By:  Joey Bittick
On Twitter:  @joeybittick

Well, the times, they are changing… Steve Spagnuolo and Billy Devaney are out at Rams Park. I would like to thank them for their service to the Rams. They may not have managed to have a great amount of success, but I appreciate the long hours they gave to my team. They seemed to me like truly nice men and I wish them the best. With that said, it is time to look forward. And it appears the Rams may have a big fish on the line.

Former Tennessee Titans head coach Jeff Fisher has been rumored to be the front runner for the recently vacated Rams head coaching job. I have to admit, when his name first popped up as a possible candidate I was not all that fired up about it. Fisher never seemed to have what I would call “sustained success” with the Titans. His teams always seemed to be up and down. One year his team would go 13-3 and the next year they would fall of the face of the NFL world. And there were also those early playoff exits… but now, the more I look into the guy, the more I think he may just be the man to lead the Rams back to prominence.

The reasons to consider hiring Jeff Fisher:

 

• Experience: To borrow a cliché, Fisher is a football lifer. He was an All-American wide receiver in high school, a star at USC, and he was a member of the 1985 Bears defense that led them to a Super Bowl. He ended the 1985 season on IR, but was not content to sit and stay and watch his team go on without him, instead becoming a defensive assistant to Buddy Ryan. He later became the youngest defensive coordinator in the NFL when he took the position with the Eagles in 1988. In 1994 Fisher was named the head coach of the then Houston Oilers with six games remaining in the season, and he would continue on in that role for the next 16 plus seasons.

 

• Pedigree: It may not seem overly important, but I believe that Fisher’s pedigree is a huge plus. He served as an assistant under guys like Mike Ditka (.560 winning percentage and went 106-62 with a Super Bowl in 11 years with the Bears), George Seifert (.648 winning percentage in his career and two Super Bowl trophies with the 49ers), John Robinson (6 playoff appearances in 9 years with the LA Rams), Buddy Ryan (famed architect of the famous Bears defenses), and Jack Pardee (made playoffs in his first 4 seasons with the Houston Oilers). Obviously Fisher learned from some of the best, and that can never hurt.

 

• Teacher: Several Fisher disciples have gone on to be head coaches including Gregg Williams, Jim Schwartz, and Mike Munchak. Williams may not have had much success as a head guy, but his defense helped the Saints win a Superbowl. Obviously Fisher knows how to teach guys what it takes to have success in the NFL.

 

• Strong Supporting Staff: This ties into number three, but many have taken to criticizing Spags for putting together a “weak” coaching staff. Regardless of whether this is true, Fisher obviously has put together some strong staffs, which in turn should equal well coached players.

 

• Rams Ties: A small thing, but given the previous regime’s propensity for ignoring the Rams previous success and history, it may please some fans that Fisher should (hopefully) embrace it. He served as an assistant to John Robinson for the LA Rams, so he should at least have some appreciation for those that came before him.

 

• “The Magic Touch”:  The guy took Kerry Collins off of the scrap heap and turned him back into a viable starting QB for a 13-3 playoff team. Did Collins set any records? No, but he still was able to manage them to a number one seed in the playoffs via a formidable ground game.

 

• Motivator: This one is real simple… the guy helped make ALBERT HAYNESWORTH the best defensive player in the game. We all saw what happened to him upon leaving Tennessee.

 

• Competitive Teams: It has become cliché to say this but at least Spags’ teams always went out and competed their hardest. The same can be said for Fisher’s teams. The difference? This competitive attitude translated into…

 

• Wins: That is what it all comes down to in the NFL, and Fisher has shown he knows how to do that. 7-9 was the high water mark for Spags and Devaney, while Fisher’s teams were 7-9 or better in 13 of his 16 full seasons as Oilers/Titans head coach.

 

The Reason’s to be wary of hiring Jeff Fisher:

 

• Inconsistency: Despite his longevity, Fisher only had 6 winning season in 16 full seasons as head coach. His record in those non-winning seasons? 69-91. Not overly impressive, but consider this. That is an average of just under 7 wins during those seasons. In fact, he only had 3 season of less than 7 wins (winning 6,5, and then 4 games in those seasons). 7 wins per down year sounds pretty good to most Rams fans right now.

