The Jeff Fisher Show: Nov. 30

[RamBill]

The Jeff Fisher Show with hosts Steve Savard and D’Marco Farr.

Listen to the Fisher Show



From: 101espn ‏@101espn
"Look at Arizona and New England. Good quarterback play will win you games. Carson (Palmer) is playing really well." - Fisher #FisherShow

"Hopefully we'll get him (Quinn) back on the practice field. We want to make sure his strength and explosion are back." - Fisher #FisherShow

"When he (Keenum) comes back, he's going to get another chance to play. Hopefully he'll have another good day tomorrow."-Fisher #FisherShow

"We didn't get looks we liked last week. This week we got some looks we liked." - Fisher on incorporating WR Austin #FisherShow

"I used the timeouts at the end just to get him some playing experience. It was good for him." - Fisher on QB Mannion #FisherShow

"I was defending our players. They're putting forth their best efforts. We're lacking execution." - Fisher on job security #FisherShow

"Some of the players got a text from Sted's girlfriend with a picture of him writing his signature." - Fisher on WR Bailey #FisherShow

"We're changing up front. He sees thing that he shouldn't or he's trying to force a ball." - Fisher on QB Foles' play #FisherShow

"It changed the momentum really quick. There's some good things. Great efforts on special teams." - Fisher on Tavon's touchdown #FisherShow

"We miss Robert Quinn and Alec's (Ogletree) ability to minimize plays. Rob is a special guy and a threat." - Fisher #FisherShow

"That last possession of the 1st half was critical. It didn't happen and slipped away. Played hard, disappointing." - Fisher #FisherShow

 

[snackdaddy]

At this point does anything he says matter any more? Same ole song and dance. Guys play hard, one play here or there, yada yada.
I expect more of the same next Sunday and the rest of the Sundays till its over. The only question will be who gets last, whiners or Rams. That game oughta cure any insomnia problems.

 

[fearsomefour]

At this point does anything he says matter any more? Same ole song and dance. Guys play hard, one play here or there, yada yada.
I expect more of the same next Sunday and the rest of the Sundays till its over. The only question will be who gets last, whiners or Rams. That game oughta cure any insomnia problems.

Well, he isn't lying.
Most games do come down to a couple of plays. Some more or less. Injuries and execution have doomed the team this year.
Im not sure what you would want him to say?
The players suck. I suck. Flagellate himself on the radio?

 

[Sleepy1711]

At this point does anything he says matter any more? Same ole song and dance. Guys play hard, one play here or there, yada yada.
I expect more of the same next Sunday and the rest of the Sundays till its over. The only question will be who gets last, whiners or Rams. That game oughta cure any insomnia problems.

It matters, at least to me. I want to know his thought process and he does have give credit to his team for busting their asses.

Most of these games were lost and won because of one or two plays, that is why I will still back Fisher because, to me, he's still a good coach.

 

[Rainram]

"We miss Robert Quinn and Alec's (Ogletree) ability to minimize plays. Rob is a special guy and a threat." - Fisher #FisherShow

This team has missed Quinn VERY badly this year. The core of our Defense...Donald, Quinn, JJ.

 

[drasconis]

To me it is all cliché unless he wants to give detail....which he won't.

"execution" is appearing more and more to be buzzword that means nothing (or everything). When the coach says the team isn't executing what does he mean? The game plan was good, players didn't "execute" it...why? Why aren't the layers executing...1)not capable (then was it really a good plan), 2)not prepared (well that would be either poor coaching or effort), 3)not up to speed (coaching/effort again), 4)not reading the defense right (coaching/ability/learning curve), 5) not running the play called (coaching/focus/effort)

At this point it comes down to either it is them or your coaches - if coaches: 1)aren't teaching them, 2) are making things to difficult for them (heard this about schotty and marmie), 3) aren't communicating with each other on players and plan -if players (which assumes coaches aren't making errors above) then 1)it is effort issue (assuming reasonable playbook and being asked to do what physically capable of -both go to coaching), 2) not physically capable and coaches not aware/told (this would be more like hidden injuries)

I.e. if the coach draws plays for randy moss but Quick is supposed to do it then on coach, Quick not capable. If coach makes reasonably plan for Quick, something Quick should be capable of, and quick screws it up then on Quick - why did he screw it up (and lack of focus=lack of effort....sorry but true).

 

[RAGRam]

"Look at Arizona and New England. Good quarterback play will win you games. Carson (Palmer) is playing really well." - Fisher #FisherShow

Wasn't Fisher the guy who did nothing to address the QB position for 3 years, then went out and traded for Foles and gave him a contract extension before he'd played a down? Or am I thinking of some other Rams coach?

 

[drasconis]

Wasn't Fisher the guy who did nothing to address the QB position for 3 years, then went out and traded for Foles and gave him a contract extension before he'd played a down? Or am I thinking of some other Rams coach?

trying to figure out if the belief is no coach should lose their job until they have found a great QB and had their shot with them?

