I typed it up pretty quickly, so obviously I wasn't very clear.
My argument was:
Proposition 1. Donald, a real talent, performs admirably even when the Rams as a whole do not. (as have other players)
Proposition 2. Donald performed well below his ability tonight. (as did other players)
Proposition 3. This game was a complete mess, worse in every phase than any game in recent memory. (though Vikings 2014 comes to mind.)
Those are my axioms. I hope I won't get too much pushback.
Conclusion: No player's value can be judged on the basis of this game alone.
Or, reductio ad absurdum: If we use this evidence to conclude that Austin is bad, we can also use it to conclude that Donald is bad. I don't agree with that conclusion, yet. I need to see more. After all, our buddy Austin DID score 10 TD's last year which I'm sure you haven't forgotten, and all that.
All that said, Austin really did look awful and useless. But so would a high-quality powerdrill, if you're trying to use it as a hammer.
Bottom line: Fisher's teams are getting worse, not better. Ugh.
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9er8er
How do we know Donald is a real talent?
Because he's performed like one even in the midst of what you're calling systemic failure. He didn't play well tonight, but even the best players have bad days or go through bad stretches.
It's not hard at all to tease out real talent over time. The Rams run real NFL offensive and defensive systems. Not necessarily the systems I would choose, but they are systems good players have played well in for years and years in the NFL. The Rams are anything but innovative, especially on offense, so this is all standard NFL playbook stuff. The overall talent simply isn't what people thought Snisher had created. The QB position, WR position, TE position, OL unit is weak. The LB and DB units are weak. That would be true no matter what system you put them in. Better coaching would help, but wouldn't turn them into something they're not.