 

• Playoff Struggles: If there is one area where Fisher has come up woefully short as a head coach, it is in the playoffs. I am not one who puts all of the blame or praise on a head coach. In fact, I would say that most of the time, the head coach deserves at most, 10-15% of the credit whether the team wins or loses. However, I can see why people might look at his 5-6 record in the playoffs and wonder if the guy is really as good a head coach as most perceive him to be. Then, when you consider that his teams were one and done in 3 of their 6 playoff appearances (including twice when they were a number one seed) well, it certainly gives reason for pause.

 

• “Mike Shanahan Syndrome”?: I am not sure what else to call it, but everyone thought Mike Shanahan was a genius when he was coaching guys like Terrell Davis and (more importantly) John Elway. When he was coaching Brian Griese and Olandis Gary? Not so much. Well, the same could possibly be said for Fisher. When he had guys like Steve McNair and Eddie George playing for him he was a genius. When Vince Young was forced upon him?

 

This is by no means a comprehensive list of the pro’s and con’s that come with hiring Jeff Fisher as the Rams head coach, but these things are certain to be considered by the powers that be at Rams Park. As one can see, Jeff Fisher’s resume is certainly less than pristine. He comes with some risk. But so did Dick Vermeil…

 

By: X
On Twitter RamsONDEMAND

I’ve followed  Steve Spagnuolo very closely since he was hired, and this whole “4 pillars” thing is an extension of what he learned from Tony Dungy.  Most coaches develop a coaching philosophy from someone else they admired, and then they build on that or keep it alive.  Sure both of their philosophies are Christian-based.  There’s no avoiding that.  When Spags first started here, he gave every member of the team a copy of Dungy’s book,  “Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance.”  That’s a very spiritual book.  So, yeah, Faith and Core Values speak directly to what he expects out of MEN, and there’s nothing wrong with that.  The NFL is overflowing with Christian athletes.  They still hit like assassins, so what’s the big deal.  The ancillary benefit is that you don’t have guys getting into trouble at night clubs, sacrificing team goals for personal achievement, stomping on heads and kidneys,  and you have good leaders of men to mentor young players entering the league.  It’s a win-win.

Tony Dungy’s “pillars” (the guy who won a SB with pillars) are Integrity, Serving, Teamwork and Excellence.  I’ll give a brief summary of what that means to Dungy here, and you’ll see where the parallels are rather easily.  Anyone have a problem with Tony Dungy?  The former defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings, turned head coach?

Teamwork: (Team first)
Jesus always pointed out that everybody was important, but nobody was so important they couldn’t get by without them. And that’s what you are trying to sell to your team: that everybody has a role. No matter how small they think it is, even if they are not necessarily the star, they are important.

Integrity (Character)
To me, integrity is what you are all about. It’s what is inside of you. And what’s inside is going to come out when it gets to a critical situation. In my opinion, that’s the difference between a championship team and a good team. It’s the difference between a person you really want to follow and one who is just another person in your life. With people of integrity, you know what you are going to get because that person is the same way all the time; situations don’t change them.

Excellence: (Faith)
I talk about excellence a lot because, I think, from a Christian perspective, that can get lost. We talk so much about how it’s “just God’s will” and that we want to serve Him, but He wants us to be excellent in what we do. I love Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians that in a race we all run to receive a prize, but he says to run to win. We can’t forget that part.

Serving:  (Core Values)
Ever since I’ve been in a leadership position, my focus has been the model of Christ as the servant-leader. There are different ways to lead, but I’ve always felt that it’s better if other people follow me because they want to follow, not because I’ve been put up there as the leader and they have to follow. To do that, you have to earn people’s trust and their respect; and the way to do that is to show them you are there to help them. As coaches, that is our job—not necessarily to win a championship, but to help all the players, everyone in the organization, do their jobs as well as they can.

