And 49er fans think the Rams are afraid to play them straight up because they will lose.

I think McVay is resting his team for a four game all out push.

And…I would prefer the Eagles first, followed by the Vikings, but I don’t think it matters much, and McVay didn’t consult me anyway. Left me out of the loop on this one.

nittany ram wrote:

My first impression of Bonsignore was that he was LA’s version of Miklatz. And there are times when he can act that way.

He’s Miklasz. IMO.

Doesn’t make him wrong.

Just makes him Miklasz.

Hey. I agree with Vincent. How about that?

I totally agree that being in the best physical and mental condition possible outweighs the bracket.

zn wrote:

Here’s what the article above says–

Because the Rams are still playing at the Coliseum as a temporary facility, one of their home games is again expected to be part of the International Series and will be played in London or, possibly, Mexico City.

Author

I didn’t see that. I didn’t read the article because I had already read a similar one somewhere else. So I missed that.

I thought it was a 3 year deal, though. I don’t know why playing in a temporary facility would have anything to do with it. But…okay.

In any event, looks like they have their more challenging opponents at home.

A lot less travel than in recent years. Detroit is the farthest they go, unless there is another London game. Or are they through with the London commitment? It was 3 games, iirc, and the first one was while they were still in St. Louis.

EDIT: Well, I guess they will go once to New Orleans or Carolina.

Still. Far fewer miles than usual.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by Zooey.

Okay.

So the consensus is that the Rams should beat down the 49ers, and nobody on the Rams should get hurt.

I think that’s what I’m hearing.

joemad wrote:

Losing a QB and linemen during the season is a very common tale.

Those are specific examples on teams that salvaged seasons when Fisher never had the ability to do so. Those examples are off the top of my head, I’m sure there’s many more….

Like you said this predates Fisher, so what did he do??? Draft Tavon, sign Courtland Finnegan. Sure he drafted talent, but did he do with it? LOSE

Even Fisher’ strengths of Defense and Special teams are vastly improved without Fisher, and this is with an entirely different scheme on defense and without using Tavon as a punt decoy gimmick and going with Pharoah

McVay fixed the problems in 1 year, but MORE IMPORTANTLY McVay created a culture that is disciplined and in position to make plays to tackle to block to execute and catch. McVay’s team looks like a team that actually practices. Fisher’s looked liked a team from the Longest Yard movie

I’m tired of people defending Fisher for his lack of ability to create a winning culture. He’s not capable.

Yeah, I have noticed that the Rams tackle better this year. They did have a talented defense under Fisher, but man…dumb penalties and blown tackles….

That’s eyeballing it. I don’t have statistics. But this team is just better disciplined, and seem to be more of a “team,” although I don’t discount that winning has an effect on “team” spirit.

Fisher acquired talent. He does deserve credit for turning around the dearth of talent into a talented roster. But the guy was Moses. He led the Rams out of slavery, but couldn’t get them to the Promised Land.

McVay has completely changed the culture and brought the flipped the offense from life support to perhaps the best offense in the league.

Fisher deserves credit for acquiring much of the talent. But I don’t think ANYBODY believes he would have had the Rams at 11-4 right now, looking at a home game in the playoffs.

7-9 probably

Merry Christmas, everybody. Hope it’s a great one! The mood is certainly upbeat here!

zn wrote:

Zooey wrote:

He looks like he is going to be an elite coach.

I and probably many others agree with you on that.

Oh,I don’t think so.

I also agree on Fisher. And with what zn said about him i.e. he isn’t as good as McVay. But Fisher, I think, was a good coach who would have done better if he didn’t have that laundry list of adversity. I wouldn’t have fired him last year. I would have given him one more season. He wasn’t a creative mind offensively, didn’t appear to grasp WRs, and didn’t have room philosophically for finding somebody with a more creative offensive mind.

And – again – Jeez! – it’s not like McVay rescued Goff off the scrapheap and turned him around.