 

[snackdaddy]

Wasn't Fisher the guy who did nothing to address the QB position for 3 years, then went out and traded for Foles and gave him a contract extension before he'd played a down? Or am I thinking of some other Rams coach?

Honestly, Fisher did make an attempt to improve the offense by drafting a what he thought was a cornerstone left tackle and drafting multiple linemen the following year. Where he went wrong was in evaluating the talent or coaching up the talent. Either those guys weren't as good as he thought or the coaching failed them. Because Grob is a bad left tackle so far. Getting close to two years in and he has not improved at all. If its not a matter of putting in the work, its gotta be he wasn't that good to begin with or the coaches can't teach him to improve. Either way its a poor job on Fisher's part.

 

[fearsomefour]

Playing the what if game....
Long is healthy and playing as a top 5 or 6 LT, Robinson has settled down to a better fit at LG while learning the pro game, Wells played up to his contract and has since been replaced by a solid Barnes, Saffold is healthy and playing up to his potential at RG, Barksdale (now rated as having a very good season in SD) took the Rams offer for more money than he got in SD. Bradford has no lingering health issues and is playing up to his potential, Gurley, running behind a stud and healthy line is up toward the top in rushing yards. The team is 8-3 and cruising.
What I see is some bad luck (Long, Wells, Barksdale) some crossing of fingers that was probably not realistic (Saffold starting multiple rookies on the line due to injury) and a mistake, thinking Foles was other that what he is.
People saying the Rams ignored the OL and QB situation is sort of silly. The Rams made efforts and they generally did not work out due to age and injury. People would have gone nuts if the Rams drafted a QB early with Bradford here and earning what he was earning with other holes on the team. I agree with the team not taking a QB high in the draft while Bradford was here. I would not have gone after Foles.
Injuries have stunted the growth of the line. Is Coach Bou a good O line coach....hard to tell at this point. Robinson has improved but he has lapses that are brutal. We will see if he can progress at LT. I am not giving up on him at this point at LT. The issues he is having there (playing without balance, bad hand placement, lunging at defenders) would be an issue at G as well. His technique is brutal at times.
The thing that is wacky to me is a mostly lateral passing game. Running a receiver out two yards off the line a scrimmage on an out may be safe in terms of avoiding ints but it is great at setting up 2nd and 8.

 

[thirteen28]

Wasn't Fisher the guy who did nothing to address the QB position for 3 years, then went out and traded for Foles and gave him a contract extension before he'd played a down? Or am I thinking of some other Rams coach?

I'm all for criticizing Fisher where he deserves it, but c'mon. Three years ago, he had a healthy Sam Bradford and a ton of other needs. QB didn't become an issue until Sam blew out his knee not once, but twice, which is very rare and amounts to a lightning strike of bad luck. And then in the offseason, he tried to address it by trading the off-injured QB (and his huge salary, a subject of much consternation around here) for a guy who was two years removed from a great season and one year removed from an average season. If we had gotten even the Nick Foles of last year, things probably wouldn't be so bad. Who predicted he would regress this badly?

It's fair to call him out for giving Nick the extension, and it's more than fair to call him out for his general approach to offense throughout his career, which I believe is at the root of our offensive problems. But don't act like we've had this gaping hole at QB for his entire tenure and he's never done anything about it, because that's just not the case, and it's not productive as a critique.

The thing that is wacky to me is a mostly lateral passing game. Running a receiver out two yards off the line a scrimmage on an out may be safe in terms of avoiding ints but it is great at setting up 2nd and 8.

As I was saying above, I think where JF deserves the most criticism is in the general approach to offense, and you've just given a great example that highlights it. It's a maniacal obsession with avoiding turnovers taken to such an extreme that it prioritizes that over moving the ball and scoring points. This is probably why Bradford became Sammy Checkdown when here, why our present QB's throw the ball where nobody can catch them (including the DB's), and why we take so few shots and have such a lateral passing game.

 

[RAGRam]

I'm all for criticizing Fisher where he deserves it, but c'mon. Three years ago, he had a healthy Sam Bradford and a ton of other needs. QB didn't become an issue until Sam blew out his knee not once, but twice, which is very rare and amounts to a lightning strike of bad luck. And then in the offseason, he tried to address it by trading the off-injured QB (and his huge salary, a subject of much consternation around here) for a guy who was two years removed from a great season and one year removed from an average season. If we had gotten even the Nick Foles of last year, things probably wouldn't be so bad. Who predicted he would regress this badly?

It's fair to call him out for giving Nick the extension, and it's more than fair to call him out for his general approach to offense throughout his career, which I believe is at the root of our offensive problems. But don't act like we've had this gaping hole at QB for his entire tenure and he's never done anything about it, because that's just not the case, and it's not productive as a critique.



As I was saying above, I think where JF deserves the most criticism is in the general approach to offense, and you've just given a great example that highlights it. It's a maniacal obsession with avoiding turnovers taken to such an extreme that it prioritizes that over moving the ball and scoring points. This is probably why Bradford became Sammy Checkdown when here, why our present QB's throw the ball where nobody can catch them (including the DB's), and why we take so few shots and have such a lateral passing game.

