Monday Morning Quarterback

Mon Feb. 16, 2015

Welcome to the Combine

A blip on the NFL calendar a decade ago, the annual showcase of prospects has turned into a money-making circus watched by millions. Draft guru Mike Mayock explains the popularity boom and shares five storylines he’ll follow in Indianapolis

By Peter King

http://mmqb.si.com/2015/02/16/nfl-combine-mike-mayock-draft-prospects/5/

It’s that time of year—the 2015 football season is about to begin.

Over the past decade or so, since the NFL combine has gotten so much traction in this football-crazed country, I always think of combine week as the beginning of the new season. There will be medical meetings and competition committee meetings early in the week in Indianapolis, and then on Wednesday, coaches and GMs and scouts will gather to begin the process of medical exams, player interviews and on-field workouts for the 323 college prospects at the combine. Those workouts will be Friday through Monday this year, starting at 9 a.m. ET daily, beginning a day earlier than usual in the NFL’s attempt to—guess what—improve TV ratings.

It’s always amazed me how combine-nutty so many people inside and outside the sport are. But ratings and the audience were up 60 percent in 2014 over 2010 numbers on NFL Network, and the ratings have climbed on ESPN too. The other day I asked NFL Network draft guru Mike Mayock, the cornerstone combine expert in the business, why he thinks the four-day event has become such an extravaganza.

“I have figured it out finally,” Mayock said from his home outside Philadelphia, taking a break from tape-watching and working the phones on prospects. “The first year we did the combine, it was me and Paul Burmeister, nobody else. My dad is a college offensive line coach, and so we do the first day, and it’s all the offensive linemen, and I call home to talk to my dad, to see what he thought of it. He said, ‘Son, after the first seven minutes, I had to turn that s— off.’

“So, I thought people would never watch it. But with that as a backdrop, I think there’s three things that have gotten people into it over the years. One: There’s a crossover audience, of college football fans and pro football fans. The college football fans want to see how their guys are doing matched up against the best guys from around the country. The pro football fans want to be introduced to the players they’re going to be watching. Two: NFL fans, especially fantasy football fans, want to compare one receiver to another, or one quarterback to another. I’m amazed how much I hear that from fans. Three: I think people love to see players without helmets and pads on. To see a 270-pound man run a 4.6 40-yard dash, viscerally, is a really cool thing to see.”

“The first year we did the combine, I called my dad to see what he thought,” Mayock says. “He said, ‘Son, after the first seven minutes, I had to turn that s— off.’”

I asked Mayock for the storylines he’ll be watching.

1. Who will challenge Chris Johnson’s combine-record 4.24-second 40-yard dash?

“Three wide receivers have a different gear,” Mayock said. They are:
Phillip Dorsett, considered one of the fastest prospects in the draft, also ran track at Miami. (Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)Phillip Dorsett, considered one of the fastest prospects in the draft, also ran track at Miami. (Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)

• Phillip Dorsett, Miami, 5-10, 183. “The first time I put in tape of him, all I could think of was Mike Wallace running around the Senior Bowl,” Mayock said. “He was under the radar until people saw him run. I asked him his goal for the combine, and he said, ‘4.3 or better.’ You know, 4.3, 4.28 is world-class speed.”

• Devin Smith, Ohio State, 6-3, 190. Smith may have been the biggest playmaker in the country in 2014, with 33 catches for a 28.2-yard average and 12 touchdowns.

• Sammie Coates, Auburn, 6-2, 213. “Biggest of the three, a real specimen,” said Mayock. “I don’t think he catches the ball as naturally as the other two. I want to see how naturally he can catch it.”

2. Which of the big guys will shine athletically?

“In 2011,” said Mayock, “J.J. Watt was 291 pounds, ran his 40 in 4.91, jumped 37 inches, and his short-shuttle/three-cone times were consistent with the wide receivers and defensive backs. To me, that performance was freakier than Chris Johnson running a 4.24. There’s one of those at most combines. Who’s it going to be?”

Two candidates: Arik Armstead, a 6-7, 297-pound defensive end from Oregon, and Jordan Phillips, Oklahoma’s 6-6, 336-pound nosetackle. “I can’t wait to see them run 10-yard dashes [the first 10 yards of their 40s],” Mayock said. “That’s the important time for those guys.”

3. Who are the boom-or-bust guys in this draft?

Phillips, for one. Said Mayock: “Back surgery two years ago, only started 16 games in college, but he’s a dancing bear, and he’ll probably go in the first round.” Then there’s the “poster child for boom or bust—Dorial Green-Beckham,” Mayock said. Green-Beckham played two seasons at Missouri, was arrested on marijuana charges twice at Missouri, was dismissed from the team in April 2014, transferred to Oklahoma, was not granted eligibility for the 2014 season, then declared for the draft last month. At 6-5 and 225 pounds, he can run a 4.4 40-yard dash, and some team just might risk a low first-round pick on him. “I watched every target to him in 2013, and he has no idea what he’s doing, but he changes games,” said Mayock. Finally, another tall pass-catcher, the 6-5, 230-pound Devin Funchess of Michigan. Might be a big receiver, a la Kelvin Benjamin, or an athletic tight end who can put on 15 pounds. We’ll see.

4. Who is an intriguing player NFL teams just can’t figure out?

The LB Who Couldn’t Hit

Washington’s Shaq Thompson spent the past three seasons proving he’s capable of just about anything on the football field; he’s a likely first-round pick in this year’s draft. But the first time he went pro, as a centerfielder, he proved to be anything but a can’t-miss prospect, Emily Kaplan writes.

Washington outside linebacker/inside linebacker/strong safety/running back Shaq Thompson. Our Emily Kaplan profiled him last week, and the interesting thing is that Thompson played professional baseball, ignominiously, in the Red Sox system before turning his full attention to football. This ignomiously: He was 0-for-39 as a professional hitter, with 37 strikeouts. “I didn’t know that!” Mayock said. “That’s a great story!”

