Kevin O’Connell (free pass?)

[Mackeyser]

Mike Martz was a great OC and offensive head coach but couldn't pick players in the draft or UDFA.

That talent went way down once he became Head Coach.

And then he got stubborn and his offensive game plan was his way or no way.

I dunno that he’s an awful human being, but he did engage in an awful series of behaviors that in other venues would be felonious.

 

[Ramlife]

Needed to start a post on Kevin O’Connell.

I really have QUESTIONS about The Rams offense with him at OC

Im not buying that.. Goff should have been seasoned enough in Mcvays offense to be accurate. Geez.. the guy signed a 100mill contract and led the league in turnovers. It must have been someone else’s fault. BS, Its on Goff.

 

[So Ram]

Im not buying that.. Goff should have been seasoned enough in Mcvays offense to be accurate. Geez.. the guy signed a 100mill contract and led the league in turnovers. It must have been someone else’s fault. BS, Its on Goff.

Yeah - back then I did Before Goff & now I’m totally Sold on Kevin O’Connell.
— I really like Zac Robinson,especially how he worked with Wolford.Both these coaches do an excellent job.

Matt Lafleur & Olsen were very good. I think getting this 2 back in 2021 along with Matthew Stafford & all the players in place. This Offense is going to be dialed in.

 

[So Ram]

Rams(Mcvay’s -O’Connell) offense ?

I’ve been holding back. Never have I seen a thread or talk about how The Rams offense is run. I was watching a game this year2021 & the announcer(?) said Sean Mcvay & The Rams script there first 15 plays. Has anyone hear ever known that & why is (hasn’t) it been discussed more?

www.ramsondemand.com

Now that Kevin O’Connell is gone. I’m glad & happy for him.

 

[So Ram]

Did Kevin O’Connell get a free pass ? I don’t know ?

From 2020 to 2021 he was a different coach.He took over more as The QB coach in 2021.He had his hands all over the offense,even more so than it was hard to tell what Mcvay’s role was in 2021 at times.

 

[OnceARam]

Hard to argue with the results we produced while he was OC.

Good luck to him at Minn.

 

[So Ram]

I’m excited to see what Liam does in 2022.
- I also wonder about Zac Robinson’s role as a OC/PGC?
-What’s Greg Olson’s role & who is more of the QB coach with Stafford?

I find the sidelines fascinating during the games.I just lost all of my recordings & just want to go back or a few games. Then again the page has turned.

 

[So Ram]

Hard to argue with the results we produced while he was OC.

Good luck to him at Minn.

I don’t know ? Personally I got frustrated. Yes - The Rams won the SuperBowl.

I’ll say this for sure & believe Zac Robinson is a very special coach & offensive keeps mind.

 

[So Ram]

Have to add that Matthew Stafford & Kevin O’Connell’s relationship last season is only going to make Stafford a better player. The results will speak volumes of there own.

How the Vikings do is going to be very interesting In it’s own sense.They have such talent on the offensive side of it.Plus going from a DC/HC vs. a OC/DC .

 

[OnceARam]

I don’t know ? Personally I got frustrated. Yes - The Rams won the SuperBowl.

I’ll say this for sure & believe Zac Robinson is a very special coach & offensive keeps mind.

I just don't know how we, as fans, can pinpoint such distinctions. From what I've read/seen it seems like McVay had a lot to do with scheming Kupp open on that final drive of the Superbowl.

That said, did Zac or Kevin suggest plays to McVay during that final, fateful drive? We'll never know.

 

[oldnotdead]

Im not buying that.. Goff should have been seasoned enough in Mcvays offense to be accurate. Geez.. the guy signed a 100mill contract and led the league in turnovers. It must have been someone else’s fault. BS, Its on Goff.

Sure some of those turnovers were on Goff but a huge percentage were on the OL. Go ahead and look at the OL play again if you don't believe me. This is a whole different team now. A hugely improved OL and defense. People keep blaming Goff for losing the Super Bowl. I don't buy it. McVay got out-coached something he admitted.

Stafford threw 17 INTs in 2021, he led the NFL. He threw 16 INTs in 2011, 17 in 2012, and 19 in 2013. Goff threw 8 INTs last year, and 16 in 2019 the worst in his career. Kinda blows that argument away. The difference is, that the Rams are a much better team now allowing them to could overcome Stafford's gaffs. Don't get me wrong I love Matt and yes he's an upgrade over Goff that much is clear. But what this past season proved, the team around the QB has as much to do with winning as the QB himself.

The Rams won with Goff at QB. In fact, they made the playoffs 3 times in 5 years with him. The first year he only started 7 games and it was under Fisher. The playoffs came under McVay making it 3 of 4 years. Is that BS? Is that on Goff?

Stafford has shown it takes more than a QB to be successful. The QB is an important part of it but it takes a team around him on both sides of the ball. With Goff it was a matter of good enough wasn't good enough.

It's clear that Jared is a better fit in Detroit's offense. Improve their OL and get him some legit WRs and improve the defense and they can be a competitive team, maybe even a wildcard team. The scheme fit for a QB is huge. The reason Goff got traded was that the Rams saw an opportunity to upgrade the position and not because he sucked like Baker Mayfield. Goff is the tied for the second-best QB in the NFC North division. He would be #2 in the NFCW because IMO Murray isn't much better than Mayfield. Like Baker, Kyler is also overrated. If you can't read defenses beyond #2 that's a loser against a good defensive team. Neither of them can carry a team like Goff sometimes carried the Rams.

