- Joined
- Nov 24, 2012
- Messages
- 2,624
- Name
- News Bot
[www.stltoday.com]
Two years since regime change it’s now perfectly acceptable to put the Rams on the clock. It is, after all, the organization’s own timeline.
It’s been two years plus a week since owner Stan Kroenke opened his vault to hire Jeff Fisher as the man to stop the bleeding. General manager Les Snead is one month shy of his two-year anniversary. The organization has revamped its scouting department, grown more fluent in the language of advanced metrics and implemented a draft blueprint in which it has achieved greater leverage by juggling premium picks.
The Rams have advanced from 15 wins in five comedic seasons to 14 wins in a credible two. Fisher and Snead pulled the franchise from the ditch with a 7-8-1 record in 2012 and nearly produced a duplicate mark in 2013 despite starting quarterback Sam Bradford’s absence for more than half the schedule.
Kudos to Earth City for exchanging incompetence for relevance. Now comes the hard part within a league devoted to parity: becoming a playoff team while walking the NFL’s toughest neighborhood.
The NFC West has recently witnessed the San Francisco 49ers advance from 6-10 to 13-3 to the Super Bowl following the hiring of Jim Harbaugh as head coach.
Long regarded as underachievers, the Seattle Seahawks hired Pete Carroll after a 5-11 slog in 2009, spent two years at 7-9, then advanced to 11-5 and a Division playoff game in his third season.
The Arizona Cardinals hired Bruce Arians after three consecutive non-winning seasons and zoomed out of the division basement and past the Rams to 10 wins this season.
“It’s nice being in a division where it’s relevant. It’s not like we’re in the Sun Belt Conference,” quipped Snead, owner of an SEC pedigree.
The Rams have meanwhile preached patience to an increasingly fidgety congregation. They’ve constructed the NFL’s youngest roster during Fisher’s two seasons, testimony to the rubble he found upon arrival. Snead dealt the 2012 draft’s second overall pick to the Washington Redskins, who selected quarterback Robert Griffin III, reached the playoffs, then crashed and burned this season. The Rams’ resulting largesse fittingly includes the upcoming draft’s second pick.
“If you look at all the teams that build something that lasts — even the 49ers under Bill Walsh — it’s usually somewhere in Year Three that they catch on and get in their window,” Snead cited in November.
This is where things potentially grow dicey.
The Rams sound OK with where they sit. They factor Bradford’s absence and think it rash to describe a young receiving corps as underachieving or stagnant. They believe another productive draft should allow them to contend for a playoff spot, if not get there. They insist shortages of experience within their secondary and receivers is a temporary rather than a fatal flaw, that these players will soon grow into their potential.
In other words, the Rams’ improvement from this year to next will come from within.
“I really believe for us to win consistently you’ve got to have a foundation. They’ve got to be together,” Snead said.
Snead spent much of an hour Thursday detailing the team’s vision. He believes its core is in place. Don’t expect the Rams to shop for Bradford’s challenger with an early draft pick. (However, unlike 2012 they did scout the position this Fall and may look for Bradford’s backup in later rounds.)
The club will try to retain unrestricted free agent offensive lineman Rodger Saffold, whose versatility makes him doubly valuable given left tackle Jake Long’s knee reconstruction. Drafting there also makes sense.
The Rams’ defensive front appears stout and deep. Rookie linebacker Alec Ogletree proved to be an inspired addition. Rookie rusher Zac Stacy threatened 1,000 yards despite waiting until Week 6 for his 51st carry. Despite Bradford’s absence this year’s team scored 48 more points than the previous season.
The picture was far bleaker within the division. A team committed to ground and pound after Week 4 managed 85 yards rushing and 13 points against the 49ers, Seahawks and Cardinals. Among their last nine games, the Rams’ three least productive on the ground came in December against division rivals.
Fisher and Snead arrived following a 2011 season in which the Rams’ three division foes were 28-20 with the Niners scoring 13 wins. The rest of the division was 35-13 this season, with each of the three reaching double-digit wins.
With or without Bradford, the Rams need greater volatility on offense, particularly through the air. In a decidedly passing league, they lacked a receiver who averaged more than 50 yards per game. The NFL counted 22 receivers who averaged more than 70 yards per game this season; the Rams haven’t had anyone reach that level since Torry Holt in 2007. Chris Givens seemed to atrophy in his second season, catching eight fewer balls for 129 fewer yards than in his rookie year. Physically imposing Brian Quick has caught 29 passes since the Rams spent a second-round pick on him in 2012. Drafted for his explosiveness, Tavon Austin averaged 10.5 yards per catch, lowest among the Rams’ top five receivers. Tight end Jared Cook’s 671 receiving yards led the Rams but would have paced only one other team, the New York Jets.
Rather than see regression among the young receivers and a blah first year from Cook, Snead heavily factors how the offense morphed with backup quarterback Kellen Clemens, a mature game manager less equipped to push the ball deep.
“Statistically, because we didn’t throw as much, the stats are going to be down,” Snead said. “But we’ve said this from the beginning: I like the way our receivers progressed. We have still got to get better.”
The Rams prefer to see how two first-round draft picks — Clemson wide receiver Sammy Watkins among them? — impact the club rather than a high-priced receiver acquired via trade or free agency. If some believe the Rams might be waiting too long to admit a mistake, Snead warns a “microwave” mentality may cheat his young high-ceiling receivers time enough to mature.
“Here’s what you’ve got to weigh: If you think this particular (young) player is close and the only way to get them closer is to play ... when you bring in (a veteran), he’s not going to play as much. You’re still waiting,” Snead asserted. “I think what seals the deal — if the process works — is all these guys get experience. They grow together and at the end of the year you have more than seven wins. If that’s the case, everybody goes, ‘OK, it’s worked out.’ You have to be disciplined.”
