Would you want to see Hager get the nod over Laurinaitis next week?

[LACHAMP46]

As for Ayers, who knows? His snaps are designed right from the start to be shared with Barron. It's his position. And just being a LBer doesn't mean he'd be an improvement over a MLB. We've got enough learning curves going on. Between Quick, GRob, the QBs, rookie OL it's been like a halfway house for underdeveloped football players the last few years as it is. I'd rather they just play with a little intensity. That'll solve most of their ills.

I wish it were that simple...first some stats.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/team/_/stat/rushing/position/defense
Ayers is far from a green player...He's played multiple positions in various schemes. He's manned the middle of the field for the NE Pats on their SB run (ESPECIALLY ON PASSING DOWNS). He needs to get involved in this run defense....Our problems begin with an inability to stop the run....We only "held" Seattle due to the score & Russell W being forced to throw. IMO, we have the worst run defense in the league. All due to linebackers out of position & being under-utilized. Barron is also being under-utilized and played out of position. Yet he still makes plays. It shows that he could still play the "big nickle" position as well as a more traditional role of SS. It boggles the mind that Greg Williams is so ego driven, my way, that he just believes that he can put guys in and out to the detriment of the team without consequences. Ayers and Ogletree need role adjustments. Ogletree needs to be in the middle. Ayers on the side of the TE...IDK if JL55 has a role in this scheme, in fact I don't think Williams wants to find out for some reason. The clip of JL55 miked up shows how silly Williams is...There is no way your LEADER will deliver a message that will be heard after a game like that. Players KNOW who's fucking up. They watch more tape than the "experts"...It's obvious who ISN'T carrying their weight.
The passing defense is also in shambles...
http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/team/_/stat/passing/position/defense
We allow opponents to complete 81% of their passes. Let that sink in....81%! Still vanilla? Scheme? Crazy Williams, putting LB's on move TE's...Blitzing DB's...Hardly ANY bump & run....Tight man coverage, naw....FS, so far out of the play, and every other defender playing OFF man! IDK...How do we expect a unit to stop the top passing offense in the league, getting back a top 5 RB, that is also still running effectively with it's #2 RB? How?!?
The season is slipping away...draft, training camp, preseason, and now we are here again...Same issues...And people THINKING this is a top 5 defense? Blame the inept offense all you want. Redskins scored on 3 plays from 80 yards out...2 of them runs....blown assignments and missed tackles....And they KNOW the system...allegedly...
As for your beliefs, name a team that would sign him if he were cut today at that salary?

 

[RamBill]

James Laurinaitis still bothered by last week's loss
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-ra...laurinaitis-still-bothered-by-last-weeks-loss

EARTH CITY, Mo. -- As is his custom, St. Louis Rams linebacker James Laurinaitis didn't wait long to dive into film of the Pittsburgh Steelers earlier this week. It's common practice for Laurinaitis to begin his study of the next opponent sooner than later and put the previous game in the rearview mirror.

This week, that hasn't been easy for Laurinaitis, who readily admits that the 24-hour rule of forgetting about a win or a loss has been hard to abide by after his team's 24-10 loss to the Washington Redskins last week.

"We always talk about 24-hour rule but if I’m going to be honest, that doesn’t sit well with me until I play again," Laurinaitis said. "I hate losing more than I enjoy winning if that makes sense, especially when you feel like you have a very good matchup and a really talented team and you go up there and you lose the football game that sits the wrong way with you."

Although he says all losses don't sit well with him, Laurinaitis seemed particularly disturbed by Sunday's defeat at the hands of the Redskins. In part because his team missed a chance to get to 2-0 for the first time in his career and the first time since 2001 and also because of his own struggles in the game. Sunday's contest against the Pittsburgh Steelers can't get here soon enough.

It also doesn't help that every time Laurinaitis sees Pittsburgh running a scheme similar to what he saw from Washington, he gets a harsh reminder of the loss in the nation's capital.

"The faster we can get to the next one the better," Laurinaitis said. "Anytime I see a stretch running game it just makes me think of last Sunday. But you can’t be naïve to the fact that we had issues with what they were doing to us. It’s a copycat league so if I’m Pittsburgh, I’m thinking ‘OK, let’s see if they fixed it and once we stop it then they’ll go back to what we do really well.’"

