Changes Coming?

[Dodgersrf]

It's clear Stafford isn't 100% in control of this offense yet.
Which would be unrealistic after just 4 games.
He struggled a bit last week and struggled mightily yesterday against AZ.
The INT was tough, but there were issues even bigger than that
1) Missing a wide open Kupp for a td.
2) late, inaccurate passes. Eg. Higbee at the goal line
3) get Woods more involved.

Stafford is a pros pro and will get it together, though.

It would also help if we stick to the run when it works.
We should have been the team that rushed for almost 250 yds yesterday, not AZ.

We put a lot of the blame on the D yesterday, but when the offense can't sustain drives, it compounds an ineffective, worn out D.
Our D was on the field for around 35 minutes yesterday.

The Defense isn't off the hook by any means.
They were, just plain, horrible yesterday.

I highly doubt any coaching changes will be made mid season.
If Morris doesn't pull his unit together, though. Morris will be gone.

Lastly.
AZ may be a very good team.

 

[Merlin]

The OLBs on the left tackle didn't play contain.

Yeah and I think Hollins was clearly a big loss. Going back to last year he was iffy on contain but he was our best at it. Obo has always had a tendency to completely forget about it, and Lewis is still a young player learning on the job. Now maybe some or a lot of it was call based but we'll never know what the calls were (it is of course safe to assume when they're dropping that's the call, I'm talking inside moves here). My own belief here is that when they're on the rush they have the flexibility to try that inside move but from this point forward it's probably a coaching point to not do that. Just take the outside shoulder and force the play inside ffs vs some of these QBs we're gonna see in division.

Interesting point about Seattle. Having Ramsey and Williams on Metcalf and Lockett had us hold them to 16, 20 and 13 points last year.

Im fine having Long on Swain. But if he ends up on the other two.....I'll officially lose trust in Morris

Yeah we did a great job on Seattle last year no doubt. But last year is feeling like it's way in the rear-view at this point. Metcalf is really young and Ramsey shut him down last season but he had his hands full for the entire game with that dude. He's a scary matchup and still improving tbh not to mention Wilson throwing to him makes it worse. For some reason I feel like Morris calling this thing is going to result in a shit show and Seattle's gonna hang a lot of points on us through the air. But maybe I'm still just butt hurt from yesterday.

I'm hopeful we see a big bounceback victory with a full team effort. At this point though it's hard to feel confident about this defense.

And Stafford has to have an exclamation game on Thursday night to show he can lead this team in what will probably be a shootout (like the Cards game should have been). Haven't rewatched the film and I'm not going to but making occasional wow throws is not gonna get it done. This offense requires consistent fast reads and decisions from its QB and if Kupp is doubled move on dude. I do btw suspect a lot of guys were smothered by the Cards' coverage but still that's no excuse because in this offense if you get all the way through your reads you're gonna have a chance for a completion more often than not.

 

[AZRams]

The OLBs on the left tackle didn't play contain. The interior was getting owned by Hudson and company opening holes for the squirt to run through. More disciplined Spine play and some of the sacks hit home on Murray, and fewer scrambles go for big gains. It would have changed the game.

Scheme was weak. I'm hating the Morris higher. That being said I was worried about all of the Cards weapons. They are a tough team to defend. Mortis better make some scheme changes or this could become a trend.

And there was no aggressiveness, no attacking the offensive players. I almost through my remote when Williams caught a ball two-yards short of the first down and, while he's juggling the ball to secure it, Rapp is watching him and only moves to him after the ball is secured.

WTF...

 

[AZRams]

It's clear Stafford isn't 100% in control of this offense yet.
Which would be unrealistic after just 4 games.
He struggled a bit last week and struggled mightily yesterday against AZ.
The INT was tough, but there were issues even bigger than that
1) Missing a wide open Kupp for a td.
2) late, inaccurate passes. Eg. Higbee at the goal line
3) get Woods more involved.

Stafford is a pros pro and will get it together, though.

It would also help if we stick to the run when it works.
We should have been the team that rushed for almost 250 yds yesterday, not AZ.

We put a lot of the blame on the D yesterday, but when the offense can't sustain drives, it compounds an ineffective, worn out D.
Our D was on the field for around 35 minutes yesterday.

The Defense isn't off the hook by any means.
They were, just plain, horrible yesterday.

I highly doubt any coaching changes will be made mid season.
If Morris doesn't pull his unit together, though. Morris will be gone.

Lastly.
AZ may be a very good team.

Yeah, after that first drive I was fully expecting them to run the ball and run the clock to limit AZ's possessions. If the midget isn't on the field, he can't pull ridiculous shit out his butt on 3rd-and-100...

Their D couldn't stop the run. Why would you go away from it?

Playcalling like that makes you wonder if McVay somehow assimilated some Martz Football DNA...

 

[BonifayRam]

Replace Rapp with Burgess
Replace Long with Rochell

I would suggest:

As of today

CB Robert Rochell moved into the CB David Long position & Long moved into the Rochell 4th corner position.

