Ah the age old question for Rams fans in the past 5 years it seems. Offensive line, or receiver? Which begs the question, is it something else? I'm attempting to answer the question and asking for help in doing so before this long important off-season is upon us.
Lets get started.
Like I said the question has been asked for a while now. Does that mean there's something else going on here? Is it the QB?
I don't think so. I'm currently in the process of watching all the offensive snaps throughout 2012 off the coaches film. Paying special attention to the "poor performance" games out of the QB position. Right now I'm re-watching the Bears game. One of which we had Hunter, Ojinnaka, Turner, Dahl, and Richardson in. The amount of pressure generated on the QB in this game from the Bears is incredible. I'm not comfortable giving a final review of Sam yet, so we'll get back to that. I mean we're not even done with the season either haha. On the first watch through it is still very, very, clear why he's considered to be one of the great talents in the league. You can see him progress throughout the year in the system too, which is very comforting. You can also still see clear as day that there are things out of his control holding this offense back. Like I said though we'll get back to that, but I've seen enough to know, we don't need to make a switch at quarterback yet haha.
The other "something else" besides QB could be the Rams drafting history and lack of bringing in talent. I think we're all aware of how many players the Rams have drafted in the past half decade that haven't panned out. I think we're all aware of how many of those players that are even on an NFL roster. We are also aware of how many players from last years final roster are in the NFL too.
We finally have a FO capable of gathering talent it seems. We finally have coaches in place to make players preform to their full ability. We finally have a HC to run it all and is respected by the entire league. Refs, free agent players, and opposing teams alike, all respect Fisher. So lets get to the meat of the discussion here. What can we do to improve this offense? I think considering what I just mentioned above, the main thing is just time. We have to allow the youngest team in the league the ability to adjust to the NFL. We have to allow time for all of our players to adjust to two different systems. Our 3rd year QBs 3rd in a row. We have to allow our coaches to coach, scouts to scout, and our FO to bring in players.
The other is consistency. We have to keep these systems in place! We need consistency around Bradford. We need him to be able to have a level of comfort behind the line, and with receivers. Boudreau has done a fine job molding a make shift line game after game, but we have to have more stability. You can't have different starters across the board game in game out and expect to be successful. Just think about how much the Rams offensive line has shifted in the past two years. It's insane. This leads to having stats like being 20th in sacks and 22 in pressures. Something that's even improved as the season has went. It also leads to your QB becoming very uncomfortable in the pocket in certain games. Especially when a 300 lb linemen is sitting on top of him, or getting pushed into him from all sides.
It's hard to make the argument if the Rams are talented enough on the front but just injury prone, because of that fact alone. We haven't seen enough of the full line together to know. Although if you look at the line I presented earlier for the Bears game, one of which was brought upon by injuries, I think we can all say the "talent" there is in question.
On to receiver.
It's been interesting to watch the Rams offense progress this year. One of which not only the QB, but everyone else is new to. Givens and Amendola on film from a first couple of glances through the season look very nice. Two receivers who can absolutely create separation. Unfortunately this year for the Rams, their two best receivers have been a rookie, and someone whos been injured or fighting injury all year. Gibson is a nice player, who can make people miss, and can catch, but IMO struggles to get open on all routes. Pettis, almost the same. Here's a little tidbit I picked up after looking at some stats on WRs in the league. The Rams receiver with the highest YAC on the team lies at #54 overall in the league. That person is Steven Jackson. A running back. Every team in the league except two others has at least one receiver on the list before Steven.
I'm going to add more to this as the year goes on and I have more time. I'll probably give a full review on Sam. Right now my early vote goes to offensive line being priority #1. Maybe with Boudreau and a guarantee of health I could be more lenient, but we can't have that obviously. We have to fix the line and have consistency in front of Sam going forward. Going against some defenses it may not matter as much, but if we're going to compete against the elite defenses in the league, this is a must.
Happy holidays! Beat the shehags!
Lets get started.
Like I said the question has been asked for a while now. Does that mean there's something else going on here? Is it the QB?
I don't think so. I'm currently in the process of watching all the offensive snaps throughout 2012 off the coaches film. Paying special attention to the "poor performance" games out of the QB position. Right now I'm re-watching the Bears game. One of which we had Hunter, Ojinnaka, Turner, Dahl, and Richardson in. The amount of pressure generated on the QB in this game from the Bears is incredible. I'm not comfortable giving a final review of Sam yet, so we'll get back to that. I mean we're not even done with the season either haha. On the first watch through it is still very, very, clear why he's considered to be one of the great talents in the league. You can see him progress throughout the year in the system too, which is very comforting. You can also still see clear as day that there are things out of his control holding this offense back. Like I said though we'll get back to that, but I've seen enough to know, we don't need to make a switch at quarterback yet haha.
The other "something else" besides QB could be the Rams drafting history and lack of bringing in talent. I think we're all aware of how many players the Rams have drafted in the past half decade that haven't panned out. I think we're all aware of how many of those players that are even on an NFL roster. We are also aware of how many players from last years final roster are in the NFL too.
We finally have a FO capable of gathering talent it seems. We finally have coaches in place to make players preform to their full ability. We finally have a HC to run it all and is respected by the entire league. Refs, free agent players, and opposing teams alike, all respect Fisher. So lets get to the meat of the discussion here. What can we do to improve this offense? I think considering what I just mentioned above, the main thing is just time. We have to allow the youngest team in the league the ability to adjust to the NFL. We have to allow time for all of our players to adjust to two different systems. Our 3rd year QBs 3rd in a row. We have to allow our coaches to coach, scouts to scout, and our FO to bring in players.
The other is consistency. We have to keep these systems in place! We need consistency around Bradford. We need him to be able to have a level of comfort behind the line, and with receivers. Boudreau has done a fine job molding a make shift line game after game, but we have to have more stability. You can't have different starters across the board game in game out and expect to be successful. Just think about how much the Rams offensive line has shifted in the past two years. It's insane. This leads to having stats like being 20th in sacks and 22 in pressures. Something that's even improved as the season has went. It also leads to your QB becoming very uncomfortable in the pocket in certain games. Especially when a 300 lb linemen is sitting on top of him, or getting pushed into him from all sides.
It's hard to make the argument if the Rams are talented enough on the front but just injury prone, because of that fact alone. We haven't seen enough of the full line together to know. Although if you look at the line I presented earlier for the Bears game, one of which was brought upon by injuries, I think we can all say the "talent" there is in question.
On to receiver.
It's been interesting to watch the Rams offense progress this year. One of which not only the QB, but everyone else is new to. Givens and Amendola on film from a first couple of glances through the season look very nice. Two receivers who can absolutely create separation. Unfortunately this year for the Rams, their two best receivers have been a rookie, and someone whos been injured or fighting injury all year. Gibson is a nice player, who can make people miss, and can catch, but IMO struggles to get open on all routes. Pettis, almost the same. Here's a little tidbit I picked up after looking at some stats on WRs in the league. The Rams receiver with the highest YAC on the team lies at #54 overall in the league. That person is Steven Jackson. A running back. Every team in the league except two others has at least one receiver on the list before Steven.
I'm going to add more to this as the year goes on and I have more time. I'll probably give a full review on Sam. Right now my early vote goes to offensive line being priority #1. Maybe with Boudreau and a guarantee of health I could be more lenient, but we can't have that obviously. We have to fix the line and have consistency in front of Sam going forward. Going against some defenses it may not matter as much, but if we're going to compete against the elite defenses in the league, this is a must.
Happy holidays! Beat the shehags!
