While Gurley isn't getting the carries we were promised, there is good reason. For all the seasons we suffered with poor and/or injured offensive lines, we don't have much to show with GRob and our haul of linemen we have drafted recently. Out of the whole bunch, only Havenstein grades as a worthy investment, fortunately outpacing by far the guy he replaced. We were sold on the fact our OL would be built for a power run game, yet every single lineman excels at pass pro and crumbles in run support. And when I say excel at pass pro, what I really mean is barely average, while our rush support is a total failure. Game after game we watch opposing defenses penetrate our OL and hit Gurley behind the line of scrimmage. We get no push and we get no pull. Even Saffold is not his old self. And Barnes is way over his head in rush D. The real failure though, remains with the highly drafted GRob at LT, ... this experiment has just about run its course, hopefully. Of course, having an almost passable grade in pass pro isn't much of an asset when you start a QB who is really no better than a reserve player in this league. At least Britt, Quick & Kendricks have been a pleasant surprise this season, although maintaining consistency is still a concern for many of us.
The Rams, once again, let a game we should have won get away from us. A key interception, a key WR drop for an easy 6 points, 2 missed FG's, ... and several penalties. While it's easy to slam Fisher for any loss, todays game, imo, is on the OL, the penalties, Zuerlein, Keenum & Fisher, his OC and OL coach. We've lost 5 games now, besides the opening blowout against Frisco which was lost by the entire team, our defense lost a couple when our D-Line was riddled for a few games, and our O has been a season long embarrassing spectacle.
The scary aspect of how this game goes, at least for me, is that while I believe our team is quite close to being very good, until we get Goff going behind a much improved OL, our offense isn't going to perform a whole lot better. Teams know to stack the box as we have no OL and QB, and while Goff should, in time, bring some relief to our passing game which will help Gurley also get going, our OL is still a major project which needs tending in a big way this next off-season. If we were to replace Fisher now or right after the season, what becomes of our DC, or for that matter, the rest of the players on our team. New coaches tend to scrap former coaches & players to build a team to their own philosophy, ... and after years of Linehan, Spagnuolo & Fisher, are we ready to start all over again ?
