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ZooeyModeratorOnly to find out he’s a degenerate gambler.
Okay, degenerate maybe.
But not a gambler.
Kyren Williams is going to score a TD today.
And just to make you guys super jealous…here’s the view outside my hotel window.
ZooeyModeratorStroud made some THROWS.
I’ve changed my mind on Stroud after coming across more information about him. He’s the ROY, in spite of Nacua’s epic season. My son told me last night, for instance, that Stroud led the league in TD/INT ratio AND in avg yards/game this season, and that’s only been done twice in NFL history by a QB: Montana in ’89, and Brady in ’07 (the 16-0 season).
That’s ridiculous.
ZooeyModeratorWell, since I arrived in Las Vegas yesterday morning, I am going to have to put some money where my mouth is. My wife is encouraging me to. She grew up in a family that would take a run up to Reno once or twice a year to play in some damn tournament, or other, and she has fond memories of taking buckets of her grandma’s nickles and dimes up to the cashier. I hate giving money away for nothing, so my usual approach is to take twenty bucks, and see if I can get 20 minutes or so out of it, and then walk away.
But McVay’s first year… I KNEW the Rams were better than anybody thought. So I bet something on them and won, and my wife thinks I can just – you know – do that any time I feel like it.
So the odds on Kyren Williams scoring a TD this game is, like, +140. And since the Lions don’t have a great defense, and the Rams offense is rolling, and Williams is the straw, I think that’s the money-maker for me.
And I’m also going to take the 3 points, and probably give the money right back, but…maybe not. Maybe the Rams’ll win, and I will be rolling in dough by winning both bets.
Turnovers. I think that’s going to be more important than Maher. If the Rams are + in turnovers, they win. It’s not their forte this year, unfortunately. But Goff can do it. I know he can. He can throw nutty INTs, and he can drop the ball. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.
ZooeyModeratorLooks like some of the staff weren’t helping with the culture. Maybe he got rid of some dicks.
was that the case though? i think at least in the example of gould i think more than anything it was the experience he brought. samples came in last year as a 28 year old i think. it sounded more like he was in over his head. maybe i’m wrong. maybe samples was more interested in moving up the ladder than being fully invested as a running backs coach. whereas gould – not that he isn’t necessarily trying to promote – but he brings years of experience as an assistant coach. he’s got like thirty years of experience on samples – at various positions. it was a rather abrupt change. i think samples left before the season even ended. i wonder what happened there.
You are probably right. I went back through the articles where I thought I read that between the lines, and I couldn’t find anything to support that claim. It was mostly Xs and Os, and not attitude. Attitude came through elsewhere, but not in the coaching decisions.
ZooeyModeratorWho is this drunk guy?
ZooeyModerator10. Curly Lambeau
9. Joe Gibbs
8. Tom Landry
7. Bill Walsh
6. Chuck Noll
5. Paul Brown
4. George Halas
3. Don Shula
2. Vince Lombardi
1. Tommy Prothro
ZooeyModeratorIt’s not that the Rams don’t use play-action concepts anymore; there just has been a deemphasis on using them.
One of the knocks on Stafford when the Rams acquired him was that he didn’t like play action.
Maybe he knows what he is doing.
January 11, 2024 at 8:26 pm in reply to: hiring/firing around the league (including Carroll & Belichick) #148626ZooeyModeratorI think we can ALL agree that Belichick and Brady are both assholes.
So let’s not lose sight of that when we evaluate their distant rankings below various Rams luminaries.
ZooeyModeratorJourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue Rams RB Kyren Williams had a good comment on position coach Ron Gould in his first year in the role in the NFL: “He cares a lot about his players … He gives as much to all of us as he does individually to us. He allows me to slow myself down and understand the game that is actually in front of me. … When he got here, he sat me down and (taught) me the game of football. His motto is, ‘understanding leads to control.’ If you understand what you’re doing, you can control the situation depending on you.”
This ties in with the description of McVay’s revamping of the coaching staff. He deliberately hired guys with a positive attitude and an ability to teach. Looks like some of the staff weren’t helping with the culture. Maybe he got rid of some dicks.
Looks like everyone is having fun now.
ZooeyModeratorOne thing you have to respect about Goff is the way he handled the 3-13 year. 2021. Rams win Super Bowl with Stafford. What a kick in the gut. And he just keeps working. w v
Nobody: The sun never sets on the British Empire.
Goff: Wait. I thought someone said it sets in the west.
Yeah, he’s a good chap, old Goff. I hope he strongly rebounds from the most futile performance of his career this Sunday night.
ZooeyModeratorI wonder what the odds in Vegas are that this will be a forgettable game.
Seasons and games come and go, and some of them leave an indelible, Instant Recall impression, and the others mush together like a couple of donuts left on a summertime dashboard.
I think I will have instant recall of this season and of this playoff game 10 years from now.
