Recent Forum Topics › Forums › The Rams Huddle › Is this a rebuild situation? Yes, no, maybe?
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zn.
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November 15, 2022 at 6:32 pm #141697znModerator
All teams have injuries. They just have to try harder.
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November 15, 2022 at 10:26 pm #141699
RamsMaineiacKeymaster“We will rally around Tutu Atwell and we will play good football”, said no coach ever.
November 18, 2022 at 2:40 pm #141712
wvParticipantAnybody else think playing stafford is stupid?
I know Stafford would demand to play — and I’d say No.
This season is over.Ā Next season is not.Ā Yet.
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November 19, 2022 at 3:29 pm #141731wvParticipantI am not playing my veteran-star-QB, behind ‘that’ Oline with no Cooper Kupp,
and ‘that’ assortment of skill players.
I aint do’in it.
Course if i were to do it, every pass play would be a 3-step drop and a 5 yard route.
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November 19, 2022 at 3:56 pm #141732znModeratorI am not playing my veteran-star-QB, behind āthatā Oline with no Cooper Kupp, and āthatā assortment of skill players. I aint doāin it. Course if i were to do it, every pass play would be a 3-step drop and a 5 yard route. w v
2 more OL out including Jackson. I think that makes 12 or 13 they’ve played. This is crazy.
Instead of watching the game we might as well watch videos of Vesuvius destroying the population of Pompei.
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November 19, 2022 at 7:24 pm #141734
Billy_TParticipantWV,
I agree with you. Shut it down. Start Perkins. Let Stafford heal up. Play the rookies and youngins, though I’d play Floyd on passing downs. He should be auditioning for trade possibilities.
Start Jacob Harris, Tutu, McCutcheon. Lotsa targets for Robinson, cuz they should audition him as well for a trade. Sit Higbee. I’d love to see them use Hoecht at FB and blocking TE too. Basically, a lineup like they might have during the exhibition season.
Chalk this season up to ye old Super Bowl hangover, and get ready for 2023.
They’ll be good — maybe great — with some solid drafting and FE work. At least if Donald and McVay come back.
November 20, 2022 at 9:45 am #141735znModeratorSome people are suggesting this is rebuild territory. I don’t agree. They’ve had 12 OL injured, some twice. That’s the issue. Out of that mess they probably have even found a couple of players for the future.
November 20, 2022 at 9:57 am #141736
ZooeyParticipantYeah, I don’t think it’s Super Bowl hangover, either. You can win with a few players going down here and there, even a couple for the season, but you cannot win with an incoherent OL. It can’t be done.
The defense, I gather, is still holding its own.
This is the last game I’m going to miss this season, I think, although I may miss a weekend or two in January. Anyway, it’s nice to pull up my chair and begin watching during garbage time….
November 20, 2022 at 10:30 am #141737Billy_TParticipantThe issue of too many injuries is a given. But the Rams weren’t playing well from Game One. They weren’t playing well even before the rash of injuries. Looked flat. Out of sync, and all the usual cliches.
And a rash of injuries doesn’t hurt a team (as much) if they have a good bench. The Rams don’t. They’ve drafted poorly for several years, and have been without a first rounder since 2016. The roster is very thin, except at the top. “Next UDFA up” can only work so long, and will fall apart once a team hits a threshold for those injuries. The Rams have.
Also: you can “rebuild” without getting rid of the core. The Rams’ current team-building strategy is basically in a constant mini-rebuild anyway, around that core. I’m saying they need to change up a bit and trade for draft picks instead of vets, and surround that core with those draftees instead. Sign FAs when possible too, preferably ascending FAs. Stop shipping their picks for those vets, especially for rentals.
Shutting things down (in part) this season helps them do the above, and lets Stafford heal for next season. I’m betting he’s playing hurt, and not just the concussions. He’s never been the kind of player who lets people know.
Just my two cents, etc.
November 20, 2022 at 11:39 am #141738znModeratorBT, I don’t take game one as meaning anything except that against a top team, McV’s strategy of not playing starters in the preseason meant they hit the field out of sync and unprepared.
I just don’t see a rebuild situation.
