Quick: Rams OC Cignetti 'has a lot up his sleeve'

[Corbin]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...uick-rams-oc-cignetti-has-a-lot-up-his-sleeve
Are the St. Louis Rams finally ready to break out of their shell on offense?

Wideout Brian Quick suggested this week that new play-caller Frank Cignetti Jr. has made adjustments to the milquetoast attack we saw under former coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.
"Oh man, we have some stuff," Quick said, per ESPN.com. "It's going to take some time but it's coming. He has a lot up his sleeve and together as an offense we are going to put it together and it's going to be fun."

The Rams are expected to add zone-blocking elements to their ground game, but Quick appears to be hinting at more. Perhaps the team will find a better way to display the gifts of third-year wideout Tavon Austin, the former first-round pick who has been held to 71 catches for 660 yards over two seasons. Or maybe the reboot will address the entire passing game, which saw its leading receiver catch only 48 passes last season after hauling in just 40 in 2013.

Either way, we still expect the Rams to smash teams with the run. The combination of rookie Todd Gurley and second-year back Tre Mason gives St. Louis an intriguing pair of runners in a division ruled by the ground game.

As the team's quarterback coach over the past three years, Cignetti knows better than anyone what plagued this team: chaos under center. Sam Bradford played just seven games over the past two seasons, leaving middling arms Austin Davis, Shaun Hill and Kellen Clemens to run the show.
No matter what the newfangled attack looks like, St. Louis desperately needs new quarterback Nick Foles to stay on the field and give the Rams a much-needed dose of stability. That would be new for Foles -- who was a hot-and-cold act in Philly -- but at just 26 years old, he has plenty of time to change minds.

 

[Big Game]

I hope to see an effective offense that utilizes the strengths of all its key players. Only time will tell.
But i am happy to move on at OC lol

 

[Corbin]

I hope and to see an effective offense that utilizes the strengths of all its key players. Only time will tell.
But i am happy to move on at OC lol

To be happy moving on at OC is the least that can be said of me, I'm overjoyed. I couldn't stand Shittenheimer, that retarded, predictive, OMG I ran out of a script, I don't know how to adjust sorry excuse of a OC. I don't care even when he was here I was critical of him because he absolutely, positively coached like a steaming, Grade A certified, stinking pile of Monkey Crap.

So yeah I think Cignetti will do wonders with our talent.



THANKS SCHOTYY!!

 

[RamBill]

Quick Progressing with Shoulder Rehab
By Myles Simmons

View: http://www.stlouisrams.com/news-and-events/article-1/Quick-Progressing-with-Shoulder-Rehab/00539de0-65ed-43e1-a9a2-18b36d03184d


Wide receiver Brian Quick has been working diligently to get back to full strength after suffering a season-ending shoulder injury last Oct. 26 against the Chiefs. While the wideout is still limited in what he can do on the field, head coach Jeff Fisher said on Thursday that Quick is coming along well.

“We’ll have to watch him, keep him out of contact, but he’s running routes against air,” Fisher said. “He’s catching and progressing nicely.”

It’s been a long process to rehab an injury so extensive that it surprised the wide receiver.

“That’s what really kind of got me,” Quick said. “It was pretty bad.”

But he said his mindset has been in the right place to physically recover.

“Anybody can give up and think it’s over,” he said. “I thought the opposite.”

On Thursday, he gave plenty of credit to the Rams’ head athletic trainer Reggie Scott and assistant athletic trainer Byron Cunningham for their assistance in the process.

“Byron working with me this offseason -- we came together and worked really hard,” Quick said. “When I say ‘we,’ he put a lot into it. And I definitely came in and put in the work as well.”

The wide receiver said he felt he turned a corner about two months ago, while working through some drills with Cunningham.

“They saw I was coming along a little bit further than expected, so we just went from there,” Quick said.

Now at OTAs, the wide receiver has been able to participate in some positional drills, but he’s not been cleared to do much else quite yet.

“It’s always hard, coming out here seeing these guys work, and you have to sit down and watch them,” Quick said. “You want to be out there so badly, but you have to just be patient. It’ll come.”

The wideout has to be smart with how he maneuvers his shoulder at this point, a task made easier by the trust he’s gained from the training staff. Quick said that he’s gotten hold of how his body will react to different movements he makes on the field, and how he catches balls.

So while there is still no set schedule for Quick’s full return, he said that once it happens, he’ll be primed to make an impact.

“I know that when it’s time, I’m going to be ready,” Quick said.

 

[Barrison]

I keep hearing this and every time it makes me more giddy to see what is in store for the offense from Cig can't wait!!

