Forum Replies Created
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<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>wv wrote:</div>
So, can they salvage this season, 21?
Do you think they can have a
good second half of the year?Lots of games left
for this messy-confused-infuriating-team.w
vHate being doom and gloom guy, but I don’t see it getting any better than 3-13.
The RG3 trade gave this team a chance to rebuild with young players. Early returns aren’t promising. Looking like the Dickerson trade results so far.
Wow. 3-13.
I dunno. I have no idea,
but my guess is they start
to put it together
in the second half of the season.It certainly looks like GW has
made a mess of the defense though.The offense just seems to involve
a couple parts on the OLine.The story for me right now is
the Rams Coaching staff: What will they do?
What can they do? They
are gonna get withering heat now.
The fans are lighting the torches.w
vEven Fredo thinks the Rams are weak.
Folded up like a cheap suit at the first signs of adversity last night (the Cook call and the pass to Lloyd).
So, can they salvage this season, 21?
Do you think they can have a
good second half of the year?Lots of games left
for this messy-confused-infuriating-team.w
vI wonder if there’s anything different
the coaches can do — or if they
just need to ‘believe’ and stay
the course.They are going to feel more heat
now than at any time since
Fisher got here.It will be interesting to see
what Fisher does.This sure doesnt seem like
what we tend to think of
when we think of a
Jeff Fisher team.w
vhttp://articles.latimes.com/1990-12-12/sports/sp-5921_1_cleveland-gary
LA Times
When Gary Fumbles, Everyone Lets Loose
December 12, 1990
|MIKE PENNERThought for the day:
“All great backs fumble.”
–Wendell Tyler, Former Ram Fumbler And some others . . .
OK. Let’s get the Cleveland Gary jokes out of the way.
1. Cleveland Gary and Keith Jackson would be great at “Password.”
2. Cleveland Gary played baseball this summer in the Montreal Expos’ farm system. The scouts said he was good hit, no field.
3. 7-Eleven is Cleveland Gary’s fumbles-lost-to-total-fumbles ratio–not his future place of employment.
4. Cleveland Gary can break tackles but can’t hold onto the football. Gaston Green can hold onto the football but can’t break tackles. The Rams have the running back they need; they just don’t have the genetic engineering.
There. Good to get that out of our system. If Gary can get the fumbles out of his, everybody’s happy.
At 5-8, the Rams seem a lock for the franchise’s first losing season since 1972, discounting strike years. In 1972, the Rams finished 6-7-1 during Tommy Prothro’s last season as head coach. Since then, the Rams’ only other sub-.500 finishes have been the strike years of 1982 (2-7) and 1987 (6-9).
Ram MVP, if there is such a beast, ought to be Buford McGee. With fumbles, interceptions and defenses exploding all around him, McGee has been a lonely bastion of reliability. He leads the team with a 5.7-yards-per-carry average, is tied for second with Flipper Anderson with 41 receptions and ranks third in scoring with five touchdowns. He also pass-blocks by the textbook, covers on special teams and even throws the occasional touchdown pass–doing all the little things so many others have ignored in Anaheim.
One more difference between the ’89 Rams and the ’90 Rams: Last season, playoffs included, the Rams were 6-3 in games decided by a touchdown or less. This season, that record is 1-4.
And another: Last season, Jim Everett takes that extra play against New Orleans and finds Pete Holohan in the end zone for the winning touchdown.
And another: Last season, Everett takes the Rams right down and scores right after the Rams win the coin flip to begin overtime with Cincinnati.
Right now, those two games are the difference between the playoffs and playing out the string in 1990.
=======================http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/cleveland-gary/recent/4
Gary: Fumbles Relapse Will Last Only One Game
November 10, 1992|TIM KAWAKAMI | TIMES STAFF WRITERThis time, Cleveland Gary promised himself and anybody else who would listen Monday, he will not allow his breakthrough season to be ruined by a spree of dropped footballs.
On Sunday, in a reminder of his 12-fumble season two years ago, the Rams’ tailback lost two fumbles to the Phoenix Cardinals, setting up their two winning touchdown drives.