Tony Dungy took a Buccaneers team that hadn’t had a winning season the previous 14 years and immediately put his stamp on the Franchise.   He gave them an identity and made them relevant.  He did that with a specific vision and he took great care to cultivate confidence and leadership in the men that played the game under him.   He never yelled, he didn’t grab face masks, he never publicly embarassed anyone or called anyone out, and he was always even keeled.   Sound familiar?

Steve Spagnuolo did the very same thing immediately upon his hiring.   If it’s “stupid” to have pillars of character and camaraderie as the foundation of the Franchise and the criteria for developing a roster, then  I don’t wanna be smart.  I’d rather wallow in my stupidity and abject homerism until the day I die.  It’s this specific vision that has a fair amount of people torn about letting Coach Spagnuolo go.  It’s uncertain as to what the next “vision” will be.   Of course that’s not the only reason.  Many others believe that the Rams were on the cusp of being contenders before the first domino fell after Steven Jackson’s 47 yard romp against the Eagles on the Rams’ first play of their opening drive.

But that’s another story entirely.

.

By:  X
On Twitter RamsONDEMAND

Lots of condemnation for the “mishandling” of the following draft picks this year, so I figured (to the nausea of the board) I’d take a look and see what all the hubbub is. Maybe “letting these potential playmakers leave” WAS a bad idea. Or. Maybe it’s not such a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

5th Round: Jermale Hines
Strong/Free Safety from Ohio State University.
(Release, Panthers and now Colts)

7th Round: Mikail Baker
DB from Baylor University
(IR – drafted for ST)

7th Round: Jabara Williams
LB from Stephen F. Austin
(Released, Bears)

7th Round: Jonathon Nelson
DB from Oklahoma University
(Released, Panthers practice squad)

Injuries have forced the Rams to sacrifice some of their younger players in rounding out the roster this year. That’s evident. Some of these players fans claim could have been developed, and as such, the GM and/or coach should shoulder the “blame” for them being on other teams. But. Is it out of the ordinary for late round picks to get pushed around the league before they find a home? Is it out of the ordinary for teams to let go of their late round picks to make room for players who could fill an immediate need? Of course not.

And here’s the thing. The Rams drafted them, and they got released. That resulted in criticism. So we must not have a problem with the GM if players drafted in the 7th round are highly coveted. It must be the head coach who let them walk that is the problem. But is he? For those 3 guys that left, here are the UDFA’s and OTHER TEAM’S late round picks that were added here, and are either contributing or are on our PS and/or are backups.

UDFA: Darian Stewart
DB University of South Carolina
(UDFA 2010, starter at safety)
This cancels out all those late rounders who were drafted to compete at safety.  Craig Dahl, also a UDFA.

UDFA: Tim Atchison
CB Baylor
(IR, had a pretty decent preseason)
This cancels out any any one of those aforementioned guys except Williams

UDFA: Bryan Mattison
OL Iowa State
(Starter for the Rams, signed by Jets, spent time with Ravens)

UDFA: Quinn Porter
RB Stillman College
(Signed by Packers, started for Rams on ST)
Meh. Not a great contributor, but he had to fill in while Amendola was on IR and Norwood was nursing a hammy.

UDFA: Josh Gordy
CB CMU
(Signed by Jags, spent time on Packers PS)
Starter for the Rams, and having a fairly good season. Miss Nelson much? Or Baker?

UDFA: Kevin Hughes
OL Southeastern Louisiana
(Signed by Rams, starting on OL)

UDFA:  Nick Miller
WR Southern Utah
(Signed by Raiders [udfa], picked up by Rams)

So this year, the Rams let 3 late round picks leave and had one go on IR early. To counter that, they signed 6 UDFA’s who ARE starting or ARE backups. One could go as far to say that UDFA’s that make it, or get playing time, pretty much takes the sting out of letting late round picks leave. At worst, it’s a straight up wash.

What are the other questionable roster moves?  “Letting Mardy Gilyard leave.”  I hear that one a lot.   “He could have been developed.”  Oh yeah? Do we know that?  To make up for the gaping void left by Mardy Gilyard, the Rams signed Mark Clayton and Brandon Lloyd.  Gilyard is a free agent after the Jets picked him up.  If Spagnuolo is so unaware of untapped talent, then surely somebody would have signed him by now.  I mean, did you see that excellent Sports Science video of him where he cuts on a dime and can run routes blindfolded?  There’s a collective stupidity out there if this guy isn’t being developed by someone.