“I’ve talked to six or eight evaluators in the last few days about Thompson,” said Mayock. “Two like him as a running back, two as a safety, and most as a linebacker.”

Thompson actually could be one of those hybrid safety/linebackers that Todd Bowles used with such great impact in Arizona last year—strong safety on first down, a nickel linebacker rushing some and covering some on second and third downs.

5. A chance to see through the fog at quarterback.

Mayock: “It’s not a good quarterback class. I’m scared to death of Jameis Winston off the field, and I’m scared to death of how many interceptions he throws. He threw seven interceptions against Louisville and Florida, and could have been 12 or 13 if the other teams could catch the ball. But most quarterbacks come out of the spread now, and they’re projections, like Marcus Mariota. I love so much about Mariota, but he is a projection. I’m much more comfortable projecting Winston, even with the interceptions, because he was a pocket guy at Florida State. And his ability to win games in the second half is mind-boggling.”

As for who’s number three, Mayock says, at least today, that would be UCLA’s Brett Hundley or Baylor’s Bryce Petty. “I have significant concerns about both of them,” he said. “I like Petty’s arm, accuracy and size, but he has no idea how to play in the pocket, from what I saw.”

I plan to have a few further thoughts on Winston, who is entering a vital week for his draft status, in my Tuesday column.

Washington’s Danny Shelton is drawing comparisons to space-eating Raven Haloti Ngata. (Getty Images/AP) Washington’s Danny Shelton (right) is drawing comparisons to space-eating Raven Haloti Ngata. (Getty Images/AP)

Mayock likes comparing players he’s seeing now to players he’s seen in the past. NFL Network has cataloged all players at the combine since 2003, and when an apt comparison surfaces from something Mayock sees or from the composite workout of a player, that comparison will be illustrated on air.

A few comparisons Mayock sees now, before the workouts:

Defensive tackle Leonard Williams, USC :: Richard Seymour.

Nose tackle Danny Shelton, Washington :: Haloti Ngata.

Safety/linebacker/running back Shaq Thompson, Washington :: Deone Bucannon.

Outside linebacker Dante Fowler, Florida :: Justin Houston.

Wide receiver Phillip Dorsett, Miami :: Mike Wallace.

—

It should be an illuminating week in Indianapolis. For The MMQB, I’ll be there, along with Jenny Vrentas, Robert Klemko and Emily Kaplan, and videographer John DePetro. Andy Staples also will be there, working on a couple of things for The MMQB, SI and SI.com. And photographer Todd Rosenberg will be with us, capturing the players and the flavor of the combine. Follow along here, and on Instagram and Twitter.

* * *
Requiem for a heavyweight.

Dave Goldberg died last week at 73. There’s a good chance you didn’t know Goldberg, even if you were a big football fan. That’s because, most often, Goldberg’s best stories would appear in your hometown newspaper without his name on them, because he wrote for the Associated Press. Such as this preview of the Super Bowl 27 years ago:

SAN DIEGO (AP)—For the second straight year, the Super Bowl comes down to John Elway against the world, the world this year being the Washington Redskins rather than the New York Giants. Is there anyone else on the Broncos besides their quarterback?

That’s called “foreshadowing.” Goldberg was good at that.

Washington 42, Denver 10.

Today, Twitter has become the wire-service feed. I follow writers for all NFL teams, as well as national writers and multimedia people. So for the past six years, that has become my Associated Press. But for years, and through the 25 years he was the AP’s lead pro football writer (1984-2009), Dave Goldberg and his APbrethren were my news feed for the NFL. I knew he would give me the facts I needed to know, laced with some smart leanings, but never a hit-over-the-head opinion, because that’s not what wire services did. They reported facts. Then you decided what you thought about the facts. Remember those days?

Goldberg never minded. Like so many of his colleagues with the wire services, he never got in it to see his name in the newspaper. He got in it to cover the big story, and the mundane story. That’s what reporting is. And he was terrific at it. I’d see him over the years alone with the biggest newsmakers in the game, in a sidebar after a press conference with Paul Tagliabue, walking down the hall with Jerry Jones at a league meeting, sidling up to Peyton Manning after a game. And he did it fast, and with smart, good writing. When I’d cover a big 1 p.m. Giants game back in the ’80s for Newsday, Goldberg would write his AM game story and his “PM-er,” the story for the Monday afternoon dailies with quotes, and he’d waltz out of the press box by 6:30 or so, done for the day, and I’d read his stories late night and invariably I’d wish I had one of his quotes or factoids in what I’d written as a beat man.

As he got older, Goldberg became one of the wise owls in the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection meetings. Unemotional, fact-based, very smart. He wouldn’t rail at much, really. But he did not like clichés. At all. Such as this one: future Hall of Famer. “Future Hall of Famer,” he’d grouse. “If every guy who was a future Hall of Famer became a real Hall of Famer, we’d have to put 50 guys in every year!”

I’ll really miss the guy.

* * *
The new NFL chief health and medical adviser to make her debut at the combine.
Dr. Nabel (Steven Senne/AP)Dr. Elizabeth Nabel (Steven Senne/AP)

Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, appointed by the NFL last Monday to be the league’s first chief health and medical adviser overseeing all league medical affairs, will be at the combine to meet with the league’s various medical committees and trainers and executives. Nabel will continue as president of Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and as a professor of medicine at Harvard.

As to why the position isn’t a full-time job, the NFL’s senior vice president of health and safety policy, Jeff Miller, said: “We were looking for a consultant. We have found that mode works very well for us. In this case, she will begin to listen and learn at the combine. She’ll evaluate the work for our medical committees. She’ll study our concussion protocols. She’ll form opinions on what we can do better … Basically, we haven’t had one person to look at the whole of what we are doing to make our game as safe as possible, and we think she is an outstanding person to do that.”