After the game, Gary bolted out of the locker room before anybody could stop him for a public explanation.
But Monday, with his coach and his teammates voicing their support, Gary faced the media, apologized for his postgame duck and said he was too strong to let these most recent fumbles destroy what had been shaping into a Pro Bowl season.
“I want to be a perfectionist when it comes to not fumbling,” Gary said Monday. “Yesterday was a relapse, and I think in order to succeed at anything, I can’t do from a mental standpoint what I did before. . . . I start(ed) thinking about it, and that won’t happen.
“I had one (bad) day. I’m proud of myself, and I’ve learned how to reward myself. I’ve carried the ball a hundred-something times without dropping the football, so what I have to do is put that one day behind me.”
Coach Chuck Knox downplayed Gary’s fumbles on Monday and said he is the team’s tailback, period. Knox said he thought the fumbles were a result of Gary’s trying to make second- and third-effort yards, the kind of running the coach has always admired.
“All I’m going on is what I’ve seen since we’ve been here, and he’s sitting up there (as) about the third-leading rusher in the NFC,” Knox said. “He’s done a good job for us.”
Before Sunday, Gary had fumbled twice–losing one–in 150 carries, and he had come a long way in erasing the memory of his two lost seasons. Last year, Gary fumbled on his second carry of the season, also against the Cardinals, and never got back into former coach John Robinson’s main running rotation.
This year Gary has gained 718 yards in 167 carries and scored eight touchdowns.
Gary’s fumbles Sunday were varied. The first occurred early in the third quarter, when Gary said he was trying to make a big play happen after being held to seven yards on seven attempts during the first half.
He crashed into the line, was slowed, then spun through the pile for extra yardage. But he swung his arm away from his body and exposed the ball for linebacker Eric Hill, who knocked it loose.
“I could’ve very well taken a four- or five-yard gain,” Gary said. “But instead, I spun off, and I put my body in a position maybe I shouldn’t have put it in. I spun off and tried to make something happen.”
His second fumble, which tumbled out of bounds, was similar.
The third, and most costly, occurred when Ken Harvey burst past a block and met Gary moments after he had taken the handoff. “What I have to do (is) go back to the basic fundamentals, get the ball over the pressure points and keep it in,” Gary said. “And what I can’t do, I can’t do.”
===========================Gary Recovers After Fumbles : Rams: Running back says he has put game behind him and apologizes for behavior.
November 10, 1992|TIM KAWAKAMI | TIMES STAFF WRITERANAHEIM — This time, Cleveland Gary promised himself and anybody who listened Monday that he will not allow his breakthrough season to be ruined by a spree of dropped footballs.
Sunday, in a dark reminder of his 12-fumble season two years ago, the Rams’ tailback lost two crucial fumbles to the Cardinals, one of which set up Phoenix’s winning touchdown drive.
After the game, Gary bolted out of the locker room before anybody could stop him for an explanation.
But Monday, with his coach and teammates still voicing their support for him, Gary faced the media, apologized for his postgame duck-and-run, and said he was too strong to let these most-recent fumbles destroy what had been shaping up to be a Pro Bowl-caliber season.
“I want to be a perfectionist when it comes to not fumbling,” Gary said Monday. “Yesterday was a relapse, and I think in order to succeed at anything, I can’t do from a mental standpoint what I did before . . . I start thinking about it, and that won’t happen.
“I had one (bad) day. I’m proud of myself, and I’ve learned how to reward myself. I’ve carried the ball a hundred-something times without dropping the football, so what I have to do is put that one day behind me.”
Coach Chuck Knox downplayed Gary’s fumbles Monday and said Gary is the team’s tailback, period. Knox said he thought the fumbles came as a result of Gary exposing himself trying to make second- and third-effort yards, the kind of hard running Knox has always admired.
“All I’m going on is what I’ve seen since we’ve been here, and he’s sitting up there about the third-leading rusher in the NFC,” Knox said. “He’s done a good job for us.
“I don’t want him to go up in there and just lay down on the ball. You’ve got to go up, take it up in there . . . and he has been hanging onto it. (But) these things happen.
