I just don't see it.

I think the defense will be ready for Seattle.

I don’t see any way the offensive line is ready. They will need some Givens or Tavon big plays and a great defensive effort.

I’m not sure what the evidence shows. I just can’t tell.
There’s a kaleidoscope of facts and circumstances
and unknowns and partial-knowns and potentials
and experience and youth.

So, i dunno much. But i ‘do’ know
for three years they’ve been in that seven win range.
And now they have a better QB than they’ve had the last
two years, and some new talent, and an essentially healthy
team.

And there’s the fact that Fisher has a history of building
teams that are mediocre for years and then blossom into contenders.

And then there’s the fact that it just doesnt take that much
to make the playoffs these days. A couple wins over .500 and
you are there. If a .500 team wins a couple more close games
they go from eight wins to 10-6.

I dunno. To me the ‘evidence’ this year, so far,
is just all over the place. But when i think about
the evidence this year, coupled with what I know about
the past….well, I’m just more optimistic than you, RFL.

At any rate,
A) Its just football, and
B) I’m excited about the season. I just am.

w
v

it’s an exciting season for sure. as it always is. but this oline seems to be total shit…

i think if the oline can gel and gurley comes back legit, the rams can make a run in the second half. but will it be too late by then?

zn wrote:

InvaderRam wrote:

but this oline seems to be total shit…

I don’t agree. It’s not t.s. … IMO it’s raw and will have its moments. The upside promises a line that is not only solid, but 2 deep at back-up tackle, which is just plain rare.

.

well. a poor attempt at humor. i mean i obviously think it isn’t total shit as i do believe there’s a chance that it could come together mid-season. meaning i think there’s actual talent there.

from off the net

===

Contrarian

My dad, the life-long 49er fan, called to say he just got his SI in the mail. Said the same guy that predicted Pats over Hawks in Super Bowl last year has Rams going 11-5 this year. Then losing to Seattle in the Wild Card round. I’ve heard worse…

I trust Fisher.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by bnw.

rfl wrote:

bnw wrote:

I trust Fisher.

LOL. Can’t tell if this is snark or not.

Can’t imagine the slightest reason for trusting Fisher. He’s given us none over 3 years and 1 P/S.

But, trust is a funny thing. Maybe you mean it. Good on ya, mate, and may your trust be rewarded.

I can imagine all sorts of reasons for trusting him. In fact I think they come out strong in the 1st 2 games.

There are going to be different opinions on this. I know you’re deep in yours but some of us are deep in ours.

rfl wrote:

Personally, I figure this year has long since been conceded by the Ram FO as a throw-away, lame duck year. I think the decision to go with a ridiculously young OL with mid and low-round talent demonstrates that. It’s the 1st year in So Cal that it will care about.

I don’t think that is true. I don’t think they have conceded the year, and I don’t think their personnel decisions are linked to the possible move to LA in any way. I think they didn’t think they had the guys on the roster to fix the OL, with the exception of Barksdale (who obviously priced himself out of the picture), and they didn’t like anybody they saw in FA. The best way to fix the most desperate unit was through the draft, and as it happens, the aggressive, “attitude” players Fisher favors are available in the mid-rounds and late rounds. Yeah, it makes for a young line that is going to have rough days, but the alternative was some over-priced guys that don’t have the upside (Wisniewski, anyone?), don’t have the aggressiveness, and would also have rough days. What they did made sense, even though it means inflaming the impatience of fans who have borne various shades of awfulness and mediocrity for more than a decade. But I think the rebuilt line is/was their best shot at winning THIS year, as well as a long-term rebuild.

I would have LOVED to see them add a Timmerman, or some vet capable of nailing down a position on this young, young line. But without a specific name of a guy, this kind of armchair GMing drives me crazy. “They should have got somebody to play X really well!”

Great. Who?

I mean…unless you can drape out a better plan, all you’re doing, as far as I’m concerned, is venting. (And that isn’t directed at you personally, RFL – this wasn’t your complaint; I’m just digressing).

