Recent Forum Topics › Forums › The Rams Huddle › Wagoner, Thomas, Miklasz, Gordon, Balzer on Rams & the Bradford injury
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August 24, 2014 at 6:22 pm #4894
RamBillParticipantBradford out for the year with knee injury
• By Jim ThomasThe optimism of Saturday night turned into a Sunday afternoon nightmare for the Rams. Coach Jeff Fisher confirmed that quarterback Sam Bradford suffered new damage to the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, needs additional surgery, and is done for the season.
“Unfortunately, I can confirm that we have lost Sam for the year,” Fisher said. “Sam suffered an injury to the reconstructed knee that he had done less than a year ago.
“I’m very, very disappointed for Sam. We’ve got two issues here: We lost our staring quarterback. But for Sam personally the news was devastating to him this morning.”
On a Saturday night in which the Rams lost five starters in the first half, Fisher said starting cornerback Trumaine Johnson will miss four to six weeks with a knee injury. It’s an injury to the medial collateral ligament; such injuries do not require surgery.
But there was better news on offensive tackle Rodger Saffold, and defensive tackles Michael Brockers and Kendall Langford. All suffered ankle injuries, but Fisher said it’s possible all three could play in the Rams’ preseason finale Thursday in Miami.
Bradford was injured in the first quarter of Saturday night’s 33-14 preseason victory over Cleveland when hit by Browns defensive end Amonty Bryant after releasing a pass to Jared Cook.
Bradford walked off the field under his own power, and by all accounts was in good spirits in the locker room. Although he prefaced his remarks by saying he didn’t want to speculate, Fisher said during his postgame press conference that the injury might merely be a hyper-extension of the knee, in which case Bradford might be ready in a week or two.
That turned out not to be the case Sunday when an MRI showed additional damage to the ACL in Bradford’s left knee, the same knee that needed surgery for a torn ACL last Oct. 20 at Carolina.
Without Bradford, veteran Shaun Hill becomes the starter for the Sept. 7 season opener against Minnesota and beyond. Hill, 34, has thrown only 16 regular-season passes in the past three seasons while playing for Detroit.
The Rams also have Austin Davis and rookie Garrett Gilbert on the roster at quarterback, but undoubtedly will be combing the waiver wires for veteran QB help, or possibly exploring a trade.
The Rams do have a surplus at defensive line, especially defensive end, that could be used in a trade for veteran help. But Fisher indicated Sunday that the Rams would not jump into finding help at quarterback, and said reports that the Rams were working the phones to that end Sunday were incorrect.
“Shaun is our guy,” Fisher said.
Then, hearkening back to Dick Vermeil after the 1999 injury to Trent Green and replacement Kurt Warner, Fisher said: “We will rally around Shaun Hill.”
August 24, 2014 at 6:22 pm #4846RamBillParticipantRams must begin planning for future at QB
By Nick Wagonerhttp://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/10870/rams-must-begin-planning-for-future-at-qb
EARTH CITY, Mo. — What was once again thought to be a make-or-break season for St. Louis Rams quarterback Sam Bradford broke Sunday, two weeks before it even started.
With news coming from ESPN NFL analyst Chris Mortensen that Bradford will miss the 2014 season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, the Rams will almost certainly turn to veteran Shaun Hill to replace him. In Hill, they have an in-house replacement they believe to be an upgrade over Kellen Clemens, the quarterback who replaced Bradford last year.
But Hill is 34 and what was already an uncertain picture at the game’s most important position just became a lot fuzzier. Bradford is scheduled to count $17,610,000 against this year’s salary cap. His number for next year is a daunting $16,580,000. And he’s headed for his second left knee surgery in less than a year.
Forgetting the Rams’ inability to reach the playoffs or even post a winning record under Bradford’s guidance for a moment, the harsh reality is that there’s no longer any debate about whether Bradford should be the team’s quarterback of the future. Once this season ends, Bradford will have missed 25 consecutive games over two seasons.
In a five-year career, Bradford will have missed 31 of a possible 80 games, and that doesn’t include time playing with a high ankle sprain in 2011. Whether or not you believe Bradford was the right man for the job is beside the point. He’s now got a long enough history of serious injury that he can’t be considered the team’s quarterback of the future.
Simply put, it’s time for the Rams to move on. And more to the point, it’s fair to wonder whether they should have already had the succession plan in place.
This isn’t a second guess, this is revisiting a relevant conversation that came up repeatedly around the NFL draft. Even as rumors of the team’s interest in Johnny Manziel swirled, Rams coach Jeff Fisher and general manager Les Snead remained steadfast in their belief in Bradford.