 

[LACHAMP46]

I love me some Brian Quick....I expect big things from this young man...time to step up...Henry Ellard came from NOWHERE...Bruce did too...

Wideout Brian Quick suggested this week that new play-caller Frank Cignetti Jr. has made adjustments to the milquetoast attack we saw under former coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.

I don't wanna bash Schotty but....

As the team's quarterback coach over the past three years, Cignetti knows better than anyone what plagued this team: chaos under center.

To be happy moving on at OC is the least that can be said of me, I'm overjoyed.

So yeah I think Cignetti will do wonders with our talent.

I keep hearing this and every time it makes me more giddy to see what is in store for the offense from Cig can't wait!!

Cig pedigree:
http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/index.ssf/2011/08/politi_rutgers_frank_cignetti.html


Politi: Rutgers' Frank Cignetti injects Super Bowl-winning system into an anemic offense
By Steve Politi | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Frank H. Conlon/For The Star-LedgerRutgers hired former Pittsburgh assistant Frank Cignetti as its offensive coordinator in January.
Frank Cignetti could spend hours trying to describe the offense he is bringing to Rutgers, breaking down the multiple formations and shifts designed to create matchup problems.

But, to keep everyone from overdosing on X’s and O’s, perhaps it’s better to start here: You know the Green Bay offense? The one that put up silly numbers in the playoffs last winter en route to a Super Bowl title?


Savon Huggins and Frank Cignetti talk about pro-style offense and running back position True freshman Savon Huggins calls new Rutgers football offensive coordinator "a genius," while Frank Cignetti responds by saying, "We are all here for a reason." (Video by Vincent Velasquez/The Star-Ledger)
Yes, it’s a lot like that offense.

“The foundation is the same,” Cignetti said Sunday at the team’s annual media day, and it isn’t something he merely copied from Mike McCarthy, the Packers’ head coach. He learned it alongside him, starting in 1989 when the two men were unpaid graduate assistants at Pittsburgh.

Cignetti would pick up McCarthy each morning and drive him to work, and then the two would stop for pizza on the way home. Their paths met again, when McCarthy was the offensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints and Cignetti worked as his quarterbacks coach.

“I would not be standing where I am without my father and Mike McCarthy,” said Cignetti, whose dad was a longtime coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. “I’ve had a great opportunity to learn from the best, and an opportunity to blend what I’ve learned.”

Now he’ll bring that blend, which he describes as a combination of Bill Walsh’s West Coast offense and Don Coryell’s Digit play-calling system, to Rutgers. There isn’t a more anticipated or important addition to the Scarlet Knights than their new offensive coordinator, who arrives from Pittsburgh to reinvent a unit that ranked 114th in the nation last season.

Any Rutgers fan could tell the new guy this: The confused-looking, sack-prone, wildcat-reliant offense was painful to watch. Luckily for him, Cignetti didn’t watch it, choosing only to look at enough film when he took the job this winter to get a feel for the talent level.

He likes what he saw. Rutgers has two future pros at wide receiver in Mohamed Sanu and Mark Harrison, a physically imposing tight end in D.C. Jefferson and the best recruit in school history, Savon Huggins, expected to challenge for the starting job at running back.

Now it needs a scheme that will keep sophomore quarterback Chas Dodd off his back. Rutgers gave up an NCAA-record 61 sacks last season, and while the offensive line looks mostly the same, Cignetti believes his offense — with a passing game reliant on quick routes and timing, one that will complement a strong running game — will take pressure off the pass blockers.

“The system itself has answers to defensive-generated problems,” Cignetti said. “What’s the problem? Here’s the solution. When you look at the three phases of offense, this is a true system that, in my mind, is second to none.”

Spend 20 minutes talking to Cignetti (and, with Rutgers’ rules forbidding assistant coaches to speak the media, this will be the only time you’ll hear from him for a while), and it’s clear that the defensive-minded Greg Schiano has hired his offensive soulmate for this job.

If Cignetti had plastic surgery to put a gap between his teeth, it would be hard to tell them apart. They even played in the same game back in the mid ’80s — Schiano a linebacker for Bucknell, Cignetti a safety for IUP — but they never spoke until the latter became a candidate for the job at Rutgers.

“I can tell you one thing: Frank Cignetti is as passionate about his offense as I was as a defensive coordinator,” Schiano said, and it’s an offense Schiano is comfortable with, too.


Schiano talked about getting back to a blue-collar style that better fits the personality of his program and the state. Cignetti, who has moved his family to five coaching stops in the past six years alone, wants to be part of that solution long term.

