Whicker: Rams' biggest stumbling block? Their offensive line

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Mackeyser

Supernovas are where gold forms; the only place.
Joined
Apr 26, 2013
Messages
14,452
Name
Mack
I'm gonna go against the grain and say that while some changes may be needed that it's important to not underestimate how broken the scheme was.

When the defense KNOWS what they need to do in order to defeat the play including what the OL is going to do, then there's not much anyone can do.

We could have Ram's all-time greats playing in this scheme and...they'd look terrible. And not just because they're zombies....*rimshot*....

Last year with Cignetti as the OC, we gave up among the fewest sacks in the NFL. It's not like these guys, among them rookies at the time can't hold blocks or open holes. They can.

But... there's issues:

1) The blocking scheme is as broken as the overall offensive scheme. Enough that defenses KNEW what was coming before the snap. When you're so well scouted that the play is defeated prior to the snap, that's just turrible...knuckle-headed turrible.

2) The RBs and OL aren't on the same page. We say plenty of gifs where is seemed like Gurley was going to the wrong hole. Not so. The problem was that the RB coach had him stupidly slamming into holes that weren't there while the defense had the play fully diagnosed RATHER than having him actually BE a fully functioning RB, READ the line and see the sometimes gaping backside holes opened up by the defense over-pursuing. It made the OL and the RB look bad when it was on the OC and RB coaches. The contrast is LeVeon Bell. Watch him against Miami. If he just slammed into the line, he wouldn't have broken 60 yards. Instead, he waited, saw the crease, accelerated and broke big and timely runs. Gurley CAN do that, but he needs a coach who values patience rather than expecting his RB to be a stupid battering ram. Remember, our Rams are the legacy of Marshall Faulk and Eric Dickerson. Even Jerome Bettis wasn't JUST a dump truck like Gurley seems to have been coached this year. Heck, we saw better patience from John Cappelletti, and his game wasn't exactly about being slow to the hole...

Anyway, I fully expect some changes, but I have faith that more than a few of our guys who had bad years...did so due to bad coaching rather than being bad players.

I mean, seriously, this broken scheme was HISTORICALLY bad. No one was gonna succeed in it. The fact that Britt got 1k yards is kinda surprising. Lets us know how brilliant and amazing Bruce's 1800 yards was...

I have faith that with not that many changes, our OL will be substantially better next year. And that difference will be coaching. You'll see it on the guys faces. And hear it...

"We all loved Coach Fish, but... *and then player gushes with excitement about the new culture and all the actual football they're learning*"