With picks at Nos. 2 and 13 in the first round, the Rams could have drafted any quarterback they wanted with the second pick and all but Blake Bortles with the 13th selection. Although it appeared the Rams never really considered grabbing a signal-caller with either of those picks, there were those who would have liked to see them do it, especially considering the bonus pick the team had from Washington.
The Rams eventually spent a lowly sixth-round pick on developmental prospect Garrett Gilbert — who is nowhere close to being an NFL starter — despite multiple hints that they’d spend at least a Day 2 pick on a quarterback.
Taking it a step further, it was also fair to wonder whether the Rams should have more strongly considered a quarterback at the top of the draft because they might never draft in such lofty territory again. In Fisher’s 18 full seasons as a head coach, his teams have had seven or more wins 15 times. He’s had one season each with four, five and six wins.
In other words, Fisher’s teams almost always find a way to a baseline of mediocrity that doesn’t yield many opportunities to draft franchise quarterbacks. The average first-round draft position of Fisher’s teams, not including picks gained in trade, is 17.9.
On the two occasions his Tennessee teams picked in the top three, they drafted a quarterback both times, one being the home run that was Steve McNair, the other being the whiff that was Vince Young.
Such is life when betting your franchise’s future on a young quarterback. It’s a bet the Rams weren’t prepared to make again while waiting to see if the one they made on Bradford in 2010 would pay off.
But because they didn’t, the Rams now find themselves in the unenviable position of having to place their next bet with far less valuable chips.
August 24, 2014 at 7:52 pm #4890RamBillParticipant
Bernie: Bradford and Rams are cursed
• Bernie MiklaszInstant reaction to the news of the Rams’ loss of quarterback Sam Bradford to a season-ending knee injury. Many words to follow. Please pardon my typos…
OVERVIEW
Honest, I don’t believe in curses.
But the Rams and Bradford are really, really, testing me on that.
On a human level, this is sad news for Bradford and the Rams. He worked hard to make it back from suffering the torn knee ligaments that took him down for the final nine games in 2013. He was looking good – bigger, stronger and accurate – in training camp. Through no fault of his own, Bradford just can’t stay healthy. Going back to his final season at Oklahoma, Bradford’s career has frequently been derailed by injuries.
The Rams have invested so much money and time in Bradford, but to no avail. And no rewards. If this indeed is the end of his Rams’ career, Bradford will finish with an 18-30-1 record. This is an unfortunate example of having the wrong quarterback at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Bradford’s shaky durability was a substantial setback to his career. But he also played for a team that never surrounded him with strong support or astute coaching on offense. Not that Bradford would have emerged as an elite quarterback; because of his injuries we’ll never know. But that’s also true of Bradford’s performance. We’ll never know.
Drafted No. 1 overall in 2010, Bradford never became a transformative quarterback. So it wouldn’t be wrong to say that many, including me, overestimated his talent and potential.
But if you want to be fair about this, we’ll never know what Bradford could have been at his peak, and installed in a more favorable set of circumstances. Bradford was drafted by a terrible organization that had to rebuild. He never had a true No. 1 receiver at the other end of his throws. He ran an offense that was slowed by a constant shuffle of personnel. And he worked for three offensive coordinators in St. Louis.
Bradford failed to play to the level of expectations that were set after his arrival and solid rookie campaign of 2010. He never distinguished himself at the position.
The Rams failed Bradford, too. It was a star-crossed relationship. Just when it seemed that Bradford was posed to take advantage of coach Jeff Fisher’s rebuilding program … this. Another crash.
And unless the Rams want to go through this again with Bradford — and why would they? — it’s time time for the organization to move on and start making plans to secure a QB for the future.
BRADFORD BITS …
On to the particulars — let’s dive in:
• Does this ruin the Rams’ season? Well, that depends on your perspective. If you believe that Bradford was ready to deliver a break-out season, then yes, this is a severe blow. But objectively speaking, isn’t it a reach to presume greatness from Bradford in 2015. Improvement? Yes. He had a 14 to 4 touchdown/interception ratio last year before falling, and performed well after the Rams junked an unworkable offense following an embarrassing home loss to San Francisco last Sept. 26. If training camp and exhibition games mean anything, it appeared that Bradford was in position to benefit from the addition of WR Kenny Britt and the development of WR Kenny Britt.
• But to declare that their season is trashed … well, I’m not going to go that far. And I’m certainly not going to give the Rams a built-in, easy excuse if they have a mediocre or poor season. The Rams went 4-5 in games started by Kellen Clemens in wake of Bradford’s injury last year. During Bradford’s first four seasons (2010-13) in St. Louis, the team won 36.7 percent of his starts. When Bradford didn’t start, the Rams won 33.3 percent of the time. Does that represent a significant difference? No, it doesn’t. But it’s also not that simple.
