I hope you guys like what the Rams are doing in Free agency...

[Chris58]

Originally Posted by smitheRAM

The D stats sucked last year. They were not good.You cannot blame the O. "IF" a few things had gone different it might have changed but guess what it didn't. No excuses. We don't know how good they will be this yr because we they weren't good last and people usually don't have breakout yrs following injuries. Has the team brought in some game breaker that I might not know about? We "HOPE" there is improvement where there should be from the people who have showed some promise but I don't think the team has done anything great to improve anything. Just hope for some improvement.
Does anyone know what our D gave up in third down conversions rate as compared to other teams? It seemed very high last yr.

Well, I have to disagree with you in a few of your points. The defense did a terrible job but a lot of it can be laid on the offense for not being able to sustain a drive long enough to give the defense time to recover and refresh. Proof is in the fact that we were able to stay in games in the first half of most games only to be pulverized in the second half. Look at the scoring. We were totally obliterated in the second half. And while I am not a Haslett fan by any means, the offense inability to score points and eat clock meant that our D was on the field way too much. I wont even address how terrible our special teams coverages were and the lousy position they put our D in.

I agree with you that we didn't bring in any blockbuster players, but I am optimistic that if we can stay healthy as a team, the Rams can be competitive and an 8-8 or 9-7 season is not unreasonable to expect.

I have been on record before that the Ram rebuilding project is a 2-3 year process but if we do things right, the Rams can be on top again in that time. IMO anyone expecting more than that may be disappointed.

[moloch41]

Originally Posted by Chris58

Proof is in the fact that we were able to stay in games in the first half of most games only to be pulverized in the second half.

Wouldn't this prove that opposing offenses made adjustments at the half and Haslett was unable to match their adjustments? I believe there is a difference of almost 3 minutes more a game that the Rams defense was on the field than the #1 ranked Steelers. That doesn't seem like enough to constitute a complete collapse in almost every second half of every game this year...

[Chris58]

Originally Posted by moloch41

Wouldn't this prove that opposing offenses made adjustments at the half and Haslett was unable to match their adjustments? I believe there is a difference of almost 3 minutes more a game that the Rams defense was on the field than the #1 ranked Steelers. That doesn't seem like enough to constitute a complete collapse in almost every second half of every game this year...

You make a good point, and I agree about Haslett's inability to adapt and adjust after the half-time, but my premise that the offense did nothing offensively to score and eat time in the second half of games really exposed our defense for the mediocre one it was last year. Winning games requires playing on both sides of the ball.

[moloch41]

Originally Posted by Chris58

You make a good point, and I agree about Haslett's inability to adapt and adjust after the half-time, but my premise that the offense did nothing offensively to score and eat time in the second half of games really exposed our defense for the mediocre one it was last year. Winning games requires playing on both sides of the ball.

Oh, the offense certainly didn't help the defense out any, but I wouldn't blame them for the defense's complete collapses. Some people wanted to give Linehan a mulligan because of injuries to the offense and other people wanted to give a mulligan to Haslett because of the injuries on the offense. Personally, I saw terrible coaching all the way around.

[ramsbruce]

Originally Posted by moloch41

Oh, the offense certainly didn't help the defense out any, but I wouldn't blame them for the defense's complete collapses. Some people wanted to give Linehan a mulligan because of injuries to the offense and other people wanted to give a mulligan to Haslett because of the injuries on the offense. Personally, I saw terrible coaching all the way around.

There was definetely some bad coaching, but you can't completely discount the injury situation. You do agree that injuries were part of the problem don't you?

[Chris58]

Originally Posted by ramsbruce

There was definetely some bad coaching, but you can't completely discount the injury situation. You do agree that injuries were part of the problem don't you?

Injuries were a big part of the problem because it depleted what little depth we had on both sides of the the LOS. But, in most things as in poker, you have to play the hand you're dealt and unfortunately we only had a pair. In the NFL that wont take a team very far.

[ramsbruce]

Originally Posted by Chris58

Injuries were a big part of the problem because it depleted what little depth we had on both sides of the the LOS. But, in most things as in poker, you have to play the hand you're dealt and unfortunately we only had a pair. In the NFL that wont take a team very far.

I agree, I think injuries were the biggest part of the problem last year.

Were we even dealt a pair last year?

[r8rh8rmike]

Originally Posted by ramsbruce

Were we even dealt a pair last year?

I think we were dealt a 2-7 offsuit.

[moloch41]

Originally Posted by ramsbruce

There was definetely some bad coaching, but you can't completely discount the injury situation. You do agree that injuries were part of the problem don't you?

No doubt, but I think one of the biggest things the injuries did was expose the lack of aggressiveness, creativity, and ability to adjust that this coaching staff possesses. Now, I didn't know what to expect when we got Linehan (not much apparently), but when we got Haslett, I was expecting the architect of "Blitzburgh", but unfortunately, it looks like we got the guy who bored New Orleans fans to death for 4 yrs.

[Mooselini]

I do see what youre saying. And we have made good moves in the free agency thus far. I love it. Hopefully Bell lives up to his reputation and brings something good to the line.