at least you can't say the "show" was boring given all the drama, LOL Frustrating, annoying and disappointing of course plus with plenty of room for conjecture on some once again questionable play-calling and officiating.
The Rams have some truly talented and likable players but something is missing. Often, it seems like the team should post better records/results given their talent relative to that of their competition. At least 3 of the 4 (if not all four) losses were winnable games but you could easily make a case for 3 of the 4 being within reach.
McVay is charismatic, popular and definitely has some other positive traits and skills but he sure does some repeatedly confounding and fairly obtuse things for a "genius" head coach. He's also not posting the commensurate amount of points on the board for a team with a QB like Stafford, a now reasonably healthy and quite solid O-line, a WR combo like Kupp & Nacua plus a decent supporting cast. Something is off at the top. Difficult to have confidence in a team whose leadership is in a dubious state of competence yet again after a wretched 2022.
Despite the hype on offense the past several years, you can not even begin to compare the McVay Rams offenses (even taking out the worst years) with the GSOT between 1999-2001. Now that was offensive magic and wizadry that only DV leaving too early, an untimely fumble by Hakim in the 2000 play-offs and a definitely shady NFL cover-up over a stolen SB kept them from winning 2-3 SBs during that time.
The Rams defense is clearly young and inexperienced and Raheem is not everyone's cup of tea as DC but this offense should be performing better by now. I think A LOT has to do do with the OC/play-caller. There is TOP 5 talent on the offense yet it's producing mediocre performance. This will likely not be addressed this year as there is a fundamental shift/change that must take place inside the offense design/scheme/plan of execution and ability to adapt to changing battlefield conditions that usually does not transpire overnight inside the head of a stubborn HC/OC.
Sucks to be a bit of a Debbie Downer about that but McVay is not inspiring confidence in the troops that he'll evolve effectively sooner rather than later. This year is mostly a development year anyways but 2024 will be disappointing if some truly enlightened evolution does not transpire at the top. I'd love for Raheem to be hired elsewhere, ideally as HC for two 3rd rounders in league comp. and for McVay to relinquish play-caller control unless there's a rapid development within him. Neither is likely though. Until then, developing the young talent and seeing how much more time we can get out of father time with Stafford as he will not be easy to replace apples for apples. I was not a fan of the Higbee extension either, given his use and utility relative to the cost and limited cap dollars for lots of needs next year.
Cheers and better luck and fun next week against the NFL's darlings (Cowboys) and the referees!
- GRAM Torino