• Sure, I believe the Rams would have a better and more capable offense with Bradford in place in 2014. I can’t help but think back to Bradford’s winning record against NFC West teams (5-2-1) since Fisher took over as head coach. Yes, a big part of that could be attributed to the Rams’ defense and we shouldn’t underestimate that. But Bradford stepped up and made some big plays in those NFC West games. Clemens didn’t do that against division rivals last season. He was awful in NFC West throwdowns last season with two touchdowns, seven interceptions and a 55.2 passer rating. But Clemens also started impressive wins over Indianapolis, New Orleans and Chicago. If the Rams can run the ball with authority and play a swarming, harassing, turnover-forcing caliber of defense, they can bang and hang with anyone. But it’s sensible to conclude that the challenge of winning NFC West games is more daunting now. And that’s no small consideration.
• In Shaun Hill, the Rams have a calm and experienced veteran QB who is 13-13 as an NFL starter in his career. He’s a capable quarterback. I don’t know what others expect from a No. 2 quarterback. I’m not sure why anyone would expect to see a star-quality QB waiting in the No. 2 hole. How many No. 2s really fit that billing? Hill is solid. I don’t intend for this to come across as faint praise, but the Rams could be in much worse shape. If Hill stays healthy, he can play respectably. Hill’s history tells us that.
• Will the Rams shop for another veteran QB to team with Hill? It makes sense in theory, but getting it done is a different matter. Three reasons: (1) the Rams are tight on the salary cap and don’t have much room to accommodate a nice chunk of salary; (2) there doesn’t appear to be much of a market on available quarterbacks; (3) teams inclined to trade a QB know the Rams are in an awful spot, lack leverage and can demand an inflated price in a trade.
• I’ve seen some NFL pundit types suggest that the Eagles may be willing to part with Mark Sanchez, and that the Patriots may try to move backup QB Ryan Mallett. Sanchez does have a history — good and bad — with Rams offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer from their NY Jets days. But the shared experience basically got both of them run out of town. Eagles coach Chip Kelly is said to like Sanchez, so what’s his price for a Sanchez trade? Mallett has been in the league for three seasons, and has attempted four regular-season passes – so what is he, exactly? The Patriots drafted Jimmy Garoppolo this year to groom him as the next-in-line QB to Tom Brady. What does that say about Mallett? Besides, the Patriots may end up cutting Mallett, anyway. I’ve seen Redskins’ backup Kirk Cousins nominated as a possibility for the Rams – but given Robert Griffin III’s knee fragility, why would the Redskins part with Cousins? Makes no sense. Perhaps a potentially appealing QB would slip through on the waiver wire. Really, all of this speculation is a waste of time at the moment. We have to wait and see if a QB pops up that makes sense for the Rams.
• I’ve already seen some folks – including media members – compare this to 1999, when the Rams lost starting QB Trent Green in the third preseason game, plugged in Kurt Warner, and shocked the world by going 13-3 and winning the Super Bowl. Please. It was a fairy-tale ride in 1999. Warner was truly special, and no one knew that at the time. But it also helped to have Marshall Faulk in the backfield, Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt at wide receiver, and Orlando Pace at left tackle. Faulk already is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Warner will be voted into the Hall of Fame. Pace will be voted into the Hall of Fame. Bruce and Holt have a chance to be voted into the Hall of Fame. Do you see any future Hall of Famers in the Rams’ 2014 offensive huddle?
• Moreover, Bradford was never as good a career-peak Trent Green. And while I respect Shaun Hill, I think it’s safe to say that his upside doesn’t match the upside that Warner possessed in 1999. We didn’t know what to expect from Warner because he’d never really played in the NFL in a game that mattered. Hill, 34, has been in the league for eight seasons. (This one will be his ninth.) And Hill has played in 37 regular-season games so at least there’s a basis for knowing what to expect from him.
• And say what you want about Mike Martz’s ups and downs as the head coach, but in 1999 Martz was a brilliant offensive coordinator. The offense he put together in 1999 was extraordinary. Mad Mike maximized all of that talent with creative, masterful game plans and wicked play calling. I don’t believe anyone has said those things about Schottenheimer. I’m not trying to be a narrative-killer here … OK, maybe I am. But seriously. While it’s human nature to look for a positive spin, it’s also ludicrous to compare this cast to the ’99 group that featured Faulk, Pace, Warner, Bruce, Holt and Martz. This doesn’t mean the 2014 Rams will be lousy offensively in 2014. But it’s a disservice to link the ’14 Rams to the storied “Greatest Show” offense that’s the only offense in NFL history to scored 500 or more points for three consecutive seasons, 1999 through 2001.