It’s also good to be right.
Two years since regime change it’s now perfectly acceptable to put the Rams on the clock. It is, after all, the organization’s own timeline.
It’s been two years plus a week since owner Stan Kroenke opened his vault to hire Jeff Fisher as the man to stop the bleeding. General manager Les Snead is one month shy of his two-year anniversary. The organization has revamped its scouting department, grown more fluent in the language of advanced metrics and implemented a draft blueprint in which it has achieved greater leverage by juggling premium picks.
The Rams have advanced from 15 wins in five comedic seasons to 14 wins in a credible two. Fisher and Snead pulled the franchise from the ditch with a 7-8-1 record in 2012 and nearly produced a duplicate mark in 2013 despite starting quarterback Sam Bradford’s absence for more than half the schedule.
Kudos to Earth City for exchanging incompetence for relevance. Now comes the hard part within a league devoted to parity: becoming a playoff team while walking the NFL’s toughest neighborhood.
The NFC West has recently witnessed the San Francisco 49ers advance from 6-10 to 13-3 to the Super Bowl following the hiring of Jim Harbaugh as head coach.
Long regarded as underachievers, the Seattle Seahawks hired Pete Carroll after a 5-11 slog in 2009, spent two years at 7-9, then advanced to 11-5 and a Division playoff game in his third season.
The Arizona Cardinals hired Bruce Arians after three consecutive non-winning seasons and zoomed out of the division basement and past the Rams to 10 wins this season.
“It’s nice being in a division where it’s relevant. It’s not like we’re in the Sun Belt Conference,” quipped Snead, owner of an SEC pedigree.
The Rams have meanwhile preached patience to an increasingly fidgety congregation. They’ve constructed the NFL’s youngest roster during Fisher’s two seasons, testimony to the rubble he found upon arrival. Snead dealt the 2012 draft’s second overall pick to the Washington Redskins, who selected quarterback Robert Griffin III, reached the playoffs, then crashed and burned this season. The Rams’ resulting largesse fittingly includes the upcoming draft’s second pick.
“If you look at all the teams that build something that lasts — even the 49ers under Bill Walsh — it’s usually somewhere in Year Three that they catch on and get in their window,” Snead cited in November.
This is where things potentially grow dicey.
The Rams sound OK with where they sit. They factor Bradford’s absence and think it rash to describe a young receiving corps as underachieving or stagnant. They believe another productive draft should allow them to contend for a playoff spot, if not get there. They insist shortages of experience within their secondary and receivers is a temporary rather than a fatal flaw, that these players will soon grow into their potential.
In other words, the Rams’ improvement from this year to next will come from within.
“I really believe for us to win consistently you’ve got to have a foundation. They’ve got to be together,” Snead said.
Snead spent much of an hour Thursday detailing the team’s vision. He believes its core is in place. Don’t expect the Rams to shop for Bradford’s challenger with an early draft pick. (However, unlike 2012 they did scout the position this Fall and may look for Bradford’s backup in later rounds.)
The club will try to retain unrestricted free agent offensive lineman Rodger Saffold, whose versatility makes him doubly valuable given left tackle Jake Long’s knee reconstruction. Drafting there also makes sense.
The Rams’ defensive front appears stout and deep. Rookie linebacker Alec Ogletree proved to be an inspired addition. Rookie rusher Zac Stacy threatened 1,000 yards despite waiting until Week 6 for his 51st carry. Despite Bradford’s absence this year’s team scored 48 more points than the previous season.
The picture was far bleaker within the division. A team committed to ground and pound after Week 4 managed 85 yards rushing and 13 points against the 49ers, Seahawks and Cardinals. Among their last nine games, the Rams’ three least productive on the ground came in December against division rivals.
Fisher and Snead arrived following a 2011 season in which the Rams’ three division foes were 28-20 with the Niners scoring 13 wins. The rest of the division was 35-13 this season, with each of the three reaching double-digit wins.
With or without Bradford, the Rams need greater volatility on offense, particularly through the air. In a decidedly passing league, they lacked a receiver who averaged more than 50 yards per game. The NFL counted 22 receivers who averaged more than 70 yards per game this season; the Rams haven’t had anyone reach that level since Torry Holt in 2007. Chris Givens seemed to atrophy in his second season, catching eight fewer balls for 129 fewer yards than in his rookie year. Physically imposing Brian Quick has caught 29 passes since the Rams spent a second-round pick on him in 2012. Drafted for his explosiveness, Tavon Austin averaged 10.5 yards per catch, lowest among the Rams’ top five receivers. Tight end Jared Cook’s 671 receiving yards led the Rams but would have paced only one other team, the New York Jets.
Rather than see regression among the young receivers and a blah first year from Cook, Snead heavily factors how the offense morphed with backup quarterback Kellen Clemens, a mature game manager less equipped to push the ball deep.
“Statistically, because we didn’t throw as much, the stats are going to be down,” Snead said. “But we’ve said this from the beginning: I like the way our receivers progressed. We have still got to get better.”
The Rams prefer to see how two first-round draft picks — Clemson wide receiver Sammy Watkins among them? — impact the club rather than a high-priced receiver acquired via trade or free agency. If some believe the Rams might be waiting too long to admit a mistake, Snead warns a “microwave” mentality may cheat his young high-ceiling receivers time enough to mature.
“Here’s what you’ve got to weigh: If you think this particular (young) player is close and the only way to get them closer is to play ... when you bring in (a veteran), he’s not going to play as much. You’re still waiting,” Snead asserted. “I think what seals the deal — if the process works — is all these guys get experience. They grow together and at the end of the year you have more than seven wins. If that’s the case, everybody goes, ‘OK, it’s worked out.’ You have to be disciplined.”
It’s also good to be right.
