3 Silly Things That Fans Say, And Keep Saying, Every Offseason

[Jorgeh0605]

I'm still gonna say it... Tavon Austin would be great if he just got the ball in space.

 

[ramsplaya16]

2. "We drafted the wrong guy at that spot."
This statement does not, over time, always prove to be wrong. When made immediately after the draft, though, its usually a pretty sill statement. First, we don't know half of what teams' know about the prospects. We can only guess what medical reports, interviews (with the player and those who know him), and hours and hours of live observation/film review might have revealed. As fans, we can only guess, project and, of course, crow about it when the 5th round pick we said would be a star becomes a star!

this is the one that gets me. EVERY YEAR. We draft people that nobody thought that we would, everyone complains and a lot of the time the picks pan out pretty well. Obviously there are picks that don’t. But out front office and staff know what they’re looking for.

yes, there seem to be some people on here who are decent talent evaluators, but as you said they don’t have the same resources as the professionals do, and just because a player someone predicted would be good, became good/great somewhere else, doesn’t mean they would have had the same outcome here.

 

[nighttrain]

I'm still gonna say it... Tavon Austin would be great if he just got the ball in space.

cant help thinkin
OUTER SPACE

 

[Dodgersrf]

Here's one half the fans in the league say, after going 1-0.

"72 Dolphins!"

 

[RhodyRams]

Please let Tom Brady retire
The division is ours for the taking
I wont get too excited about the team this year

 

[FrantikRam]

For number 1 - I knew we wouldn't sign JJ or Saffold, and obviously the Rams wanted to keep both. I get the point, but this does eventually come into play

 

[dang]

Player X ran a 4.36 at his pro day. That kind of speed makes him a mismatch nightmare for NFL defenses.

 

[Faceplant]

On our own damn fan boards

FIFY

 

[bluecoconuts]

I can't really judge because I remember back during those dark 2 win days looking at the roster in the offseason so convinced that the team was going to turn a corner and be different.. Then Jackson broke a long run against the Eagles early and I'm was like "Oh yeah, it's all coming together." before the team got stomped back to reality and lost 31-13.

I mostly can't judge because I'm still that same guy, it's just now the team does a better job at backing up what my big mouth says.

 

[Soul Surfer]

i am finally beginning to realize that high light films only show the good plays.

You know.......

...... I think you're onto something here.

 

[PARAM]

Some of the things in this thread are borderlime Yogi-isms. Like, "nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded"!

Well, those are facts.

On drafting OL.....

from 2018 - 2020 there were 11 OT's drafted in the first round (Cleveland, NYJ, NYG, TBay, Tenn, Mia, Philly, Atl, Hou, SF and Oakland). 1 of those kids played on the winning Superbowl team. There were 2 guards taken in the first round, one each by Atlanta and Indy. Neither has played in a Superbowl. There were 4 centers taken in the first round (N.Orl, Minn, Cincy and Detroit). None of them have played in a Superbowl. That's 15 first round OL the last 3 years (prior to 2021 draft) and 1 lifted the Lombardi (Wirfs with Tampa). But if a poll were taken among experts, NFL coaches or fans, the credit would go to Brady, not a first round OL. All I'm saying is drafting OL early may be over rated. Or at least, it doesn't have any more value than drafting WR, RB, QB, TE, Edge, DT, CB or S early. Having said that, I thought the Rams would take an OL somewhere in this draft. But.......

Of all the teams above who drafted OL in the first round, tell me who has a very good OL....an exceptional OL.....a great OL. The Rams chose to trade picks for a QB, signed a deep threat WR and drafted a 2 WRs and a TE. Clearly, they believe they needed help in those areas more than the OL. Neglecting the OL directly leading to "troubles" may end up being fact but right now, it isn't "a fact". it's a prediction.

 

[thirteen28]

Me before the '99 season (seriously, but before Green went down):

"With all these great additions, we have a good shot of finishing at least 8-8, maybe even 9-7 and sneaking into the playoffs as a wildcard!"

 

[Loyal]

Some of the things in this thread are borderlime Yogi-isms. Like, "nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded"!

On drafting OL.....

from 2018 - 2020 there were 11 OT's drafted in the first round (Cleveland, NYJ, NYG, TBay, Tenn, Mia, Philly, Atl, Hou, SF and Oakland). 1 of those kids played on the winning Superbowl team. There were 2 guards taken in the first round, one each by Atlanta and Indy. Neither has played in a Superbowl. There were 4 centers taken in the first round (N.Orl, Minn, Cincy and Detroit). None of them have played in a Superbowl. That's 15 first round OL the last 3 years (prior to 2021 draft) and 1 lifted the Lombardi (Wirfs with Tampa). But if a poll were taken among experts, NFL coaches or fans, the credit would go to Brady, not a first round OL. All I'm saying is drafting OL early may be over rated. Or at least, it doesn't have any more value than drafting WR, RB, QB, TE, Edge, DT, CB or S early. Having said that, I thought the Rams would take an OL somewhere in this draft. But.......

Of all the teams above who drafted OL in the first round, tell me who has a very good OL....an exceptional OL.....a great OL. The Rams chose to trade picks for a QB, signed a deep threat WR and drafted a 2 WRs and a TE. Clearly, they believe they needed help in those areas more than the OL. Neglecting the OL directly leading to "troubles" may end up being fact but right now, it isn't "a fact".