How about releasing Donnie Avery?  “He had speed.”  Yep. He sure did.  That one confused the hell outta me too.  But what is he doing right now?  Zero catches for zero yards.  Maybe he wasn’t as healthy as he led us to believe?  I have no idea.  Sure the Rams could use his speed, but couldn’t Tennessee use it as well?  Why do they keep him as an inactive every week?  Are they stupid too?  The popular school of thought is that you just need to trot him out there and safeties will flock to him like buzzards to a possum carcass.  Puzzling to say the least.

Look, I’m not trying to make a ton of excuses here. I’m only pointing out what’s going on that often gets ignored.  We let late rounders walk, and we pick sign UDFA’s (wash).  We let “potential playmakers” leave, and they do nothing when they’re gone.  In some cases, they don’t even get signed again.  This happens with every team in the league, by the way.  I’m not going to enumerate the instances of that because I’m sure everyone is aware that it’s a universal truth.  For every sack a Larry Grant notches (1), you get a punt return TD from a Nick Miller (1).  For every tackle Jabara Williams makes (1), you get an interception from Gordy (or in this case … 2).   For every pass Thaddeus Lewis throws (0),  you get a TD in return from Clemens.   Give/take, man.  Give.  Take.

I guess what I’m saying is,  “Is this really such a big deal?”

 

Mr. Kroenke,

As I’m sure you’re aware, since the Rams moved to L.A., and subsequently to St Louis, the average coaching tenure of a Rams coach has been 3.3 years.  That’s over the past 63 years, and with 19 coaches.  Meanwhile, the average coaching tenure of the Steelers’ head coaches (a perennially good team) is 10 years – with Noll getting 23 after 3 not-so-very-good ones to start his career there.  I’m tired of changing coaches over and over and over.  I see something in Coach Spagnuolo that makes me believe he’s the right man for the job.   The guy was hired for four years.  Give him four years to at least (hopefully) get a regular season under his belt.  That’s one without a cap strapped year after cutting 17 starters (2009), and a free agency barren year (2010) and a year with a truncated off-season  (2011), and with all three having just stupid amounts of injuries that take out entire units (qbs in 2009, wrs in 2010 and everybody in 2011).  Enough with the high turnover already.  Stick with the guy who has a clear vision and can only get better with the amount of dedication he has to your team and your Organization.  Let the team build and jell.  Let’s not blow this thing up every 3.3 years.

Forget Fisher, forget Gruden, forget everybody.  Steve Spagnuolo or bust.

I’ll be here no matter what you do.  Supporting, cheering, watching, buying.  Whatever it takes.  Just please.  PLEASE.  Keep Coach Spagnuolo and let him finish out his contract.  I know he’s the man for the job.  Nobody else could get this team playing as hard as it is with absolutely nothing on the line, and with a fair amount of players who weren’t even on the roster September 1st.   That says something.  The MEANS something.   Get him some help, and then let him help you.

Thanks for listening.

Sincerely,

 A.  Fan.

By: DR RAM
@DR_RAM_

I put my offensive line glasses on and reviewed the game. This is what they showed me:

Guard - Not a final grade by any means, but Bryan Mattison played pretty well at RG. He showed decent feet and technique, and appears to be somewhat athletic. I didn’t see him miss many assignments. He played with some power in the running game, and pancaked a very good defensive lineman. He showed some tenacity and grit. He does have some trouble blocking in space, and picking up that second level block, but he got to the level easily. I didn’t really see Seattle challenge him in the passing game, so I will have to wait on that. He showed some rust and missed a couple of blocks.

Jason Brown is struggling to play LG. He missed some assignments, blocks, got overpowered, and is probably the worst blocker on the second level or backside. I don’t know where he is mentally, but I don’t see a future with him on the team. I’m happy to report that the Rams have Kevin Hughes as the backup to both Guards on the depth chart. Hughes is a Guard IMO, although they never let him play there during the preseason. The Rams have let go of a lot young players, I hope they keep Hughes at Guard. I would like to see Hughes get some reps at LG so the Rams can get a look at him before the season is over.

