Rapoport: Indications Are Fisher/Snead Safe For 2016

[snackdaddy]

Its no coincidence all the top teams are getting pro bowl caliber play from their QB's. The of the top 6 teams in the league have QB's that will likely be in the pro bowl. Denver's probably won't, but Osweiler has played well. And even though Manning was having his worst season, he found ways to win. And he'll be a first ballot Hall of Famer.

A couple of other contenders are getting good play from their QB's. How many teams with losing records have a pro bowl caliber QB? Not many.

So it is imperative Fisher finds a serviceable quarterback. With Gurley and the defense he doesn't need to have a top tier quarterback. But it has to be better than what he's had since he joined the Rams.

 

[DaveFan'51]

The best way for a HC to get a seat with the fans is to listen to them

Unless those Fans are Members of ROD!!!:snicker::shades:

 

[DaveFan'51]

View attachment 11493

It worked well Thursday Night!!

 

[Merlin]

Using First Take to prove a point?

Ballsy. Skip always has to throw in some kind of opinion to cause controversy. Smith on the other hand just yells and blabs like he is asking someone to pop him in the mouth to shut him up. Racism, really? Good ole boy system? HOW does this guy still get his face on TV?

Race card is Smith's usual approach, he's always quick to throw that out there. Dude is garbage.

That just makes me want to see Fish succeed even more, to shut him the F up.

 

[Rams43]

Want further evidence that in a sane environment that Fisher should not be returned as Ram HC in '16?

First, he admitted in his presser that he forced Boras to call running plays late in the Bucs game.

No OC would have done so voluntarily given the 20+ minutes remaining and having seen the safe and efficient Keenum results up to that point.

Just a little commentary to bolster points about Fisher pulling in his horns with over a quarter to go AND while continually running into over loaded Buc boxes...

I read elsewhere that we only attempted 4 passes in the second half. FOUR!

And the kicker? All 4 were completions. And for 89 yards.

My point?

Fisher essentially took the ball out of Keenum's hands and unilaterally made the Rams one dimensional. And with 20+ minutes left in the danged ballgame!

A QB that was having an extremely effective game. With a 158 rating, for crying out loud!

In favor of 3 and outs into a stacked run D and on a good run defensive team. WTH?

What HC goes away from what is working so well into what the opposing team is obviously determined to take away with 20 minutes still left in the game?

Blows my damned mind.

This is a microcosm example of why Fisher is clueless when it comes to O matters. Waaaaay too risk averse for today's NFL. He's the anti Martz.

Arians would have pushed his foot through the floorboard by way of contrast.

 

[Rainram]

I wonder how many head coaches in the league are pounding the table to have one of the following as their starting QB:

A constantly rehabbing Bradford
Kellen Clemens
Austin Davis
Shaun Hill
Nick Foles
Case Keenum

Any of them would be an instant recipe for 11 wins.
12 if they have a good defense.

I really do think a VERY large portion of his lack of success is related to the QB issue. Having said that...I will make two points...

1. Some would say...yea, well, that's his fault. However, I think, even in hindsight (which we all have the benefit of), his only real option was to snag David Carr in round 2 a couple years ago. Bradford cost him 2 years. Seriously...2 years of mediocrity thanks to the talented but fragile #8. "Well, he went for Foles...that was his call." Because there were tons of other options? Hell, ANY other options. Now signing Nick to a longer deal sure is an indictment.

2. I want to be clear that I am not pleased with Fisher myself. I think I am objective enough to see how he has been handicapped by circumstances beyond his control. But I am also critical of him. I had a real hard time during that 5 game skid. And not just because we lost 5 in a row but how we lost them. Especially the three losses to start it out.

Vikings: Out-Coached by Zimmer and Turner. We had some key guys that were out injured...sure. But we got out-coached. The Rams were very undisciplined. Came off a 2 game home win streak. That was a HUGE game. The team was not prepared and played poorly. Reaked of bad coaching.

Bears: Came back home after a disappointing lost and got absolutely destroyed by the Bears. It wasn't even a game. Fox and Gase made Fisher look like other coaches made Spags and Linehan look. That's what that game reminded me of. Again they were really out-coached. He even admitted as much in his pressers.

Baltimore: Really? Baltimore? Really? It was very clear the Harbaugh was the better Coach in that game. Even in Baltimore we should have won that game by a TD.

Now I'm all for calling out players and their lack of execution...and there's been a lot of that. Foles. But there have been a handful of times other coaches have bested him. And that stretch above...two against bad teams... when we had momentum and a winning record and we got beat. HE got beat. I really soured on him during that stretch. Can't get that out of my head.

