
Play calling seems pretty difficult, having to learn the verbage and "wordiness" of the play.
But seriously, how much is there to really learn to call a 3 yard out (which we seem to run a LOT) or a handoff to Gurley?
What I'm getting at is why the hell is our elementary offense so god damned complicated when it doesn't appear that it needs to be?
New England's offense seems WAY more intricate and complex than ours is.

Maybe I'm completely off base because I've never called, designed or ran an offensive play in the NFL.
There just seems to be a lot going on for a whole lot of nothing...

Honestly it wasn't hard to tell. Clearly the Rams were playing like they just got off a flight from Sydney Austrailia. It was an eye sore. They were not there to play. Quick? Where the hell was he? Britt was the only one out of our stacked receiving squad that actually played.. You don't need to be an expert what you saw was straight garbage.

 

[FRO]

Two runs up the middle, a sideways pass that has no chance of making a first down, and a punt. That's the Rams playbook assuming they don't turn it over before the punt.

 

[TXRams86]

Honestly it wasn't hard to tell. Clearly the Rams were playing like they just got off a flight from Sydney Austrailia. It was an eye sore. They were not there to play. Quick? Where the hell was he? Britt was the only one out of our stacked receiving squad that actually played.. You don't need to be an expert what you saw was straight garbage.

Seriously man..again, I'm probably the last to comment on how a play should be designed and executed but I've seen better offenses out of high school football teams! Hell, our local high schools display more creativity on Friday nights! No play action? Maybe 2 screens the entire game? 1 (ONE!) shot more than 15 yards down the field?! Holy shit, if that's not "vanilla" then I don't know what is.

I wouldn't be surprised if Keenum just walked into the huddle and said "Tavon...3 yard out, right side. Everyone else just look busy..BREAK!" That's how pathetic and remedial our play calling looked.

 

[SteezyEndo]

Seriously man..again, I'm probably the last to comment on how a play should be designed and executed but I've seen better offenses out of high school football teams! Hell, our local high schools display more creativity on Friday nights! No play action? Maybe 2 screens the entire game? 1 (ONE!) shot more than 15 yards down the field?! Holy crap, if that's not "vanilla" then I don't know what is.

I wouldn't be surprised if Keenum just walked into the huddle and said "Tavon...3 yard out, right side. Everyone else just look busy..BREAK!" That's how pathetic and remedial our play calling looked.

Count 5 steps break toward coach fisher...

 

[Picked4td]

As bad as the offense was, I cant bring myself to hate the play calling too much atm, aside from the almost 100% certainty of running on 1st down and 2nd and short. Without having a full 22 player view its tough to tell what plays are actually called. Yea what we could see was a bunch of short horizontal checkdown bullshit, but whose to say thats the plan of the play when its called.

Point I'm trying to make is, without a better view its hard to say its the play calls and not the qb and/or the receivers that make the play calling look terrible. Call me naive, but I refuse to believe NFL coaches are constantly calling for plays designed to throw the ball to a guy short of the 1st down marker on 3rd or 4th down

edit: it was also evident the D played up tight as they didnt worry about anything deep, which again I think is a reflection of the QB, not the play itself

 

[TXRams86]

When an offense is as predictable as ours was today, we've got serious problems.
My wife who has seen a collective 20 or so games of NFL Football could tell me exactly what we were going to run.
Do Fisher and Boras, add Keenum to that, think they're outsmarting defensive coordinators with that crap?
How many quick slants did we see? How many play action passes? How many plays with Tavon used as misdirection?
If last year's offense was bad, this years offense looks atrocious.

What I'd give for one of these this game:

 

[Ram_Rally]

2 things:
1. I think our offense is very simplistic actually. So simple that defenses can squat on us and force our hand. You can't let the defense dictate the game. That's exactly what a simple offense does.
2. The Patriots have the personnel to run the quick and short pass offense. We don't have their line, we don't have a julian edelman, and we don't have a great offensive mind like McDaniel. Also the Patriots still like to threaten teams with some sort of vertical game. We have zero

 

[Mister Sin]

Fisher wants the offense to be a certain way. He doesn't want it to be more. Look at Tavon. He is every bit as fast as a guy like Brandon cooks. Why isn't he running similar patterns? U saw the graphic. Last year over 62% of his balls were caught at or behind the LOS. As long as Fisher leads this team. We are fucked. He has been king dick for far too long and I don't see a drastic change where he gets a coordinator and just lets him do his thing.

 

[Riverumbbq]

What is the phrase ; "feels like deja vu all over again" ? This roster and coaching staff is bringing back memories of our 2010 season, and it's depth/approach to offense. We had the newly drafted Bradford & Saffold, a poor & porous OL, a very poor receiving corps, and were to be content riding on the shoulders of a run first offense directed by a defensive minded HC (Steve Spagnuolo).

