Coach is a sandbagger

***RamWraith*** · -09-01-2006

This is the philosophy I am going to live by this week until the start of the season.

Little do you all know, Linehan has a little mischievous side. He has kept this entire preseason under wraps and we and the rest of the NFL will get a full taste Sunday of the greatest show on turf. I find it very hard to believe that Linehan threw all his punches this preseason. I beleive he kept his offense very vanilla to see where all his players were at, and not to expose anything until the up-coming season.

You all can be worried. But me, I am going with the sandbagger theme. Bring on the regular season!!!

***Varg6*** · -09-01-2006

Originally Posted by RamWraith

This is the philosophy I am going to live by this week until the start of the season.

Little do you all know, Linehan has a little mischievous side. He has kept this entire preseason under wraps and we and the rest of the NFL will get a full taste Sunday of the greatest show on turf. I find it very hard to believe that Linehan threw all his punches this preseason. I beleive he kept his offense very vanilla to see where all his players were at, and not to expose anything until the up-coming season.

You all can be worried. But me, I am going with the sandbagger theme. Bring on the regular season!!!

I am not concerned, and your theory makes perfect sense too. I think Linehan has the most talent from this team, and not from Minnesotta and Miami. It seems odd that he can't put together such talent, so I think you definitely have the point, and you are probably right, well I hope you're atleast.

***RAMFANRAIDERHATER*** · -09-01-2006

Ramwraith, I would say if anything, it's a "safe" philosophy, and one that helps keep us sane. I know (or, I'm pretty sure you're saying this tongue-in-cheek) but really, you can't possibly believe that, can you?

I'm not saying the Rams are doomed because of what I saw in the preseason, and I agree with you to some extent that the Rams ran a very "vanilla" offense, but then every team does that, and many of them actually scored a touchdown. But honestly, running vanilla because Linehan doesn't want to show anybody anything? What, there's some special top secret offensive scheme that nobody has ever seen before? That's funny stuff. After the first series of the first game, we'll pretty much know where the Rams are going, and so will everyone else. So why hold it back? No head coach in the NFL would fall for something like, "well, they looked so vanilla in the preseason, they must not have anything. Let's not prepare for anything out-of-the box."

Personally, I'm not worried, but curious. I've already prepared for a 8-8 season because I don't see this team doing much more than that. Anything better than that would be a very pleasant surprise. I'm a realist and I don't look through rose-colored glasses, and I know you don't turn things around over night. I would love to revisit 1999 and turn a 3-12 season into a 13-3 season, but things don't stack up like that this year. If we win some game that are "iffy", and we beat the teams we should, we can go 10-6. If we fall back into some of the problems from last year, and injuries to key people occur, another 6-10 season is also very possible. But we played "vanilla" because with a new system, you can't throw everything at them in such a short time. You just hope they get the snap to the quarterback and block the right people. ...and at that we were only marginally successful.

**r8rh8rmike** · -09-01-2006

The only thing that concerns me is the play of the offensive line. Playing things close to the vest on offense is fine, but you're certainly not going to have the line hold much of anything back, especially when Bulger's health is at stake.

I don't think there is any cause for panic, but there wasn't much opened up for Jackson and Bulger took a few vicious hits during the preseason. Things need to pull together because the play of the OL will be a major factor in the strength of the offense.

***norcalramfan*** · -09-01-2006

I think watching what happens in the trenches on offense and defense are the keyes to forcasting the success of this team. that offensive line on paper should be able to take care of business. but it's not happening so far. i do like the defense and i think they are on a faster track in becoming a strength on this team. GO RAMS!!

***RAMFANRAIDERHATER*** · -09-01-2006

Originally Posted by norcalramfan

I think watching what happens in the trenches on offense and defense are the keyes to forcasting the success of this team. that offensive line on paper should be able to take care of business. but it's not happening so far. i do like the defense and i think they are on a faster track in becoming a strength on this team. GO RAMS!!

You are absolutely correct. Teams can have all the "star" names in high profile positions, but as the lines go, so goes that team. The Rams proved that last year. Great WR's, geat QB, Great RB, but an offensive line that nearly got Bulger killed. Let's hope one more year together will help Barron and the new additions will provide depth. On defense, same story. Mediocre DB's that were exposed way too often by bad D line play.

..and I hope Haslett hangs around long enough to get this thing turned around, which I believe they're doing.

**ImJohnWayne** · -09-01-2006

Originally Posted by RAMFANRAIDERHATER

Ramwraith, I would say if anything, it's a "safe" philosophy, and one that helps keep us sane. I know (or, I'm pretty sure you're saying this tongue-in-cheek) but really, you can't possibly believe that, can you?

I'm not saying the Rams are doomed because of what I saw in the preseason, and I agree with you to some extent that the Rams ran a very "vanilla" offense, but then every team does that, and many of them actually scored a touchdown. But honestly, running vanilla because Linehan doesn't want to show anybody anything? What, there's some special top secret offensive scheme that nobody has ever seen before? That's funny stuff. After the first series of the first game, we'll pretty much know where the Rams are going, and so will everyone else. So why hold it back? No head coach in the NFL would fall for something like, "well, they looked so vanilla in the preseason, they must not have anything. Let's not prepare for anything out-of-the box."

Linehan knows how important it is to come out of the blocks with a win, ecspecially against a contender like the Broncos. Make no mistake week 1 may not be a division game or a huge rivalry game, but it is one of the biggest games of our season due to all the changes the Rams have been through in the offseason.

If Linehan is "sandbagging" it's because he doesnt want to give the Broncos anything to gameplan for. The offense has always been solid and will continue to be so.

If we can pull out a win against a team like the Broncos we could start the season 5-0 (Broncos, *****, Cardinals, Lions and Packers) going into our first meeting with Seattle. Momentum like that coming into a big home game would be invaluable.

***ramsbruce*** · -09-01-2006

Originally Posted by r8rh8rmike

The only thing that concerns me is the play of the offensive line. Playing things close to the vest on offense is fine, but you're certainly not going to have the line hold much of anything back, especially when Bulger's health is at stake.

I don't think there is any cause for panic, but there wasn't much opened up for Jackson and Bulger took a few vicious hits during the preseason. Things need to pull together because the play of the OL will be a major factor in the strength of the offense.

Agreed Mike. Maybe we did play our cards close to the vest, but that doesn't need to include our offensive line, which has looked bad. I hope the O Line will pull it together for Denver. :l