Miller said Nabel’s name came up often as the league looked for a medical expert with a diverse background in a very complicated field—as well as someone accustomed to being a boss of smart and high-achieving people. “You don’t get to run Brigham and Women’s if you don’t know how to herd cats,” NFL consultant and brain-trauma expert Robert Cantu told the Boston Globe.

“She runs one of the finest hospitals in the world,” said Miller. “She has the breadth of experience we wanted, and so much perspective on modern health care. She uses her strategic sense to move health care forward.”

One immediate focus for Nabel, at least in the eyes of fans and teams, will be to examine the league’s concussion-diagnosis protocols and see if the NFL has it right. In the Patriots’ Super Bowl victory, Julian Edelman returned to play despite appearing shaken up after a fourth-quarter collision. He has declined comment about it since the game, including to The New York Times on Sunday. But with the emphasis on head trauma and long-term effects of hits to the head, there should be a crystal-clear policy on when players can return, and what precisely constitutes a concussion or a hit severe enough to bar a player from returning to a game. The policy has gotten better, but the cloudiness of the Edelman story makes it obvious the league still has a job to finish there.

* * *
We’re having a Tweetup in Indianapolis this week.

A Tweetup, for those who haven’t been to one, is an informal meeting of people who, theoretically, have encountered one another on Twitter. For the past six years in Indianapolis, some of my readers/followers/hecklers have come to a public place or bar when the combine is in town, and I’ve brought some of my media friends, and we talk football for a while. This year, we’re changing things up a bit.

Where: Sun King Brewing Co., 135 North College Ave., Indianapolis (about seven blocks from downtown).
When: Friday, 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Tickets: $10. Yes, this used to be free. We decided to charge this year, with all ticket money going to Thrive360 (formerly Kids Against Hunger of Central Indiana), a group that packs meals for the needy and the hungry. You must be 21 or older to attend. Beer will be sold at the event. Buy your tickets here.

Follow me on Twitter, and when I know more details about the event, I’ll pass them along. Hope to see you there.

Herzog wrote:

Time to give those young guys a chance!

Agreed.

And now for some random mixed thoughts.

Some examples.

Right now the Rams have 141+ M counting against a cap that is supposed to be 140 M. But that’s before they make any moves–and they have a lot of moves they can make. By a lot of moves, I mean way beyond the obvious. Also, that’s before counting the 3 M in credit they get from Finnegan’s contract in 2015.

Right now they have just under 90 M counting against the 2016 cap, which is supposed to be around 150 M. And that’s before they make the moves I just mentioned (some 2015 moves they can make will impact the 2016 cap). Now why is 2016 cap space significant in 2015? Because the way the Rams write deals, they frontload–but they put a large portion of the frontloaded deal into the 2nd year, not the 1st year. That means they can use 2016 space to accomplish things in 2015.

And, the Rams have maxed out on expensive FAs anyway, which is fine. If you look at repeat playoff teams, they do not go on big FA spending sprees. They keep it within bounds. In terms of FAs, Rams really only need one–an interior lineman (center or guard). Anything else would be gravy.

One final point. Wagoner says they had no carry over. Okay. But that doesn’t mean much, since the Rams frontload so heavily. That is, they use the present year to keep space free in future years. The fact that they can adjust the cap on a moment’s notice with a few painless moves means that the frontloading is flexible, too.

So the Rams will always LOOK like they are up against the cap, but then if you look closer, they’re actually not.

I am not going to look for it…but, a while back, I posted an article that looked at playoff teams across a few years and asked how they approached free agency.

I mean I CAN find that article if anyone is interested. But right now I will just summarize it.

According to that analysis, consistent playoff teams average about 4 high-market big-money FAs per team. Obviously you want to think about WHO the FAs are–a Peyton Manning means more as a free agent, for example. But to me it was interesting that it was just 4.

So that says something, anyway.

How many high-end FAs have the Rams signed? 5. Wells, Finnegan, Langford, Long, Cook. That number is probably about to shift.

How many high-end FAs did the 99 Rams have on the roster? 3. Timmerman, Green, Agnew. (In 99, AT’s 5 year, 19 M contract made him the highest paid player in Rams history.)

Though in 97 and 98 they had some failed signings. Remember Eric Hill? Leslie O’Neal?

St. Louis Rams look to simplify offense with Frank Cignetti

By Nick Wagoner | ESPN.com

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/

EARTH CITY, Mo. — One of the first orders of business for the St. Louis Rams before the real offseason begins is going through an extensive period of self-scouting.

As coach Jeff Fisher and his offensive coaches went back through the 2014 season, he came to a few conclusions.

Frank Cignetti looks to have an offense that will be simpler but “appear to be much more complex.””I personally had plenty of time to go back and reflect and look at the offense and identify some areas that need to be improved on,” Fisher said. “Like what you’re talking about with the third quarter stuff and the third-down efficiency and tying the run game to the play-action game and simplifying the offense and reducing things and establishing an identity and all those kind of things.”

Out of that laundry list of items, the word “simplifying” jumps out the most. I know what you’re thinking: How can an offense based in the principles of “ground and pound” be too complicated? Well, Fisher believes that at times the Rams’ offense was too voluminous, asking the players to remember a lot of things in a given week.

Former coordinator Brian Schottenheimer’s offense (under Fisher’s guidance) may be fairly fundamental philosophically but it also came with plenty of shifts, movements and details that gave the players an abundance of things to do and remember on every snap.

In elevating quarterbacks coach Frank Cignetti to offensive coordinator, Fisher said he saw in Cignetti an ability to help the offense get where it wants to go without having to change what it does at its core.

