My rant that I'm not going to debate or comment on.

[thirteen28]

Sometimes the criticisms that sting the most are those that are constructively stated and hit home. I've seen a lot of criticism of Schotty in this thread, and almost none of it is what I would call bashing. Most of it is backed up with arguments, and occasionally numbers.

I'm willing to consider mitigating factors for Schotty, such as QB injuries, weak OL guys like Joseph and Wells, etc. and I don't think he's a terrible coordinator; as an assistant coach he's certainly nowhere near Marmie- or Lonet-level bad. It's just that he's not all that good either.

His biggest weakness as far as I'm concerned is play calling. He looks good often times early using the script, but once teams adjust to that and he has to go off script, he seems to not be able to counter adjust. Others in this thread have given numerous examples, the lack of screens and draws at approriate times, the empty set backfield in situations where running is an option, and so forth. And so often in critical situations he seems to come up with head scratching play calls - this year in San Diego, last year against Seattle at home, various critical 3rd down plays this season including against the Cards the other night. and while you can point to games like the Raiders game as a good one, his body of work has to be judged in total - including critical division games like the one the Thursday night, where the defense played good enough for the Rams to win, but the offense laid a big, stinky egg.

It probably makes no difference, as there won't likely be a change at OC unless he gets a head coach gig in college somewhere. Still, I think even fixing the issues we have at QB and OL and getting our WR corps healthy will only get us so far. There will be improvement, but not enough to maximize the potential. It doesn't take a ton of imagination to think of coordinators that could come in here and do more with the talent we have on hand. On the other hand, I think if you put Schotty in a place like, say, Green Bay, that offense while still being good wouldn't be as good as we know it to be now.

So while I'll say Schotty isn't terrible, I'm convinced we could do a lot better.

 

[Big Willie]

Unfortunately, sometimes people are looking for excuses (me too), but the undisputed reality is good play can overcome almost any bad or bland offensive play calling. If everyone on offense does their assignment the way they are supposed to, the Rams can score points. But when Davin Joseph whiffs on a block like he did on Thursday, the RB gets hit in the backfield and there is nothing a coordinator can do. Last year the WRs were crushed as bums and Quick was a bust in the eyes of many. Now many are claiming he is our best receiver. What changed? Players making plays. That is what the NFL is all about, and the unfortunate truth is that Arizona made more plays than we did. If the line blocks better, the RBs get through the holes, the QB hits open receivers in stride and the WRs & Cook catch the damn ball, people will say Shotty needs to get a raise.

There were plays to be made in the last game...and the Rams didn't make them.

 

[Boffo97]

But if you include kneejerk reactions, your kneejerk reacting yourself because you don't know what is going through the minds of posters. For instance I take offense to it because I didn't just pull the idea out of my ass that Shotty is bad after the first disappointing game the Rams O had. I've had that opinion since the Jets. I've thought Fisher was Mr. Average since the Titans. So it's not a kneejerk reaction at all by me and I'm sure a lot of others.

By the way. Prison Architect. Picked it up off steam for 5 bucks during the fall sale. It's really a surprisingly good game. You should check it out.

I think it gets called as kneejerk reaction because whenever everything isn't perfect with the offense, there go the posts blaming Schottenheimer. There's no way he'd still have a job, no matter how loyal Fisher was, if everything really was his fault.

And I have Prison Architect in my wishlist, definitely might check it out if I get some extra cash.