After the Seattle game

Move deep safety Jordan Fuller into the strong safety Taylor Rapp post. Having a 6-2 safety closer to the LOS will cause issues for short QB's trying to throw over that wingspan. Using him deep deprives him of this attribute. If you will recall JJ was used primarily by Staley as the deep safety while Fuller was used more often up closer to the LOS last season. Fuller played much better last season than in the first 4 gms this season. Fuller can still make the calls for DC Morris from there. We need much better play from Jordan Fuller!

Re-Scheme SS Rapp primarily to used in ILB'er posts on passing downs & as the reserve Strong Safety.

Move one of the 2nd season DB's Terrell Burgess or Ju Ju Hughes into the Fuller position deep use the other in place of DS Nick Scott.

Get OLB'er Chris Garrett snaps increased dramatically.

Note: Og Okoronkwo has always been useless involving mobile QB containment Og has no idea what it means he has too much DL'er rush the passer mindset to change. I would not start him against QB Wilson.

There will have to be changes made to this defense. I expect some before Thursday night.

 

[Mackeyser]

I realize the issue with Long.

That said, didn't he have one of if not the lowest completion percentage against a DB in the entire league?

We fretted about the OL and it's doing well.

I think singling up Long on AJ Green was a huge mistake, but I'm hoping this was a game where we just dropped the ball rather than discovered a bunch of glaring personnel holes.

I feel pretty confident that we're gonna be fine going forward.

 

[ReekofRams]

I realize the issue with Long.

That said, didn't he have one of if not the lowest completion percentage against a DB in the entire league?

We fretted about the OL and it's doing well.

I think singling up Long on AJ Green was a huge mistake, but I'm hoping this was a game where we just dropped the ball rather than discovered a bunch of glaring personnel holes.

I feel pretty confident that we're gonna be fine going forward.

That’s because Long plays so far off the receivers that no one realizes that was his man they threw to.

 

[SeminoleRam]

Yeah, after that first drive I was fully expecting them to run the ball and run the clock to limit AZ's possessions. If the midget isn't on the field, he can't pull ridiculous shit out his butt on 3rd-and-100...

Their D couldn't stop the run. Why would you go away from it?

Playcalling like that makes you wonder if McVay somehow assimilated some Martz Football DNA...

 

[Psycho_X]

I would suggest:

As of today

CB Robert Rochell moved into the CB David Long position & Long moved into the Rochell 4th corner position.

After the Seattle game

Move deep safety Jordan Fuller into the strong safety Taylor Rapp post. Having a 6-2 safety closer to the LOS will cause issues for short QB's trying to throw over that wingspan. Using him deep deprives him of this attribute. If you will recall JJ was used primarily by Staley as the deep safety while Fuller was used more often up closer to the LOS last season. Fuller played much better last season than in the first 4 gms this season. Fuller can still make the calls for DC Morris from there. We need much better play from Jordan Fuller!

Re-Scheme SS Rapp primarily to used in ILB'er posts on passing downs & as the reserve Strong Safety.

Move one of the 2nd season DB's Terrell Burgess or Ju Ju Hughes into the Fuller position deep use the other in place of DS Nick Scott.

Get OLB'er Chris Garrett snaps increased dramatically.

Note: Og Okoronkwo has always been useless involving mobile QB containment Og has no idea what it means he has too much DL'er rush the passer mindset to change. I would not start him against QB Wilson.

Yep, everything I'd suggest as well. I've been frustrated as hell with our safety play since game 1. Thought it might get better but it hasn't. Personally would like to see Burgess if he is 100% but something tells me he isn't with his lack of playing time to date. He's the only safety we have who has (or at least had before injury) speed. Rapp, Fuller, and Hughes are all too slow for any kind of deep safety work. I like Juju's instincts when he's played against lesser competition though. Rapp has no instincts and never reacts proactively. I like the thought of putting Fuller back closer to line of scrimmage in Rapps role.

I noticed Ernest Jones came in and had a sudden role towards the end of the game. Often in tandem with Young so not sure who he was replacing at that time. I can't say it helped much but I'm hoping that was a sign of them trying to make some changes to the status quo at least.

 

[FaulkSF]

@BonifayRam I agree with you. For some reason our linebackers were taking bad angles all day and allowed AZ to get those extra couple yards for first downs.

I don't know if having Garrett in there would be a benefit. I would recommend playing more man to man to not give cushions to receivers.

 

[RamsOfCastamere]

We would have had more pressures and sacks against a QB that isn't as mobile as Murray. OLBs need to be discipline and force outside runs and scrambles inside where there's help.

Long is really bad at tracking the ball. He was close enough to make a play against Hopkins and Green on that scoring drive, but he did a poor job positioning himself once the ball was in the air. Giving Rochell more playing time will have to do.

I would like to see more man-zone cover 6 like last year, but someone has to cover the damn flats and be ready for screens!

 

[majrleaged]

You can't overreact to one loss. Arizona is a really good team. I think the Rams just looked passed them. It happens, as unacceptable as it is.

