Lessons from a letdown: Why teams stumbled after rapid rises

[SoCalRam78]

Rams were legit, based on point differential they were an 11-5 team, and that includes the give up game in week 17. They went 4-3 in close games and 4-2 in the division, good, but hardly flukish.

They caught breaks injury wise. They need to improve their depth and find more pieces for the 3-4 defense. Obv, some tough choices in free agency and draft coming up, but the core of this team is solid and very young and the staff excellent. Ultimately, that wins out.

Also, there were some real fluke bs teams on that list. 2001 bears? 2010 Bucs? Yeah hard not to see why those teams came crashing down.

I said this in another thread, outside Philly, will take our situation moving forward over any other NFC team after watching this postseason. This is a Super Bowl contender.

 

[poLARizing]

5. Intangibles: Maybe - What could possibly be a downfall for the Rams in this area? McVay / Goff relationship can only get better as they grow together. Wade will be in his 2nd year, ST will still be top 5, will the Rams still be one of the youngest teams? So based on the examples they used, could the departure of Olsen to the Raiders be that intangible lost?

4. O-line Turnover: No - lucky to be injured free here all season so Snead need to shore this up and this is a "captain obvious" thinking for all Rams fans here as necessity.

3. Departures: Yes - Everyone has an opinion on who we need to sign and bring back. So who we bring back could result on the win/loss column.

2. Instability at QB: None - Only Injury to Goff will derail this this train.

1. Turnovers: Maybe - Will Pharaoh Cooper's performance in the playoffs carry over to next year? Will we see an increase in INTs from Goff next season as teams now have a year to study and adjust to McVay's/Goff's tendencies?

This is my opinion based feedback and I say we lose one to two games, so I'm predicting a 2018 record of 10-6.

 

[majrleaged]

Interesting article. They don't give a hard reason why the 2000 Rams "fell" to 10-6. The defense was the worst in history, and I still don't know the exact reason other than the many possible reasons that were given, which still don't add up to a really bad defense. Injuries yeah, I can see that costing a couple wins, since it was Warner and Falk who missed time. The only D players missing were the safety Jenkins who was traded... and Farr who missed a few games.

The reason was vermeil stepping down. He would have never let the defence fall apart. Didn't martz pick trung canidet 1st pick. That wouldnt have happened.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Totally agree. Not sure why so many ppl are OK with letting TruJo walk.

Biggest question for me is, who is gonna be our number one corner? Is there any other FA out there who is as good as TruJo and isn't gonna ask for huge money? We don't want a rookie as our #1, and we don't want to count on Kayvon Webster as a #1 either. And the "#1 by committee" approach sounds bad too.

I for one am up for overpaying to keep TruJo, 'cuz I'm concerned we are really gonna miss him if he's gone.

If TruJo goes elsewhere, somebody tell me how we're gonna line up at CB?

Of course I want to keep LJ and NRC, but losing TruJo is what concerns me,I think he is underrated by the fans.

I totally agree. No one that comes cheaper will be as good as Tru.

Malcolm Butler, Bashaud Breeland & Prince Amukamara for a start.

Funny. Butler isn't a fit with his ego, Breeland is average, and Amukamara flat out sucks.

 

[Rmfnlt]

The reason was vermeil stepping down. He would have never let the defence fall apart. Didn't martz pick trung canidet 1st pick. That wouldnt have happened.

Ah yes, Trung Canidate... average, at best.
Followed up by reaching for Jacoby Shepard (2nd round, 62nd overall pick).

The next year, he took Damione Lewis... another average, at best player, in the 1st round (12th overall).

Then Robert Thomas the next year (31st overall)... average again

The next year, he really crapped the bed in the first round with Jimmy Kennedy (12th overall). A kid who never really wanted to play pro ball.

But...BUT... he finally hit pay dirt in 2004 with Steven Jackson!

Hey, one out of 5 ain't bad, right? No... it's bad... especially if you're talking first round draft picks.

Martz really set the franchise up for years of having to rebuild... of course, it turned out the Rams weren't very good at rebuilding... and into the death spiral we went.

Started with Mart and those bad drafts.