“Those are the kind of things that we talked about and those are the things that were very attractive to me from a standpoint of not only his background, his experience just understanding offensive concepts, but also different ways of doing things,” Fisher said. “So, we are going to change, but change is good. This change is going to be very, very good for us.”

Asked if he thought the offense was too complicated, Fisher confirmed that in discussions with Cignetti, there was a bit of a consensus that it was.

“I think we agreed there was at times,” Fisher said.

Which puts the onus on Cignetti and his staff to find ways to reduce the offense and simplify it while also ensuring that it offers enough options to have success. There is no doubt that the Rams offense will have a similar approach in 2015 with the language and playbook remaining the same. Boiled down to simpler terms, the idea is to continue doing the same things the offense has done in the past but do it better.

“The foundation of the playbook is the same,” Cignetti said. “Coach Schottenheimer’s put a terrific system in place here, the same system I was a part of when I was with the San Francisco 49ers. The foundation is going to be the same. Whether Coach Schottenheimer was still here or whether it was myself leading, every year you look at ways of doing things better.

“So, things that we talked about was how could we minimize terminology? So there’s certain things that we did in my past that we’ll be able to minimize terminology. So, as an offensive staff, we’re going to evaluate everything. If there’s a better way to learn, if there’s a better way to teach, then we’ll make changes. We’re not going to change just to make changes, but if it’s something that’s going to help us win football games, then we’ll make the necessary changes.”

It’s a process that’s already begun.

“I’m confident that our system will be such in April when the players come back for the offseason program, we’ll be simplified,” Fisher said. “But appear to be much more complex.”

PA Ram wrote:

I disagree about the lie being central to that movie.

His views of the war were valid to HIM. That’s all that mattered in this film, IMO.

‘

The film completely allows the lie to dictate the narrative. It does not question it and in fact does everything to support it. Again, if it DIDN’T, his whole story would look different. Like, COMPLETELY different.

And it is honestly really easy to have put his ideas in context and show that they were not true. A 30 second scene would do it. Also, NOT having the enemy be Al qaida in Falluja would do it too.

Speaking of info being all around us, people should read the real story of Fallujah. Once you do that you realize the film is a complete and total collaborator in the revisionist take on the war. For one thing, the insurgents there had nothing bloody to do with Al Qaida — they were Iraqi sunni insurgents associated with the old regime.

There was no bloody way on earth that film was going to show a realistic version of Fallujah. It was revisionist in every single frame. And badly so. Like way out of its way from the truth and deep into falsehoods.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallujah_during_the_Iraq_War
2003 invasion of Iraq
Downtown Fallujah, December 2003

Although the majority of the residents were Sunni and had supported Saddam Hussein’s rule, Fallujah lacked military presence just after his fall. There was little looting and the new mayor of the city—Taha Bidaywi Hamed, was selected by local tribal leaders—was pro-United States.[4] When the U.S. Army’s 1st Battalion / 2nd Brigade 82nd Airborne entered the town on April 23, 2003, they positioned themselves at the vacated Ba’ath Party headquarters, a local school house, and the Ba’ath party resort just outside town (Dreamland)—the US bases inside the town erased some goodwill, especially when many in the city had been hoping the US Army would stay outside of the relatively calm city.

Instability, April 2003 – March 2004
Main article: Fallujah killings of April 2003

On the evening of April 28, 2003, several hundred residents defied the US curfew and marched down the streets of Fallujah, past the soldiers positioned in the Ba’ath party (which did not exist any more at that point) headquarters, to protest the military presence inside the local school. The protest remained peaceful but US soldiers fired upon the crowd, killing as many as 17 and wounding more than 70 of the protesters. US soldiers alleged that they were returning fire, but protesters stated they were unarmed.[5][6][7] Independent observers from human rights group found no evidence that US forces had come under attack.[1] The US suffered no casualties from the incident.

Two days later, on April 30, the 82d Airborne was replaced in the city by 2nd Troop (Fox) / U.S. 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. The 3rd Cavalry was significantly smaller in number and chose not to occupy the same schoolhouse where the shooting had occurred two days earlier. However, on the same day a daytime protest in front of the Ba’ath party headquarters and mayor’s office (which are adjacent to one another) led to the death of three more protesters. At this point in time the 3rd Cavalry was in control of the entire Al Anbar province, and it quickly became evident that a larger force was needed. The now battalion-sized element of the 3rd Cavalry (2nd squadron) in Fallujah was replaced by the 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division.[citation needed]

During the summer, the US army decided to close down its last remaining base inside the city (the Ba’ath party headquarters; FOB Laurie). At this point the 3d ACR had all of its forces stationed outside Fallujah in the former Baathist resort, Dreamland. After the May 11 surrender of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq, the incoming 3d Infantry Division also began using the large MEK compound adjacent to Dreamland to accommodate its larger troop presence in Fallujah. Under its control, the 3d Infantry Division maintained no bases inside the city of Fallujah.

On 30 June a “huge explosion” occurred in a mosque in which the imam, Sheikh Laith Khalil, and eight other people were killed. Residents of the city claim the army fired a missile at the mosque while the army displayed evidence that a terrorist bomb training class had gone wrong.[8] Just a couple of days earlier things had been much quieter, although US troops had been confiscating motorbikes as a preventive measure against terrorist attacks.[9]
Timeline showing the sequence of units in control of Fallujah in just the first year of the war

Just 2 months after the 3rd Infantry had taken control of Fallujah from the 3rd Cavalry, the entire 3rd Infantry Division was redeployed home. The 3d Cavalry was once again put in control of Fallujah, and again was only able to devote one squadron to Fallujah. Attached to that Squadron was the 115th MP Company from Rhode Island. Unarmored and ill-equipped the 115th MPs kept order with routine patrols and frequent house raids searching for insurgents and weapons caches. In September 2003, the 3rd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne was deployed to replace the 3d Cavalry in Ramadi and Fallujah. The 3rd Cavalry was then left to control all of the al-Anbar province except for these two cities.