And no team that has ever existed has the depth needed to handle 12 or 13 injured OL. That’s just impossible. (Same thing happened in 2007 though this is probably worse.) All teams cope with injuries, of course, but if you get endless injuries to one key unit, you go way past critical mass and that unit is rendered ineffective. If it’s a key unit the results take the whole team down with it.
November 20, 2022 at 12:00 pm #141740wvParticipantI dont know if they need to ‘rebuild’ or not.Ā Dunno.
But i do know, that putting an old vet star-QB out there, in the middle of this hot-mess is a recipe for serious injury.
And what exactly is the up side to playing Stafford?Ā Ā One or two more wins…maybe.
The down side is serious injury.
I would sit him.Ā Ā Its not old-school, I know, but i would sit him.
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November 20, 2022 at 12:08 pm #141741Billy_TParticipantI think we may see team needs differently, and what a “rebuild” would entail. I know the injuries along the O-line have been crazy, extreme, once in a decade, etc. But I don’t think it was a good line going into the season. They’ve neglected it for too long, IMO, relying too much on late-rounders and UDFAs.
I doubt they’ll end up doing this, but I wish they’d at least try to trade for picks, with the caveat of saying No, if the current Rams player has more value staying than leaving for X amount . . . as was the case with Woods, for example. Candidates would be Floyd, Noteboom, Rapp, ARob, and Akers. I’d float trial balloons for Higbee, too, and any of the late rounders of recent years who lack athleticism, but may be attractive to other teams. In short, I want the Rams to get faster, twitchier, bigger, more athletic. I think the draft is the most cost-effective route, too. Rookie contracts almost always help the cap.
Just tossing stuff around. The Rams have their own plans, and they’ll obviously do things their own way.
November 20, 2022 at 12:08 pm #141742znModeratorI would sit him.Ā Ā Its not old-school, I know, but i would sit him.
I see your point, but I also don’t know which is best. We have seen qbs out there before behind demolished Rams OLs. They didn’t get seriously injured though they did get nicked up. To me it’s the message you send the team. Why would Donald and Ramsey among others risk themselves if you’re not playing to win.
Wolford is out btw.
November 20, 2022 at 12:09 pm #141744Billy_TParticipantWV,
Again, agree with your take.
November 20, 2022 at 12:15 pm #141745znModeratorI think we may see team needs differently, and what a ārebuildā would entail. I know the injuries along the O-line have been crazy, extreme, once in a decade, etc. But I donāt think it was a good line going into the season.
I don’t agree with that, fwiw. I take the Bills game the way I said–that was not a bad team, it was a McV team unprepared for game 1 against a tough opponent (maybe the toughest they could have played).
The OL was the same as the superbowl OL, with replacements at LOT and OG. They do not lack for OG candidates. They’ve started 7. At LOT, if Noteboom was off, Jackson was better–and blood clots is not permanent. So basically next year they have their superbowl OL plus Jackson at LOT and the best of 7 guard candidates for ROG. Add new bodies and keep it going.
Where they need to draft people is RB, CB, and LB/edge.
That’s not a rebuild. That’s not a situation where you trade away good players for picks.
Good conversation btw, guys.
November 20, 2022 at 1:54 pm #141756znModeratorRams OL this game–>
Nsecke (sp) Skura Shelton Aboushi Hav
That’s their 8th guard.
3 of the starters on this OL were not on the roster for game 1.
Then Nsecke (sp?) got hurt so it’s their 4th OL & I think their 13th lineman to play this season
November 20, 2022 at 6:33 pm #141766znModeratorWe have seen qbs out there before behind demolished Rams OLs. They didnāt get seriously injured though they did get nicked up.
It didn’t take long for that comment to end up on the “did not age well” list. š
November 26, 2022 at 8:42 am #141828znModeratorI am trying to revive this discussion by saying that I think that this is only a rebuild situation if Stafford is done.
They have more than enough to be competitive if he isn’t. They need some things but it’s not rebuildĀ type need.
What they need most of all is to not have apocalyptic level OL injuries.
November 26, 2022 at 9:47 am #141831
HramParticipantI agree with ZN. Ā This year is shot because of injuries, not because their system of putting a team together finally caught up to them.
Provided a couple key players like Stafford come back next year and they arenāt overwhelmed by injuries, they will be right in it again next year.
November 28, 2022 at 10:06 am #141859
nittany ramModeratorI suppose it dependsĀ on whether Donald and Stafford retire.