Cignetti said he started his first meeting with his offensive players with a question: “What is an NFL system?” His players can’t be faulted if they scratched their heads or threw up their hands.

Finally, they’re starting to find out. Cignetti is bringing an offensive system that resembles the one that won the Super Bowl last season, and for a unit that needs an identity, that’s a pretty good place to start.

 

[Big Willie]

LaChamp46, Thanks for the info. I feel so much better about Cignetti after reading the article. I was afraid Ground Chuck was going to make a resurgence....sounds like the new coach has some offensive chops and can blend ground and pound with a more open air attack. This combination bodes well for the future.

 

[Fatbot]

With each new Cignetti article I get excited, but I'm still holding my breath to see what exact version of offense we get. I'm thinking there's two ways this could go: one is Cignetti is indeed similar to McCarthy and crafts an offense that's "west coast" mostly in name only but instead evolved to stay ahead of the times; two is the big fear, that Cignetti goes back too far to west coast basics because Fisher is trying to resurrect Marty Ball, and we run twice before throwing a 2-yard completion on 3rd and 3.

My guess is the hints lately at "zone blocking" and "things up Cignetti's sleeve" might refer to packaged plays, where if teams try to crash too hard on Gurley then Foles will pop a quick slant instead of handing it off.

 

[lordbannon]

Wideout Brian Quick suggested this week that new play-caller Frank Cignetti Jr. has made adjustments to the milquetoast attack we saw under former coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.

If B Quick has the smarts to be dropping words like milquetoast, he should have been able to pick up an NFL offense faster.

Seriously though, love what I'm hearing. Can't wait to actually SEE the results for myself.

 

[CGI_Ram]

It’s been a long process to rehab an injury so extensive that it surprised the wide receiver.

“That’s what really kind of got me,” Quick said. “It was pretty bad.”

But he said his mindset has been in the right place to physically recover.

“Anybody can give up and think it’s over,” he said. “I thought the opposite.”

I am trying to be optimistic; but I am still very very concerned about Quick.

There are very few injuries one could think "it's over". I'm worried that shoulder could be a problem first time he hits the turf.

 

[A55VA6]

In Kenny Britt's press conference yesterday he said the new playbook is a big learning curve and it'll take some time. But he too, seemed very excited about it.

 

[DaveFan'51]

he absolutely, positively coached like a steaming, Grade A certified, stinking pile of Monkey Crap.

Come on, Corbin, My brother, quit mixing words, and tell us how you REALLY feel!! I 99.9% agree with you! ( Only because I don't 100% agree with anyone! Truthfully)

 

[Amitar]

Why Fisher kept Shott and would have still kept him had he not found another job is mind boggling and beyond belief.
This article sounds like a breath of fresh air.

 

[ram007]

Schotty was not the problem alm:

 

[yrba1]

I doubt we'll be passing a lot unless we're behind late in the 4th quarter. Our revamped O-line is built to bulldoze the trenches while Gurley and Mason gash for yardage.

 

[Barrison]

Schotty was not the problem alm:

Maybe not, but he certainly wasn't the solution.

 

[RamBill]

Rams' Quick making progress toward return
By Nate Latsch

http://www.scout.com/nfl/rams/story/1552535-rams-quick-making-progress-toward-return

ST. LOUIS — A year ago, Rams wide receiver Brian Quick was one of the most impressive players on the field during the team’s OTA sessions. This week, the fact that Quick is on the field at all is good news.

Quick was on his way to a breakout campaign in 2014 when he suffered a season-ending injury — he dislocated his left shoulder and tore his rotator cuff — in the second quarter of a Week 8 loss at Kansas City after making a catch and landing on his shoulder.

On Thursday, during the Rams’ second OTA session, Quick was back out on the field catching passes and, while he wasn’t participating fully with the practice, showing good signs that he’s getting closer to returning to the promising form he showed last fall.

“Brian Quick is probably the one we have to watch,” Rams coach Jeff Fisher said Thursday. “As I mentioned to you before, we’ll have to watch him, keep him out of contact, but he’s running routes against air. He’s catching and progressing nicely.”

Quick met with reporters afterward and talked about that progress.

“I’m feeling better every day,” he said. “I’ve been in the training room, working hard, just trying to get back on the field.”

The wide receiver, a second-round pick in 2012 who will be entering his fourth season this fall, was quick to credit Rams’ head athletic trainer Reggie Scott and assistant athletic trainer Byron Cunningham for their work in helping him with his rehab.