Just because Matt is a better fit for McVay doesn't immediately mean Goff is garbage. He's better than Wentz or Mayfield. Goff IMO is a second-tier QB along with Kirk Cousins. A QB that you can win with a team around him. Don't forget a Super Bowl was won by the Ravens with Trent Dilfer who falls into that third tier of QBs.

Kevin O'Connell is a good coach. He's going to run his version of McVay's offense. More than that he has made it clear he wants to bring the Ram culture to the Vikings. The reason he feels he can win with Cousins is that he sees a QB much like Goff but with more experience. He was with the Rams in 2020 so he knows what will probably work with Cousins, i.e. the part that worked with Goff. If he succeeds in bringing that culture to the Vikings they could be a pretty good team. It's also why I think if the Rams package draft picks and Lewis or Hollins, players he knows, they stand a chance of getting Hunter.

Remember, signings like OBJ, Michel, Gilmore, and any trade for someone like Hunter will happen after the draft so as not to affect their comp picks. It's why IMO they are in no hurry to finalize ADs, Kupp, and perhaps A'Shawn's extensions. All that will come after the draft. If they get Gilmore and Hunter this team will be a monster on defense regardless of the honey badger. Morris and Coen will get their HC jobs next year after the Rams get their second consecutive Lombardi.

 

[Oregonram]

I just don't know how we, as fans, can pinpoint such distinctions. From what I've read/seen it seems like McVay had a lot to do with scheming Kupp open on that final drive of the Superbowl.

That said, did Zac or Kevin suggest plays to McVay during that final, fateful drive? We'll never know.

Coaches can scheme players open all day long….but it’s up to the players on the field to make it work. Good players can make coaches look like geniuses…( Phil Jackson)

 

[jjab360]

Sure some of those turnovers were on Goff but a huge percentage were on the OL. Go ahead and look at the OL play again if you don't believe me. This is a whole different team now. A hugely improved OL and defense. People keep blaming Goff for losing the Super Bowl. I don't buy it. McVay got out-coached something he admitted.

Stafford threw 17 INTs in 2021, he led the NFL. He threw 16 INTs in 2011, 17 in 2012, and 19 in 2013. Goff threw 8 INTs last year, and 16 in 2019 the worst in his career. Kinda blows that argument away. The difference is, that the Rams are a much better team now allowing them to could overcome Stafford's gaffs. Don't get me wrong I love Matt and yes he's an upgrade over Goff that much is clear. But what this past season proved, the team around the QB has as much to do with winning as the QB himself.

The Rams won with Goff at QB. In fact, they made the playoffs 3 times in 5 years with him. The first year he only started 7 games and it was under Fisher. The playoffs came under McVay making it 3 of 4 years. Is that BS? Is that on Goff?

Stafford has shown it takes more than a QB to be successful. The QB is an important part of it but it takes a team around him on both sides of the ball. With Goff it was a matter of good enough wasn't good enough.

I don't see how that's the takeaway tbh. At least with the personnel, the offense was mostly the same in 2021 as it was in 2020. Yes, Stafford had a similar amount of turnovers but he also had 65 20+ yard passes (3rd) and 18 40+ yard passes (1st) on 601 attempts. Goff had 45 20+ yard passes (13th) and 6 40+ yard passes (18th) on 552 attempts in 2020.

The takeaway for me is that you can either play conservative and limit turnovers or aggressive and turn the ball over but you can't expect to go all the way with a QB that is playing conservative and still turning the ball over.

I don't think I'd be going out on that far of a limb to say the offense wouldn't have improved by much in 2021 had we not traded for Stafford.

 

[oldnotdead]

It goes back to scheme fit. Stafford had to be reigned in to take what was given instead of waiting for the deep shot that might never be there. His reads are deep to short.

Jared is more of a conventional QB in the sense he's going to naturally look mid to deep and know where his dump-off is short. People say Goff's arm isn't good enough for the deep strike offense. Yet after watching Stafford now and when he was younger its clear his arm isn't what it used to be. Look how many of his throws are badly underthrown. IMO Stafford misses about as many deep throws as Goff. Most of Stafford's big plays have come off of YAC.

Myths go both ways. The only point I'm making is scheme fit. McVay used to hold Goff in the huddle until there were 15 seconds left. Yet he complained that Goff needed to read the defenses. But how can he with no time? Look at all the delay of game penalties and the wasted time out because of it. That's 100% on McVay. He doesn't do that with Stafford. He just calls the play and Stafford has time to read the D at the LOS. In Detroit Campbell isn't in Goff's ear until the last second. So Goff will grow with experience. Goff cut his INTs down because under McVay the sideline called the defensive reads, but DCs would shift to something else entirely during the last 10 seconds so what Goff saw wasn't what the sideline read. McVay never trusted Goff because he wasn't "his" QB, while Stafford is.

After watching both QBs it's clear that both are better scheme fits in their new offenses. Win-Win in my book. With both QBs now having a full year in their new offenses it will be interesting to watch how they fare this year. I expect both to take a step up as both will be thinking less and playing faster.

The NFCW is the Rams' to lose. The NFCN IMO will be a 3-way fight between the Vikes, Lions, and Packers who I think have fallen back to the pack.