I think we all feel like Haslett is his own man. Meaning Linehan gives Haslett free reign as far as running our defense goes. So we are constantly comparing the job Haslett is doing to the job Linehan (running our offense) is doing with our offense. Both sides of the ball have had their share of injuries but still the majority of our injuries this season has been on the offense.
Here are the comparisons 2007 vs 2006 (1 game left to be played in 2007)
I've left off the NFL rankings on purpose because this is strictly a RAMS to RAMS comparison.
RAMS 2007 OFFENSE:
Overall- 301.7 ypg
Points- 16.3 ppg
Passing- 204.9 ypg
Rushing- 96.8 ypg
Sacked- 45
Int's- 25
Fumbles Lost- 9
20+ yard plays- 49
40+ yard plays- 6
"Backup/2nd Stringer"-Gus Frerotte is responsible for 11 int's and 1 Lost fumble himself.
RAMS 2006 OFFENSE:
Overall- 360.4 ypg
Points- 22.9 ppg
Passing- 247.6 ypg
Rushing- 112.8 ypg
Sacked- 49
Int's- 8
Fumbles Lost- 10
20+ yard plays- 71
40+ yard plays- 11
Our 2007 Offense has struggled all season "BECAUSE OF INJURIES" there's no denying it. Some feel it's poor play calling, I personally don't agree. Let's face it backups are backups for a reason and practice squad players are on the practice squad for a reason. The starters are the starters because they give us our best chance to be successful. Our overall play on offense has been affected by "INJURIES". Every aspect of our offense has suffered from protecting the quarterback to play calling. Hobbled wide receivers, a decimated offense line and "INJURIES" to our two key offense players (Marc Bulger &
Steven Jackson) have forced a change in our play calling. I mean we've had to play 2nd and 3rd stringers not to mention practice squad players and even signed guys off of the street. How on earth we can expect any offensive consistency with the mix and match lineup we go to war with every game. How do we call the plays that we want to knowing that we're not protecting our bread and butter the way we should be able to or creating running lanes for our stud runningback. Passing and running play calls have to be adjusted because of our offensive line "INJURIES". Sorry but I'm not ready to FIRE Linehan. Go back and look at our 2006 offense. Also let's not forget Linehan took over a 6-10 team and brought us to 8-8.
Promote Haslett?
It seems like our defense has improved from 2006 to 2007. Has it?
RAMS 2007 DEFENSE:
Overall- 335.7 ypg
Points Allowed- 26 ppg
Pass D- 220.9
Rush D- 114.8
Sacks- 31
Int's- 16
Fumble Recoveries- 6
20+ yard plays- 54
40+ yard plays- 8
RAMS 2006 DEFENSE:
Overall- 335.1 ypg
Points Allowed- 23.8 ppg
Pass D- 189.7 ypg
Rush D- 145.4 ypg
Sacks- 34
Int's- 17
Fumble Recoveries- 10
20+ yard plays- 58
40+ yard plays- 10
Our offense has hurt our defense with alot more turnovers in 2007 compared to 2006 so I will give Haslett's points allowed defense a pass in that area. Our run defense has improved greatly but our pass defense has slipped. We are basically allowing the same amount of overall yardage per game. This all kind of surprises me because I too thought our defense was much better than last season. I am pro Haslett as well as pro Linehan at least for 1 more season but to suggest that Haslett should take over the team just doesn't make sense to me. What has Haslett done??? He's seems to be gradually getting our defense in line but there's still a long way to go.
I would like to see both Linehan and Haslett back for 2008 filling the positions we hired them for.
The sad news is that we have only 1 regular season game left and then the very looooong off season to deal with.:x