That being said...I'm still on board with keeping him. This team is real close. Assuming we can keep our core players (JJ, Tru, Brockers, Ogletree, Austin, Gurley, Donald), we are a QB away. He has made a lot of strides with this team. He really has. Unfortunately...not in the Wins column.

 

[blue4]

I wonder how many head coaches in the league are pounding the table to have one of the following as their starting QB:

A constantly rehabbing Bradford
Kellen Clemens
Austin Davis
Shaun Hill
Nick Foles
Case Keenum

Any of them would be an instant recipe for 11 wins.
12 if they have a good defense.

None of them.

I'm not sure that bad players is a good defense for a HC with control over the roster though.

 

[OntarioRam]

Race card is Smith's usual approach, he's always quick to throw that out there. Dude is garbage.

That just makes me want to see Fish succeed even more, to shut him the F up.

Agreed. I'm pretty indifferent to Fisher. But Fisher seemingly having nine lives in St. Louis is in no way related to African American coaches in the NFL. Come on, Smith.

 

[RamFan503]

Yes. We have distance from the issue that he doesn't. It give us a perspective he doesn't have.

I said the same thing about Muschamp at Florida and will say the same thing about him at South Carolina. He's a great defensive coach...but he tries to control the offense and only succeeds in stifling it and frustrating his coordinators. He can't see it because he's too close. And he's a coach...he wants to have his hands in everything.

Fisher needs to take a step back and give his OC space. He needs to allow the OC to run the offense and not dictate how it should be run. If he trusts him to call the plays, he should trust him to run the system the way it's supposed to be run.

As people, it's not always easy to recognize our limitations and recognize when we're better off taking a step back and trusting someone else. You run a successful restaurant, Stu. I'm sure you have experience delegating. I don't know if it comes easy to you or not but it doesn't come easy to everyone...and football coaches are usually the worst offenders. But to be a great NFL HC, you have to be able to take a step back, delegate, and trust your coordinators to get the job done...especially on the side of the ball that you don't have expertise in. I think Fisher has problems doing that.

Come on man. No coach and I mean NO COACH is going to be holding back an offense to this extent. It just isn't happening. The idea that Fisher is restraining his OC to this result is just ludicrous. Does he believe in a ground and pound offense? Largely - yes. But saying that because he has had few top ten offenses and therefore that is the reason we have a bottom ranked offense is just nonsensical. He doesn't have to step back to see it. He is fully aware of how the offense is performing and he knows full well it has to perform better.

He may not have the best eye for offensive talent or QBs or OCs. Yeah - I can follow that logic. But this whole idea that he is holding back his OC is laughable. Taking a knee to end a half when we as fans think he should go for it? Yeah - I can see that being a HC decision. But the running of the offense? Not buying it. It's true that none of us know for sure but I just can't follow the logic that says that because he is not known for having great offenses, he is reigning in an offense that is at the bottom of the league while calling fake punts.

When you look at Fisher's history, he has generally had both a middle of the road offense and defense. So the idea he is only a defensive minded coach is not backed up by his history. Hell - his offenses have generally outranked his defenses. His offense made Drew freaking Bennett a must have FA for our offensive minded coach Linny. You remember Linny. The offensive guru that led our 28th ranked offense and 31st ranked defense? He must have been holding back Jim Haslett at the time.

 

[jrry32]

Come on man. No coach and I mean NO COACH is going to be holding back an offense to this extent. It just isn't happening. The idea that Fisher is restraining his OC to this result is just ludicrous. Does he believe in a ground and pound offense? Largely - yes. But saying that because he has had few top ten offenses and therefore that is the reason we have a bottom ranked offense is just nonsensical. He doesn't have to step back to see it. He is fully aware of how the offense is performing and he knows full well it has to perform better.

Then he needs to recognize that he can't have his cake and eat it too.

You want a better offense? Go get a quality OC and give him carte blanche.

He may not have the best eye for offensive talent or QBs or OCs. Yeah - I can follow that logic. But this whole idea that he is holding back his OC is laughable. Taking a knee to end a half when we as fans think he should go for it? Yeah - I can see that being a HC decision. But the running of the offense? Not buying it. It's true that none of us know for sure but I just can't follow the logic that says that because he is not known for having great offenses, he is reigning in an offense that is at the bottom of the league while calling fake punts.

When you look at Fisher's history, he has generally had both a middle of the road offense and defense. So the idea he is only a defensive minded coach is not backed up by his history. Hell - his offenses have generally outranked his defenses. His offense made Drew freaking Bennett a must have FA for our offensive minded coach Linny. You remember Linny. The offensive guru that led our 28th ranked offense and 31st ranked defense? He must have been holding back Jim Haslett at the time.

