The Stream: Just Simplify the Rams Offense

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Published: November 23, 2011 @ 1:46pm
Zach McCrite

If you want to see real ridiculousness in text form, follow Zach on Twitter at @BigEZ.

Here we are once again folks. It's a Thanksgiving Week edition of The Stream. Usually I hit on six, eight, 10 different items in this space, but today there's just a little more meat on my turkey leg, if you will.

A corny attempt at a joke, I know. Let's get started.

If the people at Rams Park want to use a brand new offensive coordinator and the lockout as a couple of the reasons their team is at 2-8 this year, I can understand. But, if a big part of the Rams' woes is the inability of being able to grasp such a complex offense, wouldn't it make sense to "dumb down" the playbook? Sure, that can be frustrating to the coaches, but common sense would tell me that once one "style" of the McDaniels offense is practiced for a week or two, a lot of it gets thrown out the window the following week for a brand new "style" (enter the spread offense with an empty backfield like we saw for a good portion of the day Sunday). If the Rams can learn these new styles of offenses and adapt so quickly to them in just a week's time, then why would the absence of a standard offseason be any crutch for a crappy season?

There have been two plays this season that have summed up the 2011 Rams for me. One of them occurred earlier this season (a red-zone possession that inexplicably ended in a punt) and then Sunday when the Rams got in "victory" formation and took a knee to end the 24-7 misery that was the Seahawks. In no means am I saying that running a play would've mattered, but if I'm a fan who stayed until the end, I consider that a slap in the face. Run a draw play or something.

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[Anonymous]

Simplifying the offense might work in the short run but as late last season proved there's enough videotape to counter it effectively.....especially within the NFC West. Although simplifying might keep SB off the IR so that's something.

 

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Simplifying the offense might work in the short run but as late last season proved there's enough videotape to counter it effectively.....especially within the NFC West. Although simplifying might keep SB off the IR so that's something.

It should have been simplified from the beginning. Remember how smooth everything looked in preseason when they were running a vanilla O? That's the way it should have started. Then you incrementally add more plays until the entire playbook becomes familiar. That may have taken all season to do, but in the process, you don't have guys pressing to absorb it. Shurmur's playbook, by comparison, is probably 1/8th as big. There wasn't a whole lot more he could do with his to make it more complex. That's evident in Cleveland too. He has trick plays and whatnot, but it's significantly less intricate by design.

 

[Anonymous]

Simplifying the offense might work in the short run but as late last season proved there's enough videotape to counter it effectively.....especially within the NFC West. Although simplifying might keep SB off the IR so that's something.

It should have been simplified from the beginning. Remember how smooth everything looked in preseason when they were running a vanilla O? That's the way it should have started. Then you incrementally add more plays until the entire playbook becomes familiar. That may have taken all season to do, but in the process, you don't have guys pressing to absorb it. Shurmur's playbook, by comparison, is probably 1/8th as big. There wasn't a whole lot more he could do with his to make it more complex. That's evident in Cleveland too. He has trick plays and whatnot, but it's significantly less intricate by design.

Towards the end of last season Shurmur's offense didn't fool anyone. Didn't fool the Rams defense this year either. Simplifying the offense might work in the short run but other than keeping SB off the IR it's not a winning strategy long term.

 

[-X-]

Simplifying the offense might work in the short run but as late last season proved there's enough videotape to counter it effectively.....especially within the NFC West. Although simplifying might keep SB off the IR so that's something.

It should have been simplified from the beginning. Remember how smooth everything looked in preseason when they were running a vanilla O? That's the way it should have started. Then you incrementally add more plays until the entire playbook becomes familiar. That may have taken all season to do, but in the process, you don't have guys pressing to absorb it. Shurmur's playbook, by comparison, is probably 1/8th as big. There wasn't a whole lot more he could do with his to make it more complex. That's evident in Cleveland too. He has trick plays and whatnot, but it's significantly less intricate by design.

Towards the end of last season Shurmur's offense didn't fool anyone. Didn't fool the Rams defense this year either. Simplifying the offense might work in the short run but other than keeping SB off the IR it's not a winning strategy long term.

Yeah, you said that.