ZooeyModeratorThat place will be rockin’ and the crowd will be insane. Detroit hasn’t been this excited since Sparky Anderson and Kirk Gibson wore Tiger pinstripes, or when Bill Lambeer made Draymond Green look like a mild mannered basketball player. Lion’s haven’t won in the playoffs since Plymouths and Pontiacs were rolling off the assembly lines. It’s been a long time. That city and team is starving.
Yep.
The Rams can’t afford any mistakes in the 1st quarter.
ZooeyModeratorAnd how did Alliser Thorne’s coaching career end?
ZooeyModeratorI’d put George Allen in the top three, at least in my lifetime. He helped turn a basement-dweller program into a league powerhouse. They had just one winning season in the ten years prior to his tenure, and were 4-10 before he took over. But Allen’s methods probably couldn’t work in one locale for long. He tended to tick off the FO. Kinda like Martz. Which makes me wonder how good that pairing might have been — if we could time-travel a bit: Allen as HC/Martz as his OC. Another thing to consider: McVay’s route to HC basically skipped over the usual process of spending years and years moving up the coaching ladder. Unlike any previous Rams coach, he didn’t log umpteen years as assistant/position/unit coordinator, etc. So he’s done a hell of a lot of OJT. The vast majority of coaches his age are still climbing that ladder, etc. But McVay likely won’t be coaching beyond, say, 40. Allen was 48 or so before he got the Rams’ job.
I thought about Allen, and what you say is true. I didn’t include him, so thanks for bringing him up.
Allen has the highest winning percentage of any Rams head coach (who coached more than one season) by far. It’s like .742. McVay is second at ~.650, or thereabouts.
I just thought…Allen was also kind of a short tenure, and also never made the Show. But he was an effective coach, for sure.
ZN makes a good point that Vermeil started with nothing, and built a champion in 2 years. McVay started with a fairly strong hand. Even Fisher might have won some games with it if he hadn’t been sacked when he was. There were 8 Pro Bowlers and 7 All Pros on that team.
Good draft that year, too, btw: Gerald Everett, Cooper Kupp, John Johnson, Josh Reynolds, Samson Ebukam. And Johnny Mundt as an undrafted FA. All 6 of those guys are still in the league in the 7th season of their career. That’s purty good.
ZooeyModerator“… How can you surround yourself with people that’ll tell you, ‘Hey, you’re messed up here, man.’ That’s a big thing, too. In a lot of instances, I still want to be coached. I still need to be coached. And so (I) want to always be open-minded, continuously learning. …”
You dont hear that a lot.
No, you don’t. And I think that’s kind of strange. That is the way I ran my theatre. I did it that way because it seemed practical. Like… when you see leaders or bosses who don’t acknowledge their mistakes and weaknesses, but try to hold their team accountable for mistakes and weaknesses… the only people they are fooling are themselves. The fact that you swagger around being the boss doesn’t conceal your errors from your team. May as well own up to it, and create a climate where people can own up to their own mistakes, and grow from it. That’s the difference between a leader and a boss. And it just seems so obvious to me that I don’t know why people let their egos make the wrong leadership decision in this regard. It’s self-defeating, ultimately.
Viva Leadership. Down with Bosses!
ZooeyModeratorSeattleRams@seattlerams_nflQ: What do these three players have in common?Isiah LikelyLuke MusgraveDallas GoedertA: All three are TE’s who had 50+ yards receiving against the Rams defense in 2023. Each time a TE has gone for 50+, the Rams have lost.Sam LaPorta’s injury status is massive this week.Okay, but this fails to take into account that the Rams defense has been saving up all of its turnover allotment for the playoffs. The Lions’ TE can get 50 + yards, but with 2 INTs and 2 fumble recoveries game-planned into this thing, the Rams will be fine.
ZooeyModeratorThis is another reason why I think it’s important for the Rams to get up on the Lions early. They need to score first, and score second, and fill that stadium with horror from the seats right down into Goff’s head. The Rams winning this game would be a NIGHTMARE for Detroit.
Bad post.
The reason I’m referring to is perhaps clear only if you watch the video. The reason is that the stadium is going to Kingdome/Superdome level of loud.
Detroit is absolutely starving to death to see the Lions win a playoff game, and they are believers in this team. If the Lions get out on top early, the Rams will have to go silent count the rest of the game. They haven’t had to do that all year.
I think it’s very important that the Rams shut that crowd up early, and make them sit there in fear, rather than get excited.
ZooeyModeratorJourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigueSean McVay walks into a packed-to-the-brim press room. “Oh, shit, the game must be important.”Is it safe to say now that McVay is the greatest coach in Rams’ history?
I think it is. Robinson, Vermeil, Knox…those are the only other guys to get in that discussion. While creating great runs for the Rams, neither Knox nor Robinson got to the Super Bowl, so I think they’re out, in spite of sustained success in the regular season.
Vermeil pulled a miracle, but then left.
McVay has been to the Super Bowl twice, winning once, and then did whatever the hell this year was/is.
I think it’s McVay.