“I still think you’ve got to run up in there as hard as you can run, and fight, get everything you can get–but take the ball with you.”
Before Sunday, Gary had fumbled twice–losing one–in 150 carries. Last year, Gary fumbled on his second carry of the season–also against the Cardinals–and never got back into Coach John Robinson’s main running rotation.
This season, though, with the solid backing of Knox, Gary has gained 718 yards in 167 carries and scored eight touchdowns.
“Yesterday was just an awful experience, but it was an experience that I learned from,” Gary said. “This year, I’ve had so much success pretty much when I’ve wanted . . .
“But yesterday was different.”
On Sunday, Gary’s fumbles were a variety pack of bobbles. The first one came early in the third quarter, when Gary said he was trying to make a big play happen after being held to seven yards in seven attempts in the first half.
Gary crashed into the line, was slowed, then spun through the pile for extra yardage. But he swung his arm away from his body and exposed the ball to linebacker Eric Hill, who knocked it loose.
“I could’ve very well taken a four or five-yard gain,” Gary said. “But instead, I spun off, and I put my body in a position maybe I shouldn’t have put it in. I spun off and tried to make something happen.
“I was pressing it too hard. I was more focused on making things happen than the basic fundamentals. It just left me.”
That was the sort of fumble that plagued Gary in 1990–exposing the ball when he was trying to make late moves. His second fumble, which tumbled out of bounds, was similar.
The third, and most costly, came when Ken Harvey burst past a block and met Gary moments after Gary took the handoff.
“What I have to do (is) go back to the basic fundamentals, get the ball over the pressure points and keep it in,” Gary said. “And what I can’t do, I can’t do.
“I have to keep it there rather than letting it slip sometimes. It got a little comfortable.”
Despite his quick yank last season, Gary said he never feared that Knox was going to pull him for good Sunday, or that his teammates were losing confidence in him.
“That thought never entered my mind,” Gary said. “Coach Knox has judged Cleveland based on what he’s done since he’s been here. Coach Knox isn’t reliving somebody else’s past.
“He looks at a man for his character, the way he is when he sees him.
“I’m grateful that Coach Knox and my teammates haven’t judged me on the past, and I think that’s why I’ve been successful. That has helped my confidence factor tremendously. It gives me motivation to put this garbage behind me.”
And Gary, who said he left the locker room quickly because he was still stunned by his fumbles, made a point of trying to put his Sunday media no-show behind him.
“The first thing I would like to do is apologize for my departing,” Gary said. “It was a mistake. I am human, and I do make mistakes. And one of the mistakes I made (Sunday) was leaving and not facing the media.
“I had a lot on my mind at the time, and I handled it the best way I felt I knew how. And obviously it wasn’t the way I should’ve handled it. I should’ve stayed there.
===========================http://www.si.com/nfl/2014/10/07/jeff-fisher-st-louis-rams
Jeff Fisher: A Rock of Stability
See link..“You point out exactly what happened, then you move on,” says Fisher. “Players don’t make mistakes on purpose. After a tough Sunday, you still want them to look forward to coming to work on Monday.”
Being oh-and-two in this league is rough; oh-and-three’s a bitch,” says the ebullient Dave McGinnis, one-time coach of the Cardinals and now Fisher’s chief assistant. “I’ve been with Jeff when we started oh-and-six” — with the Titans, in ’09; that team finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs by one game — “and when we started 10-0. And from one scenario to the other, I swear his demeanor hardly changed an inch.
“He’s got this California cool about him, a confidence that makes everyone around him think, ‘OK, we can do this.’”
…Fisher was preceded by Jim Haslett and Steve Spagnuolo, two first-time head coaches who never really stood a chance. “We failed them more than they failed us,” says Demoff, referring to the cavalcade of misbegotten trades and bad draft choices perpetrated before and during that 65-loss Slough in St. Loo. If the Rams’ first-round picks from 2000 through ’09 lived in the same zip code — Trung Canidate (’01), Robert Thomas (’02), Jimmy Kennedy (’03), Alex Barron (’05), Tye Hill (’06), Adam Carriker (’07), Jason Smith (’09) — that town would be called Bustopolis. (Steven Jackson, ’04, and Chris Long, ’08, are the productive exceptions.) The constant turnover, Demoff admits, was driven by “the pressure it’s so easy to fall prey to in the NFL, to get better Now! Now! Now!”
