Its easy to pick any game we lost and know why we are lucky to get wins.
I think the bigger picture is that some problem areas were not corrected or correctible in season.
This does not always fall at the player. It can be a coaching and scheme limitation.
1 offseason to change it all on both sides. This is a huge challenge for a new coaching staff trying to gel let alone player personnel. For the Players that we had to field because they are what we had in the offseason and who were healthy we cannot seriously know how this impacted them and what adjustments we will make and needed to make as we learned their limitations. No one that made starting line-up was as bad as they may have appeared at times but perhaps some are only as good as the fits that suited them best.
With an offseason to weigh, review and analyse I am betting they did not make a lot of mistakes they just could not make all the adjustments they require in that window because this is a team sport and it is player dependant and assignment dependant and scheme subservient. The last half or season we played pretty much 11 personnel. That is something you have to address in the offseason. That contributes to others seemly falling sown or not stepping up as it limits our options and takes away some advantages.
We should see some major tweeaks and upgrades but I am also betting that players like Ogletree are far better than he was afforded given the change from OLB to MLB to ILB over a 3 year span. I trust his talent coming into the league and I am betting he has a banner year next year. He is much more respected as a player than some of us may appreciate. He is going nowhere. Sorta like Gurley was going nowhere and look what we got there?
If Quinn had no setbacks he should recover and get stronger this offseason. He improved as the year drew on and was very limited in OTA and TC.
The Donald hold out had an impact and in some ways it was good for the younger guys but not so good for the veterans as they were forced to adjust their play and scheme fits to compensate.
It's not all half full for sure and we have WR talent but much of it was very young. Woods became a man and Kupp transittioned well and then we have to realize that P Cooper could be headed for an expanded role. Watkins also grew (mentally) and he has more to do this offseason (mentally and physically) if he wants a piece of this pie. I think we had most of the right pieces for last year and it was not a fluke or luck. You really do not overplay yourself to an 11 win season but you match-up and you prepare and you execute. Depth is likely our biggest concern. This team will not sit on thier laurels. We certainly exceeded crowd expectations but I think as a team we believed and we played and were coached to our strengths against some serious barriers/odds which I mentioned initially. Removing those barriers will allow Scouting, GM, HC and Coordinators and position coaches to collaborate and address their objectives and find the best fits for their scheme and players as well as identify wherever upgrades will be possible.
I can't wait. I am looking more for the growth jump in 2018 even more than for knee-jerk wholesale player movement which I would find crippling. I think that the biggest problem when teams do have the big improvement from one season to the next is that teams over-reach and become too reactionary and let players go and think it is plug and play. X is better than Z so goodbye. What will make more since is to look to upgrade and push competition with starters rather than simply scraping off the top and making a FA splash. Just because Player Z was bad in a key game despite being a solid fixture most of the season does not make him exposed anymore than it exposes the coaches.
We must understand why we are not going to be better next year first and fix that. Its simply not going to come down to 1 player 1 game.
Los Angeles Rams
Rap on.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/2018 04:35PM by BumRap.
