Bernie: Fisher, not Schotty, is the problem

[Alan]

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_14481c2e-70bf-5cfe-bc9b-b2f0d38958e4.html
Brian Schottenheimer is leaving the Rams to become the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Georgia.

I wasn't a fan of the Schotty offense, and I certainly took some swipes at him.

But I think it's important to point something out.

Rams fans rejoicing over the Schottenheimer exit should remember that Jeff Fisher is still the head coach.

Fisher didn't leave.

Which means Fisher's core offensive beliefs will stay firmly in place.

During Schottenheimer's three seasons as Fisher's offensive coordinator here, I never forgot that Schotty was running the offense that the boss wanted him to run.

I always viewed this as the Fisher offense.

Not the Schottenheimer offense.

That's why Fisher hired Schottenheimer; they basically shared the ground-and-pound philosophy and a preference for leather-helmet football.

I'm not saying that Schottenheimer would have put together a creative, dangerous, high-scoring offense if given the freedom to do so. After all, he is Marty Schottenheimer's son, and Brian has embraced many of his father's concepts. The playbook didn't fall far from the tallest Schottenheimer tree.

And when Schottenheimer tried to run a lot of spread-formation, up-tempo stuff at the start of the 2013 season, it sputtered and broke down. It was a big heap of a mess, prompting Fisher to quickly revert to his tackle-football sensibilities.

It was the right decision by Fisher at the time, but it also reaffirmed the head coach's discomfort with a flashier, more daring and forward-thinking offense.

That's why it's a short-sighted to assume that things will change when Fisher hires another OC to runhis offense.

Monday morning I refreshed some research that I'd done several months ago. I ran the numbers in preparation of a piece on the history of Fisher's offenses during his full 19 seasons as an NFL head coach. I guess this is a good time to go with it...


And the numbers don't lie. The Fisher track record is extensive and meaningful. It can't be dismissed as randomness, or the result of injuries or bad luck. When a coach has a mediocre offense over a lengthy period of time, it tells us a lot. About his flaws. About the viability of his desired approach during a time when the NFL has evolved into a passing league. And it tells us a lot about what to expect ... or, more to the point, what NOT to expect.

At this point there's little or no reason to expect a Fisher-coached team to field a dynamic, prolific offense. Heck, Rams fans in STL and LA would probably be satisfied with an above-average offense. And Fisher hasn't delivered that for a long time.

The bottom line is scoring points.

Fisher's teams don't score enough of them.

And that's been the case for a a while now _ long before Schottenheimer became Fisher's OC.

When I talk about points, I'm referring to points scored by the offense. It doesn't include points scored by the team's defense or special teams.

Here you go:

* Fisher's offenses have met or exceeded the league average for points scored in only three of his last nine seasons as a HC.

* Fisher hasn't had an offense ranked better better than 12th in points scored since 2003.

* Over his last 10 seasons, here's the yearly league ranking for Fisher's offense in points scored: 13th ... 23rd ... 25th ... 21st ... 12th ... 16th ... 16th ... 28th... 22nd ... 23rd.

* Fisher's offense (Titans, then Rams) has scored points at the average level for playoff-team qualifiers only three times in his 19 seasons _ and only once during the last 14 seasons.

* To elaborate on that "playoff team" statistic, let's take a look at Fisher's offenses in STL to see how they measure up. It gives you a good idea of how badly the Rams are lagging behind playoff-caliber offenses.

In 2012, the 12 playoff teams averaged 385 points on offense. The Rams offense posted 261 points.

In 2013, playoff teams averaged 401 points; the Rams offense put up 304 points.

In 2014, playoff teams averaged 385 points; the Rams "O" scored 289.

It's hard to imagine how the Rams could grow into a consistent winner, and a playoff regular, with an offense that can't come close to matching the point-scoring firepower of NFL postseason-caliber teams.

Which leads to a few obvious observations:

If Coach Fisher's extensive performance history tells us that his offenses have generated average postseason-team point totals only three times in 19 seasons, then I'm not sure why we would expect things to change in a dramatic way.

With a wheezing offense, I'm not sure why we should be surprised to realize that Fisher has had only two winning records in his last 10 seasons as an NFL head coach. He's 74-86-1 over the last 10 seasons.

