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Time for Rams to produce
• JOE STRAUSS
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_ed108c90-45c7-54c3-9ca9-5a768f14b67d.html
It’s time.
It’s been more than 26 months since the laughingstock Rams uttered a straight line by announcing Jeff Fisher as head coach and Les Snead as general manager. The hires were celebrated in circles that long had cackled over a dysfunctional franchise’s back-biting, ineptitude and naivete. After consecutive botched experiments involving novice head coaches, the Rams could place a Super Bowl coach and his creative accomplice near chief operating officer Kevin Demoff, a Dartmouth-educated fast-riser rated among the NFL’s next wave of power brokers.
Fisher’s first two years saw him make do with transitional defensive coordinators. The transition supposedly ended with the recent hire of the familiar and notorious Gregg Williams, the guy who allegedly made it rain in New Orleans for quarterback take-out.
Fifth-year quarterback Sam Bradford projects ready for the 2014 season opener after requiring mid-season surgery to repair his left knee.
We’re told left tackle Jake Long should return from his wrecked knee by Week 4, perhaps Week 1.
Taking the Rams at their word, they’re again a functional, adult franchise capable of walking the streets within the bad-ass NFC West.
Training wheels are no longer offered here. Trophies are for winning, not mere participation. Three years into the process, it’s time for hardware, not orange slices and postgame Slurpee runs.
The franchise is past apologizing for the endless Linehan and Spagnuolo learning curves and an acrid roster constructed without direction.
It’s time.
It’s time for even a soft market to move past comparing the current regime with its overmatched predecessors. Fisher and Snead deserve recognition for elevating the Rams from punching bags to seven wins in 2012 and 2013 while filling the locker room with the league’s youngest roster. Swell. And Fisher turned a potential disaster into a face-saving 7-9 last season despite losing Bradford in the seventh game. Kudos.
This regime has performed ably enough that its point of reference should be the progress it achieved rather than the non-competitive moonscape it inherited.
According to the regime’s own blueprint 2014 is to represent something more: a breakout, a leap from the shadows of a muscular division into its center ring. The emphasis should turn to The Now.
Three days into free agency, the Rams have returned two of their own, guard Rodger Saffold and linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar. Saffold’s return is an odyssey unto itself with the Rams expressing faith in the soundness of a player the Oakland Raiders dumped following a team physical. Dunbar rarely played on passing downs and represents a third backer.
So far, so good in getting (some of) the band back together. The natives are justifiably restless. They want a fresh talent before the draft. They thirst for immediate impact, not just development.
For two years patience has been a virtue. The Rams have held to the long view while mixing in familiar free agents. They’ve congratulated themselves on drafts featuring quality through quantity.
Those paying attention realize the Rams were vulnerable in the secondary and pedestrian at skill positions last season. Fisher tried to shorten games with ground-and-pound offense. A manic pass rush became the rule more than the exception. Defensive end Robert Quinn became a supernova. Rookie Zac Stacy came within a wisp of 1,000 rushing yards despite waiting until Week 5 for his first start.
So a fan base long told to wait is allowed to ask what’s under the Christmas tree. It’s OK to survey an offensive line taken apart by injury and free agency and wonder who will protect a quarterback required to play the rest of his career in a brace.
The fear here is that the Rams will survey what they’ve done the past two years and insert another verse in The Same Old Song by asking for more time, more patience.
In the aftermath of releasing the overpaid and injured Cortland Finnegan, the Rams’ reluctance to pursue free agent cornerback Alterraun Verner seems odd. Verner is age-appropriate (25) and went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at a cap-friendly price ($24.5 million over 4 years). Demoff insisted Tuesday the front office is reactive to its coaching staff, implying that his new defensive coordinator did not see Verner as a ready fit for a philosophy reliant on press coverage rather than a Cover-2 scheme.
Demoff voiced support for incumbent corners Janoris Jenkins and Trumaine Johnson. But it’s a young, brash group that could also benefit from a more proven commodity, just as the receiving corps could use a signature wideout as it waits for Chris Givens and Brian Quick to fulfill their promise.
Remember, this is a team that allowed a 94.7 passer rating and 8.1 yards per attempt — both in the league’s bottom third — while ranking among league leaders in tough talk. A new stadium may be a separate issue, but it only generates more wear on a market awaiting its first winning season since 2003.
It’s time.
It’s time to take a major step to address the club’s most obvious needs. The draft offers another page in development, which is fine. But this team requires a broader push to move it beyond .500 where it might actually rub against a wild-card berth. This is, after all, the third year of a three-year plan.
Today the Rams announce Saffold’s return to the fold at guard rather than tackle. Familiar faces are welcome, familiar outcomes are not. Fisher’s Rams and their atrophying fan base know what seven wins looks like. They want to see Fisher’s first playoff team since 2008 and lust for his first playoff win since 2003. A year after signing a starting tight end and left tackle, the Rams are again talking development.