• Unlike many fans, I won’t slam Bradford based on the money he’s made here. As we’ve written many times, Bradford cashed in under the old NFL system for rookie compensation. Had he been in the draft in 2011 instead of 2010, the Rams wouldn’t have paid Bradford a guaranteed $50 million. Not even close. But in the old system, any team that drafted a QB first overall was going to have to pay up with enormous guarantees – and it didn’t matter if the QB was a star or a stiff. That’s why NFL owners insisted on a new rookie-compensation scale in the current collective bargaining agreement. It’s not as if Bradford swiped the money by being lazy, undedicated, unmotivated. Do you really think Bradford wanted to lose? Do you really think that he wanted to throw to pedestrian receivers? Do you really think he wanted to get physically ripped apart by defenses?
• Now, then: if you want to question the Rams’ judgment to stick with Bradford after a 2013 season wrecked by the knee injury, well, that’s an entirely different subject. The Rams brought Bradford back for 2014 at a salary-cap figure of $17.61 million. Management and coach Fisher remained unwavering and unshaken despite Bradford’s obvious injury history that shouldn’t have been ignored. (And yes, I wrote about that earlier this year– more than once.) From a financial standpoint, the organization had a chance to cut its losses after 2013 but opted to go forward with Sam. The Rams were willing to take that gamble. Sadly, it blew up.
• I don’t say that to pile on. I sincerely wish this would have worked out for the QB and the team. But it’s just the undeniable and unavoidable truth to state that the Rams’ gamble blew up. I’m sorry that it did. I had confidence in a healthy Bradford doing some good things in 2014. Positive factors were lining up. But I had little confidence that Bradford would stay healthy.
• Bradford has a $16.58 million cap hit for 2015. Pragmatically, I can’t imagine why the Rams would want to stay the course and pump another $16 million-plus into the Bradford project. Here’s why …
• If you include Bradford’s final season at Oklahoma, his first four NFL seasons, and the 16 games Bradford will miss in 2014, it adds up to 89 potential starts for him. Of those 89 games, Bradford started only 52. Repeat: 52 starts in 89 games. So that’s 37 starts missed to injury over six years (2009 through 2014.)
• And to put a fine-point on it, Bradford in 2011 started five games on a bad ankle that greatly limited his mobility and balance to plant and throw. Bradford shouldn’t have been playing; he took a beating out there for no good reason. Including those five games in ’11, I have no hesitation in offering the math that Bradford has been a physically viable starter for only 47 of 89 games over his last six seasons of football. Knowing that, how could the Rams possibly commit another $16 million plus to Bradford in 2015?
• As I wrote multiple times before the 2014 NFL Draft, it was my opinion that the Rams needed to take a QB early because of Bradford’s injury pattern. It seemed like an obvious and logical move; if Bradford got hurt again, at least the Rams would have had a young QB in line to develop for 2015. But the Rams didn’t go for a QB until the sixth round, taking Garrett Gilbert at No. 214 overall. So now the Rams are stuck in QB limbo. Unless the Rams really believe Gilbert or Austin Davis is their long-term future, if the organization moves away from Bradford in 2015, they don’t have a young starter in place to lead them over the next several seasons or longer. Taking a QB wasn’t a priority for the Rams in 2014 and it should have been. You’d have to think that drafting a QB would become a large priority for the Rams in 2015. But they put logic aside in the 2014 draft, and I suppose it’s possible for the Rams to do it again. Also … hypothetically speaking, suppose the Rams finish with six, seven, eight or nine wins? That won’t put them near the top of the draft to choose among the most coveted quarterbacks.
It’s a tough weekend for the Rams, Sam B. and their fans.
Thanks for reading …
-Bernie
August 24, 2014 at 10:22 pm #4945RamBillParticipantRams turn to Hill but need more help
By Nick Wagonerhttp://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/10876/rams-turn-to-hill-but-need-more-help
EARTH CITY, Mo. — Summoning his best Dick Vermeil impression Sunday evening, St. Louis Rams coach Jeff Fisher began the sentence just how Vermeil did about 15 years ago.
“This team is going to rally around Shaun [Hill] and we’re going to go play …” Fisher trailed off.
With Sam Bradford out for the season, it’s Shaun Hill’s turn to quarterback the Rams.
The story of the 1999 Rams has become the stuff of legend, and it all started with a torn anterior cruciate ligament to a starting quarterback just like the one that ended Sam Bradford’s 2014 season before it began Saturday night in Cleveland.The storybook tale of Kurt Warner replacing Trent Green and leading the Rams to a win in Super Bowl XXXIV is a cute parallel to what the Rams are going through now with Bradford out and Hill in, but it’s also one of the game’s legendary aberrations.
