take an early guess…what will the offensive approach be?

My view on things like this is that there are different kinds of offense and they can all work if you have the players and make it work. So I don’t pre-judge offenses and insist there’s only one kind. And to me, anyway, a coordinator is good if he uses what he has to advantage, not if he chases some idea of “good offense” in spite of what he has (see McDaniels in 2011).

So how will Cigs call plays? What’s the offensive approach?

Well, it LOOKS LIKE, in terms of pure appearances, that they will be (I think) a balanced offense, with a combination of power running, ball control, and play action passing. What we don’t know is if Cigs has the Schottenheimer knack for setting up big plays of all kinds.

Just to articulate things in the clear, and name the obvious, the advantages of power running/ball control passing/play action are: minimizing turnovers, controlling the clock, keeping the defense off the field, being physical first and wearing the opposing defense down. It’s a time-honored approach and works when it has the players. And of course play action takes advantage of all that.

I think right now it’s fairly safe to say that approach fits the offensive personnel.

Even last year when the OL was all busted up they could run the ball (4.1 an attempt which given what they had with a multiply injured OL, was not bad at all…it ranked 17th, which frankly is better than we should have expected.)

They have a group of receivers who can fight for the ball in space and make catches on off-target throws (Britt, Quick, Bailey).

They have a TE who can run block, pass block, and catch from any position in the formation, which means that if he is on the field he doesn’t tip what you’re doing (I mean of course Kendricks).

They have a young OL which as we all know is just probably going to be better at run blocking than pass protection.

And they have a qb whose long ball accuracy has been up and down, but who is at his best when he gets rid of the ball quickly.

They have a stable of RBs which, if Gurley comes back as expected, might be the best unit as a whole in the league. And all 3 of their major backs can catch, too.

So it seems to me that given what we know now, so far, using that bunch to play a tough ball control/play action game is ideal. Plus this off-season they stripped the offense down a bit to focus on execution. IMO that means (I think) that they reduced the variations and sight adjustments etc. built into plays and are going to focus instead on

Is this the consensus? Seems like it is.

I didn’t mention Cook and Tavon. But you can work guys like that in, depending on their development level. You can use them to stress the defense in different ways.

…

wv wrote:

I hope ta GOD that the Rams Offense
can finally, master the medium-passing-game.

Lord, do i miss that.

Yeah. 15 yards and a cloud of nitrous oxide fumes.

The old days.

from off the net

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LMU93

compared to the rest of the league…I expect they’ll be considered more of a running team. But this isn’t the ’84 Rams throwing 19 times a game… At MOST they’ll be 50/50 and still be throwing the ball 480-500 times.

Four teams had 500+ rushing attempts last year (HOU, SEA, DAL, NYJ). Cincy was 5th with 492. I expect the Rams to want to be in that range. Of those five only Seattle averaged less than 30 pass attempts/game and that’s only because Wilson is a running threat.

Last year the Rams were actually tilted more toward the pass (515 pass attempts/395 rush attempts). I’m sure Fisher wants them at 450+ rush attempts at least (which would be top 10 in the league). That also means that regardless of when Gurley starts playing or how much they can use him Mason should see the ball quite a bit.

Rams were about 59/41 last year..depending on how you want to look at their numbers. If you include sacks allowed and rushing attempts by the QBs the Rams were 59/41. Exclude the 26 QB rushing attempts and they were actually 60/40…

Either way not where Fisher wants this team to be..

I think they need to run more to (a) increase the total number of plays run by the offense (be more at 1,000+ vs. 957- about 3 more per game) and then reduce the number of sacks allowed (47).

,

Zooey wrote:

A Point Guard is the player who stands in the crease circle mid-field, and kicks the puck to the shortstops, who try to knock it over the wicket.

You are very confused there. You’re mixing up the moves allowed by a rook and by a knight.

I won’t add in what a “get out of jail free” card does with all this because it complicates the entire thing.

from off the net

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merlin

1. Long TD and field position-changing plays.

2. An average push from his offensive front that makes defenses fear his running game.

In other words I believe Fisher wants greater efficiency in his running game, higher YPC and threat from big plays. NOT higher number of runs. Everyone keeps acting like he’s demanding more running game, but I don’t think it’s true in his time with the Rams. If he gets the big plays from Mason and Gurley along with a strong surge from an OL that defenses fear, he isn’t going to need to run the ball more. The passing game will suddenly be far more dangerous.

IMO the dude knows you win in this league by scoring points which means you gotta throw the ball. He just knows throwing it is easier with a potent running game that defenses fear.