This argument doesn't help Fisher, it hurts him. Why are we employing a coach that generally has middle of the road offenses AND defenses?

Linehan held everyone back. He was incompetent. But Haslett is incompetent too.

And you're also ignoring a big chunk of my logic. That he's done things the exact same way in St. Louis that they were done in Tennessee...across many different OCs.(who is the one constant?) Except for the very brief period where he let Schotty dabble with the spread offense.

In fact, let me quote a recent post:

First, he admitted in his presser that he forced Boras to call running plays late in the Bucs game.

This sounds exactly like the problem I'm talking about. What quality OC wants to work with this?

 

[RamFan503]

What HC goes away from what is working so well into what the opposing team is obviously determined to take away with 20 minutes still left in the game?

Quite a few when leading by more than three TDs and having a back even close to Gurley's level.

 

[RamFan503]

This argument doesn't help Fisher, it hurts him. Why are we employing a coach that generally has middle of the road offenses AND defenses?

And that is an argument I can buy into. I'm not saying he is a great coach. I don't think the grass is necessarily greener. But if your argument is that he hasn't been a great coach, that is much different than essentially saying he wants a bad offense.

 

[jrry32]

And that is an argument I can buy into. I'm not saying he is a great coach. I don't think the grass is necessarily greener. But if your argument is that he hasn't been a great coach, that is much different than essentially saying he wants a bad offense.

I'm not saying he WANTS a bad offense. I'm saying that he can't get out of his OC's way and that leads to average to bad offenses.

 

[RamFan503]

I'm not saying he WANTS a bad offense. I'm saying that he can't get out of his OC's way and that leads to average to bad offenses.

I'm not buying it. I just don't think he is getting that involved in the offense to this kind of demise. I can see the idea of him telling his OC to run the clock on the rare occasion that we have a big lead but not on a consistent basis.

 

[Merlin]

I'm not saying he WANTS a bad offense. I'm saying that he can't get out of his OC's way and that leads to average to bad offenses.

That might be true. But it might also be true he just sucks at his OC hires.

I tend to be of the mind that the latter is true. I don't think he gets in the way of good offense, he simply has not hired anyone since heimerdinger that is any good.

Boras the jury is out of course. Probably will still be out after the next two games, too, unless the offense lights up both defenses.

IMO Fish could get it done simply by hitting on OC. That is the heart of things, aside from the OL injuries.

 

[jrry32]

That might be true. But it might also be true he just sucks at his OC hires.

I tend to be of the mind that the latter is true. I don't think he gets in the way of good offense, he simply has not hired anyone since heimerdinger that is any good.

Boras the jury is out of course. Probably will still be out after the next two games, too, unless the offense lights up both defenses.

IMO Fish could get it done simply by hitting on OC. That is the heart of things, aside from the OL injuries.

I think the two are connected.

I'm not buying it. I just don't think he is getting that involved in the offense to this kind of demise. I can see the idea of him telling his OC to run the clock on the rare occasion that we have a big lead but not on a consistent basis.

If he's willing to do that in game, it tells me he has no issues involving himself in the offensive decision-making.

 

[blackbart]

There just aren't enough job opportunities in the NFL, CFL, and college for all the brilliant football minds we have here on ROD

 

[RamFan503]

If he's willing to do that in game, it tells me he has no issues involving himself in the offensive decision-making.

Really? A coach telling his OC to run the ball when he has a big lead tells you that? So then by that criteria I guess virtually every coach is the same.

 

[Rams43]

That might be true. But it might also be true he just sucks at his OC hires.

I tend to be of the mind that the latter is true. I don't think he gets in the way of good offense, he simply has not hired anyone since heimerdinger that is any good.

Boras the jury is out of course. Probably will still be out after the next two games, too, unless the offense lights up both defenses.

IMO Fish could get it done simply by hitting on OC. That is the heart of things, aside from the OL injuries.

There's another possible explanation for Fisher's woes with his O's for years, Merlin.

Perhaps it's not so much that Fisher sucks at hiring his OC's?

Perhaps he doesn't give them the freedom to do their job? Clamping down on Boras and mandating runs in the final 20 minutes of the Buc game is an excellent example.

Or perhaps the most qualified OC's, knowing Fisher's tendencies, don't even seriously consider coming to work for him? Who wants to work for a micromanaging career killing HC?

Just a couple of thoughts that I think might have merit.