Approximately one year after the invasion, the city’s Iraqi police and Iraqi Civil Defense Corps were unable to establish law and order. Insurgents launched many indiscriminate attacks and some on police stations in the city, killing at least 20 police officers. Beginning in early March 2004, the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division commanded by Major-General Charles H. Swannack Jr. gave a transfer of authority of the al-Anbar province to the I Marine Expeditionary Force commanded by Lt. General Conway. The 3rd Cavalry and the 3rd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne were then sent home.
Attack on contractors

Main article: 2004 Fallujah ambush

On March 31, 2004 – Iraqi insurgents from the Brigades of Martyr Ahmed Yassin in Fallujah ambushed a convoy containing four American private military contractors (mercenaries) employed by Blackwater USA, who were at the time guarding a convoy carrying kitchen supplies to a military base, for the catering company Eurest Support Services[10]

The four contractors, Scott Helvenston, Jerko Zovko, Wesley Batalona and Michael Teague, were dragged from their cars, beaten, and set ablaze. Their burned corpses were then dragged through the streets before being hung over a bridge crossing the Euphrates.[11]
Siege, April 2004
Main article: First Battle of Fallujah

In response to the killing of the four US citizens, and intense political pressure, the US Marines commenced Operation Vigilant Resolve. They surrounded the city and attempted to capture the individuals responsible as well as others in the region who might have been involved in insurgencies. One out of every two mosques in Fallujah were used to hide fighters or weapons.[12] The Iraqi National Guard was supposed to work alongside with the US Marines in the operation, but on the dawn of the invasion they discarded their uniforms and deserted.[13] Under pressure from the Iraqi Governing Council, the US aborted its attempt to regain control of Fallujah. The US Marines suffered 40 deaths in the siege. Estimates of the number of Iraqi deaths (both fighters and civilians) in the attack range from 271 (according to Iraqi Ministry of Health officials[14][15]) to 731 (according to Rafie al-Issawi, the head of the local hospital[16]).

The occupying force on April 9 allowed more than 70,000 women, children and elderly residents to leave the besieged city. On April 10, the US military declared a unilateral truce to allow for humanitarian supplies to enter Fallujah. US troops pulled back to the outskirts of the city. An Iraqi mediation team entered the city in an attempt to set up negotiations between US forces and local leaders, but as of April 12 had not been successful. At least one US battalion had orders to shoot any male of military age on the streets after dark, armed or not.[17] In violation of the Geneva Convention, the city’s main hospital was closed by Marines, negating its use, and a US sniper was placed on top of the hospital’s water tower.[18]

There were also reports of the use of cluster bombs by US forces in Fallujah during this time, including reports from Al Jazeera on April 9 and 15, which US State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher later described as “totally false.”[19][unreliable source?] Similar reports came from several other sources who reported on 26 April 2004: “A spokesman for an Iraqi delegation from the violence-gripped city of Fallujah on Monday accused U.S. troops of using cluster bombs against the city and said they had asked the United Nations to mediate the conflict.[citation needed] Mohammed Tareq, a spokesman for the governing council of Fallujah and a member of the four-person delegation, said U.S. military snipers were also responsible for the deaths of many children, women and elderly people.” And the Economic Press Review reported on 17 April 2004: “American F-16 warplanes are blitzing the Al-Julan residential area in Al Fallujah 50 kilometers west from Baghdad with cluster bombs.”[citation needed]

The ceasefire followed a wave of insurgency activity across southern Iraq, which included the capture of two US soldiers, seven employees of US military contractor Kellogg, Brown and Root, and more than 50 other workers in Iraq. Several of the prisoners were released within days of their capture, while the majority were executed.[citation needed]

The US forces ostensibly sought to negotiate a settlement but promised to restart its offensive to retake the city if one was not reached. Military commanders said their goal in the siege was to capture those responsible for the numerous deaths of US and Iraqi security personnel. As the siege continued, insurgents conducted hit-and-run attacks on US Marine positions. The Marines had announced a unilateral ceasefire.[citation needed]
Truce, May 2004

At the beginning of May 2004, the US Marine Corps announced a ceasefire due to intense political pressure. Most of the fighting was limited to the southern industrial district, which, had the lowest population density inside the city limits and the northwest corner of the city in the Jolan district. There were also Marine battalions in the northeast and southern portion of the city. While both sides began preparations to resume offensives, General Conway took a risk and handed control of the city to a former Iraqi general with roughly 1,000 men who then formed the Fallujah Brigade, while acknowledging that many of the people under control of the general were probably insurgents themselves (no verification was provided). The general, Major General Muhammed Latif, replaced a US choice, Jasim Mohammed Saleh, who was alleged to have been involved in the earlier atrocities against Kurds during the Iran-Iraq war.[20] The ceasefire terms were to give control of Fallujah to General Latif on condition that Fallujah becomes a secure region for coalition forces and halt incoming mortar and rocket attacks on the nearby US bases. Latif’s militia wore Iraqi military uniforms from the Hussein era. Another tenet of the cease-fire was the establishment of a Traffic Control Point (TCP) on the eastern side of the city just west of the “cloverleaf”. This TCP was constantly manned by a platoon of Marines and a platoon from the Iraqi National Guard and saw almost daily firefights for the rest of the summer.

