Has anyone else noticed that Staley's defense hasn't been a juggernaut with the Chargers? Didn't the Rams lose twice to the 9'ers under Staley? Could it be that the defense is designed to win in a pass happy league so they are vulnerable to running teams? Given time, perhaps they can change the rules of their defense to add another layer of scheme to match teams like the Niners, Ravens, and Titans.
As for the offense, I have a friend who is a die hard Lions fan and he says he wouldn't call Stafford streaky, but he does have a few games every year where he just is off and you just never know when it will happen. We've seen the same from Brady as well. Remember Rodgers first game this year? But when he's on...well, he is very dynamic. And while much can be criticized of both Stafford and McVay, the inexplicable drops were also a major factor.
But there's something else we tend to miss when we drop two bad games in a row. Name me an NFL team this year who hasn't had a couple bad losses where they just looked crappy against a team they should beat? Haven't the Rams beat Brady's Bucs twice in a row?
But this thing between Shanny and McVay is really annoying. The 9'ers haven't been relevant for two years now but beating us is their Super Bowl. You can see it in their body language. It reminds me of the Fisher Rams against Seattle and SF. He built the team to beat them but that made them vulnerable to everyone else...or so it seemed for his entire tenure.
Last year at this time I posted that the Rams were a pretty good team. They just weren't great. This year, I believe they have a higher ceiling but the execution lately has been spotty at best. When they've been disciplined (Bucs, Bears, Seahawks, Texans) the results were what we expected. But they seem lost from time to time and this coaching staff is scrambling to reconfigure their schemes due to the losses of Woods, Mundt, Williams, SJD, Hollins, and DD. Teams have made adjustments to the Rams tape from the first half.
In 99, the the Rams dropped consecutive games to the Lions and Titans. They came out of it determined to perform up to their abilities the rest of the way and yet without plays from Proehl and Jones, we wouldn't be celebrating that team the way we do today. This is an extremely tough league and the best teams don't always win. But they do elevate their play when it matters most in the postseason. Sadly, the spotlight games this year (Bucs, Cards, Titans, 9'ers) have left us 1-3. The Packers, Cards, Ravens, and 9'ers are on the horizon. This is where we can accurately gauge whether or not this team has the makeup to perform when it matters most. Me, I find myself strangely pessimistic because this staff seems to be plugging holes in the dam as opposed to imposing their will like we saw in 99. I say, F the bad plays on both sides of the ball...they are inevitable. It's like trying to fix a bad marriage by addressing all the problems rather than accentuating the strengths that make the problems more manageable. I want them to be aggressive and take chances because the talent is there to win that way. Where many Ram coaches over the years have said, "Shoot, we will fix that," I want the mentality to be more like, "we may screw up a few things, but we will not lose because we didn't take the chances necessary to be dominant."
