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AlbaNY_Ram
I know no one has a crystal ball, but what if the 2022 Rams ran more press corner or whatever defense anyone here prefers ... and they ended up giving up more points than they did ... and losing even more games in the process? Would you be happy cuz they were running 'your' defense more?
I have to think that someone in the organization suggested mixing things up more on defense and the consensus was that wouldn't work for whatever reason - personnel, coaching, matchups, inexperience ... take your pick. Were they right in what they did? In reality, there's no way to know.
Here’s what I think, fwiw. Spoiler alert. I’m not gonna hold back, rather speaking from the heart and gut here.
Morris was severely hamstrung by inferior Edge play and disappointing CB and S play. Injuries on his DL certainly did not help. I don’t hold any of that on Morris.
So he felt he was forced to compensate by excessive use of his ultra soft zone schemes. A fancy name for an essentially prevent D all game long. Personally, I think he used it more than he should’ve, that a better balanced mixture would have been more effective. Disguising coverages presnap might have been a good idea, too.
I further think that Morris made questionable starter decisions which compounded his woes. Like starting Kendrick for 5 games after Durant was cleared by doctors. Not seeing rapid development of his secondary players as we’ve seen in the past. Over reliance on Rapp. Is it possible that all of Rochell, Burgess, and Long were incapable of quality snaps for years? ALL of them? This was probably mostly on Morris’ assistants but Morris did hire and supervise them.
Tackling could have been better.
I’ll never forget how Rams didn’t protect the sidelines in that final Brady drive. Arrrrrgh!
I’m still not convinced that Morris is using Ramsey in the best possible way and I am far from the only one.
Why wait until late in the season to experiment with Hoecht at Edge? Lake and Yeast at S?
To be kind, halftime adjustments are not Morris’ strong suit. They seem nonexistent, actually.
In short, I think Morris is a personable fellow and very popular with players and press alike. But I consider him a middle of the road DC at best. We could do better.
However, IF McVay can get his O back to 28-30 ppg, and IF Snead can bring in a stud Edge and CB, THEN Rams can get back into the SB conversation. IOW, Rams can once again win it all in spite of the ordinary Morris.
There, I said it.
