wv wrote:

Can you imagine the feelings on the team
and among the fans, if the Rams had punted
and the Seahawks had marched down the field
and kicked the FG: 29-28

Rams blow a 21-3 lead.

Imagine the mood on the message boards

O dear.

The Chief game looks inter esting.
Alex Smith is good but he aint mobile.
Maybe Ogletree wont wiff on him.

w
v

Yeah, to me, Fisher going for the fake punt was the smallest gamble he could make.

If the fake punt isn’t successful, the Seahawks have the ball deep in Rams territory. They would score rather quickly, leaving the Rams enough time to at least have a shot at scoring themselves. The Rams led by two points so no matter if Seattle scored a FG or TD, the Rams would still only be one score down with timeouts remaining.

If he punts the ball, the Seahawks would be have more field to cover so they would be able to run the clock down before their inevitable score to go ahead. And let’s not kid ourselves – them scoring would have been inevitable.

So to me the fake punt was an easy call by Fisher. He really had no other choice.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by nittany ram.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by nittany ram.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by zn.

If zn’s hypothesis known as The Team Just Needs a Win to Establish Some Confidence, or TTJNWTESC is correct, then the Rams should be able to win out.

Anything less then that, then zn’s hypothesis will be completely discredited and he will be busted down to mail carrier 3rd class.

Zooey wrote:

Nope. My niece is getting married at a winery in the Napa Valley.

Boy, that was weird for a second. Glad we got that cleared up.

Wait a minute…

I’M getting married at a winery in the Napa Valley!

Is your niece wearing a white chiffon princess gown with a sweetheart neckline?

Cuz I am.

He applies about as much pressure as a snowflake. Yeah, Quinn is being held at times. He was last year too but it didn’t keep him from getting 19 sacks. Bottom line is Quinn and the rest of the d-line aren’t performing. I’ve watched Quinn and I’ve seen him get held, but I’ve also seen him get driven past the pocket. I’ve seen him get pushed down, knocked backwards and completely neutralized. All great d-lineman throughout history have been held, but they still managed to excel as pass rushers. I don’t know what Quinn is doing differently this year or if this is about Williams’ defense but something has changed from last year to this and it can’t be explained by being held.

joemad wrote:

despite all that crap, the RAMS still had a chance late in the game…. two 4th down stands by the interior lineman in the closing minutes…..

and it could’ve been worse, Vernon Davis had some easy drops that could’ve easily been catches….

I was all up for Austin Davis to replace Hill, but I’ve seen enough, he can’t handle pressure… plays well when nothing is on the line, but when the pressure is on to deliver, he can’t do it.

I agree. I think I’d like to see Hill in there too. Here’s the problem…Fisher named Davis the starter for the rest of the year, and even though he struggled in certain situations, he really didn’t play poorly enough to lose his job.

I agree with zn in that I think this team has a fragile psyche. They come out of the gate full of confidence and dominate, but after something bad happens they are too easily deflated. Their confidence waxes and wanes like the phases of the moon throughout the game.

In the chat room we discussed the ‘clutch-i-tude’ of Austin Davis. Joemad and zn said he wasn’t clutch and I said although he hadn’t exhibited that characteristic yet, we can’t say for sure he isn’t. Immediately after that he threw the pick 6 and I was suddenly onboard. No, he’s not clutch. His problem is he is too emotional. He gets really down on himself when he makes a mistake. To be a clutch QB you have to be calm. You approach the situation in a matter of fact, down to business sorta way. Think of Tom Brady’s demeanor when trailing in the 4th. Davis presses in those situations and makes bad decisions and/or inaccurate throws. He may learn to be clutch someday, but he first has to learn to relax and just take things as they come. And of course, if the Rams could hold a lead, the kid wouldn’t have to be clutch. 😉

Anyways, Davis’ psyche sort of reflects the psyche of the entire team throughout the game. Up and down.

Dallas gets a lot more out of their defense than the Rams do with a lot less talent.