The 34-year-old Hill has been a steady backup who has started a handful of games over the course of a 12-year career. In that time, Hill has thrown for 6,381 yards, 41 touchdowns and 23 interceptions for a passer rating of 85.9. He compiled a 13-13 record as a starter and played 11 games with the Detroit Lions in 2010 in relief of Matthew Stafford.
Although he’s in his first year with the Rams following four each in Detroit, San Francisco and Minnesota, Hill has plenty of experience playing in a variety of offenses with plenty of different coaches and players.
That’s a far cry from Warner’s story and that should be instructive in trying to determine what Hill brings to the table as the Rams’ starter. Fisher and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer have no intention of asking Hill to air it out, just as they didn’t with Bradford.
“Shaun has a great feeling for the offense right now and we’re going to move forward with it,” Fisher said. “We’re not going to change anything. He knows the system. Everybody knows we are going to run the football first, and we’re going to do that and we’re going to do that well and we’re going to do that to start the season and then everything else will come off of that.”
With Hill under center, the Rams have a steady hand who should be a better option than Kellen Clemens was when he took over for Bradford seven games into the 2013 season. The season shouldn’t be lost with Hill in charge, but it’s going to make what would have been an uphill climb to a postseason berth an even more daunting task.
Given the dearth of solid quarterbacks in the NFL, the Rams are wise to stick with the steady Hill as the starter rather than mortgage valuable draft picks to acquire someone who wouldn’t be a guaranteed upgrade. Anyone who might be considered an upgrade probably would be unavailable, too expensive, or both.
To that end, Fisher shot down rumors about the team’s interest in an outside quarterback who could potentially push Hill.
“I’ve heard that there’s speculation we’ve been on the phone,” Fisher said. “That’s not true. It doesn’t mean to say we won’t but we haven’t done it to this point. Keep in mind these guys understand our system. Shaun is ready to play.”
The bigger issue is what the Rams would do should something happen to Hill. For as experienced as Hill is, the Rams are equally inexperienced behind him. The current backup, Austin Davis, enters his third season with the team having never thrown a regular-season pass. Sixth-round draft choice Garrett Gilbert is a developmental rookie with a lot of improvement to make before he could play.
So even with rumors of the Rams’ interest in players such as Mark Sanchez, Ryan Mallett, Kirk Cousins and so many others, they aren’t planning to make an impulse purchase just to say they’ve done something.
“It makes no sense to jump and react right now and try to fill the hole, whatever it costs,” Fisher said. “We’re going to take our time and evaluate this. There’s going to be some quarterbacks that are getting released and there may or may not be some quarterbacks that have trade value. We just don’t know. It’s way too soon.”
Waiting is fine for now, but the Rams would be wise to find a way before the season starts to add a backup with experience to back up the one who is now starting.
August 24, 2014 at 10:34 pm #4953RamBillParticipant
Gordon: Injury finishes Bradford, Rams
• By Jeff GordonThis was supposed to be Sam Bradford’s make-or-break season. Sadly, he broke.
He re-injured his surgically-repaired left knee Saturday night at Cleveland, ending his 2014 season before it really started.
In a nutshell, this is what is means:
The Rams will go forward with Shaun Hill as the starting quarterback, hoping to win with a shutdown defense, a powerful running game and excellent special teams play. The Rams will be competitive this season, but it hard to imagine them getting to the high side of .500 without a healthy and effective Bradford. They will need more than astute game management to beat the better teams on their schedule.
Hill is more capable than 2013 fill-in Kellen Clemens, but he can’t make all the throws Bradford makes with the same consistency. Once again offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer will have to scale back his play script.
Coach Jeff Fisher and Co. must get Austin Davis ready to play. He was just a camp arm in most of the practice sessions to this point. He seemed certain to get cut, just as he did last summer. But at Cleveland he once against demonstrated some playmaking flair. He knows the offense inside-out, so he can offer some near-term relief. So now he needs practice reps and game reps.
Rookie QB Garrett Gilbert needs a lot of work. Given Bradford’s demise, the Rams don’t have the luxury of giving him that time. General manager Les Snead must start searching for another quarterback ASAP, seeking either another veteran (not Brady Quinn!) to protect Hill or a younger quarterback with serious developmental potential. And his scouts must start paying extra attention to the quarterback class in the 2015 NFL Draft.
As for Bradford . . . that should be it for him here. The Rams can’t afford to commit so much salary cap space to such a fragile player. After a another major operation on the same knee, how could they reasonably expect him to ever hold up as a No. 1 quarterback? Snead is thankful Bradford’s camp didn’t want to extend his rookie deal. After this season, the Rams can dump what’s left of Bradford and invest the money elsewhere. That’s cold, but that’s the NFL — a tough, tough place to make a living.
This is a brutal development for Bradford, who seems like a nice enough guy. He faces another grueling year of rehab and uncertain football future. Fortunately he has tremendous financial security, unlike so many injured NFLers.