Inside the city, mosques proclaimed the victory of the insurgents over the United States.[citation needed] Celebratory banners appeared around the city, and the fighters paraded through the town on trucks. Iraqi governing council member Ahmed Chalabi, after a bombing that killed fellow IGC member Izzadine Saleem, blamed the US military’s decisions in Fallujah for the attack, stating “The garage is open and car bombs are coming repeatedly.”[21]

Fallujah, according to reporters who have visited in mid-summer, had since become a sort of Islamist mini-state, with Sharia law enforced by mujahedin.[citation needed] Owners of shops that sold US-style magazine and barbers who offered “Western-style” haircuts were beaten and publicly humiliated. Inter-faction fighting was also rampant.[22] The Fallujah Brigade was soon marginalized and ceased to be more than another faction in what had effectively become a no-go area for coalition troops.
Counter-insurgency, May – November 2004

Throughout the summer and fall of 2004, the U.S. military conducted sporadic airstrikes on Fallujah. U.S. forces reported that all were confirmed targeted, intelligence-based strikes against houses used by the group of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an insurgency leader linked to al-Qaida.

In October and early November, 2004, the U.S. military prepared for a major offensive against the rebel stronghold with stepped up daily aerial attacks using precision-guided munitions[23] against militant “safe houses,” restaurants and meeting places in the city. U.S. Marines also engaged in firefights on a daily and nightly basis along the perimeter of the city. There were again conflicting reports of civilian casualties.[24]:256–267

CNN incorrectly reported on October 14, 2004, that the US offensive assault on Fallujah had begun and broadcast a report from a young Marine outside Fallujah, 1st Lt. Lyle Gilbert, who announced that “troops have crossed the line of departure.” Hours later, CNN reported their Pentagon reporters had determined that the assault had not, in fact, begun. The Los Angeles Times reported on December 1, 2004, that, according to several unnamed Pentagon officials, the Marine’s announcement was a feint—part of an elaborate “psychological operation” (PSYOP) to determine the Fallujah rebels’ reactions if they believed attack was imminent.

On November 7, 2004, the U.S.-appointed Iraq interim government declared a 60 day state of emergency in preparation for the assault, as insurgents carried out several car bomb attacks in the Fallujah area which killed Iraqi army and police, U.S. Marines and Iraqi civilians. The next day Prime Minister Iyad Allawi publicly authorized an offensive in Fallujah and Ramadi to “liberate the people” and “clean Fallujah from the terrorists”. Marines, U.S. Army soldiers and allied Iraqi soldiers stormed into Fallujah’s western outskirts, secured two bridges across the Euphrates, seized a hospital on the outskirts of the city and arrested about 50 men in the hospital. About half the arrested men were later released. A hospital doctor reported that 15 Iraqis were killed and 20 wounded during the overnight incursions. The US armed forces have designated the offensive as Operation Phantom Fury.

In the first week of Operation Phantom Fury, government spokesman Thair al-Naqeeb said that many of the remaining fighters have asked to surrender and that Iraqi authorities “will extend amnesty” to those who have not committed major crimes.[25] At the same time, US forces prevented male refugees from leaving the combat zone, and the city was placed under a strict night-time shoot-to-kill curfew with anyone spotted in the Marines’ night vision sights shot.[26][27]
U.S.–Iraqi offensive of November 7, 2004
Main article: Second Battle of Fallujah

Journalists embedded with U.S. military units, although limited in what they may report, have reported the following:

On November 8, 2004, a force of around 2,000 U.S. and 600 Iraqi troops began a concentrated assault on Fallujah with air strikes, artillery, armor, and infantry. The New York Times reported that within an hour of the start of the ground attack, troops seized the Fallujah General Hospital. “Patients and hospital employees were rushed out of rooms by armed soldiers and ordered to sit or lie on the floor while troops tied their hands behind their backs”.[28] Noam Chomsky in his book Failed States commented that according to the Geneva Conventions, medical establishments “may in no circumstance be attacked, but shall at all times be respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict.” [29] Troops seized the rail yards North of the city, and pushed into the city simultaneously from the North and West taking control of the volatile Jolan and Askari districts. Rebel resistance was as strong as expected[citation needed], rebels fought very hard as they fell back. By nightfall on November 9, 2004, the U.S. troops had almost reached the heart of the city. U.S. military officials stated that 1,000 to 6,000 insurgents were believed to be in the city, they appear to be organized, and fought in small groups, of three to 25. Many insurgents were believed to have slipped away amid widespread reports that the U.S. offensive was coming. During the assault, Marines and Iraqi soldiers endured sniper fire and destroyed booby traps, much more than anticipated. Ten U.S. troops were killed in the fighting and 22 wounded in the first two days of fighting. Insurgent casualty numbers were estimated at 85 to 90 killed or wounded. Several more days of fighting were anticipated as U.S. and Iraqi troops conducted house-to-house searches for weapons, booby traps, and insurgents.
On 9 November, CNN Correspondent Karl Penhaul reported the use of cluster bombs in the offensive: “The sky over Falluja seems to explode as U.S. Marines launch their much-trumpeted ground assault. War planes drop cluster bombs on insurgent positions and artillery batteries fire smoke rounds to conceal a Marine advance.”[30]
November 10, 2004 reports by the Washington Post suggest that U.S. armed forces used white phosphorus grenades and/or artillery shells, creating walls of fire in the city. Doctors working inside Fallujah report seeing melted corpses of suspected insurgents.[31] The use of WP ammunition was confirmed from various independent sources, including U.S. troops who had suffered WP burns due to friendly fire. On November 16, 2005 The Independent reported that Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Barry Venable “disclosed that (white phosphorus) had been used to dislodge enemy fighters from entrenched positions in the city”…”We use them primarily as obscurants, for smokescreens or target marking in some cases. However, it is an incendiary weapon and may be used against enemy combatants.”[32] But a day before, Robert Tuttle, the U.S. ambassador to London, denied that white phosphorus was deployed as a weapon: “US forces do not use napalm or white phosphorus as weapons.”[33][34]
On November 13, 2004 a Red Crescent convoy containing humanitarian aid was delayed from entering Fallujah by the U.S. army.[35][36]
On November 13, 2004, a U.S. Marine with 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines was videotaped killing a wounded and unarmed prisoner in a mosque. The incident, which came under investigation, created controversy throughout the world. The man was shot at close range after he and several other badly wounded Iraqi prisoners had previously been left behind overnight in the mosque by the U.S. Marines. The Marine shooting the man had been mildly injured by insurgents in the same mosque the day before.[37][38] In May 2005, it was announced that the Marine would not face a court-martial. In a statement, Maj. Gen. Richard F. Natonski, commanding general of the I Marine Expeditionary Force, said that a review of the evidence had shown that the shooting was “consistent with the established rules of engagement and the law of armed conflict.” [39]
On November 16, 2004, a Red Cross official told Inter Press Service that “at least 800 civilians” had been killed in Fallujah and indicated that “they had received several reports from refugees that the military had dropped cluster bombs in Fallujah, and used a phosphorus weapon that caused severe burns.”[40]
As of November 18, 2004, the U.S. military reported 1200 insurgents killed and 1000 captured. U.S. casualties were 51 killed and 425 wounded, and the Iraqi forces lost 8 killed and 43 wounded.[41]
On December 2, 2004, the U.S. death toll in Fallujah operation reached 71 killed.[42]
Some of the tactics said to be used by the insurgents included playing dead and attacking, surrendering and attacking, and rigging dead or wounded with bombs. In the November 13th incident mentioned above, the U.S. Marine alleged the insurgent was playing dead.[43]
Of the 100 mosques in the city, about 60 were used as fighting positions by the insurgents.[citation needed] The U.S. and Iraqi military swept through all mosques used as fighting positions, destroying them, leading to great resentment from local residents.
In 2005, the U.S. military admitted that it used white phosphorus as an anti-personnel weapon in Fallujah.[44]

