No Excuses For Rams. Just Look at Arizona

[DR RAM]

It is easy to argue. The Arizona team was not far removed from being in the Superbowl, and all you need to do is look at their play, without Carson Palmer. We suck without a starting QB too, and we've been through more yearly coaching changes.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

The city doesn't hate Bernie. Why would they, when he kinda sums up the feelings of anger and betrayal? But we best stop this line of conversation before it goes further.

Well a lot of posters on this board are from St. Louis and they pretty much hate Bernie and JT. Are they not representative of the city too? Are you saying that constant negativity towards the team is helping the matter in any way? I can't see how. You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. I can't remember the last time I read anything positive from the two of them concerning the Rams. Now I get that the Rams have not been good but at least in the offseason most teams/fans are positive. Couldn't that be reflected by the reporters? Bernie and JT aren't even certain whether the Rams are staying or not. But by their tone you'd think they already left town.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

It is easy to argue. The Arizona team was not far removed from being in the Superbowl, and all you need to do is look at their play, without Carson Palmer. We suck without a starting QB too, and we've been through more yearly coaching changes.

Yeah Arizona didn't have the worst record and roster over a five year period for Ariens to work with. He just had some tweaking to do and find a QB, which he got lucky doing. Palmer was not so highly regarded at the time as you said.

 

[Krangthebrain]

Politely disagree on our OL draft picks. Wasn't Cooper taken at like #8, it has taken him a few seasons to now start showing what he's capable of. I'm not nitpicking either. Just using him as an example. Our RT and LG have 3 real games as experience and are improving from different facets. GRob has had some premier DE's come right at him. That experience will be invaluable. I refuse to say he's even remotely a lost cause. If, they all do that cohesive bonding then watch out. I know a big if but also far too early to lay concrete judgment down. IMO.

Cooper was hurt in the preseason his rookie year, a bad leg break. That's a pretty serious injury for an offensive lineman. It took him well over a year to get his quickness back.

I wouldn't call Robinson a bust either, but so far he hasn't been dominate as expected.

I think the problem as others have demonstrated is that the team didn't use enough draft a capital on the offensive line for a few years. It's the same thing that happened to the Cardinals during our Fisher years (Whisenhunt).

 

[Krangthebrain]

Yeah Arizona didn't have the worst record and roster over a five year period for Ariens to work with. He just had some tweaking to do and find a QB, which he got lucky doing. Palmer was not so highly regarded at the time as you said.

More than just "tweaking". Most of our roster is post-Arians/Keim (or BASK).

 

[FrantikRam]

More than just "tweaking". Most of our roster is post-Arians/Keim (or BASK).

That may be now, but they still came into a talented team. A lot more talent than the Rams when Fisher arrived.

 

[WvuIN02]

Bottom line is Arians is a winner

Is Fisher? Where is the improvement? Listening to him and Cignetti sounds like the Iraqi Information Minister while the bombs were dropping saying everything is wonderful.

Offense is last in the league. I hear more excuses for the OL and a new QB, but we heard these every year he has been here. At some point excuses have to stop....its beyond frustrating. I personally think he needs to be gone after this season....hes still living in the era of 90s football in this new era and it doesn't work. Even Seattle has to rely on a dynamic QB to pull off something similar. I just don't think he gets it, or ever will, his track record on offense shows the coach he is.

Go hire Todd Haley or someone else proven to run an offense.

 

[Amitar]

For the most part this is one of the only times I agree with Bernie. A lot of Ram fans here can't handle the truth that the Rams deleted. Sorry but its true. Now people are saying the Rams should not keep Long next year. If that happens you might as well throw in the towel. Long is one of the Vet players that the team should have been built around.

And Arz did not luck into a QB. Arians was smart enough to know he was a good QB and stole him from the Raiders.

 

[Memento]

For the most part this is one of the only times I agree with Bernie. A lot of Ram fans here can't handle the truth that the Rams deleted. Sorry but its true. Now people are saying the Rams should not keep Long next year. If that happens you might as well throw in the towel. Long is one of the Vet players that the team should have been built around.

And Arz did not luck into a QB. Arians was smart enough to know he was a good QB and stole him from the Raiders.

Hey, buddy? How about you DELETED?

 

[RamFan503]

He's right.

Carson Palmer was acquired for trading a 7th for a 6th and a conditional draft pick.... Why wasn't this the Rams making this trade? Why aren't they accountable for letting another quality QB go to not only a needy team but a division rival when Bradford was never even close to the same talent?

This regime has had every chance to get a franchise QB and has failed again it seems, as Foles is proving to be the same QB he was last year. Kudos to Arians and company for having the foresight to know a quality QB when they are available. I don't know how many passes you can get before we are hit with the sobering idea that maybe these guys just are not very good at evaluating offensive/QB talent.