This is terrible news for a star-crossed Rams franchise that has endured disaster after catastrophe after fiasco since those glorious “Greatest Show on Turf” days.
August 24, 2014 at 11:26 pm #4962RamBillParticipantRams won’t change offense in Bradford’s absence
By Howard Balzerhttp://sports.yahoo.com/news/rams-wont-change-offense-bradfords-022126155–nfl.html
EARTH CITY, Mo. — St. Louis Rams coach Jeff Fisher did the best he could Sunday, putting on his positive face in the wake of the stunning news that quarterback Sam Bradford tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
Bradford, who had the same ACL repaired after first being injured last October against the Carolina Panthers, is out for the season.
Fisher did his best Dick Vermeil imitation after being asked about the eerie similarity to 1999. That year, Trent Green tore his ACL in the third preseason game, leaving the offense in the hands of Kurt Warner, who helped lead the team to a Super Bowl win over Fisher’s Tennessee Titans.
“This team’s going to rally around Shaun (Hill), and we’re going to go play, they really are,” Fisher said. “That guy that came in (Warner) ended up being pretty good. Again, we’ve got all the confidence in the world in Shaun.”
Fisher got the quote close. Vermeil, the Rams’ head coach then, said, “We will rally around Kurt Warner, and we will play good football.” Though Fisher wasn’t tearing up like Vermeil, his message was clear.
“We move forward as a football team,” he said. “Shaun is our guy. We brought him here. He’s got experience. We’ve got all the confidence in the world in him. We have, around our quarterback position right now, probably as good of talent as we’ve had since we came here. Shaun is excited about that, and I know he’ll benefit from that.
“Players are unique nowadays. They feel Sam’s right pain now and his loss, but you’ve got to go on. That’s part of our business, you go on, and so, everybody needs to pick it up a little bit more. That’s kind of a cliche when these things happen, and this young group of guys will.”
Fisher acknowledged being “shell-shocked” by the news, especially since Bradford wasn’t hit particularly hard and the injury didn’t appear that bad after it happened in the first quarter of Saturday night’s game against the Cleveland Browns. He expressed optimism, while Bradford told teammates and others he thought he would be OK. That is what made the news Sunday so hard to accept.
“For Sam personally, it’s devastating,” Fisher said. “The news was devastating to him as you can appreciate. Anyone that’s gone through that procedure and the rehab understands, and to have it happen again within the calendar year is very, very difficult. So, we’re thinking of Sam.
“I met with him this morning. He’s left the building. He’s spending time with his parents. A lot of people worked very hard with him: (trainer) Reggie (Scott), his training staff, (strength and conditioning coach) Rock (Gullickson) and his strength staff, the doctors. If you saw him at practice or you saw him the last two preseason games, I think you would agree with me that he was 100 percent back and on his way.”
Now he is on his way to another surgery and an uncertain future. By the end of the season, Bradford will have missed 31 of a possible 80 games in his five-year career, and 2015 is the last year of the six-year, $78 million contract he signed as the first overall pick in the 2010 draft.
However, Fisher said it is far too early to think about the future, adding, “We just need to get his heart and his mind right and get him focused, allow him some time to get away. We’ll address that whenever we need to.”
What Fisher has to do is make sure his team is focused moving forward, something he is not worried about. Last season, when Bradford was injured, there were those who predicted St. Louis wouldn’t win another game, but the Rams went 4-5 with Kellen Clemens at quarterback. Hill is more equipped to be effective in the passing game than Clemens was.
In 12 NFL seasons, Hill has played just 34 games (26 starts), but has completed 61.9 percent of his passes for 6,381 yards, 41 touchdowns, 23 interceptions and an 85.9 passer rating.
Fisher spoke to Hill briefly Sunday and said, “He’s ready for it. He’s ready for the challenge, ready for the opportunity. He has a great feel for the offense right now, and we’re going to move forward with it. We’re not going to change anything. He knows the system. Again, everybody knows we’re going to run the football first. We’re going to do that, and we’ve got to do that well and we’ve got to do that to start the season. Everything else will come off of that.
“He’s got a wealth of experience. He’s played in games. He’s been in different systems. The last few years, he’s really only played in the preseason behind (Lions quarterback) Matthew (Stafford), but when he played, he played really well. He just makes good decisions; he’s mobile. He understands defenses and he’s very reliable.”
While the Rams will be centered around the ground game, that only works when defenses know the passing attack is a threat. Without that, play-action is useless. Fisher believes that won’t be a problem with Hill under center.
“We’re improving, and the young guys are getting more and more experience,” Fisher said. “But Shaun’s capable of getting the ball to them; there’s not a throw that he can’t make. He sees well, he’s got great anticipation, and we’re going to cut him loose.”
