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den-the-coach

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zn
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We keep disagreeing today!

Well we agree on Kromer.

But I liked Boudreau. And when he had a line that was both relatively healthy and anchored by veterans he did well with the Rams (mostly that was 2013).

IDK if we are disagreeing and Boudreau did a nice job in Linehan's first year and most of us were aghast when Linehan fired him after 2006 to bring in Loney, however, the last couple of years under Fisher he offensive line underachieved.

What happened to the OL was injuries. And then in the end replacing injured vets with a lot of young draft picks all at once.

This is an old story .Actually it's 2 old stories. The first old story is that in the last decade the Rams have had several seasons worth of multiple extensive OL injuries of the kind that compromise the unit. The other old story is that over and over many fans just don;t account for that.
8From 2007 on these are the years where the Rams OL suffered multiple extensive injuries: 2007, 2008, 2009 (it's what ruined Bulger), 2011, 2012 (in the first half of 2012 they played 9 different replacements on the left side including center), and 2014.

In 2015 they were both young AND injured.

The only years in all of that where they were relatively healthy for most of the season were 2010 and 2013. Interestingly in 2013 the Rams OL was ranked 13th by PFF.

2016 is a whole separate story.

What happened to Long and Wells is indicative. Long had gotten over his arm surgeries and played relatively well in 2013. Then he got 2 separate injuries to the same knee. Wells meanwhile had been a pro bowl center in 2011 and had missed no starts that year. Starting in 2012 he had a series of freak injuries and infections (including a rare infection from a tick bite, ehrlichia, which put him in intensive care where he lost 40 pounds.) In 2015, Wells hurt his elbow and played with a brace, and required surgery after the season (so did Saffold).

Do you want to know how many games from 2012-15 the Rams OL was both relatively healthy and was anchored by vets? Out of 80 possible games, it was 20 total. 20 total in 5 years.

Boudreau did fine when he had a relatively healthy OL. And I don't mean completely healthy, like last year. I mean relatively healthy--just a guy or 2 misses time here and there, not multiple extensive simultaneous injuries like in most of those years.

In 2006 the OL came together and stabilized in down the stretch. Then in 2007 PB's OL fell apart due to injuries--they had 10 replacements that year, included 4 guys out for the season and 6 others for multiple games. The replacements would get injured and replaced by guys they signed during the season. That was the first year of a long series of badly injured Rams OLs.

People didn't account for it in 2007 either. I remember discussion after discussion where guys would put the offensive problems on Bulger when Bulger was playing battered (including starting with rib injuries) behind a very damaged, emergency care OL.

This is an old topic for me.



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Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/28/2018 09:43AM by zn.