A few post game random thoughts...

[-X-]

Put me in the camp that thinks that there's something not quite "right" about Gurley this year. Can't put my finger on it, but he doesn't look like the phenom of last year to me.

Well, here's my uneducated opinion on that.
Don't red-shirt your best player in camp when he needs the reps and the contact.

 

[-X-]

Look I get being positive, but things need to change now - and people have been making excuses for Fisher and these coaches for 5 years now. No more.

No, you clearly don't get being positive. And that's not an insult. You just don't get it.
Sure, things need to change, but none of us have any input on when. So, *now* isn't an option.
I also don't think you know the difference between 'excuses' and 'reasoning'.
There are some fairly intelligent people on this board who can analyze stuff and employ reasoning. Don't insult them too.
No more? Says who?

 

[KayJay]

This team, idk man. They make plays, but give up a f*ck ton of yards before doing it. The offense, gain a ton of yards but most of the time it doesn't end in points unless its away from the red zone and against a cake defense. Anything that we do, it looks like its never sustainable. So I believe we could easily be 5-1 right now, but we could also have lost most of those games too. This team could make the play offs, which says more about where the NFL currently is more so than the Rams.

Seen the Packers or Carolina lately? I think if its ever the time for Jeff Fisher's last hurrah this is it. The NFL's brand of football is awful right now. And we all know the Rams play better in ugly situations. After the Giants and the bye week, we have a winnable stretch of games. But I could also see us losing some of those games too. So in about 3-4 games we'll know truly where we are. What we need is a measuring stick, and its sad the NFL can't provide us one right now.

As for Keenums interception, I see more in his future. That Lions defense is the same defense that got Matt Flynn paid off of one game. Lol does anybody remember that game? I think Matt Flynn had like 6 touchdowns against the Lions defense. Of course we know where he is now.

 

[DaveFan'51]

Wouldn't it be nice to see both our O and our D clicking in the same game? Would be rout city, huh?

Think .. New York! New York! New York! New York! Eli is off his game, and as a team they don't have their act together!

 

[DaveFan'51]

Fish/Chuck Cecil/GW, need to fix that bend but dont break BS....

I agree with this!10000%!

 

[DaveFan'51]

I think Matt Flynn had like 6 touchdowns against the Lions defense.

And this was How many years and HC's ago for Detroit!?! My point is this is not the same Lions Team it was when Flynn played them! And Stafford's game has improved too!

 

[Rams43]

Three years in a row he's missed games due to injury. His first two years he wasn't a full time starter.

So since we've needed to be able to depend on him, he hasn't been dependable from an injury standpoint. You can say it's silly - but the fact is he's been injured and missed time for 3 years straight now - so your comment about missing TruJo hurts - we knew this was going to happen. He gets injured. Factor that with the reliance on Gaines, who didn't even play last year?

I was behind the personnel decisions in the offseason - but we all knew this was a possibility. We were relying on Quinn/Ogletree/Gaines/Johnson to be significant contributors this year - and that foursome combined to play 26 out of a possible 64 games last year.

And it turns out our depth is even worse this year than it was last year.

And yea I need to stop about the Jenkins thing, but I decided I was only going to be okay with choosing TruJo over him if TruJo didn't get hurt this year. Even if you want to say TruJo is a better player, which itself is debatable, is 75% of a better player really better? No. And now that I've said that again I'll try to tone it down, but it's extremely frustrating.

As for your players in 3 of 4 position groups missing time - I think you've missed my point. We all KNEW that was likely to happen given these players injury histories. A back is not something one easily recovers from in life, much less football. TruJo gets hurt, it's what he does. Gaines hasn't played well coming back from injury. These were all things that easily could have been anticipated.

Hayes getting hurt is not. He has less of an injury history than the others.

The "if healthy" argument is asinine when talking about football - no team is going to stay healthy. You say missing top players from 3 different position groups - but that doesn't paint an accurate picture. If you look at who is left healthy, we should be much better than this. That performance Sunday was the worst I've ever seen given what the offense did.