Center – Tony Wragge played a little better than he has played previously, but I have a problem with a Center that repeatedly forgets the snap count. He struggles helping block downfield or backside. Wragge doesn’t really do anything really well, but he doesn’t do anything really bad either. I will keep my eye and mind open on Tony Wragge for the rest of the season. So far, I am not impressed.

Tackle – Harvey Dahl is playing very well at RT, and I’d have no qualms about leaving him there going into next season, remaining hopeful that Mattison and Hughes develop at the Guard positions. Dahl made several great athletic blocks downfield and in the backfield of rushing linebackers and safeties. Dahl’s pass blocking was exceptional, and I didn’t see him give up any pressures, or sacks. Nobody has played better than Dahl this year at RT, but I want to see how he does against the Bengals, because they bring it from both sides, and in fairness, I don’t think Dahl has faced as many good pass rushers as some of the others have.

Mark Levoir – played a little, better than I originally thought, but he is very slow, not very athletic, and I don’t think he’s at the level of shape that he needs to be. He is of no benefit in the screen game or on any kind of downfield blocking. He’s below average as a pass blocker. Like with Wragge, I will continue to watch him closely to see if he would make a worthy backup, but I’m not sure of his versatility. Adam Goldberg came in and on one play managed to tackle Steven Jackson on the goal line preventing a touchdown. Enough said. Thomas Welch played a few plays, but he looked entirely lost. These guys were forced to play in short yardage situations, because we ran out of tight ends and don’t have a fullback.

Tight end - Lance Kendricks made some nice blocks, and missed a couple blitzers that I think he should have picked up. He also had a huge gain on the perfectly thrown crossing pattern, but it appears as if he is still limping and clearly not 100%. In the preseason, he may have outrun the secondary and scored a touchdown. Billy Bajema managed to almost get Sam Bradford killed again by another piss poor block. For all QB’s sake, cut him as soon as possible, how he managed to get a roster spot is beyond my examination of his consistently bad play.

That’s it for now… The Doctor is out.

Questions and comments are welcome.

By: DR RAM

On offense:
- The Rams called play action on a lot of first downs, and jumped into the no huddle offense very early in the game to get some things going. With the running game being at their peak, play action should really open up some big plays. The offense looked pretty fluid at times as we continue to get a glimpse into the future of what can be.

- Bradford seemed a little off the whole game, so I put the microscope on him to find out why. I came away with what I though was the biggest issue. He threw the ball a half beat late on most occasions. He needs to make his decisions a little quicker and throw on time as soon as he gets into his drop. For the most part the decisions were good, and on a lot of plays he had few options. One thing that I noticed is that teams are definitely afraid of Lloyd beating them deep.

- The Browns safeties made sure that Lloyd was in front of them by playing off. This really helped in the running game.

- Wragge missed a couple assignments early, wasn’t great on blocking in space, and his snapping from shotgun was erratic. But..he didn’t allow penetration, and had a couple key blocks with Dahl that created some huge holes for Jackson.

- Bell struggled, he had the worst performance by our offensive lineman and gave up the only sack, he also gave up some pressures. Dahl and Bell both got beat by Phil Taylor on occasion, who is proving to be a good football player. Goldberg (didn’t see the trip), Saffold and Levoir played pretty good. Keeping out of 3rd and long really helped this group, but I would like to see this group be able to block 4 with their 5, and they haven’t proven they can do that yet. McDaniel’s gave them help most of the game.

- The screen game has really improved and it looks like there are some big yards to be had, if we keep executing it.

- Lloyd had a drop on what would have been a first down on the first series ending the drive. His 1-handed grab was sensational on a 2nd and 20 after a Bajema hold, giving the Rams a first down and extending the drive for the eventual only touchdown that the Rams scored. On the touchdown, Lloyd got major separation on the stick route and contorted his body to secure the catch. Harvey Dahl ran over and picked him up after the catch.