He should have done more to address the back up position in 2014, he doesn't get to go into a season with Shaun Hill as a back up with his starter coming off major surgery and use QB as an excuse for me.

 

[FrankenRam]

Honestly, Fisher did make an attempt to improve the offense by drafting a what he thought was a cornerstone left tackle and drafting multiple linemen the following year. Where he went wrong was in evaluating the talent or coaching up the talent. Either those guys weren't as good as he thought or the coaching failed them. Because Grob is a bad left tackle so far. Getting close to two years in and he has not improved at all. If its not a matter of putting in the work, its gotta be he wasn't that good to begin with or the coaches can't teach him to improve. Either way its a poor job on Fisher's part.

I don't understand how you can attribute GRob's deficiencies (whatever they may or may not be) as a 'poor job' on Fisher's part.

EVERYBODY, and I do mean EVERYBODY under the sun had GRob pegged as THE next great OL leading up to that draft. There were a few scattered 'he will need work on pass pro' type comments. But universally, he was touted as freakishly athletic and a 'sure thing'. Anyone that says different is just lying out their patooty. So, unless Fisher has banned him from the practice field and meeting rooms from the moment he was drafted., how the heck is it Fisher's fault he hasn't come close to living up to early billing.

 

[thirteen28]

He should have done more to address the back up position in 2014, he doesn't get to go into a season with Shaun Hill as a back up with his starter coming off major surgery and use QB as an excuse for me.

It's easier to say in hindsight, but what were the odds that Sam would blow out his knee again (especially on the light contact that did it)? And even if we would have drafted somebody in 2014, would they have been ready to start the season? If you want to argue that they should have more aggressively gone after a better veteran than Hill, I'll agree with you on that, although I don't honestly remember who was available.

 

[RaminExile]

It's 100% hindsight to say Fisher should have addressed the QB issue before Bradford went down for the second time in Cleveland. Up to that point you don't have an issue at QB. After that? Ok I understand you want to move on. So he did. He brings in the guy he wants. That guys not getting it done, fine, you blame Fisher for that and I think that's a legitimate criticism because he evaluated him and now he's not good enough.

We should never lose track of timelines when assessing the job someone's doing. You can't expect guys to see into the future. You do expect them to try and anticipate things based on experience and thier intelligence and on instinct which is exactly what Fisher did by shipping out Bradford as he was considered too fragile and brining in Foles.

 

[Sleepy1711]

I can compare Fisher to my current boss.. He does everything he has to succeed... However, the past couple of years, everything he has done has gone wrong, not to his fault but to outside causes such as the company he is working with.

Yes he has been very frustrated and wanted to quit many times, people didn't believe in him, but he kept on doing what he thought was correct. Eventually, these past few months, things are finally aligning, going his way. Why? He never gave up and stuck to his plan and fought off all the criticisms that people thought he deserved.

Things don't go according to plan, I believe Fisher has a plan and it will work, I'm willing to give him some time for the stars to line up, at least just a tad bit.

It's crazy how when we were 4-3 people were talking about contract extensions and all that good stuff, now, they want his head on a pike.! What the hell has happened to patience.

Btw, we probably have the least experience, youngest and highly injured Oline in the league, so I'm going to cut them some slack.

 

[FrantikRam]

In year 4, you have to at least be a .500 team. It appears we will fall under .500 yet again.

It's very, very simple - if we finish under 8-8, Fisher should be fired. I agree with some of Sleepy's points, but at the end of the day, 4 years is long enough to at least build an AVERAGE NFL team. And if you want to go back and look at Fisher's (and Snead's) mistakes in hindsight, it's quite easy to do and then justify him being fired:

Quick over Jeffery

Trading back and not taking Wagner, then drafting Pead

Give us Jeffery and Wagner right now, and we're 7-4. At worst. They might not have developed into the players they are, but I'm assuming they would have.

Not doing anything after Bradford's first knee injury - this was a tough spot, I get it. But there are teams out there that get put in tough spots every year, but actually DO something about it. I'm not sure that I have a great answer....but off the top of my head, drafting Derek Carr, or even Bridgewater, would look pretty decent right now.

Greg Robinson (LT position) - again, hard to pin this one on Fisher because everyone thought he'd be great. And maybe he will be. But you cannot win games in the NFL with the league's worst LT.

Addressing the OL - all offseason we freaked out, while Fisher stayed calm. They went out and drafted a million guys, yet somehow managed to ignore the Center position. Barnes is awful. Nobody wanted Wiesnewski, but he's playing better than what we have right now. And how about Barksdale? Not sure what happened there, but same thing.

WR position - I have to admit, I did not want Britt back. I wanted Golden Taint. Or Michael Crabtree. Both would have been better. But we need a go to WR in the worst way, and neither of those guys would be that. Need to get one this offseason.

 

[DR RAM]

Kind of funny, on how a game changer, like Quinn, can be so easily dismissed by this fan base, as being, no big deal that he is out. He is probably the face of our franchise, right now.