Bernie: Has Jeff Fisher lost his marbles?

Bernie: Has Jeff Fisher lost his marbles?
• Bernie Miklasz

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bernie-miklasz/bernie-has-jeff-fisher-lost-his-marbles/article_2011da04-b56c-574f-a5f3-2898c168b305.html

I don’t play footsie with Jeff Fisher out at Rams Park, so I have no idea about the proper way of decoding his comments and secret messages. Others in the media can handle the dual assignment of carrying Fisher’s water and his hidden meanings. I don’t have the time or interest.

All I know is this: Coach Fisher continues to say — rather adamantly — that Shaun Hill is still his quarterback when healthy. Meaning that Hill will return to the starting job as soon as his strained thigh permits. Presumably by the Rams’ next game, Oct. 6 at Philadelphia.

If that’s the plan, and Fisher is serious about staying with it, then the precocious Austin Davis will go to the bench.

For now I’ll take Fisher at his word. He’s been unwavering on the subject, holding his ground much better than anything we’ve seen from a feckless Gregg Williams defense so far this season.

(When the Rams’ best hit on a QB Sunday was tight end Jared Cook’s rude shove of his teammate, Davis, then you know the Rams’ defense lacked teeth.)

If Fisher sticks to his vow to reinsert Hill and bench the playmaking Davis, then Fisher’s leadership and judgment will come under increased scrutiny.

I know it’s only been two NFL starts for Davis, but he’s been terrific. He’s enlivened a dull offense with his all-purpose energy, mobility and accuracy on a variety of throws. He’s put the threat of the deep ball back in the Rams’ plodding offense. Davis has captivated a demoralized fan base that’s waited for a player to excite them, inspire them, and supply a reason to keep paying attention to a sorry team that’s gone 44-102-1 since 2005.

Two impressive starts do not make a season. Two impressive starts don’t ensure long-term starting status. For young players, this game is all about consistency, staying power, and proving that you belong.

But you don’t pull the plug on this guy after two starts.

You don’t mess with an offense that’s moving the ball and scoring points.

You don’t remove an effectively mobile quarterback from the equation — not when you’ve seen division rivals in San Francisco and Seattle gain an edge with QBs that can make plays while on the move.

Now that they finally have someone to rally around, you don’t give the fans a reason to be even more disgusted than they are.

Benching Davis would be one of the goofiest, hopelessly out-of-touch moves by a Rams head coach since the team moved here in 1995. And that’s saying something because we’ve seen some real doozies.

You think people are ticked off at J. Cook for shoving Davis?

Well, just wait to see and hear the reaction if Fisher does something even dumber by shoving Davis out of the way.

Davis should play until there’s a very good reason NOT to play him.

And I can only think of three legitimate reasons: (1) Injury; (2) sustained poor performance; (3) an obvious loss of confidence that would negatively impact a young QB’s play going forward.

Shaun Hill’s NFL experience is not a reason to bench Davis. Not now, anyway. And in Hill, we’re talking about a quarterback who has attempted 29 regular-season passes since the end of the 2010 season. I liked it when the Rams signed him; Hill is a prototype No. 2 quarterback. He’s solid enough.

And that’s the point. Right now this isn’t about a backup; we already know that Hill can fill that role and do it reasonably well. This is about the starting QB job, and aspiring to a higher level of performance.

Davis has more upside than Hill. Davis is more mobile than Hill. Davis gives the Rams more ways to attack a defense than Hill. Davis is just getting started, and he’ll make mistakes. That’s inevitable. (Kurt Warner threw two picks in his first NFL start, in 1999.)

Davis made a couple of poor decisions yesterday that resulted in Dallas interceptions. But hold on a minute, … didn’t Hill throw a misguided INT to set up a Minnesota score late in the first half of the season-opener? A veteran QB shouldn’t make avoidable mistakes like that, and Hill did.

