Does anyone still think we are a playoff team, part 2

[general counsel]

Hi again. Repeating my post following the new england game.

No one on this board has been more upbeat than me all year. I had us going 13-3. Coming out of the bye week, i was still talking 12-4.

However, please note that the sound you all hear in the background is the crashing closed of the window, which in reality closed the day turley was declared out for the year.

This has been a tremendous rams run since 1999. It is over. End of story, there is no reason to believe that we are going to be a dominant team in the immediate future without addressing MAJOR personnel issues on this team. Complain all you want about martz, i just dont think we have the talent on the defense side of the ball. Our special teams are the worst in the league. We cant cover kickoffs or punts and our return game stinks.

Our defense constantly gives up big plays. Again, coaching is an issue at the margain, it is not the issue when a team performs as badly as we have defensively week after week, dating, in fact back to the detroit game at the end of last year.

We have got to get some impact linebackers. Our defensive tackles just have not stepped up. Archuleta may be hurt, but i think he is terrible in pass coverage. We give up big plays at a rate that is hard to believe. On top of that, our special teams are so bad that we are constantly giving up short fields.

Last year we lived off wilkens and creating turnovers on defense. We have not created the kind of pressure on the qb this year that leads to excessive turnovers and on the few occassions that we have done so, we have gotten some wins. If seattles receivers can catch a ball that hits them in the hands, we lose both those games. We have not covered the tight end all year. Did the 3rd and 19 at the end of the half today remind anyone else of the 3rd and 28 against miami? Aeneas is a hall of famer but he is injured and at the end of his rope except as a situational player. Coady is a nice fill in guy, but hardly a starting caliber nfl safety.

Stupid penalties, blown assignments, useless timeouts, where does it end? We just cant stop anyone defensively.

Who knows, anything is possible as long as we are mathmatically alive, and i will watch every play every week and not give up hope. However, there comes a point where you really have to stop kidding yourself about things like potential and just look at execution and on defense and special teams, we do not execute like a quality football team.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

[rebel13]

Maybe Martz has some more friends around the league that he could hire to help. Like the brilliant Marmie who has helped our defense so much. Could he possibly have a friend who is good with special teams? :confused:

[DJRamFan]

IF they get there, they don't deserve to be there. I'm not saying I won't support them, I will forever. But, the games they've played out of division have been somewhat humbling.

[lakerams]

no playoffs this year. no playoffs next year either. they should have never let Lovie go. Larry Mamie? are you freakin' kidding me? is there anyone who thought that was a good idea besides Martz and Shaw? the Cardinals let him go for crying out loud. if he was that good, they would have kept him themselves. this team is in shambles.

[general counsel]

Laker, when you say that they shouldnt have let lovie go, did you feel that way after the defense got torched in both the detroit game where we blew home field and the carolina playoff game in which the defense was just terrible and failed to make adjustments?

Bottom line- the coaching only helps at the margain, the talent is not there on the defensive side of the ball.

Furthermore, how do you stand in the way of someones opportunity to become a head coach?

general counsel

[lakerams]

GC-

Lovie would be better now than Marmie don't you think. other than todays game against Indy, his defense has been solid.

also, I would never stand in someone's way of becoming a HC. I've said before that they got rid of the wrong guy and should've fired Martz and replaced him with Lovie.

[general counsel]

Laker, his defense has been solid because he has good defensive players. Today they played without his best guy in urhlacher and they got torched, granted by the colts who look like the 2001 rams. His defense would not be solid with the rams personnel. Dont get me wrong, i like lovie, and he may well be better than marmie, but at the end of the day, it comes down to the quality of the players and our guys on defense are clearly deficient on the talent side. Our tackling is terrible, just terrible. Our linebackers get knocked off the ball and are lousy in coverage. We have been banged up all year in the secondary and our defensive tackles have been ok, but certainly not above average.

Others have made the point on bobby april and that is the same point with lovie. April has the best special teams in the league in buffalo. He is a good coach. He is not a magician now, anymore than he was lousy last year. He has a lot better guys on special teams than he had with the rams. That should tell us what we need to know. Same coach, goes from last in the league to first in the league in one year. Has to be the talent.

general counsel

[rebel13]

Laker, his defense has been solid because he has good defensive players. Today they played without his best guy in urhlacher and they got torched, granted by the colts who look like the 2001 rams. His defense would not be solid with the rams personnel. Dont get me wrong, i like lovie, and he may well be better than marmie, but at the end of the day, it comes down to the quality of the players and our guys on defense are clearly deficient on the talent side. Our tackling is terrible, just terrible. Our linebackers get knocked off the ball and are lousy in coverage. We have been banged up all year in the secondary and our defensive tackles have been ok, but certainly not above average.

Others have made the point on bobby april and that is the same point with lovie. April has the best special teams in the league in buffalo. He is a good coach. He is not a magician now, anymore than he was lousy last year. He has a lot better guys on special teams than he had with the rams. That should tell us what we need to know. Same coach, goes from last in the league to first in the league in one year. Has to be the talent.

general counsel

The talent can't be that much better on the bills than the rams, can it? Based on their record, this year and last i'd say Rams have better talent. Maybe it's the head coach and the emphasis he places on special teams?

[ZigZagRam]

We need a massive overhaul on defense this offseason. Full-scale house cleaning. Whatever we do, it can't get any worse.

[lakerams]

Rebel is right GC. the talent is not that much better if at all.

the only stand out guy on Chicago's defense is Urlacher. Pisa is playing as well as Urlacher in my opinion. it's not the talent, it's the emphasis on how the game is played. Martz is too laid back. he does not get the players fired up. the only time he gets excited is when the offense makes a big play to bail him out of another poorly managed game.

Buffalo is not more talented than the Rams and niether is Chicago. it comes back to the man running the show.

[LaRamsFanLongTime]

Based on their record, this year and last i'd say Rams have better talent

Miloy, Fletcher, Spikes, Williams, Shoebel, Adams,and Vincent who did not play today. Right there I would trade position for position no problem and not even feel bad. Rams do not have better talent on defence there is no denying that fact.

[LaRamsFanLongTime]

Buffalo is not more talented than the Rams and niether is Chicago. it comes back to the man running the show.

You guys are way off. The Rams do not have a talented defence period. Butler is good but I would love to have Mcquaters in a Rams uniform. Pisa vs Urlacher what are you joking. Pisa is great but Urlacher he's not but at least he's healthy though unlike Urlacher. Little is not the presence he was last year that really hurts.

the only stand out guy on Chicago's defense is Urlacher

Mcquarters does not stand out????Cmon man pay attention.

[general counsel]

The rams have a lot more talent on offense, but special teams is really about depth on defense and tackling skills, since defensive starters usually dont play special teams. I respectfully disagree with anyone who thinks that our defense is as talented as the bears of the bills. The bills are ranked about #4 in defense, even with a lousy offense, and we are ranked in the bottom 25%. How can you compare the talent. I like pisa a lot, but his pass cover skills are lacking, trev faulk, a great special teams player, is way below average in the middle, and tommy polley is constantly out of position and has virtually no chance of returning next year in my opinion.

general counsel

[txramsfan]

I think we can be....the question is will we? It's getting late in the year and we are still doing:

1. Stupid penalties on both sides of the ball.
2. Special Teams is a conundrum
3. Turnovers

I'm a big Martz fan but there comes a time when you have to point to coaching. Special Teams turns out not to be April's fault. Discipline on this team is lacking.

[HUbison]

Are we a playoff team? Yes. In fact, we are going to lose to Green Bay this weekend and we are still going to the playoffs at 9-7.