Originally Posted by
MauiRam
BY JIM THOMAS • | Posted: Wednesday, January 25, 2012 12:20 am
MOBILE, ALA. • Brian Schottenheimer had been out of New York for little more than a week when his former head coach, Rex Ryan, delivered a parting gift. Or parting shot.
In the wake of a late-season collapse that left the Jets at 8-8 and out of the playoffs, Ryan told a New York radio station that Schottenheimer's verbiage — the language of calling plays and discussing the offense — was too complicated.
On Tuesday, during his introductory conference call as the Rams' new offensive coordinator, Schottenheimer returned volley.
Asked if his verbiage was too complicated, Schottenheimer replied: "I don't. I really don't. I think it's one of those situations where as you go through the thing, we're going to do things that our players know and understand well.
"I do not think that the verbiage is a problem. And if it ever became that, I would hope that somebody spoke up and came to me and said, 'Hey the verbiage is too much.' But that's never happened in my career."
A 'somebody" like, say Ryan.
Schottenheimer's verbiage no longer is the Jets' problem. He and the Jets had a parting of the ways following the 2011 regular season. Some have interpreted that as Schottenheimer being pushed out the door — fired, because he had time left on his contract. But he said Tuesday he was ready for a change.
Would he still be with the Jets had they not lost their last three games?
"I don't think so," he replied. "I believe that change is positive. Having been there for six years, I can look back on all those great games and comeback victories. ... But I was excited about the possibility of a change and I quite honestly couldn't be more pleased with how it ended up — that I'm here in St. Louis working for a guy that is just a terrific head coach."
The verbiage issue is one of interest in St. Louis now that Schottenheimer is on coach Jeff Fisher's staff, particularly with quarterback Sam Bradford about to learn his third offense in three seasons.
Schottenheimer grew up in coaching with the "digit" system of play-calling, a staple of the "Air Coryell" offense of former coaching great Don Coryell. In that system, for example, pass routes are called by numbers. Hence the game-winning touchdown pass to Isaac Bruce in Super Bowl XXXIV, against Fisher's Tennessee Titans, was "9-9-9 H balloon." (Mike Martz, Rams offensive coordinator at the time, was a Coryell disciple.)
At the Senior Bowl on Tuesday, one coach familiar with the Jets' offense said Schottenheimer actually altered the way plays were called — using more concepts and fewer digits in the system — to help quarterback Mark Sanchez.
Schottenheimer, who met Bradford on Monday, said Bradford should have no trouble getting the verbiage down.
"Sam and I, as we work through the process and get things going here in a few months, it will not be a problem," Schottenheimer said. "I understand how smart he is and how much he wants to work and is excited about the opportunity."
In reality, Schottenheimer said there are only so many kinds of routes you can run and so many kinds of running plays.
"We all have the same plays," he said.
Over the years, he has been exposed to enough systems that he'll be able to quickly "translate" any differences in terminology while Bradford is learning the playbook.
"I know some of the things that Josh (McDaniels) was doing," Schottenheimer said of the man he is replacing. "I know some of the things that Sam did his first year under (former offensive coordinator) Pat Shurmur, so I can kind of translate a lot of those languages. But it will be certainly different."
Schottenheimer is working his way through tape of Bradford's Rams games; he's about 12 to 14 games through 2010, Bradoford's rookie year. He had yet to delve into 2011.
"Obviously, he's extremely gifted, extremely talented," Schottenheimer siad. "I'm watching the film, getting a sense of how accurate he is with the football and how well he actually moves around and has made plays.
"That was one of the things that jumped off the film at me. But it'll be a fun process going through and looking at all the games and just getting a sense of where he's at. I've been around a lot of young quarterbacks, but I think this guy's got a chance to be real special."
As he studies Bradford, Schottenheimer also is going through the process of finding a quarterbacks coach, something the Rams didn't have last season.
"That was one of the first things Jeff and I talked about," Schottenheimer said. "It's something that I really, truly believe in as well. The quarterback needs to be taught no different than everybody else. There's fundamentals, there's techniques that need to be taught and stressed. ... We will obviously look at a lot of different people and it will be a very
