How close are the Rams?

[OntarioRam]

The Rams are pretty close. To be specific, they are a mediocre passing game away from being a powerhouse. It is beyond frustrating we cannot develop that when we have Gurley and Austin on the roster. If that can't open things up enough to at least be average.... either the players, the coaching, or both have a serious problem.

 

[BadCompany]

Close enough that the Washington debacle may have cost us the season.

 

[Psycho_X]

I don't know, having a hard time thinking this team can truly beat most playoff caliber teams not in the NFC West. The o-line is a mess, WRs don't seem to get open and when they do no one throws them the ball, TEs can't catch, and the QB suddenly seems gun shy the few times he isn't getting blasted by opposing defenses. Oh, and the OC has such few plays he literally runs the exact same one 5-10 times a game while completely ignoring some pretty standard play options all other teams utilize frequently even with sub standard talent (ie-RB screens, slant passes, curl routes, etc).

 

[tragic891]

I dont care who the coach is. You hand a HC, ANY HC in the NFL, arguably the best defense in the game, arguably the best RB in the game and a game changer like Tavon, and that team will win

No reason this team should be close at this point. They should be there.

Exactly this team should be one of the better teams in the NFL.
This team is too talented(overall) to be 4-4
But when the passing offense is a joke and a team is only able to run the ball.
Records like 4-4 happen,

 

[bomebadeeda]

I think a few have already nailed it. Time (expierence ) and maybe one receiver we could hang our hat on would be real close to the perfect answer. We have just enough flaws right now, where we need a perfect game, if all of our pieces can't go. And like yesterday......we weren't perfect. And we didn't win. But we're awfully close.

 

[brokeu91]

The Rams might be a couple of players away from being 6-2, but so what? I'm tired of the Rams being "a couple of players away". Aren't you? I can't just stop being a Rams fan, but I'm tired of seeing them lose. Maybe this should be in the vent thread, I don't know, but aren't you guys getting sick of hearing about how close the Rams are to being a playoff team? After this many years of losing and high draft picks, shouldn't we BE a playoff team? Not just close to one, but actually BE one?

 

[MountainRam]

While Foles really needs to work on his accuracy, I do think with a proper supporting cast he can win in this league. We have a stud RB and a stud gadget player. If we can come out of this offseason with two legitimate outside threats (Jeffrey or Gordon in FA and a draft pick?), an upgrade on the OL and keep this D together, we can be looking at a powerhouse. This team reminds me of Seattle right before they took that big step. I'm loving the competitive games and I think next year we are dominant.

You are saying we are another year away? Freaking great.

 

[BonifayRam]

I know everyone likes to be all over Foles and I get it.

But the biggest problem with the Rams offense yesterday started with the loss of Havenstein. Moving Reynolds to RT (where he was fine) meant putting rookie Andrew Donnal at LG, and he just wasn't up to the task of controlling Linval Joseph. Like at all. I know that Donnal is just a rookie and that was his first game, but geez. And don't get me wrong, Joseph is a good player, but not that good.

A lack of veteran depth on the OL. We've been talking about it since before pre season. That was what it looks like in a game.

Fix that one spot on the OL and Gurley runs for 100+. Foles gets a bit more time to make his reads. A few more first downs. Maybe even a few TDs instead of FGs. Defense gets to rest.

You don't need the best LG in football to win. But you can't lose at that spot all day long like that and expect to win.

You can fix that spot as you said (OLG) by placing our best OLG in that post.....that just happens to be rookie Jamon Brown who is now starting @ ORG! But as we have seen in the past we can not do that because we are forced to babysit our 2nd overall first round selection from a draft in 2014.

 

[DCH]

I'd say pretty damned, although keeping the core together after this year will be challenging. We're close in that if we had all our pieces healthy yesterday, we probably would have won (hell, just Havenstein might have made the difference). But... if Minnesota had all their pieces, the game is different, too.

We're close enough that we can run with playoff teams in their own house, and beat them some of the time (see 'Zona). Great teams dominate at home and stay competitive on the road, picking up at least a couple wins in other playoff teams' backyards.

