Recent Forum Topics › Forums › The Rams Huddle › Rams 2016, Falcons 2008
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zn.
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May 8, 2016 at 7:01 pm #43656
znModeratorIn 2008 the Falcons had a quick turnaround to go 11-5 after having gone 4-12 the year before.
Some of the things they did sound like possibilities for the Rams.
1st they nailed together a new OL out of spare parts plus a rookie 1st round pick. The OL coach was Paul Boudreau. Atlanta 2008 is one of PB’s big claims to fame. (Harvey Dahl, later a Rams FA, was part of that 2008 Atlanta OL.)
They also signed a FA running back from San Diego—Michael Turner, who had previously been a back-up/reliever behind Tomlinson. The RB was a big part of their turnaround.
The ALSO started a rookie Matt Ryan. (To be fair, though, Ryan was in a pro-style offense in college, so he presumably had fewer adjustments than Goff will. They also already had a receiver in Roddy White.)
Here are some numbers from Atlanta from 2008, as a point of reference.
In 2008 the Falcons were 6th on offense, with more rushing attempts (55%) than passing attempts. 55% is a huge percentage…last year the team with the highest percentage of rushing attempts was Buffalo, with 50.1%.
In 2008, Atlanta was also 2nd in rushing attempts and rushing yards.
Some will call that Fisher’s preferred offense (run heavy) but I don’t think the facts bear that out. I think he will be run heavy this year to protect a young qb, but, once the qb is up to it they will go back to being a balanced team, with around 56-59% of passes compared to runs.
Also in 2008, the Falcons had a very low sack percentage (3.8%).
Ryan had an 87.7 qb rating that year, which is more or less what ought to be expected of Goff.
But also in 2008, the Falcons were (as usual) weak on defense (ranked 24th).
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May 8, 2016 at 10:28 pm #43689
InvaderRamModeratori think the key has to be that they have stability on the oline. for both gurley and goff.
oline is still a question mark although it did improve as last season went along.
May 9, 2016 at 12:02 am #43692InvaderRamModeratoralso. as you said. ryan had roddy white his rookie year. i wish they could have signed a veteran wr or te in free agency to help goff out. a guy like ladarius green would have been nice rather than gambling on higbee and hemingway. i just wonder who goff’s safety blanket is going to be as a rookie. they can’t just rely on gurley to carry the load.
to use another example. winston not only had martin he had evans to take pressure off him. even mariota had walker who caught for over 1000 yards mariota’s rookie year. who is goff going to have?
May 9, 2016 at 1:55 pm #43718
MackeyserModeratorHe had Roddy White, came from a pro style offense, threw on only 40% of plays, many on play action and he played in a weak NFC South.
That enabled such a turnaround.
We have no Roddy White, Goff doesn’t come from a pro style offense so as such he’ll have the language issues to deal with which take time beyond the physical, he won’t be nearly as shielded as Ryan with 60% run and then a number of passes out of play action meaning the percentage of pure passes defenced was something around 25%. That’s extraordinarily low. And we have the third toughest schedule in the NFL playing in the NFC West and playing NE, Carolina and even the teams with losing records last season like Tampa Bay look MUCH better this year.
Goff does not compare to the situations of Ryan, Flacco, or Roethlisberger. I can’t find a similar situation where a QB was drafted and faced this difficult a schedule with such uncertainty at the WR and TE positions and was successful his first year.
This is gonna take time.
Sports is the crucible of human virtue. The distillate remains are human vice.
May 9, 2016 at 2:18 pm #43719znModeratorHe had Roddy White, came from a pro style offense, threw on only 40% of plays, many on play action and he played in a weak NFC South.
That enabled such a turnaround.
Well the division wasn’t mentioned, but White was mentioned, the pro style offense was mentioned, and the percentage of pass plays (45% actually) was mentioned.
The parallels are these.
Rookie qb, revamped Boudreau OL, strong emphasis on the running game.
Though another difference is that the Rams have a much stronger defense than the Falcons did.
But bringing this up is not to make predictions, it’s just to discuss standards of assessment. For example, I said: Ryan had an 87.7 qb rating that year, which is more or less what ought to be expected of Goff.
I disagree that the Goff situation is not similar to that of Flacco, Ryan, or Roethlisberger. In fact it’s more like it than not. The opposite situation in one where the team has nothing, like most teams picking 1st in the draft, and try to build around a qb who is their first major acquisition. That’s just not the Rams situation.
There are pieces on offense. So for example (and it’s just an example) in previous years Kendricks has led the team in catch percentage. Gurley. And we don’t know what else yet, but it won’t be nothing.
They had one of the toughest schedules in the league last year too (3rd actually) and managed to pull out a 7-9 season even with a young then injured line, a melted down Foles and an “okay but no better than that” Keenum, and multiple key injuries on defense.
If they could do that they can hold their own now too, IMO.
And btw I don’t think adapting to a pro offense will be a huge issue for Goff. It wasn’t that much for Bradford in 2010, and if anything, Goff is further along in that regard than Bradford was.
May 9, 2016 at 3:15 pm #43722
joemadParticipantthat was a remarkable turn around by ATL…… In 2008, the NFC South was a very competitive division, similar to the NFC west of recent seasons………last place Saints finished 8-8…. ATLs solid 11-5 record was only good enough to secure 2nd place in the division…
May 9, 2016 at 5:26 pm #43729MackeyserModeratorI’ll believe it when I see it.
Consider me doubting Thomas.
I won’t root any less hard on Sunday, but I’ve seen and heard all this before. And… yeah. Still have yet to see even 8 wins.
Always a reason.
I’m at the point now where I don’t care WHY they say it’s going to be better. Just go out and win games.
Cuz really, does it matter after the season if we’re 8-8 under Linehan or 6-10 and 7-9 under Fisher? You could say, yeah, and for a lot of reasons, but if winning is important, Fisher still hasn’t even gotten even, yet, when other coaches have taken worse rosters and turned them around faster, including in the AFC North, which is as competitive as the NFC West.
What’s hard now is that all we have now is boatloads of Happy Talk ™, guys looking awesome in shorts and coaches saying All The Right Things ™. Fans are drinking so much Kool-Aid that it never occurs to anyone that “drinking the Kool-Aid” refers to the mass suicide at Jonestown…or that it was actually Flavor-Aid (which I’m sure the folks at Flavor-Aid are pretty thankful for) or that it means, in essence “to believe in something so strongly, that you’ll drink poison”.
Guess something’s getting lost in translation…
Every team can’t go undefeated or even have a winning record.
Will it be enough? I dunno. I tend to think not, not this year.
We’ll see…
Sports is the crucible of human virtue. The distillate remains are human vice.
May 9, 2016 at 7:14 pm #43733znModerator’ll believe it when I see it.
Consider me doubting Thomas.
I won’t root any less hard on Sunday, but I’ve seen and heard all this before. And… yeah. Still have yet to see even 8 wins.
Dear Thomas,
My view of course is very different. I think 7 wins under those conditions last year is actually very encouraging.
Now would I bet the farm on them improving this year?
Well since I don’t own a farm, it’s a moot question.
Yours sincerely, Hopeful Hank
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