August 25, 2014 at 1:04 am #4985RamBillParticipantBurwell: No reason to up Rams’ season as lost
• By BRYAN BURWELLIf you ever needed a more clear example of the heartless reality of pro football’s “next-man-up” nature, this was surely it. Late Sunday afternoon, just as Rams coach Jeff Fisher walked through one door into the Rams Park auditorium to confirm to the world that Sam Bradford and his surgically repaired left knee were once again lost for the season, there was Shaun Hill — the new starting quarterback — quietly slipping through another door on his way to another meeting.
A few hours earlier, a devastated Bradford had left the building, unsure of what his future held. He was once the face of this franchise, a No.1 overall pick destined to lead the Rams out of the darkness into playoff relevance. Now he is an injury prone young man coping with this awful news, wrestling with the uncomfortable notion that he may never reach his enormous potential.
Hill talked to Bradford before he left the building. They have grown close working together for the past five months. Yet Bradford’s bad news is Hill’s latest career big break. These are the moments that make you realize how quickly the process rolls on in NFL locker rooms. No time for lengthy sentimentality when you have a game plan to absorb, a team to lead and an opportunity to capitalize upon.
“We will move forward as a football team,” said Fisher. “Shaun is our guy. … We have all the confidence in the world in him.”
So now let’s get to the essential question on every Rams loyalist’s mind:
Without Bradford, is the Rams’ season a disaster in waiting?
The answer is not nearly as simple as the question. The short answer is no. The longer answer all depends on the uncertainty of a typical NFL season. But let’s begin with the short answer. Don’t overlook the fact that the offseason release of last year’s No. 2 QB Kellen Clemens, the acquisition of the 13-year veteran Hill and the surprising, rapid maturity of No. 3 passer Austin Davis have put this franchise in a decidedly better position to withstand Bradford’s absence than when he went down midway through last season.
Hill is simply and indisputably a better alternative to Clemens. The Rams won’t have to turn the offense back to the stone age to compete because unlike his predecessor, Hill can indeed throw the deep ball with some proven level of efficiency (he has a 61.9 percent career completion percentage). He is not a “game manager.” He is not a guy whose greatest offensive asset is his ability to hand the football off and not make mind-numbing mistakes.
Without Bradford, offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer will not be automatically forced to scale back the offense and abandon the vertical game that Bradford was clearly and impressively implementing this preseason. Hill does not have all of Bradford’s special quarterbacking gifts, but that doesn’t mean he will forget about the deep passes to Brian Quick and Kenny Britt that have suddenly become a valuable tool of this offense.
As Fisher said Sunday, the most noticeable difference between last year and this year is the talent that surrounds the quarterbacks this season.
“We have,” he said, “probably as good talent as we’ve had since we came here. Shaun is excited about that and I know he’ll benefit from that.”
How much he benefits becomes the great unknown of this critically important season.
A year ago, Clemens went 4-5 as a starter. Can Hill do any better with an improved array of offensive talent all around him? Can he benefit from a better offensive line? Can he get the ball to his improving receivers? Will he provide the perfect balance needed to complement Fisher’s obsession with running the football?
This football season hasn’t started yet, and it hardly makes any sense to proclaim it done before it barely begins. But let’s not kid ourselves. The loss of Bradford means something and it means something big. The Sam Bradford we were watching during preseason looked like the sort of guy who could fit a football into any window, no matter how cramped, covered, deep or difficult. The Bradford we watched all summer was looking like the sort of passer who was ready to live up to his enormous potential. That guy was the key to a breakthrough season for this luckless franchise.
That QB had the sort of gifts that could — if all things went really, really well — lead to places most Rams fans considered their ultimate football dreams.
But we won’t see that Bradford this year, and who knows if we’ll ever see that Bradford again?
Shaun Hill doesn’t have to be Bradford for this season to be a success. He just has to be a passer capable of being a legitimate offensive threat. He has to be someone who can go deep when he has to. He has to be a guy who can get the football into the end zone, who can create enough firepower through the air to prevent the rugged NFC West defenses from stacking up the line of scrimmage and turning the Rams’ rushing attack into an ineffective mess.
From every bit of adversity comes some level of opportunity.
Let’s see what sort of opportunity the Rams can cull from this latest setback.
August 25, 2014 at 1:20 am #4989RamBillParticipant‘Devastating news’ ends Bradford’s season
• By Jim ThomasFor Sam Bradford, there were countless hours of rehab work over the past 10 months. A determination to prove his doubters wrong and lead the Rams to higher ground.
Once again, he brought receivers out to Oklahoma on his own dime to work on the passing game and boost camaraderie. There was a renewed effort to display leadership in an evolving offense that needs to be shown the way.
