from off the net

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thehammer

Senior Bowl week

best qb? so far a 2 man race between Grayson and Mannon..Petty has struggled with the transition and Carden just looks bad..Grayson and Mannion just look like nfl starting qb’s..

I haven’t even read this yet. So, don’t kill the article poster.

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Gordon: Belichick’s critics are indulging in loser talk

By Jeff Gordon

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/jeff-gordon/gordon-belichick-s-critics-are-indulging-in-loser-talk/article_e54562d0-6968-5160-94cc-b07ba962e6b5.html

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick seeks every possible advantage over his foes.

This is who he is. This is what he does. Belichick doesn’t make a lot of friends while grinding out victories, but he seems OK with that.

Earlier in the playoffs the Patriots duped the Baltimore Ravens with a formation ruse, creating mass confusion. Which players were eligible receivers and which weren’t?

After the game, reporters raised the issue with Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. He dismissed the Ravens’ complaints with the figurative back of his hand.

“Maybe those guys got to study the rule book and figure it out,” Brady sniffed. “We obviously knew what we were doing, and we made some pretty important plays … I don’t know what’s deceiving about that. They should figure it out.”

Now we have a big hoo-ha over the (allegedly) deflated footballs the Patriots used on offense during the AFC championship game.

The weight of the footballs hardly mattered against the Colts. The Patriots won 45-7. They dominated from start to finish.

The tampering allegations seem irrelevant. The Patriots could have replaced regulation footballs with almost any inanimate object and kept rolling.

Toaster ovens, clock radios, stuffed wolverines, grandma’s purse … it appeared almost anything would have worked for them against Indianapolis.

They blocked. They tackled. They imposed their will. The Colts have no beef and neither does anybody else.

The Patriots haven’t cheated their way to constant contention during Belichick’s reign. They stayed in the chase with brilliant coaching, tremendous quarterback play and a total franchise commitment to winning.

But the Patriots do have a reputation for pulling shenanigans, most famously in the “Spygate” controversy in 2007. Team operatives videotaped the defensive signals by their opponents and got nabbed.

The league’s decision to destroy the evidence gathered in that investigation smacked of a cover-up. What exactly was on those tapes? How damning was the evidence?

Since fans didn’t get to find out, their imaginations ran wild.

Rams fans will go to their graves believing the Patriots stole Super Bowl XXXVI because the team videotaped coach Mike Martz’s walk-through session at the end of the practice week.

The Boston Herald reported that allegation in 2008, then walked it back. The Patriots denied the illicit taping and no hard evidence came to light.

Still, former Rams great Marshall Faulk is among those who have wondered aloud about these allegations, other “Spygate” revelations, the subsequent NFL sanctions and the Patriots’ inability to win a Super Bowl since then.

“The question is, how did they become a championship team?” Faulk asked WEEI radio this time last year. “Listen, I’m not going to be the only one to say this: Ever since they got fined and, ‘OK, we’re not doing that anymore,’ they’ve won how many Super Bowls?”

Well, none yet, but it’s not like the Patriots went into the tank after absorbing that league wrist slap.

Since “Spygate” became all the rage, the Patriots have posted a 99-28 regular-season record. They have won seven AFC East Division titles, eight playoff games and three AFC championships.

Since that fateful Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans, the Patriots have only missed the playoffs twice. Such success in the parity-driven NFL is astounding.

Just ask the Rams. They have only made the playoffs twice since that game, and one of those excursions came after an 8-8 season.

Things turned bad for them in 2005 and stayed bad. While the Patriots kept winning, the Rams went 6-10, 8-8, 3-13. 2-14, 1-15, 7-9, 2-14, 7-8-1, 7-9 and 6-10 in consecutive seasons.

That Super Bowl XXXVI loss seemed to break Martz as a head coach. He waited too long to make adjustments to New England’s aggressive pass coverage.

His players made too many big mistakes. Their big comeback started too late. The loss crushed him.

Martz began unraveling, as did the “Greatest Show on Turf.” He exited the Rams during the 2005 season and never got to run his own team again.

(Perhaps Martz can revive his career in Cleveland if the Browns bring him on board as offensive coordinator. Imagine him working with quarterback Johnny Manziel. Mad Mike + Johnny Football = endless entertainment!)

After Martz’s demise at Rams Park, Joe Vitt, Scott Linehan, Jim Haslett, Steve Spagnuolo and Jeff Fisher took their turns failing.