If the Rams can slip roofies into the 9’ers gatoraide.

The Rams could easily be 3 – 1 and they could even more easily be 0 – 4.

I think that says a lot about this team. So close yet so far.

For years the Rams were an ugly larva twisting and roiling in the muck. Now they finally are ready to emerge from their chrysalis as a beautiful moth but their wing is caught so they just impotently flail against the sides of their cocoon prison.

Or something like that.

zn wrote:

nittany ram wrote:
Why are the players still thinking too much three years under Fisher’s regime?

Well first remember that this same defense, last year, after it righted itself, was the best run defense in the league. They were also at the top in sacks. They obviously werent’ thinking too much THEN.

So one season later, why are the DEFENSIVE PLAYERS thinking too much (I don’t think that’s true of the offense).

Well, because, they have a new defensive coordinator who is putting more on them.

It has nothing to do with 3 years. They don’t know what WILLIAMS is asking of them at an instinctive level yet.

Why no pass rush? IMO? The front 7 bought their own press in the off-season and did not work as hard to get it. But because they WERE so good, entire gameplans are devoted to containing them–at precisely the point where they aren’t on the same “edge” they were last year.

Well I agree with that and pretty much said the same thing in the post you quoted. However, I think maybe the offense is still thinking too much also because of all the presnap penalties (false starts, etc) they seem to commit. But I could be thinking too much. 😉

• This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by nittany ram.

zn wrote:

nittany ram wrote:

zn wrote:
We were talking about this in the chat.

I don’t see issues with preparation. I see issues with execution.

I see a team that keeps making critical mistakes, and that (to me) is in the collective heads of the players. That’s a team that’s pressing

You make this team confident with a big win and I bet they settle down.

I partially agree that some of the fault for poor execution is on the players. However, it’s the coach’s job to fix that. In three years it hasn’t been fixed. Same with the lack of discipline and the stupid mistakes.

This isn’t new, it’s been going on for three years and it’s not getting any better.

Watching the Rams is like being trapped in the movie, “Groundhog Day”.

But see, N, to me, when I was pointing at execution, AND beyond that putting execution issues on things like pressing and thinking too much, I was naming something coaches CAN’T fix. In my mind that’s not a coaching issue. In fact, when a team struggles that way, for those reasons, I have generally seen coaches realize there’s nothing they can do. The team just needs to crawl out from under its own doubts and believe in itself. I don’t think coaches can provide that.

Why are the players still thinking too much three years under Fisher’s regime? I can see why the defensive players might be, because they are running a new complicated defense under Greg Guinta and they probably aren’t comfortable with their new responsibilities yet. However, given how vanilla the defense was during preseason, I can see why they may not have a good handle on it yet. All that’s on the coaches, one for installing a new complicated defense and two, for not giving the players enough experience in that defense back when the games didn’t count. Now, that doesn’t mean Fisher shouldn’t have hired Greg Williams or that being vanilla in the preseason wasn’t the right thing to do, but it lead to the inability to execute as a result of decisions made by Fisher and his staff.

Coaches are responsible for their team’s execution. Mike Singletary coached a really talented 9’ers team that couldn’t win because they couldn’t execute. So they fired him and hired Jim Harbaugh and all of a sudden the same players executed all the way to the NFC Championship. Harbaugh made the necessary changes that allowed his team to execute.

The frustrating thing is, the Rams defense will stop the run and keep receivers in front of them for the most part. But whenever the opposing offense needs a big play they always seem to be able to get one. Third and short or third and twenty…it doesn’t matter. They’ll pick it up with ease.

But they aren’t creating big plays of their own and that’s mainly because they can’t get to the QB. I mean, even the worst d-line in the league stumbles into a sack once in awhile. But not this bunch.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by nittany ram.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by zn.

zn wrote:

We were talking about this in the chat.

I don’t see issues with preparation. I see issues with execution.

I see a team that keeps making critical mistakes, and that (to me) is in the collective heads of the players. That’s a team that’s pressing

You make this team confident with a big win and I bet they settle down.

