Fire Linehan? Promote Haslett?

[laram0]

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

[Javaman]

If you are looking at the stats then you have to mention that based on stats from NFL.com/stats the defense has improved to 17th in the league from 23rd in the league while the offense has gone from 6th to 22nd. With our defensive stats being relatively the same as the previous year this must mean that offenses have improved throughout the league(except for the Rams). This may be due to the fact of injuries on the offensive side of the ball but the defense has had its share too. Currently playing without 3 key starters. Coottoes to the defense this year. They aren't dominate but they are improving. Haslett is explosive and maybe that is what the rams need. I can't imagine Bulger or Holt going off on him. While saying that, I much rather have Haslett as a defensive coordinator.

[VegasRam]

Interesting post.

I'd be curious to see number of plays and time of possession, against our defense, for both years.

Our schedule might have been a bit tougher based on 8-8 vs. 6-10, but still, the numbers are discouraginly similar.

[rammiser]

This comparison really isnt fair for either the offense or the defense. Whether it be injuries or play calling or both. The way the offense goes does dictate the way the defense goes. This defense was on the field a lot in the second half of almost every game this year because of the offense stinking up the joint. I think the defense did improve because we allowed like 2 rushers all year to go over 100yds and that was the last two games of the year. We allowed 10 rb's to go for over 100 yds last year. I would say that is an improvement. in 06 we were allowing 112 yds rushing per game this year with a terrible offense we allowed 95 yds per game, that is 17 yds better than last year. I think we improved and teams were blowing us out in a lot of games in the second half and still could run great on us. So I think the defense did improve considering the bad situations they were put in by our offense. Also at one point werent the Rams defense leading the league in most 3 and outs forced. Don't know where they finished in that stat but that is impressive as well.

[prof22693]

Interesting points.

Though this may not be totally on topic, most people seem to forget in 2005 when we were 6-10, we were without Bulger for like 9 games. He was off to a great start I remember, then he got injured in the Monday Night game against the Colts, who we were whupping in their house, who came back and beat us after Bulger left. Injuries are injuries, there is no denying it; you can't guarantee success when you have guys like Leonard Little, Steven Jackson, Marc Bulger, Orlando Pace, Romberg, Setterstrom, and several WRs missing significant time. You can't expect the coach to call the same plays with backup personnel and guys off the street as laram0 pointed out, because we have to end up calling more protection plays to keep our QB safe, so he isn't destroyed before throwing the ball. I do think Haslett should remain the D-coordinator, he will be able to have even more new, young defensive personnel to pick up this off-season.

Back to the topic though, I think the stats are misleading and if you watch the games you can see more improvement from the defense than in 2006. As rammiser pointed out;

This comparison really isnt fair for either the offense or the defense. Whether it be injuries or play calling or both. The way the offense goes does dictate the way the defense goes. This defense was on the field a lot in the second half of almost every game this year because of the offense stinking up the joint.

This is very true, and one side of the ball effects the other. I think it is clear we have had improvement on defense.

[dorotheajn]

Haslett is a fair defensive coach but I would not want him as Head coach

His statistics in New Orleans were not very good.

[r8rh8rmike]

The most disturbing aspect of Haslett's defense was the Marmie-like 27.4 points allowed per game, up from 23.8 in 2006.

[St.Louis Ram 56]

I think Comparing Hasslett's Career at N.0, . , would be wrong, The Talent is totally different, Id rather start next year with Haslett than Linihan...Rebuild the Offensive Line through the draft and Freeagents ( thats where we hurt bad) and I think we have something....Besides do Linebackers make bad decisions.....nawwwwww

Cheerz....