Meanwhile the Patriots just kept winning. Folks can question the legitimacy of that sustained success, but that’s just loser talk.

Belichick is the NFL’s best coach. He keeps winning while operating on his own terms.

He dresses for games like he is headed to a Dumpster dive. His dour public countenance reinforces his cold-blooded manner.

The cocksure Brady gives him the ultimate advantage. Other players come and go, assistant coaches come and go, personnel guys come and go, but Belichick just keeps winning.

Now the hooded genius is headed back to the Super Bowl stage. He will stand in the media glare and glare right back.

Somebody will ask about deflated footballs and cheating and integrity. Belichick will utter a non-answer or two.

Then he will go right back to work, looking for the edge.

wv wrote:

Laram – on Olson

He did some very nice things taking over for Linny when he was here.

He showed better patience and balance, and IMO THAT was one of the best Rams offenses in many years.

Less error prone and more of what I wished the GSOE would have been.

People love that offense for the sizzle, but I would take the 2006 offense if I wanted to win championships.

Wish him well.

You know, I agree with all of that. Jackson’s best games as a Ram, too.

Winnbrad wrote:

Brady and Belli are as good as it gets at their jobs. Everyone else on that team can stay or go, but those two are the heart and soul.

Or, the primary processing center and the practical execution implementer.

Just sounds better, in this one case, than “heart” and “soul”….

he can design plays that GET guys open and even better, got them open on the move. And we NEED that because Schotty couldn’t.

You and I differ on Schott, though not on Chudzinski. I think C is everything you say he is. I would say Schott could get receivers open when he had receivers and a qb. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that often he had both. By far the best WRs he had were in 2014, and he didn’t have the qb. Buy far the best qb he had was Bradford, but in 2013 they had little or nothing and in 2012 they had Gibson and Amendola. What Schott showed me in 2012 was as little as he had DA, he used him better than anyone has before and since, and was even getting him long balls deep.

Last year even with Davis and Hill, you put their numbers up combined, according to PFF the Davis/Hill qb would be 9th in the league in attempts of 20 yards or more. So there’s a vertical game to Schott…when he has the qb and a WR.

But that’s the past. Just an interesting difference of opinion.

Chud would be good. In fact the way you put all that, I think the offense wouldn’t be that different from what they’ve had.

At the same time, nothing in Van Pelt makes me wary of him, and I like his graduate school degree (ie. coaching for McCarthy).

There are only so many experienced coordinators available. Most experienced coordinators were once position coaches who got promoted. It’s just that when it comes to this part of it, we as fans know far less. So it’s harder to assess it.

Rams set for Senior Bowl week

By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/15535/rams-set-for-senior-bowl-week

EARTH CITY, Mo. — Whether it’s a coincidence or not, the St. Louis Rams have become big proponents of using the offseason’s biggest all-star game as a finding ground for a number of their draft picks.

This week’s Senior Bowl, set to take place again in Mobile, Alabama, is the most well-known game of the all-star season and has proved in the past three years to be a popular place for the Rams to nail down evaluations of players.

General manager Les Snead said that isn’t necessarily by design but also doesn’t deny that drafting talented seniors can help get results a little faster.

“Never do you have preference for a senior,” Snead said. “I think when you take a senior versus a younger kid, usually you know that senior is probably going to be more ready to play than the younger kid. There’s a lot of young kids coming out and you see the names every day. So you better be able to work it both ways. I think the development plan for success is different for each one.”

In the three years with Snead as the general manager and Jeff Fisher as coach, the Rams have actually struck a balance between taking more polished seniors and grabbing younger players with upside. They have erred toward upside on players like offensive tackle Greg Robinson and defensive tackle Michael Brockers but they’ve also drafted former Senior Bowlers such as receiver Brian Quick, cornerback Janoris Jenkins, running back Isaiah Pead, safety T.J. McDonald and, the biggest prize of all in defensive tackle Aaron Donald.

Although Robinson went 11 spots higher than Donald in the draft, the Rams knew they were getting a much more polished product in Donald, something that was exceedingly clear when Donald dominated the 2014 Senior Bowl.

“Greg being a redshirt sophomore, Aaron being a four year starter, they’re really only one year apart, I don’t know the calendar age but Greg got redshirted, started let’s call it 24 games,” Snead said. “Aaron didn’t get redshirted, started 48 games and he got 24 more starts than Greg. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take Greg. It means Greg is going to learn some of the things Aaron learned in those last 24 out here in the NFL so you have just got to have a different plan for success. Historically, I think seniors are more mentally mature than the younger kids.”