 

[thirteen28]

How close are we to having a passing offense that is merely competent?

When you get your answer to that question, you'll have your answer to both.

 

[FrantikRam]

Where we're at now: 4-4, in our 8 games, 4 teams now have a winning record, and one is also 4-4.

The three games against sub .500 teams still have 8 wins total.

Before the season, we thought the first half would be tough and the 2nd half would be slightly less tough. As it stands now, it is SIGNIFICANTLY less tough.

4-4 is right where I thought we would be - I think most of us thought Foles would be better and Gurley wouldn't be this great right away - but either way you look at it, if you're honest with yourself, 4-4 is probably where you'd thought we'd be. What is different is that of our remaining 8 games, we will surely be favored in 4 of them - possibly 6 depending on @Baltimore and home for the Cardinals. What does that mean? It means we have a chance to be consistent. How will we do over the final 8 games? Well, let's break it down...

Bears - W

@Ravens - another chance to show us what we're made of - this time we get it done - W

@Bengals**

Cardinals**

Lions - W

Bucs - W

@Seahawks**

@Niners - W


We would need just one of these games to get to 10 wins. Foles has played better, so I know he's capable of playing better. I'm not giving up on this season. And if we don't make the playoffs, I'm going to enjoy watching Gurley and this young OL develop. And then we'll re-sign who we need to re-sign, improve the roster and next year we'll dominate. I have faith.

 

[fearsomefour]

A few pieces....problem is those pieces are create a yawning void in the offense.

 

[MTRamsFan]

We are getting closer to being at the top of the mountain. Even with yesterday's setback, we are getting closer. Hell, Baltimore won a super bowl with a great defense, great running attack and a crappier QB than what we currently have. We probably won't get ther this year, but I'm betting we will next year. It's a process, and I see it coming together.

 

[LesBaker]

We have a lot of great pieces on this team, but we lack talent at a few key spots:

The ONLY goal of a team is to win the Superbowl and Fisher is not a Superbowl winning coach and Foles is not a Superbowl winning QB. To me, it is that simple.

How many coaches in the NFL have won a SB?

How many coaches in the NFL have taken a team to a SB?

 

[junkman]

You can fix that spot as you said (OLG) by placing our best OLG in that post.....that just happens to be rookie Jamon Brown who is now starting @ ORG! But as we have seen in the past we can not do that because we are forced to babysit our 2nd overall first round selection from a draft in 2014.

Of course we can't 'cuz we lost Saffold (not that Saffold was playing all that well). We came into the season with the plan at G being Saffold, then a bunch of rookies. Then we took out backup T and made him our next G. We've only really lost 2 guys on our OL and it looks like a sieve.

 

[BonifayRam]

Gee. I believe that they have everything they need right now except at QB.

I sitting in here close to Memphis on this. At QB not close at all.

This team is so solid in comparison to the other 31 teams. All the units on defense DE-DT-MLB-OSLB-CB's & safeties are as good as they come in the NFL. Shame that early 2016 free agency will certainly weaken this present defense @ CB & DL. But our D coaches & Snead bench can make up for most of that in time.

Snead & Fisher do lean so heavy to defense but made good strides the other way with some additional O coaches who I think have bright futures still the jury is out on Frank Cignetti . As we fully know its the OFFENSE that is on life support under full time under Nursing by the defense. Could you imagine what this defense is possible of if this offense was capable of :homercrawl:on its own:headexplosion:?

First...The back up RB's unit has become an issue as the season goes on. The loss of Stacy then Pead then Watts on top of that Mason is a cracked eggshell of what he was? & Benny Cunningham has been prone to fumble issues at real bad times add in very little production just like Mason...this unit outside the running of (Austin & Gurley) is in shambles & degrading fastalm:. When you stop to figure in both Gurley & Austin do have recent injury issues. Not close at all.