Obviously replacing the greatest defensive player that ever lived with similar talent is impossible for all practicalĀ purposes, and when Donald leaves you might see that the d-lineman and edge rushers that lined up next to him aren’t as good as they looked.Ā So, a tune-up becomes a major overhaul.
And losing Stafford would set this team’s ability to compete for a Super Bowl back years.
November 28, 2022 at 10:44 am #141862Billy_TParticipantMcVay said he’ll retire too if that core three leave. After getting whacked in the head, it may only take two. It would not surprise me if the two you mention do decide to leave, Nittany, and that may be enough for McVay too. It must be damn frustrating for him along another front as well. He keeps losing coaches and scouts. I don’t keep tabs on the rest of the league all that much, so I’m not positive about this. But I’d bet no team has lost more coaches in the last few years than the Rams.
If Donald and Stafford go, that may be the last straw, and then the Rams will have to rebuild. Not sure how the cap works with players who retire, but the Rams seem to be the kind of team that won’t ask for their core guys to refund monies, though I think they legally can. So the Rams are likely to be in Cap hell and lack draft picks too. The Super Bowl win is so hard to achieve, it’s easy to say “it was all worth it,” and I agree. But I think they could have had their cake and eat it too. They could have managed player retainment, drafting, trades, and the cap better . . . . win the whole enchilada and remain competitive. It’s doable. Other teams have done it, etc.
November 30, 2022 at 12:09 pm #141889znModeratorAnd itās begun.. https://t.co/c2mA4Wfinj pic.twitter.com/nexDIoUIc6
— Cesar š„± (@ClappedCesar) November 30, 2022
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from https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2022/11/30/rams-nfl-draft-quarterback-targets-2024/
During a new episode of āMove The Sticks,ā Jeremiah threw out the idea of the Rams becoming sellers, moving some of their assets and turning their attention to the 2024 draft where a couple of marquee quarterbacks are expected to go early in the first round ā led by USC star Caleb Williams.
āYou could say, āOK, maybe we take a step backward,āā Jeremiah said. āI donāt want to say the word tanking, but maybe it is a rebuild opportunity and as we look one draft class ahead and you see Caleb Williams of USC who will be in that draft class, you look at the guy from your school in Drake Maye at North Carolina, who is a big-time big-time quarterback. Again, Iām not using the word tanking, but Iām saying maybe this is a sell-off, youāre trying to get some of these veterans in a new home and we have to see what happens with Aaron Donald, if he wants to play going forward. Obviously, Jalen Ramsey would be in that mix as well, would be a huge, huge asset if you wanted to move him. Letās just tear it down, letās rebuild it.ā
December 11, 2022 at 3:08 am #142111znModeratorObviously, Jalen Ramsey would be in that mix as well, would be a huge, huge asset if you wanted to move him. Letās just tear it down, letās rebuild it.ā
Not going to add anything new or startling. Just keeping the “rebuild” discussion going. My 22 cents (nothing new is said here, just it’s a slightly different moment after the Mayfield Miracle):
I don’t know if it’s a good time to be judging any Rams players. A lot of them seemed to have “relaxed” this off-season–super bowl hangover?–and did not come back with the same preparation or energy. Ramsey and Floyd are 2 examples of that (and with Donald out that makes Wagner the star of the defense now).
There’s also the “trade em” double standards that show up in conversations like this. So people say, trade Ramsey because he has declined and you can get a high pick for him. Well if you can get a high pick then teams trading for him will see he hasn’t declined as much as the critics are saying. Or if he has declined then there won’t be a high pick–teams watch film, they don’t trade for a guy based on reputation alone.
sides the OL, the only areas I am concerned about are edge rusher and better CB depth (though it is also possibly that a guy like Durant can take the next step next year).
Either way, next year is not a rebuild year. Assuming Stafford is back, they can build an OL with all the extra players they were forced to use this year, some of whom can play (like Jackson?) They will have all these recovering, but also experienced, injured players, along with injury replacements, to make for a pretty deep OL situation in camp in 2023. I’m sure they’ll also draft a guy or 2.
That again makes the real issues revolve around the pass rush and the CB situation.
Doesn;’t sound like a rebuild to me. Not the time to dump stars, get picks, and start over.
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