Playing Davis also gives Fisher a chance to explore an extremely important issue: can Davis ascend to this job in a way that would change the Rams’ 2015 draft strategy? Suppose Davis plays well over the course of the season? If that’s the case, maybe the Rams won’t have to use an early first-round pick on a quarterback. It’s too soon to speculate on all of that, but I’m just trying to make a point here: the Rams would be smart to find out just what they have in Davis.

I don’t think they know what they have in Davis — even if there is some revisionist history going on now.

A line from colleague Bryan Burwell’s Monday column jumped out at me. Writing about the AD’s play against Dallas, Burwell wrote: “Fisher got a confirmation of something he has suspected all along. Young Austin Davis is a quarterback he can believe in.”

Really?

All along?

If Fisher is really saying that, I’m going to have to call bullspit.

Didn’t Fisher cut Davis during 2013 training camp?

Didn’t the Rams use a sixth-round 2014 draft pick on a QB, Garrett Gilbert, when they already had three quarterbacks set for camp?

If Fisher believes in Davis, then why is he so adamant about making the public believe that Hill is still the starter?

Again, I’m not suggesting that Fisher should announce that he’s giving a lifetime appointment to Davis to serve as the Rams’ starting quarterback. How many flash-in-the-pan quarterbacks have come and gone in this league? Where have you gone, Clint Longley?

If Davis starts in Philadelphia and soils the grass and becomes an overwhelmed liability — then it makes sense to turn back to Hill. If Davis begins to wobble and regress and NFL defenses destroy his confidence … obviously he shouldn’t remain in place as the starter.

But after the way Davis performed in his first two starts, why would you make the change now?

Davis had a 99.1 passer rating in his first start and led the team on a late fourth-quarter drive for the field goal that secured a road win at Tampa Bay.

Davis had a 98.0 passer rating in his second start, against Dallas. It would have been a winning performance, but the Rams defense disappeared.

It’s only two starts. But in our town’s NFL history, no St. Louis quarterback ever had a passer rating of 98 or higher in his first two regular-season starts. Not Charley Johnson, not Jim Hart, not Neil Lomax. Kurt Warner didn’t do it, Marc Bulger didn’t do it, and Sam Bradford didn’t do it.

After the season’s first three weeks, Davis ranks among the best NFL quarterbacks in several important categories based on the evaluation system used by Pro Football Focus.

And keep in mind that Davis’ relief work vs. Minnesota is baked into these numbers; unlike the last two games, Davis didn’t have the benefit of practice reps going into the first contest. Despite that he’s still manufactured an elite profile in the early stages of the season:

* Davis is fourth in the NFL in adjusted passer rating; his rating of 97.38 is topped only by Kirk Cousins, Philip Rivers and Colin Kaepernick. (Adjusted passer rating takes dropped passes, intentional throwaways, spikes, and batted-down passes into account.)

* Davis is fifth in adjusted accuracy with a completion rate of 79.8 percent; the guys ahead of him are Kaepernick, Rivers, Drew Brees and Russell Wilson.

* In passes targeted at 20+ yards in the air, Davis is rated No. 1 in the league with a completion accuracy of 66.7 percent.

* In accuracy under pressure, Davis has an adjusted accuracy of 73.3 percent completions. That’s the fifth-best in the NFL behind Kaepernick, Wilson, Cousins and Andrew Luck.

In a related note, Davis has felt plenty of pass-rush heat. He hasn’t flinched. According to Pro Football Focus, he’s been pressured on 41 percent of his dropbacks. That’s a high number. But I think we’d all agree that overall he’s handled himself with impressive poise.

You don’t put all of these positives on the bench. You stick with the kid and see how he develops. You see where he can lead you. You don’t revert to boring, fan-alienating football when you’ve found a live wire at quarterback. Maybe Davis will blow up in time … blow up in a bad way. It’s too soon to know. It’s also too soon to bench him.

We’re only talking about the next game here, and Fisher’s decision at QB. And unless the plan is to lose games, drag the offense into another ditch, and run off more fed-up fans, benching Davis for an ordinary journeyman quarterback makes about as much sense as not playing an offensive lineman that you drafted at No. 2 overall.

Thanks for reading …

— Bernie