There are about 40 million reasons the Rams actually couldn't make this trade - among other things.

Carson was acquired by the Cardinals in the offseason following the 2012 season.
2012 was Fisher's first season here. Bradford finished that year with 21 TD's 13 INT's and played a full season.
At the time that move wouldn't have made any sense.

Speaking of other things....

I hate to be agreeing with Bernie 2 times in a week but this article is spot on.

Isn't cherry picking hindsight bitchin'?

Last point do they have the curse of Georgia hanging over them NO!!!

Then there's this.

It wasn't after the first game. When the team plays well they won't get dumped on.

Maybe it's just me but I don't remember any praise coming from him either. Was there?

That's not the only difference. The mental aspects of the Cardinals are stronger. I've no doubt if we lined up to play a pickup game no coaches no refs we'd win. But we commit stupid penalties in the red zone, we run out of bounds on punts of our own free will, and run our offense like we're scared something bad will happen. Until Fisher takes care if that, we won't compete for anything. That's the main difference to me. We've both made good moves. Despite the Card's fans downplaying it, they'd kill for our DL. Foles, if he gets time to settle down, isn't that far behind Palmer and far younger. Despite the criticism from the last game, I like all of our LBers. We done good things too, it's the coaching and the mentality that separates us at this point 3 games in. Lots of football left. If we'd just grow up, and man up on offense, we'd have a good chance to be there in the end.

As for building something to last, Cards are young too. If they act now to find Palmers replacement for two years down the road our two teams will leave the others in the West behind IMO. But we gotta remove our head from our asses first, and Sundays as good a day to do that as any.

Got no problem with this.

You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.

Think you are mixing your metaphors. You catch more flies with shit. You catch more bears with honey. But you're right. Bernie catches more flies.

 

[RamFan503]

Hey, buddy? How about you .... DELETED?

Come on Mem.

Besides, Amitar isn't a football Cards fan as far as I know.

 

[RamFan503]

For the most part this is one of the only times I agree with Bernie. A lot of Ram fans here can't handle the truth that the Rams deleted. Sorry but its true. Now people are saying the Rams should not keep Long next year. If that happens you might as well throw in the towel. Long is one of the Vet players that the team should have been built around.

And Arz did not luck into a QB. Arians was smart enough to know he was a good QB and stole him from the Raiders.

Amitar - you've been warned before. Time for a timeout.

 

[Krangthebrain]

Bottom line is Arians is a winner

Is Fisher? Where is the improvement? Listening to him and Cignetti sounds like the Iraqi Information Minister while the bombs were dropping saying everything is wonderful.

Offense is last in the league. I hear more excuses for the OL and a new QB, but we heard these every year he has been here. At some point excuses have to stop....its beyond frustrating. I personally think he needs to be gone after this season....hes still living in the era of 90s football in this new era and it doesn't work. Even Seattle has to rely on a dynamic QB to pull off something similar. I just don't think he gets it, or ever will, his track record on offense shows the coach he is.

Go hire Todd Haley or someone else proven to run an offense.

Please don't fire Fisher. When I look at the Rams, I see pre-Harbaugh 49ers. A team with enough talent to win NOW, and nearly a championship team with 2-3 more pieces.

Reading this forum reminds me of what it was like over at Arizonasportsfans.com during the Whisenhunt years. People (including me) made every excuse in the book for the guy, but the bottomline is that he was a loser minus Warner and Todd Haley.

Fisher is a deleted with the Rams. That's not smack talk, that's objective fact (coaching record). We have like six players remaining from the Whisenhunt years. SIX PLAYERS. That means the rest of our roster was assembled AFTER Jeff Fisher was on the job for a year with the Rams. And we have generally done so with less draft picks and and later picks.

 

[RaminExile]

Please don't fire Fisher. When I look at the Rams, I see pre-Harbaugh 49ers. A team with enough talent to win NOW, and nearly a championship team with 2-3 more pieces.

Reading this forum reminds me of what it was like over at Arizonasportsfans.com during the Whisenhunt years. People (including me) made every excuse in the book for the guy, but the bottomline is that he was a loser minus Warner and Todd Haley.

Fisher is a loser with the Rams. That's not smack talk, that's objective fact (coaching record). We have like six players remaining from the Whisenhunt years. SIX PLAYERS. That means the rest of our roster was assembled AFTER Jeff Fisher was on the job for a year with the Rams. And we have generally done so with less draft picks and and later picks.