In training camp and the preseason, Bradford did everything he was asked and played well. Often very well.
And then, in the matter of a few seconds Saturday night, it was all gone. Cleveland defensive end Armonty Bryant flashed around Rams left tackle Jake Long, struck Bradford just after he had released a pass, and that was that.
Bradford went down with a left knee injury and is done for the season, as coach Jeff Fisher confirmed early Sunday evening.
The anterior cruciate ligament that was surgically repaired last December following an injury at Carolina in October didn’t hold up to the hit by Bryant. That’s what an MRI examination showed Sunday, and now it must be repaired again.
“Anyone that’s gone through that procedure and the rehab understands that to have it happen again within a calendar year is very, very difficult,” Fisher said. “The news was devastating to him this morning.”
Fisher met with Bradford after the MRI results came in, and then Bradford left Rams Park to spend some time with his parents.
“I really can’t give you any timetable as to when he’s gonna have this procedure done,” Fisher said. “A lot of people worked very hard with him. Reggie (Scott), his training staff. Rock (Gullickson) — strength staff. And the doctors.
Scott is the team’s head athletic trainer; Gullickson is the strength coach.
“If you saw Sam at practice, you saw him play the last two preseason games, I think you’d agree with me that he was 100 percent back and on his way,” Fisher said.
“Put yourself in his position. How hard he worked to get back, and how excited he was to be back and lead this football team into the season. So yeah, it’s very, very difficult for him.”
There was some optimism following Saturday night’s 33-14 preseason victory over Cleveland that the injury might not be serious. Bradford wasn’t carried off on a cart and walked off the field under his own power. He felt pretty good in the locker room afterward and told some teammates that he was OK.
After the MRI examination, Bradford was anything but OK. The play that ended his 2014 was “highly unusual,” according to Fisher.
“You know, it’s a one in a hundred chance that something like that would happen,” Fisher said. “It wasn’t a high impact (hit). ACL injuries, they’re all different, and this was just kind of a hyper-extension that just had impact come from the outside.
“The knee was locked and something has to give. Unfortunately, the ACL gave.”
When the news spread that Bradford was done for the year, several teammates tweeted out their respects and well-wishes:
• DE Chris Long (@JOEL9ONE): ”Hurting for my friend, teammate Sam because we know the work he puts in every day and the caliber of person he is. Tough. We got your back 8.”
• LB James Laurinaiits (@JLaurinaitis55): ”My heart hurts for my friend Sam. The way he worked, the leadership he showed, and his spirit was amazing this whole offseason. Hate this.”
• RT Joe Barksdale: (@BazookaJoe72): ”Praying for Sam, but the team will still continue to build on what we’ve started, to get where we are trying to go.”
But as Fisher indicated, as much as the Rams feel Sam’s pain, there’s no time for self-pity. The NFL is a fast-moving train this time of the year. The team’s regular-season opener against Minnesota is 13 days away, so it’s time to regroup, refocus, and move on.
The Rams will move on with veteran Shaun Hill as their starting quarterback.
“Shaun’s our guy,” Fisher said. “He’s got experience. I’ve got all the confidence in the world in him. We have around our quarterback position right now probably as good of talent as we’ve had since we came here. Shaun’s excited about that, and I know he’ll benefit from that.”
After Bradford’s injury last season, the Rams had to alter the offense because Kellen Clemens lacked the arm strength to throw the deep ball with any degree of consistency, But Fisher indicated Sunday that it will be business as usual with Hill under center.
“We’re not gonna change anything,” Fisher said. “Everybody knows we’re gonna run the football first. We’re gonna do that, and we’re gonna do that well. … And then everything else will come off of that.”
Austin Davis, who spent most of the offseason and training camp as the team’s No. 4 quarterback, catapults to No. 2 on the depth chart after his second strong outing in three preseason games.
That leaves rookie Garrett Gilbert at No. 3.
After the Bradford news broke Sunday, there was all kinds of Internet speculation about the Rams trading for Philadelphia’s Mark Sanchez or New England’s Ryan Mallet. Fisher squelched those rumors Sunday, at least temporarily.
“I’d heard that there’s speculation that we’ve been on the phone (with other teams),” Fisher said. “That’s not true. That doesn’t mean to say that we won’t. But we haven’t done it at this point. We’ll get together as an organization and see.”
A little patience is necessary in a situation such as this, Fisher said, especially with cutdown time at hand around the league.
“It makes no sense to jump and react right now, and try to fill the hole at whatever cost,” Fisher said. “We’re gonna take our time and evaluate this. There’s gonna be some quarterbacks that are released, and there may or may not be some quarterbacks out there that have trade value. We just don’t know. It’s way too soon.”
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