I get the frustration with TruJo's injury, Frantik. I do.

But he was rolled up on. That could happen to any player on any play in any game. That, alone, doesn't make him injury prone.

All CB's get hurt.

TruJo
Jenkins
Gaines
Joyner

I mean, ALL of them do. Hell, all players get hurt sooner or later if they are NFL starters.

For the record, I'm worried about Quinn's health, too. A lot.

My point about the 3 injuries on the front 4 was not so much the 3 injuries to starters. It was about 3 injuries to starters in a single position group. It was decimating.

Had we lost a DL, a LB, and either a CB or a S, it would not have been as impactful. At least, IMO.

Lastly, I think most of us were quite impressed with Gaines' play until this Lion game. A game where our pass rush all but disappeared.

Good discussion, man.

 

[ramsince62]

people have been making excuses for Fisher and these coaches for 5 years now

Not me, I got off the train after year #3, for all the good saying that does....damn, I'm so tired of this treadmill. :giveup:

 

[RamzFanz]

Britt and Quick sure showed up, didn't they? Is it possible that the wrong WR (or WR's) got the $42 million contract? Just kidding. Kinda...

Britt is an unsung hero. Dude just keeps making plays. Quick... nice. Nice comeback kid, we're pulling for you.

Put me in the camp that thinks that there's something not quite "right" about Gurley this year. Can't put my finger on it, but he doesn't look like the phenom of last year to me.

He's just not seeing the opportunities in my mind. It's like he's not playing with the instincts that got him here. He needs to dumb it down and go with his gut, IMO. Like TA does. He had a good half though so hopefully we've turned the corner.

Hope Quinn is 100% real soon, 'cause Gaines and Hill got undressed by Stafford because of the lack of pressure. Our whole D strategy is based upon a strong front four. Take that away due to injuries and our D drops to just so so. If that.

Truer words have never been spoken.

GZ has been automatic this year. Literally perfect through 6 games. I was wr... wr... WRONG about GZ. There, I said it.

Do you know how easy it is to jynx a kicker?!? Spit spit spit, spin around thrice, burn some chicken feathers.

Looks to me like both Britt AND Quick are more likely to be here in '17 than Fisher. Anybody else seeing the handicapping differently? Who'd a thunk it, especially Quick. ANOTHER Player I was 100% wrong about, btw.

Quick? Me too. Didn't think he was coming back mentally. Dude is on the verge of impressive.

I do NOT see Fisher as our '17 HC. Barring a miracle finish of some kind, that is. And the Rams already used their allotted miracle back in '99, I think.

Oh, there are going to be some miracles. The talent is almost all there and we still have some touchdowns in our box.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Good post. I'm still sad but like you said the offense showed so much it's hard to be sad. We know with our normal D that had potential to be a blowout.

The game tying drive where MO was called for PI on 3 and long was HUGE.

I am still not sure how or why Keenum threw that last pass. So so so much time left. I'd have spread them out and hit them with a few Gurley runs maybe catch them off guard.

Still sad. But Keenum looked great. Who knew we would draft and grab like 4 outside receivers in offseason and now Britt and Quick decide to play to their potential. Wish we could have drafted more defense knowing this...guess they needed a spark.

This next draft will be very deep at Corner. They should be able to get a good one in round 2. And maybe a raw one in round 3. Corner depth is a huge need. I agree they need another good DE but I don't think they get one in round 2.
Don't fool yourself about WR. Alshon Jeffrey, Julio, AJ, Brandon Marshall...etc, would all be huge on this team. Britt looked very good against a bad secondary, but he still isn't at that #1 level IMO. He is more like a 1.5. Which a team can get away with, but I'd still want a Hopkins, Cooper, etc ...

 

[TexasRam]

People underestimate the impact of Quinn. Take him out and Brockers out and Tru or Gaines out and the game just got drastically easier for the opposing offense. Take 3 of them out and a thirty burger is expected.

