Perspective

[leoram]

From the base of Mt Everest, it looks like a huge, imposing mountain. From the moon, it appears as a blip on a bowling ball. I’ve needed a few weeks to process the Rams season and Super Bowl loss so as to not overreact. I see these last few weeks have brought undue criticism of Goff, Gurley, the OLine, Cooks, and McVay. As free agency and the draft loom nigh, fans and “analysts” seem to focus on a retooling of the defense since there are so many free agents. So I ask us to step back and look at this with perspective.

The Patriots played man to man defense all year and suddenly switched to zone and the Ram Offense looked as helpless as they did against the Bears. Anyone else think that’s what will predominantly happen next year? Even with the return of Kupp, McVay and his staff must retool the offense with as many zone busting plays as it does press man. Still, the Rams have a top notch offense with excellent talent. Stay the course, develop OLine depth, and that side of the ball is good for a very long time.

I’m shocked how infrequently I read how devastatingly well the Ram Defense played in the Super Bowl. Had there been even a breath of life from the offense, this could’ve been heralded as a top 5 performance. Brady was marginalized and the running game was ineffective. If not for a BS call for hitting a defenseless receiver in the first half, the Patriot offense was well on its way to feeling demoralized. While the regular season caused us all to have doubts about the structure of this defense, the postseason should’ve received an overwhelming stamp of approval from anyone paying attention.

And once again, Ram Special Teams are as good as it gets on a consistent basis.

Perspective, if two years ago, someone told me we’d win the division two years in a row and go to the Big Dance, I’d have been elated. Why should we feel any differently now? It’s fun to be a Ram fan again. Remember, fans of 30 teams envy us. Now that’s perspective.

 

[bubbaramfan]

All good points Leo. Too early to make any predictions with so many FA's. More "flexability" is a term that comes to mind when talking of improvement. Rams are gong to be near the top of the league again when it comes to scoring. From past drafts, I look for the Rams to trade some picks for proven players.


Whats different for me as a Ram fan,I am more comfortable now than I have ever been in the last 20 years that the Rams are in good hands and the front office and coaching staff will improve the Rams going into the next few seasons.

Rams have FINALLY made it to "Top Tier" of the NFL, and that not going to change anytime soon.

 

[fearsomefour]

The bad news is there are holes to fill and a general lack of depth on the roster.
The good news is the Rams won the NFC with those same issues.
The Pats played well, particularly up front, but Goff was terrible and largely cost the team the game. He was late, didn't see or missed open receivers.
I would expect to see five man fronts and teams trying to replicate what the Bears and Pats did.
Where was THAT Rams D all year?
The Rams D has a big margin to improve.
That is encouraging.

 

[Merlin]

IMO people simply underestimate the importance of Kupp in the Rams' offense. When he's in there Goff always has someone on an early read, and it's harder for the defense to predict and counter his read order not to mention being able to match up on all the passing game threats.

Most teams can't do what the Pats did to us, with the instant pressure on Jared up the middle plus the secondary snuffing out early reads they knew he'd go to with a seasoned secondary. It was a combination of pressure plus Belichick preparing his defense well to anticipate McVay's tendencies.

We get Kupp back next year. McVay will learn from the lesson he just got from the GOAT too. That's not to say that the Rams might not try to get another weapon added to the passing game, at say TE. Or that they don't need to settle that OL down and figure out Saff and how to upgrade at Center. But I just feel like there is still way too much overreacting and insanity over our Super Bowl loss. Nothing has changed. We are in great hands and have one of the brightest futures in the league right now.

 

[Malibu]

I agree on two big Offense points the OP made - first retooling the offense to solve those zone alignments I am sure McVay will.

Secondly it is monumentally important to upgrade the OL. Like I will say endlessly and I hope management hears this - we MUST upgrade the OL. We go as far as our OL takes us.

We should make Matt Paradis Denver's Center a pure standout a high priority. Goff is a pure pocket passer and needs a strong interior OL pressen. Resign Saffold, sign Paradis and review Blythe at RG he did a great job but against NE he got taken to the woodshed. The better defenses got to Goff we need a superior OL and we will easily win the next Superbowl.

I know the Defense has issues and to be honest we can't address all of them. We need to keep Suh IMO at aa discount not sure that will happen. If not there are more pure nose tackle options run stuffers in the draft and in FA. We must upgrade one ILB position - more of a run stuffer. We need a upgrade at Safety it can be had in first round or trade back into early part of round 2. We definitely need an upgrade at both olb positions. Fowler had flashes but I would not offer him anything more than 6m per year and not sure I would be even do that. His sack production was sub par. We need a monster on one de/olb position not sure who that is Lawrence will not leave Dallas I believe. Not sure Clowney is worth it but not sure tough call. 5 major De/olb prospects will be gone in top 10-15 in draft so not sure what we will get where we are drafting.

Lastly I believe we need another top notch CB Talib is getting older, and we all witnessed what happened when one of our top two CBs went down. I am not a believer in any of our backup CBs to step in.

My luxury pick in the draft but will turn out to be the hidden gem in the entire draft is Andy Isabella. You all hear me harp on this kid. If we go 4 wide once in a while with essentially with 2 slot receivers teams will be affraid to rush more than 4 and who can cover two super craft slot guys like Isabella and Kupp. I honestly believe be he will be better than Reynolds and he will not take years to develop he is an instant star 4.26 hand time massive production in college just like Kupp and like I always say do not resign Natson and have him return kicks/punts.

 

[bubbaramfan]

I'm not satisfied with the interior OL of Blythe and Sullivan. In the playoffs and vs Bears and Eagles they got pushed around pretty badly. Rams need to get bigger there.

 

[SteveBrown]

From the base of Mt Everest, it looks like a huge

I’m shocked how infrequently I read how devastatingly well the Ram Defense played in the Super Bowl. Had there been even a breath of life from the offense, this could’ve been heralded as a top 5 performance. e.

1000% agree that the press has no idea what to write....they write what sells, and we believe it, too.
Rams had a top 5 Defensive performance in the playoffs, not just super bowl. The Patriots did not have a great defensive performance (the Rams made it easy)---stopping the Rams was easy because McVay has run the same plays to the exact same parts of the field for 2 years now.....the Pats easily picked that apart. HOWEVER, the Rams defense did something that no team has ever done to the Patriots in a playoff game....

Argue if you will, you know the Rams were the better defense that night. And, they had bad field position too.

 

[Ram65]

I think McVay should have anticipated the changes on defense by NE. Players didn't make plays either. Some bad calls hurt too.

The defense was great to watch somewhat like the old days. Was very proud of the defense that keep the Rams in the game.

 

[bubbaramfan]

Given the fact the Patriots have the same HC and QB and have been running the same scheme for 20 years and the Rams have barely gotten started with theirs, the Rams went toe to toe with them until 7 minutes into the 4th qtr. was pretty damned good. I believe if the Rams had been stouter up front at C, (Sullivan), and RG, (Blythe who is just not big enough) the Rams would have won.