Fisher's ex Titan big UFA $$$ signing pass catchers (Britt & Cook) are legit smelly brain farts waiting to happen when the ball comes close to their hands. Snead's high WR's draft picks Quick & Bailey are in disarray as well. Quick 4 yrs here after being a 33rd pick will be is stamped FAILED. Stedman Bailey ???what happen to him:notsure:...Not close at all.

Now to a more positive unit. The OL has some very good young elements contained in it. Issue is placing these young diamonds in the right position so they can sparkle under the light. I am convinced that Boudreau has some rearranging yet to do. Not sure he is close there yet. Injuries to season opening starters on the right side Saffold & Havenstein sure showed up yesterday big. One injury forced him into placing 2 OL'ers in new posts indicates to me rookie UDFA Darrell Williams is not ready to start @ mid season @ OT. DW is also the only back up to GRob on the master roster. Moving GRob's baby sitter Garrett Reynolds to ORT left the left side weakened up. Shame that GRob can not stand on his own yet. Brown playing ORG is not a good place for him. Boudreau should be able to get this fixed so the Rams are close here.

 

[BonifayRam]

Of course we can't 'cuz we lost Saffold (not that Saffold was playing all that well). We came into the season with the plan at G being Saffold, then a bunch of rookies. Then we took out backup T and made him our next G. We've only really lost 2 guys on our OL and it looks like a sieve.

Your Right.
Entered this season with 7 first yr OL'ers with zero NFL games on their resumes. Only one veteran OL'er (Garrett Reynolds) as a reserve who just happen to be our all in important 6th OL'er. Yep "as usual" starting ORG Saffold was only able to finish 4 games before injury & being IR'd. GR moved up to starter leaving the Paul Boudreau's cupboard bare without a solid 6th OL'er prospect.

In 2012 Paul Boudreau had @ times Robert Turner/Wayne Hunter as the 6th OL'ers. This 2012 worked out well for PB. In 2013 Boudreau had @ times Shelley Smith/Tim Barnes/Joe Barksdale as the 6th OL'ers. Like in 2012 this 2013 combo worked well for PB too. In 2014 PB had @ times Tim Barnes/Mike Person as the 6th OL'ers. Just like the previous two season 2014 worked well once again.

Now here we are in 2015, where PB 2nd injury this season to his starter Havenstein. Looks to me it indicates PB was left with NO legit 6th OL'er to be plugged in as in his previous seasons past. That was surprising. PB thought that emergency plug in Darrell Williams might be the guy.....not the guy after-all.

Thus Nick Foles went into the Vikings game with only two original OL'ers starting in his opening season assigned posts (Robinson/Barnes). Looks like that 4th rd rookie Andrew Donnal is Boudreau's new 2015 mid season versatile 6th OL'er when Rob Havenstein returns. When will that be??? I thinking much longer than most of us believe.

 

[Athos]

A QB.

A consistent WR.

At least one stud on the O-line.

That close.

 

[Rmfnlt]

Sorry to be so down, but - as long as Jeff Fisher is our coach - we may be close, but we'll never get over the hump.

The man is far too conservative and refuses to find ways to allow the offense to average more than 17PPG.

We've had changes in coaching... changes in the roster and still, the offense is putrid.

This offense is WORSE than last year, with Schottenheimer... let that sink in... and with Gurley... let THAT sink in.

I'm sorry to say - with Fisher - it's always going to be the same things:
* Excellent defense
* Undisciplined
* Woeful offense

Can that get you to the "top"? Depends on how you define top.

It has moved us from laughing stock to respectable... .but I do not see us being much more than that under him.

 

[kurtfaulk]

LOL, I am so sure Fisher does not want to win a Superbowl. Or that he doesn't want to win in general. Now you can say that we need a less conservative coach, but I really think that Fisher tried to fix that wow by hiring Chudzinski to run the offense. Too bad none of the better OCs available wanted to work with Jeff.

And of course the Rams need a better QB and some WRs and a TE. That may take another 2-3 years.

there's a huuuuuge difference between wanting to win and wanting not to lose. and it affects the team in general. or in this case, the offense.

.