Come on, it’s time.
• JOE STRAUSS
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_ed108c90-45c7-54c3-9ca9-5a768f14b67d.html
It’s time.
It’s been more than 26 months since the laughingstock Rams uttered a straight line by announcing Jeff Fisher as head coach and Les Snead as general manager. The hires were celebrated in circles that long had cackled over a dysfunctional franchise’s back-biting, ineptitude and naivete. After consecutive botched experiments involving novice head coaches, the Rams could place a Super Bowl coach and his creative accomplice near chief operating officer Kevin Demoff, a Dartmouth-educated fast-riser rated among the NFL’s next wave of power brokers.
Fisher’s first two years saw him make do with transitional defensive coordinators. The transition supposedly ended with the recent hire of the familiar and notorious Gregg Williams, the guy who allegedly made it rain in New Orleans for quarterback take-out.
Fifth-year quarterback Sam Bradford projects ready for the 2014 season opener after requiring mid-season surgery to repair his left knee.
We’re told left tackle Jake Long should return from his wrecked knee by Week 4, perhaps Week 1.
Taking the Rams at their word, they’re again a functional, adult franchise capable of walking the streets within the bad-ass NFC West.
Training wheels are no longer offered here. Trophies are for winning, not mere participation. Three years into the process, it’s time for hardware, not orange slices and postgame Slurpee runs.
The franchise is past apologizing for the endless Linehan and Spagnuolo learning curves and an acrid roster constructed without direction.
It’s time.
It’s time for even a soft market to move past comparing the current regime with its overmatched predecessors. Fisher and Snead deserve recognition for elevating the Rams from punching bags to seven wins in 2012 and 2013 while filling the locker room with the league’s youngest roster. Swell. And Fisher turned a potential disaster into a face-saving 7-9 last season despite losing Bradford in the seventh game. Kudos.
This regime has performed ably enough that its point of reference should be the progress it achieved rather than the non-competitive moonscape it inherited.
According to the regime’s own blueprint 2014 is to represent something more: a breakout, a leap from the shadows of a muscular division into its center ring. The emphasis should turn to The Now.
Three days into free agency, the Rams have returned two of their own, guard Rodger Saffold and linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar. Saffold’s return is an odyssey unto itself with the Rams expressing faith in the soundness of a player the Oakland Raiders dumped following a team physical. Dunbar rarely played on passing downs and represents a third backer.
So far, so good in getting (some of) the band back together. The natives are justifiably restless. They want a fresh talent before the draft. They thirst for immediate impact, not just development.
For two years patience has been a virtue. The Rams have held to the long view while mixing in familiar free agents. They’ve congratulated themselves on drafts featuring quality through quantity.
Those paying attention realize the Rams were vulnerable in the secondary and pedestrian at skill positions last season. Fisher tried to shorten games with ground-and-pound offense. A manic pass rush became the rule more than the exception. Defensive end Robert Quinn became a supernova. Rookie Zac Stacy came within a wisp of 1,000 rushing yards despite waiting until Week 5 for his first start.
So a fan base long told to wait is allowed to ask what’s under the Christmas tree. It’s OK to survey an offensive line taken apart by injury and free agency and wonder who will protect a quarterback required to play the rest of his career in a brace.
The fear here is that the Rams will survey what they’ve done the past two years and insert another verse in The Same Old Song by asking for more time, more patience.
In the aftermath of releasing the overpaid and injured Cortland Finnegan, the Rams’ reluctance to pursue free agent cornerback Alterraun Verner seems odd. Verner is age-appropriate (25) and went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at a cap-friendly price ($24.5 million over 4 years). Demoff insisted Tuesday the front office is reactive to its coaching staff, implying that his new defensive coordinator did not see Verner as a ready fit for a philosophy reliant on press coverage rather than a Cover-2 scheme.
Demoff voiced support for incumbent corners Janoris Jenkins and Trumaine Johnson. But it’s a young, brash group that could also benefit from a more proven commodity, just as the receiving corps could use a signature wideout as it waits for Chris Givens and Brian Quick to fulfill their promise.
Remember, this is a team that allowed a 94.7 passer rating and 8.1 yards per attempt — both in the league’s bottom third — while ranking among league leaders in tough talk. A new stadium may be a separate issue, but it only generates more wear on a market awaiting its first winning season since 2003.
It’s time.
It’s time to take a major step to address the club’s most obvious needs. The draft offers another page in development, which is fine. But this team requires a broader push to move it beyond .500 where it might actually rub against a wild-card berth. This is, after all, the third year of a three-year plan.
Today the Rams announce Saffold’s return to the fold at guard rather than tackle. Familiar faces are welcome, familiar outcomes are not. Fisher’s Rams and their atrophying fan base know what seven wins looks like. They want to see Fisher’s first playoff team since 2008 and lust for his first playoff win since 2003. A year after signing a starting tight end and left tackle, the Rams are again talking development.
Come on, it’s time.
