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RockRam
I was watching a bunch of games this weekend with my wife.
I casually said that it is interesting how some teams are smart, and others just dumb.
It's not that every player is intelligent, but key players are and their decision making rubs off on others.
The Rams have become a smart team. The smartest team year after year is probably the Pats. But the Rams are getting there.
Some teams, like the Bucs, are dumb. Cincy is dumb. The Browns are dumb. Watch them and various players will make the most forehead slapping decisions at the worst possible moments.
You are right; clearly Gurley is a smart player who makes really good decisions. And you see the same thing happening in Goff (in fact, I saw a segment on some sports show that more or less said that of all the NFC QBs, which one is likely to make the best decisions during the game during the playoffs. 2 of the 3 said Goff, the 3rd said Keenum).
And as I recall, Snead said that McVay emphasizes intelligence as a high priority in selecting players.
Truly, the Pats are the smartest team and have been for many years.
Every team has a personality.
The Pats are super smart.
The Steelers are super tough.
The Ram have gone from being a stupid team under Fisher to a smart team under McVay. Its not that Fisher purposely wanted stupid players, he wanted talented players and intelligence was a fallout one way or another. So he got a mix of smart and stupid players, but he coached them to do things that were stupid, and hence all the stupid penalties came with it.
Now we got a HC who puts a premium on playing smart, much like Belichick does. We haven't had a HC who valued playing smart as much as McVay does since Vermeil.
~ max ~
“The consciousness of good intentions disdains ambiguity.” - Alexander Hamilton