RFL, I share your perspective that the Rams showed nothing this pre-season to incite optimism. At this point, there is no evidence to suggest that the team has developed any consistency, any attitude, or any discipline that will serve to take them to playoff competitiveness. We saw signs of the GSOT in pre-season. They were playing consistently well. We didn’t know what it meant, coming off a decade of terribleness. But there was something there. We saw nothing this pre-season. And in the past, we’ve seen only sporadic quality football, and one could argue that if it is sporadic, it isn’t actually quality.

However, while I haven’t seen anything materialize on the field yet, I think we have seen some structural and systemic things happen that are reason for hope, if not faith. This team is still very young. But it is coming of age, and I THINK…I THINK… that we will start to see evidence this season. Maybe not soon enough to get a wild card. But I think enough that we enter next season with some evidence-based eagerness. We have talent. We have coaching stability on the defense. The offense is gonna suck early, but running the ball isn’t a Martz level of complication, and the OL was assembled for its aggressiveness, and the Rams have good RBs. That isn’t “rocket science,” and it will come together. It won’t be sexy, maybe. But I think the Rams will start to put teams on their heels the second half of the season.

Zooey wrote:

I would have LOVED to see them add a Timmerman, or some vet capable of nailing down a position on this young, young line. But without a specific name of a guy, this kind of armchair GMing drives me crazy. “They should have got somebody to play X really well!”

Great. Who?

I agree with that and add this. In terms of how they worked the cap, they could either add a vet lineman or extend Foles. I doubt they could do both.

In terms of what they spent in free agency, Fairley was just a swap for Foles. They added Ayers, but he was a modest 3 M a year. More importantly, they extended Kendricks.

..

InvaderRam wrote:

one thing that gives me hope. seattle’s oline situation supposedly isn’t the best right now and they’ll be missing some key personnel on defense. so hopefully the rams are catching them at the right time.

Rams played them tough at home three years in a row. They won in 2012, then came close to beating them in 2013 even with Clemens at qb, and then won in 2014 even with Davis at qb. Rams just match up with Seattle.

rfl wrote:

But I have noticed that those who “see it” differently offer lots of theories and explanations without actually having much direct evidence to point to. But that, of course, is indeed my viewpoint.

What about the Colts game? There was a lotta good stuff there.

3rd & 9 completion to Tavon for 20+ yards & a first down. (I could care less if the ref called OPI. The preseason is to see if guys can make plays. Tavon won that route and made the catch. That’s what the preseason is for.)

Tre looked good running the ball–he picked up a nice 3rd & 3 on the ground.

Donald absolutely dominated a whole series.

A beautiful long ball from Foles on play action to Givens.

Foles looked just as good, if not better, than Luck.

I didn’t come away from that game saying the Colts were a much better team than the Rams. Nor do I see how you could if you actually watched closely.

Well, RFL my friend, I know you want to
“distinguish between Manifestation and Moonshine.”
You want posting-discipline and you don’t want to confuse ‘hope’ with ‘evidence’.

I get that, and I like the fact you hold people’s posts to the fire…or something like that 🙂

But I just cant agree that the evidence was all foreboding and ominous so far. I think its been more like a kaleidoscope, of confusing signals and omens. (see Cal’s post for some positives)
That’s just how my brain interprets it.

So, I dunno what, if anything the four preseason games showed. Thus, after a confusing preseason, I widen my lens a bit and look at the past and the collection of talent and the levels of experience, and the health of the team and the shape of the division, and I kinda mix all that together and shake it up and add some intuition and gut-feelings and hunches….and what I come up with is a team with a dangerous defense, and very good special teams, and an average offense that wont make as many game-killing mistakes as last year (I mean how could they).

Its not ‘evidence’ but I think this team turns the corner this year and becomes a winner.

I’m excited. You are wary. Ag is Blue. Invader smells shit.

Keep posting comrade.

w
v

wv wrote:

fwiw:

@nwagoner: #Rams rookie RB Todd Gurley says he has shed the yellow “no contact” beanie and there’s nothing he can’t do at this point in his recovery.

i’d still keep him out until the oline situation is a little clearer.