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LaramI know most here are quite impressed with Austin Davis, and I love his moxy and aggressiveness but he’s going to get exposed over the next several games.
His play was a mixed bag in the Philly game. Early on he was late on some throws, high on others and didn’t show good field awareness.
The slide short of the 1st down where he clearly could have gotten the first down easily, showed bad awareness, and I’m going to mention something again that i mentioned in the chat room.
A number of those sacks were on him.
I will try and put some slides together but go back and look at this play.
2nd qtr Eagles up 13-0, Rams have a 2nd and goal at the Eagles 5 yd line.
The Rams motion to an empty set, the Eagles had an automatic check, its a O blitz (Mama that means the defense is sending 6) Austin has got to recognize that and get rid of the ball quickly, because they’re sending more than you have blockers for.
It is not the o-lines fault, when the defense sends more than you have blockers for, that is on the qb.
When the defense has an automatic check, against an empty backfield, they’re coming. That’s qb 101, even I know that.
Austin never sees the free rusher, boom, sack fumble…Eagles ball and a 14 pt turnaround.
All AD has to do is look down the line to his right, and he will see where the free rusher is coming from.
This was an easy one and recognition that an NFL qb should see.
That was another one of his TO’s that was very costly.
Good defenses will definitely see what I do.
—————
I’m already rolling with AD, I roll with ANY Rams qb.What I’m attempting to do is illustrate that the hysteria should be tempered with a bit of reserve.
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I agree with La that AustinD made some critical mistakes.
He’s a work in progress.But its only his third game, right? So even though
other teams will scout him and gameplan him — HE
is also going to get better one would think.Three games. Thats all he’s played.
He’s showed me a LOT so far.w
v=================================================
LaramI know most here are quite impressed with Austin Davis, and I love his moxy and aggressiveness but he’s going to get exposed over the next several games.
His play was a mixed bag in the Philly game. Early on he was late on some throws, high on others and didn’t show good field awareness.
The slide short of the 1st down where he clearly could have gotten the first down easily, showed bad awareness, and I’m going to mention something again that i mentioned in the chat room.
A number of those sacks were on him.
I will try and put some slides together but go back and look at this play.
2nd qtr Eagles up 13-0, Rams have a 2nd and goal at the Eagles 5 yd line.
The Rams motion to an empty set, the Eagles had an automatic check, its a O blitz (Mama that means the defense is sending 6) Austin has got to recognize that and get rid of the ball quickly, because they’re sending more than you have blockers for.
It is not the o-lines fault, when the defense sends more than you have blockers for, that is on the qb.
When the defense has an automatic check, against an empty backfield, they’re coming. That’s qb 101, even I know that.
Austin never sees the free rusher, boom, sack fumble…Eagles ball and a 14 pt turnaround.
All AD has to do is look down the line to his right, and he will see where the free rusher is coming from.
This was an easy one and recognition that an NFL qb should see.
That was another one of his TO’s that was very costly.
Good defenses will definitely see what I do.
wv wrote:
I dont agree, RFL
For me, its too early to judge Fisher’s season.
w
vReally? Honestly? He hasn’t had enough time to get the season going?
I just find that a remarkable thing to say.
How much time are you willing to give him?
After all, as you said all through the offseason, it’s Year Three!
I dont know how long I’m willing to give him,
but I’m willing to give him more than one-forth of year three 🙂It would be different if i thought they were an overmatched mess.
But i think this team has real potential and talent and is CLOSE
to coming together. The ‘way’ they are losing is actually
infuriating, frustrating AND encouraging to ‘me’.I mean you just said in another thread, it feels like 98.
Well doesnt that mean Fisher has them ‘close’. I think they are.I could be wrong 🙂
But somewhere near mid-season give or take a game
or two, i am expecting to see a good team.
If it dont happen, I’ll reevaluate and
think about it some more.What if they whip the 49ers?
Lets see how it goes next Sunday.w
v