ZooeyModeratorIf I recall there was an earlier thread that was more optimistic. Then we found out Kupp wouldn’t be playing for a while. Since we didn’t know about Nacua and Wms yet, at that point (very early) losing Kupp took some air out of people’s optimism.
Kupp was flying around the country, getting more medical opinions right before the season started. That’s weird. Guys don’t do that for conventional injuries.
And, frankly, Kupp hasn’t been the same this year. I wonder if he has some kind of problem that they aren’t disclosing.
ZooeyModeratorIf Morris gets hired away from the Rams, how about Staley returning as HC? I think it’s unlikely he will get hired as a HC anywhere else for next year, and returning to the Rams as DC means he doesn’t have to move his family, and he knows McVay, and it’s a good gig.
ZooeyModeratorOne major Rams’ advantage this Sunday, the Rams’ coaching staff, specifically play calling in crucial moments. I’ve watched almost every Lions game since “The Trade” ….Dan Campbell takes foolish risks that cost the Lions a lot of games in the Goff era the past 3 seasons.
Holy shit! Tell us more about the Lions. Does Goff still make inexplicable throws to nobody from time-to-time? What do you think of the Lions’ D-line? Somebody was saying that their secondary is pretty bad except for one guy (Branch?), and that Sutton is particularly terrible. Does Sutton play a lot? How big of a blow is it to them if LaPorta can’t play? Is there anybody to keep a particular eye on?
ZooeyModeratorAnybody remember their pre-season prediction for this season ? I cant remember what i predicted. Pretty sure i didnt predict 10 wins, though. w v
ZooeyModeratorThis is another reason why I think it’s important for the Rams to get up on the Lions early. They need to score first, and score second, and fill that stadium with horror from the seats right down into Goff’s head. The Rams winning this game would be a NIGHTMARE for Detroit.
ZooeyModeratorZooeyModeratorNoteboom will be an interesting decision. How much is he really worth to the Rams? w v
His 2024 cap hit is 20 M. He ain’t worth 20 M.
He has been a valuable 6th guy. A very valuable 6th guy.
But they are paying him starter money, and so cap variables are going to decide his fate.
ZooeyModeratorWe were more pessimistic than i remembered. So many things emerged or came-together. The Oline, mainly, i guess. Always seems to start there. w v
I remember thinking they were an 8-9 or 9-8 team, and I recall zn thinking the same thing. I remember exchanges where we agreed they were not going to be in the “Caleb Williams Sweepstakes.” With Stafford, Kupp, and better luck on the injury front in the OL, I thought they would be middle of the pack.
On offense, they exceeded my expectations in that Williams is far superior to Akers, and Nacua…nobody saw Nacua coming.
On defense, they exceeded my expectations, too. I expected problems up front with the loss of Robinson, S J-D, and Gaines. I did not expect anything from Young or Turner. Oh, and, Jones HAS arrived. I expected more from Durant.
Special teams is worse than I could have imagined. I’ve never seen such terrible place-kicking in my life. I’ve always taken a PK for granted. Heck, the year they picked Sloman up from Hooters went better than this. It’s hard to believe there are not 32 people who can hit 75% of FGs, or whatever.
ZooeyModeratorAnybody remember their pre-season prediction for this season ? I cant remember what i predicted. Pretty sure i didnt predict 10 wins, though. w v
ZooeyModeratorDraft Utopia@DraftUtopiaRams have arguably healthiest depth chart in nfcFor teams playing this weekend, maybe.
The SF flagship station this morning said everyone on the 9ers is expected to be good to go except maybe Clelin Ferrell (DE), a guy the 9ers will be just fine without.
ZooeyModeratorUpdate: On the way home this evening, the SF flagship station agreed that the one thing you don’t want to face in the playoffs is a wizard QB, and the wizard QB in the NFC is Matthew Stafford.
The other thing they talked about was the accusation that Purdy is a “game manager” which is supposed to be a slight, but that’s literally the qb’s job, and all 9er fans have been watching him every week for over a year and a half, and…whatever…he does everything he’s supposed to do {sound familiar?}. They think he gets called that because he was the last guy picked in the draft, and they believe in him. These are sports nuts who have watched every game, and whose job is literally to talk about the 9ers, warriors, and SF giants.
ZooeyModeratorYou know as much about it as I do. I think it was Eisen that alleged that. I have not heard the talkers locally say so, and I didn’t watch much more of the 9ers than year than I did any other team (not named “Rams”), so it was new to me. It seems borne out statistically, but whether that’s a “thing” or not, I couldn’t say. I think it’s fair to say that Purdy has not established himself with the cool kids like Burrow, Stafford, Rodgers, Mahomes, as a guy who can bring the team back.
Since Sunday, the only chatter I have heard has been about basketball and the college thing during my 15-minute commute. The 9ers have not been “above-the-fold” news the past couple of days.
I think, generally speaking, that ALL teams are better out in front. Like…I hope the Rams get out in front of the Lions by double digits early because we know Goff isn’t as good when he is pressed.
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