- Rams have struggled on 3rd downs, well, on the touchdown scoring drive, they just eliminated 3rd downs, except the 3rd and 3 that was the touchdown, there were no other 3rd downs on that 10 play drive.

- Brit Miller in gradually being worked into the gameplan and had a couple of nice plays during the game. He is starting to show that he has decent hands and also decent vision.

- Jackson and the running game continue to be huge for the Rams. He continues to play hard and his will to win is starting to rub off on the rest of the team. He is leading by example. This is the best stretch that I have ever seen him play in his career, but I’d be remiss to not give the play calling, offensive line, and receivers down field credit for blocking well for him. He is not above criticism and he missed a couple holes that I though he should have hit. On the last drive in the first half on 1st and 10 Jackson missed the 5 hole between Bell and Saffold, Bell had it sealed and Saffold kicked, this would have been a huge gain and a possible touchdown. On the nest play, which was 2nd and 9, the whole left side was sealed and if Jack would have seen it, he had his head down, I think it would have been a touchdown. He was probably really tired at this point, remember, he wasn’t getting any breathers and this was the end of the first half. I won’t even mention the rare fumble that he had later, whoops, I did. His positives still far outweighed his negatives.

- Bajema needs to play better, and I could give several examples, but I’m tired of saying the same thing.

- B. Gibson played a very poor game. He dropped an easy 15 yard pass, a hard pass over the middle, and had a lazy break off of a route where he appeared to be the primary target on a well thrown ball for Bradford. At least twice Gibson was lined up incorrectly, and forced us to call a timeout on one of them.

- Pettis had a nice game, he had a very nice run after the catch (RAC) on one play, and he appears to be filling in for Salas, who was filling in for Amendola nicely. The Browns got away with a couple obvious pass interference calls by arriving early and going through the receivers, Pettis was involved on one of these on a third down killing a drive for the Rams.

On defense:
- The defense as a whole have continued to be outstanding, and I can’t stress enough that the earlier problems were because of missed assignments, by mostly new players, but also by some vets.

- Chamberlain flashed several times in the first half and continues to impress. This was his best game, but he faded a little in the second half.

- King had really good coverage on a couple 3rd down plays, including an almost interception in the end zone. He tied Laurinaitis for the most tackles in the game with 6.

- Mikell was very aggressive early on and continues to play very solid football, he has been a great acquisition.

- Gordy played stellar, and I hope he keeps it up, still looks like a huge find for us, and maybe has helped save our season to some extent.

- Dahl continues to disappoint. I thought that we got real lucky on a couple of plays when he was in coverage. On one play he was lined up in the slot opposite Ben Watson, who ran right by him before Dahl turned to run. Watson had a running 5-yards on Dahl. Luckily, Chris Long got mad pressure on McCoy forcing an early throw. There was no deep coverage on the play, the Browns were in the spread. Teams will continue to target him in coverage like Arizona did after seeing how he reacted in deep coverage vs. the Saints, which is almost thew same play that the Ravens ran on us twice where Stewart was the victim. Don’t be surprised to see opponents run twins left vs. cover 2, where the out side receiver will run a deep crossing pattern and the inside receiver will run a hesitation deep skinny post. I’m ready to see James butler out there.

- Stewart played solid, not spectacular as his last few games, but I think he injured his neck early in the game, but continued to play.

- Long continues to get pressures and sacks even when we only rush 4. He barely missed what would have been his 2nd sack when McCoy made a really good juke move on him. Hall made some big plays, and I was a little disappointed in Quinn, who didn’t do much in this game.

- JL, and BP played solid games and the defense was very balanced in tackles. The improved backer play has coincided with the defensive lineman in fixing the gap control issues. It seemed to happen almost overnight, and I give a lot of credit to Laurinaitis and Mikell for their on and off field leadership.

It was a hard fought win that came down to Lloyd making a couple great plays, Jackson and the o-line essentially controlling the game, and the defense playing almost perfect Spagnuolo football. Not pretty, but I’ll take it.

It is offenses turn to carry this team a little I think.