Absent a philosophical U-Turn by Fisher, it won't make any difference. I see no reason to believe such a turnarond is coming. You would think after having traded a mother-lode of draft picks for the right to draft Jared Goff that the light would have went on for him. But then he sends him out there Sunday, with one hand tied behind his back, tries to sit on a lead from the first quarter on, and so forth. This is after spending his first two seasons here letting Sam Bradford be coached into a safety-first checkdown machine. I see absolutely zero evidence that Fisher will change his philosophy, or allow a new OC to come in and run an offense that would fully utilize Goff's skill set. And I further find it hard to believe he would be open to the front office forcing such a thing on him as a condition of employment, as happened to Vermeil prior to the '99 season.
This column sums it up pretty good:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/rams-736165-fisher-goff.html
Bonsignore: Playing not to lose backfires for Rams, Jeff Fisher
VINCENT BONSIGNORE
Given everything Jeff Fisher could have said about Jared Goff's first career NFL start Sunday, what Fisher chose to say said everything you need to know about the Rams’ coach.
“As far as Jared’s concerned, he did a really good job,” Fisher began. “No delay-of-games.”
It was classic Fisher, a defensive-minded coach whose offensive philosophy seems to be making sure the offense doesn't screw anything up for the defense.
Hence Goff being asked to do little more than what his predecessor, Case Keenum, was asked to do the first nine games of the season.
As in throwing short, safe passes rather than taking chances down the field. Playing carefully. Deliberately.
Which is why Fisher went right to the mistake card when assessing Goff's first start.
And why Fisher immediately pointed out Goff's lack of mistakes.
Rather than the moxie he showed taking chances down the field or making big plays or being the catalyst to an expanded Rams offensive attack.
None of which Goff was asked or even allowed to do.
Because that goes against Fisher's offensive philosophy.
It’s called playing not to lose.
Which is great way to lose a bunch of winnable games.
And that's been a staple of Jeff Fisher-coached teams for years.
Including this year, as the Rams fell to 4-6 after gift-wrapping the Miami Dolphins a 14-10 win Sunday despite carrying a 10-0 lead into the final five minutes.
It’s the same record they had under Fisher last year through 10 games. And the season before that and the season before that. And, well, the season before that.
All roads under Fisher, it seems, lead straight to mediocrity.
And that's a problem.
That said, here are some observations after Goff's debut on Sunday.
RAMS ARE A MISTAKE-PRONE TEAM
Theoretically Fisher's philosophy of playing careful, deliberate football offensively and essentially putting games into the hands of the defense is a sound approach. The fact the Rams have been a play or two from winning in five of their six losses proves that.
But there is a major flaw.
When your philosophy reduces your margin of error to nearly nil, you have to play mistake-free football to see it through to a successful conclusion.
But as we saw Sunday – and pretty much every week that preceded it – the Rams are far from mistake-free.
They committed eight penalties, two of which significantly aided the Dolphins’ fourth-quarter touchdown drives and another wiped out a first-down run by Goff.
“We just had too many penalties,” Rams linebacker Alec Ogletree said.
Said safety T.J. McDonald: “We hurt ourselves, penalties, we gave them free yards. ... We hurt ourselves with some big yards, putting us in a bad situation and had to adjust how we played because of the score.”
And that's been a problem all year.
RAMS DEFENSE IS PLAYING WAY TOO MUCH
The lasting impression of Sunday's loss is the Rams defense surrendering 14 straight points over the final five minutes. It gave the impression the defense collapsed.
That's unfair to a unit that's playing remarkable football but is the victim of being asked to carry too much of the weight.
Invariably, a breaking point occurs. And that is exactly what happened Sunday.
Not that anyone on defense wanted to admit it.
“We always say, we want the offense to put up 50 points – that’s not going to happen week-in and week-out,” Rams defensive end Robert Quinn said. “They gave us a 10-0 lead, all we had to do was either hold them to field goals or keep them out of the end zone. I guess the last six minutes, we definitely – the best way to put it is we dropped the ball. It’s frustrating, we thought we had a win, but I guess that’s why you play until the clock says zero.”
HOW SAFE IS JEFF FISHER?
Barring a complete about-face, the Rams will let Fisher coach through the end of the season. And barring a complete turnaround, the Rams will finish the season at .500 or below.
The question is, does he return on a new deal once his contract expires at the end of the season?
It's getting more and more difficult to justify that, especially if the Rams continue down their current path. The offense has not progressed during his four-plus years at the helm, and the struggles are even more pronounced with the defense playing as well as it is.
Can the Rams afford to put the fate of Goff, the No. 1 pick in last year's draft, in a head coach who hasn't been able to figure out a sound offense nearly five years into the job?
Or are they better off handing things over to an offensive-minded coach with a proven track record of developing young quarterbacks and taking offenses to another level?
