Quote
jemach
It looked like a 2916 rerun to me.
I hear this refrain in scores, maybe hundreds of posts.
It is completely understandable. But I think it is imperceptive.
As I argue in my main post for this thread (
link), I perceive a completely different team, doing things completely differently.
There were some specific results that had what I term superficial similarities to the past. For example, your remark: "I saw Gurley getting hit in the backfield."
OK, Gurley got hit in the backfield in the opening of the 1st PS game of the year. There's nothing new about a running game stalling as the PS opens. Offense are almost ALWAYS way behind defenses early, especially in the running game. Making running plays work is always a very tricky, intricate thing. I can remember playing on OLs in HS and small college that struggled early and warmed up. Indeed, one often sees early stops in games that give way to later running success. The best running teams run best in the 3rd and 4th quarter.
Furthermore, as we opened the game last night, NOTHING had yet been done to drive teams off the LOS. Teams have swarmed our LOS without fear for more than a score of games. And, as Marshall said in his commentary, DAL was playing 8 up and daring us to throw.
So, when you say you saw Gurley hit in the backfield, let's put that in context. You saw him run 4 times in the first series of PS in a new scheme with 3/5 new OL and no chance to get things rolling through multiple reps. That in and of itself is very limited evidence of anything. Hell, Marshall used to get hammered early in PS and it meant nothing.
The question is, what does the evidence of Gurley getting hit really add up to? If you see that sole fact as evidence of 2016
noch einmal, well, then you're back in Battered Fan Syndrome mode.
But, for me, that was not what was going on. Our offense played together and functioned well. The scheme repeatedly shook receivers free and we generally made catches and moved chains. DAL made some plays because they are a talented team, and we coughed the ball up. We did not kill ourselves with penalties. If you looked at what that offense was doing all night, whoever was in there, and saw 2016 again ... well, you were seeing something different from what I saw.
Look, I am just registering a different way of seeing things. I can't talk anyone into seeing things differently and I don't mean to try. Assuming this team is on the road to something better, it will take time for it to become unambiguously evident. It will take time to earn respect in people's eyes, including in the eyes of beaten up Ram fans. That's all as it should be.
I would just suggest one thing. Try to see this team in itself. Fisher is gone and 2016 is history. Many of the players are the same and many aren't. But don't just cherry pick a couple of bad facts and say "2016 again." Look at the whole of what you are seeing on the field. Look at the team's intensity, its discipline, its sharpness of execution. Look at how it conducts itself and the identity it is forging. And try to see beyond specific results--developing competence consists of many factors which may be improving while one breaks down.
Consider our lone touchdown. It looks bad to say, "We scored 1 time and that was a lucky fall on a fumble." Woods' mistake looks bad. And it is.
But, consider all the things that we were doing right after that muffed punt. The conception and execution of the play were superb. Woods ducked under those other receivers and Goff sharply threw him a dart that took him to the threshold of the GL. Go back and look at that play, freezing the fram as the fumble begins--just the chain moving throw.
Then ask yourself ... is this 2016 again?