We were not using a 1st round pick, but #57 in the 2nd round. The Center position was a weakness before Blythe left and then became a hole after he left. Whitt was a 2nd rounder for Cinci...Saffold was a 2nd rounder for us. We don't value the Center position on the Rams and would rather have an extra WR...*smh.

 

[PARAM]

We were not using a 1st round pick, but #57 in the 2nd round. The Center position was a weakness before Blythe left and then became a hole after he left. Whitt was a 2nd rounder for Cinci...Saffold was a 2nd rounder for us. We don't value the Center position on the Rams and would rather have an extra WR...*smh.

Right. We weren't even using a first round pick.
Sure, Whit was a 2nd round pick. How many Superbowls did that choice deliver to Cincinnati his 11 years there?
Saffold was a 2nd round pick. He played 9 seasons before he finally played in a Superbowl.
And Snead and McVay said, had they picked an OL, they felt 2021 would have been a redshirt season.
I get the angst. I get the worry. I get the doom and gloom. I expected them to draft an OL too.
But they get the big bucks to make those decisions, while we waste hours telling each other how wrong they were. When we're not watching them win 67% of the time on Sundays.

 

[Loyal]

Right. We weren't even using a first round pick.
Sure, Whit was a 2nd round pick. How many Superbowls did that choice deliver to Cincinnati his 11 years there?
Saffold was a 2nd round pick. He played 9 seasons before he finally played in a Superbowl.
And Snead and McVay said, had they picked an OL, they felt 2021 would have been a redshirt season.
I get the angst. I get the worry. I get the doom and gloom. I expected them to draft an OL too.
But they get the big bucks to make those decisions, while we waste hours telling each other how wrong they were.

Stafford is the issue here, not really just filling a hole in the Oline. We missed Saffold after he left and where would we be now without Whit? I don't agree that the acid test for picking an Olineman in the 2nd round is whether they take us to a Super Bowl. We picked a WR in Tavon Austin, and how many Super Bowls did we net from that pick? Do you really think if the Rams didn't get Timmerman and McCollum (let alone Big O), the Greatest Show on Turf ever happens? Without that Oline, Warner gets killed early and often. Getting a great Olineman can happen through the draft or through FA and we needed a Center and didn't want to pay for a FA this year that was worth a damn. Hence, the idea that it was a no bfrainer to get a Center at #57.

As for wasting my time on the internet giving my POV about McSnead picks, that's my perogative as a fan.

 

[Riverumbbq]

Some of the things in this thread are borderlime Yogi-isms. Like, "nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded"!

Well, ... you're right, Jelly Stone Park has been overcrowded recently, just makes snatching picnic baskets so much easier though.

 

[Rambitious1]

“but they only had a third place schedule this year. Let’s see what they do when they have a first place schedule.“

 

[AvengerRam]

We were not using a 1st round pick, but #57 in the 2nd round. The Center position was a weakness before Blythe left and then became a hole after he left. Whitt was a 2nd rounder for Cinci...Saffold was a 2nd rounder for us. We don't value the Center position on the Rams and would rather have an extra WR...*smh.

Austin Corbett, our likely starter at center, was a second round pick (first pick in the second round, to be precise).

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

a forth silly thing that i do myself is right after the draft i am usually disappointed then i start watching high light film and talk myself into thinking this is the greatest draft ever. i am finally beginning to realize that high light films only show the good plays. i wonder if i didn't watch high lights and only watched game film would still feel the same about the draft. on the other hand that would kind of take some of the fun out of the draft

I used to talk myself into liking each Rams draft even though I originally didn't like each pick. I'd listen to the spin from coaches and media and think I'm being too critical. Then after a year or two I see my suspicions for certain players were right and get pissed that I talked myself into thinking said players were great picks. I stopped doing that about 8 years ago, or whichever year Snead passed up Wagner, drafted Jenkins and Try, etc...

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

In no particular order...

1. "We can't afford to keep/sign him!"
To paraphrase the Bard, there are more ways to move cap dollars around than are dreamt of in the casual fan's philosophy. While cap money is, of course, finite, when it comes to an individual player that a team truly covets, far more often than not a team will find a way to fit the player under the cap. I recall many fans and pundits this year asserting that the Rams would not be able to keep Leonard Floyd... until they did.

2. "We drafted the wrong guy at that spot."
This statement does not, over time, always prove to be wrong. When made immediately after the draft, though, its usually a pretty sill statement. First, we don't know half of what teams' know about the prospects. We can only guess what medical reports, interviews (with the player and those who know him), and hours and hours of live observation/film review might have revealed. As fans, we can only guess, project and, of course, crow about it when the 5th round pick we said would be a star becomes a star!

3. "The league really screwed us on the schedule!"
I've read comments in the past suggesting that the league plays favorites when making the schedule. While there is, of course, a deliberate effort to place contenders and the more marketable teams in prime time/national TV spots, the suggestion that there is a deliberate effort to manipulate outcomes through scheduling decisions is a bit tin-foil-hatish in my mind. Its particularly silly when fans rail about relative strength of schedule figures at the time of the schedule release. First... within any division, the strength of schedule of non-divisional games is generally equal, with a slight stacking based upon where the team finished in the prior year. Second... a quality team last year may not be one this year, and vice versa. Is anyone that worried, for example, about the match-up with Green Bay this year if Aaron Rodgers is gone?

As for number two, its umm number two