This year, the Rams once again head to the Senior Bowl with a preliminary draft board in place. Obviously, the scouting staff has been working all year on many of those who will play in Mobile but the week offers a chance for the coaches to get a first look at some top prospects and some lesser-known prospects an opportunity to perform against better competition.

According to Snead, the Rams have already narrowed their board of players to less than 500 following the December meetings in which the area scouts return to town and start sifting through prospects with Snead. Coincidentally, Snead finds that the initial board they have now is often more accurate than ones that will come later after things like the scouting combine.

“You’re always doing studies on where’d you have him and how did he turn out?” Snead said. “We set it in the summer for the first time then December we come back and do a little bit of a reset and then maybe post-all-star, post-combine then we go through the spring and then one final [board]. So you analyze how you do your boards, usually the one in December is where you’re right because that’s them playing football.”

This Senior Bowl should have the Rams taking a closer look at the quarterbacks and offensive linemen in place. Oregon State’s Sean Mannion, East Carolina’s Shane Carden, Baylor’s Bryce Petty, Alabama’s Blake Sims, Colorado State’s Garrett Grayson and Auburn’s Nick Marshall are the six signal-callers in place. None are expected to be first-round choices but any could emerge as an intriguing option for a team like the Rams later on.

All told, even if the Senior Bowl isn’t the end all, be all for the Rams’ evaluation efforts, it is an important piece in the process.

“The Senior Bowl is really good,” Snead said. “Seniors, they get to go compete against guys that are going to be in the NFL so you get to see their competitiveness. Let’s talk wide receivers. A lot of times, they are not getting pressed in college. In this game you get to go see them press. It doesn’t mean that will be a deal breaker but you can see how they get off the press, how far is he away to get off so there’s things you can see at the Senior Bowl that all of a sudden these kids coming from the college offenses haven’t done. A lot of times you don’t do that in college. That’s what the Senior Bowl is to me.”

Rams want to interview Van Pelt, Chudzinski for OC job

By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/rams-report/rams-want-to-interview-van-pelt-chudzinski-for-oc-job/article_ff597024-7927-53f8-9411-c5d793a05450.html

The Rams’ deliberate search for an offensive coordinator picked up pace Monday when the team requested permission to interview a pair of candidates whose teams were eliminated Sunday in the NFL’s conference championships games.

The Rams sent in a request on Green Bay quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt, and also on Rob Chudzinski, who was special assistant to head coach Chuck Pagano in Indianapolis.

Chudzinski, 46, was head coach of the Cleveland Browns in 2013 and has had previous NFL stints with Carolina, San Diego and the Browns as an assistant.

Van Pelt, 44, has spent the past three seasons with the Packers, having also worked for Buffalo and Tampa Bay.

Monday’s developments bring to five the number of known candidates the Rams have either sought permission or been granted permission to interview. Two of them, Greg Roman (to Buffalo) and Kyle Shanahan (to Atlanta), have taken jobs elsewhere. Denver’s Adam Gase is the other candidate, but he remains in the mix in Baltimore, Jacksonville, and Chicago.

Greg Olson, most recently with Oakland, and Nathaniel Hackett, most recently with Buffalo, also remain possibilities for the offensive coordinator job that opened when Brian Schottenheimer left to take the same position in the college ranks at Georgia earlier this month.

Chudzinski is a fan darling. He’s the better known commodity.

The positive spin on Van Pelt:

This would be a promotion, from position coach to coordinator. That’s a typical thing. There are only so many out of work experienced coordinators.

He was only a coordinator for one year.

I don’t look at offensive rankings for coordinators. As often as not it’s misleading out of context.

He has been the qb coach in Green bay, after having other positions before that. That means his most recent run is as an assistant to McCarthy in Green Bay, and there is nothing bad about THAT.

It also means he’s a WCO guy, probably. From the looks of things he ran a WCO in Buffalo his one year as a coordinator. So yeah he’s a WCO guy.

Josh Freeman was pretty promising in Tampa when he was the Bux qb coach.

PA Ram wrote:

Maybe working with Aaron Rodgers makes them good candidates?

It’s more like McCarthy has a good eye for offensive coaching talent. Plus, the Rodgers part is irrelevant. It’s working with McCarthy that makes them interesting.