To be fair Krang - there's a lot of guys on here who feel that way. We just don't call out guys on this board (including our coach) and call for their heads and call them losers or chumps. I don't think he's the guy to get this team to the promised land with all the talent on it. I don't. I think he's a guy that gets us to 8-8. Do I want him to lose his job? No. But if that's what it takes that's what its going to have to come down to. The worry we have is - if Fisher leaves (in whatever way) at the end of this year - or next, who's available thats going to take this job and make us better? There aren't that many elite coaches going round.

 

[RamFan503]

Fisher is a loser with the Rams.

I understand how you couched it and all but I will give you one warning. This kind of statement about any current Ram or person within the organization is not allowed for even Rams fans. We welcome you but you need to know and follow the rules. And yes - they are written out.

 

[Krangthebrain]

I understand how you couched it and all but I will give you one warning. This kind of statement about any current Ram or person within the organization is not allowed for even Rams fans. We welcome you but you need to know and follow the rules. And yes - they are written out.

Honestly I'm at a loss here; pointing out that Fisher has a losing record is an offense here?

It's not like I said "Coach Fisher is a douchebag". I'm clearly talking about his record as a head coach.

 

[Memento]

Honestly I'm at a loss here; pointing out that Fisher has a losing record is an offense here?

It's not like I said "Coach Fisher is a douchebag". I'm clearly talking about his record as a head coach.

You called our receivers a "dumpster fire" and now you're bagging on our coach. Where I come from, people consider that trolling.

 

[Krangthebrain]

You called our receivers a "dumpster fire" and now you're bagging on our coach. Where I come from, people consider that trolling.

I'll quote a comment from the board I frequent comparing our WR corps:

"In his last 16-game season, Brian Quick had 302 yards. Last year, the best of his career, he had 375 yards in 7 games. If you extrapolate that out to 16 games it comes to 857 yards.

Tavon Austin is a fine punt returner. But as a WR he has never managed more than 418 yards in a season.

Kenny Britt has been in the league for 7 years and has never managed more than 775 yards in a season.

And Stedman Bailey has managed the incredible achievement of 435 yards in a season.

Chris Givens had 698 yards three years ago and has gone downhill every year since.

Not one of the Rams WRs, in their BEST season, has ever performed as well as Michael Floyd did last year (841 yards, 6 TDs), in what was considered by many to be a disappointing season for him... let alone even approached the 1041 yards Floyd had in 2013. And Floyd is the Cardinals' de-facto #3 WR!"

And you consider commenting on your head coaches record as trolling? Is stating objective facts that threatening? I'm merely here to respectfully discuss football. I'm not calling anyone on here any names.

I may have referred to the Rams WR Corps as a "dumpster" fire, but that was a characterization of the poor results of the WR corps, which are outlined above. That might be a bit of hyperbole, but I would rank the Rams WR corps in the top half. I would compare the Rams WR with Cleveland, or Seattle, or Carolina.

 

[Memento]

I'll quote a comment from the board I frequent comparing our WR corps:

"In his last 16-game season, Brian Quick had 302 yards. Last year, the best of his career, he had 375 yards in 7 games. If you extrapolate that out to 16 games it comes to 857 yards.

Tavon Austin is a fine punt returner. But as a WR he has never managed more than 418 yards in a season.

Kenny Britt has been in the league for 7 years and has never managed more than 775 yards in a season.

And Stedman Bailey has managed the incredible achievement of 435 yards in a season.

Chris Givens had 698 yards three years ago and has gone downhill every year since.

Not one of the Rams WRs, in their BEST season, has ever performed as well as Michael Floyd did last year (841 yards, 6 TDs), in what was considered by many to be a disappointing season for him... let alone even approached the 1041 yards Floyd had in 2013. And Floyd is the Cardinals' de-facto #3 WR!"

And you consider commenting on your head coaches record as trolling? Is stating objective facts that threatening? I'm merely here to respectfully discuss football. I'm not calling anyone on here any names.

I may have referred to the Rams WR Corps as a "dumpster" fire, but that was a characterization of the poor results of the WR corps, which are outlined above. That might be a bit of hyperbole, but I would rank the Rams WR corps in the top half. I would compare the Rams WR with Cleveland, or Seattle, or Carolina.

You forget where you are. This is NOT a Cardinals board. If you're visiting an opposing team's board, you should be polite. Brag about your team all you want, but don't bag on the opposing team. You can make predictions, but you don't call coaches "losers" or people "dumpster fires." It's disrespectful and is basically trolling. You don't go into a guy's house and bag on what he has.

 

[RamFan503]

@Krangthebrain I really don't care about the rules of other boards. As I said, we welcome you as long as you abide by the rules of THIS board. Using terms like "dumpster fire" or "loser" no matter how you want to couch it is not acceptable here when referring to our Rams. It is really that simple.