And given the historical pattern of the Fisher offense, I'm not sure why would be so quick to blame the offensive coordinator when the running attack is stuffed, or the wide receivers fail to make big plays, or the pass protection turns shaky, or the quarterback rarely performs at an elite level.

The problem isn't the Schottenheimer offense.

The problem is the Fisher offense.

Coach has a chance to reinvent himself, and his offense, by hiring a more imaginative offensive coordinator that can at least try to take this tired offense into a newer, fresher direction.

Do you think that's going to happen?

I don't either.

The Fisher offense still struggles to master the basics.

Three years into the rebuild at Rams Park, Fisher still hasn't put together an offensive line that reliably protects the QB and pounds out the holes to funnel a formidable running game.

The 2014 Rams ranked 20th in rushing yards per game, and were 16th in average yards per rushing attempt.

They were 20th in the category of long, 10-play drives.

And 20th in five-minute ball-control drives.

The Rams were frequently pushed back in short-yardage runs, and only seven teams were stomped for more sacks.

When you've had three years to install the most important part of a physical, run-based offense -- the big men up front -- and are still getting manhandled at the line of scrimmage, it represents a significant failure.

And if you can't even take command on the ground, then how can you expect your offense to take off and fly?

 

[theramsruleUK]

just let me bask in the glory for 1 day please

 

[Blue and Gold]

Bernie has a bee in his bonnet about the topic of which we dare not speak. But that's typical Bernie.

 

[-X-]

Duh. Lotta people have pointed out that drafting players who have zero knowledge of NFL concepts, and instead drafting them simply because they possess superior athletic ability, is going to require a lot of patience on behalf of everyone involved in seeing those players reach their full potential. And because of that, you can't put it solely on the OC. But that's not gonna stop people from needing a scapegoat anyway.

 

[TheDYVKX]

I thought we banned Bernie.

 

[Boffo97]

Dammit. Bernie seems to be espousing the same opinion I put out there as a possibility.

Now I have to reconsider my stance.

 

[Athos]

Bernie is a fat worthless fuck.

I have criticisms of Fisher, but Shotty had/has a lot of issues.

The only thing you could say about Fisher and drafting, is drafting guys who aren't really ready yet for the NFL and may/may not take a long time to put it together. If at all.

 

[Pancake]

Dammit. Bernie seems to be espousing the same opinion I put out there as a possibility.

Now I have to reconsider my stance.

The funny part is that there is a real chance he got his thoughts on the matter from your posts or someone else's.

 

[Warner4Prez]

The 2014 Rams ranked 20th in rushing yards per game, and were 16th in average yards per rushing attempt.

The Rams were frequently pushed back in short-yardage runs, and only seven teams were stomped for more sacks.

When you've had three years to install the most important part of a physical, run-based offense -- the big men up front -- and are still getting manhandled at the line of scrimmage, it represents a significant failure.

Yeah, it's a bit puzzling to me too. Why go to the RB well so many times if you don't plan on running it 25 times a game?
I won't say that they've neglected the line, but maybe a better way to put it is that they've over-estimated what they have there?

2012 - Scott Wells and Rok Watkins, scooped up Barksdale in September. Wells missed nearly the entire season, as did Rok. Barks made an impact though.
2013 - Jake Long and Barret Jones. Long was already a bit of an injury concern at this point, I don't recall if Jones' Lis Franc issue was known prior to the draft or not. Long went down with an injury near the end of the year and we all know Jones' story.
2014 - Re-upped Saffold, which is a bit questionable given his track record of health, Drafted the Big Man anticipating he play inside the first year, Van Dyk and Rhaney late, fan favorite Davin Joseph.

So they haven't neglected the line. It just seems as though they've played it like they had much more in place. Keeping their fingers crossed that guys like Long and Wells would hold up, while the youngsters like Jones and G-Rob would be able to step up quickly.

Clearly they don't know the pit of despair that is the St. Louis Rams O-Line.