On 17 May 2011, AFP reported that 21 bodies, in black body-bags marked with letters and numbers in Roman script had been recovered from a mass grave in al-Maadhidi cemetery in the centre of the city. Fallujah police chief Brigadier General Mahmud al-Essawi said that they had been blindfolded, their legs had been tied and they had suffered gunshot wounds. The Mayor, Adnan Husseini said that the manner of their killing, as well as the body bags, indicated that US forces had been responsible. Both al-Essawi and Husseini agreed that the dead had been killed in 2004. The US Military declined to comment.[45]
Aftermath

Residents were allowed to return to the city in mid-December after undergoing biometric identification, provided they carry their ID cards all the time. US officials report that “more than half of Fallujah’s 39,000 homes were damaged, and about 10,000 of those were destroyed.” Compensation amounts to 20 percent of the value of damaged houses, with an estimated 32,000 homeowners eligible, according to Marine Lt. Col. William Brown.[46] According to the NBC,[47] 9,000 homes were destroyed, thousands more were damaged and of the 32,000 compensation claims only 2,500 had been paid as of April 14, 2005. According to Mike Marqusee of Iraq Occupation Focus writing in The Guardian,[48] “Falluja’s compensation commissioner has reported that 36,000 of the city’s 50,000 homes were destroyed, along with 60 schools and 65 mosques and shrines”. Reconstruction is only progressing slowly and mainly consists of clearing rubble from heavily-damaged areas and reestablishing basic utility services. This is also due to the fact that only 10% of the pre-offensive inhabitants had returned as of mid-January, and only 30% as of the end of March 2005.[49]

Health effects

Research by Chris Busby, Malak Hamdan and Entesar Ariabi published in 2010 lent credibility to anecdotal news reports of increases in birth defects and cancer after the fighting in 2004.[51] Results from a survey of 711 households in Fallujah on cancer, birth defects and infant mortality suggested that large increases in cancer and infant mortality had occurred. Responses to the questionnaire also suggested an anomalous mean birth sex ratio in children born a year after the fighting, indicating that environmental contamination occurred in 2004. Although the authors noted the use of depleted uranium as one possible source of relevant exposure, they emphasized that there could be other possibilities and that their results did not identify the agent(s) responsible for the increased levels of illness.

There is so much information available today–so many sources, that people can find the truth they want.

To me the issue is people not knowing they don’t know. There’s famous stories about Soviet Communists admiring American propaganda. The Soviets lied, and their people did not believe them. Americans on the other hand have info all around them, and they never know to look.

See the lie is central to that movie. It can’t be about the burden he carries being a sheepdog and protector IF at the same time they let it be known that his views of the war were not valid. It becomes a different story. It stops being Saving Private Ryan, about heroic sacrifice, and becomes a Vietnam film. Vietnam films don’t allow for unironized pure heroism.

Fisher, Cignetti support Bradford

By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/fisher-cignetti-support-bradford/article_d8c2575f-309f-53c4-b43d-2696a956ba6c.html

One of the most noteworthy things to come out of Friday’s introductory press conference for new offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti was how strongly both Cignetti and coach Jeff Fisher came out in support of quarterback Sam Bradford.

Based on what was said Friday, there appears to be little doubt that Bradford will be with the team next season — and be the starter.

One exchange was particularly telling during the 20-minute session at Rams Park. When asked if Bradford was kept in the loop during the process of hiring an offensive coordinator, Fisher replied:

“I had a lengthy discussion with Sam, yes, prior to making the decision. It was part of the information gathering process. Sam was very forthcoming. He had some firm opinions. I really enjoyed and appreciated his input.”

So would Cignetti have been promoted to coordinator (after three seasons as QB coach) if Bradford had voiced objections?

“We wouldn’t be sitting here right now,” Fisher replied.

“As it should be,” Cignetti chimed in.

If you were seriously considering trading Bradford, or even releasing him, none of that probably would’ve taken place.

So the Rams definitely want him back in ’15?

