No fun seeing incontrovertible evidence that one has overrated one’s players, coaches, and FO. Sigh...
An ‘Emperor has no clothes’ moment for me.
I waited a day to post because I wanted to wait until I was less angry, frankly.
I’ve now calmed down and have read all the many fine posts by others plus the excellent Vinny piece posted by tonyde.
Our problems are many and some are quite serious. Unfortunately, they will require planning and time to correct. The 3 biggest cannot be fixed this year so the Rams may as well recognize that and focus on planning for the best possible ‘20 season. If that seems negative to some, so be it. I call it being pragmatic.
In no particular order here are the Big Three problems as I see it.
We don’t have an NFL Offensive line. There, I said it. We’ve gone from a top 2-3 unit in ‘17 and ‘18 to one of, if not the league’s worst in one season. I know that everybody knows this including our opponents, but it needs to be stated nonetheless. This is unforgivable on the part of the FO and the coaches. A violation of Football 101. Consequently, all parts of the O are compromised, including all those highly paid skill players. More about that in a moment.
Todd Gurley is a shadow of his former self. It’s not his fault and I’m not blaming him for his arthritic knee. He can still flash at times, but he cannot be counted on when the chips are down as was once the case. He no longer strikes fear into the heart of opposing D’s. Again, not breaking news but it needs to be stated. Unfortunately, this condition will never improve. There must be a plan for moving beyond Gurley in order to re-eastablish an elite type RB multi purpose threat. Snead/McVay May need to think outside the box to solve this problem.
The third big problem will take the longest to correct, and the maddening thing is that it was self inflicted. I’m talking about massive contracts to players that cannot be counted on to earn them. Namely Gurley and Cooks, although it’s fair to ask why they couldn’t have waited until after seeing Goff this season before locking him up. Why always the big rush to extend our players? The problem is that the ripple effects of these contracts make the players uncuttable and untradeable for years. Now the Rams are trapped cap wise just when they desperately need to bring in inexpensive top talent in several areas, not the least of which seems to be the OL.
Those are just the 3 biggest problems as I see it.
Two others are worthy of mention, but don’t have quite the importance of the above three.
McVay seems to have lost his Mojo. Yeah, I know that his OL and Gurley problems somewhat tie his hands, but still. I think that the ‘old’ McVay could have done a better job of coaching Goff through this, made quicker adjustments to D strategy, and maybe better coped his playcalling when needed. Nobody is calling McVay a genius anymore, are they?
That Ramsey trade looked good after the Falcon game, but how about now? Those future 1sts would sure be handy as the Rams try to rebuild this OL. And the departed Marcus Peters has turned into Superman after leaving the Rams (for a song in exchange, btw). So, here’s my question. And it seems to come up every year. Is Wade the best DC for this roster? I wonder.
After re-reading the above there is a sobering conclusion. All are serious issues and none are quick fixes. The Rams have painted themselves into a corner on many fronts. Sigh...
