Bernie Bytes: Time to turn Bradford loose

[RamBill]

Bernie Bytes: Time to turn Bradford loose
• BY BERNIE MIKLASZ, Post-Dispatch Sports Columnist

Bernie Bytes: Time to turn Bradford loose : Stltoday

If you’ve been wondering about my sporadic appearances here recently … I’ve been down and out for close to a week, but with the help of some good medication, the bronchitis and sinus infection have cleared, so it’s back to work.

If you missed me or the Bytes, thanks for your patience and support.

If you were hoping I’d been fired or that I’d quit to open a saloon or a cigar shop — well, sorry to disappoint you.

Now that Jacksonville has passed on hiring Rams offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer as head coach, here’s my hope for 2013: turn Sam Bradford loose. The guy is a better athlete than we think. He’s mobile. He has quick feet, and good speed for a quarterback. Start taking advantage of that by making it a part of the approach. Open things up some.

I’m not suggesting that the Rams treat Bradford as if he’s, say, Colin Kaepernick and install the Pistol offense. But surely there’s a way to tap into Bradford’s athleticism and get him moving. But 2013 will be Bradford’s fourth NFL season. It will also be the first time in the NFL that he’s set up in the same offense with the same OC for a second consecutive year.

It’s time to take off the water wings.

Bradford’s progress is real, but it’s also methodical. Much of that in 2012 was by design. If you remember, before the season, head coach Jeff Fisher and Schottenheimer said that they considered 2012 to be Bradford’s rookie season. The result, in my opinion: Bradford is too programmed. I saw an instinctive quarterback at Oklahoma, a QB that could set up in an up-tempo offense and make quick decisions, make quick plays. A QB that had a feel for the game, and when to take chances.

Bradford has been turned into a Robo Quarterback here. Yes, I am exaggerating the point. But Bradford’s natural talent and instincts have been suppressed in St. Louis, at least to an extent, by a sequence of new playbooks and coordinators and a mix of bad/mediocre offensive lines and receivers.

Now that the Rams have re-established Bradford’s mechanics and fundamentals, the emphasis should be on becoming more creative and aggressive in the passing game. That would include more extensive use of the hurry-up offense, letting Bradford run the game, and putting his underrated and underutilized mobility to use in a reasonable way.

This initiative would also be enhanced by the presence of a No. 1 receiver, but the Rams haven’t had one since Torry Holt’s knees turned old. And finding one doesn’t seem to be a priority.

At least not to this point.

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The bizarre story of Manti Te’o is right with the times. It fits the modern sports culture, and the modern culture in general. It encompasses so many areas: (1) the cynical manufacturing and cultivation of image, which has been a sacred and time-honored Notre Dame tradition going back to the fiction of “Win One for the Gipper,” and the embarrassingly embellished nonsense that was “Rudy”; (2) the inherent risk of social media; (3) the hunger for narrative and frothed up drama … excellent on-field performance is not always enough, we need an “inspirational” story to enrich it; (4) the endless gullibility of media and fans, and I’m just as guilty as anyone; (5) the continued emergence and power of new-media sites to report the kind of tough and sensational news that eludes so-called mainstream media. Traditional media can continue to ignore the new paradigm, or adapt.

Sure, I had Te’o on my Heisman ballot. Not because of the narrative. But because he was an outstanding linebacker and team leader for the nation’s (at the time) No. 1 defense.

Thanks for reading …

— Bernie

[thoey]

If you were hoping I’d been fired or that I’d quit to open a saloon or a cigar shop — well, sorry to disappoint you.

Color me disappointed...

[39WillRunYaOva]

I think Fisher will really let Sam play a much more up tempo game and let him actually try to win games now rather than just manage into the 4th.

[Vinnie25]

I think that Sam has the potential to be an Aaron Rodger's type QB, but only if we surround him with the same kind of weapons that GB surrounded Aaron with. It took Rodger's about 3-4 years to realize his potential and I think it'll take Sam around the same amount of time. Sam's a couple inches taller than Aaron, but they both have quick releases, are pretty athletic/mobile, and throw a good deep ball. As it stands the Rams already have a better offensive line than GB, and hopefully we could add another WR/TE weapon this offseason (either through the draft or FA).