By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Tuesday, Sep. 19 2006
With his sputtering offense under fire just two games into his NFL
head-coaching tenure,
Scott Linehan was forced to play defense with the media
Monday.
As in defending the offense, and the philosophy, he is trying to install with
the Rams.
"There are some changes," Linehan said. "And sometimes that takes time. But the
last I checked, there's a whole new coaching staff here. So there's some
newness and change. Not to harp on it, but I wouldn't be here if everything was
perfect last year."
Linehan bristled slightly when delivering that last line. He has studiously
avoided comparisons with the Rams of Mike Martz, and in general has avoided
talking about what preceded him in St. Louis.
But the Rams were 6-10 last season and have had only one winning season since
the 2001 Super Bowl team.
"You can't have it all at one time," Linehan said. "It's a hard thing, I guess,
to convince people. We're changing an entire culture. Not just an offense.
We're changing a culture of how our team is going to play football. We put a
lot of emphasis on retooling our defense and our special teams."
Linehan wants a more physical team. A team that will run the football and
defend the run. A team that will play disciplined football. A team that will
create turnovers on defense while avoiding them on offense.
"The biggest emphasis (on offense) is protecting the football, and we've done a
good job of that so far," Linehan said.
The Rams have committed only one turnover in two games -- tied for the
second-lowest total in the NFL. They are plus-5 in takeaway-giveaway
differential, the second-best figure in the league.
But as Linehan pointed out, "It hasn't paid the dividend that we want."
That's because the St. Louis offense, particularly the once-heralded passing
game, has produced only one touchdown in two games. And no matter what the
system, or offensive philosophy, that's hard to fathom when:
— Your quarterback (Marc Bulger) is one of the most accurate passers in the
game.
— Your starting wide receivers (Isaac Bruce and
Torry Holt) have nine Pro Bowls
between them.
— You have a 1,000-yard rusher in the backfield (Steven Jackson).
— You have a talented pair of complementary receivers (Kevin Curtis and Shaun
McDonald).
It's great to take care of the football, but you've got to make plays and score
points.
"So it's the next step that we've got to take," Linehan said. "We've got to
continue to protect the ball. Not be careless with it."
But start making more plays.
"We've got to be able to have our cake and eat it too, so to speak," Linehan
said. "That's where we've got to get as an offense."
As Linehan sees it, the long-term benefit of ingraining this philosophy
outweighs any short-term struggles.
"I think that's a great way of looking at it," Linehan said. "When you change a
culture, it's almost like going to the ground (floor), and then you build it
back up. This culture wasn't destroyed. There were some great things that
happened around this franchise in the last seven years.
"You might appear to take a step back. But if you take a step back, you want to
take three giant steps forward once you get it down. I think the fact that
we're protecting the ball is a big positive. That we're running the ball
efficiently is a big positive. And that we can improve every week from here out
in the passing game is a projected big positive. That's how you've got to look
at it."
At the moment, however, it's clear that Bulger is struggling with what appears
to be a "safety first" approach to offense.
Following Sunday's 20-13 loss to San Francisco, Bulger was asked if he was
taking fewer chances in the Linehan offense. "I'm not taking chances, believe
me," Bulger said.
To date, that approach has caused Bulger to look indecisive in the pocket. He
has missed some throws and been late on some reads. It doesn't help when there
are pass protection problems, as was the case against the ***** when Bulger was
sacked six times. It all has the Rams sitting an uncharacteristic 24th in
passing offense two games into the season.
Did Linehan foresee such a struggle in installing his offense?
"No, I'd have quit a long time ago, if I'd have known that," Linehan joked.
But as Kristen Linehan recently told her husband, there's only one way to go.
"It's like my wife told me the other day: 'You're only going to improve from
where you are right now,' " Linehan said. "She didn't say that to be a smart
aleck. I just figured it's a pretty keen statement, because I really believe
that's where we're at. We're sitting here 1-1, and we act like we're in a state
of dysfunction on offense. I don't feel that."
Linear Mode