 

[Legatron4]

It doesn't help that we have ZERO consistency at any of our positions. We started the Fisher era with Jackson at running back, Amendola and Gibson as receivers. The next year, we have Richardson, Givens and Pettis. We ended the year with Stacy, Austin and Cook as the offensive leaders. This year? We started with Stacy, Quick and Pettis as our starters. We ended with Mason, Bailey and Britt. I won't even mention the QBs, we already know how that worked out. But how do we expect to put up points when we can't even put out consistent starters at the core positions?

 

[OnceARam]

There's lies, Damn lies, and this fucking guy.

 

[Boffo97]

The funny part is that there is a real chance he got his thoughts on the matter from your posts or someone else's.

If that's true, I need to do a better job making Bernie make sense. Sorry guys....

 

[Prime Time]

I thought we banned Bernie.

He was banned for pissing off too many people here and then un-banned when it appeared that he was becoming more even-handed.

Here's the problem I have with this article and Bernie in general, other than the childish "Rams fans in STL and LA" comment which ticks me off - does Bernie or anyone else other than players and staff know how much influence Fisher has had on his OC's playcalling? Is he telling them what to do on every play, half the time, or is he letting them do what they want? If he's a dictator then he deserves all the criticism in this article. If he's a delegator then he deserves criticism for hiring the wrong OC's and not keeping them in line. Maybe he's just really lousy at picking OC's or he's had a long string of bad luck.

My guess, and it's only a guess, is that he hires people who go along with his general offensive philosophy and let's them do their thing unless the whole things not working, as we saw two seasons ago. This much is true, whatever he's doing is not working and their needs to be a drastic change.

I suspect this will not happen. It's not that Jeff Fisher can't change his way of running the team, it's that he probably doesn't want to. The man is in his late 50's, has been coaching for a long time, is probably rich enough to retire and go fishing, climb mountains and do whatever else pleases him. Plus, at least to my eyes, he's looked worn out and distracted this season. I wouldn't be surprised if he bailed out sooner than later. Again that is just a guess on my part.

I like Jeff Fisher in the way that a fan can like a coach he's never met. The players seem to like him as well. He's done a good job considering the shape the Rams were in when he started his tenure. We have moved from abysmal to mediocre. That in itself is a major accomplishment. But the idea that he'll be getting the next Rams OC in-house does not bode well. What's needed is some fresh thinking to move our offense up to the next level. We shall see if that happens.

 

[den-the-coach]

Bernie has a bee in his bonnet about the topic of which we dare not speak. But that's typical Bernie.

So true so from this point forward every word he prints or utters will be tainted.

 

[VegasRam]

So, he assumes, (like I guess all of us), that Schotty was let go. If he was, (or even if he wasn't) maybe Fisher's rethinking his philosophy. Vermeil did.

In any case, seems like Boinie was just looking for an excuse to write yet another anti-Fisher diatribe.

 

[RamBill]

Clayton: Fisher Gave Shotty the Ok to Look For Other Jobs

John Clayton talks about what the loss of Brian Schottenheimer as offensive coordinator means to the Rams. He’s surprised Schotty took a job outside the NFL. Fisher gave Schotty the OK to look for other opportunities.

Watch Clayton Talk Schotty and Rams

 

[-X-]

Is he really wrong though? Throughout his history, Fisher hasn't necessarily had very many top offenses.

And to give Schotty yet another out, neither has Rex Ryan

 

[MrMotes]

Is he really wrong though? Throughout his history, Fisher hasn't necessarily had very many top offenses.

And neither has BS which is why it's probably a mistake to expect a lot of offense from either of them...

 

[-X-]

And neither has BS which is why it's probably a mistake to expect a lot of offense from either of them...

I understand how you feel about Schottenheimer, so that comment wasn't really necessary.
I was talking about Bernie's point about Fisher cultivating the offensive philosophy.
Wouldn't you say the tables I put up there kind of substantiate that claim?

 

[Robocop]

the offensive "theory" the Rams were suppose to have was complete bullshit. there was no ground and pound. with a backup QB the run pass ratio went even more pass happy than last year! idk who's fault that is but it's somebody's. my only problem with fisher is he's too hands off on game day. if there's a coordinating problem on gameday than stick your nose in it and be involved. I don't give a shit if it hurts someone's feelings