When Season starts, do Rams play not to lose?

[ram007]

All 3 three years, since 2012, the theme is same. Play awful the first 6-7 games before finding their grove when there is little chance to make a run for it.

I cannot put a finger on it, but my guess is when everything is on the line, they play Not-to-lose and then they lose. When they are close to being out of running for playoffs and winning season, they play like whatever-lets-have-fun-football.

Which brings me to yesterday. And next week they are going to beat Cardinals and lose to Broncos. Making it 4-6 record before ending 7-9/8-8 again for the season.

Just frustrating!

 

[RamzFanz]

I wholeheartedly believe they put a winning team on the field this season. They lost Bradford and didn't have an answer. With Bradford, or possibly even Hill, I think they would be kicking butts right now.

 

[ram007]

I wholeheartedly believe they put a winning team on the field this season. They lost Bradford and didn't have an answer. With Bradford, or possibly even Hill, I think they would be kicking butts right now.

My expectations were really high for 2014. What is disappointing is defense should have played like yesterday all season long. No "Bradford injury" excuse for the defense. Offense i get it.

Something just doesn't add up with this Rams. May be it is all adding up and I am poor at math cannot see it. Hope later is the case.

Go Rams

 

[Zaphod]

My expectations were really high for 2014. What is disappointing is defense should have played like yesterday all season long. No "Bradford injury" excuse for the defense. Offense i get it.

Something just doesn't add up with this Rams. May be it is all adding up and I am poor at math cannot see it. Hope later is the case.

Go Rams

Youth, especially on defense is why they don't take many chances early.

We were without Trumaine Johnson to start the season and Chris Long was out in the second game and starting a rookie at nickle.

But again, I'm going to preach some seriously cautious optimism about this defense. The 49ers were a bit boneheaded yesterday and our next two games are against two quarterbacks who are great at killing blitzes.

 

[mr.stlouis]

It's always so disorganized in the beginning. Rams can't just turn it on, they have to establish a rhythm. Some years it never happened lol... dang

 

[Alan]

As I've said before, I believe that the Rams problems at the start of the season stem from the way Fish treats his vets and how he runs training camp. I won't belabor the point it any further here but I doubt we ever see the Rams come roaring out of the gate while Fisher is in charge.

 

[Sum1]

2012 they nearly beat the Lions to start the season.
However, they do seem to start slow...not sure exactly why but it does seem to happen.

 

[rhinobean]

Hope they got it now as I hate being 0-4 at home!

 

[Legatron4]

I can no longer figure out the Rams. I don't have a fucking clue who they are or what their identity is. I just want a winning football team and I know ours is talented. 11-5 mother fuckers.

 

[Force16X]

I wholeheartedly believe they put a winning team on the field this season. They lost Bradford and didn't have an answer. With Bradford, or possibly even Hill, I think they would be kicking butts right now.

and Chris Long. not sure why most people are underplaying how important he is to the defense. he is one of the leaders of this team as well.

 

[CoachO]

As I've said before, I believe that the Rams problems at the start of the season stem from the way Fish treats his vets and how he runs training camp. I won't belabor the point it any further here but I doubt we ever see the Rams come roaring out of the gate while Fisher is in charge.

I agree with this to a point. I think it has more to do with the overall youth of this team, and Fisher's MO of bringing them at their own pace. I personally don't have a problem with that. I would rather have more experienced (even if less talented) players making less mistakes, then to push a rookie into starting before he is ready. This has been debated in here on other threads, so I won't rehash it. But IMO, it goes a long way into why they tend to start slow. But the one consistent thing, is Fisher's teams always seem to get better as the season goes on. Which again, is the mark of a good coach.

 

[CodeMonkey]

As I've said before, I believe that the Rams problems at the start of the season stem from the way Fish treats his vets and how he runs training camp. I won't belabor the point it any further here but I doubt we ever see the Rams come roaring out of the gate while Fisher is in charge.

I've spoken similar sentiment as well.

 

[Alan]

CoachO with a balanced take on early ineptitude:
I agree with this to a point.

But the one consistent thing, is Fisher's teams always seem to get better as the season goes on. Which again, is the mark of a good coach.

I agree that it's not the whole answer but it's a fairly large part of it IMO.

As for your second comment that I quoted, that depends on the reason for the slow start. If it's because of the youth, inexperience or lack of talented players then it certainly is the mark of a good coach. If it's because he hasn't prepared them sufficiently it's the mark of a bad coach. Whether it's limited playing on both sides of the ball or something similar, good coach's are able to get fast starts and then sometimes injuries derail them but they had their team ready for the season.

I've never been a fan of Fisher so possibly I'm biased in my thinking on this but I think there's more of the latter than the former in this equation. The one consistent think in Fisher's reign with the Rams that goes right along with later improvement is their early futility. The early ineptitude isn't just being shown by the rookies either. It shows up in the play calling, schemes et cetera.