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St. Louis Rams look to simplify offense with Frank Cignetti
By Nick Wagoner
http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/16263/rams-look-to-simplify-offense-with-cignetti
EARTH CITY, Mo. -- One of the first orders of business for the St. Louis Rams before the real offseason begins is going through an extensive period of self-scouting.
As coach Jeff Fisher and his offensive coaches went back through the 2014 season, he came to a few conclusions.
"I personally had plenty of time to go back and reflect and look at the offense and identify some areas that need to be improved on," Fisher said. "Like what you're talking about with the third quarter stuff and the third-down efficiency and tying the run game to the play-action game and simplifying the offense and reducing things and establishing an identity and all those kind of things."
Out of that laundry list of items, the word "simplifying" jumps out the most. I know what you're thinking: How can an offense based in the principles of "ground and pound" be too complicated? Well, Fisher believes that at times the Rams' offense was too voluminous, asking the players to remember a lot of things in a given week.
Former coordinator Brian Schottenheimer's offense (under Fisher's guidance) may be fairly fundamental philosophically but it also came with plenty of shifts, movements and details that gave the players an abundance of things to do and remember on every snap.
In elevating quarterbacks coach Frank Cignetti to offensive coordinator, Fisher said he saw in Cignetti an ability to help the offense get where it wants to go without having to change what it does at its core.
"Those are the kind of things that we talked about and those are the things that were very attractive to me from a standpoint of not only his background, his experience just understanding offensive concepts, but also different ways of doing things," Fisher said. "So, we are going to change, but change is good. This change is going to be very, very good for us."
Asked if he thought the offense was too complicated, Fisher confirmed that in discussions with Cignetti, there was a bit of a consensus that it was.
"I think we agreed there was at times," Fisher said.
Which puts the onus on Cignetti and his staff to find ways to reduce the offense and simplify it while also ensuring that it offers enough options to have success. There is no doubt that the Rams offense will have a similar approach in 2015 with the language and playbook remaining the same. Boiled down to simpler terms, the idea is to continue doing the same things the offense has done in the past but do it better.
"The foundation of the playbook is the same," Cignetti said. "Coach Schottenheimer's put a terrific system in place here, the same system I was a part of when I was with the San Francisco 49ers. The foundation is going to be the same. Whether Coach Schottenheimer was still here or whether it was myself leading, every year you look at ways of doing things better.
"So, things that we talked about was how could we minimize terminology? So there's certain things that we did in my past that we'll be able to minimize terminology. So, as an offensive staff, we're going to evaluate everything. If there's a better way to learn, if there's a better way to teach, then we'll make changes. We're not going to change just to make changes, but if it's something that's going to help us win football games, then we'll make the necessary changes."
It's a process that's already begun.
"I'm confident that our system will be such in April when the players come back for the offseason program, we'll be simplified," Fisher said. "But appear to be much more complex."
By Nick Wagoner
http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/16263/rams-look-to-simplify-offense-with-cignetti
EARTH CITY, Mo. -- One of the first orders of business for the St. Louis Rams before the real offseason begins is going through an extensive period of self-scouting.
As coach Jeff Fisher and his offensive coaches went back through the 2014 season, he came to a few conclusions.
"I personally had plenty of time to go back and reflect and look at the offense and identify some areas that need to be improved on," Fisher said. "Like what you're talking about with the third quarter stuff and the third-down efficiency and tying the run game to the play-action game and simplifying the offense and reducing things and establishing an identity and all those kind of things."
Out of that laundry list of items, the word "simplifying" jumps out the most. I know what you're thinking: How can an offense based in the principles of "ground and pound" be too complicated? Well, Fisher believes that at times the Rams' offense was too voluminous, asking the players to remember a lot of things in a given week.
Former coordinator Brian Schottenheimer's offense (under Fisher's guidance) may be fairly fundamental philosophically but it also came with plenty of shifts, movements and details that gave the players an abundance of things to do and remember on every snap.
In elevating quarterbacks coach Frank Cignetti to offensive coordinator, Fisher said he saw in Cignetti an ability to help the offense get where it wants to go without having to change what it does at its core.
"Those are the kind of things that we talked about and those are the things that were very attractive to me from a standpoint of not only his background, his experience just understanding offensive concepts, but also different ways of doing things," Fisher said. "So, we are going to change, but change is good. This change is going to be very, very good for us."
Asked if he thought the offense was too complicated, Fisher confirmed that in discussions with Cignetti, there was a bit of a consensus that it was.
"I think we agreed there was at times," Fisher said.
Which puts the onus on Cignetti and his staff to find ways to reduce the offense and simplify it while also ensuring that it offers enough options to have success. There is no doubt that the Rams offense will have a similar approach in 2015 with the language and playbook remaining the same. Boiled down to simpler terms, the idea is to continue doing the same things the offense has done in the past but do it better.
"The foundation of the playbook is the same," Cignetti said. "Coach Schottenheimer's put a terrific system in place here, the same system I was a part of when I was with the San Francisco 49ers. The foundation is going to be the same. Whether Coach Schottenheimer was still here or whether it was myself leading, every year you look at ways of doing things better.
"So, things that we talked about was how could we minimize terminology? So there's certain things that we did in my past that we'll be able to minimize terminology. So, as an offensive staff, we're going to evaluate everything. If there's a better way to learn, if there's a better way to teach, then we'll make changes. We're not going to change just to make changes, but if it's something that's going to help us win football games, then we'll make the necessary changes."
It's a process that's already begun.
"I'm confident that our system will be such in April when the players come back for the offseason program, we'll be simplified," Fisher said. "But appear to be much more complex."