Morris needs to step it up though, or he won't be back.

Guaranteed he is planning to get a HC job. He will be here next year if this keeps up. LOL

 

[majrleaged]

We would have had more pressures and sacks against a QB that isn't as mobile as Murray. OLBs need to be discipline and force outside runs and scrambles inside where there's help.

Long is really bad at tracking the ball. He was close enough to make a play against Hopkins and Green on that scoring drive, but he did a poor job positioning himself once the ball was in the air. Giving Rochell more playing time will have to do.

I would like to see more man-zone cover 6 like last year, but someone has to cover the damn flats and be ready for screens!

Like I said before, Long reminds me of Hill before last year. Staley's scheme gave him the opportunity to make plays. He was facing the ball more and could react. If Hill was playing instead of Long, we would see the old Hill. This scheme by Morris is nothing like last year.
Watch Chargers D as the year goes on. It will be one of the best by the end and they will be hard to beat.

 

[majrleaged]

I honestly don't see the point of having Ramsey playing the star position other than making him happy because he was getting bored.

There's no way you can tell me that his most effective role isn't locking down and eliminating the other team's best receiver as a shutdown corner.

I have said this from the beginning. It wasn't broke, why is he trying to fix it.

 

[majrleaged]

Go back and draft a run stuffing LB instead of Atwell. He won’t contribute anything this year. Still don’t understand the logic of that pick.

I'm not sure that's the problem tbh.

It's not that the ball to Jackson barely got there or was looking like a duck which would suggest it's an arm strength thing. I think he either hasn't got used to the pace of Djax, or it was just underthrown through poor judgment.

Speaking of something Physical going on. Some of his throws were so far off, including the under throw, it looked as if he has something wrong with his hand. He hit his thumb in camp and then in the Colt game. Or maybe he was doing his no look and was way off this time? It's just hard to believe his throws could be so far off as that one to Kupp down the sideline and 5ft over his head or the one to Kupp down the seem that hit the ground 2 ft in front of him. Dude was not just off. He was way off. Plus he ran a lot more. Like he didn't trust his throws.

 

[majrleaged]

It's truly asinine. I can see it against teams that are heavy run teams or like to throw lots of short passes, assuming there is no top WR to lock down. But against the Hopkins, Metcalf it is truly stupid. Against the Niners Lions, or Giants yea. Some of our upcoming games may warrant it. I also wonder about the injury risk making him so involved in tackling like a linebacker and the risk of him losing his reps for covering on the outside making him a little rusty when he's expected to do it all game in a later game.

You make a lot of sense.

 

[majrleaged]

Interesting point about Seattle. Having Ramsey and Williams on Metcalf and Lockett had us hold them to 16, 20 and 13 points last year.

Im fine having Long on Swain. But if he ends up on the other two.....I'll officially lose trust in Morris

I'm already their. I hate to say this, but look for more of the same this week cause it is a short week and hard to change anything. What I have seen a lot of with these thursday games is, teams that play poorly on the sunday before, tend to lay another egg on thursday. It doesn't always happen, but I bet is like a 60 40 split. Luckily we have always had their number. Um unless Morris don't. If so, look for more of wilson getting out of the pocket and killing us. On the plus side if that happens, it should cause a shake up and we will have 10 days to fix it.

 

[majrleaged]

This is more or less what I'm feeling.

I like the idea of Ramsey being in the star position to impact plays more, but when you're going against one of the best receivers in the league and you have one guy who can follow him and cover him, that's where he's best used.

McVay has a bad habit of getting away from the run, sometimes I think he outsmarts himself. Getting down into the redzone while ripping off 6-7 yard runs and then going to a bunch of passes just doesn't work. This has been a consistent thorn in our side, he needs to get someone in his ear (hello, OC?) to say "Hey, Sean, calm the fuck down and run the fucking ball here" especially if your QB is off.

Giving Stafford easy completions to slowly drive down the field may have been better than just having him try to rip these huge chunk plays. I didn't watch the second half, but based on the previous three games I feel like we're underutilising Woods a bit, he's dangerous in the run and screen game, when we've fallen behind in games previously he's been a big part of pulling the team out of their slump, yet it feels like we're going away from that.

I agree on woods. Stafford needs to spread it around more than he is. Kupp is good, but it woodn't hurt to maybe go away from him a little more.
On another note but still on passing, why didn't we see anymore passes to Jackson. Okay, first one was a bad result, but that shouldn't stop what we do.

 

[jacktheripper85]

Two questions I would pose to McVay are:

#1: If this is the scheme Morris said he was going to install in the interview process why would you hire him in the first place? Especially after the success you had last year under Staley’s scheme.

#2: It seems like you are abandoning the run game-even when it’s working-and relying on Stafford to do too much. Are you trying too hard to highlight Stafford to justify pounding the table to trade Goff?

 

[Tumak61]

Concerned about our starting Safeties and also Morris as D coordinator. Just not sure at this point. Rapp looks so very slow.