The positive is we wil be able to make a run after the bye with the injuries behind us and an offense that can actually move
The ball.

I'm quitely excited about our new found WR crew and passing game. Not worried about the defense one bit.

 

[Ballhawk]

It is time to move on from Fisher, and they shouldn't wait until the end of the season either. Get the new guy in here ASAP so he doesn't have to waste part of next year installing his system. Waiting just guarantees two more sub 500 seasons.

 

[FrantikRam]

No, you clearly don't get being positive. And that's not an insult. You just don't get it.
Sure, things need to change, but none of us have any input on when. So, *now* isn't an option.
I also don't think you know the difference between 'excuses' and 'reasoning'.
There are some fairly intelligent people on this board who can analyze stuff and employ reasoning. Don't insult them too.
No more? Says who?

So my posts in one thread after a frustrating few weeks tell you I "clearly don't get being positive"? I'm going to disagree with you here. I do get it. We have important players out injured - if they played we might win last week and maybe the week before - so I understand where the positivity comes from.

I also know that "now" isn't an option for change. I'm just stating the obvious - something needs to change. That can be after the season.

As for the difference between reasons and excuses, it's all in the accountability. When we make sweeping statements like "we would have won that game if we didn't have players injured" - that's an excuse. If we change it to "we should have been prepared for this, but we could have won the game if our team was healthy" - that gets into reason territory. We're not holding Fisher accountable, and yes as fans we do have a voice in that.

There are intelligent and analytical people everywhere - but the word fan, short for fanatic - tells you that we're all biased here. So even the most intelligent posters aren't always going to see clear reasoning....we're all wearing our Rams colored glasses here.

 

[RamWoodie]

Folks...the bottom line is this...at the half the Rams left 3 points out there that they should've happily taken. When Fisher went for the TD...I get the logic...you score 7 and you get the ball coming out for the 3rd qtr.

Here's the reality though...if you don't get any points on that play (which the Rams didn't)...it's at minimum a 6 point swing...YOU LOSE 3 points...and then you lose the game by 3 points.

Here's the unknown...how does your team come out up 3 points, getting the ball to start the 3rd???

This is the "X factor"!!! X representing the unknown...it's also why I hated algebra in school...and the Rams are now 3-3!!!

 

[Rams43]

Folks...the bottom line is this...at the half the Rams left 3 points out there that they should've happily taken. When Fisher went for the TD...I get the logic...you score 7 and you get the ball coming out for the 3rd qtr.

Here's the reality though...if you don't get any points on that play (which the Rams didn't)...it's at minimum a 6 point swing...YOU LOSE 3 points...and then you lose the game by 3 points.

Here's the unknown...how does your team come out up 3 points, getting the ball to start the 3rd???

This is the "X factor"!!! X representing the unknown...it's also why I hated algebra in school...and the Rams are now 3-3!!!

It was only 18-24 inches, Woodie.

And the Ram O had been playing very effectively up to that point.

I think going for the 7 points was the right call. Woulda made a crushing statement.

If you can't pick up 18 inches when you need it...

Well, maybe you don't deserve to win.

 

[RamWoodie]

It was only 18-24 inches, Woodie.

And the Ram O had been playing very effectively up to that point.

I think going for the 7 points was the right call. Woulda made a crushing statement.

If you can't pick up 18 inches when you need it...

Well, maybe you don't deserve to win.

Naw bro. You have a chip shot FG and you're the visiting team....YOU KNOW you get the first possession in the 3rd qtr.

You can try to make it sound gusty if you want...but you take the points because you go in UP 3 POINTS.

I'm gonna say it one more time...TOO MANY TIMES I'VE SEEN TEAMS FORFEIT SURE POINTS THAT CAME BACK AND BIT THEM!!!

TAKE THE POINTS!!!

 

[fearsomefour]

Well, here's my uneducated opinion on that.
Don't red-shirt your best player in camp when he needs the reps and the contact.

Him losing weight was stupid as well.