I partially agree that some of the fault for poor execution is on the players. However, it’s the coach’s job to fix that. In three years it hasn’t been fixed. Same with the lack of discipline and the stupid mistakes.

This isn’t new, it’s been going on for three years and it’s not getting any better.

Watching the Rams is like being trapped in the movie, “Groundhog Day”.

RamzFanz

Last year I was calling for AD to start over KC so they could see what they have. Imagine if they HAD, what might have happened. This is what I said then:

I hope they start him or he comes in and tears it up just so we can return to this discussion. I remember another QB who was cut and no one ever heard of and ended up being one of the best to ever play the game. Hint: Mike Martz said he pay him $50 if he would learn to throw a spiral. Coaches aren’t always right.

But now, Fisher is making the same mistake. A year ago I said I can’t wait to revisit this discussion IF AD ever got to start. I’m saying it again. IF Hill gets to start, I’ll be back to finish the discussion.

I thought it was a mistake to not see what AD had last season and I think it’s a mistake to not see what Hill has this season. I don’t give a hoot about who’s going to be the backup or starter next season, I want to see a winning season THIS season.

I’ve got nothing against Davis. I’m an AD fan too, I’m just not sure how they can anoint him after it’s been bench, bench, fired, Bradford hurt, rehired, bench. bench, bench, Bradford hurt, bench, 2 1/2 games with 1 win, starter. AD is a long critisized QB, and fairly so, who had 1 good game against Dallas and 1 win on a 10 second runoff against Tampa. Neither of those are astounding feats. Davis has had ONE great game. That game came against a suspect defense. It wasn’t even a great game so much as a great half. He’s had ONE win against a horrible defense who gave up 56 points the very next week. I’m not con-Davis, I’m pro-Davis, but building a season around him as a starter without seeing what the vet on the team has to offer is a mistake IMHO.

I’m not convinced that AD is better than SH. I’m not naming any QB the starter with that record. I would see what I have, then decide. If I’m Fisher, I at least wait a game or two more before naming anyone the starter and, given the chance, see what Hill has.

Hill played very well in that half against Minnesota. His drives were killed by penalties time and again. Hill had the team humming and was driving the ball. His performance was very good. He didn’t create penalties like Davis has (he admitted it), he had drives killed by penalties.

AD being good in this system doesn’t mean Hill couldn’t be better. Hill has qualities that could make him a better QB and I would have at least taken a fair look at him. Is 34 especially old for a QB? Does experience mean nothing? We have no idea if Hill is the future here or not. He could easily have 5-6 more years in him or more.He looked much better than AD in OTAs, TC, and PS. The half a game he played, he played very well. His drives were all stopped by penalties. He has qualities you don’t find in young QBs. He reads defenses well. He is able to anticipate the open receiver. He moves in the pocket better than AD.

Me? I would have started Hill against the Eagles and seen where it went. If it went great, wonderful, just like he thought when he named him the starter. If he sucked, pull him.

I hope AD tears it up and there’s no question going forward. I’m all for it. We’ll see. The season will play out and we’ll see if AD is who many have anointed him to be. I hope so. I always have hoped so. But I also wish they hadn’t have acted so hastily.

I agree with a lot of this and had some reservations when Davis was named starter, but I doubt Fisher made his decision in a vacuum. I’m sure he had input from Schotty and others. Put it this way, if Schotty didn’t think the kid should start I doubt very much that Fisher would have named him the starter, right? And of course Schotty and his offensive coaches would have the best feel for AD’s abilities and grasp of the offense.

And it’s not like Hill is going anywhere.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by nittany ram.

The Eagles are in a bit of disarray themselves given their o-line issues. I think the Rams can win provided their d-line begins to live up to their billing. My confidence is bolstered by the Rams history of becoming more cohesive under Fisher after a bye.

The Rams front seven may not be as good as they were hyped to be in the offseason, but they are much better than they’ve played up to now. They are bound to break out eventually, right? This would be a good week to do so.