Although the 2010 Offensive roster was somewhat older than today, offensive vets like Jason Brown, Jacob Bell & Adam Goldberg were sad and over-rated, mixed with Rams bust Jason Smith and the questionable John Greco, there was a good deal of hope at the beginning of the season that the Rams were about to turn things around. And indeed they did, from a 1 - 15 team in 2009, we reached that great milestone of 7 - 9. Who can forget the ace wide receivers, from Donny Avery, Danario Alexander, Danny Amendola, Brandon Gibson, Mardy Gilliard & Laurent Robinson, or those outstanding TE's Billy Bajema, Daniel Fells & Michael Hoomanawanui ? Steven Jackson was mid-career and had his 3'rd most productive year in 2010.

The 2016 version of the Rams, another brand new # 1 QB, although still waiting for his first start, an OL now consisting of vets Saffold, Barnes and Garrett Reynolds (already IR'd and cut), along with a host of 2'nd year kids and 3'rd year Greg Robinson. Wide Receivers consisting of Britt, Quick, Cooper, Austin, Marquez, Spruce & Thomas, as well as TE's Harkey, Kendricks & Higbee. With great hope that this newer, younger version of the Rams seriously outperforms their earlier counterparts, man for man, it's very difficult to determine which individual or unit makes the real difference. Gurley should improve on 2010 Jackson's near 1200 yards, but his performance in game 1 this season hardly guarantees this. While still very young, our OL and receivers are of questionable ability, their youth alone gives us reason to believe in their development, but when should we expect these individuals to coalesce into a successful unit ? And what more can we do to make them better today ?

Back in the day, Bulger faced similar circumstances with a younger Jackson, a poor, declining group of veterans for an OL, and for the most part, the later part of the Bruce/Holt receiving legacy which was now also in decline. Burger's career was largely ended by his OL's.
Bradford had a more mixed group of vets and younger players, but outside of Jackson, other than the oft injured Saffold, not much to write home about.
Goff's future success is anybody's guess at this point, same can pretty much be said of all the youthful talent around him, so while we wait an indefinite time-line for them to do something, hope remains the primary antidote. I guess some things never change.

 

[dieterbrock]

Herman Edwards said the Rams set offense back 20 years.
I think he was being kind

 

[-X-]

Herman Edwards said the Rams set offense back 20 years.
I think he was being kind

He must have been being kind.
Because what he actually said was 50 years

 

[kurtfaulk]

He must have been being kind.
Because what he actually said was 50 years

He should know because he was of the same ilk.

.

 

[StealYoGurley]

Well the play design is basically hitch and out routes to the boundary specifically designed to run into tripple zone coverage. Its Keenum job to get the ball in there with his dollar store squirt gun arm. Plays have a guaranteed 3% success rate, but hey you win some and you loose some. The great thing is opponents are definitely not expecting it.

 

[dieterbrock]

Defensive coordinators lose sleep figuring out how to stop Todd Gurley. Little did they know that the best way to stop him is to watch him play in a Jeff Fisher offense

 

[SteveBrown]

Since 1973 I can say for sure this is the worst Rams offense ever. Remember when they were 23-30th in total yards from 2007 to last year....That kind of offense is looking like a gold mine compared to this thing Fisher manages. TJ Rubley would be hall of fame material compared to Case.

We regressed beyond last year's awfulness and moved to a new zone: 'deadzone' this is an offense--where every place on the field is scarily looking like death, so get Hekker out there so nothing bad happens....but the LBs are right at LOS and not backing off....Fish really has lost his touch and understanding. Maybe it might be nice if he leaves.

Was I so wrong about our O line?....I think they will be back. Watch last year's 4th quarter in week 16 vs Seattle....I want that O line back.

 

[MTRamsFan]

This is a copy cat league, and all d-coordinators now have the formula for stopping Gurley. Load the box and go man coverage in the secondary because we can't throw anything outside of five yards. Until this team can stretch the field with consistent success, and loosen up the secondary and LB'ers, Gurley will not be successful, or any other back in this system. I fear for his health if he continues to get beat up like he did last night.

Teams know we can't throw so they will continue putting 8-9 man fronts. Our offense is a pathetic excuse because we can't throw the ball. It was so embarrassing watching their ineptness last night, I turned off the game midway through the 2nd quarter. I did go back to see if anything had changed and wasn't surprised to see the offense lay a goose egg.

 

[den-the-coach]

I can explain the offense:

1. 1st & Ten
2. 2nd & 8
3. 3rd & 7
4. Bring on Hekker.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Well the play design is basically hitch and out routes to the boundary specifically designed to run into tripple zone coverage. Its Keenum job to get the ball in there with his dollar store squirt gun arm. Plays have a guaranteed 3% success rate, but hey you win some and you loose some. The great thing is opponents are definitely not expecting it.

Things could have changed a bit if Keenum had any zip on the ball. There were some passes that needed to be thrown quicker and harder. Keenum looked completely lost. I hope we see Goff sooner than later. If the Rams are going to lose, then get Goff some experience for next season.

I have seen a ton of defense for Boudreax on here in the last few years too. I just don't get it. The line wasn't opening holes and allowed too much pressure on Keenum. How many years do we need to watch that before thinking they need better coaching. Kelly threw a decent line together in one off-season.

 

[Mackeyser]

I think I'd rather take a crack at explaining string theory or why women say they don't want dessert and then eat all of your dessert...

This offense is a complete and total mystery.