Now, Quick is waiting for word that he can do more with his teammates.

“Just waiting for Reg (Reggie Scott) to give me the go, to get on the field with everybody and start participating a little more,” he said.

“It’s always hard coming out here and seeing these guys work and you have to sit down and watch them,” Quick added. “You want to be out there so bad, but you have to just be patient. It will come.”

The timing of Quick’s season-ending injury last season was made all the worse because it looked like his time on the field had finally come.

Quick, who turned 26 on Friday, failed to make much of an impact in his first two seasons despite his lofty draft status coming out of Appalachian State. He caught 11 passes for 156 yards and two touchdowns as a rookie and then had 18 receptions for 302 yards and two scores in his second season, in 2013.

Quick drew praise from then-Rams offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer in OTAs a year ago as being possibly the most improved player Schottenheimer had witnessed during the sessions. The wideout’s strong play in OTAs carried over into an impressive training camp and then the 2014 season.

The 6-foot-3, 218-pounder caught 25 passes for 375 yards and three touchdowns — all career bests — in the seven games he played before the season-ending injury.

The Rams haven’t had a receiver reach the 1,000-yard mark since Torry Holt in 2007, but Quick may have had a chance to break that streak if not for the injury. Through six games, he was on pace for 64 catches, 973 yards and eight touchdowns over a 16-game season.

If Quick continues to progress like he has over the past few months, he’ll have a chance to get to 1,000 yards and break that streak next season. Either way, the wide receiver’s appearance at OTAs this week is a good sign of his progress and another step forward in his return.

 

[RamBill]

Rams' receiver Brian Quick making progress from shoulder injury
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-ra...an-quick-making-progress-from-shoulder-injury

EARTH CITY, Mo. -- Of the St. Louis Rams players recovering from surgeries during this offseason program, coach Jeff Fisher is only showing concern about one.

That would be wide receiver Brian Quick, who is still working his way back from a torn rotator cuff and separated left shoulder suffered on Oct. 26 of last year.

The injury was so severe that Fisher has been especially hesitant to put any sort of timetable on Quick's return. But one week into organized team activities, Quick looks to be making some tangible progress that could lead to his being ready for training camp.

"Brian Quick is probably the one we have to watch," Fisher said. "As I mentioned to you before, we'll have to watch him, keep him out of contact, but he's running routes against air. He's catching and progressing nicely."

Quick has actually been doing some individual work during the OTAs, more than might have been expected when Fisher last gave an update on his status at March's owners meetings in Phoenix. In the early portion of those practices, Quick has done some individual work, running routes and catching passes. He says it was about two months ago when he first started feeling like himself again.

That doesn't mean Quick will be back at 100 percent anytime soon but the lack of recent setbacks is a good sign.

"[I'm] just easing my way in and just waiting to get in and go and get on the field with everybody and starting to participate a little more," Quick said. "It's always hard coming out here and seeing these guys work and you have to sit down and watch them. You want to be out there so bad but you have to just be patient."

Patience has been a big part of Quick's three-year tenure in St. Louis. Considered something of a project as a second-round pick out of Appalachian State in 2012, Quick's learning curve was steeper than most. In his first two seasons, that yielded just 29 receptions for 458 yards and four touchdowns.

Finally, the light appeared to come on or at least flicker more brightly in the first part of last season. Through the first six-plus games before the injury, Quick posted 25 catches for 375 yards and three touchdowns. Had he stayed healthy, he would have easily breezed past his career totals in one season and probably would have led the team in receiving.

Instead, Quick found himself facing an injury far more severe than it first appeared.

"That's what really kind of got me," Quick said. "It was pretty bad. But like I said, it's what my mindset is going into it. Anybody can give up and think it's over. [Athletic trainer] Byron [Cunningham] working with me this offseason, we came together and worked really hard. He put a lot into it. And I came in and put in the work as well. I feel like it took a lot for me. I know that when it's time I'm going to be ready."

At 26, Quick is entering the final year of his contract and though he's flashed potential, he probably hasn't done enough to garner a lucrative long-term contract at this point. The sooner he can get back on the field, the sooner he can cement his place on the roster beyond 2015.

 

[Stranger]

The Rams are expected to add zone-blocking elements to their ground game,

Yes!

 

[HometownBoy]

Literally all Cigs has to do is be smarter about executing his playbook than Schott was and we shouldn't have any problem.

The potential was always there, but Schott would either overthink or overlook things and stay completely on course with a preset plan even if the actual game was playing out radically different. Completely thought out plans to the tee may work in college, but in the NFL you have to be able to bend and flow.