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Steve
Wow, they fell apart....I think I don't want to watch the rest of the 1995 games, lol.
Well, the next game they got totally dismantled by the 49ers and were never the same...Thus the saying by Dana Stubblefield, "They're the same old sorry ass Rams." It was smoke & mirrors early, Brooks was over his head as a Head Coach and his coordinators were DC Willie Shaw (Father of Stanford HC David Shaw) and Jack Reily was the OC....49ers outscored the Rams that year in two games 85-23.
General Manager Steve Ortmayer tried to build them like the Raiders bringing in questionable players. Drafting Lawrence Phillips & Eddie Kennison over the likes of Eddie George & Marvin Harrison. Considering they were coming off of 5 straight years of losing the 7-9 record was not bad factoring in the move too, but Shaw stated in 96 that after the move, he could now focus on the football operations and quickly fired Ortmayer & Brooks after a 6-10 finish in 96.
The Brooks hiring was an odd one as it appeared the Rams were focused on Ray Rhodes back then, but he was quickly hired by the Eagles before he ever got to St. Louis. Everyone thought they would interview Alabama HC Gene Stallings, who was HC of the St. Louis Cardinals, but it just never happen and then reports serviced they were really considering CFL HC Don Matthews and at the last minute went with Brooks, whose Oregon team had an epic year, but had only like a handful of winning seasons in almost 20 years at Eugene.
In fairness to Brooks, he said he spoiled the St. Louis faithful early with the 5-1 start, but he was 8-18 after the start and the 42-6 drubbing in 96 to the Steelers with Brooks donning a Papa Smurf Hat sealed his fate. Thank God Dick Verneil said Yes!
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/2018 02:57AM by den-the-coach.