“That’s correct, yes,” Fisher said. “He’s been in the building since the season ended. He’s doing well.”

Fisher even backed down from his end-of-the-season comment that there will be competition for Bradford on the roster next season, competition that’s currently “not in the building.” The plan still calls for at least one new face on the quarterback depth chart in 2015, but on Friday having competition became having options.

Here’s what Fisher had to say Friday when asked about bringing in an outside QB.

“It’s not as much from the standpoint of challenging Sam,” Fisher said. “It’s to have options. We don’t know what that looks like right now. We don’t know if that’s draft, if that’s free agency, or what that looks like. But when we line up in September, we’ll have somebody there.”

Fisher’s altered stance may be partly to do with the fact that the free-agent market is lean, there don’t seem to be many concrete trade options developing, and the 2015 draft is neither deep nor strong at the position.

(Sunday’s Post-Dispatch will explore the free-agent and trade markets at quarterback.)

Continuity and stability on the offense were cited by Fisher as one of the main reasons he chose to promote from within at coordinator, selecting Cignetti in a close call over tight ends coach Rob Boras for the job. In the end, Boras was promoted to assistant head coach/offense while still maintaining his duties as tight ends coach.

“Same system for Sam, same system for the rest of his teammates,” Fisher said. “That was very, very important, and it was about how we get better. How we become more productive.”

All told, Bradford’s name came up a half-dozen times at the press conference, often without prompting by media members.

“We’re looking forward to Sam moving forward,” Cignetti said. “He’s doing a great job in his rehabilitation. When you go back to last year, he had an outstanding offseason. He had a great training camp. Unfortunately, in Cleveland he got injured. Moving forward, getting Sam back healthy again will greatly increase our chances of winning.”

The team remains optimistic that it can restructure Bradford’s contract for 2015 — the final year of his original deal — in a way that is more cap friendly.

When the Rams get on the field for spring practices, Bradford and the rest of the squad will find some changes in approach and playbook compared to how things were done for three seasons under Cignetti predecessor Brian Schottenheimer.

For one, the playbook will be simplified. There will be less volume than was the case under Schottenheimer, who left in January to become OC for the Georgia Bulldogs.

In discussing changes being made on offense, Fisher said: “We need to reduce the amount of information that we’re giving to the players, and go out and execute.”

So was there too much volume in the playbook previously?

“I think we agreed that there was at times,” Fisher replied. “I’m confident that our system will be such in April … that it will be simplified but appear to be much more complex.”

As a rookie in 2013, wide receiver Tavon Austin remarked that the playbook was like Spanish to him. By minimizing terminology in the playbook, Cignetti hopes for better results.

“The foundation of the playbook’s the same,” Cignetti said. “Coach Schottenheimer’s put a terrific system in place here, the same system I was part of when I was with the San Francisco 49ers (as QB coach in 2007).”

But Cignetti added: “Whether Coach Schottenheimer was still here or whether it was myself leading, every year you look at ways of doing things better. Something that we talked about was how could we minimize terminology? There’s certain things that we did in my past that we’ll be able to minimize terminology.”

Another change from Schottenheimer’s tenure is that Cignetti — as coordinator — won’t be as hands-on with the team’s quarterbacks.

“I’m not going to be as involved with the quarterback as much as Coach Schottenhiemer was involved,” Cignetti said. “That would probably be the biggest difference (in approach).”

Fisher added: “Frank’s going to allow the quarterback coach to spend more time with (the QBs) in the meetings and on the field, which will be a little different than how it has been in the past.”

Fisher confirmed that he interviewed Jeff Garcia for the quarterbacks coach job on Thursday and Friday. Fisher said he has at least one other candidate in mind for Cignetti’s old job, but didn’t give a definite timetable on when that position would be filled.

Big free-agent spending rarely yields more wins

By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/16161/big-free-agent-spending-rarely-yields-more-wins

EARTH CITY, Mo. — In the three years since coach Jeff Fisher and general manager Les Snead took charge of the St. Louis Rams, their approach to free agency has changed each year.

In 2012, they spent big money on cornerback Cortland Finnegan, center Scott Wells and defensive tackle Kendall Langford in an effort to bolster a roster in desperate need of a makeover. In 2013, they were active again, landing offensive tackle Jake Long and tight end Jared Cook on big-money deals.

But last year, the Rams were notably quiet in free agency, the result of two years of drafting with an eye toward re-signing their own rather than swinging for the fences on big additions. They re-signed offensive lineman Rodger Saffold to a big contract after his deal with the Oakland Raiders fell through and then took a flier on a handful of one-year “prove it” contracts with guys like receiver Kenny Britt and defensive lineman Alex Carrington.

Heading into 2015, the Rams again don’t figure to be among the bigger spenders on the free-agent market, though adding a key piece or two could help propel them toward contention so long as they land the right players. That hasn’t been their forte, as evidenced by some of the names above from the previous three years.

Per ESPN Stats & Info, six of the 12 teams that have ranked in the top three in free-agent spending since 2011 did not improve their win total, including all three of last year’s top-three spending teams.

Finding the balance of adding a key piece and a few other ancillary pieces that can help has proved to be more of a winning formula. The New England Patriots offered a prime example of that in 2014 when they signed star cornerback Darrelle Revis and key role players like receiver Brandon LaFell and cornerback Brandon Browner at bargain prices. They ranked 16th in spending last year.

The Patriots also prioritized keeping their own, re-signing receiver Julian Edelman, among others. It’s a similar tactic to the approach the Seattle Seahawks took. Clearly, the Rams aren’t as strongly positioned as winning teams that can more easily attract free agents.

This time around, the Rams should be in better position to add a key piece or two that might be costly while re-signing some of their own and taking a shot on some cheaper options who can help. As always, it’s not about how much a team spends as much as how wisely it spends that actually yields results.