Laurinaitis' disappointment in the loss to Washington wasn't limited to the result. On Wednesday, he discussed the need for he and his teammates to take a look in the mirror and focus on what they did wrong individually as a means to correct their mistakes. By his own admission, it was a rough day at the office for Laurinaitis.

For what it's worth, Pro Football Focus graded Laurinaitis at minus-3.6 against Washington with many of those struggles coming against the run. When Laurinaitis reviewed his own performance, he saw plenty of room for improvement.

"Get off blocks, throw guys off a lot quicker," Laurinaitis said. "Make sure that if there’s certain adjustments, certain things that you see, alignment stuff within the whole scheme, talk about it sooner. If you see things in the first quarter, bring it up to (defensive coordinator) Gregg (Williams), don’t wait until the second or third (quarter) kind of thing. I do a self scout like that after Seattle, too. I always think about what did I see? When did I really start to know they were running this thing?"

This week, Laurinaitis needs just two tackles (from the coaching staff's evaluation of tape) to break the Rams' franchise record for tackles. It's a record that would taste much sweeter in a victory than it would have in last week's loss. Whether he gets it or not, Laurinaitis was clearly more concerned with removing the lingering bad taste of last week from his mouth.

"We can still big picture wise start fast," Laurinaitis said. "We really talked about the first quarter of the season. But if you look honestly at the two-game stats and the totals, we are right where we were last year as far as giving up way too many yards on the ground. It’s way too much. We have a phenomenal opportunity against a really good team to change it and start fast. So that’s been emphasized over and over and over. Guys are studying hard. What I told everybody is it was really easy for everybody to come in here after the big win against Seattle and watch extra tape and be around each other and be in the building on our day off, but just stick to the same routine no matter how frustrated you are or disappointed and guys have been working their tails off."

 

[blue4]

I wish it were that simple...first some stats.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/team/_/stat/rushing/position/defense
Ayers is far from a green player...He's played multiple positions in various schemes. He's manned the middle of the field for the NE Pats on their SB run (ESPECIALLY ON PASSING DOWNS). He needs to get involved in this run defense....Our problems begin with an inability to stop the run....We only "held" Seattle due to the score & Russell W being forced to throw. IMO, we have the worst run defense in the league. All due to linebackers out of position & being under-utilized. Barron is also being under-utilized and played out of position. Yet he still makes plays. It shows that he could still play the "big nickle" position as well as a more traditional role of SS. It boggles the mind that Greg Williams is so ego driven, my way, that he just believes that he can put guys in and out to the detriment of the team without consequences. Ayers and Ogletree need role adjustments. Ogletree needs to be in the middle. Ayers on the side of the TE...IDK if JL55 has a role in this scheme, in fact I don't think Williams wants to find out for some reason. The clip of JL55 miked up shows how silly Williams is...There is no way your LEADER will deliver a message that will be heard after a game like that. Players KNOW who's freaking up. They watch more tape than the "experts"...It's obvious who ISN'T carrying their weight.
The passing defense is also in shambles...
http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/team/_/stat/passing/position/defense
We allow opponents to complete 81% of their passes. Let that sink in....81%! Still vanilla? Scheme? Crazy Williams, putting LB's on move TE's...Blitzing DB's...Hardly ANY bump & run....Tight man coverage, naw....FS, so far out of the play, and every other defender playing OFF man! IDK...How do we expect a unit to stop the top passing offense in the league, getting back a top 5 RB, that is also still running effectively with it's #2 RB? How?!?
The season is slipping away...draft, training camp, preseason, and now we are here again...Same issues...And people THINKING this is a top 5 defense? Blame the inept offense all you want. Redskins scored on 3 plays from 80 yards out...2 of them runs....blown assignments and missed tackles....And they KNOW the system...allegedly...
As for your beliefs, name a team that would sign him if he were cut today at that salary?

Any team that needs an experienced LBers. As for Ayers, when he came here people talked about his pass rushing not his run stopping. I get that it's convenient to put all the complaints in your post on JL but just putting Ayers in doesn't solve very many of them so why the angst? If he continues to play bad yank him. But the crap he's taking this week when the whole team is to blame is absurd. Last year it's Ray Ray, this year it's Ayers I guess.

And while I'm not going to go thru all 31 other teams and assess their LBers and salary cap, I do believe he'd have a job very quickly.