Goff would have had a better rookie year if he had had Whitworth, Sullivan, Woods, Watkins, and Kupp last year. And if Gurley had worked out during the offseason. In fact…Fisher might still be here if he had had those guys. I’m glad he’s NOT. I’m glad now that they did fire Fisher because McVay is better. He looks like he is going to be an elite coach. And his scheme has been tailored to fit Goff’s abilities. I get the idea that both McVay and Phillips are coaches who flex their schemes around the players they have, and Fisher was more the kind of guy who continued to try to force players into his scheme. McVay and Phillips are better at adapting, both in schemes, and during the game, to the conditions. They’re better coaches.

zn wrote:

Although I agree with a lot of that, just for the record and to get my own vote out there in the informal poll, I have a couple of disagreements.

First, I think Goff last year was set back by a lot of things. It includes a lack of weapons. It also includes the move, which IMO is what most disrupted the OL and OL coaching. It also includes no running game. And it also includes the fact that traditionally, college Air Raid qbs hit the NFL further behind than most.

Second, on no running game…I think a lot of that was on Gurley himself. At one point, and we have a direct quote somewhere for this, he openly said he didn’t get around to working out for “1 or 2 months” and was surprised at OTAs to find he had lost weight. Well. A guy who works out a lot is never surprised by his weight. I think he pretty much took the 2016 off-season off. Either way he did not look the same. He did not have the same energy, drive, explosion, strength…he wasn’t the same back in 2016 that he was in 2015. He DID make a point of working hard this last off-season and IMO just plain looks like a different back. Plus Whitworth makes a difference, as does Sullivan, as does Saffold playing between those 2, as does Kromer, as does LaFleur (who learned from Atlanta’s prolific running game).

So a lot of things got better but I think one of them was Gurley himself.

And then there’s McVay.

I assume McVay has some small part in this overall improvement thing. You know, he probably contributed. Did his bit. It probably did some good, whatever it was. Don’t want to minimize that or anything. (Yes kidding. McVay was huge.)

Okay, but the problem you have there is that I basically agree with all of that. If you want to start an argument, you’re going to have to argue that Goff’s trajectory is more like 6 degrees, or 8 degrees. Then we can mix it up some. But you have merely elaborated and clarified what I said rather than disagreed with it. So coal in your stocking.

Just as everybody who was calling Goff a bust last year was a moron, I think people suggesting Goff is MVP-worthy this year are also off their rockers.

I don’t remember anyone here calling him a bust, but I don’t have a sharp memory for who said what on the board. I don’t even know what I said half the time.

But it was pretty obvious to anybody who actually watched the Rams last year that Goff’s poor performance had more to do with a lack of WRs and OL than with his NFL worthiness.

Similarly, anyone watching this year can see that he has made good progress as a QB, but still needs seasoning. As someone may or may not have said somewhere else on this board, Goff hasn’t “elevated” the team himself. He has been a pretty sure-handed shepherd for this team, but he isn’t the reason they have had a dramatic turnaround. He’s part of the picture, but really McVay and the OL are the story this year…and maybe Woods and Kupp. (On offense). Gurley is a big part of the success, but Gurley was Gurley last year, too, and his resurgence is evidence of the importance of the OL. He didn’t come in great, then forget how to play football, then remember (though the move, and Hollywood did play a part, too).

Anyway. I am delighted with Goff’s growth, and his upside. But he hasn’t done a 180.

He’s been ascending at a 7 degree angle consistently from his first mini-camp.

I’m going to guess that Zuerlein has season tickets to the opera.

And he wasn’t planning on being needed in the postseason, so he set his dates.

And now…well…obviously it would be embarrassing to admit to this conflict, so…he and the Rams decided to call him out NOW, so the Rams would have time to audition a couple of kickers before the postseason starts.

Something like that, anyway.

I gotta say, though…what the hell?

Had this information in my head for 20 minutes now, and it keeps popping up with…wth?

Is this some kind of PR move because the guy is in trouble of some kind?

Cuz…this is weird.

Particularly happy for Pharoh Cooper. Bright future ahead of him as an eventual offensive starter

By starter I mean in the every down rotation with a solidified role. It’s pretty easy to figure out what I’m referring to.

He’s in line to take over Tavon’s role – and expand on it as a better asset in pass game. He’ll be an upgrade from Tavon in the run game.

And at 1/10th the salary.

I think Tavon is trade bait, and probably cut when no one takes a flyer on him.